A Bountiful Harvest

The Toad King's skin is a Tier 3 tailoring material, quite good in quality. Most importantly, it's not a quest item, meaning Ye Luo could keep it. Reading the description of the skin's latter half, he felt a sense of anticipation.

"I'm quite familiar with Tailor Zhang, and my favorability with the villagers in Novice Village is so high, it shouldn't be a problem to ask him to craft an item for me," Ye Luo mused, a wide smile spreading across his face. "After all, this is the Toad King's skin; the equipment crafted from it should be decent, right?"

With these thoughts, Ye Luo continued to pick up the glowing orbs on the ground. This time, it was a jade-green bead:

[Jade Poison Bead] (Magic Item * Special Equipment * Beginner Tier)

Attack: 3—3

Additional Attributes: When equipped, it can imbue weapons with poison attacks. After hitting a target, it inflicts a beginner poison, causing the target to lose 3HP per second for the next 3 seconds. Cannot stack.

Additional Trait: Can be fused and upgraded.

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 tier is beginner.

Seeing the attributes of the Jade Poison Bead, Ye Luo was ecstatic. Setting aside the 3 attack points it added, the ability to imbue weapons with poison attacks was a divine weapon in the early stages of the game. He could do a lot with it.

With a thought, Ye Luo embedded the poison bead into the special equipment slot, and his attack increased to 26. Then, he noticed the Jade Poison Bead's additional trait about fusion and upgrading. After investigating, he learned that collecting three Jade Poison Beads of the same tier could upgrade it to the intermediate tier, and so on.

"Three Jade Poison Beads can upgrade it to intermediate tier. If the beginner tier already has such attributes, won't the intermediate tier be even more terrifying?" Ye Luo was thrilled, but he quickly shook his head. "It's already difficult enough to collect this one, let alone three more. I can't just camp here, can I?"

Based on his understanding of the game Heavenly Tribulation, the mini-bosses in Novice Village would respawn after 12 hours. Ye Luo didn't have that much time to camp.

"Although I can't camp, I can come back every 12 hours to try my luck. Besides me, I doubt anyone in Novice Village can kill this Toad King right now," Ye Luo secretly thought, then shook his head. "No, I probably can't either. After all, I don't have any Minor Blood Recovery Pills to replenish my health anymore."

Thinking this, Ye Luo felt an urgent desire to learn alchemy. Without further hesitation, he picked up the remaining two glowing orbs. They were two pieces of equipment. His eyes lit up again upon seeing them:

[Toad Skin Boots] (Boots - Normal Equipment)

Defense: 6—7

Durability: 100/100

Required Level: 3

[Toad Ring] (Ring - Normal Equipment)

Attack: 6—8

Durability: 100/100

Required Level: 3

Quickly equipping them, Ye Luo's attack became 32—34, and his defense became 17—18. It was a significant improvement. He was thrilled. "These two items are so strong! They're normal equipment, finally breaking away from the novice gear. And a ring too! I have to say, my luck is quite good."

When he killed the Young Toads, Ye Luo had also checked the official website for Heavenly Tribulation's settings. The game had been running for a while, and the developers were no longer keeping everything a secret, releasing quite a bit of information, such as equipment drop rates.

In Heavenly Tribulation, the drop rate for weapons and defensive equipment was slightly higher, while cloaks and accessories had much lower drop rates. It was no wonder Ye Luo was so happy to have luckily obtained a ring.

Just by killing one Toad King, Ye Luo had obtained a pair of boots, a ring, a special equipment, and a piece of Toad King's skin. It was a very fruitful haul.

Calming himself, Ye Luo swung his sword and struck the head of a Young Toad. A yellow damage number of '132' instantly killed it. Picking up the copper coins and Toad Skin dropped by the toad, he finally completed the quest to collect Toad Skin.

"Tsk, with my current attack power, I can already one-shot these Young Toads," Ye Luo was excited. However, seeing that the toad only dropped 8 energy experience after death, he shook his head. "My level is two levels higher than these toads, so the experience gained is discounted. It seems I should find other monsters."

With that thought, Ye Luo continued heading south. Along the way, he encountered several low-level herbs. Since he had decided to become an alchemist, he didn't pass them up and collected them one by one.

Shortly after, Ye Luo saw the second type of monster he had encountered since entering Heavenly Tribulation:

[Demonic Mountain Chicken] (Semi-Tamed)

Level: 3

Attack: 8—9

Defense: 12

HP: 450

Description: Semi-tamed monsters in Novice Village. They do not attack proactively but still possess some demonic nature.

The level 2 Demonic Mountain Chicken no longer posed a threat to Ye Luo. Ye Luo tried killing one, dealing around 80 damage with almost every hit, while the chicken's damage to him was only 4. The difference in strength was immense.

What Ye Luo found more interesting was that the Demonic Mountain Chicken was a ranged attacker, condensing a small energy projectile with the vibration of its wings.

Although ranged attacks had some advantages, they also had significant drawbacks. As soon as Ye Luo disengaged, he found that the accuracy of the energy projectiles was lower than melee attacks and they were easier to dodge.

"Ranged classes are probably like this too, right? Although ranged attacks have longer reach, their accuracy is slightly lower. I can work with this point later," Ye Luo mused.

Afterward, Ye Luo lost interest in killing more Demonic Mountain Chickens. He carefully searched the surroundings but found no mini-bosses, so he paid them no further attention. He continued to move forward while collecting herbs he encountered, reaping a good harvest. Fortunately, each type of herb could stack, with one inventory slot holding 100 plants. Otherwise, his inventory space would have been full long ago.

After walking for about four to 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: Semi-tamed monsters in Novice Village. They do not attack proactively but still possess some demonic nature.

The Demonic Mountain Chicken's attacks were almost on par with the Toad King's, and its defense was only a few points lower. If Ye Luo hadn't acquired three new pieces of equipment, it would have been difficult for him to kill it. Most importantly, the Demonic Mountain Chicken's health was far less than the Toad King's, making it much easier to defeat.

The Novice Sword struck the mountain chicken, and a yellow number "61" floated up. When the chicken attacked, Ye Luo only saw a "6" damage number above his head, which was insignificant.

After seven attacks, the Demonic Mountain Chicken finally died, transforming into 90 points of energy experience that was absorbed. Following that were three copper coins. However, Ye Luo was puzzled that he didn't receive the quest item – Mountain Chicken Meat.

"It seems not every mountain chicken drops quest items," Ye Luo could only guess. He shook his head, "It looks like Aunt Li's request for 20 pieces of Mountain Chicken Meat won't be easy to fulfill. Fortunately, the experience from mountain chickens is much higher than toads, so leveling up here isn't bad."

Thinking this, Ye Luo continued to kill mountain chickens. After killing more than ten more, he figured out the pattern: on average, he needed to kill five mountain chickens to get one piece of Mountain Chicken Meat. This meant he would have to kill hundreds of Demonic Mountain Chickens to complete the quest.

Time slowly passed as he killed Demonic Mountain Chickens, and Ye Luo's experience bar gradually increased.

Although the Demonic Mountain Chickens didn't deal much damage to Ye Luo, and he could dodge their attacks, the passive regeneration from the Battle Soul Crystal was far from enough to support his health consumption. Almost every three to four minutes, he had to rest and recover, and each rest took nearly two minutes. This significantly slowed down his killing speed, further strengthening his resolve to learn Alchemy.

"If I absolutely can't become an Alchemist, I'll have to buy some pills. Otherwise, my monster-killing speed is too slow, and I won't even dare to fight mini-bosses," Ye Luo mused while resting. "I wonder about the prices of these pills. After killing so many monsters and completing so many quests, I do have about 7 or 8 silver coins on me."

Seeing his health fully restored, Ye Luo once again threw himself into the great cause of killing monsters.

Time flowed by, and in the blink of an eye, over half an hour had passed. Ye Luo finally completed the task of collecting Mountain Chicken Meat.

In all this time, Ye Luo had killed over a hundred Demonic Mountain Chickens, but he was depressed that he hadn't obtained a single piece of equipment. This made him curse the abysmal drop rates of the Heavenly Tribulation game.

"Hoo..." Ye Luo let out a long sigh, checked his experience bar, and then gave a wry smile. "After killing mountain chickens for over half an hour, I still haven't reached level 4. The energy experience required for each level is too much, and this is just the early game. It's probably even more later on."

"It seems I can't rely on killing monsters of the same level to level up; I need to kill monsters of a higher level," Ye Luo pondered. He then looked at his equipment slots. "I currently have the Novice Sword and Novice Clothes equipped, along with Armguards, Leggings, Boots, and a Ring. I also have one Special Equipment. I'm still missing a Cloak, Helmet, another Ring, a Necklace, and an Amulet. If I complete these, my stats will increase significantly, and killing higher-level monsters won't be impossible."

"Also, the Novice Sword's attack is too low, and the Novice Clothes' defense is also too low; they should be replaced," Ye Luo said. After a brief mental calculation, he continued, "If I complete my equipment and replace the Novice Sword and Novice Clothes, I should be able to kill monsters 3 levels higher without issue. Of course, I'll also need the support of pills. While full offensive stat allocation is powerful, my health and defense are much lower than someone who allocates all their stats to Vitality."

"Should I add some Vitality when I level up? I heard Vitality not only increases health and physical defense but also speeds up the health recovery of the Soul Crystal," Ye Luo murmured. However, he quickly shook his head. "No, I'll stick to full offensive stat allocation. Otherwise, I won't even be able to kill monsters, so what's the use of having so much health? As for insufficient health, I can supplement it with equipment later, and besides, I'll become an Alchemist..."

In the early stages of the game, Ye Luo had no intention of teaming up with others. Such powerful offensive capabilities were his greatest asset for leveling up.