The Big Yellow Dog turned into a bolt of white light that Li Yi kept into his Backpack.
Every player started off with a twenty-slot backpack.
When he darted out of the other end of the little forest, Li Yi was greeted by a field of reeds. There was a crystal-clear stream directly ahead of him, where three players were desperately chasing the Baby Firebirds that were flying up and down and everywhere.
[Baby Firebird, Regular Monster, Level 3. Attacking method: spits out small fireballs from its mouth for a long-range attack.]
The power of the Baby Firebird's small fireball attack was only decent at best, but the troublesome part was they could fly. The game had just started, after all, and none of the classes had any long-range attack skills before reaching Level Five. Once the Baby Firebird took to the skies, all they could do was act as moving targets for the small fireball.
"The monsters here are too
The three players chased it around for half a day and still could not kill even one Baby Firebird, so they had no choice but to give up and leave this place.
There were no more people in the reed field farming zone. Li Yi waited until the Baby Firebirds had come out of
The Baby Firebirds landed on the ground one after the other, cooing as they foraged for food on the ground. Before they were attacked by players, they would not take the initiative to attack any players.
Li Yi walked up to a Baby Firebird that had strayed from the pack and stabbed it with his knife.
A bright red −25 floated out from the top of the Baby Firebird's knife. That one stab had wiped out a third of the Baby Firebird's HP.
"Coo-coo--"
The Baby Firebird flapped its wings and took flight. Just then, Li Yi stabbed it a second time.
[ −28]
When the Baby Firebird had only 10 HP left, it flew out of Li Yi's attacking range. Turning its head in mid-air, it shot out a fireball and immediately began cooing again. One after another, the other Baby Firebirds took to the sky…
'What a waste…'
Li Yi turned around and ran, escaping from the Baby Firebirds' attack range.
About forty seconds later, the Baby Firebirds finally came out of Aggro Mode again, landing on the ground once more to look for food.
Li Yi rushed forward once more, aiming at a Baby Firebird and stabbing with his knife…
[−28]
[−39]
[Critical Hit!]
The Baby Firebird fell from the sky and crashed to the ground, dead.
Success!
He had killed a Baby Firebird, so Li Yi's EXP Bar immediately went up by 5%.
In King of Pantheon, when players killed higher level enemies, if the level of the enemy was 15 levels higher than the player, the rewards and EXP that the players earn would be halved. If the player was currently in a team, the EXP gained would be halved again. This was in order to prevent players from farming monsters using a bug where the enemies got stuck and thus leveling up at breakneck speeds.
The EXP from the Baby Firebird was the highest among monsters of the same level, but to novice players, it was not all that easy to kill a Baby Firebird. Whether you went at it solo or in a team, they would only take two hits before flying into the air, and by the time they landed again, their HP would have been fully recovered.
The method Li Yi used was the Archer's class perk, 1% Crit Rate.
Any class could land a Critical Hit, but only the Archer class was naturally endowed with a 1% increase in Crit Rate.
Do not underestimate this 1% Crit Rate. Most of the time, the appearance of a Critical Hit could instantly change the situation at hand.
Li Yi bent over and touched the body of the Baby Firebird a few times.
System Notification: [You have obtained seven feathers.]
Li Yi ran toward yet another Baby Firebird and waved his knife again, stabbing away…
By now, the farming zones around the Novice Village were already packed to the brim. Whenever a monster spawned, it would instantly be dissected by several dozen people. The EXP was split among all those people and wounded up being pitifully negligible.
In the beginning, it was not very easy for Li Yi to kill a Baby Firebird. He would fight the monster more than ten times without getting a single Critical Hit, but once he persevered past one level and reached Level 3, things got much easier.
His ATK went up again, so even if he did not get a Critical Hit, as long as his attack was not at the weakest end of the range, he would still be able to kill off a Baby Firebird with two stabs.
He took a full two and a half hours to go from Level 2 to Level 3, but only half an hour to go from Level 3 to Level 4.
Once he reached Level 4, he could definitely kill a Baby Firebird within two hits, and his leveling sped up exponentially.
But this did not last long. Li Yi's farming methods soon caught the attention of other players, and more players began to run over to that side. The reed fields became chaotic.
Kill stealing was the most shameless thing to do.
Even if these players landed a Critical Hit, not many of them could kill a Baby Firebird. But this was not an Instance Dungeon map, anyone could fight the monsters that just spawned. As a result of their random attacking, barely any Baby Firebirds died, but the rest just flew to the sky and refused to land anymore. The small fireballs went flying everywhere, killing off quite a few of the players below.
He checked his Backpack and saw that he had obtained more than 500 feathers. It was more or less enough for him to learn how to craft arrows.
[Level: 4]
[Name: Dark Wing]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Archer]
[HP: 29]
[MP: 13]
[STR: 23]
[DEF: 8]
[AGI: 23]
[SPD: 5]
[AP: 0]
Li Yui shook his head and ran until he was underneath the flock of Baby Firebirds, taking the attacks of the small fireballs of his own accord.
Before Level 10, dying did not cost him any EXP or equipment. Right now, letting yourself be killed by monsters was the fastest way to get back to the city.
"Young Hero, you've done rather well. For some reason, I see the shadow of the Great Sharpshooter, Mou Cecil, on you. This is my reward for you. Oh, yes, the one that's usually watching over the barley fields is Erhei'zi's Big Yellow Dog. Why haven't I see it today? Could you do me a favor and help me ask Erhei'zi?"
System Notification: [You have completed the quest Kill 10 Small Wild Boars. Obtained a Tattered Felt Hat as well as 200 EXP from the Chief.]
[Tattered Felt Hat (White)]
[DEF +1]
[
[Note: With this dog-skin felt hat, even the hottest sun will not darken your skin…]
…
Li Yi accepted the quest, Ask Erhei'zi about the Big Yellow Dog, and walked to the south side of the Novice Village, so familiar with the place it was as though this was his own backyard. At the corner of a wall, he found the NPC, Erhei'zi, who was taking a nap.
"The Chief asked you to come? That damned bastard Old Yellow, I just forgot to feed it Small Wild Boar Meat for three days, and it's already run away. I don't know where it's gone either, maybe the little forest or the reed field? You go and look for it yourself. I'm so freaking exhausted, and sleepy too, I'll take a nap now."
Erhei'zi yawned, but just as he was about to turn around and fall asleep, Li Yi released the Big Yellow Dog from his Backpack.
"So fast?" Erhei'zi looked at Li Yi in surprise.
System Notification: [You have completed the quest Search for the Big Yellow Dog. Obtained Exquisite Grass Sandals and 300 EXP from Erhei'zi.]
[Now, you can return to the Chief.]
[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]
He had instantly leveled up again. If it were not for his deep understanding of this game, there was no way Li Yi would have been able to accomplish this. Take, for example, those novice players who had just entered the game. Most of them had hurriedly run to the Chief to complete their quest as soon as they killed ten Small Wild Boars. As for the Small Wild Boar Meat that was dropped, barely anyone noticed it at all.
By the time they completed their quest, found Erhei'zi, and began to search for the Big Yellow Dog, they would suddenly realize that without enough Small Wild Boar Meat, they would not be able to catch the Big Yellow Dog at all. So they had no choice, they would have to go back and kill more Small Wild Boars. But by then, the Small Wild Boars were being killed by several thousand players at once…
With one thing after the other, how long time would they have wasted? The players who were lucky and had good control would still need about seven or eight hours to finish all this, but how long did Li Yi take?
He just used half an hour to complete all of it!
Of course, this was not the most frustrating part. When the other players finally catch the Big Yellow Dog and hand it over to Erhei'zi, they would only reach Level 3, but Li Yi was different. He farmed in the reed field for so long specifically so that he could reach Level 5 as soon as he completed this quest, because Erhei'zi would not offer the Class Quest to any players lower than Level 5.
Erhei'zi considered Li Yi in shock and awe. "Young Hero, judging by your attire, you must be an Archer, right? (Archer-class characters have a quiver for arrows on their backs.) But why are you holding a pocket knife rather than a bow and arrow? Don't tell me you don't have your own bow and arrows?"
Li Yi, "..."
"Judging by your plain equipment, you probably can't afford to buy a weapon either, huh? Fine, go look for the village's Archer Skill Mentor… If it's doing me a favor, I guess she'd probably give you a bow?"
Ding!
System Notification: [Accept Good Samaritan Erhei'zi's Help?]
Accept!
Li Yi had been waiting for this notification.
After all, this was the one and only way to obtain a Class Weapon before Level 10!
According to the design of the King of Pantheon game, other than Bosses, no non-humanoid monsters could drop any equipment. Before Level 10, players could not touch humanoid monsters at all, so it was practically impossible to get a weapon from a monster.
What about buying one?
There were no weapon shops in the Novice Village.
Unless he did Erhei'zi's Class Quest, he would have no choice but to keep stabbing with his pocket knife until he reached Level 10…
"With the Big Yellow Dog guarding the barley fields, the Small Wild Boars won't dare come again. Thank you, Young Hero."
Since he returned upon completing the quest, the Chief expressed his gratitude but did not give him any rewards. After a long-winded speech of nonsense, he finally gave Li Yi the next quest: to look for Sanhei'zi, who was fixing the bridge on the east side of the village, and ask if he needed help. (Novices were made to run errands--!)
Li Yi did not go to look for Sanhei'zi immediately. Instead, he went in search of the Archer Skill Mentor in order to obtain his Class Weapon.
The Archer Skill Mentor was a woman in leopard-print shorts and a leopard-print bra, with curves in all the right places. Her snow-white thighs made many perverted players stop in their tracks.
"Although Erhei'zi may like to sneak off for his naps, he sure is a helpful guy."
Since he had a referral from Erhei'zi, after a short conversation, the Archer Skill Mentor, Rena gave Li Yi a blue-quality bow, Rena's Short Bow, as well as 100 Broken Wooden Arrows.
[Rena's Short Bow]
[Equipment Level: Level 5]
[ATK 5–13]
[Crit Rate 1%]
[Additional Attributes: ATK SPD +1]
[Note: This is the weapon Mentor Rena keeps close to her body…]
…
[Broken Wooden Arrows]
[Additional ATK 0–1]
…
Rena's expression was apologetic. "Sorry, the arrows have been left around for too long, so most of them have rotted away. If you're lacking arrows, go collect some Baby Firebird Feathers, and I can help you make some brand new arrows."
"I've already collected the feathers."
Li Yi took out more than 500 feathers and handed them over to Rena.