Defeating the Tiger King

The man and the tiger fought tooth and claw. He swung his axe, and it raked him with its claws.

Humar stood by, keeping watch without joining the fight, but it soon had something to do.

When the Tiger King's health bar dropped to half, four level-38 Stranglethorn Female Tigers rushed in from around the rocky hill. Sun Busong had been ready for them! He unleashed Roar of Courage, and Humar revealed his true form and engaged the four tigresses.

With Humar's strength, dealing with the four tigresses was no problem at all. The Tiger King also figured its concubines would have no trouble handling the black lion.

Three minutes later, only one of the four tigresses remained, and the Tiger King's health bar was close to 20%. Familiar with the tricks of these mini-bosses, Sun Busong kept attacking while warily watching his surroundings.

Just as expected, the moment the Tiger King's health bar dropped to 20%, eight level-39 Deep Throat Leopards abruptly emerged from stealth and pounced on Sun Busong.

With eight black panthers on him, there was no way Sun Busong could dodge them all. This was a proper ambush from every side. In just five seconds, his health dropped straight to the 50% mark.

"Humar!"

At Sun Busong's shout, Humar immediately turned away from the last tigress it had been fighting tooth and claw with nearby, and rushed to its master's aid.

The Tiger King's attacks were much fiercer now than at the start, and its hidden trait, Triple Strike, had activated too. It attacked three times every second, with a chance to root its target for one second.

Sun Busong hurriedly pulled a bomb from his backpack.

Black Iron Bomb:

Requires Engineering

Use: Inflicts 225 to 675 Flame Damage to all enemies within a 5-yard radius and incapacitates them for 4 seconds. Any damage will break the effect. Has a greatly reduced effect on targets above level 73. (5-minute cooldown)

With a boom, the Black Iron Bomb exploded, catching six panthers in the blast. The damage was low, but the effect was powerful—it incapacitated them for four seconds!

Sun Busong endured the Tiger King's attacks and used those four seconds to quickly kill four of the panthers. He left the rest to Humar.

Humar didn't disappoint. It quickly killed the remaining panthers and the tigress, and now man and pet attacked the Tiger King together.

Under a fierce barrage of Execute attacks, the Tiger King died with a bitter snarl. Sun Busong didn't follow the rules and cut off its head. Instead, he hoisted the Tiger King's enormous body onto his back.

As Sun Busong carried the Tiger King's corpse down the Great Path, his fellow Hunting Competition contestants and the organizers all stood along the road to escort him.

"The Tiger King deserves respect. It was our target this time, and we had to kill it. But now it's dead, and you can't trample its body. Its strength is why it deserves respect. If I hadn't been the one to fight it, there's no telling who would've died!"

Sun Busong didn't hand the Tiger King's body over to the Hunting Competition committee. The rules required him to kill the Tiger King, and now that they had seen its corpse, that proved he had won.

Later, with Hemet and several senior Hunting Competition officials surrounding him, Sun Busong received the first-place prize he'd been hoping for.

The celebration had barely begun when he quietly slipped away from the Nessingwary Expedition Team camp while no one was watching.

He went to the rocky hill where he had found and killed the Tiger King, picked a spot, and used his axe to dig a grave. Then he laid the Tiger King's body inside.

"Heavy Fist and Luffy should arrive tomorrow. Let's go take over that Gold Mine you found last time a little later, all right?" Humar still couldn't understand its master's commands, but that didn't stop Sun Busong from talking to it.

He believed that one day Humar would understand him. After all, human children learned because their parents taught them over and over, and in the end, didn't every one of them understand? So Sun Busong's approach was to keep talking to Humar.

"But first, let's see how many Rare Elites there are in Stranglethorn Vale. Hahaha!"

"Roar!"

The map marked the levels, types, and locations of all the Rare Elites in Stranglethorn Vale.

Starting with the lowest level:

Level 37 Murloc, Gorgol: Rare Elite. Located in a small lake in Karazhan Ruins.

Level 38 Ogre, Rolock: Rare Elite. Patrols between three large trees in Mizha Ruins.

Level 42 Red Gorilla, Kormok: Rare Elite. Located in Mist Valley, north of Treasure Bay's entrance.

Level 42 Goblin Miner, Verifnix: Rare Elite. Located between three small mounds in Cape of Stranglethorn.

Level 44 Fish, Rippa: Rare Elite. Located in the Diving Area off Barrens Coast.

Level 45 Naga, Sakrasis: Rare Elite. Located on the Suspension Bridge at Nak'mani Sacred Spring.

Level 45 Yellow Lizard, Golden Scale Lizard: Rare Elite. Located in the deepest part of Crystal Mine Cave.

Those were all the Rare Elite locations. Beneath the last one, the yellow lizard, was a line of small text: (Crystal Mine Cave produces silver, gold, mithril, and gold ore!)

"Hahaha, now that's the most explosive piece of news!"

Sun Busong had only been in Stranglethorn Vale for a few days, yet he had already discovered three Gold Mines. With all this military funding, how could he fail to conquer the world?

"Let's go, Humar. We'll take out the two nearest Rare Elites first. We'll hit the mine tonight!"

They first headed to the level-44 Rare Elite fish, Rippa.

It was a shallow beach, with level-40 Hermit Crabs on the shore. These creatures didn't attack people unless provoked, but they were well-defended. No one usually bothered to kill them, since all they dropped was food they'd left over, and not even a single Copper Coin.

Sun Busong sent Humar into the water to lure the fish. It would've been a little ridiculous for him to do it himself.

Humar had soaked in the water until it was nearly losing its fur before the big fish finally swam over at a leisurely pace.

It didn't have much health, only 12,000. To stop it escaping into the water, Sun Busong used several pieces of Steel Plate to block its way out while it was locked in combat with Humar. By the time the fish realized what was happening, it was already doomed.

After the man and his cat killed the fish, they received two pieces of blue-quality gear, both with decent stats. Their levels were too high for Sun Busong to equip, though. He cooked the fish meat into grilled fish, and it tasted pretty good. Humar was certainly happy with it.

Sun Busong also noticed something: whether he was crafting gear, cooking food, or relying on luck for monster drops, he always seemed to get remarkably lucky. From the moment he crafted his first piece of equipment until now, he hadn't failed even once. And the chance of getting top-quality gear from the monsters he killed was unusually high.

He figured this was another one of his traits: luck!

Next, they went to look for another Rare Elite fish, though this one was a murloc. Compared with a fish, only its head was the same; its body was humanoid, with arms and legs, and it wore clothes.

But Sun Busong had no mercy for creatures like that. He went straight in swinging, and when the murloc died, he and Humar both reached level 28!

The murloc Gorgol dropped three pieces of equipment: one Uncommon and two Rare!

That night, the two of them charged into Gash Ruins and went on a rampage. After killing all the trolls above ground, they headed into the Gold Mine.

In a single night, they slaughtered more than a thousand Blood Trolls there. Sun Busong's health bar reached 65,000, and his Slaughter Value shot past 10,000!

At daybreak, Sun Busong arrived outside Sergeant Yuwa's room early.

"It's you, Sun Busong. What brings you here so early? Did you complete the mission the Captain gave you?"

Sergeant Yuwa wasn't surprised to see Sun Busong again. This unimpressive-looking short man had somehow survived several extremely dangerous missions—and completed them, too.

Even the Captain thought highly of him.

"Sergeant, I've come to report some information. I need you to take me to see the Captain. It's urgent!"

If it had been a minor achievement, the sergeant might have taken credit for it himself. But he didn't want to mess up something this urgent.

"Fine. Keep an eye on the warehouse for a moment while I wake the Captain. Don't touch anything in there!"

The Captain wasn't someone you could just drop in on. He was surely cuddled up with the Earl's wife right now. The sergeant had to go pay his respects first, then he could take Sun Busong to see him.

"Don't worry, Sergeant. I know my limits. I won't take a single needle or thread from here!"

Once Sergeant Yuwa left, Sun Busong began his looting spree.

The Rebel Army's warehouse was surprisingly well-stocked. Sun Busong found plenty of materials he needed.

He had indeed told the sergeant he wouldn't take a single needle or thread, and he kept his word. He didn't touch any needles or thread.

And before leaving, he even put a whole lot of things into the warehouse!

"Come on! The Captain's up now. But I'm warning you, he's furious that I disturbed his sleep. If you don't have anything especially important, I'm in trouble. If it really is important, make sure you say we discovered it together. Understand?"

"Got it, got it! Don't worry, Sergeant. I'll give you an answer you'll be happy with!"

"Tell me, what important matter do you have to report?"

The Captain, now awake, was eating breakfast. A plate of fresh Dragon Meat Salad sat on the table beside a bottle of Dwarven Fruit Wine.

"Captain, a few days ago you gave me a mission to kill Korson and his deputy. I followed your orders, but when I entered the storeroom, I found too many members of Korson's group there. There was no way I could reach Korson."

"Hm? Are you saying my orders were wrong?" The Captain stopped what he was doing, raised his head, and asked in an accusatory tone.

"No, no! Serving you is the greatest honor of my life, Captain. Your orders could never be wrong. That's why I didn't just charge in. I thought of another way!"

"What way?"

"What way?"

Captain Duo Lun and Sergeant Yuwa asked at the same time.

Sun Busong excitedly took a bottle of potion from his backpack and set it on the Captain's breakfast table.

"Captain, I found this recipe by chance in the journal of a Korson Herbalist. It's called a Sleeping Potion. It makes anyone who drinks it sleep like a dead pig without realizing it, and they absolutely won't wake up before the time is up!"

The Captain immediately picked up the bottle from the table and examined it closely.

"Are you sure it makes people fall asleep?"

"We can test it right here!" Sun Busong was confident in his potion. In fact, this bottle had other effects too, but there was no way to test them right now.

"Sergeant, drink this potion. Let's see how well it works!" The Captain wasn't about to let Sun Busong test the potion on himself. The two men turned to look at Yuwa.

Sergeant Yuwa pulled a long face. With no other choice, he drank the potion.

For the next two hours, Sergeant Yuwa lay under the Captain's table with a peaceful expression. Unless the Captain checked his breathing from time to time, he looked almost exactly like a dead man.

Two hours later, the sergeant sat up, yawning and stretching.

"Well?" The Captain crossed the room in a single stride and stood in front of him.

"Well what?" The sergeant had just woken up and was still groggy. He hadn't understood what the Captain meant.

"The potion! How did it work, you idiot?"

The Captain lost his temper, and the sergeant sprang to his feet. "It worked great. I really did sleep like a dead pig. I didn't feel myself suddenly falling asleep at all."

Seeing the potion's effect, the Captain smiled. "Your potion could be a great help in our counterattack against Korson. I order you to start making it in large quantities right away. I want Korson and all his men to have their heads cut off while they're fast asleep!"

Super Sleeping Potion:

Required Level 45.

Use: Puts the drinker into a dreamless sleep for 120 minutes. During this time, the drinker can restore all Health Points and Mana Value.

A Super Sleeping Potion was an incredibly powerful restorative. It let the drinker recover all their stamina, injuries, Health Points, and Mana Value while asleep! Its ingredients were extremely rare, and its main ingredient had a chance to drop only from level-60 elite dragonkin.

Sun Busong had made just two bottles, and now only one remained in his backpack.

Why hadn't the sergeant noticed the potion's other effects? The answer was simple. His stamina, Health Points, and Mana Value were all full, and he wasn't injured either, so of course it had no effect on him.

Although the ingredients for Super Sleeping Potion were rare and it was difficult to make, Sun Busong had other versions of the Sleeping Potion!

Sleeping Potion:

Required Level 35

Use: Puts the drinker into a dreamless sleep for 10 minutes. During this time, the drinker can restore 2,200 Health Points and 2,200 Mana Value.

The ingredients for this version of the Sleeping Potion were easy to get, but Sun Busong looked troubled.

"Captain! This potion works well, but the ingredients are rare too. I can't possibly provide all those materials myself!"

The Captain realized that was true. With effects that powerful, it would've been strange if the ingredients were easy to find.

"Sergeant, contact the Goblins in Treasure Bay right away and have them prepare a large quantity of Sleeping Potion ingredients. I'll cover all the expenses!"

The Captain was about to spend a fortune. Though the sergeant managed the warehouse and supplies, all the Rebel Army's Gold Coins were in the Captain's hands.

"Sun Busong, write down all the ingredients for this Sleeping Potion so I can have them prepare the materials for you!" The Captain smiled, hoping to trick the recipe out of him.

"Sorry, Captain. I can't do that. This recipe means a lot to me. I'll only tell you some of its ingredients, and I'll add materials that have nothing to do with the Sleeping Potion to the list I give you."

Sun Busong's expression was firm. His face clearly said he would live or die with the recipe!

The Captain realized his plan had been seen through. He wanted to kill Sun Busong, but he couldn't resort to force in this situation.

Damn, this kid used a clever ploy against me! Never mind. Once we've killed Korson, I'll capture him and force him to hand over the recipe. There'll be plenty of time and plenty of ways to deal with him then. Hmph!