Chapter 89: The Heart of Nature

The Wolf King dropped a total of four pieces of equipment: two red, two orange, one special item, and one skill book.

The red equipment consisted of a pair of boots for strength-based classes and a bow. The orange equipment wasn’t even worth considering. The skill book was for Berserkers only and was incredibly powerful.

Berserker’s Fury.

This was the first time Zhang Shan had seen this skill book, and its strength was undeniable.

Berserker’s Fury: Level 1, increases attack by 10% for ten seconds. Class requirement: Berserker.

A level one skill that boosts attack by ten percent—if maxed out, it would double your attack power. That was truly formidable. And the effect lasted a full ten seconds, far better than the Hunter’s Frenzy, which only increased attack speed and lasted just six seconds.

Compared side by side, the two skills were worlds apart.

It was definitely a valuable item that could fetch a high price.

If not for the special item being somewhat intriguing, Zhang Shan wouldn’t have hesitated to choose the skill book. Even though he couldn’t use it himself, he could easily sell it—whether through the auction house or to someone else in the guild, it would bring in a hefty sum of gold.

However, that special item seemed even more suited for him.

Heart of Nature: Special item. When used on a pet or summoned creature, it strengthens one of their attributes.

Zhang Shan felt a bit conflicted. The description of this special item was rather vague. Aren’t special items supposed to have grades? Like his equipped Hand of Midas, which was a spirit-grade special item. Yet, this Heart of Nature didn’t mention any grade at all—could it just be a worthless common item?

If it was just a common item, even using it on his Panda Baby wouldn’t boost its stats by much.

It felt like a bit of a trap—not an easy choice.

“Brother Six-Shot, have you decided what to pick? If you choose the skill book, you have to sell it to me. I’ll pay top price.”

“Get lost. Whatever he offers, I’ll outbid him.”

“Don’t be so anxious. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

“What’s there to consider? None of these are for you, so you should obviously pick the most valuable one—the skill book.”

“There’s something I can actually use—the Heart of Nature. I can use it on my Panda Baby.”

“You want a common special item? Are you joking?”

“Are you sure it’s common? Would a red boss really drop a common item? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Hm? That’s a good point, but aren’t items without a grade marking all commons?”

Zhang Shan didn’t want to dwell on it any longer. He wasn’t short on money anyway—the ten million on his account was still untouched. He also had over seven million gold coins. There was no need to give up something useful to him just to make some money.

No matter what grade this Heart of Nature was, as long as it could enhance his Panda Baby, that was enough.

Even if it only boosted it a little.

The Panda Baby was crucial to him, especially for soloing bosses. At present, he was still a bit short of being able to solo orange bosses of his level. The main issue was the Panda Baby’s health—it wasn’t high enough, and its regeneration was too slow. Without a healer, it couldn’t withstand an orange boss for long.

If he could strengthen it, maybe he could solo orange bosses in the future. That was his dream, after all.

If he wanted to someday solo Demon Lords, he’d have to start by being able to solo orange bosses.

“I’ll take the Heart of Nature. You guys roll for the rest.”

“Artifact Bro, taking a gamble, huh?”

“Just trying it out. I can’t use any of the others, and there’s no need to sell for gold.”

After Heart of Nature was allotted to Zhang Shan by Storm Under Heaven, he organized the rolling for the other items.

Each of the four pieces of equipment was won by someone. Despite their quality, everyone was most concerned with the fate of the skill book.

All the Berserkers were eager, rolling their dice one after another.

80, 67, 91, 53…

Stormblade prayed as he tossed his die—92.

“Ha! The skill book is mine!”

“Don’t get cocky yet. I haven’t rolled. Watch the Dice God return!”

Someone rolled with a flourish—only to get a 1.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Even if I don’t win, at least give me a higher number.”

“Bad luck, and you wanted to compete with me? It’s mine now, right? Boss, hand me the skill book!”

Stormblade eagerly took the skill book and learned it immediately.

“Too bad I don’t have enough skill points. If I could max it out, activate Berserker’s Fury with Charge and Dual Wield—four times the damage! I’d cut down anyone in my path.”

“Stop showing off. Someone comfort my wounded soul—I was so close!”

“Go cry in a corner.”

Zhang Shan ignored the bunch of fools. He took out the Heart of Nature and closely examined its description.

How exactly was this supposed to be used? On a pet—did that mean feeding it to the Panda Baby?

Might as well try.

He held the Heart of Nature and fed it to the Panda Baby—it worked.

After feeding, he didn’t notice any apparent change. Was it a dud?

He checked the pet’s stats.

Damn, the Panda Baby now had over 110,000 health—practically a mini-boss.

Zhang Shan remembered its health was just over 40,000 before—not even 50,000. The Heart of Nature had directly doubled its health.

Damn, that effect was almost over the top.

With a pet boasting over 100,000 health, tanking an orange boss’s damage would be a piece of cake. With a healer, it could even withstand a red boss with ease.

None of the Panda Baby’s other stats changed; Heart of Nature was purely a vitality booster.

At first, he thought it was just a common special item, but with an effect like this—what grade could it possibly be? It had to be above red.

“Six-Shot, did you use the Heart of Nature on your Panda Baby?”

“Yes.”

“What attribute did it enhance?”

“It increased the pet’s health.”

“Heart of Nature—the name suggests it has to do with life. Not bad. Boosting your pet’s health is always good.”

“The question is, how much did it increase? If it’s just a few hundred points, it’s nothing.”

“Well, it’s quite a lot.”

“What do you mean, quite a lot? How much exactly?”

“Maybe fivefold. The Panda Baby has 110,000 health now.”

“Damn, that’s insane! Isn’t it a common item? How can the effect be this good? That’s beyond belief.”

“Maybe it’s not a common item. There might be aspects of item mechanics we haven’t figured out.”

“Now I’m out of a job. With Artifact Bro’s Panda Baby, who needs me? I’m obsolete,” Windcloud Secretary joked tearfully. As a tank, he was now less useful than a pet.

Sure, he could generate aggro, but with Zhang Shan’s damage output, using a pet to tank bosses meant there was no worry about others stealing aggro.

He’d have nothing to do during boss fights—he couldn’t even join in, or he’d mess up aggro and become a hindrance.

“I think it’s not just the secretary who’s out of work—all of us are. Artifact Bro can just bring a few healers and take down most bosses himself. What do we even do now?”

“We’re all inferior to beasts.”

“Far inferior.”

That’s it, then. A bit of melancholy hung in the air.