[Ding~ You have respawned! Since you are under beginner protection, your death penalty is: EXP -2,000!]
White light fell, and Lin Mo was transported into the Resurrection Spring in Cloudside Town.
Lin Mo stood there, utterly dumbfounded.
"What the hell?"
"How did I die?"
"Fuck! That little spider was that damn strong??"
Lin Mo checked the combat log but found nothing unusual. He still couldn't imagine how a mere level 10 monster, an [Exploding Spider], could blast him for 9,800 damage with a single skill!
Only when he looked at the Exploding Spider's stats, revealed by the Reconnaissance he had cast just before dying, did everything click...
[Exploding Spider] (normal monster): Level: 10 Attack: 72 Defense: 48 HP: 9,800 Skill: Self-destruct (destroys itself to deal true damage equal to its maximum HP to a single enemy) Description: An offspring of the Spider Queen. Although it possesses only 10% of the Spider Queen's stats, it has a terrifying ability to self-destruct! Do not approach it carelessly, and do not attempt to disturb the Spider Queen, because an Exploding Spider could blow you to pieces at any moment...
Looking at its stats alone, aside from its unusually high HP...
Its attack and defense were even lower than those of a level 8 Wild Wolf!
But that Self-destruct skill was downright impossible to deal with!
"Isn't this just like the effect of the Mutual Destruction talent?"
"No, it's an upgraded version! One blast does 9,800 damage. I couldn't fucking survive that even at level 20..."
"I didn't even get to see the Spider Queen before a little spider blew me up! How embarrassing!"
As he brooded...
Lin Mo's eyes suddenly lit up, as though he had discovered a whole new world!
"Wait!"
"This Exploding Spider has 10% of the Spider Queen's stats? Doesn't that mean I can work out the Spider Queen's exact stats from these?"
He simply multiplied the Exploding Spider's stats by ten.
"720 attack! 480 defense! 98,000 HP..."
The result made Lin Mo question everything.
"A level 15 tier 2 boss is this ridiculously strong!?"
That 480 defense made his scalp tingle.
"Even with a tier 2 orange-quality weapon and three full stacks of Heroism, my attack wouldn't be enough to hurt this boss!"
No wonder the Troubled Times Guild had paid such a steep price to kill the Spider Queen in his previous life, and only 10% of the beginner villages across the entire server had successfully defeated their bosses.
"Looks like I seriously underestimated this beginner boss..."
But Lin Mo wasn't discouraged. Instead, it fired up his fighting spirit even more!
At least he had obtained the boss's stats on this trip. It hadn't been a wasted journey!
With that information, Lin Mo could now plan his preparations!
"Most importantly, I need to be able to deal damage. Otherwise, there's no chance of killing it."
"The Spider Queen has 480 defense, which means I need at least 600 attack to get through it and deal a decent amount of damage!"
Lin Mo rubbed his chin as he studied his stats panel.
"My attack is currently 382, so I'm still over 200 short," he mused.
Then he opened his equipment panel for another look.
"The tier 2 orange-quality Brave Golden Bow... It still has two evolutions left, which could raise my attack quite a bit. But unless absolutely necessary, I'd better leave it alone. If it gets bound to me, I won't be able to resell it."
"My ring is still level 5, tier 1. There's plenty of room for improvement!"
"If I swap it out for a tier 2 gold-quality ring, my attack should definitely be enough!"
"And if it's still not enough, I'll evolve the golden bow to gold quality! It's only a few tens of thousands of yuan, anyway. How could that matter more than the first kill of a tier 2 boss?"
Lin Mo immediately settled on a course of action.
But another problem followed.
"Even tier 1 equipment is hard to get right now. Where am I supposed to find tier 2 equipment?"
"I've got it!"
Inspiration suddenly struck Lin Mo.
"If I can't get one, I'll just make one myself!"
In Oracle World, players could forge the equipment they wanted at a blacksmith's shop.
However, the enormous requirements for reputation, gold coins, and materials meant that not everyone could afford to craft equipment.
But for Lin Mo...
He could afford every one of those requirements!
So Lin Mo headed to the town's blacksmith shop.
Clang!
Clang!
The busy smith, [Li Li], was still forging weapons late into the night.
Lin Mo approached him and triggered a conversation.
"Master Li, could you help me make a piece of equipment?"
Li Li stopped working and wiped the sweat from his face, smiling at Lin Mo. "Of course!"
"Pick whatever equipment you want, then prepare everything according to the listed requirements!"
With that, Li Li waved a hand.
An equipment selection panel appeared before Lin Mo.
It displayed forging blueprints for all sorts of equipment from level 1 to level 10.
Given Lin Mo's current level and strength, along with Li Li's favorability toward him...
The best equipment he could currently have Li Li forge was level 10, tier 2!
And that was exactly what Lin Mo needed!
Lin Mo selected the [Flame Ring] (level 10, tier 2) and noted down the forging requirements listed on its blueprint.
"30 reputation."
"1 gold coin."
"30 flame gems, 30 flame souls, and 30 pieces of silver iron."
Any one of those requirements would be enough to deter over 99% of players who wanted to craft equipment.
Even big spenders would have to think carefully.
That was because the quality of equipment players crafted at the blacksmith's shop was random.
Spending that much to make a purple- or orange-quality item would be fine.
But if it turned out to be white-quality equipment, it could drive someone to despair.
He remembered a moderately heavy spender in his previous life who had spent over a hundred thousand yuan buying boss monsters to farm reputation, purchasing gold coins, and gathering materials, only to end up with a white-quality item. The player had been so furious that he deleted his character and quit...
But Lin Mo essentially wouldn't have that problem.
Even if he did craft a worthless white-quality item, he could instantly evolve it into godly gold-quality gear using Equipment Evolution Points!
Using the map, Lin Mo searched for the gathering locations of the three materials: flame gems, flame souls, and silver iron.
They were the Flame Mountains, the Flame Forest, and the Mine, respectively.
"They're all level 10 areas."
"The Flame Forest is closest to Cloudside Town, so I'll start there!"
With his full set of gold-quality equipment and monstrous stats, Lin Mo didn't even need to buy potions.
After relisting the E-rank skill book [Poisoning] and the level 5 blue-quality Venomous Ring that Wang Junjie had dropped on the auction house for 30,000 and 5,000 yuan respectively, Lin Mo left Cloudside Town.
Following the map's directions, he headed toward the [Flame Forest].
Although his goal was to gather materials to craft equipment...
For Lin Mo...
This was also the perfect opportunity to reach level 10!
"Once I complete my class change, I'll be able to learn skills and get a pretty substantial boost to my stats!"
"With this tier 2 gold-quality ring on top of that..."
"Cloudside Town's boss will be mine!"
Before you continue