Deserted island shipwreck.
Blood Sea Wave battled through an entire day, making a final push towards level 5. As darkness fell, more skeleton warriors began to emerge from the shipwreck. This is perfect!
A flash of gold, and Blood Sea Wave finally leveled up to 5, heralding the precious reward of +1 Basic Damage increase! The system is very stingy in granting Basic Damage increases, only granting 1 point every 5 levels. Yet, even so, with various equipment bonuses, a player's killing power can still be extremely terrifying in the later stages, truly worthy of the title of hero.
Now, Blood Sea Wave's Basic Killing rate has reached 4−7, and his Attack has finally offset the monster's high Defense of 6 points. With Expert Level Attack Skill adding a 40% damage bonus, it ensures a one-hit kill on Skeleton Warriors with just 5 health points! Previously, due to insufficient killing power, it was necessary to finish off the monsters with an additional hit. The difference between one hit and two is the difference between doubling the leveling efficiency or not!
But Blood Sea Wave won't continue the monotonous skeleton slaying anymore; it's time to kill his way into the cabin and explore the secrets inside the ship. Various signs indicate that there must be a Necromancer or something similar in the cabin continuously summoning skeletons. That must be taken down first!
Facing the continuous stream of skeleton warriors pouring out from the cabin, Blood Sea Wave wielded his shield and capitalized on his 2 point higher Attack Speed advantage over the skeletons, killing one with each swing and taking no damage himself! Awesome! Now there's no need even to rest and recover health! How much more than double is this efficiency increase? Level 5 truly is a watershed!
Through the narrow, dimly-lit cabin corridor, Blood Sea Wave fought his way until he reached his target—a dim room constantly spawning Skeleton Warriors!
As expected, there was a humanoid monster shrouded in white mist in the room, continuously chanting spells, with skeletons streaming out one after another from a Summoning Array beneath it! BOSS!!!
That's what I'm looking for, kill!
Blood Sea Wave, holding his shield, charged forward with his blade, and at that moment, the BOSS flashed with a Black Light, and a streak of Black Light descended upon Blood Sea Wave!
—System Prompt: You have been hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Weakening Curse", maximum damage −2, lasting one day!
Blood Sea Wave was startled! My maximum damage was reduced! My damage is now 4−5! No matter, even if it's 4−4, I can still kill in one hit! Blood Sea Wave firmly swung to kill another skeleton and charged forward!
The BOSS flashed with Black Light again!
—System Prompt: You have been hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Pain Torture", Attack −6, lasting one day!
Blood Sea Wave was shocked again! Attack reduced by 6! This meant that he couldn't break through the Skeleton Warrior's Defense anymore! With a difference of 6 in Attack and Defense, he could only deal 85% damage, that is, 3.4−4.2! Even with the subsequent 40% bonus from Expert Attack Skill, it might not reach 5!
In shock, Blood Sea Wave killed another skeleton obstructing his path!
Blood Sea Wave's confidence was unshaken, charge! As long as he didn't deal the minimum damage, he could still kill the skeletons in one hit!
The BOSS flashed with Black Light again!
—System Prompt: You have been hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Delay Magic", your Attack Speed has dropped by 30%! Lasting one day!
Blood Sea Wave cursed: "Fucking hell! Are you ever going to stop?!"
Now, Blood Sea Wave's 12 point Attack Speed fell to 8, no longer faster than the skeletons! Clang! A skeleton warrior in front struck off 1 point of his life!
Blood Sea Wave killed another skeleton and rushed into the room, the BOSS was within reach!
—System Prompt: You have been hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Armor-Piercing Weakening", your Defense has decreased by 4 points! Lasting one day!
I'm not afraid of your reduction with my high Defense! The multitude of spells from the BOSS left Blood Sea Wave at a loss for words!
At this moment, Blood Sea Wave finally saw clearly that this BOSS was actually a ghost holding a shimmering Black Magic Book! And this ghost's attributes were just those of an ordinary ghost—the normal state of Undead Third-level troops!
—Ghost: Attack 4, Defense 4, Health Points 16, Damage 2−4, Attack Speed: normal speed 8, Movement Speed 15, special skill: Nihility Body, Flying troops, Undying Creature.
Blood Sea Wave had an epiphany! How could a small BOSS from a Newbie Village possess so many Dark Magic Spells? This Magic Book is the key! As long as he killed this BOSS, the Magic Book would most likely drop! The Magic Book itself is a repository of vast Magic Power! The book itself could even be alive! A Magic Book allows a person with no magic foundation to cast spells recorded in the book! Such a treasure appearing in the Newbie Village?
Of course, for the trial of a Divine-level Hero like me, it's not strange to directly come across Divine Artifacts!
Full of excitement, Blood Sea Wave swung his sword at the ghost—"Missed"!
—Newbie Tip: Ghosts have the special skill "Nihility Body", which has a 50% chance to evade physical and magical attacks! If the first two attacks miss, the third attack is guaranteed to hit.
—Ah pah! Blood Sea Wave spat out in frustration!
Damn it! Even if I am full of Black Magic, I still have 30 Health Points, I'll fight you, you weakling with just 16 Health Points to death! Blood Sea Wave struck another blow "−3!"
You can't dodge this time, right? 13 Health Points left! Blood Sea Wave's battle spirit surged!
Meanwhile, two more Skeleton Warriors emerged from the Summoning Array and hacked fiercely around Blood Sea Wave, who, despite taking hits from several skeletons, kept his focus on chopping the ghost! −4! Missed! Missed! −3! …
As the ghost's health steadily dropped, Blood Sea Wave's health was also dwindling. As another Skeleton Warrior emerged from the Summoning Array and Blood Sea Wave's crucial final blow missed once again, Blood Sea Wave knew it was futile. With only 4 Health Points remaining, he cursed angrily and was forced to flee!
At least his Movement Speed was high, ensuring that the skeletons couldn't possibly catch up. Granted, the ghost could, but as long as it dared to leave the skeletons behind in pursuit, he could still withstand two hits with his 4 Health Points and still had the chance to defeat it!
But the last hope was shattered; the Ghost Mage did not chase after him through the door.
Just a little bit more! Just a little bit more! Blood Sea Wave burped all over during his escape from rage!
If, if I teamed up with that trash, it would've been a sure win, right? This thought only lingered in Blood Sea Wave's mind for half a second before he shook his head to dismiss it. Everything on the ship—the experience, the equipment, the treasures—are all mine; no outsiders are getting their hands on even a speck! It's okay if I can't beat them now; I'll level up once more and that should be sufficient. Just continue killing skeletons on deck.
It's just that being afflicted with Black Magic for a full day of gaming time is seriously infuriating! The rest I can bear, worst comes to worst, I'll just go back to being level 1, but this Delay Magic is downright disgusting! Being slower than the skeletons, I'm doomed to take hits first! Resting to recover health wastes so much time, so frustrating!
However, frustration is good! The more frustration I feel, the more it proves the value of this Black Magic Book! I must get my hands on it!
...
Desert Island Beach.
After Da Fei swam ashore, he found the nearest anemone puddle; the first shot scored a good start!
——System Prompt: You have obtained an incomplete information card of the Demonized Poisonous Anemone!
——Newbie Tip: Incomplete information cards cannot reap full rewards from NPCs; please continue battling them to collect more detailed information.
Indeed, it's an anemone! So that's its name! Truly domineering! Da Fei excitedly reviewed the information card.
——Demonized Poisonous Anemone:
Creature Type: Small Plant;
Attack: ?
Defense: 0
Damage: ?
Health: 11
Attack Speed: Very slow
Move Speed: 0
Special Skill: ?
Loot: ?
Experience: 10
Hahaha, a big payoff after incremental gains! Onward! Da Fei killed dozens more, but still nothing stirred.
What's happening? Could it be because the anemones couldn't retaliate against my attacks, so I couldn't learn their damage info? Probably so, after all, you never truly know the pain of a punch if you've never been hit.
Should I take a hit to try it out?
No way, that's nonsense! Although judging from the health and experience, this anemone is on par with a Second-level Soldier, but plant monsters are known to be tricky, and their behavior is beyond any common sense, not to mention its name includes the words "poisonous"! Can a fragile gunner like me withstand that sort of thing?
Besides, I've studied my way to 2000 experience points, about to hit level 4, I can't screw this up. Anyway, I'm in no hurry for the information, leveling up is the real deal. Moreover, a low main skill level in Reconnaissance Skill limits the effectiveness of its sub-skills; better wait until I level up to intermediate Reconnaissance Skill.
And so, Da Fei continued the battle and finally, with a flash of golden light, leveled up!
——System Prompt: Congratulations! You've reached Level 4, your health has increased by +2, you've obtained 1 strategic attribute point, 1 skill point, and your command power has increased by +1.
No need for big words, level up Reconnaissance Skill!
——System Prompt: You have used 1 skill point to learn Intermediate Reconnaissance Skill!
——Intermediate Reconnaissance Skill: Your field of view is increased by 40%. You can view the number, morale, and logistics information of enemies. There is a chance to discover hidden enemies within the range of vision and to give early warnings against attacks from discovered hidden enemies, thereby increasing player's chances to evade attacks.
At this moment,
——System Prompt: Reconnaissance Skill warns that there is a powerful hidden enemy lurking nearby; please stay alert!
The legendary hidden BOSS! Da Fei was astounded on the spot! The effects of this Intermediate Reconnaissance Skill are too immediate, right?
At this time, a large red square was flashing non-stop on Da Fei's minimap, indicating that there was a threat in that area! The world as seen by players with Reconnaissance Skill is indeed different from that of ordinary players.
Now the question was, what to do? Facing a hidden BOSS, what could a weak gunner like myself do? But this question only stayed in Da Fei's mind for half a second before he shook his head to dispel it!
Of course, scout it out! How do I know if there's a chance without looking? Just like how I often buy lottery tickets, even though I've never won, as long as you buy one, you have a one-in-several-million chance to change your fate; without buying, you'll never have the chance to change your fate!