Zhan Long

Chapter 9 – Bramble Bear King1

Opening up my map, because of my level restrictions, I could only see bits and pieces of the areas around the village. Beyond that was completely empty. Contemplating for a while, I finally decided to head North-East.

That was a little further away from Straw Dog Village and there are lesser players as well. If I get KS’ed2 as this special kind of healer class, I’ll probably die out.

Looking at my skills tab, [Hemostasis]’s experience level reached 77/100. Just a little more and I can level it up. Level 2 [Hemostasis] can recover 100 HP in the blink of an eye, and my survival capabilities will thus drastically increase.

Onwards!

Carrying my sword out of the village, I took the path out of the Straw Dog Village area. I cut through the Hyena area, continuing into the dense forest. After 20 minutes of walking, I finally reached the area that I didn’t dare to challenge previously – the Wild Bear Forest. Inside were bears of all kinds, all level 5-7. Taking a look at my level, it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that I was forcing myself to take unnecessary risk, but I had 23 Blue Potions and should probably be able to fight prolonged battles.

On!

I charged straight at a level 5 Black Bear. I swung my sword and took care of it in 30 seconds, healing myself 4 times in the process. I spent 20 MP on one bear, which was acceptable. I went on to find another target.

A level 4 player killing a level 5 mob grants a little experience penalty, but the leveling rate was still half decent. In about an hour, another Black Bear fell and I reached level 5!

Gaa

The Black Bear let out a terrifying cry, and erupted into a grey hand guard. Picking it up, I realised I could use it.

[Black Bear Arm Guard] (White Equip)

Type: Cloth

Defence: 3

Required Level: 4

Wearing the White hand guard3, my defence rose to 9. When I looked up, a level 7 Grey Bear was growling, its claws inviting me. It was looking me straight in the eye, which only spelled one thing – certain death.

With the sword in hand, I slowly advanced forward and looked around. There wasn’t any other mobs or players within 50 yards. I’m taking on this level 7 Grey Bear solo, let’s go!

Sou

I rushed forward and braced my sword. Reaching it, I brandished my sword at its head but only the sound of a loud clang could be heard. It was as if I was swinging at steel. The damage number I inflicted wasn’t that high either…

{15}

Even with an attack of 23, I only hit this little. This Grey Bear’s defence must be really high, even higher than the Black Bear.

Kong

Raising it’s head, it roared loudly, swinging its claws, one of which hit my shoulder. I was anticipating the attack and when the Grey Bear attacked, I tried to dodge to the right but too bad, I still got hit.

{37}

It hurts like hell! The healer class with Cloth Armor is simply too squishy!

I swung my sword to deal more damage and at the same time, I was thinking – Why can’t I dodge the monster’s attack? [Destiny] announced that according to the player’s skill, you could, with proper footwork and movement, dodge attacks. Why can’t I do it?

The second time, the Grey Bear’s claws swung down again. I saw it and quickly stepped back.

Pa

{39}

One tight slap across my face. It really hurts. Quickly, [Hemostasis]!

The third time, when the Grey Bear was attacking, I purposely stood there. Just as the claw reached right before my eyes, I reacted and hopped in the opposite direction of the claw about 1-2 yards. I only heard the sounds of wind rushing past me. This time I managed to use the short amount of time, and a big word floated up –

{Miss}

Battle Notice: You dodged the Grey Bear’s attack. Finished movement – [Elementary]!

Silently celebrating, I swung down with my sword at the speed of lightning and kacha my sword directly hit the Grey Bear’s eyes. A {34} rose up from the attack. Attacking the weak point, this was one of the gamer’s most important skills.

What a pity, my reaction speed wasn’t that high and my movements were also slow. If not, I could probably evade plenty of attacks and my success rate would at least be around an [Apprentice Level]. This Evade technique was something that you needed to learn, if not no matter what you fight against, a monster or a player, you’d be losing out. Of course, it’s different from person to person. There are many types of evasive moments, and it relies mostly on how the poor player deals with it and reacts to it4.

Kacha

My sword once again slashed the Grey Bear’s head, and it let out a groan. It fell and dropped another equip. My luck was out of this world, getting two drops in a row.

In the green grass, I bent forward to pick up the item. It was an average looking robe. I looked at it and god damn, I was disappointed. It was an attribute item!

[Grey Bear Robe] (Black Iron)

Type: Cloth

Defence: 10

Magic: +2

Required Level: 5

Once I saw the attribute, I smiled with glee. It was so good! A +2 in Magic was something I needed, and the defence was also commendable. I quickly put it on and immediately, my defence rose to 19. The healer’s Magic growth was 1.0x, so a +2 in Magic meant an additional 20 MP. It gave me an additional 4 [Hemostasis] uses. Truly, it’s a wonderful item.

Paafu

Staring at the robe I had on, I changed the POV for a short while and yeap, it really looked like a Chinese uniform. My entire character looked scholar-like. Only my sword broke the look. If I changed it to some books, it would be perfect! Though, killing things with books sounded stupid. Killing things with a sword was definitely more reasonable.

Having high enough defence, I went on to challenge more Grey Bears. As expected, I only got hit for {20+} damage. It was definitely acceptable. At the same time, I continuously worked on my Evade movements. I focused all my concentration on the fight. The Grey Bear’s attack was different every time thanks to the random number generation. I had to come up with new ways to dodge every single time.

Battle Notice: You dodged the Grey Bear’s attack. Finished movement – [Inferior]!

Battle Notice: You dodged the Grey Bear’s attack. Finished movement – [Inferior]!

Battle Notice: You dodged the Grey Bear’s attack. Finished movement – [Elementary]!

A bunch of battle notices appeared one after another and slowly, I found myself getting to enjoy the combat in Destiny more and more. I was immersed in the game. Although the success rate of dodging was very low, only about 10% at most, it was a repeatable form of training. Being able to dodge some of an enemy’s attacks definitely couldn’t be a bad thing. Though I haven’t fought it out with any players yet, so I’m not too sure where this is effective or not. I guess now I have something to look forward to.

Now, killing a level 7 Grey Bear was not stressful any more. Currently, most players only had a set of White Equips. I, on the other hand, was equipless head to toe, except for a Black Iron Grey Bear robe. This was simply a luxury. [Destiny]’s drop rate was considered low. It was announced previously that low level monsters would only drop a Black Iron tier item about 0.1% of the time. Every one already had their expectations set.

In a blink of an eye two hours had passed, and I reached level 7 by killing nothing but Grey Bears. All my stat points were added to strength as usual. On one hand, I needed the strength for more attacking power. On the other hand, I was a healer, a full and complete nurse. I needed the high strength to increase my arm strength, if not I would not be able to equip weapons later on. I definitely couldn’t use a staff to smack people, or I would be made into laughing stock.

Looking at my stats, mm. I guess I’m still 10 levels below the outstanding people.

[Xiao Yao Zi Zai] (Novice Healer)

Level: 7

Attack: 31-33

Defence: 21

HP: 160

MP: 130

Charm: 0

Although my attack isn’t as high as a berserker or swordsman, my defence isn’t as high as a knight, and my magic power isn’t a high as a magician or other healers, my speciality lies in the fact that I can both heal and attack. It’s the fabled solo path. Although it’s slightly third-rate…

I walked on and considering my levels and stats, I decided to try and fight a level 9 monster. You need to have the smarts to survive!

Raising my head, I found that the sky turned dark. The moonlight was like water, condensed into the patch of forest. Occasionally, there would be blood-curling howls from bears that would make one’s hair stand on end. Mm, I’ve arrived at the deepest part of the Wild Bear Forest.

Quickly stopping, I found a new target. It was a bear with prickly spikes on the top of its head. The name was perfect and it was level 9 as well, just what I was looking for.

[Bramble Bear] (Normal Monster)

Level: 9

Attack: 32-50

Defence: 15

HP: 300

Skills: [Sharp Claws]

Introduction: Bramble Bear, a type of animal modified by magic. It has a lot of attack power, and it could return 10% of damage taken back to the dealer. It most often hides in the forests and doesn’t come out. It kills all types, even humans.

“Hoho, this is it…”

Wielding my sword, I took the challenge head on. God damn it, Lin Wan Er and Dong Cheng Yue should both be above level 14, and yet I’m messing around below level 10. I need to get to level 10 quickly, get out of the beginner village and go to the main city, if not I’ll lose all my self-respect!

Hua

With the effects of [Mighty Sword Wave], my sword took a brilliant arc in the air and headed straight for the Bramble Bear’s eyes. However, it’s movement speed was a little too fast, moving its head aside. It’s too difficult to hit the eyes of a moving target like this!

{17}

As expected, the defence was high. I was starting to doubt my strength a little.

The Bramble Bear groaned, and it raised it’s sharp claws. Shua a line of red follow the claws as they swooped down. This must be the skill [Sharp Claws]. I must dodge this, if not it’ll definitely hurt a lot. My eyes were locked on the Bramble Bear’s movements, deciding which way to move to avoid the attack. I immediately stepped backwards about 2 yards, but I couldn’t dodge it in time. My chest took the hit and burned with pain.

{51}

Once I saw how much damage that dealt, I felt like I lost my will to fight. I hurriedly used [Hemostasis] and attacked with my sword. As the battled continued, I would be able to heal and the Bramble Bear would not. This must be my win!

Yet again I took several claws and my HP was almost gone. [Hemostasis]’s cooldown was 6 seconds, which would not be able to keep up with the monster’s damage any more. I was starting to get nervous and worried. Thankfully, just then a [Lv +1] rose from on top of my head. The next time I use [Hemostasis], it’ll use 10 MP directly.!

{+100}

Thank god, I reached level 2 [Hemostasis] just in time.

It was then that I realised how scary a level 9 monster is. Slowly hitting it, I managed to kill it after 1 minute. My luck was normal this time, only dropping 3 coppers5. I picked them up, drank a Blue Potion and continued hunting for another Bramble Bear.

I played all the way to 7pm, but I didn’t get a message from Lin Wan Er at all. Looks like she’s also hard at work, and she didn’t plan to get offline any time soon. Oh well, I’ll grind till level 9 then.

At 9pm, after a shower of golden light, the sword-based healer reached level 9. The stat points from level 7-9 were again, added to strength. This ensured that I would remain powerful.

Wuowuo

The flies danced and piles of human bodies were stacked there. Atop a green rock, a wild bear with golden gloss slept. Above its head was the words –

[Bramble Bear King] (Boss Monster)

Level: 10

荆棘熊王, I used the manga translation’s name for this one. ↩

Kill-stealed, game novel so I’m using game terms. ↩

The tier of equips I was talking about in chapter 8. White is common and mostly trash. ↩

I’m presuming what the author means here is rich people can just buy potions and ignore the damage but poor people have to fight without the potions so they need to evade to survive. ↩

Not sure if author wrote it wrongly, but the Black Bear dropped 5 coppers and the higher-leveled Grey Bear drops 3. Seems legit. ↩