Chapter 17

In Ba Huang City, on the crowded eastern exit of the plaza, I carried my newly repaired Bramble Thorn Sword and parted through the crowd . I had decided that I had to reach level 18 soon, preferably by the end of this morning, and reach level 20 as quickly as possible so that I could be recognized in my occupation .

After a player was recognized for his occupation, he could use new skills specific to his occupation . For example, as a trainee healer, the skills available were limited to [Hemostasis] and [Encourage] . After graduating from a trainee though, they could also learn new skills like [Heal] and [Therapy], etc . The good thing about [Heal] was, at level 1 it recovered 150 HP, at level 2 it recovered 300 HP . It was triple the effect that Hemostasis had!

So I walked out the city gate and took a look at the mini-map . I couldn’t raise my level by wandering mindlessly . I also needed to pick level 3 herbs to make level 3 pills . The level 3 potions created from [Alchemy] by a player could recover 200 MP, while the level 3 pills sold by the NPCs could only recover 150 MP, and they sold for 5 silver coins . So, it was quite worth it to buy the potions created by a player This was quite a rare business chance! According to Yue Qing Qian, it seemed like no one in Ba Huang City had reached level 3 in [Alchemy], so it seemed I was the only one . Yep, this was a one in a lifetime chance!

……

【Seven-Star Pill】: Recovers 200 MP, Seven-Star Herb x3, Refined Water x3, Alchemy Furnace x1

The main ingredient for level 3 pills were Seven-Star Herbs . They usually grew deep within Clear Rainforest . In addition, within the rainforest, there was a valley called the Seven-Star Valley . Unsurprisingly, the majority of the Seven-Star Herbs could be found within that valley, and the distance from the city to the valley was about 30 minutes . Usually, players were unwilling to go that far just to fight monsters, and even if they did go, they found a group to party with since there were many high leveled monsters there .

Sha sha, the breeze rattled through the leaves, disturbing the serene grace of the forest . Following the narrow path, I slowed down and took a look at my stats . I was at Level 16, 250 HP, 177 attack . I should be able to solo the monsters in the Seven-Star Valley .

I took care to avoid the level 15 Silver-Feathered Birds since they didn’t give much experience and would only dull my blade . With Bramble Thorn Sword hidden within my cloth clothing, my appearance, that of a cloth profession holding a heavy sword, was quite humorous .

After 20 or so minutes, I looked around and saw a slope towards a valley . My mini-map was also showing that I was right next to Seven-Star Valley . Hooray, I had arrived!

As I took out my sword and prepared to dash into the valley, I suddenly heard sounds coming from the other side of the forest .

“Get your act together guys! We have arrived at the Seven-Star Valley . This is our first group activity, no excuses will be tolerated!”

Crap, I had better hide!

As I hid behind some trees, a total of 10 people came out the forest . The leader of the party was holding a sword in one hand, with shiny dark armor covering his body . Then I became thunderstruck at what I saw . It was Tyrant of Western Chu, level 19, and the players in his party seemed to be his underlings . In fact, Piggy came running up to the Tyrant of Western Chu . In addition, there were two elf archers, flying 20 yards off the ground, overseeing the area .

I held my breath and dared not to say anything . .

On the shoulder of Tyrant of Western Chu was the Silver-Feathered Bird pet . Incredibly, it was already level 16 . The speed at which pets leveled up was pretty quick, huh?

……

Tyrant of Western Chu turned around to talk to the approaching Piggy, “Piggy, are you sure there’s a boss in this Seven-Star Valley?”

“Yes boss . At 6 am this morning, one of my friends was killed by the boss here . The monsters in Seven-Star Valley have really high levels, so we need to be careful since we didn’t bring enough healers this time . ”

“Oh? Two healers is not enough?”

“Ehh, how should I say it . Killing bosses places a lot of stress on the healers . They need to use Hemostasis carefully or our casualties will be every serious . Looking at a replay of the player you guys killed, that Xiao Yao healer, he performed Hemostasis really well . If we have two healers with that kind of control, then killing this level 20 White-ranked boss would be a piece of cake . ”

“Don’t you dare mention Xiao Yao Zi Zai . Next time I see him, I swear I will skin him alive, and take back my Bramble Thorn Sword . That sword has 35 attack on it! The one that I use now only has 21 attack…”

“Boss, if we want to stand on top of Ba Huang City, we need to find players with potential such as Xiao Yao . As you know, guilds such as the [Prague] and the [Flying Dragons] are also settling in Ba Huang City . We have quite a lot of rivals, and even though we have 200+ players, it may not be enough anymore . ”

“I know, I’ll pay attention . But if this Xiao Yao comes out, I’ll be sure to kill him, just you wait and see!”

“……”

……

I watched Tyrant of Western Chu’s group go into the valley from afar and waited until I could no longer see them anymore . Since they had two elves flying around, I could be spotted easily . I was quite doubtful I could win a 1v1 against Tyrant of Western Chu, and with his group of 10 people, there was no doubt that I would die instantly .

After waiting for ten minutes, I took my Bramble Thorn Sword and entered the Seven-Star Valley . This valley was quite large, so it was quite easy to avoid Tyrant of Western Chu’s group and find herbs . You know what they say: Less PKing, more monster eliminating, only then shall your level keep escalating!

Stepping on a pile of crumbled rocks at the valley’s entrance, I stuck my head forward and looked into the valley . It seemed that the entire Seven-Star Valley was windy, and there was no shortage of high-leveled monsters within it . 10 meters away from me, there seemed to be a group of wolf monsters . One of the large wolves, whose body was covered with red fur and strangely, green grass, growled menacingly at me . Its level wasn’t low either…

【Wild Wolf】 (Normal Monster)

Level: 18

Attack: 77-100

Defense: 30

Health: 500

Skill: 【Whirling Claws (LV-2)】

Description: Wild Wolves, a group of creatures that occupy the wilderness, seen to attack players and pets . Although Ba Huang City sent troops to annihilate them long ago, the Wild Wolves still go on abnormal rampages around Ba Huang City .

…… .

Looking at the creature’s attributes, I was a bit shocked . It was obvious that I couldn’t fight it . No, it wouldn’t even be a fight, it would be a one-sided massacre and obviously not in my favor . With an attack of 100, my cloth armor defense had no way of holding up . So I grabbed my Bramble Thorn Sword and went around the bushes, then I turned slightly right and went straight towards the middle plain of the valley . This way I would avoid the hordes of creatures in the forest .

Far away, in the open grassland, Tyrant of Western Chu and his 10-man team were killing monsters . He shouted out, then a golden hexagram glowed and hovered over the edge of his sword . Sha sha! The Wild Wolf received a combo of two slices and lost almost 300 HP . It made me jealous looking at the special combo moves that Tyrant of Western Chu had . It was both elegant and powerful, unlike himself .

Looking at my own skills, other than [Turmoil Sword], the rest of my skills were centered around healing and buffs . If I wanted a main attack move, then I needed to create a new skill . Thankfully, it was possible within this game . But, creating skills was no easy feat . If you didn’t have enough experience or practice, you couldn’t create one . By my estimates, only 2 or 3 players in the entire game had made unique skills .

Whatever, money came first . As long as I had an active and strong heart, this era belonged to me!…

I avoided Tyrant of Western Chu’s training group like the plague, and entered the eastern region of the Seven-Star Valley . Stepping on the soft moist grass, I walked slowly in the jungle . Of course, I would like to be anywhere but there in the jungle where wolves could ambush me at every angle, but I had be in the jungle to get the Seven-Star Herbs . There was a saying for this, no pain meant no gain . Before long, I saw dots of luster on top of the rocks that were in front of me . Awesome! So I raced ahead, and indeed, on top of the rock was a seven-colored herb, growing like grapes on a vine . It was a level 3 Seven-Star Herb!

After picking countless amounts of Silver-Leaf Herbs, my [Herb-Picking] skill was already level 3 . I took out my shovel, carefully traced along the roots of the Seven-Star Herb, and gently dug it out . This was a basic herb picking technique . In various books that I read before, they also said: “The sap of plants comes from the roots” . A lot of medicine used roots as its ingredients . The same probably applied to the Seven-Star Herbs in front of me, and . . done!

After digging the herb out, a sound rang——

Ding!

System Notification: Congratulations! You have collected 【Seven-Star Herb】x2

Indeed, if you picked up the herbs with the roots, you got double the amount . Looked like my magnificent plan to create level 3 pills was no longer so far away now!

……

While I was still absorbed in the frenzy of uprooting the Seven-Star Herbs, I heard a low growl behind me . Grrrr! On instinct, I dropped the shovel and spun around . Holy crap! A Wild Wolf was about 10 meters away and ready to pounce .

Raising my hand, I drew my Bramble Thorn Sword . [Turmoil Sword] immediately activated, giving me an extra 10% attack damage, which was currently +11 . 7 attack . When I level up later and get better gear, this 10% bonus attack damage would become more useful but it was still quite an impressive skill right now . With such a great effect, [Turmoil Sword] deserved its rank of being an SS rank skill . The SS rank was inferior only to the SSS rank, so it should be a near God-Tier skill right?

I went and slashed at the wolf . The Bramble Thorn Sword arced through the air and landed on head of the Wild Wolf . Ouch!

“142!”

Good attack! At the same time, the wolf jumped and also slashed at me with his claws . Weirdly, there was some sort of red glow on the tip of its claws . Wait! It was【Whirling Claws (LV-2)】 . Before I could finish my thought, the wolf’s claws reached my shoulder, gifting me with a wave of pain . I assure you that the pain was not fake . It felt like my shoulder just got hit by a brick . At the same time, my HP also dropped by 119 points!

I waved my hand to cast Hemostasis which recovered 100 of my HP . At the same time, I continued to attack with two continuous strikes . Although they were both solid hits, I didn’t push on and prepared my legs to dodge when the Wild Wolf attacked . After eating the two attacks, the wolf suddenly pounced . Should I dodge left, right, LEFT . But I didn’t dodge completely, even though I could have sworn that I dodged the attack, my speed was lacking and the hit glanced off of me . I lost 71 HP . Looked like this wouldn’t be too hard as long as the wolf didn’t use his skill too much .

Every time the wolf attacked, I leaped away trying to dodge its attacks . But I failed time after time because of my lack of speed, and finally, I gave up trying to dodge . The Wild Wolf’s agility was high, far higher than mine, and even if I dodged earlier, I would still get hit because the wolf would see me shifting and change its attack accordingly . I was not going to bother anymore and would attack it straight on…

……

I heard the wolf cry Wuuu . A final howl before it dropped dead beside me . I picked up the coins, and turn to leave . It was tough beating the wolf, but I must move on . There was money around here, I could smell it .

After picking quite a few Seven-Star Herbs, I realized that the Seven-Star Herbs only grew on rocks . So in the valley, I circled around the scattered rocks, trying to find stalks of Seven-Star Herbs . If my luck held up, I wouldn’t run into the Tyrant of Western Chu’s group .