Chapter 14 - 11 Sunken Ship, Brother is Back
Da Fei rented a spot in a small marketplace on the outskirts of the city, with a street full of eateries, restaurants, general stores, and barbershops downstairs. It was a real mixed bag of everything. Even so, the rent here wasn't much cheaper. It's tough living in a big city these days. But things would be different soon. I was going to make it big!
In a great mood, Da Fei ordered a plate of stir-fried pork at the restaurant downstairs. Normally, he would have a little drink, but he might be up all night tonight, so he decided against it.
At this time, Little Li should be in self-study, right? Although it was a holiday, Little Li was a hardworking student, a seat-hog in the study room, far better than I was as the king of the internet café back in the day. Plus, Little Li had a great habit of never turning on her phone while studying. This was why Da Fei had the chance to openly flirt with her roommates!
Da Fei dialed Little Li's dorm number. After a good while, just as Da Fei thought no one was there, the phone connected.
"Hello! Who are you looking for?"
Da Fei's heart skipped a beat; it was Little Fang! She was the number one homebody in Little Li's dorm! When I dropped something off for Little Li at the start of the semester, I saw her! A beauty in glasses! I heard she basically stayed holed up in the dorm, skipping classes to surf the net and play games, never going out! Even so, her credits hadn't slipped at all, a genius among geniuses! But being a homebody for so long, she answered the phone after going to the bathroom?
Da Fei grinned as he laughed, "Little Fang, it's your brother!" Hmph, being a brother to one meant being a brother to her classmate too!
Little Fang laughed heartily, "Oh, it's big brother! What's up?"
Oh, wow! That voice was so seductive! But calling me 'big brother' wasn't intimate enough, call me 'brother'!
Da Fei chuckled, "So, you're not going home during the holiday?"
Little Fang laughed, "It's actually not as comfortable at home. Little Li's gone to study. Do you have a message for her?"
Uh, let's chat a bit more, why get to the point so quickly?
Feeling a bit disappointed, Da Fei said, "Um, what day is Little Li's train ticket? I want to send something home with her."
Little Fang replied, "Maybe the day after tomorrow around noon. Check the specific train. Anything else, big brother? If not, I'm hanging up."
Uh, Little Fang seemed busy today? Da Fei chuckled, "Thanks, I'm good!"
"Okay, bye, big brother!" Splat! The call hung up immediately.
Da Fei shook his head with a bitter smile. These female students were sharp these days; they could see right through my attempts at chatting them up. None of them missed the chance to make fun of me, Little Li included. But I couldn't help it; I was lonely! When I struck it rich, I'd buy a seaside villa, then marry a pretty underclassman! Little Fang wasn't a bad choice! Hehe, hehe...
Visit fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm for the best novel reading experi𝒆nce.
...
After dinner, Da Fei went home and logged in.
It was getting late, with the waves still crashing. Da Fei habitually pulled out his binoculars to see Blood Sea Wave resting on the island, recovering health instead of battling. Makes sense, his stamina couldn't last forever.
Night fell, waves receding. Da Fei finally stood up after waiting so long. Time for a comeback with the Shipwreck Dominator! Hmph!
Feeling quite reminiscent, Da Fei turned around to that pile of bones with a chuckle before setting off, "Thanks, Uncle Juan!"
Da Fei's damage was now 4-6, making it much easier against the 0 defense, 11 health Anemone. It took two, maybe three shots at most to take one down, unlike before when unlucky strikes forced five or six shots to kill one. Efficiency improved more than double. However, it seemed Enchanting Poison's effect didn't work on Anemone?
No matter, level six, here I come! Wahahaha!
...
Shipwreck.
To Blood Sea Wave, this two-hour plus of various curses felt like a day in real life, endlessly long and torturous. Other curses were bearable, but that Delay Magic lowering attack speed was intolerable, getting hit right away in fights and needing two to three strikes for a skeleton, even though each skeleton only took 1 point of his 30 Life Value. After killing 8 or 9 skeletons, he needed to go ashore to rest and recover health. Nearly a third of the time was wasted on recovery! Leveling efficiency was so low Blood Sea Wave could throw the game away out of frustration.
The sky darkened, finally waiting out the day-long crippling curse. More skeletons appeared on the deck, and he could chop one down without taking damage again. With a burst of pent-up anger from a whole day, Blood Sea Wave unleashed! 50 kills! 100 kills! 200 kills!
Finally, a flash of golden light, level six!
Blood Sea Wave upgraded to Master-level Attack Skill, boosting melee damage by 50%. Free attribute points went all to attack; defeating that BOSS was now guaranteed!
Blood Sea Wave laughed loudly, "Magic Book, here I come!"
Only by personally experiencing the pain of Black Magic could he truly enjoy the thrill of making others suffer later!
Blood Sea Wave hacked his way into the cabin and was suddenly alarmed when skeletons stopped appearing. Huh? No more summons? As he pondered, heavy footsteps echoed from the front corridor. These were no jingly skeleton frames!
Blood Sea Wave's brows furrowed, fully alert! Here it came, a zombie!
Blood Sea Wave cursed in shock, "Goddammit, why is it a zombie!"
—Zombie: Attack 1, Defense 2, Damage 1-2, Life 17, Attack Speed: Very Slow 6, Move Speed: 4, Experience 10, Command Value 1, Special Skill: Intermediate Defense Skill.
Zombies, famous second-level soldiers of the Undead Race, famous protagonists in Doomsday themes! In this game, a zombie's attack, defense, damage, attack speed, move speed, all rank as top trash among second-level soldiers, even worse than first-level soldiers. But with 17 Life Value and a built-in 20% Melee Damage Reduction from the Intermediate Defense Skill, their high production and low cost made them leap to the strongest cannon fodder in low-level soldiers! Of course, it was also the most popular monster for players to gain experience from.
But staring at the slowly approaching zombies, Blood Sea Wave was shocked without any intention of treating them as experience!
How could this happen? Did my level-up cause the BOSS's minions to level up too? These zombies with 17 Life Value couldn't be one-shotted like the 5 Life Value skeletons! Killing one cost at least three strikes! Blood Sea Wave speedily calculated the cost of killing a zombie:
Zombies had an attack speed of 6, his attack speed was 12, so he could strike them twice for each of their blows. Their 2 defense canceled out 2 points of his attack. His 4-7 damage could deal 5-9 damage, with their Intermediate Defense Skill negating the 30% damage boost from his two-level Attack Skill, final damage would be 6.5-11! Two strikes fast, three strikes slow! But no matter whether two strikes or three, he would get hit once. If cursed, more like three to four strikes...
No! Can't calculate like this! A zombie's damage was even lower than a skeleton's, but their attack speed was almost twice as slow, so I could completely ignore zombie attacks and charge at the BOSS! Once summoned minions seemed stronger, facing the BOSS was easier!
At this point, the first zombie reached Blood Sea Wave, who hacked it down with two slashes. The zombie managed one point of damage to Blood Sea Wave upon dying.
Blood Sea Wave was furious! Why was his attack speed 12 and not 12.1! Just a bit more, even 0.001, and he could hit the critical two-strike threshold without taking damage from this zombie! Now he couldn't reach the BOSS full health!
Forget it, as long as I have 24 Life left, even with a curse, it's enough to take down the 16-Life ghost!
So, Blood Sea Wave hacked his way again to the cabin where the Magic Book was, once again stunned!
The BOSS leveled up too! No longer a 16-Life ghost, but a higher-level form, Resentful Spirit!
—Resentful Spirit: Attack 4, Defense 5, Damage 4-6, Life 20, Attack Speed 8, Move Speed 15, Command Value 2, Special Skill: Incorporeal, Absorb Magic.
—Absorb Magic: The Resentful Spirit can absorb the enemy's Magic Value to recover its own Life Value, usable once per fight.
Just a bit more health, more damage, more attack defense, huh! I have no magic, so I'm not afraid of you absorbing mana, fight!
With curses afflicting him, Blood Sea Wave gritted his teeth and charged...
...
On the receding tide beach, after an unknown number of Anemones fell, Da Fei's head glowed with golden light!
—System Prompt: Congratulations! You've reached level six! Your Life Value +2, you gained 1 strategic attribute point, 1 skill point, and your Command Power +1.
Da Fei exhaled in relief, finally making a name for himself after three days of laying low in the game! Da Fei opened the Reconnaissance Skill Book, and it flashed gold!
—System Prompt: You spent one skill point and learned the sub-skill "Stealth" in Reconnaissance Skill!
—Stealth: Allows the hero to avoid detection by enemy forces and monsters within a certain range. Effect depends on the level of Reconnaissance Skill, monster level, time of day, and site terrain. Heroes cannot lead any troops while using Stealth. Prerequisite: Advanced Reconnaissance Skill.
This was Stealth! A core skill for adventure and treasure-hunting players! Also the most charming skill in the whole Reconnaissance Skill, and an indispensable "Invisibility" equivalent in thief-themed games. From a real-world perspective, this was truly a Divine Skill, right? But in this game, in broad daylight, Stealth wasn't so effective, at least couldn't blind people who were wide awake, still needed to use shadows from corners and obstacles to enhance the effect.
Now I had 30 Life Value, 4-6 damage with bizarre paralyzing poison, not weaker than his God-level Hero, plus learning Stealth, I was able to press forward or retreat at will, why fear a God-level Hero!
Shipwreck, I was back!
Before setting off again, Da Fei waved to the Anemones, "Anemone comrades, thank you for your hard work!"