"I'll first take your worthless life!!!"
Whoosh!
A dazzling ray of light flashed out from the sword as it hacked into the Forest Watchman's body!
-27
The Forest Watchman went stiff, and he was a moment too slow in raising his iron rod to block the attack!
Ye Kong had activated his "Cleave" skill and struck the Forest Watchman in his vitals, putting his opponent into a "Stunned" state!
The duration of the Stunned status was extremely brief, but to Ye Kong, it was more than enough time!
Whoosh!
Ye Kong seized the opportunity to chop down with his sword again!
-18
The Forest Watchman's HP bar had dropped to about half full, with less than 100 points of health. At that moment, the watchman seemed to explode—
"Roar!"
The Forest Watchman's body pulsated, and in the next instant, his iron rod was covered with a veined pattern. This was the Weapon Specialist's Innate Skill - Soul Weapon!
Each class came with three innate skills, two of which were passive skills. The other was an active skill. For instance, the Swordsman's Innate Skill - Aura Suppression, or the Ranger's Innate Skill - Windwalk... These were both active innate skills!
The Weapon Specialist's active innate skill was Soul Weapon!
Innate Skill - Soul Weapon: When activated, the equipped weapon's Attack and Attack Speed are increased for a short time.
The Weapon Specialist relied on "Soul Weapon" to out-damage the Dexterity classes, and their physical damage output was second only to the Berserker!
"Roar!"
The Forest Watchman raised his right hand, and a flash of light burst forth from the iron rod as he viciously brought it crashing down in one fell swoop—
Fwah!
Stormy air currents congealed around the iron rod, shaping it into the illusory form of an axe!
Sunder!
Ye Kong identified the skill right away. It was the Weapon Specialist's signature skill. It also required the use of one Soul Essence, but it dealt several times more damage than the Swordsman's "Cleave" skill!
This skill was far more powerful than "Cleave"!
After all, the Weapon Specialist wasn't like the Swordsman. In the early stages of the game, just in terms of damage output, the Weapon Specialist was in the top three classes, whereas the Swordsman was indisputably ranked last!
Swish!
The iron rod came smashing toward Ye Kong as fast as lightning!
If Ye Kong was hit by the attack, he would suffer a fearsome amount of damage from the Level Suppression effect the Forest Watchman enjoyed (he was one level higher than Ye Kong), along with the watchman's additional "Soul Weapon" effect. With Ye Kong's meager 55 points of health, he wouldn't be able to withstand the hit and survive such a burst of explosive damage!
Ye Kong also couldn't dodge the attack, since the opponent was a level four Weapon Specialist. His Strength attribute would surely be very high, which meant that his "Accuracy" would also be high. Even if the attack glanced off the side of Ye Kong's body, it would still deal the full amount of damage!
In the world of Demon Realm, the administrators removed the Dodge Rating setting and replaced it with the concept of "agility." Classes with extremely high Dexterity, like the Assassin and Ranger, would have to rely on their agility to physically dodge the magical attacks or let the attacks glance off the sides of their bodies.
If a player was grazed, they wouldn't suffer as much damage—This simulated how damage affects a person's body in real life, where breaking a finger is vastly different from getting stabbed through the heart.
It was also similar to shooting games, where shooting an enemy in the arm with an AK47 rifle and shooting him in the head resulted in completely different injuries!
The Dexterity classes' greatest advantage was their "agility"!
However, "Accuracy" was their bane, because as one's Accuracy attribute grew higher, one's damage output was reduced. To put it simply, if your "Accuracy" attribute was extremely high, even if you hit someone in the toe, it would result in the same damage as hitting them in the stomach!
Full damage!
Due to this, Strength-type Professions were in some ways able to counter Dexterity-type Professions. Even more so when their opponent was the "black sheep" of Dexterity-type Professions—the Swordsman.
Whoosh!
At this point, the iron rod was moments away from smashing into Ye Kong. The Dexterity Ye Kong prided himself on wouldn't be able to save him—not with the Forest Watchman's "Accuracy" in play.
"Hehe, go to h*ll!" The Forest Watchman flashed a hideous sneer, and he looked at Ye Kong as though he were watching a dead man.
Fwah!
Ye Kong swung out with his long sword and wantonly slashed it in the attempt to intercept his opponent!
"You're trying to block?!"
The Forest Watchman looked down on Ye Kong. As his Strength attribute was very high, his Resistance was also higher than his opponent's. Even if his opponent intercepted the blow with his weapon, the Forest Watchman could still deal close to full damage!
This was the advantage Strength-type Professions had in melee combat!
"Foolish."
The Forest Watchman laughed scornfully, and in the very next moment, his iron rod collided with the long sword—
Bang!
The long sword bent back slightly, but it broke through the "illusion" around the iron rod and flung it aside!
It was the Swordsman's skill - Interrupt!!!
How could Ye Kong let this huge chance slip by him? With a twitch of his wrists, he once again slashed at the dumbfounded Forest Watchman—
"The one who should die here is you!"
-24, -23!
Seizing the opportunity, Ye Kong launched two consecutive sword strikes at his opponent, accurately hitting his vitals and increasing the damage!
"What the hell!"
The Forest Watchman was completely bewildered. He had put his all into that one attack, but it had been easily brushed aside by his opponent! At this point, his intelligent AI was working against him, and he began to panic, which made his attacks miss their mark—
Bang!
The Forest Watchman was swinging at the air!
This was inconceivable for a Strength-type Profession!
Ye Kong took this chance to slash his opponent twice yet again, bringing the Forest Watchman's HP below 20 points!
"Aaah!"
The Forest Watchman was now swinging out wildly in panic. Ye Kong didn't even raise his head to look, and instead charged straight into his opponent—
-29!
The red numbers popped out from Ye Kong's head as his HP instantly dropped below half.
-19!
The long sword pierced straight through the Forest Watchman, bringing his HP all the way down to zero!
"You are really..."
Ye Kong pulled out the long sword and watched as his opponent's body started to disintegrate, the man's face still showing his unwillingness to accept his loss. The calm demeanor that Ye Kong had maintained finally cracked, revealing a look of contempt—
"Just a piece of trash with nothing but 'Strength'!"
Bang!
The Forest Watchman's body burst into dust, and in its place was a dropped piece of equipment, a mysterious chunk of stone, and a half of a badge.
Before Ye Kong could even pick up the items, a series of notifications sounded—
System Notification: You have slain Horticultural Devotee - Forest Watchman, and have received 70 points of experience (high-level mob kill).
System Notification: Your Experience Level is full, and you have been successfully promoted to a Level 4 Swordsman.
Ye Kong's body lit up in an orange glow, and in the very next instant, he was promoted to level four. With his unbelievable leveling speed, he had left the other players in the dust.
"I never thought I would be promoted to level four on the first day. Based on my original plans, I would have been satisfied with reaching level three..."
Ye Kong glanced at his Character Overview Window and couldn't help but let out an emphatic sigh. "It's a pity, but I can't keep up this pace. The main factor here was the 1000 points of experience I was awarded for completing the Super Grade story event, which promoted me to level three and got me close to the level four cap.
"However, to get to level five from level four, I need 2000 points of experience. The difficulty of leveling up has been greatly increased.
"The easiest way to level up in the early stages of the game is still to hunt mobs in the wilderness, especially for those top tier guilds with vast resources at their disposal. If my memory serves me well, by tomorrow morning, coldwind should be the first player promoted to level five!
"It won't be too long before the members of those top tier guilds start to overtake me in levels. After all, they have more resources than I do, and they can spend almost twice as much time in the game than I can..."
As he said this, Ye Kong started to feel a creeping sense of urgency. He was starting at a large disadvantage, and his only option now was to do his best to proceed with "that plan" so he could make sure he wouldn't be left behind.
As such, Ye Kong looked over at the Forest Watchman's drops, because one of those items was critical to his entire scheme!