Friendly Novice Village

HP -1.

Red damage text floated up again, and the Slime's friendly state vanished.

The Slime raised its body high once more, swaying from side to side as it declared its attack and unleashed Slime Charge.

Its attack speed was no different from before. Yang Yu easily dodged while tossing out another Four-leaf Clover.

The Slime's attention was instantly drawn to the Four-leaf Clover. It bounced over and ate it, returning to a friendly state with Yang Yu.

"Attacking a friendly Slime makes it lose its friendly state and resets its attack pattern. As long as I keep resetting its attack pattern, it'll never hit me."

With the strategy now clear in his mind, there was no need to keep fighting.

Yang Yu disengaged from battle, got up, and headed back to Novice Village.

At the moment, his attack power was far too weak. Each strike only took 1 HP off a Slime, meaning he would need at least 192 normal attacks to defeat one. He had no intention of using 192 normal attacks on a Slime.

Besides, he had not prepared that many Four-leaf Clovers, the key material.

Drawing his sword and charging in would be nothing but giving himself away for free.

The Slime was the first enemy, but gaining experience from it to level up was not feasible. Perhaps he could improve himself through training, but the time cost would be far too high. That was the worst possible option.

As the sun set, orange light washed the peaceful Novice Village in gold. Yang Yu took the shortest route home while pondering how to grow stronger.

Just then, a man walked toward him.

The man looked about twenty-four or twenty-five. He was somewhat burly and slovenly, with a gleaming bald head that practically shone. Every inch of him gave off a crafty air.

Neither of them moved aside. The bald man even deliberately leaned closer to Yang Yu. Their shoulders collided, and they stopped at the same time.

"Kid, don't you watch where you're going?"

"Sorry."

It was better to avoid trouble, so Yang Yu bowed in apology. Wu Ke, however, had no intention of letting the matter go so easily.

Wu Ke's real name was Su Liang, and he was the village's notorious bully. He had an older brother working in the city, and many people asked him to use his brother's connections to pull strings. That had become the capital that let him throw his weight around.

Su Liang often wandered around the village with nothing to do. Whenever he saw that someone's chicken had grown up, he would praise it without hesitation. "This chicken looks great. So pretty!" Then he would warmly add, "Hm? This chicken seems to be limping. Let me help treat it." After that, there was no after that. Tears of sorrow would stream from the corners of his mouth as he helped send the chicken on its way.

The fences around other people's vegetable plots were practically nonexistent to him. He often used the excuse, "The villagers don't want these anyway, so we can take them home. We'll only take a tiny little bit this time. If we're hungry again, we'll come back," as he plundered to his heart's content. The villagers were furious but dared not speak out.

Around mealtime, Su Liang came out as usual to hunt for an easy score and happened to run straight into Yang Yu.

Isn't this the herbal shop owner's son? Money's been a little tight lately. He'll make a fortune someday anyway, so I'll just borrow a tiny little bit from him.

It was because of that plan that Su Liang had staged the whole scene himself.

"No need to apologize. I was thinking about something important just now, and you bumped into me by accident, disrupting my train of thought. Don't you think you should compensate me?"

"Enough nonsense. Let's fight!"

???

Su Liang's face was full of question marks.

Why isn't this kid following the script? Shouldn't he be groveling and apologizing right now, then asking what compensation I want? How did it suddenly jump straight to a fight?

Yang Yu was overjoyed. A look of sudden realization spread across his face, while his eyes shone as he stared at Su Liang with ravenous hunger. The only thing missing was drool from his mouth.

[Su Liang's Level: LV2 HP: 42/42 MP: 11/11 Stamina: 20

Attributes: Strength 15, Defense 8, Intelligence 5, Special Defense 8, Agility 8, Endurance 5

Resistance: None

So that's how it is. So that's how it is. This truly is a real Novice Village. The first enemy isn't outside the village—it's inside it.

The Slime was bait. The real experience pack was right in front of him!

Yang Yu licked his lips. "It'll end up being about money anyway. I'll be direct: if you want to get money from me, you'll have to trade blows with me. If you beat me, I'll give you all the money I have."

"You brat—"

Why was he speaking such blatant truth? No, what was he plotting?

Sensing something was off, Su Liang narrowed his eyes. He noticed the sword at Yang Yu's waist, then suddenly understood and revealed a sly smile.

"You're carrying a sword. No wonder you're acting so cocky. Do you dare put down that sword and fight me fair and square?"

An experience pack should act like an experience pack. Stop dragging this out. Be like the random thug in a novel who shows up when the protagonist needs practice—cut the crap and start fighting.

Or was I too arrogant and made him wary? No, how was what I said arrogant? Fine, even if I was a little arrogant...

To avoid scaring off the experience pack, Yang Yu put on a troubled expression and stammered, "Well, um... I only learned how to use a sword after a lot of effort..."

Seeing Yang Yu trembling in fear, Su Liang immediately became certain of his guess. He rubbed his bald head and snickered nonstop.

"Heh heh, scared now, aren't you? I'm a little short on cash lately, so lend me some money. Don't worry, it's not like I won't pay you back."

Not like he wouldn't pay it back—just that nobody knew whether that day would come in a hundred years, right?

Yang Yu shook his head like a rattle drum, his eyes brimming with tears. His hand trembled slightly as he gripped his sword hilt, deliberately showing weakness. "No. Even with my bare hands, I'll rely on my own strength to protect my property."

"You've got some backbone, at least. Don't regret this."

"I'll never regret it! Bring it on!"

With a clack, Yang Yu decisively threw his sword onto the ground. The sound was forceful, and his decisiveness made Su Liang's heart turn cold.

Could I have fallen into a trap? No, he's just pretending to be calm and using a fox's might to intimidate me. A kid like him who never exercises can't possibly be my opponent. He's just bluffing.

In this village, the only thing Su Liang had ever feared in a fight was his second uncle's big wolfdog. He refused to believe he could not beat this little brat.

Five minutes later.

"Sorry. I was wrong."

Su Liang was battered black and blue. He dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Yang Yu, his confidence having completely collapsed when Yang Yu's fists repeatedly smashed into his face.

Yang Yu was not particularly strong, but he moved like a rabbit, as nimble and practiced as if he had received professional training. Su Liang's fists could not touch him at all, and he could only let Yang Yu's hands strike his face again and again.

If this continued, his handsome face would be left with ugly scars. So Su Liang decisively surrendered and lowered his head to admit his mistake.

With the experience secured, Yang Yu ignored Su Liang completely and turned to leave, showing him no respect whatsoever.

Even then, Su Liang could not understand why that weak little brat from before had been able to beat him so badly while acting as though it were only natural.

"Could it be that he'd been hiding his strength all along?"

Su Liang was filled with uncertainty.