Wu Shaochen ran for five or six minutes before finally reaching the depths of the valley, where he spotted an exceptionally massive Silver Wolf. Its head was held high in pride, exuding the aura of a king.
"Damn, this thing looks like it's no joke," Wu Shaochen murmured, casting an Insight spell.
[Silver Wolf King] (Bronze-tier Boss) Level: 10 Health: 200,000 Attack: 550 Defense: 200 Speed: 40
Skill 1: Speed Rush: With a long howl, the Silver Wolf King gains 50% attack speed and 50% movement speed for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Skill 2: Savage Howl: The Silver Wolf King lets out a deafening roar, dealing 130% undetectable damage to all targets within a 10-meter radius and reducing their damage output by 30% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute. Skill 3: Summon: When the Silver Wolf King's health drops below 30%, it summons nearby Silver Wolves to fight alongside it.
"Damn, a Bronze-tier boss. Does this mean it can drop Bronze-tier gear? But these stats are insane—200,000 health? If it just stood there and let me attack, it'd take me over two hours to kill! And don't even get me started on the skills—Skill 2 is a no-defense, AoE attack that would instantly kill me with my current health. Isn't this a bit too difficult? Is this really a starting village boss? And the third skill? It's totally unfair! How many Silver Wolves are in this valley? If it summons them all, there's no chance of winning," Wu Shaochen grumbled, his mood darkening. He had thought he was about to rake in rewards, but now it seemed completely unmanageable.
"Well, if I can't beat it, at least I can avoid it," he sighed, backing away. "First, let's get to level 10 and change my class—that's the real path to success." And so, he switched back to his grind mode.
Meanwhile, aside from the 8365 starting village, other villages had begun organizing groups to take on the Wild Boar King, spurred on by the discovery of the Fangtooth Greatblade's attributes, which had been posted on the forum, causing envy to spread like wildfire. Black Iron equipment was far superior to any White-tier gear, so everyone had started their efforts to defeat the Wild Boar King, believing that if it had been defeated once, it could surely be taken down again.
But reality struck hard. Countless teams paid a heavy price, but none could bring down the Wild Boar King. Many teams managed to get its health down to 10%, only for it to heal back up to 30%, and when they exceeded the 5-minute mark, it healed again. The cycle continued until they had no choice but to give up. The boss's defense was 120, and only a few players could break that defense. No team had the damage output to finish off the boss in the required time.
The forum exploded, and everyone was tagging Dust Sealed, eager to learn how he had defeated the Wild Boar King. But there was no response.
"The forum's going wild," Lin Zi chuckled, having closed the forum, feeling a little schadenfreude. In the game, players could also access the forum, but Wu Shaochen had been too focused on his monster grinding to notice.
"Should I jump in and ask? I'd like to know how he took down the Wild Boar King," Haoran wondered aloud.
"His talent must be able to counter the Wild Boar King's healing. There's no way anyone could deal 15,000 damage in 5 minutes otherwise, especially with the Wild Boar King's defense at 120," Junlin speculated confidently.
Meanwhile, on the other side…
"Miss, didn't you say you knew who Dust Sealed is? Could you ask him how he defeated the Wild Boar King?" Liu Shu inquired curiously.
At the mention of this, Su Muxue's cold expression vanished in an instant, and she snorted. "That guy refuses to add me as a friend."
"Ah?" Liu Shu looked stunned. "Is Dust Sealed a woman? Otherwise, what man would refuse your friend request?"
"A man!" Su Muxue gritted her teeth.
"Then…"
"Liu Shu, don't ask. I'll find him again," Su Muxue cut him off. She had never been rejected like this before in her life.
"Alright then." Liu Shu quickly fell silent, thinking to himself, "Could Dust Sealed be...different?"
"Achoo! Who's talking about me?" Wu Shaochen rubbed his nose, continuing to hunt Silver Wolves tirelessly.
After roughly six hours of grinding, he had slain 152 Silver Wolves and finally reached level 10, though the loot was sparse, with only 4 pieces of equipment:
[Silver Wolf Belt] (White-tier): Health +50, Defense +5 [Silver Wolf Bracelet] (White-tier): Health +20, Attack +12, Attack Speed +1% [Silver Wolf Boots] (White-tier): Speed +6, Defense +4 [Silver Wolf Leggings] (White-tier): Health +60, Defense +4
Except for the [Silver Wolf Leggings], the other three pieces were useful to him. He quickly equipped them, seeing his stats change: Level: 9 → 10 Health: 680 → 730 Mana: 140 → 150 Physical Attack: 20 → 32 Physical Defense: 40 → 42 Movement Speed: 50 → 52 Experience: 60/20,000 Other stats remained unchanged.
He checked the auction house and saw that many players had already listed Toad Equipment, ranging in price from 5,000 to 20,000 coins, but none had sold. It seemed that players with money and strength were no longer interested in such gear, and casual players didn't want to spend that much. Wu Shaochen decided to list his [Toad Belt] and [Toad Boots] for 2,000 coins each, thinking that even small profits were better than nothing. He priced the [Silver Wolf Leggings] at 10,000 coins, knowing that there were still wealthy players who hadn't reached the Silver Wolf stage.
Sure enough, within moments, all three items were sold, earning him a total of 10,800 coins. After a nap, the prices for White-tier equipment had dropped significantly, as players' gear and levels had progressed.
At level 10, Wu Shaochen rushed to find the village elder to be teleported to the main city for his class change. But first, he turned in the Silver Wolf task, collecting over 200 wolf fangs, which would grant him more experience and coins. The materials stacked up to 1,000 per type, so they didn't take up inventory space.
Soon, Wu Shaochen returned to the village, found the shopkeeper, and handed over 100 wolf fangs for a reward of 2,000 experience and 10 silver coins. The remaining fangs were sold for a little over 100 copper coins.
Arriving at the village entrance, he found the elder and politely asked, "Elder, I've reached level 10. Can you teleport me to the main city?"
"Oh? Adventurer, your progress is impressive. However, I'm afraid the teleportation array to the main city is broken due to disrepair. Can you help me by going to the Silver Wolf Valley and slaying the Silver Wolf King? Bring me its magic core, and I can repair the array and send you to the main city," the elder said.
"Ding! The elder has issued you a quest: Travel to the depths of Silver Wolf Valley and slay the Silver Wolf King. Bring back its magic core. Quest reward: Title [Hero of the Starting Village]."
"What? Are you kidding me? I still have to fight that wolf?" Wu Shaochen groaned. He had thought he could avoid it, but now it seemed he had no choice but to face it.
Reluctantly, he accepted the quest. After all, without it, he couldn't reach the main city. The quest reward—a title—was enticing. Titles were rare and offered significant benefits, as multiple titles' attributes could stack. No one could resist the allure of a title reward.