Chapter Eight: The Art of Rejuvenation

The matter of Zhang Shan and Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles joining the guild was thus settled. The three of them continued hunting rabbits while chatting away, with Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles especially lively, as if he had taken a stimulant, talking non-stop. Just as Zhang Shan finished off a rabbit with a shot, a beam of light landed in Windchime's inventory.

"Ha! Finally, an equipment drop! Windchime beauty, let's see which class it's for. Since we have three different classes here, it must be usable by one of us," Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles exclaimed excitedly.

To be honest, ever since they got that crude iron armor for Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles, they had killed at least six hundred monsters together, and only now did another piece of equipment drop. Their luck was just that good—or rather, the item drop rate was simply despair-inducing.

Windchime showed the item in the party channel. It wasn't equipment, but a skill book.

Rejuvenation: Instantly restores 100 health points upon casting, with a continuous healing effect for five seconds, restoring 20 health per second. Consumes 50 mana. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Class restriction: Taoist and Witch Doctor.

"What the heck? Even minor monsters can drop skill books? Is there no logic to item drops? Rabbits are physical monsters; shouldn't they drop strength-based items? Why would they have Rejuvenation? Rabbits and healing have nothing to do with each other!" Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles shouted in disbelief.

Zhang Shan was also surprised. Minor monsters dropping skill books?

"This book is just what I need. Let me have it. I’ll pay 10,000 blue coins—I'll transfer 5,000 to each of you in a bit," Windchime said excitedly. For a support who couldn't heal, there was no sense of presence at all.

"No need for money. Whoever can use the item gets it. If none of us need it, then we split the money when it’s sold," Zhang Shan replied.

"Exactly, no need to pay. It dropped for you at random anyway. If you pay up, it’ll be troublesome to sort out who gets what if something drops for us," Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles echoed.

"Alright, then. Too bad I don’t have any skill points left—I’ll have to wait until I reach level three to learn it. I never expected a book I could use to drop," Windchime said happily.

"No worries. Let’s speed up our grinding so everyone gets to level three, then we can go fight higher-level monsters for faster leveling," Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles said loudly.

Unfortunately, while the idea was nice, reality was grim—more and more people reached level two and flocked over to hunt rabbits. There weren’t enough rabbits to go around. If not for Zhang Shan’s Hunter being a ranged class, with just Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles and Windchime, they wouldn’t even be able to compete for monsters.

"Aren’t there any other level two monsters? Why is everyone hunting rabbits?" Zhang Shan asked Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles. Since they leveled up together, and Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles was out exploring new maps, there should be more than one kind of monster.

"There are also frog monsters nearby, also level two, but those are really annoying—they attack from a distance. Though their attack is much lower than the rabbits, only twenty points, they have two hundred health. Not worth the effort. I doubt anyone will farm frogs for now."

"What about level three monsters? Any good ones to hunt?" Zhang Shan was a bit annoyed; there were more players than monsters—how was this supposed to work?

At this, Windchime said, "Forget about level three monsters for now. According to our guildmates, they have 500 health, and without defensive gear, you can’t handle them. You’d need to bring healing potions too. Unless you have at least two pieces of green gear or better, nobody can grind them without taking damage."

"Are all monsters in the New World this tough? Green gear or better? I don’t even have a single white item. Are we supposed to farm chicks till tomorrow?" Zhang Shan wailed after hearing how strong the level three monsters were.

As Zhang Shan was ranting, a flash of white light appeared in his inventory.

"Heh, another item drop! Let me take a look," Zhang Shan said, pleased.

Upon opening his inventory, he found a helmet—yet another piece of gear for Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles. Nothing ever dropped for him.

He displayed the helmet's stats in the party channel and traded it to Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles.

Crude Iron Helmet (White): Defense +3, Equipment Level: 1, Durability: 5/5, Armor type: Plate.

Once Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles put on the helmet, with full iron armor and an axe in hand, he looked like a bit of a berserker.

"Ha! I have 15 defense now. I think we should go farm frogs—I can definitely tank them. Fighting with others for monsters is a pain," he said, brimming with confidence.

"Fifteen defense against monsters with twenty attack? No problem—you'll hardly lose any health. But Six-Bar Bodhisattva needs to farm passive skills. If we don’t hunt rabbits, his talent will go to waste," Windchime said, still thinking of Zhang Shan's talent.

"Let’s go farm frogs. When everyone’s asleep tonight, I’ll come back and farm rabbits alone. It’s all about probability anyway, and it probably won’t trigger anytime soon. There are more people than monsters here now—waste of time," Zhang Shan said, checking his experience bar: 722/1000. After half an hour of rabbit hunting, he’d gained less than 300 experience, much slower than he expected—slower even than farming chicks.

"OK, I’ll lead the way—the frog monsters are just ahead, two minutes' run," said Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles, shouldering his axe and heading toward the next map.

Zhang Shan and Windchime followed, and soon they entered a new area, filled with frogs but not many players—only some ranged classes in teams farming away.

Axe in hand, Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles unleashed a Falling Leaf Slash on a frog, dealing -45 damage, while the frog could only deal two damage to him—no pressure at all.

The three of them attacked in quick succession; the frog fell swiftly—the efficiency was amazing. With plenty of monsters and the ability to tank, leveling was a breeze.

After about ten minutes, Zhang Shan reached level three.

System: Congratulations to player Six-Bar Bodhisattva for reaching level three. Skill point +1, all attributes +2, free attribute points +5.

He saved the skill point and put all his points into Agility.

Checking his stats:

Character: Six-Bar Bodhisattva

Class: Hunter

Level: 3

HP: 140

MP: 60

Physical Attack: 25-29

Magic Attack: 9-9

Strength: 9

Agility: 24

Intelligence: 9

Defense: 4

Luck: 9 (Randomly generated between 1-10, Luck is a hidden stat, never changes)

Talent: King of Passives (Each time a monster is killed, there is a one-in-a-million chance of acquiring one of the monster’s passive skills at random.)

Skill 1, Headshot: (Passive), Level 2, Each attack by the Hunter has a chance to trigger a headshot, dealing 50 extra damage and stunning for 0.05 seconds. Trigger rate: 1%.

Equipment: Novice Cloth Armor, Novice Musket.

"Six-Bar Bodhisattva, you leveled up?" Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles and Windchime asked almost in unison.

"Yeah, level three, but it’s hardly any stronger. All points into Agility, and my attack is only 25-29. No gear—totally miserable," Zhang Shan lamented.

Three item drops so far and not a single one for him. Without better attack power, he was just a weakling. He figured he needed at least 50 attack before he could farm rabbits alone at night—otherwise, he really couldn’t do it.

"Don’t worry. The game’s only been out for less than two hours. Gear will come, and high-level monsters grant more experience, so leveling won’t be too slow," Windchime said, trying to comfort him.

Just then, a beam of light fell into Zhang Shan’s inventory.

He opened his inventory to find a ring lying quietly there, glowing a bright green.

"Ha! Finally, a piece of gear I can actually use! I’ll get stronger now." Excited, he checked the ring’s stats—finally, he wasn’t a weakling anymore.

He displayed the ring’s stats to the party:

Black Iron Ring (Green): Physical Attack +5-8, Agility +1, Equipment Level 1, Durability 10/10.

After equipping the Black Iron Ring, his attack instantly rose to 31-38. With this attack power, he could now farm rabbits on his own.

"Damn, why does it add Agility? If it added Strength, I could use it! And why do all the items drop into your bags, never mine? This party loot setting is supposed to be random, right?" Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles wailed endlessly.

"Let’s hurry and farm monsters so we reach level three soon. Then we can go hunt level five monsters; their experience is worth several times more. My brother is already farming level five monsters—he’s past level four, almost at five," Windchime urged as Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles sat there dazed and howling.

"Can we even handle level five monsters? Level three ones already have five hundred health," Zhang Shan asked, confused as to how Wind and Cloud Guild could farm level fives.

"Level five monsters aren’t much stronger than level three ones, just have more health—one thousand. Their attack is only a little higher, around fifty," Windchime replied, clearly in touch with her guildmates. Though Zhang Shan and his friends had been invited to join the guild, since neither of them knew anyone, no one would go out of their way to share information unless asked.

After another ten minutes, Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles and Windchime also reached level three.

Windchime immediately learned Rejuvenation, and with a wave of her hand, cast it on Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles, instantly restoring him to full health, with +50 numbers appearing over his head again and again.

The young beauty beamed, "I finally feel like a real support! Let’s go to the Wild Boar Forest—my brother and his group are farming wild boars there. Each boar gives 50 experience, and split three ways, that’s about seventeen each—leveling will be quick."

"Windchime beauty, you’ll be in charge of healing me, and the two of us will farm monsters. After you heal, just sit down to recover mana," Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles said, explaining their next plan.

"No need for all that. We’ll all attack together. I’ll stop by the general store for some mana potions—the little secretary just gave me two thousand copper coins, and with my own few hundred, I can buy over two hundred mana potions, enough for us to level up," Windchime said, waving her hand grandly.

"So extravagant," Zhang Shan couldn’t help but marvel at her generosity.

"It’s nothing. You have to invest to get returns. You’ll understand in time."

"By the way, do you really get that much copper? People actually sell it?" Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles asked, puzzled.

"It’s not strange. There are a thousand people in the novice village; even if only a hundred want to sell copper coins, you can collect tens of thousands—enough for several people’s potion needs," Windchime explained.

"Let’s get moving—back to the novice village. My iron armor needs repairs, or it’s going to break soon."

The system’s starter gear had unlimited durability, but loot drops came with limited durability and needed repairs; otherwise, once the durability was gone, the item would disappear.

"I’ll restock on bullets too," Zhang Shan added. He still had over two thousand bullets, but the level five monster area was probably far from the novice village, so it was best to stock up to avoid extra trips back and forth.