Chapter 6: Mad Dragon (1/2)

Sunshine Forest was a contested territory. Since the decline of the World Tree, the people on the continent had been living in utter misery. The humans, barbarians, elves and succubi had to rebuild their cities to fight back against the Night Creatures, and some of these starting villages could be found around Corpse Heap Graveyard, eating into the Night Creatures’ territory.

Sunshine Forest was a high-level training ground outside the starting villages. It was a hotspot for Night Creatures and a place for high-level players to grind experience.

According to official data, Sunshine Forest was an area where monsters’ levels ranged from 5 to 12. For players under that requirement, it was inadvisable to enter. Even if a player was Level 5, they were advised to first form a team, because the forest was crawling with many dangers that could prove to be fatal.

A skill was unlocked only when a player reached Level 10, meaning that physical damage was the only available source of DPS at this time, even for cloth-based professions like Priest, Mage, Tactician and Bard. It was why melee-based classes were extremely popular in the starting villages right now, while Mages and Priests were given the cold shoulder.

That being said, once the player hit Level 10, entered a tier 2 main city and learned their respective skills, Priests—especially hot female Priests—would instantly become the most sought-after class.

……

I couldn’t form a team because there was no one suitable for me to team up with. Technically speaking I didn’t belong to the true Night Creatures, and I definitely didn’t belong to the human alliance either. I doubt that the players from the Light faction would be willing to team up with an ugly little skeleton like me. Therefore, I could only grind solo for now.

Rustle...

The sun was just rising when I stepped on fallen leaves and arrived at Sunshine Forest. Rays of sunlight peeked through the dense leaves and branches, casting uneven shadows on the ground. Everything looked very peaceful.

I opened the map. The quest marker highlighted the Green Praying Mantises’ spawn area on the map, so I knew it was just a small distance ahead of me.

I was on full alert when I entered the dense forest, sword firmly in my bony hand. It wasn’t long before I suddenly sensed danger!

“Hiss…”

A sharp, green blade cut through the air. Something was attacking me!

Puchi!

Not even my top-tier +9 Defense chest armor was able to stop the attack from penetrating my defense. A huge damage number rose from my head—41!

What a guy. Its attack power was insane!

I moved in a perfect arc and arrived on the praying mantis’s right side. Then, I stabbed my sword into its body!

31!

The damage dealt was okay, mainly because the Green Praying Mantis’s defense wasn’t crazy high. Otherwise, I would have been lucky to break its defense with this shabby sword.

A Level 7 monster with less than 300 HP. It shouldn’t take long to grind it down to nothing.

“Hiss hiss…”

The Green Praying Mantis hissed loudly as it slowly turned to face me. Then, it swung its twinblades in an attempt to catch me in a pincer.

I backed out of its range as smoothly as water before moving behind the Green Praying Mantis, dealing three consecutive strikes in the process. It had been a long time I felt this comfortable leveling up; the superb rhythm I had gotten into made me feel like I was in the zone. Hehe, after being tortured by the three-second brain delay for over half a year, I felt like a fish that had returned to water.

I kited in and out to waste the Green Praying Mantis’s attack opportunities while scoring hits of my own. The Green Praying Mantis might be two levels above me, but its death is all but certain.

Inside a forest, the spectacle of pinnacle leveling efficiency and tactics were brought to life by a skeleton and a praying mantis. Despite the two-level difference, the entire fight felt incredibly easy.

Puchi!

After dozens of attacks and a splatter of green blood, the Level 7 Green Praying Mantis finally let out death throes and collapsed to the ground. It dropped a 14 Quality Small Magic Stone—the lousiest magic stone you could get—that probably fetched for about 140 copper. It wasn’t much, but raw money was incredibly valuable during the early stages of the game. All of the skills you learned at Level 10 cost money, and not being able to buy it because one was poor would be frustrating to say the least.

When I tossed the Small Magic Stone into my bag, I noticed that my experience went up quite a bit. As I thought, the reward for killing a monster that was level-wise superior to you was very valuable. After that, I ventured deeper into the forest and sought out more-isolated Green Praying Mantises to kill.

After nearly two hours of hunting, I successfully killed eighty-seven Green Praying Mantises and reached Level 7. After dropping 20 points into Strength, my attack power had also increased to 22~37, making killing a Level 7 Green Praying Mantis incredibly easy. Unfortunately, the deeper I went into the forest, the higher-level they became. In fact, a Level 10 Green Praying Mantis very nearly one-shot me. Left with no choice, I retreated to the outer edges of the forest and hunted monsters that were Level 8 or below. Better safe than sorry.

Heavenblessed’s death penalty was very harsh. Once a player reached Level 10, every death would result in the loss of a level. A dead player would turn into a soul after they died, and if they wished to revive on their corpse they could spend a level to do so. They could also revive inside a city, but the cost of that was three levels. It was a twenty-minute journey between here and my starting village, and I had no intention of wasting my time like that.

I checked the time and noted that it was over 4 am, but the server was still jam-packed with players. Obviously, a ton of players were still hustling despite the hour.