"Kid, do you want the Magical Spring Water?"
Mohai used a [Free Action] chance and spent 20 over minutes going south from the Monolith Stronghold. After traveling for more than ten minutes across a grassland filled with white eagles, he finally reached an average-sized lake in sky blue.
The water from the lake would be the Magical Spring Water. Low-level Sorcerers could recover all their MP in a single gulp, and soon, this place would be the holy leveling ground for Level 10 Sorcerers.
Beside the lake was a big tortoise with black stripes on its shell facing the sunset with its eyes closed.
When Mohai came by, the black tortoise opened its wrinkled eyes and studied him from head to toe. The tone of the question sounded lazy.
It was the first meeting between the black tortoise and Mohai, but Mohai was quite familiar with the black tortoise. At least, he had a better understanding of the black tortoise than the bandit leader had.
The black tortoise might only be a Level 10 Elite, but he was unlike the bandit leader who had been a lousy mini Boss that filled the entire area. The tortoise had a name and was a one-of-a-kind Elite in the game. His name was Rexus.
"Huh? Kid, you've awoken your self-thinking ability? Then this will be easier than I thought. I can give you the Magical Spring Water but it doesn't come without a condition. You can trade for it with 3 Faith credits or you can collect three Burning Fruits from the Magma Cave for me," said Rexus, squinting his eyes after sizing Mohai up carefully.
Tsk! This old tortoise is really greedy!
Mohai could not help but look bitter after he heard the request.
The old tortoise obviously knew that Mohai could think for himself, thus he tried to exploit the fact to his advantage.
Mohai still did not have any Faith credits and there were only two ways to earn it. The first way would be to kill a large number of players and get 1 Faith credit. The other way would be completing the mission for the monster.
He got this information from an NPC who had sided with the monsters during his past life. As for the exact number of players he needed to kill to get 1 Faith credit, he was not clear about that. He was also clueless about how to get a mission from a monster. All he knew was that getting Faith credit was not an easy task, especially for a Level 10 Elite monster. Getting 1 Faith credit was considered a marvel, let alone 3 Faith credits.
However, this old tortoise was demanding for 3 Faith credits at their first meeting!
As for the Burning Fruit, Mohai knew what it was, and because of that, he knew how greedy this old tortoise was.
The Burning Fruit was a specialty of the Magma Cave, a Level 15 area. The weakest monster there was on Level 15 while the Boss, the Magma Golem, was on Level 20.
Unlike the open area like the Abandoned Mining Area, if Mohai were to wander into the Magma Cave, he would be treated as a trespasser who was trying to invade the Magma Golem's territory.
The Burning Fruit had many powerful effects, one of the strongest being increasing 1 Fire Resistance after eating it for the first time.
1 Fire Resistance meant receiving 1% less Fire damage.
The Resistance in the game came mainly from equipment, so something like the Burning Fruit which could increase Resistance upon consumption was considered a rare item of the best quality.
One should never underestimate the 1% effect. The later the game progressed, the more important resistance would be. Even though the game would go on for another five years, the Burning Fruit was still short on supply.
Truth be told, since it was still the very early stages of the game and no players had ventured into the Magma Cave, Mohai could be the first to get the three Burning Fruits. It was only possible if he could walk out alive.
A normal bandit leader would have to rely on luck to find a Burning Fruit in the Magma Cave and walk out alive, so finding three would be impossible.
Rexus knew Mohai was smarter than those mindless idiots, hence the tortoise wanted to secure more advantage for himself.
"Are you dumb? Is there something wrong with your brain?" Mohai looked askance at the tortoise.
"Kid, who are you calling dumb?" Rexus glared at Mohai with disdain.
"I'm referring to you! If I have 3 Faith credits, I would have gotten the Magma Golem or the Black Witch to slaughter you for whatever loot that I can get! As for three Burning Fruits? You are trying to get me killed!" Mohai did not hold his smirk back.
Rexus was surprised because he never expected Mohai to know about the Magma Golem and even the Black Witch.
The Black Witch was the boss of the Black Crow Forest and was also a Level 20 Boss. She was even harder to deal with than the Magma Golem.
"Hmm…Fine, since you don't have any Faith credits, it wouldn't be that decent for me to put you in a difficult spot. Go and get the Burning Fruit and exchange it for the spring water!"
Even after Mohai saw through Rexus' thoughts, the tortoise did not feel embarrassed or even blushed. He simply answered as if he was having a hard time.
"No, the Magma cave is too far away," Mohai rejected without a second thought.
"Kid, don't test me! If you don't go, get the hell out of my face. Otherwise, I'll show you what I am made of!" Rexus was furious all of a sudden.
Who was the tortoise? The tortoise was the great Rexus! When Rexus was young, even the Magma Golem would have to bury itself in fear and stay away from the great tortoise. Even though Rexus was no longer in his prime, he would not simply allow himself to be bullied by some kid!
How dare this ignorant kid who did not know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth cause trouble in his territory?!
To Rexus' surprise, right after his threatening words subsided, the bandit leader, whom he called kid, swung a large broken iron sword at him.
Mohai never expected Rexus to hand the Magical Spring Water over without a fight, thus he had brought eight goons with him just for the fight with the greedy tortoise.
"Kid, if you have a death wish, I'll send you to hell!" Feeling insulted, Rexus was truly mad now.
The eight bandit goons did not move a muscle. Instead, Mohai went up to Rexus and started fighting the tortoise.
Rexus mainly attacked with magical attacks and every hit on Mohai could chip away 20 to 30 damage of his HP.
A while later, Mohai lost almost 2,000 HP while Rexus only lost less than 400 HP. On top of that, Rexus' regeneration speed was quick, so he practically lost less than 300 HP.
"Kid, remember to be humble after you revive! As for the Magical Spring Water, you can come to me whenever you get the three Burning Fruits."
In Rexus' opinion, Mohai was already dead.
This b*stard! How can he claim that he has awoken the self-thinking ability? He can't even fight like those mindless idiots. He just stood still since the start!
No, those mindless idiots can fight a lot better than this ignorant b*stard! He brought eight men with him but he didn't call any of them for help. How stupid is he?
Huh?! My attack missed?
Rexus was surprised. Up until this point, all his attacks had been able to hit the bandit leader.
It must be my luck. I'll try again!
Rexus attacked again, but he missed it perfectly.
Not only did he miss the second time, but all his following attacks missed the bandit leader who he had assumed was an idiot. The bandit leader suddenly felt like a different person as he seemed to be able to predict his attacks. His attack could no longer inflict a single point of damage on him.
[Slash]!
While Rexus continued his furious attacks, believing that he could hit Mohai, the eight bandit goons rushed over upon Mohai's command and used [Slash] on Rexus.
Level 5 bandit goons were weak and their normal attacks could only inflict 1 damage point to Rexus' HP, but the [Slash] skill could ignore one's defense and inflict 30 damage points. Eight of them instantly inflicted 250 in damage from Rexus' HP.
Enraged, Rexus raised his head and prepared to unleash his [Water Arrow].
The [Water Arrow] would explode upon hitting his target and inflict the same amount of damage to the surrounding targets.
A single [Water Arrow] could easily wipe out the entire group of goons.
[Heavy Bash]!
It was the first time Mohai was fighting Rexus, but he was quite clear about the tortoise's methods. The moment Rexus raised his head, Mohai used [Heavy Bash] on his head.
Rexus was instantly stunned and his [Water Arrow] was interrupted. Immediately, the eight bandit goons seized the opportunity to step away.
Snatch!
Three pieces of equipment and their information popped up in Mohai's vision. He quickly glanced at them and swiftly moved his hand to the shell, snatching a black iron mail away.
It was a Level 10 iron mail with black iron quality!
He quickly placed the black iron mail on his body, switching the old rags out and gawked at Rexus. "This iron mail is great. Thanks!"
"Kid, how dare you snatch my equipment?!" Rexus glared at Mohai so furiously that he could eat the latter alive.
The effect of [Heavy Bash] was greatly reduced on an Elite, so Rexus was stunned for less than 3 seconds.
"You are trying to kill me, so why can't I snatch your equipment?" Mohai smiled.
"Kid, you'd better remember what you did today! As long as I, Rexus, is around, you will never get your hands on the Magical Spring Water!"
After Rexus saw the eight bandit goons retreat, he turned around and jumped back into the lake with a splash.
What the hell? This script doesn't seem right! As a Level 10 Elite with 30K HP, why the f*ck are you running away after losing just over 500 HP?!
This time around, Mohai was surprised. He did not expect the old tortoise to escape so decisively.