"Swhoosh! Fans like to read:!"
Lightning rained down from the sky, and as expected, Thunderous Charge missed. The monster's level was too high, so the hit rate of Thunderous Charge was greatly reduced!
Crack, crack, crack!
The Heaven-stealing Sword followed up with War Crush, Trample, and Desperate Gambit!
“2677！”
“2349！”
“2472！”
“3109！”
Damn, even Desperate Gambit can only deal 3000 HP?
This monster's Defense was truly OP. As expected of a land dragon famed for its Defense. The good news was that the Heaven-stealing Sword tore through the One-horned Dragon's scales and dealt a certain amount of damage.
It was at this moment the Thunderous One-horned Dragon raised its head and let out a deep roar. Then, it swung its front claws at me and cut through my Dragonscale Armor!
Chiang!
“2784！”
So powerful! Its Attack is a bit OP!
The level difference was too big, so my stats were probably affected by at least 80%. Since I was at a disadvantage in terms of level, my stats were completely ignored by the monster. Truth be told, I was too eager to challenge higher-level mobs, and the Level 137 Hellhound was the best choice for me to grind.
I continued with Pardon + Ice Ray combo!
“MISS！”
“7642！”
Not bad. Pardon's Defense reduction effect was very obvious, and it was especially useful against mobs that were as tough as iron.
It was at this moment that the Thunderous One-horned Dragon suddenly charged at me. I hurriedly raised my sword to parry, but with a clang, I was sent flying. I slid across the sand for more than ten meters and lost almost 3000 HP. My movements were a little sluggish. That was the monster's [Sudden Stab]!
But there was something even more powerful behind me. Before I could regain my balance, the Thunderous One-horned Dragon charged at me, its horn crackling with the power of thunder. The next moment, I was hit by a Thunderous Strike, and I couldn't dodge it in time. A bone-piercing pain shot through my shoulder, and I lost a huge chunk of HP — 7248!
Fuck!
My jaw dropped in shock. A simple Thunderous Strike was enough to take out so much HP, and I was almost out of health. How could I deal with this kind of attack?
No, I couldn't fight this monster head-on just because I had three Spirit-grade items. That was very irrational!
Tenacity of the Dead, heal!
“+3050！”
"Gulp!"
“+3500！”
I used both skills and a health potion to recover half of my HP in the blink of an eye. I had to say, Tenacity of the Dead was getting better and better after my max HP had increased. Recovering 3000 + HP in an instant was the equivalent of a health potion. This skill was my unbeatable weapon!
I ran in an S-shaped pattern to the right of the Thunderous One-horned Dragon and swung my sword repeatedly. The Thunderous One-horned Dragon howled in pain as I circled around the Thunderous One-horned Dragon in an attempt to find its weak point. Not long after, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Thunderous One-horned Dragon's Defense, Attack, and HP were all OP. However, its biggest flaw was its terrible turn rate. The so-called turn rate referred to the speed at which the Thunderous One-horned Dragon could turn around. Its body was simply too big, so it needed a long time to turn around. I could take advantage of this flaw and kill it.
Against this kind of monster, the average player would be able to dodge at least 20% of the monster's damage. With my abilities, I could definitely dodge at least 70% of the monster's damage. This way, I wouldn't have to waste too many health potions.
The Thunderous One-horned Dragon's HP had been shaved by the Heaven-stealing Sword for almost two minutes. Unable to hold back its angry roar, the One-horned Dragon used the same trick again when I turned around. The Thunderous One-horned Dragon's horn glowed with electricity as it unleashed another Thunderous Strike!
Thud!
My war boots kicked up a cloud of sand as I abruptly changed direction and speed. A near-perfect zigzag cut across the One-horned Dragon's forehead, causing a huge MISS to appear. Just as the Thunderous Strike's channeling time was about to run out, I forcefully pulled away from the skill's lock and dodged the attack!
"Hahaha, the 0.15 second delay is amazing!"
I couldn't help but be overjoyed. I didn't think that I would actually be able to dodge a Thunderous Strike with my mechanical skills. Hehe, so it's actually possible. Tsk tsk, there are probably only a handful of people in the entire China server who can do this.
… …
Reality proved that the saying "when you're poor, you'll have to change, and you'll have to adapt" was the truth. A boss that you couldn't beat head-on could be slaughtered with just a little bit of brainpower.
In less than five minutes, the Thunderous One-horned Dragon's last bit of HP was gone. Its giant body collapsed to the ground with a howl of pain, kicking up a cloud of dust. At the same time, it dropped a shiny helmet that rolled to my feet. I picked it up and saw that it was a metal armor helmet — [Lightless Horned Helmet] (Dark Steel – grade) Defense: 278, Magic Resist: 185, Strength: + 40, Passive: Increases user's Attack by 2%. Level Requirement: 125...
Yep, it was a Dark Steel – grade item sold in the shops, but the level requirement was too high. At the current stage of the game, most high-level players were between Level 100 and 110, so no one could equip it.
I tossed the helmet into my bag and ignored it. I walked up to the monster's corpse and used the support skill, Hunt. It was a skill that could plunder corpses, but it was different from Death Plunder.
I dug for almost 30 seconds, and just when I was about to despair, I suddenly heard a ding — System Notice: Congratulations, you have hunted [Low-rank Dragon Meat] -117!
… …
Fuck, I was shocked. I dug up 117 portions of Dragon Meat in one go?
What kind of efficiency is this? My five minutes of grinding really weren't wasted!
By the time I was done, the Earth Dragon's corpse had turned into a beautiful skeleton. All of its meat had been dug out.
Next, Death Plunder!
Swhoosh!
Three scales appeared in my hand. They were high-rank armorsmithing materials that could be used to forge metal armor and shields. In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Mamate's armorsmithing skills were pretty reliable, and his level was pretty high. He should be able to forge metal armor. Forget it, I'll toss the One-horned Dragon's scales to Mamate when I get back. He should be able to forge dozens of powerful metal armor to raise the equipment standards of our high-level players.
I continued forward. About three minutes later, another giant dragon appeared in the fog of the wilderness. It was another Thunderous One-horned Dragon. Very good. Let's continue!
A single dragon could provide 100 + portions of Dragon Meat. This was absolutely unimaginable. It looked like mass-producing the Rank 10 Magic Consumable Dragon Meat Pot was no longer a dream!
While I was killing the Earth Dragons, I checked the guild chat. Xu Yang: "Hey, how are the magic knight mounts in the guild coming along?"
Gui Guzi: "It's hard. There are too few tameable monsters, and only rare monsters have a chance of being tamed. The success rate is less than 1%. I ran into a rare skeletal horse last night and tried to tame it 10 times in a row, but to no avail. In the end, the skeletal horse went berserk and leveled up, so I stabbed it to death …"
Xu Yang: "..."
Chaos Moon: "When will warriors be able to ride mounts?
I saw the guild leader riding a Snow Domain Windchaser yesterday. It was so beautiful. I'm so jealous … "
He Yi smiled. "Don't worry. Warriors can learn Tame after they reach Level 150 and complete their sixth class promotion. It'll give them a mount slot."
Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Er … I got my first mount this morning …"
Chaos Moon said excitedly, "What mount? Should I show you?"
Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "I'll share the screen with you then. Don't laugh …"
Chaos Moon: "Okay, okay. Whoever laughs is a puppy …"
The next moment, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun shared his in-game screen in the guild channel. When I clicked on the screen, I couldn't help but laugh. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was a man of steel and armor, but he was riding a big bald dog. The dog's tongue was hanging out of its mouth as it ran, and it looked like it was about to die. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun's legs were long, but the dog's legs were short. Since Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had already landed on the ground, he grabbed the dog's fur and galloped across the green field like he was flying.
"Wahahahaha …" Chaos Moon laughed without a care in the world. She was laughing so hard that she was probably crying.
Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun shouted angrily, "Fuck, I told you not to laugh!"
Pure Love: "Eighteen, where did you catch this dog?"
"It's a Bald Wolf, a wolf from the wilderness …" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun defended his beloved mount with a flushed face.
Chaos Moon nodded. "It's obviously a Chinese rural dog!"
Pure Love: "Brother Eighteen, I heard that you hooked up with High Fighting Spirits in the offline tournament of Who Will Rise?"
Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "..."
High Fighting Spirits: "..."
In the end, the two girls laughed arrogantly, and the men retreated in defeat.
… …
That being said, I also realized that even though the mount system was available now, there were still very few players who actually owned a mount. Now that I thought about it, He Yi's karma had skyrocketed when she obtained the Purple Gold Rank Snow Domain Windchaser during the battle of Skull Castle. It was a treasure that could only be found by chance!
According to the stats Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun shared with me, the Bald Wolf's stats weren't even 20% of the Snow Domain Windchaser's, which was a testament to how powerful a Purple Gold Rank mount was. Tsk tsk, this was a good sign. He Yi was now the strongest knight in the guild.
Hmm, I was just a low-level foot soldier. My priority right now was to hit Level 120 for my fifth class promotion and hit Level 150 for my sixth class promotion. That way, I would be able to get a pet slot as soon as possible. Otherwise, I would be at a disadvantage in the upcoming guild wars and Nation Wars without a mount. Also, I was a man. If I couldn't ride a horse and charge into battle, what was the point of playing a game?
… …
I grinded all the way until 6 pm. I missed my dinner appointment with Lin Yixin, so she went to eat by herself. I continued to kill the earth dragons and slowly pushed forward. As long as I found the magic scroll, I could go back and turn in the quest. After that, I could come back and grind dragon meat again. My days were filled with goals and pursuits!
I parted the fog and finally saw a group of carriages in the distance. They had found the item that Captain Budo and the others had lost!
(Introducing a new book by Shrimpy XL, "Devouring the Sky". It's so good! That bastard finally listened to me and started writing in the vernacular instead of writing in a scholarly manner. I highly recommend this book, and I'm trying to catch up with it …)