"Fire you? I'm not firing you!"
Sun Fei was baffled by Elena's sudden panic. "Elena, you may have misunderstood. I just want to deal with those monsters alone. Once I've finished this mission, you can still come with me the next time I venture into the wilderness."
"But I..."
The beautiful mercenary relaxed a little at his words, but she still wanted to argue. Besides suddenly feeling reluctant to part with Sun Fei so soon, leaving an employer was also a matter of dishonor for a proud female Rogue.
"That's settled. I'm in a hurry. I'll explain properly next time."
Sun Fei was a lecher, but a lecher with principles. Flirting with the female mercenary was a delightful affair, but when he thought about the crisis facing him in the real world, he could no longer enjoy himself. With that, Sun Fei resolutely turned and stepped through the portal. To prevent Elena from following, he immediately closed it, cutting off the passage to Tristram.
Elena stared blankly at the vanished portal, her expression exceedingly complicated: self-reproach, disappointment, happiness... A faint blush appeared on her exquisite face, and the corners of her mouth curved upward ever so slightly without her realizing it.
Roar-!
The first thing Sun Fei did upon entering Tristram was activate the Barbarian's special skill, [Howl].
The move worked as expected.
A mysterious force of fear burst outward with Sun Fei's roar, frightening the [Skeleton Archers] that had been watching hungrily around the portal. Green light appeared above their heads as they turned and fled in all directions.
"This is my chance!"
Sun Fei rushed forward and hacked wildly at the monsters' backs, felling several in an instant.
Ten seconds later, [Howl] wore off, and the monsters turned and charged again.
Sun Fei used [Howl] again.
In the Diablo World, as long as you had enough mana, there were no skill cooldowns or casting times to hold you up. Sun Fei had brought several bottles of [Minor Mana Potion], allowing him to use [Howl] without limit as long as his mana held out.
He repeated the process, and after using [Howl] eleven times, he finally wiped out the pack of shifty [Skeleton Archers]. Equipment dropped all over the ground, including two pieces of blue equipment from the two minor bosses. Sun Fei picked those up and tossed them into his inventory.
As he ventured deeper into the village, new monsters appeared-
[Night Clan].
They were monsters with the heads of cattle and the bodies of men. They wielded sharp, scarlet scythes, their legs bent like a bull's, their ankles resembled hooves, and curved, sharp horns grew from their heads. They were highly lethal in close combat.
However, these melee monsters posed little threat to a Barbarian.
Sun Fei once again used his shameless tactic of picking monsters off one by one with [Howl] and quickly finished the group. One [Night Clan Leader] had an especially large amount of health and dropped two pieces of blue equipment that glittered with blue light.
This time, however, Sun Fei had no time to pick up the equipment.
After he had killed two waves of demonic monsters in succession, the tremendous clamor of battle and the monsters' howls had finally alerted Tristram's chief boss, Griswold.
The former hero and Paladin charged out of the ruins, which burned with hellfire.
Griswold had now fallen and become a humanoid demon. Unlike the other demons with their fearsome appearances, however, he still looked as he had when he was human, with no obvious signs of demonic transformation. He was slightly overweight, with a protruding belly and a short, stout, bulky body. Only his eyes were entirely blood-red, like two masses of constantly flowing scarlet blood, shooting out beams of red light. Mental fluctuations of tyranny, cruelty, slaughter, and bloodshed emanated from his eyes, making him indescribably terrifying even from a distance.
Griswold had been a powerful Paladin in life.
After his fall, his strength had increased further. Although he had lost the protection of holy power, demonic power had made him stronger and bloodier. He was fast: the moment he saw Sun Fei, he roared and charged, smashing a fist at him like lightning.
Sun Fei blocked with his shield.
Boom!
A tremendous force struck him. Even with his Barbarian's immense strength, Sun Fei was knocked back three or four steps.
A scorching sensation spread through the shield and over Sun Fei's entire body. The blood in his veins felt as though it were really burning, causing pain that pierced his bones. Sun Fei knew this was the demonic power Griswold had gained after his fall, an attack accompanied by the burning effect of hellfire.
Sun Fei switched weapons, and a two-handed great axe with astonishing destructive power appeared in his hands.
He swung three times in quick succession, cold light flashing.
All three blows landed, leaving three shocking wounds on the demonized Griswold. Tristram's chief boss raised his head and roared, his health dropping by roughly a tenth.
"Ha, this could work! At this rate, another dozen or so chops and I'll finish the old bastard."
Delighted, Sun Fei saw hope. He tipped back a bottle of [Healing Potion], endured another wave of Griswold's attacks head-on, then swung his great axe recklessly again. This time, however, only two blows landed.
Fortunately, the demonized Paladin had no intelligence. Although he possessed great strength, he could not make full use of it. Somewhat sluggish, he fought only on bodily instinct, so he was not difficult to deal with.
Sun Fei fought as he retreated and soon withdrew from the village.
That way, no matter how loud the ensuing battle became, it would not alert the other monsters farther away in the village ruins. He would not face another dangerous situation like the last time, when a mob of monsters had surrounded and attacked him and Elena.
Even so, to be safe, Sun Fei turned and sprinted away. After putting some distance between them, he used a [Scroll of Town Portal] and opened a portal in advance amid a soft humming, ready to gulp down potions and flee at once if things changed.
As it turned out, Sun Fei's caution was a little unnecessary.
After drinking four bottles of [Minor Healing Potion] in succession, Sun Fei actually managed to kill Tristram's chief boss without a hitch.
Cold light flashed with a swish, and Griswold fell to the ground.
Countless potions and pieces of equipment burst from the corpse.
Sun Fei was dazzled. He immediately spotted a piece of equipment glowing green among them.
"Holy crap, a green item dropped?"
Sun Fei was practically knocked dizzy by his good luck.
Green equipment generally belonged to sets and was very hard to find in the computer game in his previous life. He had never expected to luck into one here. It was the first green item Sun Fei had obtained since entering the Diablo World, a truly unexpected delight.
With great solemnity, he raised a foot and examined the sole, wanting to check whether he had unknowingly stepped in dog shit at some point and gained such shitty luck.
Sun Fei eagerly picked up the green item and examined it closely.
It was an exquisitely crafted piece of quilted armor that shimmered with a faint green light. However, it needed to be identified, so its exact attributes were unknown.
Without hesitation, he used a [Scroll of Identify].
With a swish, the green leather armor's attributes and name appeared in full before Sun Fei's eyes-
[Arctic Furs Quilted Armor] Defense: 48 Durability: 2020 Required strength: 12 Required level: 2 Special effects: 303% enhanced defense, 10 to all resistances Note: Arctic Gear includes Arctic Binding, Arctic Furs, Arctic Horn, and Arctic Mitts. Collecting the complete set grants additional special effects.
The identification result left Sun Fei slightly disappointed.
The [Arctic Furs Quilted Armor] was one part of the [Arctic Gear] set. Judging by the computer game from his previous life, [Arctic Gear] was not particularly suitable for Barbarians, but was a top-tier beginner set for Amazon warriors.
Even so, the [Arctic Furs Quilted Armor]'s attributes were still exceptionally powerful, far surpassing the leather armor Sun Fei currently wore. Attributes such as 303% enhanced defense and 10 to all resistances were especially valuable to his Barbarian at present, so he did not hesitate to equip it.
Besides the green item, there was one piece of yellow equipment and several blue items on the ground.
Sun Fei thought for a moment and left them there for the time being.
After he had eliminated the chief boss Griswold and the two troublesome groups of demonic monsters, the [Skeleton Archers] and the [Night Clan], nothing left in the ruins of Tristram could threaten him. He decided to rescue the sleazy old man Cain first. The equipment was on the ground anyway, and no other adventurers were around to fight him for it.
Sun Fei slung the two-handed great axe over his shoulder and swaggered into the ruined village.
A group of [Fallen] charged at him, howling, but a few seconds later they had become Sun Fei's experience points. The dozens of slow-moving [Mutant Zombies] left behind could not escape his clutches either. In less than five or six minutes, all the demons and undead in Tristram had been swept away.
At the very center of the village ruins, Sun Fei found old man Cain in a cage hanging from a tree.
"Help me! Young warrior, come and save me!"
When old man Cain saw Sun Fei, he began screaming at the top of his lungs like a wanton woman on an aphrodisiac who had spotted a well-built man streaking naked. His voice was even more shrill and piercing than the demons' howls, as though someone were poking his asshole with a fork through the bottom of the cage.
Whoosh!
One swing of the axe severed the rope.
The wooden cage fell to the ground and shattered.
Overjoyed, the sleazy old man Cain scrambled out of the cage in a flurry. Without even saying thank you, he opened a portal and darted into it like a beaten dog, moving faster than a wild dog off its leash. In a flash, he disappeared.
"Damn it, that old bastard didn't even say thanks!"
Sun Fei stared, dumbfounded. The speed at which old man Cain had fled for his life put him to shame.
He viciously raised a middle finger at the spot where Cain had disappeared, then began cleaning up the battlefield. He gathered all the equipment that had dropped into his inventory and returned to the [Rogue Encampment] through the portal he had opened earlier.
The beautiful mercenary Elena was nowhere to be seen near the portal, and Sun Fei did not know where she had gone. He decided to turn in the mission to Sister Akara and claim his reward first.
The reward for this mission was simple. The stingy old sister would give him a little "customer appreciation service" at her shop-a ten percent discount on potions. Besides that, the sleazy old man Cain whom he had rescued would identify equipment for him free of charge from now on.
Compared with the mission's difficulty and complicated process, such payment was practically what one gave a beggar. Clearly, at heart, Akara and Kahn, that "adulterous pair," were both black-hearted merchants, through-and-through profiteering bloodsuckers.
Once all that was done, Sun Fei began sorting out his character attributes.
This round of leveling and reinforcement had gone exceptionally smoothly. After killing the fallen Paladin Griswold, Sun Fei had reached level 12, exceeding the level 10 goal he had set before entering the Diablo World. The mercenary Elena probably deserved some credit for that.
Sun Fei began allocating points.
He distributed all 25 attribute points gained from his additional levels in the same ratio as before: three to [Strength] for every two to [Vitality]. As for the five precious skill points, Sun Fei considered his upcoming plans and ultimately put one into [Taunt], one into [Sword Mastery], two into [Leap], and one into [Polearm Mastery].
Once he was done, Sun Fei opened his personal attribute panel-
Level: 12 Experience: 95414112725. Strength: 66 Dexterity: 20 Vitality: 44 Energy: 10 Attack power: 3-55 Attack accuracy: 169 Defense: 77 Stamina: 34 Health: 157 Mana: 19 Fire magic resistance: 10 Cold magic resistance: 10 Lightning magic resistance: 25 Poison magic resistance: 10
These numbers greatly reassured Sun Fei.
Based on his previous experience, although a level 12 Barbarian possessed only the strength of a two-star warrior, the combination of various special Barbarian skills would allow him to contend with a three-star warrior in the real world. The next time he faced Langde, the three-star swordsman, Sun Fei was confident he could drive him back without getting hurt.
Of course, that was only driving him back. To kill Langde instantly or defeat him, Sun Fei reckoned he would need to reach around level 20.
Afterward, Sun Fei went over to the sleazy old man Cain and had all the unidentified equipment in his inventory identified for free. The sleazy, white-bearded old man prattled on with plenty of nonsense during the process, but Sun Fei was pressed for time and ignored him, slipping away as soon as the equipment was identified.
Hiding in a corner, Sun Fei examined the attributes of the identified equipment.
The yellow item was a short bow, simple and elegant in design and very rustic. It was called [Miserable Feather Short Work], and its attributes were decent, but Sun Fei could not use it.
He thought Elena should be able to use the bow, so he kept it. The next time they met, he could use it to flirt with the beautiful mercenary. If he could move her enough to make her offer herself to him... Uh, in the Diablo World, could he xxoo with game characters?
Sun Fei was being shameless again.
The other blue items had ordinary attributes, and Sun Fei could not use them either. He simply sold them all to the female blacksmith Charsi for over 20,000 gold coins. Together with what he had saved earlier, Sun Fei now had 40,080 gold coins.
With everything ready, he began putting his plan into action.
First, he went to Sister Akara and bought five bottles of [Healing Potion], a size larger than [Minor Healing Potion], and two bottles of [Stamina Potion] at a ten percent discount. Then he found a secluded spot and began contacting the mysterious, icy voice in his mind.
"Are you there? I need to exchange five bottles of [Healing Potion], two bottles of [Stamina Potion], and a [Scroll of Town Portal]."
Silence.
After five or six seconds, the mysterious, icy voice finally appeared-
"As you wish... [Healing Potion] costs 5,000 gold coins per bottle to exchange, with a 25% success rate. [Stamina Potion] costs 2,000 gold coins per bottle, with a 30% success rate. Your current level is insufficient to exchange a [Scroll of Town Portal]... The total is 29,000 gold coins. Would you like to proceed?"
The prices were within Sun Fei's expectations.
The only thing that surprised him was that he could not exchange a [Scroll of Town Portal] because his level was too low. It seemed that exchanging Diablo World items and equipment into the real world was not merely a matter of money and success rates. There appeared to be other restrictions that he simply had not discovered yet.
Nevertheless, from the mysterious, icy voice's answer just now, Sun Fei had more or less discerned some rules of exchange-
The more expensive and complicated an item was, the higher its exchange price, the lower its success rate, and the more requirements it had, and vice versa. Compared with [Healing Potion], [Stamina Potion] was slightly lower in effect and grade, so its exchange price was only 2,000 gold coins and its success rate reached 30%. Its conditions were somewhat less restrictive than [Healing Potion]'s price of 5,000 gold coins and 25% exchange success rate.
"Please confirm whether you wish to proceed with the exchange."
When Sun Fei did not respond immediately, the mysterious, icy voice seemed a little impatient and asked again.
"Exchange. I confirm the exchange!"
Sun Fei came back to his senses and hurriedly answered.
"Ding! Calculating exchange... Sufficient gold coins... The exchange success rate for five bottles of [Healing Potion] is 25%... Calculating success rate... Two bottles exchanged successfully; exchange failed for the other three... The exchange success rate for two bottles of [Stamina Potion] is 30%... Calculating... One bottle exchanged successfully; exchange failed for the remaining bottle."
Sigh, today's red votes haven't even reached 700... So sad.
Still, thanks to the brothers who voted.
Thanks to the brothers who tipped and clicked.
Though disappointed, Daozi still put out a big 5,000-character chapter.
I also know the transition in the plot over the past two days has been a little short on climaxes, but there was no helping it; I needed to establish some characters and settings.
There won't be so much space devoted to the Diablo World from now on.
I'm desperately begging for favorites and red votes. Growth in both has been slowing down, so don't leave Daozi disheartened. Thanks, everyone.