Toad King's Skin was a Tier 3 tailoring material of excellent quality. More importantly, it was not a quest item, which meant Ye Luo could keep it. Seeing the latter half of its description, he could not help but look forward to it.
"I'm already quite familiar with Tailor Zhang, and my reputation with the villagers of Novice Village is so high. It shouldn't be a problem to ask him to make a piece of equipment for me." Ye Luo pondered, a broad smile spreading across his lips. "After all, this is Toad King's Skin. The equipment made from it should be pretty good, right?"
With that in mind, Ye Luo continued picking up the glowing orbs on the ground. This time, it was an emerald-green bead:
Jade Poison Bead (Magic Treasure * Special Equipment * Beginner) Attack: 3-3 Additional Attribute: After being equipped, it grants weapons poison attacks. After striking a target, it inflicts Basic Poisonous Invasion, causing the target to lose 3 HP per second for the next 3 seconds. Cannot stack. Additional Trait: Can be fused and upgraded. Equipment Durability: 100/100. Required Level: None. Description: A poison bead condensed from the essence of boss-level monsters skilled in poison attacks, such as the Toad King, after their death. It can be fused and upgraded. Its current rank is Beginner.
Seeing the Jade Poison Bead's attributes, Ye Luo was thrilled. Setting aside the 3 Attack it provided, merely allowing his weapon to inflict poison attacks made it a divine weapon during the beginner stage. He could use it for many things.
With a thought, Ye Luo set the poison bead into the Special Equipment Slot, raising his Attack to 26. He then noticed the Jade Poison Bead's fusion upgrade trait. After checking, he learned that gathering three Jade Poison Beads of the same rank could upgrade it to Intermediate, and so on.
"Three Jade Poison Beads can upgrade it to Intermediate. Even the Beginner rank has attributes like these—wouldn't it be even more terrifying after reaching Intermediate?" Ye Luo was exhilarated, but he quickly shook his head. "Getting even one was already difficult enough. Forget gathering three more. It's not like I can just camp here."
From what he had learned about Heavenly Tribulation, a minor boss in Novice Village only respawned after twelve hours. Ye Luo did not have that much time to wait around here.
"Even if I can't camp here, I can come back every twelve hours and try my luck. Other than me, I'm afraid no one in Novice Village can kill this Toad King yet." Ye Luo thought to himself before shaking his head. "No, maybe I can't either. After all, I don't have any Minor Blood Recovery Pills left to replenish my HP."
Thinking of this, Ye Luo became even more eager to learn alchemy. Without further hesitation, he picked up the remaining two glowing orbs. They were two pieces of equipment, and his eyes lit up again when he saw them:
Toad Skin Boots (Shoes - Common Equipment) Defense: 6-7 Equipment Durability: 100/100 Required Level: 3 Toad Ring (Ring - Common Equipment) Attack: 6-8 Equipment Durability: 100/100 Required Level: 3
After quickly equipping them, Ye Luo's Attack became 32-34, while his Defense rose to 17-18. It was a huge improvement, and he was overjoyed. "These two pieces of equipment are so strong. They're Common Equipment, so I've finally moved beyond beginner equipment. And there's even a ring. I really am quite lucky."
While killing Young Toads, Ye Luo had also checked the official website for information on Heavenly Tribulation. Since the game had been running for quite some time, the developers no longer kept everything shrouded in mystery and had released plenty of information, including the drop rates for equipment.
In Heavenly Tribulation, weapons and defensive equipment had somewhat higher drop rates, while capes and accessories had much lower ones. Ye Luo had luckily obtained a ring, so it was no wonder he was so delighted.
Just by killing one Toad King, Ye Luo had obtained a pair of boots, a ring, a piece of Special Equipment, and a sheet of Toad King Skin. It had truly been an abundant harvest.
After calming himself down, Ye Luo swung his sword at the head of a young toad. A yellow "132" damage number appeared, instantly killing it. After picking up the copper coins and Toad Skin it dropped, he finally completed the quest to collect Toad Skin.
"Not bad. With my current attack power, I can already one-shot these Young Toads." Ye Luo was thrilled, but when he saw that the toad had only given him 8 Energy Experience after dying, he shook his head. "My level is two levels above theirs, so the experience I get is reduced too. Looks like I should find other monsters."
With that thought, Ye Luo continued southward. Along the way, he encountered quite a few low-level herbs. Since he had decided to become an alchemist, he did not let any of them go and harvested every one he found.
Not long after, Ye Luo came across the second kind of monster he had encountered since entering Heavenly Tribulation:
Demonic Dragonfly (Semi-Tamed) Level: 2 Attack: 6-7 Defense: 8 HP: 300 Description: A semi-tamed monster in Novice Village. It will not attack proactively, but it still retains some demonic nature.
The Level 2 Demonic Dragonflies posed no threat to Ye Luo. He tried killing one, and nearly every strike dealt 80 damage, while the dragonfly only dealt 4 damage to him. The difference in strength was enormous.
What interested Ye Luo more was that Demonic Dragonflies used ranged attacks. With a flutter of their wings, they could condense a tiny energy projectile.
Although ranged attacks had some advantages, they also had major drawbacks. As soon as Ye Luo encountered them, he discovered that energy projectiles had a lower hit rate than melee attacks and were easier to dodge.
"Ranged classes should be the same. Although their attack range is greater, their accuracy is slightly worse. I can make use of that in the future." Ye Luo pondered.
After that, Ye Luo lost interest in continuing to kill Demonic Dragonflies. He carefully searched the area but found no minor bosses, so he ignored them and continued forward while gathering Medicinal Herbs along the way. His harvest was quite substantial. Fortunately, each type of herb could be stacked, with one inventory space slot holding one hundred plants. Otherwise, his inventory would have been full long ago.
After walking for about four or five minutes, Ye Luo finally found the target of his other quest—the Demonic Mountain Chicken.
Demonic Mountain Chicken (Semi-Tamed) Level: 3 Attack: 8-9 Defense: 12 HP: 450 Description: A semi-tamed monster in Novice Village. It will not attack proactively, but it still retains some demonic nature.
The Demonic Mountain Chicken's Attack was almost comparable to the Toad King's, and its Defense was only a few points lower. If Ye Luo had not acquired three new pieces of equipment, killing one would have been somewhat difficult. Most importantly, though, the Demonic Mountain Chicken had far less HP than the Toad King, making it much easier to kill.
Ye Luo's Novice Sword struck the mountain chicken, and a yellow "61" floated up. When the mountain chicken attacked him, only a "6" damage number appeared above his head. It was nothing worth worrying about.
After seven attacks, the Demonic Mountain Chicken finally died, transforming into 90 Energy Experience that Ye Luo absorbed. It also dropped three copper coins, but what puzzled him was that it did not drop the quest item—Mountain Chicken Meat.
"Looks like not every mountain chicken drops a quest item." That was the only conclusion Ye Luo could reach. He shook his head. "It seems Aunt Li's request for twenty pieces of Mountain Chicken Meat won't be easy to complete. Fortunately, mountain chickens give far more experience than toads, so leveling here isn't bad."
With that in mind, Ye Luo continued killing mountain chickens. After killing more than a dozen, he figured out the pattern: on average, he could only obtain one piece of Mountain Chicken Meat for every five mountain chickens killed. He would have to kill over a hundred Demonic Mountain Chickens to complete the quest.
Time slowly passed as he killed Demonic Mountain Chickens, while Ye Luo's experience bar steadily increased.
Although Demonic Mountain Chickens did not deal much damage to Ye Luo, and he could dodge their attacks, relying solely on the Battle Soul Crystal's automatic recovery was nowhere near enough to sustain his HP consumption. He had to rest and recover almost every three or four minutes, and each rest took nearly two minutes. This greatly slowed his monster-killing speed and strengthened his resolve to learn alchemy.
"If I really can't take up a post as an alchemist, I'll have to buy some pills. Otherwise, killing monsters like this is far too slow, and I wouldn't even dare fight a minor boss if I ran into one." Ye Luo thought to himself as he rested. "I wonder how expensive those pills are. After killing so many monsters and completing so many quests, I have seven or eight silver coins on me."
Once his HP had fully recovered, Ye Luo threw himself back into the great endeavor of killing monsters.
Time quietly slipped by. In the blink of an eye, more than half an hour had passed, and Ye Luo finally completed the quest to gather Mountain Chicken Meat.
During that time, Ye Luo had killed over a hundred Demonic Mountain Chickens, but what frustrated him was that he had not obtained a single piece of equipment. He could not help cursing Heavenly Tribulation's awful drop rates.
"Whew..." Ye Luo let out a long breath, checked his experience bar, and gave a bitter smile. "I've been killing mountain chickens for over half an hour, yet I still haven't reached Level 4. Each level requires far too much Energy Experience. This is only the early stage of the game—later on, it'll probably require even more."
"Looks like I can't rely on killing monsters at my own level to level up. I need to kill monsters above my level." Ye Luo muttered before checking his Equipment Slot. "I currently have a Novice Sword, Novice Clothes, bracers, leg guards, shoes, and one ring, plus one piece of Special Equipment. I'm still missing a cape, helmet, another ring, necklace, and talisman. If I complete the set, my attributes will rise by a large amount. Killing monsters above my level won't be impossible."
"Also, the Novice Sword's Attack is too low, and the Novice Clothes' Defense is too low. They need to be replaced as well." Ye Luo calculated for a moment. "If I complete my equipment and replace the Novice Sword and Novice Clothes, killing monsters three levels above me shouldn't be a problem. Of course, I'll also need pills for support. Going all-in on Strength is brutal, but my HP and Defense are far lower than those of players who put all their points into Constitution."
"Should I add some Constitution the next time I level up? I heard Constitution not only increases HP and Physical Defense, but also improves the rate at which Soul Crystals restore HP." Ye Luo murmured, but he quickly shook his head. "No, I should still put everything into Strength. Otherwise, I won't even be able to kill monsters. What use is having so much HP? As for insufficient HP, I can make up for it with equipment later. And once I take up a post as an alchemist..."
In the early stages of the game, Ye Luo had no plans to team up with others. Such powerful attack power was his greatest asset for leveling up.