Lost

The so-called Rogue's Six-Second Rule meant that if they made no attacks for six seconds, they would leave combat and could enter Stealth again. Li Shaolin had played a Death Knight before and knew a little about it, so he could not help being surprised when he saw it. This Rogue seemed quite skilled and experienced, despite being only level 10.

"Heh heh." Li Shaolin gave a lecherous chuckle. Who cared about six seconds? The two Bone Fangs in his hands shot out with hissing sounds, while he condensed two more and fired them as well. Unlike combat skills in World of Warcraft, which had to be cast at a locked magical target, his Fangs could be fired in any direction. They could even break wooden stairs, so naturally he could spray them around freely.

After firing six or seven Fangs in succession, blood suddenly splattered through the air. The Rogue, who had already entered Stealth, was immediately forced out. Several holes appeared in his body at once, making him bare his teeth in pain. With a wave of Li Shaolin's hand, the three summons surrounded him.

"Run now, you little brat!" Li Shaolin felt his mana running low and hurriedly ordered his underlings to attack, lest something unexpected happen.

"Wait, I really have secret intel—" Before he could finish, a Skeleton Warrior chopped off his head with one slash, sending it flying! As the Rogue died, a beam of white light descended from the sky onto that Skeleton Warrior. It had actually leveled up!

"How is that possible? I haven't leveled up yet. Is this a bug?" Li Shaolin was puzzled and quickly cast Detection. Sure enough, the Skeleton Warrior's name had turned green: Skeleton Warrior, level 9. Right, he remembered now. Back when he was in Fargodeep Mine for the first time, the two fighting Skeleton Warriors seemed to have both advanced. This one must have gained a great deal of experience fighting Murlocs at Crystal Lake last time, storing it until it finally leveled up.

"Fine, forget it for now. I should go report back to that old man Hagard." He searched the Rogue's body and found nothing valuable, so he picked up the Linen Mask and walked out, recalling the Skeleton Warrior and Clay Golem into the Book of the Dead.

After closing up the little house, he returned the way he came to the sheriff's small courtyard.

"How did it go?" One-eyed Hagard was still chopping wood and did not even turn his head as he spoke.

"It was a level 10 Defias Bandit named James Clark, I think. I took him out." Li Shaolin pulled the Linen Mask from his robes and handed it to the old man.

Hagard's expression turned grave. "Him? I never would have thought it... By the way, you did me a huge favor. What should I give you as a reward?" The old man paced in place for a few steps, thinking. "There's a Horse Ranch nearby, and I have a stake in it. If you buy a horse there in the future, you can get twenty percent off. How about it?"

"Sure. I was just planning to buy one." Although Hagard had not given him money or anything, this favor was worth quite a bit. If he bought a fine horse, it could cost anywhere from dozens to hundreds of gold coins. With a discount, he would save a lot. The old man raised a hand, took out an emblem, and gave it to him.

The instant Li Shaolin took it, he felt a faint glow stirring within his body. It was actually the sign of an impending level-up! He hurriedly suppressed it in his mind, hastily said goodbye to Hagard, and left.

Opening the Book of the Dead, he saw that the recorded character level had indeed become level 9, and he had one more unused skill point. He really had leveled up! "That's not right. Didn't I need to fight and kill monsters to gain experience? I haven't killed many since leveling up at Crystal Lake, so how did I level up again? Could completing missions given by the sheriff also grant experience rewards? Isn't that just like a game?" He could not make sense of it. Still, leveling up was always a good thing. He would probably understand eventually, so there was no need to rush.

He looked through the Book of the Dead. Where should he put this skill point? His skill points and status were currently as follows:

Name: Li Shaolin

Race: Human (Eastern Warlock)

Gender: Male

Class: Necromancer (Owner of Fargodeep Mine)

Health: 124/124

Mana: 124/124

Level: 9

Remaining Skill Points: 1

Equipment: Book of the Dead, Eight-Slot Space Belt

Skills: Detection Level 2, Raise Skeleton Level 2, Fangs Level 1, Clay Golem Level 1, Skeleton Mastery Level 1 (Passive), Venomous Dagger Level 1, Bone Shield Level 1

Summons: First-Tier Skeleton Warrior (1), Second-Tier Skeleton Warrior (1), First-Tier Clay Golem (1), Fourth-Tier Clay Golem (1)

"This Second-Tier Skeleton Warrior should be the one whose name turned green, but what's with this Fourth-Tier Clay Golem? Also, I can clearly feel that my strength and other attributes have improved, so why doesn't this panel show them? I can't even see skill damage." The more Li Shaolin thought about it, the more frustrated he became. He simply could not figure it out. Perhaps he had to reach a certain level before he could see those things? After studying it for a while and learning nothing, he could only give up. After some thought, he added the skill point to Raise Skeleton. That way, he could summon one more skeleton.

Having spent the skill point, he could not find any corpses to summon for the moment. Following the route Hagard had described, he walked onward. Sure enough, a large horse ranch stood ahead, right beside the Lumber Camp.

"Hello, sir. Are you looking to buy or rent a horse?" A tanned young woman in her early twenties came up to greet him.

Li Shaolin quickly took out the emblem Hagard had given him. "This was given to me by that old sheriff. He said I could get twenty percent off when buying a horse here. Is that true?"

The young woman took the emblem, examined it, and nodded. "You're an adventurer, correct? Would you like to apply for a Sealing Emblem?"

"Heh heh, well, my level isn't high enough yet. I just need an ordinary horse I can ride. It doesn't have to be too good, since I'll only be riding around Elwynn Forest." Li Shaolin felt a little embarrassed and quickly explained.

"All right, then follow me. Just tell me which one catches your eye!" The young woman led him inside.

Horses of all colors and sizes wandered about the ranch. A few hunting dogs occasionally ran past, while horses neighed and whinnied, giving the place something of a grassland atmosphere.

"Miss, do you have any gentler horses? These ones look a little too wild. I don't actually know how to ride." Li Shaolin asked the young woman beside him.

"The horses tied in the stable are all relatively gentle. Would you like to take a look?"

After wandering around for quite some time, he finally chose a brown horse. He asked the price, and thanks to his emblem, it cost only one and a half gold coins. After paying, he got a saddle and climbed on somewhat unsteadily. The horse truly was gentle. It did not struggle and simply began walking slowly with him on its back.

After trying it out and finding it satisfactory, he was overjoyed. He bid the horse-selling young woman farewell, mounted the brown horse, and left the ranch.

Seeing that it was already dark and knowing no one else at the Lumber Camp, he decided he might as well go find Jack and the others. Once he made up his mind, he rode along the dirt road traveled by the logging carts. After going a few steps, he felt that riding did not seem very difficult, so he lightly patted the horse's rump. Its speed immediately increased a little.

"Heh heh, this works great." Imitating the wandering heroes he had seen on television, he shouted, "Giddyup!" and squeezed his legs. The horse neighed and burst into a mad gallop! The moment it started running, Li Shaolin became utterly flustered and nearly fell off. He hurriedly shouted, "Stop! Stop! Stop!" But the horse did not listen and kept running, forcing the lumber workers to scatter out of its way.

Panicking, he quickly wrapped both arms around the horse's neck and let it carry him wherever it pleased. The commotion behind him grew fainter and fainter, while the trees became denser. He had long since strayed from the narrow dirt road and charged into the forest!

At last, the wildly galloping horse gradually slowed and came to a stop.

"I never thought you looked so honest but were actually full of bad intentions!" Li Shaolin finally came to his senses and sighed bitterly. He jumped down from the horse and looked around, only to find enormous Elwynn Ancient Trees everywhere. He had no idea where he was.

"Sigh, no choice. I'll just take it one step at a time." This damned place was not that big anyway. He should not get lost.

After walking for about another hour or two, he still had no clue where he was. Trees filled his vision in every direction, making him increasingly irritated. By then, the sky had gone completely dark, and the moon had risen high overhead. He took out the map he had obtained from Azura's Mage Tower, but he could not determine his location at all, much less find the way out.

Then a wolf howl rang out!

He turned around and saw several pairs of red eyes appear in the nearly pitch-black air around him! They belonged to three Forest Wolves!

At the sound of the howl, the brown horse proved utterly spineless. It ignored its owner and bolted away, vanishing into the woods after a few leaps!

"You cowardly bastard! Once I deal with these beasts, I'll skin you and use your hide as a blanket!" Li Shaolin could not help regretting choosing such a horse. Had he known, he would have been better off choosing one of those lively, prancing ones.

The three Forest Wolves gradually moved closer. Li Shaolin hurriedly took out the Book of the Dead. With a thought, two Skeleton Warriors and the Clay Golem appeared around him. At the same time, with a wave of his hand, three Bone Shields whirled into the air and vanished, while two Fangs formed in his grasp.

"Awroo!" One wolf leaped into the air and pounced straight down at him! The other two followed close behind, charging forward with their enormous mouths open and sharp fangs glinting in the night!

Bang! The Clay Golem raised both hands and slammed its fists into the head of the lunging wolf, while the wolf's claws raked across the golem's body, sending mud flying everywhere! But within this forest, the golem had the earth as its support and possessed astonishing recovery. How could it care about such minor damage? Its fists transformed into an embrace, and it seized the wolf in its arms. Twisting its arms, it flung the wolf to the ground, then drove its knee down toward the wolf's head!