“Ga Ga … … I smell fresh blood!” The Orc on the left was suddenly on the alert. With his ears perked, he laughed loudly, “Finally, a change of diet. I see a strong, young, human warrior. The delicious flesh of a warrior’s legs is great, let’s get him together!
……
“Hong long long”, I heard the sound of footsteps as both Orcs brandished their wooden clubs and rushed over.
I remained calm. With a swift stroke, I struck forward with my Jade City Sword, “Pu chi”, a normal attack hit the Orc in front. Immediately after that, a low whistling sound was heard as aura rose from my feet and the S Rank combo [Strength of a Thousand Men] was activated. I executed a flurry of strikes and cut forcefully. The final strike, [Wind Blade] split the Orc as he screamed in agony. With another attack, rays of white EXP points flew and seeped into my body, making my EXP bar jump. The Orc was dead!
As i turned around, Jade City Sword shuddered as a golden hexagon formsed on the blade and rotated, “Keng keng keng”, my combo landed on the other Orc’s wooden club. Baby Bobo’s combo followed, producing another ray of white light. “Chuckle”, with this combination, I could kill off two Level 39 Orcs within 6 seconds, my damage output was indeed outstanding.
As a third Orc rushed over, I lifted my blade and dashed toward him, wanting to execute my custom combo. Alas, a cooldown of 30 seconds was on all custom combos, so I had to wait for 20 seconds more before I could use [Strength of a Thousand Men]. I immediately used [Wind Blade] and together with Baby Bobo’s attacks, we easily got rid of the Orc. I lost a little health, 1 hit from the Orc took out 80 HP from me, an amount that wasn’t even worth healing over.
One step at a time, I gradually advanced into the depths of the Fire Stone Canyon.
Up ahead laid a patch of dark green thicket belonging to the Deep Cold Forest, the sole forest in the middle of Fire Stone Canyon. Before I entered, my Herb Gathering skill lit up, signalling that there were high leveled herbs ahead!
Stepping into the forest, I looked between a large tree and a rock and caught a glimpse of strands of dark blue grass swaying in the wind. It was almost as if they were welcoming me.
While I took a number of steps forward, imaginary tears started to stream down my face as I spotted the name of the herb in front of me. Indigo Seaweed, a Level 5 herb. It was the essential ingredient in the refinement of Level 5 Indigo Seaweed of Immortality!
I took out my herb shovel and gathered it excitedly!
“Ding!”
System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered 2 x [Indigo Seaweed], your [Herb Gathering] skill as increased by 2!
“Ding!”
System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered 3 x [Indigo Seaweed], your [Herb Gathering] skill as increased by 3!
……
After collecting 7 Indigo Seaweed plants, I happily stood upright to leave when suddenly, something scuttled out from the shrub in front of me. “Ji ji”, its tail flashed as an ice cone was hurled my way–
“Pa!”
“224!”
My body trembled. Damn, it was a magic type monster–
Ice Rat, Level 40, data not available.
……
Just before I initiated my attack, the Ice Rat sent its second ice cone my way, making me lose 200+ HP again. But he wouldn’t be lucky enough for a third time as my Jade City Sword slashed into the Ice Rat in the next instant. An aura surged around me as my combo was activated. “Pa pa pa”, [Strength of a Thousand Men] struck the Ice Rat continuously. Being a magic type monster, its health should only be around 1500 HP. “Ji ji”, it whimpered as it fell to the ground!
“Pa ta… …”
My luck was pretty good, it was just my first kill and I actually got a dark blue illustration as loot —
[Ice Rat]
Attack:★
Defense:★★☆
Health:★★★
Agility:★★★☆
Magic:★★★★
……
Okay, a typical pet, magic potential growth at 4 stars was good if one used it as a magic pet. At least it would be useful to level and PK at the early stages. Magic was the weakness of armored classes, and the proof of it was that this Level 39 monster could shave off 200+ of my HP with its ice cone.
I continued to roam around the Deep Cold Forest with my Jade City Sword in hand, searching for Indigo Seaweed while keeping an eye out for a Level 1 Ice Rat, making sure not to miss it.
After drifting around for more than an hour, it was almost 9PM already, but Lin Wan Er hadn’t contacted me for supper. Dong Cheng Yue did joke that tonight was my turn to treat, because my bet with Lin Wan Er was still on-going and I got killed by the Generals twice, which meant I owed them 2 meals.
While fighting an Ice Rat, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps and voices coming from just outside the forest–
“Boss, these are the carcasses of Ice Rats. It looks like there’s a player nearby, and he must’ve been here recently because the carcasses haven’t disappeared yet……”
“Okay, let’s go in and take a look. To train in this area requires a group of at least 10 players, or they wouldn’t be able to withstand the monster’s attacks.”
“Yeah!”
……
Shadows moved as a few players entered my field of vision. I simply stood there holding my Jade City Sword, surrounded by nothing but empty space. I stared at them as our eyes met.
“Seriously……”
A thin archer remarked coldly: “Xiao Yao……Xiao Yao Zi Zai…to actually bump into him here. Boss, what should we do……”
The Level 31 Berserker lifted his battle axe off his shoulder, as his face turned savage: “Isn’t it obvious? Kill him!”