The party had killed many monsters before reaching the level 6 Spotted Forest Panther and had received a considerable amount of loot.
However, now that they had entered Spotted Forest Panther territory, they were starting to feel some pressure.
“Remnant Dream, how long until you level up?” Lu Li made a misstep and a shadowy figure closed in. He quickly twisted his dagger and plunged it into the back of the monster’s head. He then heard the system prompt: Backhand Backstab Skill Completion 71%, dealing 79% damage.
“Ugh… still missing 1 percent,” the little hunter said as she uncoordinatedly drew her bow and fired a weak arrow. Azure Sea Breeze waved his long sword to block it as it flew towards him. He was quite familiar with this action as this wasn’t the first time.
“Hmm, you’ll be strong when you learn Trueshot Aura.” Lu Li didn’t have the same nasty look in Azure Sea Breeze’s eyes, instead comforting the little hunter that was about to cry.
Lonesome Flower was using Automatic mode, which was fairly normal for anyone wanting to do well. Later, when he had more skills and a full set of good equipment, he would be a force to be reckoned with. Lu Li hadn’t seen March Rain for a day, but her improvements were already significant. As for Moonlight, there was only one phrase for him: killing machine!
He wielded one of the finest Steel weapons - the Bloodseeker’s Axe, and he wore another piece of Steel equipment on his body. In addition, he had also learned a skill with an incredibly low drop rate - Whirlwind. All this complemented a Berserker Warrior’s high attack and he was dealing more damage than Lu Li.
After walking for half an hour, they reached the Cynocephali mine, which was a forbidden area to the players. The mine was filled with Cynocephali patrols, so there was currently no one training here.
Remnant Dream had now reached level 5, finally learning ‘Trueshot Aura’.
[Trueshot Aura]: Increases melee and ranged attack of all party members within 100 yards by 10%. Passive Skill. Not upgradeable.
All party members gain a benefit: attack strength is increased by 10%
“Yes! This skill is really good for parties.” Not too long ago, Azure Sea Breeze thought Remnant Dream was a burden and had only just realized her value.
Moonlight’s expression also changed and he looked at Remnant Dream with awe, like she was a high-quality equip.
Remnant Dream had always been bullied; no one ever wanted to party with her. To be valued by an expert was a completely new experience for her. It didn’t matter whether it was Azure Sea Breeze or Moonlight, as she looked up to both of them.
“Alright, stop talking. Get ready to attack. Even though the Cynocephali are high level, our party’s attack strength is pretty high too. This shouldn’t be a problem, but we can use this time to practice. March Rain, heal us well.” After a rest, Lu Li tried to get everyone ready to work.
Lu Li went into stealth first and cast Sap to stun one of them. The rest of the party ambushed the target and focused it down. The poor Cynocephali was killed in just a few seconds.
This was a level 10 monster!
“Woah, the exp is higher than in an Instance Dungeon!” Azure Sea Breeze exclaimed.
The monsters here were all 2 to 3 levels higher than he was, which granted the maximum bonus exp. This meant that they gave more exp than the level 4-5 monsters in the Instance Dungeon.
Spirits were high and they rushed in headfirst, even when there were 3 or 4 monsters grouped together. The pressure was on March Rain to heal, but the stubborn girl didn’t protest, instead clenching her teeth and continuing to support. Lu Li occasionally gave some tips, but her technique was becoming good.
After over an hour, they had cleared a way to Tap. Azure Sea Breeze had also been pulling monsters from the surrounding area so they could increase their level.
Coming before Tap, they all received the Exploration Quest.
“The goal of the quest is to find the Sacrificial Alter in the cave. You guys go ahead. I’m going to open some treasure chests.” Lu Li already knew where they could go, and turned invisible before entering the cave.
“No wonder Lu Li’s equipment is so good. A Thief can go anywhere he wants, and can’t he just open any treasure chest he wants?” Lonesome Flower said with envy.
“Don’t think about it; you have to consider who it is as well. Look at other Thieves. Some of them are really bad,” Azure Sea Breeze said with disdain. “Those who play as a Thief are also playing with their heart. There are so many monsters here, but Lu Li had already explored this place yesterday.”
“His technique is pretty good too; his Skill Completion is very high.” Although you damage dealt couldn’t be seen, they had been together long enough for Moonlight to make an estimate on the damage Lu Li was dealing.
“Moonlight, do you play with your friends?” Azure Sea Breeze asked casually while attacking a monster.
“No, I’m alone right now, just playing however I want.” Moonlight’s voice was low and deep and it sounded like there was a story to him.
Azure Sea Breeze smiled: “It’s no fun playing alone. Whenever you do an Instance Dungeon you have to find a random party. The chance of you running into ‘unique’ people is really high. You know, I ran into quite a few of them just last night…”
Azure Sea Breeze was someone who could make good small talk and was a bit of a chatterbox. As long as he was around, there would be no fear of silence. Whenever he met a stranger, he would quickly be able to find a common topic to talk about.
Lu Li went alone and moved quickly, as he didn’t need to fight any monsters. Before the others had even completed their quest, he had already opened all three treasure chests and returned.
“Lonesome Flower, you can have this Magic Bracer. I don’t mind how you decide between you and your sister.” Lu Li had obtained a few Bronze equips from the treasure chests, and if anyone here could use them, he would just give it to them.
Lonesome Flower and March Rain tried to politely decline, but eventually took it anyway.
“Remnant Dream, you’re pretty lucky, there’s two things here for you.” Lu Li gave her two equips that added agility.
“This… this is too precious, isn’t it?” The little hunter was shocked.
Azure Sea Breeze saw what was happening and was also shocked. “This can’t be what you just got from the treasure chests right? This crossbow looks familiar… oh, that’s right, it was from when we got First Clear on the Elite Spider Lair…”
Once Remnant Dream heard that, she was even more reluctant to take it.
“I have no need for a crossbow and your aim with the bow isn’t very good. Try the crossbow, it’s easier to operate. With Automatic Mode, the system will adjust the speed of the arrows,” Lu Li decisively confirmed the transaction, but worried that the other party wouldn’t accept, he added: “Think of it as a loan. When you have better equipment you can return it to me, otherwise you can keep it.”
The others were shocked by Lu Li’s generosity and Remnant Dream was so excited she couldn’t speak.
Even the stone-faced Moonlight who didn’t get along well with others was affected. He always thought that Lu Li was very good in doing business, never taking a loss. He never thought that he would just give away a Steel weapon.
Silver Light Crossbow (Steel): Damage 12-20, Agility +3, Rate of fire +1, Level Requirement 4, Durability 25/25.
Although its attributes were weaker than Bloodseeker’s Axe, it was still a Steel equip, which made it better than a Bronze equip in every way. It was not very useful to someone like Lu Li, but he could easily sell it, as there were Hunters out there who were willing to pay a very high price.
“Finally, there’s this. See if you can use it.”
When Lu Li placed the Bronze pants in front of him, Moonlight got an even bigger shock. He did not expect this at all. If he put it on, it would increase his strength by 1, giving him a total of 2 bonus strength.
This was the first time someone had gifted him an equip since he had started playing games!
This feeling, was really weird…