Chapter 9: Power rankings
Pak! Pak! Pak!
Lin Che spammed his talisman attacks without stop. However, it was clear that the level suppression on us was quite severe as each talisman could only deal 150 damage to it. I only dared to face the Hyena after it received three attacks in a row. As I approached, I slashed it with my sword, dealing only 224 damage. Sure enough, the level suppression of a higher leveled monster wasn’t something one could ignore. On the bright side, with Lin Che continue kiting the monster around, I could safely deal DPS on the monster as it chased him around.
We were only able to kill the Hyena after Lin Che used five talismans. During the fight, he had been moving around while the Hyena chased after him. As for me, I stood in the Hyena’s way dealing DPS on it as it moved. Doing this, we pulled the Hyena away from the other Hyenas and were able to avoid attracting the aggro of the other monsters. With Lin Che’s skill and game sense as a grandmaster rank, he managed to pull this off beautifully. Off to the side, w.a.n.g Jinhai had been observing the entire battle in silence.
“What’s up, Big Hai?” Zhang Wei asked.
w.a.n.g Jinhai inhaled deeply, “These two were freaks…”
“Why are you scolding them for no reason?”
“…”
To kill a monster three levels above us, a huge amount of talismans had been exhausted. However, we were handsomely rewarded for it as well. After the Hyena collapsed onto the ground, our EXP bar shone before moving forward by 6%.
With such a progress, we would be able to reach level 9 after killing 17 Hyenas. By that time, the talisman pack would have been fully exhausted as well. Our prediction had proved to be correct. Our journey from level 9 to 10 would be a difficult one.
We continued leveling and started killing the Hyenas by only exhausting the talismans and nothing else. Unfortunately, the more we fought, the more helpless we felt. The loots of the Hyenas were too terrible. After killing more than 10 of them, let alone any bronze equipment, not even a white equipment had dropped. Our dream of looting the first bronze equipment of the server seemed hopeless.
Whoosh!
After killing the seventeenth Hyena, we showered in light. Level up! We had now reached level 9. As usual, I allocated all 10 stat points into my strength. This would be a beneficial move in the long run.
“Big Brother Chen, I’m out of talisman.”
Lin Che solemnly announced while recovering his HP sitting down.
“We’ll slowly grind our level from now on.”
I took a look at my stats and added, “I already have 900 HP now. With a difference of two levels, the Hyena can only deal around 150 damage to me per hit. I will be able to tank around seven or eight attacks of the Hyena by spamming potions. While I’m tanking, everyone attack together. Big Hai and Big Brother Wei, feel free to attack as much as you want. You both are focusing on strength, const.i.tution, and agility. Therefore, your basic attacks are quite high even without a weapon. After I landed the first attack, start punching the Hyena. Don’t worry about aggro. The aggro will always stay on me since I have been allocating all my stats on strength. Sit down and recover our HP after each kill. In this manner, we can slowly grind our way to level 10 before returning to the village and resupply.”
“Ok. No problem. Let’s do it your way.”
Big Hai nodded. As a matter of fact, he was also an expert gamer. He understood that a slow grind like this was our only option for now. In truth, this was how a majority of the newbies would play during the early game. A player could only leave the newbie village for the city after reaching level 20. It wasn’t rare for players to be stuck at newbie village for up to a week or more.
We continued leveling. My calculation wasn’t off by much. We worked together and after killing a Hyena, I had around 20% HP left. With the slow recovery potion, I would be able to fully recover my HP in 30 seconds. This might seem slow, but the monsters we were killing were nevertheless two levels above us. Therefore, we were already faster than many players.
While sitting down to recover my HP, I entered the forums. After a glance, I noticed a certain stickied thread high up on the forum. A picture was attached to it as well. That picture seemed…familiar.
[Peculiar incident] A bizarre team has appeared in a newbie village. A well-equipped Knight was bringing along three exhibitionists to level up! Thread starter: Number One a.s.sistant
And below the t.i.tle was a picture of us when we were leaving the village. I was valiantly marching forward with my sword in hand while Lin Che, Big Hai, and Zhang Wei were following behind. They were completely naked with not even a weapon on them. That thread had attracted a huge number of comments, most of them the players of our newbie village.
First post (Player My Boundless Love): Yeah, I saw them as well. They were heading straight into a group of monsters. I reckon they must have been killed after that.
Second post (Player Fluttering Dancer): I saw them as well. This is too funny.
Third post (Player Tiramisu): Why does such person exist…
Forth post (Player Naughty You): They must have been hit in the head. Who in their right mind would sell their equipments before leveling? Isn’t this the same as crippling themselves? Hahaha!
The thread had remained one of the top ten threads of the forum ever since it had been stickied. Its font was in bright red all the while, indicating that it was still one of the hottest threads in the forum. It had ama.s.sed more than ten thousand replies. As I browsed through the thread, I saw a familiar name. My emotions rippled slightly. Was she in the same newbie village as well?
I noticed that Lin Che looked somewhat pale. He had probably noticed the same thread as well. He asked, “Big Brother Chen, have you checked the forums?”
“I did. Be strong, my friend…” I comforted him, “We will return to the village after reaching level 10 and blind them with our shiny new equipments. Ignore these rumors…”
Lin Che looked at his lower half and felt like tearing up, “What freaking drop rate is this? Chest armor, bracer, and head armor had all dropped yet the leg armor is the only thing not dropping. Is the system deliberately toying with us?”
Big Hai rubbed his b.u.t.t and said, “No wonder I keep feeling its cold down there…”
Zhang Wei grinned, “Whatever. It’s not like we’re here on a date. There’s no need to be dressed in style.”
After fully recovering my HP, I stood up and said, “Ignore what the others said. Continue grinding and reach level 10 as soon as possible. We are men aiming to get the first kill!”
“Yeah, we are men aiming to get the first kill! Continue!”
Level 10 was a dividing border between two different worlds. Therefore, the required EXP to reach level 10 was much higher. With our current speed, we could only gain 30% EXP per hour. To reach level 10, at least 3 hours would be required. Looking at the time, it was already 4:00 am in the morning. However, the player count was still as high as ever. On the system interface, the player count of our newbie village had consistently remained above 8,000. It would seem like everyone was working hard.
At the same time, the system interface started publishing a few rankings. A power rankings, level rankings, and so on for the players of newbie village 1244 where we’re at had been listed. This was a refreshing addition. When I opened the power rankings, I found with surprise that I was actually not at the first place.
Power Rankings:
1. Be Good For You – Power rating 201 – Knight
2. Hopeful Present – Power rating 178 – Knight
3. Tiramisu – Power rating 172 – Mage
4. Flaming Rat – Power rating 166 – Mage
5. Naughty Pudding – Power rating 149 – Archer
…
Essentially, six out of the top ten were mages. It was comparatively easier for spell casters to fulfill their equipment requirement. They would be quite powerful so long as they had a suitable staff to chug fireb.a.l.l.s around. The person occupying the first place was a Knight named “Be Good For You”. This was quite surprising. I was already fully decked in white equipments. Most of my equipments were quite high leveled as well. And yet this person had a higher power rating than me?
“Who is Be Good For You?”
Lin Che saw the rankings as well. He frowned and asked, “His power rating is already above 200. How powerful. But his name can’t even be found in the level rankings. This means he’s not even level 8 yet. Has his friends been pooling their resources on him to push his power rating up?”
“Or he might have bought those equipments with cash.” Big Hai remarked, “The server has been live for four hours. The auction house at the newbie village must have been opened by now. Many equipments can be bought directly with cash using Alipay or Wechat. Although Boss Chen’s equipments were quite good, his sword and shield are both level 1 equipments. It won’t be hard to surpa.s.s Boss Chen’s power rating.”
“I don’t know…”Lin Che narrowed his eyes and smiled, “The only thing I know for sure is the fact that all four of us are occupying the top four in the level rankings of this newbie village. Hahahahaha!”
Zhang Wei opened the level rankings and indeed, that was the case. In our newbie village, there were five level 9 players, comprised of the four of us and a Mage named Tiramisu. However, we had more level 9 EXP than her. That was why we ranked above her. This was the proof that my tactics had been correct. By selling our equipments to buy the two equipments from the blacksmith and focusing on killing higher leveled monsters, we were already ahead of the other players in terms of level.
Zhang Wei narrowed his eyes and spoke smugly, “I had never expected that a day would come where I would be on the level rankings as well. Wow, I feel like I’m at the peak of my life already…”
“Continue leveling!”
Time pa.s.sed slowly. At 5:00 am, our EXP reached 55%. At 6:00 am, our Exp reached 85%. We would be able to reach level 10 and return to the newbie village to learn some cla.s.s skills before 7:00 am. We grinded untiringly and killed one Hyena after another. After killing an unknown number of Hyenas, with a whoosh, a heavy-looking equipment dropped on the ground following the death of a Hyena. The equipment rolled on the ground before settling down.
Seeing that it was a perfectly round steel shield, I was elated. I immediately picked it up to have a look. Although it was still a white equipment, its stats were quite good.
Shrubbery Warshield (White equipment)
Defense: 25
Level requirement: 8
I immediately swapped my Thicket Steel Shield with this new shield. My defense increased by 17 points, reaching 60 points of defense. With my new defense, no physical attack cla.s.s could hurt me anymore in the early game. Unknowingly, we entered the depths of the shrubs. No other players except us were here. We continued advancing while killing Hyenas. Suddenly, we were blasted by a wave of crimson red aura. An intense sense of terror welled up within me. My heart throbbed as I noticed that something was ahead!
“Stop.”
I raised my hand to stop Lin Che and pointed at the shrubs ahead of us, “Something is there.”
Everyone focused and instantly, our hearts started pounding. Among the shrubs, a humongous Hyena shining with gold light was lazily lying on the ground. This was a level 12 bronze monster, a Gold Hyena Boss. The target for our first kill had appeared! Unfortunately, its stats were extremely terrifying.
Gold Hyena Boss (Bronze Boss)
Level: 12
Attack: 72 – 105
Defense: 58
HP: 2800
Skills: Bite, Claw Strike, h.e.l.lfire Strike
Introduction: One of the bosses of the wilderness, many bounties had been issued for the Golden Hyena. However the Golden Hyena had been able to escape the bounty hunters again and again. If you are not strong enough, you best escape immediately if you encounter one. Otherwise, the Golden Hyena will definitely beat you up so badly your mom can’t recognize you.
“Do we fight it?”
Big Hai asked while trembling in agitation.
“Fight my a.s.s.” Lin Che answered, “It has an attack of 105. Attacking it is no different than suicide.”
I nodded, “Little Che is right. Before we learn our cla.s.s skills, we stand no chance. Look, its third skill is an AOE attack. It doesn’t matter if we have more people. One attack is all it takes to kill us. Head to the east and take a detour around it. Don’t kill the Hyenas around the boss. Mark down this coordinate and rush our way to level 10. After returning to the newbie village, we can come kill it.”
“Ok!”
Everyone was incomparably excited.