Chapter 65 – Still Can’t Beat It

After completing the transaction with Coldmoon, he casually replied to Xue’er in the chat window: “250,000.”

Clothes and weapons generally had better attributes than other gear. Although this bracelet dropped from a level 20 monster, its stats were slightly inferior to the Green Scale Armor. So 250,000 was a pretty fair price. Having dealt with Wu Shaochen multiple times, he already knew this girl was loaded and proud—no need to save her any money.

Sure enough, she immediately sent a remote trade request and entered 250,000 into the box. Wu Shaochen placed the bracelet in, and the transaction was completed swiftly.

The only thing left was the Tiger King Helmet. Wu Shaochen put it up at the auction house in bidding mode for 30 minutes. If it sold, this run would net him almost two million.

Then he went to the pharmacy and sold off the remaining seventy-plus Medium Healing Potions, and directly bought 50 Large Healing Potions. With over 10,000 HP now, the medium ones just didn’t cut it anymore. He needed to be well-stocked—he had a big challenge coming.

After buying the potions, he dropped by the general store and bought 10 more Return Scrolls. He’d used up the last two. These were something he definitely needed to keep stocked. If he ever wandered too far without one, it would be a real hassle to return. Sure, he was fast—but he hated running.

Then Wu Shaochen went to the warehouse. He found the old man there and spent 20 gold to expand his backpack to 60 slots. One gold per slot—what a scam. He’d bet no one else in all of Oracle had ever spent money to expand their inventory. If he hadn’t almost run out of space in the last dungeon, he wouldn’t have spent that money either.

With everything ready, Wu Shaochen headed for the Roaring Tiger Forest. The road was peaceful and quiet. Lately, no one from Proudly Peerless had shown up—probably off secretly leveling somewhere. No trouble meant boredom.

“Ding! The item you listed in the auction house has been purchased. Auction price: 260,000. After a 39,000 fee, 221,000 has been transferred to your bound bank account.”

“Nice, another two hundred grand. This dungeon run earned me two million. If I keep this up, I’ll have the money for a house in just a few days,” Wu Shaochen said happily.

Back at Roaring Tiger Forest, Wu Shaochen carefully made his way deeper inside. The Jungle Tigers he had previously cleared had all respawned. But he couldn’t be bothered to clear them again. His goal this time was to check the Tiger King’s stats—see if there was any chance he could fight it.

He reached the deepest area without seeing the Tiger King. No idea where that guy had wandered off to. After a few more minutes of walking, a massive cave appeared ahead.

“This must be its lair,” Wu Shaochen muttered. He lingered at the entrance for two minutes, then clenched his teeth and stepped inside. He was already here—he had to at least take a look.

The cave was pitch-black, but not completely without visibility. Just dim. Wu Shaochen carefully felt his way forward. The cave interior was spacious—makes sense, considering the size of the tiger. If it were smaller, it couldn’t even get in here.

After about two or three minutes, he finally reached the deepest part. He immediately saw a massive tiger lying deep in the cave, sleeping. Behind it was a huge sealing formation, from which wisps of black demonic energy emerged.

His entrance instantly alerted the Jungle Tiger King. The beast shot to its feet and, upon recognizing Wu Shaochen, immediately lunged at him.

“Damn, why so mad? I’m just here to take a look! Can’t we not fight?” Wu Shaochen cast Insight and turned to flee. This tiger was too aggressive—attacking on sight. Fortunately, he was currently much faster than it.

[Demonic Jungle Tiger King] – Gold-level BOSS
Level: 30
HP: 2,000,000
Physical Attack: 4200
Physical Defense: 2400
Magic Defense: 2200
Movement Speed: 500

Skill 1 – Pounce: Leaps at a target, dealing 190% physical damage. Knocks down targets with lower attack than itself. Range: 5 meters. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Skill 2 – Bite: Bites the target, dealing 200% physical damage and recovering 50% of the damage dealt as HP. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Skill 3 – Whip: Uses its tail to strike the target, dealing 190% physical damage and launching the target into the air. Range: 2 meters. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Skill 4 – Tiger’s Roar: Unleashes a roar, dealing 150% physical damage to all targets in a 30-meter cone in front, and stunning them for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

…

“Damn, this thing’s insane! How the hell am I supposed to fight that?!” Wu Shaochen cursed while fleeing, not daring to look back. He sprinted out of the cave and kept running until he was far away. That BOSS was absolutely out of his league—one skill combo and he’d be toast.

He’d experienced the Pounce skill before—easy to dodge at range, not sure up close. But Whip was straight-up nasty—clearly a hard crowd control. If he got launched and then hit with Pounce, he’d be knocked down, and then Bite would finish him off. That combo alone was lethal. Plus, both skills had the same cooldown—it was clearly meant to be a combo set.

“Damn it, do all Gold-level BOSSes have skill combos now? The Guardian in the Mystic Treasury wasn’t even Gold-tier, but its combos were a pain. This Tiger King’s combo is way worse.” Wu Shaochen felt a headache coming on. He couldn’t abandon this quest, but at level 20, fighting a level 30 Gold BOSS was a huge stretch.

The worst part was that the BOSS had three control-type skills. Whip could knock him into the air, where he’d be immobilized. Then Pounce would knock him down again, followed by Bite to finish the job. No one could survive that. The only slightly less worrying skill was Tiger’s Roar, the massive 30-meter AOE stun. It shared the same cooldown as Void, so he could counter it perfectly. Unfortunately, his boots’ Evasion skill had a 3-minute cooldown—otherwise he might stand a chance. As for Stunning Strike, its range was too short. He’d get launched before even getting close.

“Screw it. I still have over a day. I’ll max out my talent points first and try to boost my HP. I’ll clear another dungeon tomorrow and raise my power as much as possible. Maybe then I’ll have a shot.”

With that in mind, Wu Shaochen left the Roaring Tiger Forest and set his sights on the Abandoned Mine again. He’d originally said he was done fighting skeletons today, but the Jungle Tiger King had hit his confidence. Time to grind. The best way to improve quickly was through talent points and Immortal Physique—and the Abandoned Mine was the best place for that. The mobs were abundant and just the right level.

The mine was in the opposite direction of the forest. Wu Shaochen used a Return Scroll to go back to Jinling City, then immediately set off for the Abandoned Mine.