While Snowdrift City was descending into chaos, Xiao Hua, situated in another city, was completely absorbed in monster hunting and leveling up.
In the blink of an eye, five days had passed since he issued the bounty. On the second day, after washing off 3 PK points and returning to the city to resupply, Xiao Hua checked with Bella to see if anyone had accepted the bounty. He found that the remaining bounty amount had already decreased by over a million gold coins, indicating that the killers in Blackmist City had begun their operations!
Seeing this, Xiao Hua felt relieved. There was nothing else to worry about. Until he washed off enough PK points to leave Blackmist City, any other ideas were futile.
Washing off PK points was indeed difficult. On the first day, while he was still getting familiar with the area, Xiao Hua held back and did not use illusions. However, after a day of grinding, he encountered no blacklisted players in the wild, so he considered using illusions to help grind monsters and speed up his leveling process. With the equipment he had, reaching level 40 a day earlier would bring numerous benefits!
However, the results were somewhat unexpected. Despite having illusions assist in killing monsters, he still only managed to wash off 3 PK points per day, and his leveling speed did not improve much. Xiao Hua knew the reason: illusions were not very useful against high-level monsters like the current goblins. The higher-level monsters had stronger attacks and faster attack frequencies. Without the stun effect of magic bombs, Xiao Hua could only control one illusion to dodge goblin attacks while giving simple attack and dodge commands to the other, which amounted to brute force tactics.
Another issue was that while the damage output was dominated by the main character, the goblins' hate mechanism was peculiar. If they missed a few attacks, they would switch targets to the illusion. Xiao Hua tried to get hit occasionally to maintain hate, but it didn't help much. Once the goblins locked onto a target, they would relentlessly pursue it, only switching if they couldn’t hit the target.
Xiao Hua attempted to switch focus to the illusion whenever the goblins changed targets, letting the main character auto-attack. This worked well as the goblins often switched back to the main character, but their HP was already depleted, allowing only one hit before they died.
However, Xiao Hua abandoned this method after half a day. He had to switch focus between the illusion and the main character several times per minute, leading to mental exhaustion after a few hours. The system warned him of excessive mental strain and advised rest.
Frequent switching consumed more mental energy than Xiao Hua expected, forcing him to give up. Continuing would have caused the game to forcibly log him out. Moreover, the physical energy drain was also significant. Even if he persisted, he would deplete his supply of stamina recovery food in half a day.
Without controlling the illusion, it would die within a minute, offering minimal help. Xiao Hua decided to let it live or die as it may, using it purely for skill practice.
During this period, Xiao Hua was frustrated with the voodoo skill, which had a mere 5% chance of turning a monster into a puppet, akin to a 0.5% chance. Throughout the day, he rarely saw a monster turn into a puppet after death. He wondered if there was a trick or if his usage method was incorrect.
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Otherwise, if the chance were higher, summoning a high-defense monster to protect the illusion would greatly improve his leveling efficiency.
Unfortunately, the low conversion rate discouraged him. Switching to another type of monster for leveling proved impractical, as only goblins were available nearby.
...
Today marked the fifth day since Xiao Hua issued the bounty. Under the scorching sun, Xiao Hua's heated dagger struck a goblin, bringing it down. A white light rose from him, signaling that he finally reached level 35!
"Finally leveled up!" Over the past few days, Xiao Hua had focused solely on reaching level 35, paying little attention to PK point reduction. Except for resupplying, he spent all his time slaughtering goblins. Now, he had achieved his goal.
Checking his backpack, he noticed his potions were nearly depleted. Adding all points to agility, he continued grinding to use up the remaining poison before riding a land bird back to Blackmist City.
Over the past few days, he hadn’t seen anyone in the wild, growing bolder and using the land bird freely outside the city.
At level 35, he could equip Adventurer Armor, increasing his physical defense by over 80 points and granting immunity to general magic, enhancing his survivability in Blackmist City. Additionally, he could learn the skills “Trap Mastery” and “Trap Craft.”
He had prepared these skill books before coming to Blackmist City. Visiting the warehouse NPC, he retrieved the items. The NPC charged one gold coin per use, unlike the greedy Liberator.
Equipping the fiery red Adventurer Armor and learning the skills, Xiao Hua then focused on the 50 Black Stone Coins in the warehouse. These coins had quantity limits, and he couldn't collect more unless he discarded or used the existing ones.
Reflecting on his recent focus on leveling, he decided to use the Black Stone Coins now. Given the system’s restrictions, these coins likely had significant uses.
Finding Hazar, whom he had met on his first day in Blackmist City, Xiao Hua handed over the Black Stone Coins. Hazar smiled warmly, "Oh, dear child, you’ve found Black Stone Coins! These rare items drop from troublesome monsters outside. If you collect some for me, I’ll reward you with a mysterious item!"
System Prompt: Accept the quest “Hazar’s Commission”?
**Hazar’s Commission:** Hazar is interested in Black Stone Coins. Collect 1000 Black Stone Coins for Hazar and receive a mysterious item as a reward. Difficulty: B-Level.
"Actually a quest?" Xiao Hua regretted not checking sooner. Limited to collecting 50 coins daily, it would take at least 20 days to complete the quest. He had wasted several days.
Without hesitation, he accepted the quest. Mystery items were irresistible to gamers, though Xiao Hua didn’t expect anything extraordinary, given the quest's availability. He was simply curious about the item.
Accepting the quest, his Black Stone Coins vanished, marking the collection progress at 50/1000.
With a plan in place, Xiao Hua headed back to grind goblins. Over the past few days, he had focused on leveling and practicing skills. His beginner-level skills—Poison, Injure, and Shadow Strike—all reached intermediate levels, improving his overall damage output.
Walking along the streets towards Blackmist City's outskirts, he did not use stealth, a habit formed due to the city's no-PK rule. He usually entered stealth outside the city to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
Observing the occasional glances from seated blacklisted players, Xiao Hua wasn't overly concerned. Most were PK enthusiasts, eager to loot gear, especially from newcomers. His only defense was avoiding being tracked outside the city. Remaining invisible was impossible, and maintaining stealth in the city was pointless, as anyone could find you at the supply NPCs.
This urgency to reach level 35 and equip Adventurer Armor stemmed from the desire to survive potential assassin ambushes, thanks to the armor's high defense.