After finishing their meal, Chris went back to the carriage to sleep while he remained outside to guard the night. He was currently laying down on the grass and glancing at the stars in the sky.
During this time, Lei Zhen managed to improve the rapport with Christopher Rhombus.
From the initial neutral relationship, the two are now in a friendly relationship. It was most likely due to the last night camping where Chris had slowly revealed bits of his past to him.
'Merchant is truly difficult to improve rapports with.' Lei Zhen thought to himself. Rapports are a type of relationship a player can earn from an NPC.
The better the rapport, the greater the benefits the players will receive.
Examples such as having their reward increased when completing the NPC's quest or obtaining some crucial information. In some cases, there are even chances of receiving specialized skills from them that could not be learned.
Opening the skill tree, Lei Zhen saw his [Stun] skill upgraded to level 2.
"The next skill requires me to be level 5, but these experience points are too difficult to gain." Lei Zhen lamented. He doesn't even want to glance at the required amount of experience points because it'll give him a headache.
However, he couldn't help but glance at the gray-out skill, Decaying Poison in the skill tree.
The skill of the Decaying Poison was nice and would provide great assistance to him.
Clicking on the gray-out skill, Lei Zhen began to read the description again.
[Decaying Poison: Level 1
Poison Mist: 10 seconds
Cost: 100 Mana
Description: Create a field of crippling poison mist. Those who are on the field are slowed by 20 percent and take continuous damage based on the percentage of the enemy's health. Duration of the poison mist is dependent on the skill of the level.]
"Sigh, I don't even have any attack skills, and this could have helped out a bit." Lei Zhen closed the skill tree and decided to patrol the area.
Since he had taken the 3 copper coins from Chris, he should still do his job as a protector.
Getting up and stretching his body for a moment, Lei Zhen made sure to check on Mizzle and Gizzle first.
To his surprise, the two of them were actually vigilant and were ready to protect Chris at all times. It was completely contrary to his original perspective of them in which they are lazy given how they were dozing off in the town.
Patting their heads, Lei Zhen turned around and began his patrolling. With Gizzle and Mizzle protecting Chris, he was more reassured to expand his scope of patrolling.
The reason why he even bothered to patrol alone was because of his [Stun] skill. After being embarrassed in the Arachne Dungeon for missing his stun completely, he wanted to increase his accuracy now.
Thus, what kind of practice will be better other than a live monster?
Sometime later, Lei Zhen headed toward the forest and was scanning for enemies.
Given it's nighttime currently, his vision has decreased by 20 percent. Every step he had taken was with caution since there could be an ambush at any time.
'Hmm, route 43 is considered the safest, but there's still a habitual area nearby for the monsters. The Frenzied Wolf is the most common one and they love to hunt at night, so where could they be hiding?' Lei Zhen pondered silently.
The reason why he had made Chris choose route 43 was because of his selfishness as well.
Frenzied wolves are different from the normal wolf pack as they liked to hunt alone instead of being in a group, making it the ideal enemy for him to fight against.
With his current skill, fighting one enemy is already his limit since he had the opportunity to fight a large group before, namely the Goblin Mob.
Unknowingly, Lei Zhen managed to step on a broken tree branch despite being as cautious as possible.
Crack!
The tree branch made a crackling sound and Lei Zhen's awareness heightened.
That was because of the system within Magnolia. It had placed him in combat status, and this essentially warned him that he was already being targeted.
With his Novice Staff equipped, Lei Zhen was ready to cast [Stun] at any moment. He would no longer underestimate his enemy after experiencing his failures in the Arachne Dungeon.
To improve, one must always learn from their mistake to prevent committing the same mistake again.
Although no sound could be heard, the combat status had not gone away, indicating that the Frenzied Wolf was still waiting.
'Since you are this cautious, then let me create an opening for you.' Lei Zhen exclaimed inwardly, lowering his body to check at some leaves. That way, he would have his back wide open for attack.
However, the Frenzied Wolf had still not made a move, seemingly wary of it being a trap. Monsters in Magnolia are far too intelligent to fall for such a brainless trap.
Seeing how his method didn't work, Lei Zhen was helpless. To bait a monster was actually more difficult than leveling up.
Shaking his head, Lei Zhen noticed it was getting a bit too late and that he should return to the carriage. After all, he couldn't afford Chris to be attacked while he was out trying to train alone.
Turning around, Lei Zhen was about to leave when a rabbit-looking monster zoomed right past him. The sudden scene caused Lei Zhen to stumble and fall down on his butt.
"Ugh, how unlucky can I get?" Lei Zhen was speechless to have slipped down in such a manner.
"Wait… not good!" Before Lei Zhen could even get up, he realized the Frenzied Wolf that had been waiting patiently, had begun his attack.
Lei Zhen was caught off-guard and didn't expect a neutral monster type to suddenly dash right by him.
Just when he tried to grab his staff to cast the spell, Lei Zhen realized he wouldn't make it in time. Unable to cast the spell, he could only slam his right palm and use the momentum to push himself toward the left side.
SWOOSH!
The Frenzied Wolf that launched at Lei Zhen could only narrowly scratch his right arm.
Ding!
[You have been hit by the Frenzied Wolf's Razor Claw]
[Your health point has decreased by 75]
[Current HP: 348]