Since there was nothing of interest to buy, Mu Ying soon lost interest in the shop and was the first to leave, returning to her tree house to continue studying spells.
She had to gain some self-protection abilities as soon as possible.
Yesterday, she learned two zero-level magic tricks; today, she planned to try first-level spells.
There were fewer than 20 first-level spells to choose from, including attacks, healing, and mostly supportive types.
Right now, Mu Ying urgently needed to improve her combat abilities, so attack type magic was her first choice.
The three attack type spells each had their focus: Oak Stick Technique suited close-quarters combat, Thorny Whip and Fire Burning Skill were better for ranged attacks, but the latter was not suitable for forest terrain.
After much consideration, Mu Ying chose to learn Oak Stick Technique first.
Even though all were first-level spells and similarly difficult to learn, mastering them didn't mean they would be easy to use well; practicing them, Thorny Whip, and Fire Burning Skill, seemed notably harder to grasp.
After noting down the key points of casting the Oak Stick Technique, Mu Ying began practicing, using her long-handled kitchen knife's handle as the target.
According to the effect described in the Magic List, upon a successful casting, the Perception Attribute would temporarily take the place of the Strength Attribute when using a wooden stick.
In other words, when she attacked with a stick enchanted with Oak Stick Technique, it was as if a person with 15 Strength was doing so.
An adult human male's Strength was only 10 points; 15 points of Strength would make her more powerful than the world's top weightlifters.
Indeed, first-level spells were harder, with each casting requiring at least 5 Mana Value, and practice efficiency was also relatively low.
It took her all morning to get the feel of it and to cast the spell with some level of consistency.
There was much she had yet to learn, but unfortunately, the outside environment did not allow her to be industrious in seclusion forever. The purpose of learning was survival; ultimately, she had to gain experience in combat.
Mu Ying glanced at her level, "[Profession: Druid Level 1 (39/100)]."
Of these, 13 points were Slaughter Experience, and 26 were Professional Experience.
As the focus of her professional cultivation was still the trees in the camp, she gained less experience this morning than the day before, though she still earned 8 points.
Such a vast forest was an excellent Cultivation ground for a Druid, easier than killing zombies.
Unfortunately, the state of natural sense affected her awareness of her surroundings and was not very safe, so she dared not frequently use natural sense outside the range of the camp.
Gilding the lily was never as good as offering help in times of need. Mu Ying found that harmonizing with the natural power of healthy trees earned less Professional Experience than assisting those in poor condition.
By this logic, the act of planting anew should garner more rewards from nature, .
Fittingly, Oak Grocery was also collecting plant seedlings and seeds, killing two birds with one stone.
After an hour's nap to fully recover her Mana Value, Mu Ying packed her bag and headed out the door.
The camp was eerily quiet without a sight of anyone else; they must have all gone out.
Once Mu Ying left the camp, she followed the forest path leading outside of Forest Park. Not long after, she encountered some acquaintances.
It was the members of the mountain climbing club, leading a few zombies through the woods, heading towards the camp.
Mu Ying kept her distance and took a side path.
The main path of Forest Park led to Qingshan Town, while the small path she took led to a rural gravel road. Scattered along this road were a few households, mostly elderly unwilling to leave their homes.
Such farms usually had some vegetables and grains, and the most important thing was that the elderly and children were more vulnerable to zombies and found it harder to log onto the game, so there should be zombies around, but they would be scattered and not very dangerous.
The path exited beside a house, and as soon as Mu Ying emerged, she ran smack into two zombies.
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A zombie was wandering outside the dry latrine, and another stood stupidly inside.
About ten meters away, there was a haystack, and an Old Yellow Bull was tied to a tree next to it.
The zombies seemed disinterested in Old Yellow Bull, and their mooing failed to attract their attention, instead, they were startled by the sudden appearance of Mu Ying.
The zombie outside the dry latrine walked straight toward her, while the one inside was blocked by the half-hinged wooden door, which clanged loudly as it was struck.
"Good opportunity!"
Mu Ying prepared her spell as she retreated, and only when the Oak Stick Technique was ready did she charge forward, swinging a long-handled kitchen knife.
With a swift stroke, a head flew off as if she was slicing through a watermelon, unimpeded.
"..."
Ignoring the splatter of rotting flesh, it was quite satisfying.
This gave Mu Ying quite a bit of confidence, and while the Oak Stick Technique was still active, she hurried outside the latrine.
The door to the dry latrine was too narrow for effective chopping, so Mu Ying decided to cleave the door itself, and when the zombie emerged, she chopped at its neck.
[You have killed 2 zombies, gained 2 Slaughter Experience, and 6 copper coins]
Mu Ying picked up the dropped copper coins and continued to explore inside the house, remembering that it was inhabited by an elderly couple; the one in the toilet was probably the old man.
Reaching the front door, she found another zombie in the main room, and the door to the left side was flimsy from its clawing.
After killing the zombie, Mu Ying opened the door, and inside was a bedroom with an old woman lying on the bed, her face greenish, lips purple, hands folded on her chest, with a bottle of Paraquat scattered on the floor beside the bed.
Mu Ying sighed; Doomsday is cruel, dying is easy, surviving is hard.
She searched the entire house and found a red plastic bag full of various seeds wrapped in newspaper in the drawer beside the bed; there were many types, but not much of each.
In the storeroom between the main room and the kitchen, there was a wooden grain bin; Mu Ying climbed up to see and found it was half full of unthreshed rice, with a family of rats having made it their home.
Next to the rice bin, on the table, there was a porcelain pot and a bamboo basket.
The pot contained lard, and there were more than twenty eggs in the basket.
Mu Ying took down a garment from the clothesline outside, padded the basket with it, then layered the eggs with the rice grains.
She also took down some cured meat hanging from the kitchen rafters and filled a bag with rice from the rice jar.
All these supplies would last for some time, and getting them back wouldn't be a problem.
She hauled a bucket of water, poured it into the dry trough next to the haystack, adding a little Recovery Spring, and after using Wilderness Identification to bond with Old Yellow Bull, she successfully set up two large bamboo baskets on its back.
Leading Old Yellow Bull along the gravel road deeper inside, she also pulled up some of the vegetable seedlings from the fields along the way.
The innermost house belonged to a lone elderly person who had also met with misfortune. Using the house as cover, Mu Ying killed a zombie, but while chopping at the second one, the long-handled kitchen knife unfortunately broke off its handle.
As Mu Ying ran away, she grabbed a hoe propped under the eaves and swung it down, cleaving the zombie's head open.
Belatedly weighing the hoe in her hands, "This seems more useful than a kitchen knife!"
She decisively chose the hoe over the kitchen knife and even took the hoe from the couple's house on her way back.
Since the house's items were similar to the previous one, Mu Ying only took the hoe and the small bag of seeds wedged into a wall crack.
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