In Red Leaf Town's bustling square, streaks of white light flashed as figures appeared one after another. They were the resurrected members of Shadow Studio.
They looked dejected and miserable.
Nothing hurt more than gaining something, only to lose it again.
Just a moment ago, they had dreamed of dominating Red Leaf Town and leveling up by leaps and bounds. The next, they had died and returned here, losing a level and skill proficiency. Worse, the experience they had accumulated at level 1 was worth less than before, leaving them far behind ordinary players.
The resurrected Flame Tiger looked livid, his glare murderous.
System: Player Ye Feng killed you. You will be resurrected in Red Leaf Town in 3 seconds. Your level will decrease by 1, and all your skills will lose 100 proficiency points.
"Ye Feng, I'll never let you get away with this. I'll make you suffer!" Flame Tiger roared as he stared at the system log. His outburst startled the other players, who hurriedly backed away, afraid to meet the madman's eyes.
After venting for a while, Flame Tiger ordered everyone to check their bags and see what they had lost.
Though dying had cost them dearly, killing kobolds had earned them experience and loot. That was the one consolation they had—they hadn't worked for nothing.
Flame Tiger opened his bag and immediately felt bile rise in his throat. He spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Now! We're going to Dark Moon Valley right now. I'll kill that bastard!" Flame Tiger bellowed furiously.
The skill book he'd planned to use to humiliate Shi Feng was gone. It was an extremely rare Swordsman skill, and the most valuable drop they'd gotten from the kobolds. Now it had vanished.
But the worst part was that the skill book had fallen into Shi Feng's hands. He had worked so hard, only for Shi Feng to reap the rewards. He couldn't tolerate that. Even killing Shi Feng back down to level 0 wouldn't satisfy his hatred.
The other members had no idea what had gotten into Flame Tiger. Going after Shi Feng now would be pointless. No one would foolishly wait around for them to take revenge. Shi Feng had surely already slipped away, laughing somewhere.
Just then, Flame Tiger's communicator rang.
"Who is it? You've got some nerve bothering me right now. Are you asking to die?" Flame Tiger answered and shouted.
"Flame Tiger, you've gotten pretty bold in just one day," came a cold, furious voice from the other end.
The voice sounded familiar. When Flame Tiger realized who it was, his face turned ashen. "Brother Zhang, it's you? I was just reprimanding my subordinates. I didn't expect you to call, Brother Zhang. Please don't take it personally. I wasn't talking about you."
"Enough. I know what happened. Look at the mess you've made. What have you done to Shadow Studio's development in Red Leaf Town? I'm coming over now. As of this moment, you're no longer the team leader in Red Leaf Town. Elementalist Wusheng Yu will take over for now. If you haven't reached level 2 by the time I get there, you're out. Shadow Studio doesn't keep deadweight."
Hearing those words, Flame Tiger wilted. His hatred for Shi Feng could not be washed away, no matter how wide the rivers and seas.
Meanwhile, in Dark Moon Valley, Shi Feng and Heizi were picking up the loot dropped by Shadow Studio's members.
Shi Feng was holding the skill book Flame Tiger had dropped.
"Flame Tiger sure is generous, leaving this for me." Without hesitation, Shi Feng chose to learn it.
Wind Chasing Sword, movement-type skill. Requires a sword. Launches a charge against an enemy 5 to 30 yards away, increasing movement speed by 40% and attack speed by 20% for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 25 seconds. Level 1. Proficiency: 0/300.
This skill greatly improved a Swordsman's mobility. It was especially effective against Rangers and mages who liked to kite their opponents.
"Brother Feng, we've got all the Starfall Ore now, plus quite a bit of Bronze Ore. Shadow Studio really helped us out," Heizi said with a laugh as he collected the ore from the ground. Spotting a dark green stone, he picked it up and asked, "Brother Feng, what's this Star Glow Stone?"
At the mention of the Star Glow Stone, Shi Feng abruptly turned and rushed toward Heizi, leaving the Starfall Ore at his feet.
"Damn, it really is a Star Glow Stone! Heizi, you're incredibly lucky to find one of these." Shi Feng took the dark green stone and examined it closely, excitement in his voice.
Any monster in the world could drop a Star Glow Stone, but the odds were one in a million. To most people, it might be junk, but to him, it was priceless—the very thing he needed most.
"Brother Feng, what's the Star Glow Stone for?" Heizi asked curiously. Shi Feng was usually calm and composed, so his excitement showed just how valuable the stone was.
"It's for eating, but it's not meant for players." Shi Feng smiled faintly and put the Star Glow Stone away without explaining further.
"For eating?" Heizi was baffled. Who would eat a stone? Still, Shi Feng had his reasons for not explaining, so Heizi didn't ask again.
Before long, they had collected all the loot. They'd gotten 14 pieces of Starfall Ore and 32 pieces of Bronze Ore—enough to complete Shi Feng's task, with some to spare.
The two then made their way to the Blacksmith Workshop.
"Master Jack, I've collected all the Starfall Ore you asked for." Shi Feng handed over every last piece. These were quest items, and even if he sold them to an NPC, a stack would fetch only 1 copper. They were practically worthless.
"You've done well, young man. But to become an outstanding forger, you'll need the strength to obtain rare ores. There's a powerful Kobold Leader in Red Star Mine. Go kill it and prove your strength," Master Jack declared as he took the Starfall Ore.
System: Hidden Quest "Path of Forging." Kill the Kobold Leader in Red Star Mine within 1 hour.
Seeing that the quest had a second phase, Shi Feng wished he could curse Yichui Maimai for getting him into this mess.
Sure enough, everyone held something back. You couldn't trust anyone. They were all liars.
In his previous life, Yichui Maimai had never mentioned a second phase. Now, a second-stage time-limited quest had appeared, requiring him to face a leader monster—not some common elite, but a leader stronger than a special elite, equivalent to a dungeon boss. For Shi Feng, who was only level 3, it was deadly.
In his previous life, Yichui Maimai had only taken the quest at level 16. It had been much easier to complete then.
"Whatever. I'll go take a look first." There was nothing he could do about getting tricked, but Shi Feng had no intention of giving up. The benefits of a forging talent were too great. He had to learn it.
Shi Feng and Heizi then cleared kobolds as they made their way deeper into Red Star Mine.
Unlike the kobolds near the mine entrance, the ones farther in were level 5 instead of level 4. They were exhausting and time-consuming to kill. Often, another would respawn before they had finished off the one they were fighting. If they hadn't had enough Black Iron Beer to reduce the kobolds' levels by 2, they wouldn't have been able to kill them as quickly as they respawned.
Half an hour later, Shi Feng reached the deepest part of Red Star Mine.
A wide clearing stretched out before them. More than a dozen kobolds mined all around it, while a huge, armored kobold stood in the center, directing their work.
Kobold Leader, Leader rank, Level 5, HP: 2100/2100.
Its health alone was enough to make anyone despair. And with heavy armor, the Kobold Leader surely had a high defense. Physical attacks could hardly deal much damage. What's more, leader-level monsters regenerated 2% of their health every 5 seconds in combat. That meant it recovered 42 health every 5 seconds. It might not sound like much, but an ordinary level 5 physical damage dealer might not even deal 42 damage in that time.
Using a Smoke Bomb to kill it without taking damage was out of the question. Leader monsters had enormous fields of vision; even kobolds could see 55 yards. Reducing that by 10 yards still left 45 yards. Even the Ranger with the longest range could only reach 40 yards, which wasn't enough.
Looking at the Kobold Leader right in front of him, Shi Feng weighed his options before giving a helpless smile. "Do I really have to use that?"