Lu You's main character, a level 355 Hunter, followed the traditional
True, mages and rogues are squishier, but do you think a mage's Blink, Frost Armor, or Fire Shield are for show? Or a rogue's Lightning Strike, Shadow Attack, and Moon Step are just for decoration? In a head-to-head fight, it's anyone's guess who would come out on top.
Thus, Hunters, who traditionally accumulated honors through kills to exchange for equipment, gradually disappeared from the battlefield. Just when everyone thought Hunters would be forever abandoned by the battlefield, a Hunter named "God of the Hunt" emerged, dominating the battlefield with unimaginable speed and becoming an unsurpassable legend. His dueling record was the most terrifying – 117098 wins, 102 draws, and only 3 losses!
Later, representing the Chinese team in the Sanctuary World Cup, "God of the Hunt" led the team to victory. Under players' requests, he revealed his attribute distribution, leaving everyone dumbfounded – he had been adding all 5 points into Magic! Lu You remembered spitting out his tea in shock upon seeing "God of the Hunt"'s character panel and skill tree. It was unimaginable that a Hunter with a full Magic build could be so powerful in duels, leveling, and group fights. Subsequently, all Hunters eagerly switched to a full Magic build, but sadly, none could reach the heights of "God of the Hunt."
Later on, to satisfy the players' desire to redistribute points, the game company switched from a monthly subscription to a free-to-play model with a cash shop. Gradually, Lu You drifted away from Sanctuary, which had become a world dominated by the wealthy. Players who pumped tens or hundreds of thousands into the game taught others a lesson in power.
In a world where owning a house seemed like an unattainable dream, living under such pressure was enough for Lu You. He had no interest in being a sparring partner for the rich in the game as well.
After leveling up to 8 in the Goblin Forest, Lu You returned to the city with five pieces of basic (white) gear and one piece of uncommon (green) gear. He equipped what he could and sold the rest to the shop. As for the green uncommon staff, he traded it with a mage player for a book called "Swamp Trap."
Skill Name: Swamp Trap lv1
Skill Introduction: A Hunter-exclusive skill that consumes 40 mana points, slowing the enemy by 40% for 5 seconds. It has a cooldown of 10 seconds and lasts for 1 minute on the ground. At the current level, a maximum of 0/2 can be placed. It automatically disappears when changing maps or upon player death. This typical crowd control trap is a must-max skill for magic-focused Hunters. Despite the Swamp Trap having no damage, at full level, its 140% slowing effect is enough to make anyone who carelessly steps on it extremely frustrated.
"Walking by? Don't miss out! The Hunter skill book 'Flame Arrow' on sale cheap! Any takers, hurry up and grab it, exchange for money to level up!" Passing by the weapon shop, a shout caught Lu You's attention. He looked towards the source. 'Flame Arrow' and 'Frost Arrow' are essential skills for magic Hunters. If he could learn them, he might even solo the level 5 difficulty dungeon 'Dark Valley' right away. Anyway, he had to get 'Flame Arrow'!
"How much?" Lu You approached the seller, a male warrior named 'Courting Death Stylishly.' The character was adjusted to be quite burly, but unfortunately, his equipment was pitiful, looking like a muscular beggar.
"One silver coin," said Courting Death Stylishly, glancing at Lu You.
"That's too expensive," Lu You shook his head immediately. A primary skill book for one silver coin? How could a player from level 1 to 5 save up even a few copper coins without eating or drinking? Even exploiting a leveling bug without any potion expenses, he only had about 500 copper coins!
Sanctuary's currency system: 1000 copper = 1 silver, 1000 silver = 1 gold, 1000 gold = 1 gold bar, 1000 gold bars = 1 diamond.
"So, how much will you pay?" asked Courting Death Stylishly.
"500 copper, that's all I have."
"Hey, that's too little. That's only enough for 10 potions. Brother, can you add a bit more?" Courting Death Stylishly didn't seem like a simple swindler; he genuinely appeared to be too poor to buy potions for leveling.
"If I had more, I wouldn't mind giving you a few hundred coppers, but I really don't. How about this? You give me this skill book, and I'll take you leveling for an hour. You're level 6 now, I guarantee you'll reach level 7 in one hour. How about it?"
"Take me leveling? Are you...?" Courting Death Stylishly was quite wary.
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"I'm not so low as to ruin my reputation over a skill book. If you don't believe me, I can first take you to a leveling spot to kill a few monsters and see if it's efficient." Lu You really wanted 'Flame Arrow'; otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered with this warrior for so long.
After thinking it over, Courting Death Stylishly figured sitting around was wasting time anyway. It wouldn't hurt to check it out with this Hunter. If it was slow, he could just leave. He got up and said, "Okay, let's go have a look. If you're not lying, the skill book is yours."
"Let's go." Lu You added Courting Death Stylishly to his party and bought 10 mana potions before heading straight out of the newbie village.
Soon, Lu You arrived deep in the forest and saw several level 10 leopards and black bears patrolling from afar, with only a handful of players nearby.
Leopard: Level 10, Health 150/150. Black Bear: Level 10, Health 400/400.
"You're not thinking of killing these level 10 creatures, are you?" Huayang Zuo Si widened his eyes in disbelief. He had been here before and was killed by the black bears in just a couple of hits.
"Just sit here and watch," Lu You said, without wasting words. He ran forward, and when he was about 20 meters away from the leopard, he flung an arrow with a swift motion. -14!
The red numbers floated above the leopard's head.
Lu You nodded in satisfaction with the damage he dealt. After all, he was a level 8 character, and even if he had allocated his points purely to magic, his automatically increasing strength was quite significant.
The leopard, enraged, leaped towards Lu You with astonishing speed.
The main reason people avoided leveling up here was the leopard's speed. The 20-meter distance could be covered in just a few leaps, and once a leopard got close, a mage with their fragile physique wouldn’t last more than a few hits.
As for the other creature in this area, the black bear, while slower, posed a challenge with its level 10 and 400 health points. If you didn't get copper coins from them, it was likely a loss, and you couldn't kill many before going bankrupt.
Lu You calmly leapt backward, maintaining the distance. As the leopard landed, its name was suddenly covered in gray, and a muddy trap appeared beneath it, drastically slowing its movement!
Huayang Zuo Si's eyes lit up: "A trap!"
Lu You easily killed the leopard and smiled at Huayang Zuo Si: "How about that? Good experience, right?"
Huayang Zuo Si, always straightforward, immediately traded the 'Flame Arrow' skill to Lu You without any fuss.
Skill Name: Flame Arrow lv1 Skill Description: Hunter-exclusive skill, consumes 10 mana points, inflicts 25 (0.5 Magic Power) damage, 25% chance to burn the enemy for 3 seconds, reducing their maximum health by 2% to 10% every second. Cooldown time: 5 seconds.
With the Flame Arrow learned, Lu You felt a significant boost in his combat abilities. He shot an arrow at a black bear, dealing damage that almost made Huayang Zuo Si's eyes pop out! -51! -14! -9! -11!
The Flame Arrow, along with the burning damage, reduced the black bear's health by over 80 points! This power was almost on par with a mage's Thunderbolt!
"How is your damage so high?" Huayang Zuo Si couldn't understand. He had teamed up with another hunter before, who had also learned the Flame Arrow, but the damage was very low, barely higher than a regular attack. In fact, if that hunter hadn't kept complaining about how Flame Arrow was a useless skill, Huayang Zuo Si wouldn't have given it to Lu You.
Lu You just smiled and didn't say anything.
Indeed, the damage of Flame Arrow wasn't high, with only 25 points at level 1, but don't forget the special attribute of (0.5 Magic Power)!
The so-called 25 (0.5 Magic Power) means it deals 25 points of damage plus 0.5 of the character's Magic Power!
Flame Arrow is a skill entirely geared towards magic use. For hunters who focus solely on strength, it feels useless. But in the hands of a hunter who focuses on magic, it becomes an unparalleled skill!
With the incredible Flame Arrow, Lu You greatly increased his monster killing speed. In less than 40 minutes, his experience bar increased by 20%, and Huayang Zuo Si smoothly leveled up to 7, much faster than when he teamed up with others.
"Ah, brother, I've reached level 7, time to go! Heh, let's add each other as friends, to help each other out in the future." Huayang Zuo Si, who naturally disliked taking advantage of others, immediately suggested leaving the team upon leveling up.
"Okay," Lu You responded, a bit surprised, and nodded. With Lu You's temperament, he didn't mind helping a bit longer, even to level 8, but since Huayang Zuo Si had spoken, he didn't insist on continuing. Despite this, Lu You felt a growing fondness for Huayang Zuo Si.
These days, there are many who try to take advantage of others, hence the existence of professions like 'scammers'. People like Huayang Zuo Si, who are straightforward and honest, are rare.
"Here, these two warrior white gear items are for you. You should be able to sell them for enough money to buy potions," Lu You said, adding Huayang Zuo Si as a friend and handing over two pieces of warrior white gear.
"Ah, thanks a lot, brother!"
"Don't mention it, we're friends now," Lu You said, waving his hand.
Return to town!
After selling the equipment dropped by the leopards and black bears, Lu You now had three silver coins. He strolled through the market with his newfound wealth.
Having learned 'Swamp Trap' and 'Flame Arrow', and nearly reaching level 9, it was time to consider running the 'Dark Valley' dungeon.
Sanctuary dungeons are divided into Normal, Hard, Nightmare, Hell, Expert, Legendary, and Epic seven levels of difficulty. As the difficulty of the dungeon increases, so do the experience points and the quality of the loot, corresponding to Normal, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic. (Set items can drop at any difficulty, with higher chances at higher difficulties.)
"With my current gear, I can easily solo the Hard difficulty with my eyes closed, but the Boss at Hard difficulty isn't very rewarding, and the best loot from the final draw is just blue gear..." Lu You didn't want to waste a dungeon entry ticket on Hard difficulty.
Dungeon Entry Ticket: Every Sunday at midnight, the system gifts players seven dungeon entry tickets. Without a ticket, players cannot enter a dungeon. Tickets can be accumulated, exchanged, but not traded.