Why would I? Are you any different from the other ogres I just slayed?" Roxanne said, her tone dripping with arrogance.
Wei smirked confidently. "Just so you know, I'm three levels higher than you."
Roxanne's expression remained unfazed. "So what? You don't even have any good items. How do you think you can even beat me?!"
Without warning, the elf lady rushed at him with the force of a powerful gust of wind, closing the distance between them in an instant. Her sword swung down toward Wei's face.
Wei's eyes sharpened. As the attack approached, he activated his skill. "Liquid Blade!"
His sword began to shimmer as silver liquid metal poured from the blade, swirling around it. With a sharp swing, he blocked her attack. The spinning ring of liquid metal whirled toward Roxanne's sword, sending her flying backward, some meters away.
Taking advantage of the situation, Wei quickly followed up with another skill called Water Shots. He raised his fist, a blue glowing water emanating from it, like a burning flame.
"WATTTTTERRRRRR SHOTTTSSSSSS!!!" Wei shouted, throwing a forceful punch into the air.
From his fist, eight bursts of glowing blue water shot out, each one heavy enough to cause massive damage. They hit Roxanne directly with a splat, knocking her to the ground.
Wei's heart raced, but he quickly checked his screen. Roxanne's name, Roxanne, appeared along with her stats—Level 14, 490/600 Health, 150/300 Mana. His eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation.
He scrolled to her skills and saw the first icon—a white flower. The caption beneath it read:
Photosynthesis--Regenerates Roxanne's life points and any nearby allies up to 750 points, duration 25 seconds. If near enemies, enemies take 15 damage per second, up to 375 damage.
Roxanne, visibly hurt, was struggling to get back on her feet.
"Oh, you're reading my status bar? No problem. Let me help you understand how my power works."
In a flash, Roxanne sprinted toward Wei, a strong gust of wind accompanying her. In no time, the Elf lady was already in front of Wei, her sword raised and ready to slash. Wei was unable to react quickly and was slashed by Roxanne across his body. She struck him with two more slashes. Wei quickly realized that Roxanne was using a skill because of how fast her attacks were and the green light glowing on her blade. To match her speed, Wei activated his own skill. Now, he was able to parry her lightning-fast sword strikes, thanks to his upgraded skill, Boost. However, there was still a problem: even though Wei was blocking each of Roxanne's attacks, he was still taking damage. Wei noticed a small warning screen that appeared beside him, displaying his Life Points status. He had initially taken 250 damage from Roxanne's slashes, reducing his Life Points from 800 to 550. On top of that, his Life Points were steadily decreasing by 15 points every second due to Roxanne's magic skill.
Determined, Wei decided to use his super skill. Just after parrying Roxanne's blade with his sword in his left hand, it seemed that Roxanne was momentarily stunned and unable to follow up with another attack. Glowing blue waters began to flow from Wei's right fist, like burning flames.
"BUrNinG WaTeR FIST!!!!"
Wei shouted as he punched the Elf lady's lower left rib.
His punch caused the Elf lady's upper body to twist, and the waters from Wei's fist exploded like flames all over her body.
The force of Wei's punch sent Roxanne's body spinning rapidly, propelling her backward through the air.
She then fell from the air, crashing and rolling onto the ground.
Wei's burning water fist had caused significant damage to Roxanne's Life Points.
Lying on the grass, gasping in great pain, the Elf lady struggled to stand, still determined to fight with her remaining Life and Mana Points. After all, she hadn't used her super skill yet.
While she was still trying to stand, Wei stepped in front of her and pointed his blade at her neck.
The Elf lady attempted to move but couldn't, as she noticed chains made of blue glowing water rooted in the ground, restraining her arms and legs.
Above the Elf lady's head, a window appeared displaying her Life and Mana status.
♡Life Points♡
103/800
◇Mana Points◇
185/300
"Judging by your current Life Points, just one swing of my sword and you'll be sent back to the other world. How do you like that?" Wei threatened.
Roxanne looked at him, her gaze locking with his. But the way she looked at him now, and the expression on her face, were completely different from earlier. When she had been slashing and trying to defeat him, her eyes had been filled with hatred and animosity. Now, her face seemed almost innocent, and her eyes seemed to ask, "Can you hurt an innocent girl like me?"
When Roxanne saw Wei's cold expression, she immediately screamed for mercy. "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! PLEASSSSSSSSSEEEEE!!!! I STILL WANNA LEAVE!!!!! PLEEEEASE DON'T KILL MEEEEE!!!!!"
Her scream made Wei feel like he had woken up from a nightmare. He refrained from slashing her and lowered his sword.
"Please don't kill me! I'm just trying to earn gold to survive. I'll give you all my items, just spare my life, please!" Roxanne's eyes were overflowing with tears as she begged.
A small magical box appeared in the Elf lady's hand, and she threw it to the ground. As it landed, potions, jewels, charms, and various weapons and armors spilled out, scattering all around. Wei was surprised to see the magical items on the ground. He breathed calmly, now convinced that the Elf lady could no longer pose a threat to him.
"All right, I'll give you ten seconds to run. Once your time is up, make sure I no longer see you, or I'll slash you and tear your organs apart!"
The glowing blue water chains started to break, and the Elf lady slowly stood up.
With teary eyes, she thanked Wei for sparing her life. "Thank you. I should not be begging for my life after defeat; I should be honorably accepting my death. But I felt that maybe I could ask you to spare me because you really don't seem like a cold-blooded killer."
Although Wei had changed his mind about taking Roxanne's life, he still felt like killing the elf lady.
"I don't give a damn what the hell you say. You better run before your time runs out," Wei said seriously.
Roxanne hurriedly left Wei, using her dash skill.
Wei watched the elf lady run. When he could no longer see her, he began checking out all the magic items on the ground. There were healing and mana potions, bracelets, and other items that increased agility, strength, and intelligence. There were also armors and gauntlets.
"Woah! All this stuff will surely help me!" Wei said, his mood returning to normal after the elf lady left.
Wei took the small magic box, and a screen popped up in front of him.
****** Silver Stash obtained! *******
You now have a safe place to keep all your items.
The small magic box shrank as it sunk into Wei's palm. "Wow! That's cool," he said.
Wei picked up all the items on the ground. From healing and mana potions to armors, boots, gauntlets, and other items that added points to his attributes. Every item Wei touched was absorbed by his hands and went directly to his stash.
Notification screens popped up in front of Wei.
****** 7 Bottles of Blood Obtained! ******* You now have 7 bottles of healing potions.
**** 5 Bottles of Blue Blood Obtained **** You now have 5 bottles of mana potions.
******* Lightning Boots *******
Adds 25% movement speed
Adds 10 points to your agility
******* Teleportation Scroll *******
Teleports you back to Fenix City or any nearby outskirts.
****** Nightshade Breastplate ******
Required Level: 17
Adds 10 points to your armor
Activate the Nightshade Breastplate to receive a -10 penalty to your armor but gain 150 to your life points and add 300 damage to your normal attack. Lasts 5 seconds.
****** Dragon Knight Gauntlet ******
Adds 1 point to your armor
Adds 5 points to your strength.
Wei also thought about checking his experience bar. Another screen popped up on his left.
******** Experience ********
Level: 17
9500/10000
***************************
"Hmmm, as I remember, when I was still in the human world, my current experience from fighting my clones and my other water creatures was only 8700/10000. After fighting Roxanne and the zombie buffalos, I gained an additional 800 exp points. Not bad. Just a little more, and I'll be level 18. That means I can enhance my skills or develop a new one again."
Suddenly, Wei heard a lot of loud stomping noises. The sounds made him feel that danger was approaching, but he wasn't sure where they were coming from.
Wei turned around and saw giant rhinos heading in his direction.
Wei took a deep breath to calm himself and remove any fear from his heart. Then he smiled. "This is exactly what I need—more gold and more experience."
A screen popped up in front of him showing his potions. He tapped two healing potions and one mana potion, replenishing his life and mana points.
Wei geared up, then threw a forceful punch into the air.
"WATTTTTERRRRRR SHOTTTSSSSSS!!!"