One flurry of moves looked fierce as a tiger...
Then he checked the damage. It hadn't even broken 0.
[Absolute Defense] only judged the attributes of both sides.
The Spike Roller Beast's Constitution was lower than his. No matter how powerful an attack it unleashed, it could still only deal 0 damage to Chen Ming.
[-42!]
Without another moment's hesitation, Chen Ming attacked the Spike Roller Beast, which was already visibly struggling.
[-21!][-42!]
[...]
Finally, with one last slash,
the Spike Roller Beast let out a mournful cry and collapsed, dead.
[Spike Roller Beast (Lv. 1) killed. Experience +6!]
A faint glimmer flashed beside the corpse.
[Obtained: Spike Roller Beast Core (Lv. 1)]
"First one. Not bad."
Chen Ming let out a breath and flicked the blood from his long blade.
Then he picked up the object, about the size of a fingertip.
[A beast core containing wind-attribute energy. Can be used to forge equipment that enhances Strength and Agility!]
Beast cores from Exotic Beasts were indispensable materials for crafting equipment.
The cores obtained by killing Exotic Beasts could be sold to the guild.
That was also the main source of income for Class Changers. Otherwise, even a first-tier piece of equipment cost thousands or tens of thousands, and no one could afford to keep buying them.
Chen Ming glanced at his Constitution.
[Constitution: 600/600]
After a fight, he hadn't suffered so much as a scratch.
"By my calculations, if I keep killing Level 1 Spike Roller Beasts, I should reach Level 2 in half a day."
A Class Changer needed a total of 100 experience to reach Level 2.
If they gained it by killing Level 1 Exotic Beasts, they would need to kill around fifteen to twenty of them.
Of course, in a party, that number doubled.
It might seem like a small number, as though reaching Level 2 would be easy.
But Exotic Beasts weren't weak little game monsters that anyone could slaughter at will.
Every battle came with risks and danger.
It might look like he'd taken one down in no time.
That was because he was fighting like he didn't care whether he lived or died.
If an ordinary Class Changer went toe-to-toe with an Exotic Beast like this, even if they managed to kill it, they'd probably be halfway to meeting the Grim Reaper themselves.
So, anyone who managed to reach Level 2 on their first day was already considered exceptionally fast.
And once their Constitution was badly depleted, recovery took at least half a day.
Class Changers also had to weigh the pros and cons based on their condition at all times.
Some risk-takers only retreated once their Constitution fell below 100, then recovered and went back to fighting.
The more cautious ones made a run for it as soon as it dropped below 200.
That was why most Class Changers went back and forth to the Exotic Beast Forest several times a day.
Reaching Level 2 on the first day was the pace an A-rank combat class could manage.
Reaching Level 2 in half a day was the solo-hunting speed of an S-rank combat class.
With his reckless fighting style, Chen Ming had pushed his leveling speed straight to S-rank.
And he'd managed it despite his serious shortcomings: weak attack power and limited methods.
"I still need to find stronger Exotic Beasts."
Fighting Level 1 Exotic Beasts and seeing "-0" felt great.
But he might as well use his Constitution. The damage would still be just -1, no matter how high it was!
Killing higher-level Exotic Beasts meant leveling up faster.
Chen Ming continued deeper into the forest.
He occasionally ran into other Class Changers, and without exception, they were in pairs.
They all fought by the book, keeping their distance and wearing their enemies down, terrified that a Spike Roller Beast might hurt them with a charge.
"Skree!!"
At the piercing sound, Chen Ming stopped.
Three Spike Roller Beasts sprang from a thicket of two-meter-high bushes and surrounded him.
They didn't growl a warning or hesitate. They immediately attacked Chen Ming.
When an ordinary party of Class Changers was surrounded by three Exotic Beasts, they would flee without a second thought.
But Chen Ming's lips curled into a smile. He raised his blade and charged forward without a trace of fear.
Surrounded?
He wished even more of them would show up!
[-0!][-0!]
The two Spike Roller Beasts in front rolled up to him first and attacked.
But these two Level 1 Exotic Beasts clearly still had lower Constitution than Chen Ming.
Their attacks were ineffective!
[-22!][-20!]
Chen Ming didn't play favorites. He slashed each of the two Spike Roller Beasts once.
[-1!]
Just then, a faint sting came from his butt.
Chen Ming reflexively slapped at it.
His hand touched a sharp spine.
He looked back.
A noticeably larger Spike Roller Beast had seized the chance to ambush him while he wasn't paying attention.
[Spike Roller Beast]
[Level: Lv. 2]
"So it's a Level 2 Spike Roller Beast. I thought it was a mosquito."
Chen Ming immediately turned his attention to the new target, preparing to take down the Level 2 Exotic Beast first.
As for the other two, their attacks couldn't hurt him anyway.
No need to bother with them.
[-17!]
The damage from a basic attack was noticeably lower.
A Level 2 Exotic Beast naturally had higher Defense.
But Chen Ming wasn't worried in the slightest.
It would have to attack him six hundred times to kill him.
And after a few hundred strikes of his own, he'd have chopped it into mincemeat...
[-1!]
[-17!]
The other two Level 1 Spike Roller Beasts saw that Chen Ming was completely ignoring them.
He had even turned his back on them, leaving himself entirely undefended.
They let out angry howls in unison.
"Skree!"
[-0!]
[-0!]
Just as Chen Ming and the Level 2 Spike Roller Beast were fighting tooth and nail,
a two-person party in the distance had just finished a battle.
They were about to rest when they noticed the commotion over where Chen Ming was.
"Uh... What's going on over there? It's such a mess. Are the beasts fighting over territory?"
"Holy crap, what territory? That's a person getting ganged up on by three Exotic Beasts!"
One of them cried out.
He grabbed his companion and hurried to his feet, ready to rush over and help.
"It looks like he's alone, too. Where's his teammate?"
Could the teammate already be dead?
Their hearts tightened, and they picked up the pace.
But as they got closer, they realized something seemed off...
Their steps slowed as well.
In the clearing,
one person really was surrounded by three Exotic Beasts, but there was no bloody scene like they'd imagined.
It was a man—more accurately, a man who seemed utterly unafraid of dying.
He was using an extremely primitive fighting style to battle one of the Spike Roller Beasts.
It charged, and he slashed.
On either side of him, two Spike Roller Beasts were frantically attacking.
The man acted as if he didn't even see them, focusing only on the Exotic Beast in front of him.
The whole scene could only be described as bizarre.
"Yikes... That's a Level 2 Exotic Beast!"
"Holy crap, is this guy trying to get himself killed?"
The two focused their mental energy on the man.
"He's a C-rank Shield Guard, too?"
They'd thought they'd stumbled upon an S-rank battle maniac.
And now they were telling them that the guy taking punches from a Level 2 Spike Roller Beast without even changing expression, while three of them surrounded him, was a C-rank Shield Guard?
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