"Leave it to me," I said.
As soon as Doug, who had a tendency towards war mania, heard my words, he immediately waved his whiteboard double-bladed axe and excitedly exclaimed like a butcher. It gave me chills. Did I accidentally unleash the demon buried deep inside him?
The three of us slowly crouched and sneaked towards the Fallen Demon Camp while I acted as both strategist and drummer behind them to plan and encourage them. In fact, I was not as relaxed as I appeared on the surface. I still had some concerns about this upcoming battle.
This elite Fallen Mage in front of us would be equivalent to an ordinary monster around level 10 if we compared levels. Together with a group of level 2 Fallen Demons, they seemed easy to deal with.
However, based on years of experience playing Diablo games, that dark red-skinned mage indicated that its special ability was fire enhancement if my guess was correct. The mage's spells were mainly fireballs and resurrection magic which would become more powerful due to fire enhancement. Moreover, there was also a chance for explosion upon death for monsters with fire enhancement abilities. If Lal and his team were not careful enough during the fight, they might end up falling victim to such explosions.
But it turned out that I worried too much because even someone like me who only had half-baked knowledge about Diablo could tell how experienced Lal's team was in battles when they started fighting back against their enemies. Lal made the first move by quickly bypassing the Fallen Demon Mage before sacrificing himself by attacking it with his sword skillfully followed by stunning it using his left-hand shield strike technique while Barbarian brothers attacked fiercely using their axes from behind.
The tactic may have been simple but it proved highly effective.
This elite-level mage deserved its title given its high defense rating plus eight times higher health than normal monsters at similar levels which allowed it to withstand even the attacks of an 11th level Barbarian and a 12th level Lal. However, Lal's shield strike skill was not high enough while the mage's sturdy body made its stun time shorter than one second. The Fallen Demon Mage had already regained consciousness before Barbarian brothers could inflict four wounds on it.
Fortunately, another Fallen Demon Mage arrived just in time and immediately stepped back while chanting a spell. A bright red fireball with thick flames hit Doug but he had activated his fire resistance ability earlier which allowed him to only lose about one-fifth of his health from that powerful enhanced fireball.
With Lal's fire resistance defense and Barbarian brothers' crazy axe attacks, this elite-level Fallen Demon Mage was no match for them at all. Although I had watched their cooperation several times over these past few days, the battle ended much faster than I expected. The elite-level mage let out a final scream without even triggering an explosion before dying miserably while the remaining nine Fallen Demons were easily dealt with by Lal who cleaned up the battlefield afterwards.
Geff and Doug took turns using search potions trying to get some small healing potions from fallen enemies to replenish their consumption since Barbarians did not have any particularly useful attack skills during early stages so they barely used any mana power throughout this fight which was enough to support four rounds of searching potion usage. In the end, they found only one slightly blue-colored bottle from the corpse of that first mage which seemed like a meager reward considering how exhausted both brothers looked after using up all their mana power."
"Big Brother Doug, what level is your proficiency in the battle axe?" I asked Doug who was resting next to me and regaining his mana.
"Oh, only level 3," Doug told me without any guard.
"You should have learned how to shout by now. Doesn't it increase defense? Why don't you use it?" I curiously asked.
"Don't you learn how to shout at level 12?" Doug looked at me with a more curious look than mine.
"Oh, haha, I forgot. Someone said that level 12 is a skill hurdle. Look at my memory."
I suddenly realized and patted my head as if nothing had happened. Then I continued to probe with some unfounded words so that even if I said something wrong, they wouldn't suspect anything.
"Well, yes, that's right. You need to be level 60 to learn all the skills."
Doug nodded: "Whirlwind, Berserker Rage, Command Expertise and Natural Resistance are all top-level skills that can only be learned when you reach level 60. That's when you can truly call yourself a barbarian warrior."
Doug's eyes were full of stars as he probably imagined himself being a berserker one moment and a whirlwind the next. The scenes of wind-fire-thunder-poison hitting him seemed like drops in the ocean without any effect on him - just like walking through an army of enemies unscathed with not even a scratch on his body."
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No wonder Laar didn't choose a fast and sudden attack during his first assault, but instead used self-sacrifice. According to this calculation, the charge should only be learned at level 24.
I firmly kept this key point in mind. I don't know if I can go back in the future or if I have to live here for the rest of my life, but these important pieces of information cannot be missed.
"Everyone, come over quickly..."
Laar suddenly waved his hands while cleaning up the battlefield from afar and shouted excitedly towards us.
"It must be something good."
Doug's eyes lit up and he trembled as he spoke. Years of tacit understanding allowed him to guess Laar's excitement at a glance. He couldn't contain his excitement and rushed over.
I quickly expressed my gratitude towards my master, saying that his teachings were as solid as a mountain and his kindness was like the vast sea. Even if he made mistakes, I could not blame him. Upon hearing this, Larr praised me for being loyal to my master. Doug and Geoff had already started treating me like their own brother, and our relationship had even reached the point where we would make plans to eat, drink and gamble together.
"Ahem... let's get back on topic. For now, I'll help you out with your irresponsible master," said Larr eagerly. He didn't want me to be influenced by those two barbaric brothers.
As we blushed while discussing which brothel had the most seductive women, Larr suddenly coughed violently like a consumptive patient. This interrupted our excitement but he still managed to express his resentment towards my fabricated master.
"Firstly, close your eyes and silently recite your attribute status," instructed Larr.
I followed his words by closing my eyes and thinking about it in silence while listening to his guidance.
"Don't worry; it's always difficult at first but once you get used to it..."
In fact, I had been skeptical of their claims about me being a Druid since arriving in this world through time travel. Would this fact set me apart from others? What if they found out and used me as a guinea pig? This question haunted me like a nightmare.
The answer whether or not I was truly a transfer student would soon become clear.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes abruptly - success or failure hinged on this moment.
Only to see Laar standing on top of the body of a sunken mage with a ring in his hand that was obviously looted from him. Indeed, elites are different; their actions are extraordinary.
"We hit it big today! Sunken Mage not only dropped two bottles of micro reds and one bottle of micro blues but also this ring!"
From Laar's excited expression, you could tell how important this ring was. Amongst them three people - Laar had already changed jobs for three years while Doug and Guff had more than two years - only Laar had a +1 strength ring on him. Even so, it made Barbarian Brothers envious for quite some time; now that they finally got their hands on such an invaluable item like this ring!
"And look at it! It is even an anti-fire attribute ring! Oh my god...the gods must have heard our prayers." Laal prayed piously with joy written all over his face as someone who has been severely brainwashed by Holy See since childhood.
Doug and I immediately looked at the ring in Lal's hand: The bronze orange-red ring: +11 accuracy, +8% fire resistance.
This is a trash ring that I wouldn't even bother to pick up when playing Diablo. However, at this moment, it was held in Laar's palm as if it were a rare treasure - not just any ordinary ring but his own son.
"Great! This is great!" Doug was so excited he didn't know what to do and rubbed his hands together vigorously.
After a brief discussion, the ownership of the ring fell into Doug's hands. Since Laal already had one ring on him, he naturally couldn't ask for another one. Moreover, +11 accuracy was also suitable for Barbarians; after all, powerful attack power and high hit rate have always been unique features of Barbarians.
So the distribution rights naturally fell on the Barbarian Brothers' shoulders. Guff showed respect for elders and love for younger ones by giving this precious item to Doug without hesitation. It seems like there will be an opportunity in the future to introduce these two people to my world through time travel - Guff has qualified as my little brother while Doug can sell meat!
"Laar...I also want to learn some combat skills." That night when everyone rested around the campfire, I begged Laar earnestly.
"Hmm? Didn't your teacher teach you?" Laal looked puzzled.
"Uh...my teacher disappeared after I changed jobs."
After days of learning about this world, I already had some understanding of it. When lying comes out smoothly with ease and confidence even Lal believed me wholeheartedly!
"What an irresponsible teacher! No wonder you ran recklessly into the wilderness alone." Lal said indignantly as if he himself had been abandoned instead of me.
Every job changer is a treasure trove on this continent because only they prevent Hell from swallowing up everything here completely. Especially those who change jobs at such young ages like myself are considered rare talents since on average, only one in ten thousand people can change jobs. The average age of job changers is over 30 years old; anyone who changes jobs before the age of 30 can be called a genius. Therefore, Laar's anger was not without reason.
Just saying, the average lifespan of civilians in the Dark Continent is around 150 years old, while job changers can reach at least 200 years old. It's said that the legendary mage Tower Lasha has even lived for thousands of years.
"Um...yeah..." I quickly agreed with Ral and sincerely apologized to this mysterious teacher in my heart. Of course, if this teacher really exists and is the culprit who brought me into this world, I might have to sincerely curse his entire family for generations to come.
"First of all, every job changer has their own interface. You should know that," Ral said as a matter-of-fact.
"I don't know..." I shook my head like an obedient child. Ral's face immediately turned colorful as if he had been paralyzed by ice and fire.
"That damn guy Wu! What's your teacher's name? Next time I see him, I'll definitely give him a good greeting on behalf of God." Ral almost gritted his teeth when he spoke those last few words - more than he would towards someone who killed his father or enemy.