Peerless Waste

Ye Luo arrived outside the village, where it was already a sea of people. Not only were several people fighting over a single monster, but after seeing the monsters' stats, he couldn't help but curse.

[Young Toad] (Semi-tamed)

Level: 1

Attack: 3—4

Defense: 4

HP: 100

Introduction: A semi-tamed monster in Novice Village. It will not attack proactively, but it still has some demonic nature.

Looking at the toad, which was about the size of a puppy, Ye Luo felt like crying. It wasn't that he was shocked by the ugly bumps on the Young Toad or the realism of the game "Heavenly Tribulation," but rather he was stunned by the monster's stats.

Based on Ye Luo's understanding of the game's damage calculation, his 2 attack points would only deal 1 to 2 damage to the toad, requiring at least fifty to sixty hits to kill it. The toad's attack on him would deal around 6 damage, and with his current frail body, he would die in about twenty hits.

In other words, with his current strength, not only could he not kill the toad, but he was also very likely to be killed by it.

Even though he thought this, Ye Luo had no choice but to brace himself and go forward. Just as a toad appeared in front of him, he reacted quickly and swung his Iron Sword. With a "poof" sound, a "1" damage number floated above the toad's head, which was consistent with his calculations.

Seeing other players' attacks dealing "8" or "10" damage to the toad, Ye Luo felt like crying again.

Lost in thought, the toad's sticky tongue shot out. Ye Luo felt a sharp pain, and a "7" damage number appeared above his head. His HP bar instantly depleted a small portion, and he also sustained some injuries.

A cool sensation emanated from the Battle Soul Crystal, and the wounds inflicted by the toad on Ye Luo's body slowly disappeared. Soon, they were gone.

"Tsk tsk, so the Soul Crystal can also heal injuries. This is a setting not found in other virtual online games, and it makes a lot more sense," Ye Luo exclaimed in amazement. However, he quickly lost interest in these matters because the toad's next attack was imminent.

His novice sword struck the toad again, but it only dealt 1 damage. However, when Ye Luo was attacked, a red number "14" floated above his head. The HP bar, which was already depleted, was further reduced by a large chunk, almost a fifth of the entire HP bar.

"Damn it, it's a critical hit," Ye Luo exclaimed, looking at the red damage number above his head.

The game "Heavenly Tribulation" had a specific setting: normal damage numbers were yellow, double critical damage was red, and healing numbers were green. There were also numbers of other colors, but players would have to discover them themselves.

The Young Toad's HP was similar to Ye Luo's, and their attack frequency was also similar. However, the damage they dealt to each other was vastly different. At this moment, without any healing potions, Ye Luo had no chance of winning.

Ye Luo quickly realized this. He had initially intended to use his speed or agility to maneuver around the toad, but he found that his speed was only about one meter per second, and the Young Toad's speed was similar to his. As for agility, there was no point in even mentioning it. With his 1 agility, let alone outmaneuvering the toad, it was more likely that he would be outmaneuvered.

"Sigh, it seems impossible to defeat this toad," Ye Luo sighed and decisively retreated.

The monsters in Novice Village did not have high aggro. After chasing Ye Luo for a few seconds, the Young Toad returned to its original spot, and was quickly torn apart by several players, then transformed into an energy light cluster that was absorbed by one of the players.

"Huh, this energy light cluster should be the experience points in other online games. Too bad this energy doesn't belong to me," Ye Luo said with a slight surprise, and then he cursed indignantly, "What kind of broken rules are these in games? In other games, experience is distributed to the player who lands the first hit."

The game "Heavenly Tribulation" had a rule for obtaining experience from killing monsters: the player who landed the first hit had to deal more than half of the monster's HP to receive the experience points after the monster's death. Ye Luo had dealt less than a tenth of the Young Toad's HP, so he naturally didn't get any experience.

"The weakest monsters in 'Heavenly Tribulation' are the level 1 novice mobs. I can't even deal with this little toad, let alone other monsters." Ye Luo muttered to himself. Seeing that other players were killing the small toads with relative ease, and some players had even leveled up, he gave a wry smile. "It seems I have no choice but to team up with other players. This game provides experience bonuses for teaming up, so there should be many people willing to team up with me."

"Besides, in a novice village with many players and few monsters, each additional person in a team increases the chance of grabbing a monster."

With this thought, Ye Luo began looking for people to team up with. Some people did accept him, but after seeing his pathetic attack power, most teams promptly kicked him out. As a result, after more than an hour, he had only gained 30 experience points, and he was still a long way from leveling up to level 1.

It only took 100 experience points to go from level 0 to level 1, but it took Ye Luo over an hour to gain just 30 points. It would take him at least another two hours to reach level 1.

However, Ye Luo soon discovered something that made him helpless: no one was willing to team up with him anymore.

Someone had spread the word that a "Peerless Waste" had appeared in Novice Village, with attack and defense so poor it was infuriating. Ye Luo became famous, pointed at by countless people in Novice Village, and the word "waste" could be heard from time to time. Even those who entered the game later than Ye Luo knew his "great reputation," and thus no one was willing to team up with him.

"I'm truly miserable right now. I should have chosen the Mage class from the start. At least Mages have a long attack range, allowing me to attack while retreating, and it wouldn't be difficult to wear down a small toad." Ye Luo murmured to himself, and then he gave a wry smile. "If only I could reach level 1 first. Then my stats would increase significantly, and killing these small toads would be a piece of cake."

Human Battle Souls, for every level gained, would increase Strength by 2, Agility by 1, Constitution by 1, and Intelligence by 1. 1 point of Strength increased physical attack by 1, and 1 point of Constitution increased HP by 10 and physical defense by 1.

In addition, for every level gained, there were also five free attribute points. According to Ye Luo's plan to allocate all his points, after reaching level 1, his attack power would become 9-9, and his defense would become 3-3. Killing those Young Toads would then be much easier.

"No, I must reach level 1, otherwise I won't be able to move an inch in this game. I might not even be able to leave Novice Village, let alone find the Dongfang Family for revenge," Ye Luo said. However, he quickly shook his head. "But now no one is willing to team up with me. How can I reach level 1?"

Suddenly thinking of something, Ye Luo's eyes lit up. He exclaimed with joy, "That's right! I can ask Yue'er for help. It would be very easy for her to help me level up to 1. We started the game almost at the same time, and we're in the same small courtyard. There's a high probability that we'll be assigned to the same novice village."

With these thoughts, Ye Luo hurriedly used the game's built-in communication function to contact Zhi Yue.

Of course, this communication function did not refer to the game's special equipment, the Communicator, but rather the device's built-in video call.

Zhi Yue's call connected quickly. Seeing Ye Luo contact her so proactively, she was quite excited and said, "Brother Ye, what's wrong? I'm fighting monsters with a group of people right now. Hehe, I've already reached level 2. What level are you?"

"Uh, level 2 already..." Ye Luo muttered inwardly, but he didn't directly ask Zhi Yue to help him level up. Instead, he asked, "Yue'er, which novice village are you in? Knowing your location will put my mind at ease."

"Novice Village 0088, hehe. How about that, quite a lucky number, right?" Zhi Yue replied from the other end while swinging her staff to attack. She then asked, "Brother Ye, which novice village are you in? Will we be together? If we are, can you come and help me level up? You're so powerful, you must be great at games too."

Hearing that Zhi Yue was not in the same novice village as him, Ye Luo felt a bitter smile. However, seeing her expectant expression, he replied, "I'm in Novice Village 0099. It seems we'll only have a chance to meet when we reach level 40 and leave the novice village."

Upon hearing that Ye Luo was not in the same novice village as her, Zhi Yue was also quite disappointed. She muttered, "What a shame. I was planning to have you help me level up. Early on, Summoners don't have summons, and ranged attackers can't compete with melee classes for monsters. My leveling speed is very slow. Some people in my current novice village have already reached level 5."

"You've reached at least level 2, and I'm still hovering around level 0," Ye Luo thought. Knowing that his plan to have Zhi Yue help him reach level 1 had failed, he settled for the next best thing and asked, "Yue'er, do you know if there are any other ways to level up in the early game besides fighting monsters?"

"Doing quests, and those pure life skills quests that don't require fighting monsters," Zhi Yue blurted out. Then she asked in confusion, "The fastest way to level up is to do quests while fighting monsters. Simply doing life skills quests is very slow. Brother Ye, you're not thinking of leveling up this way, are you?"

Cough, cough, as you know, there are many players in Novice Village, and monster stealing is troublesome. If you think about it carefully, it's not as fast as doing life skills quests. Ye Luo tried hard to find the right words, and then he hastily changed the subject, "Yue'er, you focus on leveling up and try to reach level 40 as soon as possible. I'll help you level up then."

"Hehe, okay, goodbye Brother Ye!" Zhi Yue, not suspecting anything, quickly ended the communication and continued to engage in grabbing and killing monsters.

"It's a good thing I didn't let Yue'er know about my current predicament, otherwise she would probably laugh at me for a long time," Ye Luo breathed a long sigh of relief, and then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "But thankfully, I know how to reach level 1. Although the leveling speed is slow if I only do life skills quests, it's still better than not being able to level up at all. As long as I reach level 1, things will be relatively easier then."

With these thoughts, Ye Luo no longer looked at the crowd behind him who were enthusiastically grabbing monsters. He headed directly towards the villagers' residences in Novice Village, saying as he walked, "After so long, most of the people in Novice Village should have finished their quests. It's best if there's no queue now, which will save a lot of trouble."