Chapter 49 — Power Spike
Wandering through the wilderness, my first target wasn’t anything special. It was the lowest level monster that I could find——Steel Hat Goblins. It was a level 34 monster so I could see all its stats. It had average attack damage, decently high defense. Basically, it was not a huge threat towards me. It wouls become a stepping stone to level 30.
....
In the dark night, the Steel Hat Goblins were walking around lazily while holding sharp axes. Occasionally, they made sharp screeching sounds, which was extremely annoying. From the outside, they looked just like little dwarves and the very nasty type ones.
“Go!”
Under my command, Baby Bobo flew over there, and performed a [Combo] on a Goblin. Under the attacks 800 HP was taken away. I also rushed up with my staff and with a small cry, a golden hexagram hovered over the tip of the staff, LV-2 [Combo], activate!
118!
99!
My attack was indeed much less than Bobo’s. The attack damage that this staff gave was too little, it was barely 10% of Jade City Sword’s attack damage. What I needed to do was be able to equip that weapon. That was my #1 priority.
Under the barrage of attacks, the Goblin fell with a screech and dies. I waved my hand and cast [Heal] and Bobo’s HP was filled up the brim. At the same time, Goblin also dropped an item, it was an axe as bright as snow——
【Steel Hat Goblin’s Axe】（White Tier）
Attack: 25-40
Level Requirement: 30
....
I picked it up and threw it in my bag. At this stage in the game, the players’ levels were pretty high and most of them probably didn’t need any white-ranked weapons. But if I sold it in a store I might be able to get a few dozen silver coins, since the level on this axe was quite high.
Continuing on, I killed a few dozen more Goblins. My experience bar was filled up to 94% at level 29. The distance to level 30 was getting closer and closer! Also, I got 7 more Goblin Axes, all white-tiered. Well, it was a small reward..
As I was fighting another Goblin, the dirt next to me started wiggling and trembling. Hmm, this seemed familiar!
Within a heartbeat, I understood what caused it. It was the Ginseng Earthworm! It was good enough to make my instructor drool, so I thought it was similar to the Ginseng abalone in the real world.
Pa!
The head of the Ginseng Earthworm drilled up to the surface and I felt a sense of familiarity. On its back, I saw a large wound. As it came closer and closer, I confirmed that this was the same one as before!
I looked in my bag and there was a huge salted fish there. I got it from Dalin after seeing how Ginseng Earthworms were attracted to fish but I never thought that it’d be useful so soon! The Earthworm’s total HP was 5000 and this time I needed to control it well. I would not allow it to get back underground when it got low on health. I needed it to die on the surface so I could retrieve its corpse!
I thought of an idea and I immediately unsummoned Bobo. I slowly went forward and stopped 100 yards away from the Earthworm. I took out the huge salted fish and threw it on the ground. The wind was also blowing towards the Earthworm, so the scent of the fish should reach it soon.
....
I stayed hidden and patiently waited. The Ginseng Earthworm was damaged before, so it was more careful and alert this time. It raised its head and stared at the fish for 10+ minutes. Luckily I had plenty of patience, so I waited as well.
Finally, the Earthworm completely climbed out the ground and headed towards the fish!
Pa!
I jumped out of the bush and while holding onto the Goblin Axe, I stabbed it into the ground with the edge facing towards the Earthworm. I hoped this simple trap worked well!
After that, I took out more axes and stabbed all 7 of them onto the trail of the Earthworm. I prayed to God and hoped my decision was correct. The instinct of these animals was to return on the same trail that they came in. Because of this, they never got lost or went off of the trail!
I waved my hand and the golden hexagram appeared on the ground with Bobo rushing out. He went straight for the Ginseng Earthworm and used [Combo]+[Stinger]. At the same time, I also started to cast my [Combo] attacks. The Earthworm swallowed the salted fish and then immediately tried to return back to the hole in the exact same path! I obviously couldn’t stop this monster. If I tried I would just get tossed aside! But Bobo continued to attack from the back of the Earthworm.
“Huff..Huff”
The Ginseng Earthworm tried its best to run, but suddenly cried out. A huge hole was sliced in its stomach! The Goblin Axe trap was working and immediately cut 500 HP off!
I took my staff and hurried up to follow it. I waved my staff around and randomly chunked down on it, while Bobo continued stinging!
Ginseng Earthworm’s HP continued to drop slowly, but the simple-minded creature couldn’t think straight and still continued on the original track it came in! As expected, it got continuously sliced by the Goblin Axes and its HP dropped in chunks!
A lump started to form in my throat as the Earthworm got closer and closer to the tunnel it had dug! Then finally, it cried for the last time and zero HP remained, then it fell.
Splat!
It dropped dozens of silver coins and it also dropped an armor that had a faint glow. I picked it up and instantly I felt that my hard work hadn’t been wasted——
【Armor of the Earth】（Bronze Tier）
Type: Armor
Defense: 70
Strength: +19
Other: +15 attack damage
Level Requirement: 30
....
I took the Armor of the Earth and couldn’t contain my happiness. This game didn’t treat me badly, it even prepared a level 30 armor just for me! And with the silver-ranked Silver Locked Battle Boots, my defense would be pretty decent!
I threw the armor in my bag and immediately grabbed the end of the Ginseng Earthworm and dragged it back to camp. I started and stopped for almost 30 minutes until I finally arrived at the camp. Dalin was snoring thunders within his tent!
I walked up to him, kicked him in the leg and said, “Teacher, look what I brought back for you!”
“Eh?”
Dalin opened his sleepy eyes, but when he saw the Ginseng Earthworm, he immediately jumps up, “Good job little guy, you actually caught the Ginseng Earthworm! I have a whole new level of respect for you now!”
“....”
The tamer was very excited and raised both his arms and roared towards the direction of Dragon City. Within half a minute, dozens of Dragon City warriors came rushing down and one of them asked, “Master Dalin, what’s wrong?!”
He pointed and sayed, “Look, what’s that?!”
“Ah?”
The face of the officer went completely red: “That’s..That’s the legendary Ginseng Earthworm! Oh heavens, rumors say that Ginseng Earthworms are very cunning, so it’s extremely hard to kill or catch them. You guys got such a nice one!”
“It’s all thanks to this new scavenger!”
“Great! Dragon City will reward you appropriately!”
The officer walked up to me, patted my shoulders and smiled: “I hereby represent the King of Dragon City, Luo Lin, and give you these rewards, I hope you will receive it!”
“Ding!”
System Notification: Congratulations! You have provided a top-class ingredient to Dragon City, and received 24000 points of experience along with 1 extra point in charm. Your fame in Dragon City is rising!
....
Whoosh!
A ray of golden light, and finally, I had finally risen to level 30!
I ignored Dalin, the officer and the other NPCs and immediately grabbed all the equipment from my bag. With a bang, I wore the Silver Locked Battle Boots and the Armor of the Earth. Since the swordsman class could wear heavy armor, I didn’t need to sell these boots or the armor! My defense increased exponentially. By wearing these shiny silver boots and this glowing armor, I finally felt like a presentable soldier.
Hua!
With the wave of my hand, the half-broken staff became the Jade City Sword, the first gold-ranked weapon in the entire server! I was going to really rely on this sword from now on. A wave of strength entered my body, which was the result of the massive increase in attack damage! At the same time, I opened a window of my own stats and even I was shocked by my own stats!
【Xiao Yao Zi Zai】（Scavenger of Dragon City）
Level: 30
Attack: 514-695
historical
Defense: 259
Health: 740
Mana: 320
Charm: 26
....
The extra 300 attack from Jade City Sword was extremely strong. It almost raised my attack up to 700 points and the defense was also 259 points now. Also, the Jade City Sword and Silver-Locked Boots added a total of 41 endurance, and with the base power endurance of swordsman at 0.8, it added up to a total of 328 extra HP, which made my total HP to 740 points. I had a really strong attack and defense!
Note: Apparently growth for hp is *10 per stat point!
Clang!
I picked up the sword, and [Turmoil Sword] immediately activated, 10% extra attack damage!
With the flick of my wrist, I made the sword dance. With small moves here and there, it was definitely not something players could do if they didn’t practice swords in reality. Oh, I better start doing some level grinding!
I said bye to my instructor Dalin and entered the wilderness once more. This time, I challenged level 36 [Wild Hyenas]. This type of hyenas were very cunning and had high agility, but I should be able to kill it.
Around 20 yards in front of me, I saw one hyena growling lowly. It seemed like he/she was attracting a mate.
“Go!”
This time, Bobo stayed where he was and I went instead. My sword started to glow and the golden hexagram appeared at the edge of the sword, level 2 [Combo] was whizzing downwards!
Pupu!
“379!”
“401!”
Looking at these huge damage numbers, I felt slightly dizzy. This was the direction I wanted to go!
The hyena cried out and waved its sharp claws. With a bang, it left a claw mark on my armor and took away 97 HP. Hehe, I had this heavy armor, you couldn’t harm me!
I violently slashed my sword horizontally, then I started my attack of [Stab+Slash+Hack+Ram+Slash] and this time it felt a lot smoother. All 5 attacks finished in 2.9 seconds and it knocked the Wild Hyena back!
Two more attacks and the level 36 hyena cried then died.
I stood there and my mind went blank for a while. During the 5 strikes I felt something special, like having a familiar technique just appear in front of me. Also, the time it took for the performance of the 5 strikes had decreased significantly, it definitely wasn’t the 1.0 seconds per attack that it was supposed to be. You didn’t need any science for this, it told you one thing, that I was close to creating my own combo skill!
....
As I was happy about my new fortune, I heard a drop. A message coming from level 33 Cang Tong, which was also the beautiful Miss——Lin Wan Er!
“Li Xiao Yao, you’re level training?” She asked.
“Yeah, it’s 9 p.m. now, you want a night snack Miss?”
“Yeah, is that not ok?”
“I’ll be there immediately, I’ll wait for you downstairs!”
“Mm..”