Xiao Jie stood at the gate of the village, looking at the desolate woods outside, the distant hills and forest, and the path leading to an unknown destination. His heart was filled with both excitement and apprehension.
He was finally going to venture out of the village to kill monsters and level up once more.
Unlike the last time he went to rescue I Want to Become Immortal, this time he had prepared for a protracted battle and was ready to go all out against them.
For this expedition, Xiao Jie had practically gone all in.
Looking at the remaining copper coins in his inventory, Xiao Jie couldn't help a pang of heartache. For this adventure, he had spent all his money.
His inventory was packed to the brim with supplies.
Steamed Buns × 20 = 100 copper coins.
Crude Feather Arrows × 20 = 100 copper coins. The twenty arrows given by the hunter were just barely passable for hunting, but clearly not enough for killing monsters to level up.
Torch × 2 = 100. This gadget could be used for illumination after dark or inside caves and tombs. It was an essential consumable for exploring dungeons, and one torch could burn for an hour.
Wound Medicine (Small) × 80 = 400. Low-level medicine used to restore health, indispensable for monster combat.
Strength Pill × 4 = 200. Medicine used to quickly recover stamina. Since stamina could recover automatically through resting (just not as fast), it wasn't as crucial as wound medicine, but it was best to carry a few just in case.
On top of that, he had also purchased two pieces of gear for himself: a piece of leather armor that cost 300 copper coins, and an iron-inlaid shield for 150.
[Iron-Inlaid Shield (Medium Shield) Defense +30 (when block is successful) Durability 200/200. Item Description: A shield inlaid with iron plates, offering higher defense and greater durability than ordinary wooden shields.]
[Leather Armor (Cuirass) Body Defense +10. Item Description: Protective gear made of leather. Although its defense is limited, it can still protect the wearer to a certain extent. It is the most common basic defensive gear used by irregular soldiers such as militiamen, mountain bandits, and wandering outlaws.]
The stats of the leather armor were a bit poor, but at least it meant he didn't have to run around naked.
The fourteen hundred-odd copper coins Xiao Jie had painstakingly accumulated were wiped out in one go.
I Want to Become Immortal walked over to Xiao Jie. He was even more thoroughly prepared, fully equipped with a complete set of iron-inlaid leather armor, a serpent spine longbow, a fine steel longsword, a shield, and a battle axe. He was armed to the teeth.
"Brother Feng, I'm ready."
"Mm." Xiao Jie acknowledged, but was in no rush to set off.
"Since the two of us are teaming up to go out and grind, there are some things I must make clear in advance. I don't need to spell out how dangerous this game is—you're well aware of it yourself. Even when we're killing monsters to level up, safety must be our top priority.
You have too little gaming experience, so you must listen to my commands! As long as you follow my instructions, I will definitely carry you to success. But I'll lay down the ugly truth first: if you go outside and mess around blindly without listening to commands and cause danger, I won't guarantee that I won't sell you out. Understand?"
Xiao Jie spoke with exceptional seriousness. In the past, when he was a guild leader, he would often issue stern warnings to studio members and roar curses at them during raid groups.
But at the end of the day, that was just playing a game; no matter how serious it sounded, it was just going through the motions.
This time, however, the solemnity in his tone was unprecedented, because this time, he was genuinely taking someone out to risk his life.
I Want to Become Immortal also sensed Xiao Jie's seriousness and said gravely, "Don't worry, Brother Feng. I know what's what and I'll definitely not make things difficult for you."
"Alright, that's good. Here's what we'll do: first wander around the vicinity of the village, then slowly venture deeper into the dangerous areas of the map. Before entering each successive area, we must scout from a position with good visibility to ensure there are no overly powerful monsters or large groups of monsters around.
If we encounter danger and I shout to run, don't hesitate—run straight back to the village.
Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's move!"
The two finally stepped out of the village gate.
It was just past noon, the time when the sunlight was at its strongest. The sunlight filtered down into the woods, adding a touch of peaceful ambiance to what was originally a gloomy art style.
Thanks to regular patrols and clearings by the militia, there were no monster activities around the village.
To fight monsters, they had to venture deeper, as different monsters had different respawn zones.
Since the goal was hunting, Xiao Jie chose a sparse patch of woodland to the northeast.
Because it was sparse, visibility was relatively good, making it less likely for monsters to ambush them point-blank.
The two entered the forest, weapons gripped in their hands, raising their alertness to the absolute maximum.
They hadn't walked far before a deer appeared in their line of sight, leisurely grazing on the grass.
Xiao Jie used Beast Identification to take a look.
[Wild Deer (Beast), Level 3, HP 40. Taming Difficulty: Hard. Skills: Antler Charge LV2, Wild Gallop LV1.]
Killing this thing in melee combat was extremely difficult because the moment someone got close, it would run away. Plus, with the Wild Gallop skill, two legs simply couldn't catch up to it.
Fortunately, now that they had bows and arrows, they could finally take it down.
The two crept forward slowly. Because their archery skill level was too low and their hit rate was limited, they prepared to get a little closer before attacking. Little did they know that before they could even get close, the deer suddenly jerked its head up, its nose twitching rapidly, and then turned and bolted.
"Damn, what's going on?" I Want to Become Immortal said speechlessly.
Xiao Jie looked at the direction the surrounding leaves and weeds were swaying and said in a deep voice, "It's the wind direction!"
He found it hard to believe that this game even factored in wind direction, but that seemed to be the case.
"We're upwind; the prey will catch our scent. Here's what we do: we'll flank from the right and approach from downwind."
The two made a wide detour and soon spotted the deer again, but this time, they were downwind.
Both of them simultaneously pressed the stealth key and crouched down, approaching slowly to avoid making any noise. When they reached a distance of twenty to thirty meters away, they raised their bows together!
"Release!" Xiao Jie said in a faint voice.
Swish! Swish!
Two arrows flew out one after the other.
The deer was struck in succession—one arrow hit its waist and flank, while the other hit its neck.
-21! -23!
Because the hunting bow had enhanced damage and profited from archery weapon skill bonuses, the damage was quite respectable.
The deer let out a mournful cry and collapsed directly to the ground.
Killed Wild Deer—EXP +3!
Xiao Jie thought to himself that this experience was really a bit too little, but at least there was some income.
The two ran over and retrieved the arrows from the deer's corpse. At five copper coins a piece, they had to reuse them whenever possible.
Xiao Jie looted the corpse and obtained Venison × 1 and Deer Antlers × 1. Regrettably, beast-type monsters didn't drop money.
"Keep going."
The two cautiously searched the forest for prey. Before long, they had hunted 4 deer, 3 sheep, and 4 rabbits.
They took turns looting, and soon their backpacks were filled with some spoils of war.
They had hunted quite a bit of prey, but their experience points hadn't increased by much.
A single deer only gave 5 experience points, a sheep gave 3, and a rabbit a mere 1. Then they had to split it between the two of them, making the yield pitifully small.
The upside was that these creatures had no attack power; the moment they saw a person, they fled, posing zero danger.
I Want to Become Immortal complained, "This experience is way too low. Levelling up at this rate will take till the Year of the Monkey, Brother Feng. Why don't the two of us go a bit further out?"
Xiao Jie didn't object this time. Although safety came first and slow leveling was acceptable, this was simply too slow.
When all was said and done, deer, sheep, and rabbits probably shouldn't even be considered monsters; they could only be classified as game, and relying on them to level up wasn't realistic.
Rather than calling it fighting monsters, it was more like hunting.
"Alright, let's keep moving forward. But we must follow my previous requirements: ensure safety before attacking, and scout before taking action."
The two first found a slightly elevated mound, climbed up, and surveyed the surrounding area.
On the slopes of a small hill to the west, a few black dots were faintly visible—they were Lost Soul Bandits. Xiao Jie observed the distribution of these bandits and noted they were spaced quite far apart.
Fine, he would use them to open blood.
Xiao Jie still harbored a bit of psychological trauma regarding this type of monster; Han Luo had died at the hands of these creatures back then.
However, the two of them had nothing back then and could still club one to death with wooden sticks. Now that their equipment and skills were complete, why would they be afraid of them!
Before you continue