For half an hour, Ethan continued his strategy. After delivering the final strike, he watched excitedly as the wounded Sea Turtle slowly approached death. As the last drop of blood vanished, the turtle's massive body finally collapsed reluctantly to the ground. A system notification sound followed.
"Ding, you have slain [Sea Turtle]. Gained 15 experience points. Killing a monster five levels above you grants an additional 7 experience points (round down if less than 1)."
"Ding, Talent Feature Activated: Poison damage increased by 1 point. Inflicts 2 true damage per second to the target."
"Sweet!" Hearing the system notification, Ethan exclaimed with excitement. He had gained 22 experience points in one go, which was much faster than collecting rabbits at the village entrance. The most important thing was his talent had upgraded, which was crucial. Now, killing Sea Turtles would take half the time.
He quickly approached the corpse of the Sea Turtle. To his surprise, two copper coins had dropped, along with a piece of equipment. Excited, Ethan hurriedly picked them up. Even though the drop rate increases by 50% when killing monsters five levels above, considering Oracle's pitifully low drop rates, getting an equipment drop from the first monster was undoubtedly a stroke of luck.
He examined the equipment and found it was a pair of shoes.
[Canvas Shoes]
Quality: White Label
Movement Speed: +3
Physical Defense: +2
Wear Requirements: None
"Not bad, just what I need," Ethan thought, quickly putting them on. His speed increased to 8 points, and his defense rose to 8 points.
In Oracle, equipment quality ranks from low to high as follows: White Label - Black Iron - Bronze - Silver - Gold - Dark Gold - Platinum - Diamond - Star Glory - Celestial Artifact - Sacred Artifact - Divine Artifact - Supreme Artifact.
White Label equipment has no wear requirements. Starting from Black Iron, equipment begins to have additional attributes, and Gold and above start to have additional skills.
Wearing the shoes made him feel like he could walk a bit faster. Feeling pleased, Ethan continued searching for the next Sea Turtle. This Sea Turtle seemed tailor-made for him, but there weren't many of them. After wandering for a while, he finally spotted a Sea Turtle sunbathing on the beach.
Ethan walked straight over, swung his sword at the turtle's shell, and then turned to run. However, he still got bitten. Without having superior attack and movement speeds in the early stages, it's hard to dodge the monster's attacks.
-2, -2, -2
The indicators kept appearing above the Sea Turtle's head as it struggled to chase Ethan. This time, the killing speed was noticeably faster, taking only 15 minutes. The poor turtle fell to the ground in tears. Ethan quickly picked up the two copper coins and continued searching for his next target.
Ethan kept hunting Sea Turtles nonstop. As his talent upgraded, the time to kill each Sea Turtle decreased. The third one took 10 minutes, the fourth 7 and a half minutes, and the fifth just 6 minutes to defeat. At this point, a system notification appeared.
"Ding, you have slain [Sea Turtle]. Gained 22 experience points. Experience fully accumulated. Congratulations on leveling up!
Health: +20
Mana: +10
Free Attribute Points: 5
Please allocate them wisely."
"Finally leveled up. My speed should be pretty good now," Ethan thought, looking at his five free attribute points. He hesitated for a moment before decisively allocating all points to Agility. The reason he was able to kill level five Sea Turtles was entirely due to their slower speed. To maximize his talent's advantage, increasing his own speed through Agility was definitely the right choice.
After leveling up and allocating his attribute points, his attributes changed as follows:
Health: 50 → 70
Mana: 50 → 60
Agility: 5 → 10
Movement Speed: 8 → 13
Other attributes remained unchanged. Checking his experience: Experience: 10/300
Level 1 to Level 2 requires 300 experience points. It seemed manageable—just over ten Sea Turtles.
Ethan pondered whether to continue hunting Sea Turtles or move to another area to hunt level six monsters. While hunting Sea Turtles was more stable and his leveling speed was decent, level five Sea Turtles could no longer trigger his talent's special feature.
"I'll check out other places first. With my current movement speed of 13 points, I'm probably faster than many monsters. Maybe I'll find monsters that better suit my talent's passive abilities. If not, I'll come back to hunt Sea Turtles. It won't waste much time anyway."
With that thought, Ethan turned around. They had reached the end of this area; beyond was the ocean. He had to turn back and head to the three-way fork again. Without hesitation, Ethan headed towards the forest on the left. The bamboo forest ahead had poor visibility, making it easy to be ambushed. Monsters above level five would attack proactively, and with his current build, he definitely couldn't withstand monsters above level five.
Inside the forest, the lighting was decent as the trees were spaced far apart. Ethan walked cautiously when suddenly, a pitch-black Wild Boar darted out from behind a tree, its two tusks glinting, eyes fixed intently on Ethan. Its front hooves scraped the ground, and it charged towards Ethan at incredible speed.
"Shit, it actually ambushed me!" Ethan was startled. Just as the Wild Boar was about to collide with him, he narrowly dodged to the side. The boar brushed against the edge of his clothing and rushed past, crashing into a nearby tree. A dizzy star indicator appeared above its head.
Ethan felt a surge of relief. Thankfully, he had allocated all his points to Agility; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to dodge that attack. Quickly, he threw an Insight.
[Wild Boar]
Level: 6
Health: 2000
Physical Attack: 70
Physical Defense: 30
Speed: 11
Skills:
Savage Charge: Charges straight at the target at high speed, dealing 150% Physical Damage to all targets along its path and stunning them for one second. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Ethan tugged at the corner of his mouth. So this is a level six monster? Oracle is as unreasonable as ever. Luckily, he dodged just in time; if the boar had hit him, it should have teleported him back to town.
"Should I try? Or go back and harass the little Sea Turtles?" Ethan hesitated. Even if he decided to fight, it was possible. The Wild Boar's attack was 70, and he had 70 health and 8 points of defense. He could withstand a normal attack and move away due to his higher Agility. However, the issue was the Wild Boar's skill. If he got hit during his finishing strike, he would be sent back home. He wasn't confident he could dodge every attack. Earlier, the Wild Boar was farther away, giving him reaction time. If the boar hit him while he was mid-strike, he would be done for.
"Damn, I'll risk it. Now my talent's poison can inflict 6 damage per second. Killing a Wild Boar would only take about five and a half minutes. This risk is worth it."
With that thought, Ethan charged towards the Wild Boar. It had a 10-second cooldown on its skill, meaning it wouldn't attack again immediately. He swung his wooden sword at the boar's back.
-1 (Forced Health Reduction)
-6 (Poison Damage)
The Wild Boar wasn't easy to bully. Its tusks gnashed.
-62
Ethan quickly ran away. At this moment, he realized a serious problem: his health regeneration couldn't keep up. To leave combat, it took 10 seconds, meaning he could only regenerate 50 health points in that time. To withstand the Wild Boar's counterattack, his health needed to stay above 63 points. If he waited until his health regenerated to 63 points before making a finishing strike, there would be a 13-second window where the Wild Boar had no poison damage. After leaving combat, the boar would regenerate 60 health points in 3 seconds. This would significantly extend the time needed to kill the boar.
"Ah, as expected, level six monsters aren't that easy to kill. But since I started, I have to stick it out."