Two hours passed in an instant. With continuous monster grinding, Li Yao had reached level three. Most players took nearly three days to reach level three, but Li Yao achieved it in less than a day.
Li Yao had taken a few hours offline for sleep, understanding the reborn life's emphasis on physical health.
Upon logging back in at the game's dusk, Li Yao discovered the second random treasure chest behind a large tree.
"System: Opening treasure chest..."
"System: Received Bronze Shield."
"System: Received Sixty-Five Copper Coins."
"System: Received Apprentice Boots."
Bronze Shield
Quality: Excellent (Green)
Block: 15%
Armor: 15
Strength: 3
Stamina: 2
Equipped Requirement: Level 3, Warrior, Knight
Delighted, Li Yao took a few glances at the top-tier small shield for a shield warrior before placing it in his backpack.
Apprentice Boots (Leather Armor)
Quality: Excellent (Green)
Armor: 5
Stamina: 2
Increases movement speed by 5%
Equipped Requirement: Level 2
"The stats are quite trash, but better than nothing," Li Yao said, replacing his beginner's boots with 1 armor. Hunters can initially only wear leather armor. Only after reaching level 40 and completing their professional mission can they wear heavy leather armor, also known as chain mail or mail armor.
The experience needed to level up from three to four was quite substantial. Even as Li Yao was able to kill elites beyond his level, he had only just passed half the needed experience to reach level four by twilight, after having killed hundreds of elites.
If it weren't for the fact that the same materials could stack to two hundred, and he was only killing one type of monster, his initial ten or so backpack spaces would've run out of space already.
"It seems I can't find the last chest."
He had made numerous loops in the valley, monsters had respawned multiple times, but he still hadn't seen the third chest.
Roar...
Just as Li Yao was contemplating whether to turn back, a loud roar echoed through the valley. An eager look crossed Li Yao's face as the velociraptor king finally respawned.
Li Yao ran over there, shooting an arrow at the velociraptor king's crown, revealing its information.
Velociraptor King (Low-Level Boss)
Level: 3
Life: 2000
Attack: 55-65
Armor: 38
Ferocious Bite, Leap Claw Attack, King's Roar.
Wearing the Eye of the Creator, Li Yao found the Velociraptor King's weak points were virtually the same as the elites, with slightly more skills, higher attack, and armor stats. Without critical hits, he could hardly deal any damage. Players who do not choose free mode couldn't possibly defeat such a boss.
Thwack...
-5
The Charged Arrow accurately hit the Velociraptor King's leg balance point, but the Velociraptor King only swayed slightly without falling, still running at Li Yao rapidly.
Thwack...
-6
The second arrow also hit, but the Velociraptor King still didn't fall.
The Velociraptor King lept turmoil at Li Yao, its sharp claws flashing a red glow, indicating the start of the monster skill Leap Claw Attack. The boss's attack was not something an elite could match. Fortunately, Li Yao had already reached level three, thus significantly improving his stats.
Li Yao backstepped, and at the same time, his Charged Arrow accurately hit the Velociraptor King's blood-red eyes.
-45
The heavy blow caused the Velociraptor King's movement to falter slightly, and it was this millisecond delay that allowed Li Yao's Shadow Roll to narrowly avoid the glinting, lethal claw.
If he hadn't learned this skill, even with swift reflexes, his low-level attributes would've been unable to evade in time, leading to instant death.
The claws brushed past Li Yao's face. He could feel the slight chill and fierce whistling sound.
Li Yao used Shadow Roll three times in a row to increase the distance from the Velociraptor King. He then kept aiming and shooting at the King's leg joints one arrow at a time.
-5-7-5-6
The Velociraptor King finally fell to the ground with a tragic scream, while Li Yao kept moving to adjust the best shot angle and rapidly executed Charged Shots.
Once the Velociraptor King fell down, Li Yao shifted his target to the Velociraptor King's crown, the most vulnerable point.
-8-10-9-8...
The damage numbers were flashing at the corner of Li Yao's eyes.
Despite being the Velociraptor King, it couldn't even touch a shred of Li Yao's clothing. After the thirteenth time the Velociraptor King fell, its crown cracked with a snap.
Li Yao's arrow hit the crown, the damage increased subsequently.
-14-16-18...
Roar...
The Velociraptor King, with only four hundred lives left, finally let out its third skill, the King's Roar.
As it roared, two Velociraptor elites refreshed and roared towards the sky in unison. They dashed towards Li Yao along with the Velociraptor King.
Li Yao could not allow any error now. If he was hit by any monster, he might become immobilized. This immobilized state would prevent him from avoiding attacks from the other two Velociraptors, and it would mean death. Dying at this stage would cause a loss of a level. He is now at level three and a half, dying would revert him to level two, equivalent to losing one and a half levels of experience.
Li Yao took a deep breath. Obviously, the strategy he used before is not applicable this time. Against one boss and two elites, even with the Shadow Roll, he couldn't dodge all the damage.
From the corner of his eye, Li Yao noticed the dense woods at the edge of the valley, giving him an idea. Using the geographic environment to one's advantage in "The Ancient God World" is a measure between an ordinary master and a great master.
Li Yao chain-cast four Shadow Rolls and dashed into the woods. His mana was also almost drained.
As Li Yao ran, he charged up. After successfully charging, he suddenly took a leap and fired a shot back. After landing, his body continued to move forward, continuing to run and charge, then leaping and firing back again.
Even with this intense shooting, every arrow from Li Yao hit the mark. In his previous life, hunters who mastered this leap back shooting technique were rare.
-5-15-16-8-14
Li Yao moved swiftly through the woods. If it were on a plain, Li Yao would have been surrounded long ago. But in the dense woods, Li Yao was always able to escape danger.
Eventually, Li Yao's mana ran out and he had to resort to normal shooting, but this made him even more nimble.
In the woods, the Velociraptor King roared incessantly, incessantly besieging Li Yao with his two subordinates, but its health bar kept decreasing.
Several minutes later, the Velociraptor King's life was reduced to zero, and the two elites also disappeared. Seeing the corpse of the Velociraptor King, Li Yao just gave a faint smile.
Li Yao took out the carving knife and began to extract resources from the Velociraptor King.
"System: Extraction successful, obtained Velociraptor King's Crown (Blue Quality)"
"System: Obtained Velociraptor King's Leg Muscle (Blue Quality)"
"System: Obtained Velociraptor King's Claw (Blue Quality)"
"System: Obtained Velociraptor King's Bone (Blue Quality)"
"System: Obtained Leader Level Soul Gem (Dropped upon breaking, not from resource collection)"
"System: Obtained 105 Arrow Shafts"
Seeing these materials, Li Yao finally showed a smile. With these materials, he could build a small Arrow Tower after learning Engineering.
The Leader Level Soul Gem was even better. Combined with a weapon at the blacksmith, it had a chance to enhance a weapon's quality. For instance, this Soul Gem could 100% enhance a green rated weapon to a blue quality, and it even had a tiny chance to enhance a blue rated weapon to a purple epic quality.
Having packed up everything, it was already completely dark. Monsters at night would go berserk, with their attack and defense almost doubling, and their drop rate decreasing.
Although Li Yao could continue to hunt without getting injured, he did not have many arrows left in his arrow bag. Secondly, there were things to do in the city. Of course, the most important thing was to get rid of the things in his backpack. These items could be sold at a high price now, but they would depreciate greatly after a few days.
As for the third treasure chest, Li Yao was no longer obsessed with it. He had already reaped a lot today, there was no need to continue wasting time for a low-quality treasure chest whose content was uncertain.
Li Yao walked to a safe area and began to use the hearthstone to return to the city...
The Sun Tower exuded a red glow, along with the magic lamps on the square's buildings, the entire Beginner's Village was brightly illuminated.
The returning players were bustling around in the Beginner's Village.
During the early stage, there was no binding inn, so the return point of the hearthstone was on the square. Upon returning to the square, Li Yao immediately began shouting in the city trade channel.
"Elite Velociraptor's crown in exchange for any one set of the following materials: Mana-Drift Dragon Dust, Mature Mountain Cat's Collar, Enchanted Sapling Branch, or Skeleton Powder. Each only for one set, whisper me if interested."
After shouting three times, Li Yao waited for replies. The game had been launched for almost three days, he believed there were players who knew the use of an Elite Velociraptor's crown.
"The guy upstairs is clearly insane."
"Exactly, this guy just entered the game, right? Does he know how much is in a set?"
"I feel sorry for people like me who team up with others, taking turns to pick up loot. We collected less than three sets of materials in two days. Each set can be sold for two silver coins."
"Sigh, he must be desperate for money. You can gain a lot of experience by handing in a set of mission items. Young man, you should be practical."
"The people upstairs are noobs, no wonder they are struggling."
"It's a waste of time talking to them, I've already reserved an Elite Dragon's crown, I've made a profit."
"I've also reserved one. After killing elites all afternoon, everyone in the team has died at least once, yet none of us managed to break it successfully. I didn't expect that a pro would exchange it, I've made a big profit."
"Newbies want advice from veteran drivers, what can the Elite Velociraptor Crown do, and how do you get it?"
"Haha, the last one is reserved by me, I'm so happy. As a professional player of the team, let me enlighten you. The Elite crown can be handed over to a professional trainer to complete a task and receive at least one piece of green equipment. Also, let me tell you, even top guilds don't have many of these."
"Wow, even professional teams find it hard to get, is that true?"
"Of course, it's true, not blowing it up. In this beginner village, only our glorious leader Hai can kill elites, others don't even think about it."
"I knew it, but I threw the extra stuff at the store."
The newly enlightened players regretted immediately...
Li Yao used the Eye of the Creator to change his name to Spark of Star, also adjusted his appearance a bit before starting to shout for the exchange of those materials.
After ten minutes.
Looking at the materials in his backpack, he was immediately satisfied, and quickly left the square.
Every set of materials he exchanged was for mission items. Twenty mission items can be handed in for a quest, and each person can complete the quest ten times.
It took others two hard days to complete forty rounds of quests, while it took less than ten minutes for Li Yao including the time spent on collecting materials. When he handed in the last set of quests, a golden light enveloped Li Yao, he had leveled up to level four.
Others took three days just to reach level three, while he only took a little more than half a day to reach level four.
"At least I am leading in level, not bad."
After completing the quests, Li Yao immediately ran to the Class Hall. The Class Hall is one of the largest buildings in the Beginner's Village, where the class trainers are located in their respective places.
The Hunter Trainer is a beautiful High Elf woman. Compared to the busy scene in other trainers' areas, not a single player was near the Hunter Trainer.
Li Yao approached and bowed, saying, "Trainer, I wish to deliver the honor item."
Trainer Eileen nodded, took the Velociraptor skull and her pupils slightly shrank. She then looked at Li Yao seriously and said lightly, "Spark of Star, you are very good and you have brought honor to the hunters."
Under the envious gaze of other trainers, Eileen placed the skull on the small altar in the Class Hall.
Meanwhile, a colourful light shield flashed in front of all players.