Less than a minute later, before Wu Shaozhen had even returned, the golden light of a level-up shone around him. Clearly, those guys had died from the poison. Already just a sliver away from leveling up, he reached level 15 outright and once again put all 10 attribute points into Bone Root. Fighting several waves of ranged enemies had made him take defense seriously. He wanted to be one ridiculously tanky Assassin.
After allocating his points and waiting for his skills to cool down, Wu Shaozhen ran back. Six Mages stood there all alone, looking wary. The corners of his mouth curled up. "That's what you get for hitting me. Scared now, aren't you?"
Then he activated Stealth and approached again. Once he was close, he activated Extreme Speed and poisoned the two nearest Mages first. This time, the Mages had actually wised up. They reacted instantly and tried to put some distance between them.
But Wu Shaozhen's speed was no joke. How could he let these few get away? He stayed right on their heels, slashing at them, and soon poisoned the remaining four as well. He only took three Fireballs in the process.
Once they were all poisoned, Wu Shaozhen turned and ran. Only then did the Mages hurriedly hurl their skills at him. He activated Void, avoided them all, and made a clean getaway.
A minute later, Wu Shaozhen returned again. All the Mages had fallen. After searching the ground, he actually found a piece of Black Iron equipment and five Silver Coins.
[Sapphire Necklace] Black Iron Grade: Magic attack +50, mana +300, cooldown reduction +2%. Additional attribute: Spirit +21. Equipment requirements: Mage, Priest.
Not bad. More money coming his way. Wu Shaozhen sent Su Muxue a screenshot of its attributes, and sure enough, she replied quickly.
Xue'er: "How much?"
Wu Shaozhen checked the sale prices of Black Iron equipment at the Auction House. Most went for between 50,000 and 70,000 yuan. His had dropped from a level 20 monster, so its attributes were somewhat better. After thinking it over, he replied, "70,000."
Su Muxue had no objections, apparently finding the price reasonable too. They quickly completed the trade. Just as they finished, Wu Shaozhen heard another system notification.
"Ding! The item you listed at the Auction House has been purchased by a player for 80,000 yuan. After deducting a transaction fee of 12,000 yuan, the remaining 68,000 yuan has been transferred to your linked bank account."
"Oh, I almost forgot I still had a shield listed. That's a pretty good price, but I only got sixty-something thousand in the end. Trading with that girl really is better. No fees, and she pays without any fuss," Wu Shaozhen said.
It should be past eight by now. I'll log out and have breakfast first... With no monsters left nearby, Wu Shaozhen logged out where he stood.
He took off his helmet and, out of habit, pulled out his phone to check his balance. The moment he saw it, he sat bolt upright.
"Holy shit, it's over a million?" Wu Shaozhen said incredulously, staring at the balance of 1.11 million yuan in his bank account.
After counting on his fingers for a while, he realized that, without even noticing, he really had earned his first million. Overjoyed, he paced around his room four or five times before his excitement subsided a little.
"Should I buy a gaming pod?" Wu Shaozhen said. But looking around his rented room, he figured there probably wouldn't even be enough space for one. Forget it. He would sort out his housing situation first.
He went out for breakfast, then hurriedly logged back in after returning home. His priority now was to finish the hidden quest he had, then pick up the first kill of a Silver boss along the way. That would bring him another hefty haul.
After logging in, he appeared in Black Wind Stronghold again. Wu Shaozhen wandered around the central area, thinking there were no monsters left there. Unexpectedly, he ran into a big one. It was glaring at him furiously, and he hurriedly cast Insight on it.
[Black Wind Stronghold strategist] Bronze Grade boss Level: 20 Health: 350,000 Spell attack: 900 Physical defense: 400 Spell defense: 480 Movement speed: 95 Skill 1: Fireball: Launches a fireball at a designated target, dealing 120% spell damage. Cooldown: 3 seconds. Skill 2: Freezing Spell: Launches an ice spike at a designated target, dealing 130% spell damage and reducing the target's movement speed by 30% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Skill 3: Bursting Flame: Launches a mass of flame toward a designated location. The flame explodes upon arrival, dealing 145% spell damage to all targets within a 3 × 3 area. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Skill 4: Hailstorm Spell: Releases hail at a designated location, dealing 135% spell damage to all targets within a 5 × 5 area and reducing their movement speed by 30% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute.
Wu Shaozhen swallowed. Four skills, and such high spell attack! He hurriedly ran away to get out of aggro range first. Even if he was going to fight, he needed to activate Stealth and sneak up before attacking.
He checked his own stats. Leveling up had added 40 health, and killing 30 Mages had earned him another 30 health through Immortal Body, bringing his total health to 3,046. His spell defense had reached 236. His poison damage was 426, having increased by six from killing six more Mages after leveling up.
"I can take him!" Wu Shaozhen said after doing the math. He definitely couldn't survive a full round of all four skills, but aside from Fireball and Freezing Spell, which were instant casts, the other two were bound to have casting times.
If he used Stealth to get close, then activated Extreme Speed, he could apply two stacks of poison in one second. With another two seconds spent escaping, he would have to tank three skills at most.
"Let's do this." Having worked it out, Wu Shaozhen activated Stealth and returned to the same spot. The Black Wind Stronghold strategist was still wandering around.
Wu Shaozhen crept over, activated Extreme Speed once he was close, and delivered two swift slashes before turning to run.
"Ah! You little thief, you're dead!" the strategist shouted.
Then a Freezing Spell struck Wu Shaozhen, reducing his speed by 30%, followed immediately by a Fireball. Next, the strategist unleashed his third skill, Bursting Flame. But with its half-second casting time, Wu Shaozhen had already run beyond its attack range by the time it was released. The flames exploded behind him without hitting him.
After escaping, Wu Shaozhen looked at his health, which was still over half full, and smiled faintly. This wasn't too difficult.
Keeping track of the time, Wu Shaozhen went back just before a minute had passed and reapplied two stacks of poison. This time, without Extreme Speed, he took three skills, but still managed to get away safely after a close call.
After less than seven minutes of these repeated trips, the Black Wind Stronghold strategist finally collapsed.
"Ding! Congratulations on defeating the Bronze Grade boss [Black Wind Stronghold strategist]. You have gained 200 reputation and 28,800 experience. Your pet Silver Big Bad Wolf has gained 7,200 experience." "Ding! Talent trait triggered. Poison damage +1. Current poison damage: 427." "Ding! Immortal Body has taken effect. Maximum health +1. Immortal Body has currently increased maximum health by 576."
He glanced at his experience: LV15, 37,406/70,000.
Sigh, my experience is nearly halfway again. Nothing I can do, though. Bosses really do give a ton of experience. Looking at the ground, Wu Shaozhen smiled. "Still, they really do drop a lot of loot too."
He hurried over and picked up the drops: four gold and thirty-two silver, two pieces of Bronze equipment, and three pieces of Black Iron equipment. He left the Plain equipment behind. There was also a scroll and a fruit.
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