Boar Equipment

He spent another hour or so killing 38 wild boars, reached level 4, gained 20 HP and 10 MP, and put all his attribute points into agility. During that time, another piece of equipment finally dropped-a helmet.

[Boarhide Helmet]

Quality: Plain

HP +30

Defense +3

Equip requirements: None

In Oracle, clothes, pants, belts, and helmets were all defensive equipment, primarily boosting HP and defense. Weapons, rings, bracelets, and necklaces were offensive equipment, primarily boosting attack, critical hits, and the like. Shoes mainly increased speed. Of course, these were general tendencies, not absolute rules.

Since he could use it, he equipped it right away. Selling his current equipment would definitely bring in a hefty sum, but with the Boar King in mind, he figured he should gear himself up first and hopefully kill it sooner. That would be the real payday.

After equipping it, Wu Shaozhen's HP reached 200, his defense reached 12, and with 25 agility plus his shoes, his movement speed reached 28.

"One more level and my speed will hit 33, higher than the Boar King's. Then I can start thinking about taking it on," Wu Shaozhen muttered.

With these stats, should I go fight wild wolves? I could farm my talent at the same time. As long as there's a chance, I can't give up on improving it. After all, it's the key to reaching the top.

After thinking it over, he shook his head. The wild wolves' skill dealt 150% attack damage-a whopping 172. Even after subtracting his defense, that still left 160 damage. The skill's bleed effect dealt another 50, just enough to kill him. He had better farm some more equipment first.

He checked his EXP: 4/2,000. Fighting level 6 wild boars at level 4 gave him a 20% EXP bonus for fighting two levels above his own, meaning 24 EXP per kill. He needed to kill 84 wild boars to level up. If he could get two more pieces of defensive equipment before then, he might be able to farm wild wolves. So Wu Shaozhen had no choice but to keep grinding wild boars.

Meanwhile, several groups of players were already farming level 2 goats in their area.

"Nan Feng, fall back and recover. Hao Ran, take over. Everyone else, keep attacking." Jun Lin directed the battle calmly and methodically. Before long, the group killed the goat together.

"Jun Lin, equipment dropped!" Hao Ran, a handsome young man with a sunny disposition, held up a helmet with excitement written all over his face.

"Whew... finally, a piece of equipment." Jun Lin let out a long breath. They had already killed over thirty goats. The five of them had dominated all kinds of online games for years, yet this was the first time they had ever been so miserable. This game was so difficult that even veteran gaming experts like them were questioning their lives.

"Why are its stats so lousy?" Hao Ran asked glumly as he examined the helmet.

"What are the stats?" Jun Lin asked.

"10 HP and 1 defense," Hao Ran replied, speechless.

"Maybe helmets just have lower stats. Since it adds HP and defense, equip it yourself, Hao Ran. Let's keep going. As long as equipment can drop, that's enough. Keep grinding, and we'll get everything eventually," Jun Lin said calmly.

The other teams were doing much worse than Jun Lin's group. Their mechanics and game sense were on a different level, and fighting level 2 goats was far too much of a stretch for them. White flashes of players dying appeared frequently.

Wu Shaozhen spent another hour or so killing exactly 32 wild boars before another piece of equipment finally dropped.

[Boarhide Belt]

Quality: Plain

HP +30

Defense +3

Equip requirements: None

He put on the belt, bringing his HP to 230 and his defense to 15. Hmm, not bad. One more piece of defensive equipment, and I'll go take on the wild wolves.

He glanced at the three small red potions that had dropped into his inventory. Each restored 10 HP per second for 10 seconds after use. If necessary, he would burn through some potions to gain a few more points for his talent. Otherwise, once he reached level 5, he would have to find level 10 monsters to improve it, which would be even harder. He had figured it out by now: the higher the monsters' levels, the greater the stat gap between each level.

Time to keep grinding...

He spent nearly another hour killing 28 wild boars, and equipment finally dropped again. But when he picked it up and checked, he was disappointed-it was another piece of Wild Boar Leather Armor, which he already had.

Oh well, he could only put it on the auction house. Still, the thought of another hefty sum coming his way swept away his disappointment.

He listed the Wild Boar Leather Armor on the auction house using the same setup as before: bidding mode, a ten-minute auction, and an anonymous listing, so his private messages would not get flooded afterward. For now, he needed to keep a low profile. Quietly making a fortune was the way to go.

As soon as Wu Shaozhen listed the Wild Boar Leather Armor, the entire starter village came alive again, with all the major factions bidding on it.

Jun Lin frowned deeply as he studied the Wild Boar Leather Armor's stats on the auction house.

"What's wrong, Jun Lin? Is there something off about this equipment?" Hao Ran asked.

"What were your helmet's stats?" Jun Lin asked.

"HP +10, defense +1," Hao Ran answered.

"Xiao Bei, what are the stats on the shoes we just found?" Jun Lin asked Xiao Bei on the other side.

"Speed +1, defense +1," Xiao Bei replied.

As soon as those words were spoken, the others caught on too. As top-tier online gaming experts, their understanding of games far surpassed that of ordinary players.

"Our equipment gives two attribute points' worth of stats, but the equipment on the auction house gives six. That includes the butcher knife from before, which was equivalent to six strength. These two pieces probably dropped from the same type of monster, so they must have been listed by the same person. Equipment with stats like this couldn't have dropped from rabbits. Based on that progression, it most likely came from level 6 monsters," Jun Lin said gravely.

"Are you kidding me? Level 6 monsters? Level 2 monsters are beating us half to death, and you're telling me someone can kill level 6 monsters?" Hao Ran looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"Exactly. Unless they're cheating, how could anyone possibly kill level 6 monsters? Knowing this game, a level 6 monster could probably one-shot us without even trying," Lin Zi chimed in.

"This game shouldn't have any cheats. Xiao Bei, go see if you can find any wild boar monsters and check their levels and stats. Judging by the equipment's name, it probably dropped from wild boars. At the three-way fork ahead, check the left path first. If they're wild boars, they're most likely in the forest on the left," Nan Feng said.

"Okay."

Elsewhere, a woman wearing a white veil held a piece of clothing that had just dropped, then looked at the one on the auction house and sank into thought. She had assumed the plain equipment available early on would all have similar stats. Now it seemed she had underestimated the person listing equipment for auction. Their plain equipment definitely had not dropped from level 1 or 2 monsters.

"Uncle Liu, could you help me look for wild boar monsters? Check their stats and let me know," the woman said to the middle-aged man behind her.

"Of course, miss."

Xiao Bei soon returned to the group and, with a grave expression, shared the wild boar stats revealed by Insight.

"Fuck! 2,000 HP, 70 attack, and a whopping 30 defense! You're telling me someone can kill this thing at this stage?" Hao Ran exclaimed incredulously.

Jun Lin fell silent too. If someone could kill a monster with these stats, even he would suspect cheating. A stat gap like this was no longer something mechanics and game sense could overcome.

"Forget it. Let's stop dwelling on it. Since we're in the same starter village, we'll run into them eventually. Then we can see what trump card they're hiding. Since this equipment most likely dropped from a level 6 monster, we won't be able to get anything like it ourselves for now. Let's see if we can win it. Six attribute points' worth of stats is a pretty big boost," Jun Lin said in a low voice.

Elsewhere, the woman stared at the wild boar stats the middle-aged man had shared. After a long silence, she finally said, "Do your best to secure this piece of equipment."

Having raised the bid to 20,000, Young Master Huang saw that no one else was competing with him and sneered, "Hmph. Nobody's bidding once it hits a mere 20,000? A bunch of paupers."

With the auction about to end, Young Master Huang calmly waited for the successful purchase notification. Suddenly, in the very last second, two bids appeared at once-one for 25,000 and one for 30,000. The player who bid 30,000 won.

"Fuck, they sniped it!" Young Master Huang nearly coughed up blood.

Holding the Wild Boar Leather Armor, Hao Ran said admiringly, "You really are the smart one, Jun Lin. You figured someone else would have the same idea as us. I was going to bid 21,000. If I'd actually done that, we wouldn't have gotten this equipment."

"Ding! Auction bid unsuccessful. The amount has been refunded to your linked bank account."

Hearing the system notification, the woman in white frowned. She had thought raising the bid by 5,000 in the final second would secure it, but someone had anticipated her move.