The Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss

Southwest Forest.

Mom Is Not Home and the other six hid in the bushes, carefully watching the enormous red-eyed rabbit in the distance, not daring to make a sound.

That red-eyed rabbit was more than ten times larger than the ones they had encountered before. Crouched there, it looked like a giant bear.

Name: Red-Eyed Rabbit (Boss)

Level: 1

HP: 330/330

Mom Is Not Home had thought his luck was pretty good today. The team had hunted more than a dozen red-eyed rabbits, earning two Core Power each.

After what had happened yesterday, their team had planned to return to Novice Village early, but they hadn't expected trouble to find them anyway.

A Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss was blocking the only route back to the village.

Fortunately, they'd stayed alert and spotted the Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss right away, before they could attract its attention.

The group hid in the bushes, originally planning to wait for the rabbit to leave before heading back to the village.

But as the sky grew darker and darker, the Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss showed no sign of leaving, and they finally began to panic.

A level-one Wild Boss was equivalent to a level-three Fierce Beast. They were only level one themselves—how could they possibly beat it?

So they thought of asking for help.

Luckily, they'd all added one another as friends the previous night, so they could send a distress call through the game interface.

The question was, who should they ask for help?

Mom Is Not Home's first thought was to call for Wind Snow Traveler.

Wind Snow Traveler had said before that nobody was obligated to help them, but when they'd asked him for help yesterday, hadn't he still come?

But the other teammates quickly dismissed the idea.

First, someone had already asked Wind Snow Traveler for help yesterday, and now someone else was asking again today. They were afraid he'd get annoyed.

Second, it took half an hour to get here from Novice Village. Who could guarantee that the Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss wouldn't discover them during that time?

After thinking it over, they decided to ask Xiao Fan Team for help.

Northwest Forest was only ten minutes away, and since Xiao Fan Team could kill level-four Fierce Beasts, they should be able to handle a level-one Boss too.

"Will Jiu Chen Team come?"

Gao Bu Dong asked softly. After all, yesterday they'd asked for help and abandoned Xiao Fan Team, who'd come to rescue them.

"Han the Person said they're already on their way. Just wait."

Mom Is Not Home rolled his eyes. He, too, looked down on Gao Bu Dong's team for what they'd done yesterday.

"That's good!"

The group stayed crouched in the bushes, motionless as they waited for help.

The sky grew darker, and the tension in the group mounted. Everyone's nerves were on edge.

Just then, Xiao Fan Team finally appeared from the other side of the forest.

"They're here!" Mom Is Not Home sprang up excitedly and immediately sent Xiao Fan a request to merge their teams.

Xiao Fan rejected it without a second thought.

"Keep your distance. We'll handle this Boss."

Hearing Xiao Fan's voice, Mom Is Not Home's team was naturally delighted. They didn't want to fight a level-one Fierce Beast Boss at all; they'd only asked to merge teams because they were afraid Xiao Fan Team would blame them for not helping afterward.

The group hurriedly retreated a hundred meters.

The Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss had been crouching peacefully, but when it saw Xiao Fan and the others appear, its scarlet eyes instantly swung toward them.

Han the Person checked the rabbit's information and saw that it was about the same as a Green Wood Wolf. With no need for Xiao Fan to give instructions, he clapped his hands and said easily, "Brothers, let's get to work."

"Eat my spear!"

As soon as Han the Person finished speaking, Zai Zai charged forward first. The other three also advanced in perfect sync, drawing its aggro while attacking.

In ten seconds, the Red-Eyed Rabbit's health bar was emptied, and it fell to the ground.

To Mom Is Not Home's group, the scene was like something out of a dream!

The smooth movements, the perfect teamwork, the damage, the positioning, the way they drew and controlled aggro—

Everything was so unfamiliar, yet somehow so right.

The team was too shocked to speak. At last, they believed that Xiao Fan Team had really killed that level-four Fierce Beast themselves yesterday.

But they couldn't understand it. They were all new players in Zone 18. Why was the gap between them so huge?

It was as if they weren't even playing the same game!

What were they doing wrong?

The moment the Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss fell, a system notification suddenly rang out for Xiao Fan's team.

Congratulations! Your team has defeated the level-one Wild Boss, Red-Eyed Rabbit. Each team member has received an additional 10 Core Power as a Boss reward.

Seeing the system notification, Xiao Fan's eyes widened. He looked up at the other four.

Garfield Without Fat and the others were staring at him in shock, too.

"Did everyone get it?" Xiao Fan asked.

"Yeah." Garfield Without Fat and the others nodded frantically.

Defeating a Boss actually gave them extra Core Power!

Everyone was overjoyed. This trip hadn't been for nothing!

Xiao Fan was also pleasantly surprised. When he'd taken the exam and killed a Boss in Cloud Sea Forest, he hadn't received any additional rewards. It had only dropped twice as much Core Power as an ordinary Fierce Beast.

He hadn't expected the Boss reward to be so generous once they entered the actual game.

He'd known it! How could killing a Boss not give an extra reward?

Ten Core Power was already a very generous drop in Cloud Sea.

And that was ten each! Fifty altogether.

This was only a level-one Wild Boss. Would the rewards be even better for level two and level three?

At the thought, Xiao Fan's gaze softened as he looked at Mom Is Not Home's group.

"From now on, call us whenever you run into a Wild Boss."

Seeing that Mom Is Not Home and the others were still standing there in a daze, Garfield Without Fat frowned. "Hey, our leader's talking to you."

Only then did Mom Is Not Home's team snap out of their shock. They hurriedly nodded.

"Right, we understand. Thanks, brothers."

They couldn't have been happier that Xiao Fan Team was willing to help them take down Bosses.

Mom Is Not Home and the others were so deferential that Han the Person and his teammates felt extremely pleased.

They held their heads high, looking smug.

That's right! We really are this strong.

On the way back to the village, Han the Person tallied up the day's gains. Setting aside the 10 Core Power each from the Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss, they'd earned 198 Core Power in total.

Each person got 39 Core Power, and the extra three went to Xiao Fan as usual.

Including the Boss bonus, they'd earned nearly five times as much today as they had yesterday!

Garfield Without Fat and the others were so happy their grins nearly reached their ears.

Going to Northwest Forest had definitely been the right choice.

Xiao Fan, however, wasn't satisfied with the result.

"Too slow. This is still too slow."

At fifty a day, it would take more than two hundred days to reach level five. And that was assuming they used their Core Power only to level up.

"Ugh."

Xiao Fan sighed inwardly, but he knew it wasn't the time to rush things.

"Tomorrow, let's try to get them to level three. Then we can check out the inner reaches of Southwest Forest."