The Bladehorn Sheep at the forefront was instantly swallowed by the Fire Dragon, burned until not even ashes remained!
But this was only the beginning. The Fire Dragon showed no sign of stopping as it rampaged through the flock. The sheep that had been angrily pursuing Xu Kun were immediately plunged into dire straits!
Xu Kun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, a smug smile on his face.
"I turned a 1% trigger chance into 100%. Who else can do that?!"
Afraid that Wrath of the Fire Dragon would not cover enough ground, Xu Kun threw out a Wildfire Scorches the Plains toward the rear of the flock while they were being ravaged!
But clearly, he had still underestimated Wrath of the Fire Dragon's power. Five thousand Fire Attribute damage per second was undoubtedly a devastating blow to level 3 trash mobs like Bladehorn Sheep!
With a coverage area of 500 by 500, even if the Bladehorn Sheep were bigger, it would still be enough to cover every last one of them!
The familiar and pleasant notification chimes rang without end. By now, Xu Kun was as steady as an old dog, calmly watching the flock before him get wiped out one by one.
Ding! You have killed 129 Bladehorn Sheep and gained 90% experience. Congratulations, you have reached level 3! Ding! God of Strength's...
Ding! You have killed 71 Bladehorn Sheep and gained 5.68% experience. Current experience pool: Level 3, 5.68%!
Compared with the 1% experience from level 1 Cavern Giant Rats and the 0.8% from level 2 Gentle Rabbits, the experience from level 3 Bladehorn Sheep had dropped again, to just 0.7%!
The experience gained from monsters of the same level had also fallen from 0.1% at level 2 to around 0.08%!
"Once my level gets higher, will killing monsters of the same level barely give any experience at all?" Xu Kun muttered doubtfully.
This touched upon Xu Kun's blind spot. Over the past eleven years, from elementary school to high school, everything the teachers had taught involved the various aspects of the beginner trial.
Just the detailed explanations of the main maps, based on the knowledge humanity had accumulated about beginner trials over eight hundred years, could not possibly be learned in a day or two!
Even so, every batch still had many participants in the beginner trial encounter maps they had never studied, maps that were not even recorded in their metal bracelets!
For a map like Xu Kun's "Mist Island" to have even partial information available was already pretty good!
Even so, humanity had never abandoned basic education. To educators across the human race, if even 1% of what they taught their students could be put to use, then all their years of hard work would have been worthwhile!
Humanity was precisely through this inheritance from old to new that it had staggered forward from the brink of extinction, step by step, until it reached its current state and caught up with the myriad races!
Ding! Your beginner trial completion rate has increased by 6%. Current: 18%! Ding! Congratulations! You have killed 100 F-rank racial monsters, Bladehorn Sheep. The Myriad Races Bestiary has taken effect. Congratulations, you have obtained the F-rank skill Bleeding! Bleeding Rank: F-rank Physical Skill Effect: Attacks deal true damage equal to 5% of the target's Physical Attack per second. The skill lasts 5 seconds and cannot trigger multiple times on the same target!
It was a very good F-rank skill. Combined with Xu Kun's current attack power of 128 at level 3, it could deal 32 points of true damage over five seconds!
"This is a physical skill. If I had an area-of-effect physical damage skill, could it inflict Bleeding on targets within its range?" Xu Kun guessed, rubbing his chin.
Without giving it much thought, Xu Kun waited for the earth scorched by the Fire Dragon before him to slowly cool, then threw himself back into the grand endeavor of looting corpses!
But after picking things up for a while, Xu Kun could only smile bitterly.
"Fortune and misfortune really do go hand in hand! Wrath of the Fire Dragon is way too destructive!"
Out of a full two hundred Bladehorn Sheep, two-thirds had been utterly burned to nothing by Wrath of the Fire Dragon, leaving behind almost no corpses at all!
And the remaining one-third of the Bladehorn Sheep corpses offered rather disappointing loot.
Damaged Bladehorn Rank: F-rank Function: A Bladehorn Sheep's bladehorn severely damaged by external force. Collect ten of them to use as one whole bladehorn, a material for crafting F-rank weapons. Charred Bladehorn Sheep Meat Rank: F-rank Function: After consumption, restores 2 health per second for 10 seconds!
Xu Kun took a bite of the "charcoal" in his hand and immediately spat it out several times.
"What kind of garbage is this? It reeks of mutton and burnt meat. Is this even edible?!"
He immediately threw away the thirty-odd pieces of mutton he had collected. No one would want this stuff even if it were free!
Even the boost from Heavenly Blessing: Child of Fortune could not save materials damaged by Wrath of the Fire Dragon. Xu Kun casually tossed the forty-odd damaged bladehorns into his backpack. He would decide whether to keep them later. If his backpack filled up, he would just throw them away. They were only worth a hundred or so bucks anyway, so it was not like he would feel bad about it!
The Haotian Pagoda gave every first-time entrant a storage backpack. It had a capacity of 200 slots, and identical materials could stack, up to thirty per stack!
Snow Rabbit fur took up four slots, Snow Rabbit meat took up three, and the bladehorns he had just picked up took up two. There was still plenty of room in his backpack.
This backpack could freely travel in and out of the Pagoda with the trial participant. With a thought, he could retrieve the items inside!
This technology alone had turned the hair of tens of thousands of human scientists gray and bald. Even today, they had yet to decipher it, and could only label it "advanced civilization spatial application technology"!
Fine, an ordinary spatial backpack was the product of an advanced civilization. For humanity, which had only just entered the threshold of a level 1.0 civilization, it remained a distant dream!
(PS: A thousand years ago, in the era we live in, humanity's technological level had only reached a level 0.7 civilization!)
Carrying the Flame Spirit Sword, Xu Kun continued forward. As he walked, he muttered, "If Wrath of the Fire Dragon really triggers at 100% for me, then if I kill a wave of monsters every hour, wouldn't I end up earning nothing?"
"Sigh, having too high a trigger chance is no good either. It would be great if I could control it at will!"
If other races participating in the beginner trial heard such a shamelessly boastful remark, they would probably want to slap him twice!
Xu Kun had not gone far before his footsteps halted.
As he stared at the scene in the distance, a chill ran down his spine.
Eerie!
Stretching before him was an eerie, dim forest. Heavy mist shrouded the canopy, while everything below was pitch-black!
In the silence, he could even hear the sound of dew dripping.
Xu Kun was certain that he had entered the level 4 monster zone, yet no matter how carefully he looked, he could not spot a single monster!
After hesitating slightly, Xu Kun looked at the Fire Dragon Barrier he had put on during his fight with the Bladehorn Sheep. Only after feeling the warmth from the Flame Spirit Armor did he gather the courage to move forward.
The Flame Spirit Boots rustled against the grass beneath his feet.
Xu Kun raised his palm, and the book formed by the Myriad Races Bestiary appeared.
Entering the dark forest, visibility became extremely low. Xu Kun slowed down, gripped his longsword tightly, and prepared for any danger that might appear at any moment.
Hisss!
Xu Kun felt a chill at his neck. He looked toward the source of the sound behind him, only to see an emerald-green shadow rapidly expanding in his vision.
Before Xu Kun could swing his sword, the figure spat out a cloud of black mist from a distance.
Ding! You have been afflicted by a Mandala Snake's Paralysis Venom. Movement Speed -5%!
A 5% movement speed reduction was not fatal. Just as Xu Kun breathed a sigh of relief, the sound of snakes hissing came from every direction.
Ding! You have been afflicted by... Ding...
In just a few seconds, Xu Kun was completely enveloped by black mist. It choked him, while the Paralysis debuff on his body stacked to ten layers, drastically reducing his movement speed!
After checking his attribute panel, he saw that his movement speed had been reduced by roughly 40%. This meant that the slow from Paralysis Venom stacked on top of already reduced speed, rather than simply being calculated as 5% plus 5%!
"Damn it! Wildfire Scorches the Plains!"
Xu Kun instantly saw through their plan. They wanted to use Paralysis Venom to completely restrict his movements, then trap him in an encirclement and beat him to death!
Firelight shone down from above, dispersing the black mist and allowing Xu Kun to see the situation around him clearly!
Hisss!
Every Mandala Snake within 2.5 meters of Xu Kun was selected as a target by Wildfire Scorches the Plains. Their bodies were instantly incinerated!
This proved that these Mandala Snakes did not have much health!
Ding! You have killed a Mandala Snake. Experience +0.6%! Ding...
Five notifications in total meant that Wildfire Scorches the Plains had killed five Mandala Snakes!
Most importantly, after the ground was scorched by Wildfire Scorches the Plains, specks of firelight illuminated the originally dim surroundings. Even the mist around the treetops was dispersed considerably by the heat!
Xu Kun looked up, and his scalp instantly went numb!
On the towering trees around him, emerald-green Mandala Snakes coiled around the trunks, flicking their tongues and making piercing noises!
But having been intimidated by Xu Kun's Wildfire Scorches the Plains, these Mandala Snakes did not immediately approach. The five that had just died had only failed to escape because they were too close.
The Myriad Races Bestiary in his palm quickly scanned the monster before him. A page depicting the Mandala Snake in lifelike detail appeared before Xu Kun.
Mandala Snake Talent: F-rank Venom Gland (+5% Magic Attack Power) Level: 4 Magic Attack Power: 28-30 Health: 130-150 Physical Defense: 8-10 Evasion: Unable to evade Kun's attacks Movement Speed: 1.5M/S Skill: Paralysis Venom—Spits poisonous mist, reducing the Movement Speed of hostile targets within a 5 by 5 area by 5% for 10 seconds. Description: A low-level social snake species that prefers dark, humid environments. Skilled at lying in ambush, once a target enters its territory, it waits for a chance to approach and use Paralysis Venom to render the enemy unable to move, then turns the immobilized prey into food!
They were actually magic-type monsters!
Their Magic Attack Power was even higher than the Physical Attack of the Bladehorn Sheep from before. One could imagine that most beginner trial participants had low Willpower attributes. If they encountered this type of monster, got slowed, and then attacked by a group, it would truly be a dead end!
Fortunately, these Mandala Snakes had low health and weak physical defense. With Xu Kun's current attributes, he could kill one with every swing!
But his top priority was escaping the encirclement!
Xu Kun could already see more and more Mandala Snakes approaching him. He could tolerate ten stacks of Paralysis Venom, but who knew how many layers the debuff could stack to?
Hisss!
When the Mandala Snakes saw that Xu Kun, despite being afflicted with Paralysis Venom, was still moving briskly, they made surprised hissing sounds. It was as if they were communicating:
This was unscientific!
Xu Kun did not care whether it was scientific or not. Even with a 40% speed reduction, his movement speed still exceeded 2 meters per second. Escaping the encirclement was easy!
Along the way, Mandala Snakes tried to repeat their old trick and block Xu Kun's path. Without saying a word, Xu Kun used Rapid Strike and killed the snake blocking his way with one slash, before the Bleeding effect even had time to trigger!
Without looking back, Xu Kun could hear the tooth-grating sound of snakes slithering along the ground. He casually threw an Explosive Fireball behind him. When he heard the kill notification, Xu Kun smiled slightly.
Hiss!
Just as Xu Kun was kiting the Mandala Snake army behind him, a hidden Mandala Snake on a tree trunk beside him seized the chance to spit a mouthful of poisonous mist at him!
The Fire Dragon Barrier around him rippled, and a white -30 appeared.
Xu Kun casually swung his sword and ended the life of the careless Mandala Snake. But his successive actions seemed to have stirred up a hornet's nest. More and more Mandala Snakes surrounded him from every direction.
"Damn!" Xu Kun listened carefully and judged that at least dozens of Mandala Snakes were advancing toward him from every direction!
With no other choice, Xu Kun relied on the Fire Dragon Barrier's 20% shield and plunged headfirst into the snake horde. One sword strike per snake, he began violently clearing monsters, occasionally tossing out an Explosive Fireball with a 5-second cooldown and startling the snakes out of their wits!
During the monster clearing, Xu Kun was surprised to discover that the slowing effect of Paralysis Venom could only stack up to ten layers. Even if the Mandala Snakes beside him spat until their tongues nearly twisted into knots, they could only refresh the debuff!
This discovery made Xu Kun even more unrestrained. Even at maximum slow, he could still stroll leisurely through the snake horde's encirclement. Very few Mandala Snakes could actually attack him!
But few did not mean none. Mandala Snakes had ranged magic attacks. No matter how well Xu Kun dodged, he could not avoid all of them. Soon, the Fire Dragon Barrier shattered and entered its ten-minute cooldown.
Without the glowing barrier around him, Xu Kun immediately felt a cold, unpleasant sensation!
Just then, a Mandala Snake took the opportunity to spit a cloud of poisonous mist at Xu Kun.
Xu Kun felt a chill at his neck and was about to retreat when he suddenly froze. His eyes widened as he stared at the huge -1 floating above his head!
"Damn it, I got completely fooled. I almost forgot that these useless snakes can't break through my defense!"
His ingrained way of thinking, along with the misconception he had learned from textbooks that being surrounded easily meant being worn down by accumulated damage!
Had caused Xu Kun to overlook the massive attribute boost provided by the Zenith Flame Spirit Set. His current 132 Magic Defense was enough to leave these Mandala Snakes helpless!
The 20% health shield provided by Fire Dragon Barrier had no defensive attributes at all, which was why Xu Kun had feared being beaten to death by the group once the barrier shattered!
Combined with his instinctive fear of snakes, Xu Kun had not wanted to have any more contact with these Mandala Snakes than necessary!
He had completely failed to realize that he was not some frail beginner who needed to tread on thin ice!
Of the previous three kinds of monsters, not one had dealt him any real damage. Only these Mandala Snakes had successfully inflicted the massive damage of -1, making him suddenly remember his extraordinarily high dual defenses!
At the moment the barrier had shattered, he had even been ready to use Unyielding Starfire!
But as he watched consecutive -1 forced damage values pop up over his head, interspersed with the occasional Miss, a cruel smile appeared on Xu Kun's lips.
"Little snakies, here I come!"
Before you continue