When I was about 50 meters away from the zombie corpse, I didn't continue to sneak forward. Instead, I picked up my wooden stick and charged towards it at an astonishing speed.

With my strengthened Druid body now, running is like the wind. The distance of 50 meters took only about four seconds from acceleration to arrival.

It has been proven that adding a certain amount of momentum in an attack may not significantly increase damage but can make it easier to achieve the maximum damage value of the weapon. My wooden stick's initial damage was 1-6, with a difference of six times between minimum and maximum.

Therefore, when I was still 50 meters away, I started sprinting for that one powerful blow. After several repeated experiments, I found this distance most suitable for me. During those four seconds while crossing over 50 meters, it gave me enough time to gather all my strength and reach maximum speed without wasting any energy before delivering that forceful strike.

"Smack!" The head of the zombie standing in front was hit hard by my baton; its violent impact combined with tremendous momentum caused it to fall on its back. With its slow movements after falling down like this, climbing back up would probably take quite some time.

Ha ha! It worked just as expected! Even though this hit did not deliver the maximum damage value of six points for my wooden stick's attack power enhancement yet managed to inflict at least four or five points!

Seeing that zombie fall down made me ignore it completely and instead focused on attacking another one while moving around strategically - dodging attacks while keeping myself positioned so that there is always a third zombie separating us - making sure that only one particular target remains within range for me to attack easily without being attacked back.

In no time under the "mighty" attack power of my whiteboard wooden stick another zombie fell down too! Taking advantage of this momentary gap, I took a quick glance at the zombie that was lying on the ground after being hit by my baton earlier. It had already climbed back up and regained one-third of its health.

Why did you have to get up again? Aren't you just asking me to finish you off first? Why bother?

I looked at this brainless zombie with an unimpressed look in my eyes, put down the third zombie, rushed forward and knocked it down again with a series of fierce blows. This time it didn't have any chance to stand back up.

Now only one last zombie remained - the one that had been menacingly facing me all along. I grinned at it, showing off my row of gleaming white teeth - I've disliked you for so long! Those hands covered in blood and flesh always trying to touch me... Let's see how I deal with you!

I turned around and started chopping away from head-to-toe then toe-to-head like mincing meat pie until there were more than ten hits before finally knocking it down completely.

Phew! Am I infected by Doug's butcher or something? How come I'm starting to act crazy too?

Ha ha! Never mind; no big deal. Nowadays, what we need is not kindness but ruthlessness. There is no such thing as "the most ruthless"; there is only "more ruthless." Ruthlessness is mainstream; ruthlessness is king...

Looking at that disgusting corpse of a zombie made me feel lazy about touching it now. Better wait for it to disappear before checking if there are any good items left behind since this 165% drop rate bonus sure sounds like a great reward.

I sat down on the grass and waited for the bodies to disappear while digesting my recent battle experience. I called it experience, but during the days that Laar trained me, most of my opponents were zombies, so I was very familiar with their methods. Even if I closed my eyes, I could estimate their attack frequency and angle. So there wasn't much experience to digest; I just wanted to develop a good habit.

In less than three minutes, those three disgusting bodies turned into particles and disappeared. I patted my butt and groped towards where the zombies disappeared.

The grass on the ground was only one foot high, so it should be easy to spot anything that exploded.

I looked around where the first zombie fell and saw a shiny metal block in orange color entering my sight.

Haha! A gold coin - this is the price of 20 bottles of beer! It's enough for a good meal at Dream Hotel. Of course, "enough" refers to me; if it were Doug who has a big appetite, he wouldn't be satisfied without three gold coins.

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I searched around where two other zombies fell but found nothing. Oh well... looks like 165% probability is still too low after all.

But when I opened up my attribute panel, I immediately smiled from ear-to-ear: one zombie gave ten experiences plus bonus protection from bugs amulet; these three zombies gave me a total of 120 experiences! Originally, I already had more than 300 experiences; adding this extra 120 means that one-tenth of level one is already within reach today! Haha! With motivation from leveling up quickly in mind, off we go!

Of course vigilance cannot be lost along the way because otherwise it would not be "off we go," but rather "we're about to lose our footing."

As expected though... even though there are many monsters out here in wasteland (not to mention the ones I dare not provoke), it's still difficult to find them. Even if I deliberately searched for them, on average, it would take half an hour or more before encountering a group of monsters. And that's assuming they're even around! As a result, until the whole sunset went down, my experience was only at level one with just over 1,500 points.

Looking at the gradually darkening sky, I suddenly realized that I don't have Amazonian night vision ability; better pitch tent quickly because things will get worse when it gets completely dark.

Following Akara's teachings, I found a low-lying area nearby and clumsily set up my tent. Fortunately Laar had taught me how to properly set up a tent; otherwise this would be much harder than expected.

By now the sky has completely darkened. Looking at my sturdy little tent standing upright in front of me made me nod in satisfaction - although not as good as Laar's workmanship but compared to Barbarian brothers' tents... mine is pretty decent!

The next step is setting traps since there isn't anyone else here to keep watch overnight. So traps are very necessary! Within ten meters from my tent, I placed some small traps: some make noise when monsters approach while others can trap their footsteps. Although crude and simple-looking these should suffice against those low-intelligence monsters out here in wasteland.

Next comes starting fire using dry wood that I picked up along the way and bought from Rogue Encampment - reserved supplies for rainy days called "Ryumoku" wood which supposedly burns well even during rainstorms and lasts five or six hours per stick! No wonder they're so expensive!

Finally, I can take a break. I'm sitting by the campfire and taking out a piece of dried meat. Hmm...why did I buy this kind of dry food? Did Doug infect me with his addiction to jerky?

Today, I killed more than ten groups of monsters, including some sunken magic camps without sunken magicians. In total, I looted 11 gold coins and a bottle of light red potion. Compared with my daily harvest when hunting with Ral and others, I know that this small amulet played a big role. Unfortunately, the protective charm that I made in the game was originally designed to increase the probability of obtaining magical equipment but had to be changed to increase critical hit rate after coming into this world in order to adapt to its rules. At first glance it seemed like an expansion but actually it was quite disadvantageous because now even the chance for equipment drops has become gold coins.

I took a sip of water and bit hard on the jerky. It's been about five hours since leaving West Gate City; according to Akara's method for identifying directions she taught me before leaving, I have been heading towards northwest direction because she told me there is an evil cave over there which is suitable for newbies' team training where we could get good rewards if we go as a group. However, before leaving she reminded me that deep inside that evil cave lies a powerful boss-level monster whose corpse will ignite upon death so remember to run away once you see it! That monster is at least level 10 or above and only teams can fight against it instead of individual players like elite monsters.

What does "boss-level monster" mean? Generally speaking, mutated species among monsters with special attributes are called elite-level monsters while those higher up are boss-level ones who usually have their own unique names such as Corpse Igniter mentioned earlier or Bixuboxu in the Frozen Plain and Blood Crow in the Burial Grounds. Beyond that, there are probably demon kings or even god-level monsters.

I do plan to go and vent my anger on that corpse. With the bug talisman, all I need to do is level up a few times and learn all the skills in the first stage. Then, I will have five crows, one vine, my own werewolf transformation, and elemental fire storms. In terms of attributes alone, an 8th-level crow has an attack power equivalent to that of a 8th-level job changer wielding a whiteboard weapon. Akara said we need at least three job changers above level 10 as a team to challenge it for complete victory. However, I don't mind sacrificing some crows to take it down myself with the help of powerful toxic attacks from vines and even more terrifying fire storms with an attack power of level 8.

I am fully capable of winning this battle with these skills alone. Even if I fail in the end, I can leave behind some crows as decoys while making my escape without worrying about safety issues. It can be said that once I possess these skills, my strength will increase by dozens of times or more.

Now coming out from West Gate, I have walked for almost ten kilometers according to Akara's given route instructions; so tomorrow should be able to find the entrance to Evil Cave.

The night on wasteland is very cold; looking up at the sky where hangs a strange red moon which looks particularly lonely at this moment - no matter how many stars surround it cannot dispel its loneliness because it is not stars but rather destined for endless emptiness and solitude just like me? As the only time traveler here in Dark Continent could I really become a star blending into this world?

It was getting late into night when cold wind blew harder; so shiveringly pulling up collar around neck then extinguishing campfire - just in case accidentally causing wildfire during such windy night would leave me nowhere to escape.

The night passed without any words. The next day, I got up early, packed my tent and traps, and continued on my journey.