The space I entered was a pitch-black cave, not very spacious. After walking about ten meters, nearing the end of the cave, a large black rat spotted me and charged straight at me.
Using 'Inspect'： Black Rat King, Level 13 BOSS, 1500 HP, Skills： Dark Attack, loves darkness, hates sunlight.
Since it's a Novice Village treasure, I figured the quest shouldn't be too hard—otherwise how would newbies mine it? But it's not without difficulty. Those three guys from Fengyun probably wouldn't have an easy time winning if they couldn't withstand the Black Rat King's attacks in this cramped cave.
But my situation is completely different. I'm an absolute super freak. I soloed the Mountain Wolf King, which is way tougher than this Black Rat King, so this Black Rat King is naturally no match for me.
-130, -150. Since the Black Rat King came to die, I won't be polite. I swung my Level 2 skill Slash like a storm of furious blows. At the cost of two small red potions, I perfectly killed the Black Rat King. Its skill Dark Attack was kinda interesting—it causes blindness, reducing hit rate by 3 seconds.
"Congratulations to Stone City for killing the Boss Black Rat King, reputation increased by 10."
Damn, no way, the Black Rat King didn't drop anything. This is the noob village's treasure, how can it be so stingy.
Wait, what's that shiny thing at the end of the cave? Hurrying over, a ring glowing with red light was very dazzling.
A ghost item, nice. The treasure is quite rewarding, hurriedly picked it up to inspect.
Greed Ring： Red ghost item, effect unknown, cannot be used.
Greed Ring, definitely a good thing. Just hearing the name, greed, it's definitely not ordinary. I like it.
"Congratulations to Stone City for completing the novice village's treasure quest, now leaving the quest area."
After the system prompt, with a flash, I stood in front of the cliff where I had just entered the cave, and that dark cave was nowhere to be found.
Should I go back and identify this ghost item? It would definitely increase my strength. Forget it, better to finish the quest first. Running from the beginner village here takes at least twenty minutes, a waste of time. Besides, my abilities should be enough to deal with black bears.
This was a maple forest. A gentle breeze passed, and soft sounds came from the leaves as maple leaves drifted down, painting a beautiful scene that refreshed the mind.
But I had no mood to enjoy it. I had almost walked through the entire maple forest, and aside from groups of level 10 magical tigers, there was no trace of black bears.
"Stone City, you're here. Ready to kill the black bear？"
A tall figure suddenly jumped down from the branches overhead, wearing a tiger-striped coat and carrying a longbow on his back. He clearly looked like a true hunter.
"Who are you？"
"I'm Wang Wu, the hunter from the beginner village. I've been here monitoring the black bear's movements. Just now I received a notice from the village chief saying you need to help us kill the black bear. I was waiting for you."
So it was a system character. Scared me for a second.
"Where's the black bear? I don't see it."
“Our newbie village's sacred spring is called the Celestial Pivot Spring, a divine artifact of heaven and earth. Not only is it the greatest treasure of our newbie village, it is also one of the five sacred springs of the Tianmeng Continent. The Celestial Pivot Spring lies within a sealed domain that can only be entered using our newbie village's secret technique. But three years ago, a black bear came from who knows where and actually entered our sacred spring’s domain, seizing control of our spring. Sadly, the residents of our newbie village are no match for this black bear, and we cannot recapture the Celestial Pivot Spring. Truly a disgrace for us newbie villagers.”
When the hunter Wang Wu reached this point, he was overcome with sorrow, his grief and indignation clear on his face.
“Stone City, you must help us recapture the Celestial Pivot Spring and wash away our newbie village's three years of shame. Are you ready? I’ll teleport you into the Celestial Pivot Spring’s domain right now.”
Damn, this black bear sounds tough to handle. Oh god, I hope I don’t fail—if I fail, my level will drop to 1! But at this point, I can’t back down. Besides, backing off on the spot isn’t my style.
“Uncle Wang, I’m ready. Don’t worry, I will definitely kill that black bear.”
“Good.”
Uncle Wang pressed his palms together, his expression solemn as he chanted： “O revered Goddess of Tianmeng, grant the blessings of the natural wind to your people！ Celestial Pivot Secret Art！”
I was suddenly enveloped by a soft radiance. My vision blurred for a moment, and the scene before me shifted—I had entered the domain of the Celestial Pivot Sacred Spring.
Right at the place where I had PK’d with those three Fengyun punks after being teleported into the Celestial Pivot Spring’s domain, three people came running, panting heavily. They looked around but couldn’t find the person they were searching for, and immediately collapsed to the ground.
“Damn, *** that warrior, **！”
“**, if I ever run into him again, I swear I’ll chop that bastard into pieces.”
“You little prick, just you wait. The Fengyun Clan isn’t letting you off.”
These three are exactly the Fengyun Trio I PKed with, running back to chase their newbie village top ten treasure maps. Too bad it's too late — I've already left. All they can do is toss out some empty threats out of boredom.
But that's their luck too. If I’d stayed, they’d just keep losing levels. Anyway, I’ve formed an indissoluble bond with the Fengyun clan.
The Divine Spring of Heavenly Pivot covers an area of fifty meters wide, with a few big trees scattered sparsely. The sacred spring is right beneath a large tree in the center, where clear spring water ripples in a round stone pool.
Now, where's the black bear? I look around. The enemy is hidden, I'm exposed — I need to be careful and not get ambushed by it.
Damn, I was nervous for nothing. Turns out the black bear is sleeping under the big tree next to the Heavenly Pivot Spring, basking in the sun.
I use "Inspect"： Black Bear Qalala, Level 20 Silver Boss, 5000 HP. Likes honey and sleeping. Skills： Bear Pounce, Earth”s Wrath (with stun effect).
Bosses are classified into Normal Boss, Silver Boss, Golden Boss. Each tier greatly boosts abilities, especially Golden Bosses — they’re tough to handle. And then there are Divine Beasts or ferocious beasts under the Demon Lord’s command; those are super strong bosses. Without a few divine artifacts on you, these bosses won't be easy.
Damm, that's too strong — 5000 HP? What does that even mean? I only dealt 100 damage when I killed the Level 15 Mountain Wolf King boss. No need to think — the Black Bear’s defense definitely higher. This is gonna be really hard to kill.
Luckily, I spent big when I came and bought 10 medium health potions. That’s some capital, so I can at least give it a shot. Otherwise, with just the measly 23 small health potions on me, I doubt I could grind this black bear down.
Earlier, I got some small health potions from killing mutated tigers in the maple forest.
Whatever, whether it's a ditch or a cliff, I'll find out by trying. At worst, I go back to level 1 and start over.
Let's fight！
Taking advantage of Black Bear Chara being asleep, I struck first. -100, -110, -50, -60—a series of damage numbers floated above Black Bear Chara's head.
Because of the surprise attack, the first two hits were criticals. The injured Black Bear Chara immediately woke up and charged at me. My normal damage was only a bit over 50.
Run! I quickly started circling around the nearby big tree. Normal damage was only 50, so I couldn't help but sigh at Black Bear Chara's strong defense.
Although I was planning to train as a knight and fight head-on with the boss, I'm not a fool. Clearly, Black Bear Chara's attack and movement speed were slow, so I had to use my strengths to exploit its weaknesses.
Haha, the plan worked! Black Bear Chara's speed was no match for mine. It could only roar behind me, eating my dust.
Just running wouldn't cut it—I had to find a way to kill the black bear.
No rush, I had a plan. By running around the big tree, I quickly got behind Black Bear Chara. Seeing its big fat rear, I didn't hesitate to stab it twice.
-100, -120—two more criticals! It seemed surprise attacks easily triggered critical hits.
After stabbing Black Bear Chara's rear twice, I immediately turned and ran. Although it had already spun around to charge at me, I was already far away. Black Bear Chara's attack could only miss, and it had no choice but to keep chasing me.
I got behind Black Bear Chara again. -100, -50—two more slashes. By the time it turned around, I had already run off. Black Bear Chara simply couldn't catch up to me.
And so, next to the big tree by the picturesque Celestial Spring Waterfall, one person and one bear repeated the same actions. Sometimes the bear chased the person, sometimes the person chased the bear. Whether it was the person chasing the bear, or the bear chasing the person—that was hard to say.
Hmph, easy, this is no challenge at all. Black Bear Chiala's health was over half, and it still hadn't managed to hit me.
Miss, -200. Black Bear Chiala suddenly pounced on me, swinging both paws. Although the first strike missed, the other claw took away 200 of my HP.
I got careless, carried away by my excitement, and forgot about Black Bear Chiala's skill. With a bear pounce, it leaped onto me and struck twice.
I quickly drank a small red potion and put some distance between me and Black Bear Chiala. Luckily, the bear pounce skill has a cooldown; otherwise, I definitely couldn't handle consecutive bear pounces.
I gotta be careful now. If the bear pounce is this powerful, the 'Earth's Fury' skill can't just be for show.
Just my luck. Speak of the devil.
Black Bear Chiala used the skill 'Earth's Fury,' hitting me for 120 HP. And unfortunately, I was stunned—completely unable to move for three seconds.
It's over. I'm going back to level 1. Watching Black Bear Chiala's massive bear paw come down, that's the only thought I had.