018 Pulling a Big One

Runic World. At the entrance of Maple Leaf Town.

It was early in the morning, and a four-man team was waiting at the entrance of Maple Leaf Town.

The gender ratio of this team was not as balanced as that of Team 8911 - in this team, everyone was male.

Among the four men, one with blonde hair had a blade of grass between his lips. He gave off a frivolous impression.

Beside him was an ordinary-looking man who had a bow on his back and an arrow quiver around his waist.

There was also a team member who was slender and wore long robes. He held a staff.

The last team member was a person with a tall and sturdy figure. He was as big as Yellow. In his hands was a great sword.

They were none other than Team 8566, who had contacted Wu Wei previously.

At this moment, they were idly waiting for Wu Wei's arrival.

As they waited, they began to discuss their 'new teammate'.

The archer with the bow on his back was the first to ask: "What do you think our new teammate looks like?"

The blonde man scoffed: "A Runic Summoner with a Yellow Turban Soldier as his first core rune. What do you think he looks like! He will look like a noob Runic Summoner! Things are probably going to get tough for us in the future!"

"Don't say that. I heard that after he left the team, he stayed in Runic World alone for four to five days."

"Besides, to be valued by Senior Lou, he must have his merits. Maybe he's some big shot!"

"Who knows what he's been up to those four to five days? Let me tell you, don't hope for the impossible! When you have unrealistic expectations, and they aren't met, it will only make you feel worse!"

As the two exchanged opinions, a young man armed with a saber and a crossbow walked out of the town. There were more than ten glowing lights on his back!

Upon seeing this young man, Team 8566 couldn't help but collectively gasp.

A big shot!

After all, the man looked like a Runemaster who hunted solo in Runic World!

Although not all Runemasters who operated solo were necessarily big shots, this person who held a Runic Armament in his hand and carried ten drops casually slung across his back…

With one look, anyone could tell that he was a big shot whose storage space was already capped full of drops!

The sight of such a big shot left Team 8566 in awe.

And when they noticed that the man was walking towards them, even the most frivolous blondie straightened his posture and greeted him with a slight bow of his head, as if politely addressing: "Greetings, big shot."

However, something started to seem off to him - why was this big shot approaching them?

'It can't be that he wants to give me a beating for looking too arrogant with blonde hair, right?'

And just as their suspicions and nervousness mounted, that big shot was already standing in front of them. 

"It's Team 8566, right?"

"Ah?"

Team 8566 became dumbfounded as this big shot continued with his introduction.

"I'm Wu Wei!"

"AHHH!!!"

..

In Maple Leaf Town, Team 8566 watched as Wu Wei walked into the Yuehua Academy's Rune Shop and retrieved around 30 to 40 spheres of light from his Book of Runes. Not a single one of them was able to come back to their senses for a long time.

The blonde man poked Zhou Tian, who was next to him, inquiring:

 "Leader... leader, is he really Wu Wei? Our new teammate?"

Zhou Tian's expression was complicated. 

"We don't know if it's our new teammate, but he should definitely be Wu Wei!"

There was no reason for him to lie about his identity.

The blonde man only became more confused. 

"Did- didn't they say that Wu Wei is a Runic Summoner? Didn't they say that he was expelled by the team? How did he obtain so many light balls? How many monsters did he have to farm, exactly?"

At this moment, the archer touched his nose and replied with a knowing expression.

 "You don't get it, do you? Strength is strength, but hunting is hunting. Although his strength may not be enough, anything is possible in Runic World. Maybe he found a good spot for farming monsters? Or maybe he got lucky and stumbled upon bee hives, ant nests, and the like. Toss a fire, and you'll get just as many drops!

In that case, while it may look like he has many drops, there's nothing of much worth in reality. He would probably only have one or two valuable items in that stuffed Book of Runes!"

"Mm, that should be the case!"

Because they had already formed an image of Wu Wei as a Runic Summoner in his mind, Team 8566 found it hard to believe that Wu Wei was actually a big shot.

However, whether they believed it or not was one thing – their opinions of Wu Wei had already begun to change.

They began to realize that regardless of whether Wu Wei was a big shot, he was definitely not just any simple Runic Summoner.

At the same time, Wu Wei had cleared out all his loot in the Maple Leaf Town branch of Yuehua Rune Shop.

These drops were Wu Wei's harvest from sweeping Wild Boar Valley over and over again in the past two days, made possible through hunting even Elite Runic Wild Boars.

Fortunately, Wild Boar Valley respawn time was relatively short. Ordinary Runic Wild Boars respawned every few hours, while the Elite Runic Wild Boars respawned daily. This was how Wu Wei could loot so much in a mere two days.

Although there were many drops, most of them were ingredients like pork ribs, pork trotters, pork loins, and the like.

However, didn't fetch a very high price, so if even just one of the drops had been a rune would have been plenty.

Although there were a few Runic Armaments, they were all Runic Armaments without any skills, so their value was not very high. There was a total of 34 drops, and Wu Wei only got 36 runic stones for them, making an average of 1 runic stone per drop.

Of course, Wu Wei was still very content. After all, he had only acquired 6 Runic Armaments in the last two months.

If he kept up with sweeping through Wild Boar Valley, Wu Wei would be able to earn at least 18 runic stones a day, which would sum up to over 500 runic stones per month. Then, he would have enough money to inscribe his second core rune!

After calculating thus far, Wu Wei suddenly had the impulse to immediately return to the Wild Boar Valley and make it his home for one month.

However, before that, he needed to settle the appointment with Team 8566.

After receiving the runic stones from the lady at the counter, Wu Wei left the shop and returned to where Team 8566 was waiting.

"Sorry, I've made you wait!"

"Don't mind it. Fellow student Wu Wei, please have a seat!"

Blondie, the most enthusiastic person of the team, immediately stood up and offered a seat to Wu Wei upon his arrival.

The archer, upon seeing this, immediately passed an iced cola to Wu Wei.

"Fellow student Wu Wei, have this iced cola!"

"Thank you!"

Wu Wei received the iced cola from the archer, but he did not sit down in the blonde man's seat. As he looked at his potential team members, his gaze fell upon the most muscular person in the four-man team.

"Might you be Captain Zhou Tian?"

Matching the deep voice he heard over the phone to his manly appearance, Wu Wei thought that there was no mistaking it… but it turns out he had. 

The burly man 'shyly' replied: "No, I'm not the Captain!"

It was not just his demeanor that was 'shy' - even the tone of his voice was high, and the moment he opened his mouth, Wu Wei's jaw dropped.

Just then, the thinnest person of the team spoke. The moment he opened his mouth, Wu Wei recognized his voice.

 "Hello, student Wu Wei. I'm the Captain of Team 8566, Zhou Tian. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

The stunned Wu Wei glanced at the burly but shy man, then looked back at Zhou Tian, whose frame did not match the deep, masculine voice he possessed. He became momentarily speechless.

Were the voices and personalities of these two people reversed, somehow?

While Wu Wei was still speechless, Zhou Tian patted his shoulder with his tiny, slender hands.

"Student Wu Wei, are you interested in pulling a big job with us?"

"Huh?"