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Ding! The item you listed at the auction house has been successfully sold to a player. Final transaction: 30,000 yuan. After deducting the 4,500 yuan handling fee, 25,500 yuan has been transferred to your bound bank account.
“Damn! It actually went up in price?” Wu Shaochen exclaimed in surprise, opening his transaction history. “That doesn’t make sense!” Logically, the second piece of gear should be worth less than the first one, especially since the first was a weapon. How did it go for more? Wu Shaochen was utterly baffled. He had been planning to list it for just fifteen thousand, and thank god he didn’t.
He quickly checked his bank account balance. Seeing 43,200 yuan in there, he grinned foolishly. To be honest, he had never seen that much money in his life—it really did feel like a dream.
Bang!
Just as Wu Shaochen was busy daydreaming, a loud bang sent his whole body flying, crashing into a tree. Stars danced above his head, and he was stunned for a second.
–90
“Damn it! Sneak attack?” Wu Shaochen cursed. He had been so fixated on the money that he’d forgotten he was still fighting monsters. After slaying so many wild boars, he finally got a taste of Savage Charge.
While he was still stunned, the wild boar rammed into him again.
–55
Luckily, Wu Shaochen now had a hefty 230 HP. Back when he was level 3, he would’ve been sent straight back to town. While dying in the newbie village doesn’t make you lose levels, you do drop equipment—and in Oracle, death guarantees gear loss. Now that his equipment was so valuable, even dropping one piece would hurt like hell.
Wu Shaochen turned around, slashed the wild boar once, then made a run for it while cursing, “That f**king hurt! Only 5% pain simulation, and it still hurts this much?! Did that thing hit my kidneys?” He glared at the wild boar chasing him. You’re dead, piggy.
Under Wu Shaochen’s venom and verbal abuse, the wild boar finally found release after holding out for two minutes. It dropped two copper coins, a fang, and a piece of gear.
“Oh? That dropped pretty quick this time. Must be the system’s way of compensating me.” He picked it up and checked:
[Boarhide Trousers]
Quality: White
HP +40
Defense +2
Requirement: None
He quickly equipped the pants and opened his character panel:
Name: Dust-Sealed
Level: 4
HP: 270
MP: 90
Physical Attack: 12
Magic Attack: 10
Physical Defense: 17
Magic Defense: 5
Movement Speed: 28
EXP: 1564/2000
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 5
Constitution: 5
Root Bone: 5
Spirit: 5
Agility: 25
Skill: Insight
Talent: Source of Poison – Deals 16 true damage per second, lasts 60 seconds, can stack once.
Equipment:
【Wooden Sword】(Starter gear): +2 Physical Attack
【Boarhide Chestplate】(White): +40 HP, +2 DEF
【Canvas Shoes】(White): +3 SPD, +2 DEF
【Boarhide Helmet】(White): +30 HP, +3 DEF
【Boarhide Belt】(White): +30 HP, +3 DEF
【Boarhide Trousers】(White): +40 HP, +2 DEF
His defensive gear was almost a full set now—complete boar set, though sadly not a real set with bonuses. Seems like boars don’t drop accessories. No matter. For Wu Shaochen, damage wasn’t the priority—defense was king.
Looking at his stats, Wu Shaochen frowned. Still not enough to take on wild wolves. With all this gear, the only way left to improve was to level up, but that’d defeat the purpose.
He ran some quick math. A wild wolf has 4000 HP. His poison does 16 damage/sec. To kill one with poison alone, he needed to apply it five times—which meant taking five hits.
If they’re regular attacks, fine—he’d only take 98 damage total, factoring in defense. And with his 2 HP/sec regen, 50 seconds would be plenty. But if it was a skill attack, that’s 155 damage. Still manageable. What he really feared was the bleed effect—because while bleeding, you’re considered in combat and don’t regen. That means after bleeding ends, he’d have to wait 10 more seconds to start healing. So only 40 seconds of regen—just 80 HP. Meaning… he’d have to chug potions.
Looking at the six small red potions in his bag, Wu Shaochen made a decision.
“F**k it. Worst case, I just use potions. If I can kill even one, I can stack my talent. Let’s go!”
Since he’d made up his mind, Wu Shaochen got moving and headed toward the wolf area. He quickly passed through the boar forest and reached the wolf plains. Seeing packs of wolves, he started to panic.
Pulling monsters is a skill too—since he didn’t know the wolves’ aggro range, drawing just one would be tough. But his movement speed was much higher than a wolf’s. Worst case, if he aggroed too many, he’d run back to the boar forest. Once outside their territory, they’d stop chasing.
Wu Shaochen carefully approached the nearest wolves. Soon, four or five of them came charging at him.
“Crap! That many?!” He turned and sprinted back. After a while, the wolves slowly gave up and retreated.
This trial-and-error process went on for over ten minutes. Who knows how many times he tried—until he finally pulled a lone, dumb wolf.
Wu Shaochen showed a sinister smile as he raised his sword.
–1
–16
Maybe it was his creepy grin, but the wolf took offense. It lunged and bit him.
–155
Ding! You have been inflicted with [Bleed]: Lose 5 HP/sec for 10 seconds.
“FML…” Wu Shaochen cursed. What kind of shtty luck is this? First hit and I’m bleeding?*
He quickly ran in circles while kiting the wolf, pulled out a red potion, and drank it with a pained expression. These things had a low drop rate—every one he used was one less in stock.
Right before the poison ran out, he struck the wolf again. The wolf clawed back—thankfully, a normal attack. Wu Shaochen sighed in relief.
Unfortunately, on the third strike, the wolf used another skill. Bleed again.
…
“This bleed chance is supposed to be 50%, right? Why do I always get hit?!” Gritting his teeth, he drank another red potion. Just one wolf had cost him two potions—not worth it at all.
Fourth strike—normal. He survived. Fifth strike? Even if it bled him again, he wouldn’t need to heal. Worst case, he’d wait it out and pull the next one later.
At long last, the first wolf collapsed in defeat.
Ding! You have slain [Wild Wolf], earning 40 EXP. Bonus 20 EXP for killing a monster five levels above you.
Ding! Talent trait activated – Poison damage increased by 1 point.
Haven’t heard that sound in a while—felt kind of nostalgic. Even though it cost him two potions, hearing that notification made it all worth it.
He walked to the wolf’s corpse. The wolf had been generous—it dropped four copper coins and a wolf claw, which had the same description as boar tusks. Maybe it could be turned in for a quest later.
But damn, the wolf EXP was high. At this rate, if he killed six more, he’d level up—which meant he could only stack his talent six more times. Annoying. Why did they give so much EXP anyway?
He resumed his monster-pulling routine. This time, he got one pretty fast. Since he’d already pulled one, there was now a gap in the pack.
When his talent hit 17, killing a wolf only took four hits. Saved him one strike. Sadly, Wu Shaochen’s luck was still trash. Out of the four hits, three were skill attacks, and two came with bleed. He had to down two more potions, muttering curses on the wolf’s entire family.
The wolf died. His talent rose to 18.
Looking at the two potions left in his inventory, Wu Shaochen didn’t dare continue. If his next fight had three skill attacks with bleed, it’d be game over. Even if the odds were low, for him, it felt totally possible. The game’s AI really has it out for me.
“Whatever, I’ll head back to town and buy more potions.” He’d completely lost interest in grinding boars. If he was gonna grind, it’d be wolves. Looking at the 200+ copper coins in his bag, Wu Shaochen muttered,
“Once I stock up on potions, I’m coming back here to farm like a king. Money makes the world go round.”