Chapter 7 - Leveling With Ease
Red Leaf Forest was made up of beautiful maple trees. Level 5 monsters roamed around the woods. To a player below Level 3, this was a restricted area. Shi Feng, as well, was no match for these Level 5 monsters, even though he had reached Level 1.
However, Shi Feng ran into the Red Leaf Forest without hesitation. Cautiously, he advanced towards the inner reaches of the forest.
Level 5 Forest Wolves could be seen patrolling around the woods from time to time. Shi Feng was currently just Level 1. If he did not stay a sufficient distance away from them, the Forest Wolf’s sensitive nose would smell him out.
A Level 5 Forest Wolf had 400 HP. It also had high Attack Power. It would only take two bites from the wolf for Shi Feng’s 120 HP to meet its end.
Shi Feng’s only option was to stealthily avoid the Forest Wolves, taking a big detour around them.
Aside from the Forest Wolves, Shi Feng also met with adorable Bear Cubs. The little cubs fumbled and tumbled around on the grassy plains, giving an innocent and cute look. However, they were still Level 5 monsters, and they were hated by melee players. This was because of their high HP and Defense, making a fight with the Cubs very exhausting.
As Shi Feng used a tree to route past a Bear Cub, he heard a wolf’s howl coming from behind him.
“Damn! A wolf den!” As calm as Shi Feng was, he still couldn’t help but call out.
In his previous life, many players came in parties to the Red Leaf Forest. Most of them were Level 4 or 5. Aside from grinding a large number of monsters, the main reason players came here was because of the bountiful loot. Skill books, leatherworking materials, and equipment were such examples. There were also a large amount of herbs and ore that were attainable in the forest. However, a single mishap could still cause a party-wipe in the Red Leaf Forest. One of the dangers that caused such situations were wolf dens.
A wolf den was hidden and hard to notice. If players did not pay close attention, a pack of Forest Wolves would pounce forth once the players entered the wolf den’s area of alertness. If less, there would be 3 to 5 wolves; if more, 6 to 8. It was a party-wipe trap.
Shi Feng’s luck was bad. All at once, 7 Forest Wolves rushed out of the den; the meat on Shi Feng’s body wasn’t enough for them to share.
The speed of the Forest Wolves was fast, but Shi Feng wasn’t slow either. With his attribute points all going into Agility, his Movement Speed was at 6 points. He was still a Level 1 Swordsman, in the end. Even if he was a pure Agility one, his speed was still a notch slower than the Forest Wolves.
Seeing the wolves catching up, Shi Feng stopped caring as he activated the lifesaving skill, ‘Gravity Liberation’.
Shi Feng suddenly felt his body becoming as light as a feather. His speed increased by a massive leap, easily shaking off the Forest Wolves behind him.
In the end, a common monster was still a common one. They gave up after chasing past a set area, allowing Shi Feng to keep his life.
After running for over ten minutes, Shi Feng arrived at a range of mountains and hills. Several mountains stood over a hundred meters, located in the central region of Red Leaf Forest. The top of the mountains was surrounded by clouds and mist, creating a scene of immortal lands.
“Finally arrived.”
Shi Feng looked towards the towering mountain and its surroundings. Discovering a waterfall, he walked towards it.
In his previous life, players were mostly over Level 20, so their attributes were naturally high. They could do much more than they could while they were low leveled. Many loved exploring the myriad of places in God’s Domain. The central region of Red Leaf Forest was one of the famous places, so Shadow Workshop had sent a small party of Assassins to investigate.
Never would they have thought to find a treasure mountain there. On one of the mountains, they discovered many items: rare ore, herbs, and even Treasure Chests. At the peak of the mountain, there was a Secret-Silver Treasure Chest.
There were many secretive places in the wild of God’s Domain. Most of these places housed Treasure Chests, awaiting to be discovered by players. The items within Treasure Chests varied considerably, ranging from Copper Coins to Dark-Gold Equipment.
The quality of Treasure Chests could be categorized into Common, Bronze, Mysterious-Iron, Secret-Silver, Fine-Gold, and Dark-Gold. However, even the loot from a Common Treasure Chest could rival the drops of Elite monsters. Not to even mention how good the loot from a Secret-Silver Treasure Chest could be.
This Secret-Silver Treasure Box quickly allowed Shadow to become a well-known Workshop in White River City. This allowed Shadow to amass quite a fortune during the initial periods of the game.
More than just equipment, the Secret-Silver Treasure Chest had a secret recipe for pharmaceutics and a Forging Design.
In God’s Domain, the drop rate of pharmaceutical recipes was not even ten thousand to one; it was even lower for a Forging Design. You could create Bronze ranked equipment using Forging Designs, something sorely needed by players. With it, making money would become a simple task.
Shi Feng’s plan to earn 16,000 Credits within ten days all depended on the design. So naturally, he wouldn’t be leaving it for Shadow Workshop. However, low leveled players without 40 Agility were unable to activate the Hidden Basic Ability [Flying Steps]. Without it, they had no way of climbing the rocky mountain. There were also no paths that led up the mountain, leaving rock climbing as the only option.
Although Shi Feng did not have forty points in Agility, he had the Ring of Gravity. He could still climb the mountain after activating it.
Shi Feng easily scaled up the mountain after activating Gravity Liberation. He was already 5 meters up after a few moments.
When Gravity Liberation had 5 seconds remaining, Shi Feng found an empty spot of land to rest while waiting for Gravity Liberation’s cooldown.
Not long after Shi Feng sat down, the rock wall suddenly shook. A [Rock Giant] appeared with bursts of roaring.
[Rock Giant] (Common Monster)
Level 5
HP 550
“That was quick.”
Shi Feng had long since been ready when he saw the Rock Giant walking over. He took out an Explosive Berry from his bag and threw it towards the Rock Giant’s feet; sticky orange colored juice erupted all over the ground.
As a Level 5 monster, the Rock Giant had extremely high Attack Power, HP, and Defense. However, it had low Attack Speed and reaction time. Its body’s turn rate was even slower. A player only needed 20 points in Agility to easily toy with the Rock Giant. There were plenty of Assassins who loved dealing with such dumb monsters. They could easily be killed without wasting a single HP.
Although Shi Feng did not have 20 Agility, he had the Explosive Berries. Each had an effective area of 3- x 3-yards, reducing Movement Speed by 30%, and turn rate by 70% for one minute. It was a godly tool used to counter dumb monsters. Two months after God’s Domain started, a lot of players would use such a method to kill high leveled monsters that were slow-moving. However, such slow-moving monsters existed in limited numbers in God's Domain, so grinding on them for quick levels was not possible.
The Rock Giant’s speed sharply reduced after being hit by the Explosive Berry.
Shi Feng pulled out his Novice Sword and rushed towards the Rock Giant’s back, chopping down at it.
Above the Rock Giant’s head, three points of damage appeared. It was a hardly mentionable damage when compared to its 550 HP. The Rock Giant also regenerated 1% of its HP every 5 seconds; that was 5.5 HP every 5 seconds. It was very challenging to kill it within a minute.
The Rock Giant tried to turn around when Shi Feng attacked it. However, its body’s turn rate was slow, to begin with. Now that there was an extra 70% speed reduction, it was just abominably slow. Shi Feng attacked it twice more, following up with another [Chop], causing a series of -3, -3, -6 to appear.
The effect of Chop was not that great due to the level suppression. However, because the Rock Giant was 4 Levels higher, there was an additional bonus towards Skill Proficiency. Coupled with one of the Swordsman’s natural Talents, a single usage had increased Chop’s SP by 3 points.
This was an absolute location for raising Skill Proficiency.
After much trouble, the Rock Giant turned around to face off against Shi Feng. However, Shi Feng did not give it any chance, quickly circling to its back where he continued attacking.
Thundering Flash!
Suddenly, a single sword light caused 4 damage, followed by another that dealt 5 damage, and the last one that dealt 7 damage.
After all three streaks of thunder hit its mark, Thundering Flash’s SP increased by 3 points.
Another few slashes followed.
A series of -4, -4, -4 damage was dealt. Though each strike only had an increase of 1 damage, the totaled up damage would still be great. Although the effect of Thundering Flash lasted only for fifteen seconds, it had greatly increased the speed of killing the Rock Giant. The battle could be ended within a single minute now, saving up a precious Explosive Berry.
Even if the Rock Giant had high HP and Attack, it was no different than a practice dummy if it couldn’t land a hit on Shi Feng. It was just giving Shi Feng EXP and SP.
Skill Proficiency could not be increased just by using the skill. When using it on a monster of the same level, there was a 20% chance to increase it by one point. For monsters of a higher level, there was a 40% chance if it was one level higher, 70% for two levels, 100% for three levels, 150% for four levels, and 200% for five levels. The maximum limit was 200%.
Now that Shi Feng was killing a Level 5 Rock Giant, his SP increased several times the rate of others.
Not even a full minute had gone by before the Rock Giant finally fell.
System: Level 5 Rock Giant killed. Level difference of 4. EXP obtained increased by 400%. Obtained 120 EXP.
Shi Feng’s EXP bar increased by a chunk. He was now 880 EXP away from Level 2. That meant he needed to kill another 8 Rock Giants to reach Level 2.
These mountains in the central region were a great place for leveling up and looking for treasure. Unfortunately, two months had passed before people discovered them.
Shi Feng searched the Rock Giant’s body after killing it, obtaining a [Bronze Ore]. It was a material used to make Bronze Equipment. He also acquired a piece of [Hard Stone]. Subsequently, Shi Feng searched around the empty land. A few moments later he found a rare herb called [Hundred Souls Flower]. It was one of the core materials used to make [Basic Regeneration Potion].
Just as he got close to it, another Rock Giant spawned. Shi Feng threw out another Explosive Berry.
Thundering Flash!
Chop!
In just a short moment, Shi Feng obtained another Hard Stone, 120 EXP and a large amount of SP.
Shi Feng continued climbing up when the cooldown finished on the Ring of Gravity.
On his way up, he searched for rare herbs while killing Rock Giants.
Following the fall of the 8th Rock Giant, Shi Feng became Level 2. He added all his points into Agility, letting it reach 16 points. He was just 4 points away from unlocking [Fast And Nimble]. The SP for Chop has also reached 300 points, raising the skill to Level 2; the next level required 600 SP. The skill now increased damage by 12 points, and its cooldown was reduced by 1 second.
The other players would go crazy if they found out about Shi Feng’s leveling speed. Just going from Level 0 to Level 1 required more than a handful of hours. As for going from Level 1 to 2, at the very least, doing so would require seven or eight hours. Shi Feng spent less than twenty minutes to reach Level 2. His leveling speed was like a rocket launching.
Shi Feng walked towards a dead Rock Giant and searched it.
“Seems like my luck isn’t bad at all. It even dropped equipment.” Shi Feng discovered a piece of Cloth Armor, though he was somewhat disappointed.
[Gorgeous Cloth-Shirt] (Common Equipment)
Level 4
Defense +3
Mana +10
Durability 20/20
God’s Domain had just started operating. The drop rate of equipment was extremely low. Common Equipment was extremely rare, especially a Level 4 Common Equipment. There was definitely someone who would buy it at a high price.
Shi Feng placed the equipment into his bag. Just as he was about to continue upwards, he suddenly noticed a cave not far ahead.
When he walked over to check, Shi Feng’s heart rate quickened.
Shi Feng spotted a huge Rock Giant sleeping within the cave. Its entire body was made up of silvery rocks, different from the normal gray-colored ones.
[Shrews] (Special Elite)
Level 6
HP 900
Special Elites were a lot stronger than normal Elites. A regular Elite monster could decimate a 6-man-party of the same level. However, a Special Elite required twelve players of the same level to deal with, maybe even fifteen players. That meant Shrews required fifteen Level 6 players working together to kill.
However, Shi Feng rushed ahead without hesitation. He used Thundering Flash immediately, causing ray after ray of thunder to cut across Shrews’ huge body.
Damages of -1, -2, -3 appeared above Shrews’ head.