The power of the crowd is indeed formidable. Although prairie wolves prefer to live in packs and have decent speed and attack power, under the encirclement of numerous players, each spawn point has been divided into small sections. After wandering around with Lightning Axe for a while, we finally found a small area where five prairie wolves spawned at a time. Considering our team's combat power, five wolves were just enough to keep us busy.
Obviously, Lightning Axe had great leadership talent. Under his command, the coordination between different professions was nearly perfect. Meanwhile, Salted Egg and I obediently stayed in a spot where no monsters spawned, chatting and watching Salted Egg skin the wolves.
"Damn, it's really boring!" Salted Egg Superhero skillfully tossed a piece of prairie wolf belly fur into his backpack and complained to me with a sour face. He had no idea that I was even more bored doing nothing.
"Shut up! You're bored? Look at Old Record over there. He's practically bored to tears," said the mage Wandering Cloud, skillfully using the beginner skill Vampire's Kiss to mercilessly drain the prairie wolves' life force, then converting it to mana with Dark Power. In Destiny, there are no mana replenishing potions, so mages constantly use Dark Power to convert life into mana, which is one of the unique features of Destiny compared to other games.
Hearing Wandering Cloud's words, I smiled wryly. "Wandering Cloud, aren't you just indirectly calling me a freeloader?"
"Whatever, don't listen to him. Right now, our team is just right. Once we reach level 20 and advance to intermediate skills, we'll find another spot. Though wolves give good experience, there are too many people. There aren't enough monsters to go around," said Lightning Axe, whose beginner axe skills were already quite proficient. He had already met the requirements for advancement, just waiting to reach level 20 to buy an advanced axe skill book from the NPC.
In Destiny, professions and skills differ from typical online games. At level 10, a character chooses a primary profession and learns its basic skills. Until level 50, when they can specialize in an advanced profession (details in profession settings), they can only learn basic skills. Skill books for levels before 50 can drop from monsters or be purchased from job change NPCs, while skill books for level 50 and above can only be obtained from monster drops.
Just as I was thinking about skill books, the thief Water Orchid looted a Vampire's Kiss book.
Water Orchid stopped, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and smiled at me. "Record, you're almost level 10, right? This book is just right for you. Save some money."
A lifesaver! I quickly stood up and smiled. "Yes, I'm almost level 10. I don't have money for books after the job change."
Taking the skill book and putting it in my backpack, I calculated that I had enough skill books for the job change. Although Lightning Axe initially said I didn't need to pick up items, after spending some time together, he saw I was honest and poor, so he followed the team's rules and saved items suitable for me. Wandering Cloud also promised to give me his level 10 gear after my job change. Who says friendships in games aren't genuine? Especially for me, after wandering in that dark space for who knows how long, seeing these people, even in a game, felt incredibly heartwarming. So, we all got along very well.
With a "ding," I reached level 10.
"Comrades... I'm off to change jobs. Anyone want to go back with me?" I couldn't hide my excitement about the upcoming job change.
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"I'll go. I'm level 20, and it's almost forced logout time anyway. Plus, I need to give you something," said Wandering Cloud, quickly picking up the dropped coins and running to me. "Got a return scroll? If not, I'll give you one."
"Brother, I only have 3 copper coins..." I said, showing my only coins with a bitter smile.
"Hahaha," everyone laughed together, surprised at my poverty. After laughing, Water Orchid walked over, opened a trade window, and entered 10 gold coins. "Here, buy a return scroll and some potions. Mages need a lot of money."
What a good person! Money isn't easy to earn in the game... Of course, from their conversations, I knew that after the open beta, the game company would allow real currency exchanges, basically 1 gold coin for 1 RMB, adjusted based on specific situations. Though it doesn't seem like much, for a newbie like me, it was a considerable fortune.
"Kid, you're richer than me now. Water Sis, how about some support for me too?" Wandering Cloud said, drooling like a pervert.
"Get lost! You're just lazy, always selling your gear to the shop..." Water Orchid ignored Wandering Cloud and shot a dark arrow at a wandering prairie wolf.
"Stingy!" Wandering Cloud muttered, trading a return scroll and a recently replaced mage robe to me.
Following Wandering Cloud through the crowd, we found the job change NPC. Under the old man's slightly curious gaze, I completed my transformation from a novice to a mage.
I learned all the mage skills in one go: Vampire's Kiss, Magic Shield, Pause, and Dark Power. These four skills would stay with me until level 50, until I advanced to either a warlock or an illusionist.
During this time, I also equipped Wandering Cloud's second-hand gear. His shoes were surprisingly a small blue rare item. No wonder he felt the pain when giving them to me, complaining that I should at least show some gratitude. Of course, I refused his unreasonable request.
Seeing myself in mage robes, a pointed hat, holding a Trae staff, Wandering Cloud teased, "Kid, how do I look in my gear?"
I rolled my eyes at him and opened my status, suddenly noticing the weapon slot showing "No Effect."
"No effect? Why does the staff show no effect?"
"Maybe you don't meet the requirements?" Wandering Cloud was surprised. "Usually, the gear here can be equipped, but if conditions aren't met, it shows no effect."
"Let me check." I opened the attribute menu and weapon details. There was a problem. "Trae Staff, Requirement: Profession: Mage, Agility: 5, Spirit: 15; Attributes: Damage: 16-20, Increases magic damage: 10%, MP recovery: 2/sec,"
"Damn! Mages need agility?" I was shocked by the staff's attributes.
Wandering Cloud looked at me like an idiot. "Of course! In Destiny, mages need agility and some constitution. Otherwise, with high-level Dark Power, one conversion will deplete your HP. How would you play then?"
Damn! Who knew this? Luckily, I still had 10 unallocated level-up points, or the staff would have been useless.
Quickly adding three points to agility, the annoying "no effect" status disappeared immediately.
"Did adding points make it usable?" Wandering Cloud asked.
"Yes, damn weird." I was a bit frustrated.
"Hehe, that's how this game is. It's good there aren't overly extreme settings. We mages can even use daggers. In mage vs. mage PK, you need to switch weapons constantly, use a dagger to quickly break the opponent's shield, then switch back to the staff to cast spells." Wandering Cloud gave me another lesson.
"Alright, my logout time is almost up. Go find them. Be careful not to die; losing a level and max attribute points isn't worth it." Wandering Cloud checked the system time and said his final goodbye.
"Okay, I'll explore on my own." Since he had to log out, I started moving outside, planning to buy some potions and try my new skills.
"Hey, wait!" Wandering Cloud, about to log out, suddenly called out.
I turned around, puzzled. Was he going to give me something good?
"Don't flirt with Water Orchid! I have my eyes on her," said the gradually fading Wandering Cloud with a fierce tone.
Damn! No wonder he was so nice, trying to bribe me to eliminate a potential rival.
But flirting with a girl? Water Orchid's face flashed before my eyes. Shaking my head, I had no such plans!
After buying some potions, I also took up a gathering life skill—just in case I couldn't handle the wolves, I could help Salted Egg with the tasks.
Stepping out of Newbie Village, I used Vampire's Kiss on a Slime, instantly killing it! Truly powerful!