For a full half hour, Wu Shaochen eagerly watched as the massive, bloodied sea turtle inched toward its inevitable death, his excitement building with every passing second. As the final drop of blood vanished, the turtle's colossal body collapsed in defeat. A system prompt sounded immediately thereafter.
*Ding* – "You have slain the [Sea Turtle], earning 15 experience points. As the monster is 5 levels above you, you also receive an additional 50% experience, totaling 7 points (fractions of a point are ignored)."
*Ding* – "Talent feature triggered. Poison damage increased by 1 point. The target now loses 2 points of health per second from true damage."
"Feels amazing!" Wu Shaochen exclaimed with delight upon hearing the system notifications. He had gained 22 experience points in total—far faster than fighting rabbits at the village entrance. But the most rewarding part was the upgrade of his talent. That was the real triumph. Now, killing sea turtles would take half the time.
Quickly, he made his way to the dead sea turtle's body and found two copper coins and a piece of equipment dropped at its side. Wu Shaochen, elated, rushed to pick it up. The low drop rates in *Divine Oracle* made this moment feel like a stroke of sheer luck. Even though monsters 5 levels above him increased the drop rate by 50%, receiving a piece of equipment from the first kill was nothing short of miraculous.
Inspecting the item, he discovered it was a pair of shoes.
[Canvas Shoes]
Quality: Common
Movement Speed +3
Physical Defense +2
Requirements: None
A perfect fit! Wu Shaochen eagerly equipped the shoes, boosting his movement speed to 8 points and his defense to 8 as well.
In *Divine Oracle*, the equipment quality ranged from Common to Divine, with each tier offering increasingly powerful attributes and, from Gold and above, additional skills.
The shoes felt just right. Wu Shaochen could already tell that his walking speed had noticeably improved. His spirits lifted as he continued his search for another sea turtle. These turtles were undoubtedly his perfect match, though their numbers were few. After a while, he finally spotted another one, sunbathing lazily on the sand.
He approached and struck the turtle's shell with a quick slash, then turned to flee. But still, he was bitten once. Early in the game, with neither attack speed nor movement speed to overpower the enemy, it was difficult to dodge the damage.
-2, -2, -2
White damage numbers appeared above the turtle's head as it clumsily pursued Wu Shaochen.
This time, his speed had improved significantly. The turtle was defeated in just 15 minutes, leaving Wu Shaochen to collect another 2 copper coins before continuing his hunt for the next target.
With each sea turtle kill, the time required became shorter. The third kill took 10 minutes, the fourth took 7 and a half minutes, and the fifth was finished in just 6 minutes. It was then that another system notification arrived.
*Ding* – "You have slain the [Sea Turtle], earning 22 experience points. Your experience is now full. Congratulations, you have leveled up! Health +20, Mana +10, and you have gained 5 points to distribute freely. Please allocate wisely."
At last, he leveled up! His progress was certainly fast, Wu Shaochen thought with satisfaction. Looking at the 5 free attribute points, he hesitated for a moment before decisively allocating them all to Agility. The reason he had been able to kill the level 5 sea turtles was because their speed was slower than his. To truly take advantage of his talent, increasing his speed was the logical choice.
After leveling up, his attributes shifted: his health rose from 50 to 70, mana from 50 to 60, and Agility from 5 to 10. His movement speed surged to 13, but the rest of his stats remained unchanged. Checking his experience:
Experience: 10/300
Level 1 to level 2 required 300 experience points, which seemed reasonable—he estimated it would only take about ten more sea turtles.
Wu Shaochen pondered whether to continue grinding sea turtles or venture to areas with level 6 monsters. Though sea turtles were a stable choice and the leveling speed wasn't bad, level 5 turtles no longer triggered the full benefits of his talent.
"I'll explore somewhere else," he decided. With his current 13-point movement speed, he was faster than most monsters. There was a good chance he could find creatures suited for his talent's passive effect. If not, he could always return to the turtles.
As Wu Shaochen turned to retrace his steps, he realized that he had reached the edge of the map. Beyond, there was only the sea. He could either go back to the fork in the road or venture into the forest to the left.
The bamboo forest ahead had poor visibility and was prone to ambushes, and since monsters above level 5 would attack on sight, Wu Shaochen knew he was ill-equipped to face such foes. Instead, he walked toward the forest on the left, where the light was better because the trees were spaced far apart.
He tread cautiously, but suddenly, from behind a tree, a wild boar with jet-black fur appeared. Its tusks gleamed menacingly, and its eyes locked onto Wu Shaochen. It pawed at the ground before charging at him with lightning speed.
"Damn, no honor!" Wu Shaochen gasped in surprise. Just as the boar was about to collide with him, he narrowly sidestepped, the boar grazing his clothing as it slammed into a nearby tree. The boar became momentarily stunned, marked by a dizzy status effect.
Wu Shaochen exhaled in relief. *Good thing I maxed out my Agility—if not, I definitely wouldn't have dodged that.* Without wasting a moment, he cast *Insight* on the wild boar.
[Wild Boar]
Level: 6
Health: 2000
Physical Attack: 70
Physical Defense: 30
Speed: 11
Skill: Brutal Charge: Charges forward at high speed, dealing 150% physical damage and stunning the target for 1 second. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Wu Shaochen grinned despite himself. *This is a level 6 monster?* he thought. *If it hadn't been for my luck, I'd probably be back at the village by now.*
Should he take it on, or go back to the easy sea turtles? Wu Shaochen pondered. It was certainly possible to fight the boar, given that its attack was 70, and his health was 70 with 8 defense. He could withstand a regular attack and outrun it. But the boar's skill was another matter. If it hit him, he would be sent straight back to the city. He wasn't confident he could dodge it every time, especially if it came while he was in the middle of an attack.
"Damn it, let's do it," Wu Shaochen resolved. His talent's poison dealt 6 damage per second, and killing the boar would only take around five minutes. It was a risk worth taking.
With resolve, he charged at the wild boar. The boar had just used its skill, so it was vulnerable for the next 10 seconds. Wu Shaochen struck it in the back.
-1 (No defense break, forced damage)
-6 (Poison damage)
The boar retaliated swiftly, its tusks slicing through Wu Shaochen's health.
-62
Wu Shaochen quickly ran away, but then realized a serious flaw in his plan—his health regeneration couldn't keep up. It would take 10 seconds to exit combat, meaning he could only recover 50 health in that time. To survive the boar's counterattack, he needed at least 63 health. If he waited until then, the boar would regain 60 health in the 3 seconds before it fully healed.
*Sigh, it's true—level 6 monsters aren't easy.* But now that he had started, there was no turning back.