After spending over an hour hunting 38 wild boars, Wu Shaochen reached level 4, gaining 20 health and 10 mana. He allocated all his attribute points to Agility and, during the hunt, finally obtained another piece of equipment—a helmet.
[Wild Boar Leather Helmet]
Quality: Common
Health +30
Defense +3
Requirements: None
In *Divine Oracle*, clothing, pants, belts, and helmets were categorized as defensive gear, mainly enhancing health and defense. Weapons, rings, bracelets, and necklaces were offensive gear, boosting attack, critical hit rates, etc. Shoes primarily increased movement speed, though this was a relative classification, not an absolute rule.
Wu Shaochen equipped the helmet immediately. His health rose to 200, his defense to 12, and his Agility to 25. With the added shoes, his movement speed reached 28.
"One more level, and my speed will hit 33—faster than the Wild Boar King. Then I can think about taking it down," Wu Shaochen muttered to himself.
With these stats, should he attempt to hunt the wild wolves? It was a good opportunity to grind his talent. As long as there was a chance, he couldn't afford to neglect it—after all, it was the core of his ascent to greatness.
He paused, then shook his head. The wolves' attack skill had a 150% damage multiplier, dealing a staggering 172 damage, which, after subtracting his defense, still left him with 160 points of damage. Their bleeding effect would deal 50 damage per second, which could easily kill him. It was better to gather more gear first.
Looking at his experience—4/2000—he realized that killing level 6 wild boars at level 4 would grant him a 20% experience bonus, yielding 24 points of experience per boar. To level up, he would need to kill 84 wild boars. If he could gather two more defensive items before that, he might be ready to tackle the wild wolves. With that in mind, he returned to hunting wild boars.
Meanwhile, in the level 2 mountain goat area, several groups of players were engaged in a battle with the goats.
"Southwind, step back to heal, let Haoran take the front. The rest of you, keep attacking," Junlin calmly commanded. The mountain goat fell quickly under their combined efforts.
"Junlin, equipment dropped!" Haoran, a handsome young man with a radiant smile, exclaimed as he picked up a helmet.
"Finally, a piece of equipment," Junlin sighed in relief. This was their thirtieth mountain goat, and despite their years of experience in online games, they were struggling to make progress. The difficulty of *Divine Oracle* was making even seasoned veterans second-guess their ability.
"Why is the stat so poor?" Haoran muttered, examining the helmet.
"What are the stats?" Junlin asked.
"10 health, 1 defense," Haoran replied, looking disappointed.
"It's probably just a poor helmet. Since it adds health and defense, Haoran, you should equip it. Let's continue; as long as we're getting drops, we'll get there eventually," Junlin said calmly.
Meanwhile, other squads had much more difficulty, struggling to fight the level 2 goats. Their actions were uncoordinated, and the occasional flash of white light signified their failures.
Wu Shaochen had spent another hour killing 32 wild boars when, at last, another piece of equipment dropped.
[Wild Boar Belt]
Quality: Common
Health +30
Defense +3
Requirements: None
He equipped the belt, bringing his health to 230 and his defense to 15. "Not bad. One more defensive item and I'll be ready for the wild wolves," he thought.
He glanced at his inventory, where three small red potions had dropped. These restored 10 health per second for 10 seconds. "If worse comes to worst, I'll waste some potions to get more talent progress," he muttered. "Otherwise, once I hit level 5, I'll need to fight level 10 monsters, and the difficulty will skyrocket. I've figured it out—higher-level monsters have increasingly greater stat differences."
Continuing his grind...
After another hour, Wu Shaochen killed 28 wild boars and finally obtained another piece of equipment. However, his excitement quickly turned to disappointment as he discovered it was a duplicate of the Wild Boar Leather Armor.
"Sigh, I'll just put it up for auction," he muttered. Thinking of the large sum of money he would soon earn, his frustration lifted.
He listed the Wild Boar Leather Armor in the auction house as usual, selecting the bidding mode with a 10-minute auction period and choosing to remain anonymous. "Better keep a low profile and quietly make my fortune," he thought.
As soon as Wu Shaochen listed the item, activity surged in the newbie village, with various factions beginning to bid.
Meanwhile, Junlin furrowed his brows upon examining the stats of the Wild Boar Leather Armor in the auction house.
"What's wrong, Junlin? Is there something wrong with the item?" Haoran asked.
"What are the stats on that helmet you picked up?" Junlin inquired.
"Health +10, Defense +10," Haoran replied.
"What about the shoes we found?" Junlin asked another youth, Nan Feng.
"Speed +1, Defense +1," Nan Feng responded.
Realization dawned on the group. As veterans of the online gaming world, they had a deep understanding of the game's mechanics.
"Our equipment's attributes are all around 2 points, but the auctioned items have 6 points, including the Butcher's Knife. It's likely these two items came from the same monster, which means the same person probably posted them. The attributes on these items couldn't have come from killing level 1-2 monsters. If we consider the level of difficulty, it's likely these items came from level 6 monsters," Junlin said gravely.
"Are you kidding me, level 6 monsters? We're barely surviving against level 2 goats, and you're telling me someone can kill level 6 monsters?" Haoran said in disbelief.
"Exactly. Unless they're cheating, there's no way anyone could take on level 6 monsters. With the way this game works, a level 6 monster could probably wipe us out in a single strike," Linzi chimed in.
"This game probably doesn't have cheats. Nan Feng, you're fast—go check if there are any wild boar monsters nearby and report back with their stats. They should be in the left forest at the three-way fork," Junlin ordered.
"Understood."
Meanwhile, the veiled woman held the newly dropped armor in her hands, her mind focused on the auction house item. She had originally thought that the early game white gear would have similar stats, but it seemed she had underestimated the person posting the auctioned equipment. Whoever had listed it clearly wasn't grinding low-level monsters.
"Liu Shu, could you help me check if there are any wild boar monsters around? I need to know their stats," the woman asked a middle-aged man behind her.
"Of course, miss," Liu Shu replied.
Soon, Nan Feng returned with a serious expression, sharing the stats of the wild boar he had found.
"Damn, 2000 health, 70 attack, and 30 defense? Are you telling me anyone at this stage can defeat it?" Haoran exclaimed in disbelief.
Junlin was silent, his face grim. If anyone could take down a monster with those stats, even he would suspect they were cheating. The stat disparity was far beyond what strategy and skill could overcome.
"Forget it. Since we're in the same newbie village, we'll encounter that player eventually. We'll see what they've got when the time comes. Since this armor likely dropped from a level 6 monster, it's better to try and get it when we can. A 6-point attribute boost is substantial," Junlin said thoughtfully.
The veiled woman, after a long pause, finally spoke. "Try to acquire this equipment."
Meanwhile, Huang Shao, who had raised the bidding price to 20,000 copper coins, sneered when he saw no one else bidding.
"Really, just 20,000 and no one's bidding? What a bunch of poor fools," he scoffed.
As the bidding time neared its end, Huang Shao calmly waited for the successful transaction notification. Suddenly, in the final second, two bids appeared simultaneously—one for 25,000 and another for 30,000. The winning bid was 30,000.
"Damn, a last-minute snipe!" Huang Shao spat in frustration.
With the Wild Boar Leather Armor in his hands, Haoran admired Junlin. "You were right, Junlin. I was about to bid 21,000, but if I had, we would have missed out on this item."
*Ding* – "Auction failed. Your bid has been refunded to your linked bank account."
Hearing the system notification, the veiled woman furrowed her brows. She had thought that by increasing her bid by 5,000 in the final second, she would win. She hadn't anticipated that someone would outbid her.