Chapter 12: Silver Wolf

Next, let’s take a look at the attributes of the level 10 monsters to see if I can handle them. If I can, I’ll be able to continue farming for talents.

Wu Shaocheng walked through the Wild Wolf Plain and moved forward. A group of wild wolves followed him, but he wasn’t worried. The wild wolves were aggressive monsters, and once they entered his aggro range, they would chase him. However, with his 33 points of movement speed, Wu Shaocheng didn’t care; they couldn’t catch up to him anyway.

After walking for a while, he came across a valley. From a distance, he saw a few majestic silver wolves moving around in the valley.

“Another wolf?” Wu Shaocheng’s mood dropped. He was still having to drink health potions for the wild wolves, and these wolves looked much stronger.

He reached the entrance of the valley and used an Insight skill on the nearest silver wolf.

[Silver Wolf]
Level: 10
Health: 6000
Attack: 140
Defense: 60
Speed: 30
Skills:

• Extreme Speed: Howls loudly, gaining 50% attack speed and 50% movement speed for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

…Great, this thing counters me completely. I can’t fight it at all. Time to run! Wu Shaocheng turned around without hesitation.

Forget it, I’ll log off for now and grab something to eat. I’ve been playing for hours, and I’ve only had a piece of bread today. I’m starting to feel drained. Since I’ve made so much money, I should treat myself a bit.

He found a safe spot, logged off, and took off his helmet. Sitting up from his bed, Wu Shaocheng shook his head. He didn’t feel any discomfort, but suddenly felt his stomach churn. He rushed to the bathroom, and spent a long time in there.

After nearly half an hour, Wu Shaocheng stumbled out of the bathroom, feeling weak. “Ugh, it must have been that bread I had for lunch. I should’ve checked the expiration date. I’ll never eat something questionable again.”

He sat on the only worn-out sofa in his rented room and, feeling a bit extravagant, ordered a family bucket of food. He originally planned to go out to eat, but now, after the ordeal in the bathroom, going out was too much of a hassle, so he had to order delivery instead.

After ordering, he began browsing the forum on his phone. Almost every post was about Divine Oracle, and two of the top three posts were about him. The view counts were already in the millions.

1. [Speculations on High-Attribute Equipment Frequently Appearing in Auction House of Beginner Village 8365]
2. [Whiteboard Equipment Auctioned for 60,000 in Beginner Village 8365]
3. [Discovery of Boss Wild Boar King in Beginner Village, Attributes Attached, Players Can Come to Try and Fight]

Curious, Wu Shaocheng clicked on the first post. It was written by someone who claimed to be a game commentator and offered some guesses about the equipment listed in the auction. To his surprise, the person made some good points.

“Currently, there are three top-tier pieces of equipment listed in the auction house of Beginner Village 8365. I speculate that the first two pieces are likely dropped by the level 6 Wild Boar, and the third item, the Wolf Tooth Necklace, is likely dropped by the level 9 Wild Wolves.”

“There is strong suspicion that the person who listed these items is using hacks. It’s impossible for any player at this stage to defeat the Wild Boar, let alone the Wild Wolves.”

The comments section was flooded with tens of thousands of responses, most accusing the person of cheating. A few, however, suggested the possibility that the player might actually be skilled, but these comments were quickly buried.

To Wu Shaocheng’s surprise, the post had a response from the official Divine Oracle team:

“Divine Oracle does not have hacks!”

It was a simple, straightforward reply, but it silenced all further criticism.

“The official team is pretty bold,” Wu Shaocheng muttered. He glanced at the next two posts, then thought, “I didn’t expect someone to discover the Wild Boar King. I’d better hurry up and take it down. Although no one can kill it for now, it doesn’t feel good to be watched.”

After about ten minutes, the delivery arrived. Wu Shaocheng devoured his food and then, wiping his mouth, laid back in bed and put on the helmet to log back in.

He appeared in the same spot where he had logged off earlier. Wu Shaocheng checked his attributes. He still couldn’t defeat the Wild Boar King, and the Wild Wolves would require too many potions. Damn it, does that mean I have to keep hunting wild boars? Can I say that just seeing the Wild Boar makes me want to throw up?

Maybe I should check out the level 8 monsters? If I can defeat them, I might get some better equipment, and perhaps I can gather more attributes to take on the Wild Boar King later. The level 8 monsters should be behind those spiders, but I have to be careful not to get caught in their webs. Even with my current attributes, I can’t survive more than a few hits from those webs.

Sigh, the distribution of monsters in this game makes no sense. How many players are going to be screwed over by this? Most players, when they think they can handle the level 3 Green Snakes, will keep pushing forward to challenge higher-level monsters. But as soon as they enter the area, they’ll be immediately caught by a level 7 spider’s web. That kind of despair is bound to leave some serious psychological scars.

Wu Shaocheng made his way through the spider forest with ease, thanks to his high movement speed. He finally reached the depths of the forest and saw the level 8 monsters. As soon as he laid eyes on the ugly toads, Wu Shaocheng felt disgusted.

[Toad]
Level: 8
Health: 3200
Attack: 100
Defense: 48
Speed: 15
Skills:

• Tongue Stab: Extends its tongue to strike the target, ignoring 50% of the target’s defense to deal 145% physical damage and reduce the target’s movement speed by 30%. Cooldown: 10 seconds

Hmm, this one is doable. Wu Shaocheng calculated the damage. Even though the toad’s skill ignores 50% defense, it would only deal about 137 damage to him. With his health at 290, he was more than safe. He currently had 23 points of poison damage, so three hits could take it down, and with his movement speed of 33, even with a 30% speed reduction, he’d still have 20 speed, which was enough to easily defeat it.

Well, it’s ugly, but it’s just a fight, not a date. I can tolerate it.

A level 8 toad gives Wu Shaocheng 30 experience points, plus an additional 9 points for being three levels higher. That’s 39 points per toad. He needed to kill 77 to level up. In addition to four copper coins, the toads also dropped a sticky saliva, which Wu Shaocheng guessed was a quest item. Every type of monster in the Beginner Village seemed to have its own related quest. So, Wu Shaocheng started his quest to kill toads.

Meanwhile, many of the top players in Beginner Village 8365 had already reached level 3 and were starting to challenge the crabs. Most of them had at least a few pieces of equipment, with the strongest players wearing full defensive gear, although most of it was armor with only 2 attribute points, mainly dropped by the goats. These items didn’t provide much of a boost, and even though groups of five players worked together, the crabs were still tough to deal with for current players.

At that moment, everyone in Beginner Village 8365 was watching the auction house eagerly, hoping for the mysterious player to list more equipment. Although many items had appeared in the auction house by now, they were mostly 2-point attribute items, priced quite high, and a few pieces had likely been listed after Wu Shaocheng’s equipment went on sale. However, no one was buying.

Just then, a pair of shoes appeared in the auction house with a price tag of 10,000. As soon as it was listed, someone bought it within a second.

“Holy shit, what just happened?”

“I think I saw a pair of shoes listed, and then they disappeared.”

“Holy shit, really. I checked the auction records. 5-point attribute shoes, priced at 10,000. It has to be from that big shot. Who the hell has such fast hands! Must be single for thirty years.”