Chapter 5
“Creak—!”
With a swift chop, she retrieved the luminous stone.
‘-5’
Another chop, extracting the luminous stone.
‘-5’
Chop again…
The space flickered between light and dark, accompanied by the pained cries of the bat struck head-on, and the rhythmic flapping of wings from the other bats flitting back and forth, creating a remarkably regular cadence.
After this flurry of actions, none of the bats managed to touch Ye Bai, yet they continuously suffered ‘-5’ damage from her strikes.
Aside from the somewhat annoying light effects, the rhythm that emerged was almost elegant.
If the bats had thoughts, they might be thinking:
—How dare you hit me/my brother? I’ll bite you to death!
—Ah! There’s light!
—How dare you hit me/my brother? I’ll bite you to death!
—Ah! There’s light!
It was amusing that level 20 bats could still be bullied like this; once they surpassed level 20, cave bats would transform into vampire bats, no longer prioritizing their fear of light, and their attacks would come with a life-stealing effect.
But for now, they remained simple monsters with slightly higher health and attack.
As the last bat fell, this battle of damage—akin to a scraping treatment… or rather, a ‘torment’—finally came to an end.
Next, of course, was the thrilling moment of collecting the spoils.
Defeating monsters above her level granted hidden drop rate bonuses. Ye Bai, having defeated monsters at level 20, could quadruple the drop rates of items that originally had a drop rate below 10%!
Obtained 【Shredded Meat】X4
Obtained 【Bat Wings】X3
Obtained 【Bat Fangs】X1
Obtained 【Unidentified Blueprint】X1
Upon seeing the last item, Ye Bai’s eyes lit up. The drop rate for blueprints was low, and practical blueprints were highly sought after by lord players. As a crafter, she didn’t need to identify it to know what this blueprint was.
There was only one type of blueprint that cave bats dropped, with a default drop rate of 1%: the 【Night Cloak Blueprint】!
Even with her current fourfold drop rate bonus, a 4% chance to obtain it would still be considered lucky.
The night cloak was a secondary product of the ‘Tailor Shop’ building, a special and rare type among secondary products. Once produced, it would sell well to both players and NPCs, and most importantly, the crafting materials weren’t particularly rare; the hardest to obtain was the bat wings she had just collected.
The drop rate for bat wings was 40%, and before Ye Bai faced the BOSS, she would encounter three more waves of cave bats, providing another round of materials—she was practically securing the economic foundation for her territory in advance.
The bat fangs were also valuable materials, usable at the ‘Blacksmith Shop’ to enhance weapons, granting them a ‘life-steal’ effect. The normal drop rate was only 5%, but with her level advantage, it increased to 20%, making it a worthwhile find.
As for the shredded meat, it was a common food item that dropped easily. In Ye Bai’s eyes, it was just a nuisance to carry around, something she would toss if her backpack got full.
Of course, aside from all the loot, Ye Bai also gained enough experience to level up to level 4.
Indeed, defeating monsters above her level was the ultimate romance for players!
Picking up a piece of luminous stone for light, Ye Bai continued deeper into the cave, eagerly anticipating the loot after defeating the BOSS…
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**Chapter 4**
“Ding, ding, ding…”
Ye Bai transformed into a miner, taking advantage of her weapon’s durability not being consumed, and relentlessly struck every piece of luminous stone ore she encountered.
After clearing another wave of ten bats, she continued mining until her stamina dropped to 49, at which point she finally stopped.
Once stamina fell below 50, the character would receive a ‘Fatigue’ debuff, reducing gathering and crafting efficiency and attack and defense by 20%. At that point, mining would no longer be worth it.
Ye Bai opened her backpack, revealing 45 luminous stone fragments inside.
Players start with a backpack that has 20 slots, and the weight limit only applies to weapons and materials. The carrying limit for weapons is 4 slots; carrying more than 2 slots affects player speed. Materials refer to heavy items like ores and wood, with a carrying limit of 5 slots; exceeding 3 slots also impacts speed, while other items do not affect carrying capacity.
Both luminous stones and luminous stone fragments count as materials, and exceeding the limit of one group will occupy additional slots.
Currently, Ye Bai was carrying 3 complete luminous stones, a group of 40 luminous stone fragments, and 5 remaining fragments, filling up three slots. She paused to combine all the fragments she could, as a complete luminous stone can stack up to 20. After combining, she ended up with 14 complete luminous stones and 1 luminous stone fragment. The quantity remained the same, but she freed up a precious slot.
In the early game, without the means to upgrade her backpack space, she had to pay attention to these details.
The cost was that Ye Bai’s stamina dropped to 38 points. If her stamina reached zero, the ‘Fatigue’ state would turn into ‘Exhaustion,’ causing her health to deplete continuously.
There are two conventional ways to restore stamina: eating food or resting in places like inns.
The shredded meat she obtained from killing bats counted as food; she currently had 10 pieces in her backpack. However, eating one raw piece restores 5 stamina but costs 10 health, meaning if she filled her stamina, her health would be empty.
Only cooked shredded meat could restore stamina without losing health, but there were no cooking conditions in the dungeon, which is why it felt like a waste of space in Ye Bai’s backpack.
Of course, Ye Bai also had an ‘unconventional’ method to restore stamina.
【Would you like to spend 100 experience points to level up?】
【Yes】
A flash of white light passed through her vision, and Ye Bai leveled up to 1, her stamina instantly restored from 38 back to 100.
She had been saving her experience points to avoid leveling up, not only to maintain her level advantage for increased drop rates but also for this free restoration effect.
After leveling up, Ye Bai’s health cap increased from 100 to 125, and all her base attributes rose by 1 point. Now, with her wooden sword, she could deal 10 points of damage, improving her efficiency against the bats ahead.
Continuing forward, Ye Bai cleared all the luminous stones and the remaining two waves of bats, finally reaching the deepest part of the cave.
Here, the terrain changed significantly; the stone walls were covered in a layer of green moss, and the dungeon BOSS awaited within.
As she prepared to face the BOSS, white light flickered around Ye Bai, signaling another level up.
She had enough experience to reach level 9, but she stopped at level 5.
【Gained 1 Talent Point】
At the same time, a talent tree page that she hadn’t seen before appeared in Ye Bai’s mind.
In the game “Wanjie,” players, as the protagonists of the era, are known as ‘Bloodline Awakeners.’ Besides learning skills from NPCs in this world, they also have a unique talent system.
In the lore, this represents the gradual awakening of their bloodline, a path toward divinity. Each path is different, allowing players to flexibly construct their combat styles. Many class transitions require activating certain talents.
Talent points are precious; aside from gaining one every 5 levels, they can only be obtained through successful class transitions or completing high-level quests.
At this moment, in Ye Bai’s talent tree, all other talents were hidden, with only the three basic talents at the bottom available for activation:
【Agility】, 【Craftsmanship】, 【Identification】
These basic talents are all practical abilities, and Ye Bai would need all three in the future. However, she decided to allocate her only talent point to 【Agility】.
The moment she activated the talent, Ye Bai truly felt a surge of bloodline power, as if various silhouettes of people were swirling in her mind, making her feel lighter.
What a spectacular effect!
Inwardly praising, Ye Bai glanced at the newly activated talent effect:
【Agility】
Passive Effect: Movement speed +5% in non-combat state.
Unique Active Skill (Roll): Perform a roll to evade up to 4 meters, cooldown of 5 seconds, no cost.
Rolling as an evasion skill is a lifesaver for newbies and a showcase for veterans; players familiar with action games know what it means.
After rolling around a couple of times to get the feel of it, Ye Bai stepped into the cave, and her surroundings opened up—
A spacious circular cavern, surrounded by spore plants, with luminous creatures fluttering slowly. In the center of the terrain, a beam of sunlight streamed down through a gap in the ceiling, illuminating a leafless white tree. At the top of its drooping branches hung a round fruit the size of an apple, sparkling like a diamond—clearly something valuable.
Beneath the tree lay a beast over seven meters long, resembling a lizard with a single horn on its head.
Without the 【Identification】 talent, Ye Bai could only see the beast’s red name, 【Angry Horn Beast】, while its long health bar displayed ‘?????’. However, she certainly knew that hidden number was 45,000.
With her shield in her left hand and her wooden sword in her right, Ye Bai cautiously approached the Angry Horn Beast.
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