Level 10 Steel-Armored Wolves.
They had 140 attack!
70 defense!
700 HP!
At this stage, even a party of several level 7-8 players, the best in the newbie village, would probably barely be able to hold their own against them!
Yet before Lin Mo, they were nothing more than helpless chicks waiting to be slaughtered.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
-1097 (critical hit)!
-761!
-1187 (critical hit)!
-1236 (critical hit)!
Critical hit or not, every arrow killed in one shot.
There was no suspense whatsoever.
Combat notifications kept ringing in his ears-
[Ding! Level 10 Steel-Armored Wolf slain. EXP +202! Crime Points -1!] [Ding! Level 10 Steel-Armored Wolf slain. EXP +202! Crime Points -1!] ...
Under Oracle's rules, each member of a party reduced everyone's EXP earnings by 10%.
That meant a two-person party earned 80% EXP per person.
Whoever landed the finishing blow received an additional 30% bonus, though their final EXP earnings could not exceed 100%.
Thus, even with Su Yingxia in tow, Lin Mo could still earn the full 200 EXP!
The extra 2 points came from the 1% combat EXP bonus of his white-grade title, [Leveling Maniac].
Su Yingxia earned even more EXP!
Although being in a party left her with only 80% base EXP, Oracle World awarded bonus EXP when players killed monsters more than three levels above their own!
For every level beyond that three-level gap, they received an extra 10% EXP!
At only level 0, Su Yingxia was a full ten levels below the Steel-Armored Wolves, granting her an additional EXP bonus of up to 70%!
Added to her base EXP, this meant that every Steel-Armored Wolf Lin Mo killed gave Su Yingxia a whopping 150% EXP: 300 points!
The EXP from just one Steel-Armored Wolf was enough to fill the 100 EXP required to advance from level 0 to level 1!
In the time it took Lin Mo to kill four Steel-Armored Wolves with a few casual shots.
Two bursts of golden light descended over Su Yingxia's head in succession.
She reached level 2 in the blink of an eye!
Su Yingxia might have been a gaming novice, but she was no fool.
Eight hours had passed since Oracle's servers opened at eight last night, yet even Cloudside Town's top players were only level 7-8, while most of the others were generally still level 5-6.
She had created her character and entered the game less than half an hour ago, and she was already level 2. The implications were obvious!
Lin Mo... was actually this powerful now?
No wonder Wang Junjie was paying such a steep price to deal with him!
While Su Yingxia stood there in a daze.
Lin Mo pointed at the corpses of the Steel-Armored Wolves ahead and told her, "Don't just stand around looking pretty."
"Go pick up the loot."
"Just looking pretty? Is that all you think I'm good for?" Su Yingxia planted her hands on her hips and pouted angrily. "You used to call me baby! Hmph!"
Despite her words, Su Yingxia obediently ran over to the Steel-Armored Wolf corpses to collect the copper coins and silverlight gems, then handed them to Lin Mo, hoping to prove herself and make him feel that he needed her.
Having Su Yingxia collect the loot did indeed save Lin Mo quite a bit of effort.
From then on, he only had to focus on killing monsters.
He wondered whether good looks boosted drop rates.
With Su Yingxia in his party, the material drop rate had actually increased considerably!
When he had previously gathered materials for the Flame Ring, he had needed to kill around a hundred monsters to collect thirty of each material.
Yet this time, Lin Mo had collected thirty silverlight gems after killing only seventy-odd Steel-Armored Wolves!
Lin Mo glanced at Su Yingxia as she collected the loot.
Then he rubbed his chin and muttered in frustration, "I'm not bad-looking either! What went wrong?"
By now, Su Yingxia had rocketed all the way to level 5!
Lin Mo had also reached level 11!
After his class advancement, Lin Mo began distributing the three attribute points gained per level into two points of strength and one point of agility, instead of mindlessly pouring everything into strength.
Because he knew full well:
Stats might be the most important factor in a player's strength, but PvP after level 10 also started demanding more skill.
Only with sufficiently high agility could I execute smoother moves in battles where I was outnumbered!
Lin Mo had already anticipated that Wang Junjie would fight him to the bitter end.
Thus, Lin Mo would not merely have to stand against Wang Junjie alone.
He would have to face the entire Troubled Times Guild under his command!
He had collected all of the first material.
Next, Lin Mo took Su Yingxia away from the Shadow Outpost and headed toward their second destination: the level 10 Flowing Silver Temple!
On the way.
Su Yingxia finally couldn't resist dropping her act and showing her true colors.
She instinctively asked Lin Mo, "Lin Mo, are we just killing monsters to level up right now? Do we have any other special plans?"
"We do."
Lin Mo said, "I'm gathering materials to craft equipment."
"Once it's ready, I'll go kill a boss."
Su Yingxia nodded.
Then she asked, "Where is this boss?"
"The Shadow Nest."
Su Yingxia nodded again. "Then can you take me with you?"
"Of course."
Su Yingxia smiled sweetly. "Lin Mo, you're amazing!"
Lin Mo gave her a wicked grin. "In what way?"
Su Yingxia's delicate brows furrowed slightly as she thought, Lin Mo, are you a human or an animal? Why is your mind always on that sort of thing?!
I feel like I'm just a tool! Hmph!
Soon, the two reached the Flowing Silver Temple.
Lin Mo raised the Brave Golden Bow and began hunting the level 10 monsters roaming the temple: Flowing Silver Guards!
As usual, Su Yingxia helped collect the drops.
But while Lin Mo was focused on killing monsters.
Su Yingxia quietly opened WeChat, tapped on her chat with Wang Junjie, and typed out a message:
"There's a boss in the Shadow Nest."
Meanwhile.
In the wilderness east of Cloudside Town, in the level 9 Firebird Forest.
Wang Junjie was killing Firebirds for a quest with his lackeys' help.
When he saw Su Yingxia's message, his heart jolted, and he asked, "Is that reliable?"
Ding!
Su Yingxia replied, "Lin Mo said it himself. He's gathering materials to craft equipment right now. Once he's done, he's planning to go to that map and kill the boss!"
The moment she replied.
Troubled Times Zhuge, who had been promoted to vice president of the Troubled Times Guild, pushed up his glasses and offered a thoughtful analysis. "The official announcement did say that a boss was hidden somewhere in every newbie village. Whoever kills the Newbie Village Boss will receive not only substantial kill rewards, but also a special reward!"
"But they never released the details of the bosses' stats or locations. As far as we know, none of the thousand-plus newbie villages across the entire Great Xia Server has discovered any trace of a boss yet!"
Hearing Troubled Times Zhuge's explanation, Wang Junjie's doubts instantly vanished. "No wonder that bastard Mo Shou Cheng Gui still hasn't left the newbie village for a Level 3 Main City even though he's already level 10. He's been waiting for this boss!"
"Hahahaha! Fuck, that bastard really does know about opportunities nobody else knows about!"
Wang Junjie was instantly ecstatic:
"If I kill this boss before he does, I'll shoot straight to the top!"
"From then on, Mo Shou Cheng Gui will be nothing but my bitch!"
With that, Wang Junjie ordered, "Gather everyone in the guild immediately. We're marching on the Shadow Nest!"
"Kill the boss! Get top-tier divine gear!"
"Yes, sir!"
Before you continue