There's a Big Bear!

There's a Big Bear!

At sunset, the sun overhead had already vanished behind the forest.

Night had fallen completely, and the faint moonlight was useless deep within the woods.

But this was hardly a threat to the Elves. Even the Warriors searching for mineral veins outside would not simply lose their way.

Every time they set out, they brought three days' worth of supplies, especially for an operation this large.

And night vision was an ability possessed by most races on the Gods Continent.

Except... humans.

Though naturally, some were better at it than others.

Of course, once human professionals grew stronger, night vision was no longer much of a problem.

William could now use the faint starlight to see things more than ten meters away. Sitting on a tree branch, he stared wide-eyed at a monkey that knew how to salute. Seeing the monkey reminded him of...

Although there were Orc tribal buildings and numerous tents right below them.

The Elves would never choose to sleep in such filthy, foul places. They would rather lie on tree branches than stay in tents reeking of shit and piss.

There was no "true fragrance" here...

As the lord, William naturally did not need to personally search for the Iron Ore Vein. Leaving that sort of thing to his subordinates was enough.

The leader moved his lips, and his subordinates ran their legs off. That was the happy life of a lord.

Only Lotner and Nock accompanied him.

Nock, his personal guard responsible for keeping watch, was quite strong and was also a Magic Swordsman. Tall and fierce-looking, he was one of the rare muscular Elves.

He especially disliked ordinary longswords, preferring hooked scimitars that could drag enemies closer before he leaped around and hacked at them wildly.

A peculiar hobby.

William could not imagine it...

The Elves' character was simple. They said one when they meant one and two when they meant two. They never retreated in war, and when they looked at any race, they could not help feeling proud of themselves.

Even if the enemy was fierce, powerful, or even more handsome than them... that was impossible!

In any case, the Elves would always raise their heads proudly and look at their enemies through their nostrils, telling them with their eyes: I might not be able to beat you, but I can outlive you, outlive your son, outlive your grandson, outlive your great-grandson, and wait until your bloodline dies out!

There was no helping it...

Their pride came from their looks, lifespan, and strength.

Their words, behavior, and even their movements resembled those of human nobles, but without so many mundane formalities. They had more of a natural, unadorned quality.

Of course.

Rather than saying they resembled nobles.

It would be more accurate to say that when humans were ruled by Elves, those so-called "nobles" had been imitating Elven speech and conduct.

William did not know how much time had passed before he fell asleep, leaning against the slightly wide tree branch.

Then someone called out.

Lotner woke him.

Two Elven Rangers walked over. Slapping their left hands against their chests, they said proudly, "My lord, our squad found the Iron Ore Vein. The other three are guarding it, and we came back first to report!"

"Good, very good. The five of you will each receive ten silver coins as a reward!"

"Thank you, my lord!" The Elven squad leader bowed. Money was truly a wonderful thing. Of course, they still maintained their proud, expressionless faces. Bowing was simply what they ought to do.

For ordinary commoners, five copper coins were enough to live happily for a day. Four hard black loaves of bread during the day, crunchy as rocks, but edible when dipped in water.

If they wanted to splurge, the remaining copper coin could buy a glass of absolutely terrible whiskey. At night, they could basically sleep soundly until dawn.

If they were more frugal.

Three copper coins meant three black loaves of bread.

And they could still save two copper coins...

But as William Blackleaf's personal guards.

These Pure-Blood Elves would never live such hard lives. Though Elves lived frugally and could eat even the worst food with elegance.

When these personal guards had left Elf City, they had been accustomed to a good life, and each had brought quite a bit of wealth.

Especially since William could not be too stingy. The better he treated them, the more loyal they would be.

After all, at critical moments, these guys could help take arrows for him!

The reason the former William had not been especially popular might have been because he was too stingy...

Of course, it might also have had something to do with his nature.

Poor!

But now he had acquired quite a few gold coins. Though he did not know which unlucky fellow the Orcs had robbed, those coins were definitely a huge fortune to him.

And he always remembered that wealth was just a number. Only by sharing it could he gain tangible and intangible returns.

Loyalty seemed intangible, but it would definitely be useful at critical moments.

An overly stingy lord could never accomplish great things.

"You should rest as well. By the way, are there any Orcs guarding that mine?" William suddenly asked.

"No. But we found Frenzied Giant Bear tracks at the entrance to the Iron Ore Vein, so we did not act rashly. We only had the other three stay there to prevent any accidents!"

"A Frenzied Giant Bear?" William raised an eyebrow. So they really were going hunting. No wonder those Orcs were not guarding the mine. The newly dug entrance had apparently become the Frenzied Giant Bear's den.

This kind of giant bear was naturally a Mid-Level Monster and was quite powerful.

Not only was it thick-skinned and tough, but it also possessed tremendous strength. Whoever got hit by it... died. It was even more reckless than an Orc.

Furthermore, Frenzied Giant Bears could use earth magic, and their various dirty tricks were endlessly irritating.

In the early and even middle stages, players facing such troublesome Frenzied Giant Bears basically piled up corpses to kill them...

It even had a certain chance of growing into a High-Tier Monster. If it was close to becoming High-Tier, or was already a High-Tier Frenzied Giant Bear that had broken through its limits, then without Lotner, even if these three hundred Elven Warriors managed to kill it, they would suffer severe losses.

So the Orcs had definitely made the smart choice by abandoning the Iron Ore Vein, or perhaps they had already learned their lesson the hard way.

Lotner gripped the longsword at his waist and asked doubtfully, "Did you discover what grade the Frenzied Giant Bear is?"

"I don't know, but judging by its footprints, they were at least as large as my armor!"

William Blackleaf thought for a moment, then asked, "Uncle Lotner, can you kill it in a one-on-one fight?"

"..." Lotner's mouth twitched. "It might be a Frenzied Giant Bear about to become a High-Tier Monster. Forget fighting it one-on-one. I'm so handsome and mighty that bullying it would give my subordinates something to gossip about."

William glanced at him and nodded...

An Epic-Class professional did not mean invincibility. Lotner was still considered young among the Elves. In fact, everyone who had accompanied William had only just entered adulthood. They were all young, had not yet fully matured, and possessed enormous potential.

Moreover, Lotner possessed an Epic Bloodline, but not yet Epic-Class strength. He had not fully developed the potential of his Epic Bloodline.

Just like William Blackleaf, who possessed a Legendary Bloodline...

In the eyes of players at the same level, he was a Legendary Boss, because players could see the Legendary label beside him. And based on his attributes and various bonuses, he truly was a Legendary Boss among level 9 NPCs.

What was more, he even had a Legendary Boss's exclusive marker.

Killing him could make an Epic-Class growth inner armor drop...

Damn it.

But in the World of Gods, bloodlines such as ordinary, elite, leader, Grandmaster, Epic, and Legendary represented potential, talent, and bonuses. They did not represent rank.

Players and NPCs viewed things differently.

After all, players cared more about bloodlines and were not very interested in rank, because they could not beat opponents with ranks that were too high. They could only grovel...

The bloodline bonuses for each NPC level were as follows!

Low-Class +0.1%; levels 10–39 belonged to Low-Class.

Mid-Class +0.2%; levels 40–69 belonged to Mid-Class.

High-Class +0.3%; levels 70–99 belonged to High-Class.

Grandmaster +0.5%

Epic +0.7%

Legendary +1%

These were the percentage increases to base attributes for every level in an NPC's total level.

For example, William Blackleaf was currently level 9, so his base attributes increased by 9%. This could stack all the way to the level 100 cap. After that, leveling up would no longer increase attributes through bloodline, but reaching level 100 with a Legendary Bloodline meant his attributes could double.

In summary: Legendary Bloodline, ridiculously overpowered.

And judging by its lifespan, even if that Frenzied Giant Bear had not reached adulthood, its level was still higher than Lotner's. If its level was much higher, then being stronger than him was inevitable.

In short, whether in base health or base attributes, magical beasts were far stronger than intelligent creatures.

"Then we'll prepare properly. Tomorrow morning, get more sleeping potions, but no lethal poison.

"Of course, we'll also need all kinds of traps. Once everything is ready, we'll deal with it!" William could only set the matter aside for now. After all, he had not yet seen that big fellow and could not determine its level.

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