Chapter 8 The Two Who Encountered the BOSS

Deserted island and shipwreck.

After a whole day of battling, Blood Sea Wave made the final push to reach Level 5. As night fell, more skeletons appeared in the shipwreck. Here they come!

With a flash of golden light, Blood Sea Wave finally reached Level 5 and received the precious reward of a +1 basic damage increase! The system was very stingy with basic damage increases, granting only 1 point every 5 levels. But even so, with various equipment bonuses, players' damage output became very terrifying in the late stage, truly worthy of the hero's name.

Now Blood Sea Wave's basic killing was 4-7, and his attack finally countered the monsters' high defense of 6 points. With a 40% damage bonus from Expert Level Attack Skill, he could effortlessly one-shot a Skeleton Warrior with 5 points of life! Previously, he couldn't one-shot the monsters because the damage wasn't enough, requiring additional hits. The difference between one hit and two was the difference in leveling efficiency doubling!

But Blood Sea Wave wasn't going to continue the monotonous skeleton killing. Now was the time to enter the cabin and explore the secrets inside the ship. All signs indicated that there was a Necromancer or something inside the cabin, constantly summoning skeletons. Time to take it down!

Facing the constant stream of skeletons emerging from the cabin, Blood Sea Wave utilized the advantage of his Shield Guard's 2-point higher attack speed than the skeletons to quickly take them down one by one without taking any damage himself. Awesome! Now he didn't even need to rest and heal anymore! This efficiency improvement was more than twice! Level 5 truly was a turning point!

Slashing his way through the narrow, dim cabin corridor, Blood Sea Wave finally reached his target—a dark room continuously spawning Skeleton Warriors!

There was indeed a humanoid monster shrouded in white mist in the room, continuously chanting spells, as skeletons emerged one after another from the summoning array beneath it! BOSS!!!

This is what I was looking for, kill it!

Blood Sea Wave charged forward, swinging his sword. At that moment, the BOSS emitted a flash of black light, and a black light descended upon Blood Sea Wave from the sky!

—System Prompt: You were hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Weakening Curse," maximum damage -2, duration one day!

Blood Sea Wave was startled! My max damage just got reduced! My damage was now 4-5! No worries, even at 4-4 I could still one-shot the monsters! Blood Sea Wave swung his sword again, one-shotting another skeleton with determination and surged forward!

The BOSS flashed a black light again!

—System Prompt: You were hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Pain Torture," attack -6, duration one day!

Blood Sea Wave was shocked again! Attack decreased by 6! This meant he couldn't break through the Skeleton Warrior's defense anymore! With a 6-point attack-defense gap, he could only deal 85% damage, meaning 3.4-4.2! Even with the subsequent 40% bonus from Expert Level Attack Skill, it might not reach 5!

While in shock, Blood Sea Wave once again one-shotted a blocking skeleton!

Blood Sea Wave maintained his confidence, charging forward! As long as he didn't hit the minimum damage, he could still one-shot the skeletons!

The BOSS flashed black light again!

—System Prompt: You were hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Delay Magic," your attack speed decreased by 30%! Duration one day!

Blood Sea Wave cursed out loud, "Damn it! Are you done yet!"

At this point, Blood Sea Wave's attack speed of 12 decreased to 8, slower than the skeletons! With a clang, a skeleton swung its blade, taking away 1 point of his life!

Blood Sea Wave cut down the skeleton in front of him again and rushed into the room; the BOSS was within reach!

—System Prompt: You were hit by the Ghost Mage's Dark Magic "Armor-Piercing Weakening," your defense decreased by 4 points! Duration one day!

My defense is high enough not to fear your debuffs! The sheer number of the BOSS's spells left Blood Sea Wave speechless!

At this moment, Blood Sea Wave finally saw clearly that the BOSS was just a ghost holding a flashing Black Magic Book, with attributes of an ordinary ghost! An undead third-level troop normal form!

—Ghost: Attack 4, Defense 4, Life 16, Damage 2-4, Attack Speed: Normal Speed 8, Move Speed 15, Special Skill: Nihility Body, Flying troop, Undying Creature.

Blood Sea Wave suddenly understood! How could a small BOSS from the Newbie Village have so many Dark Magic spells? This Magic Book was the key! If he killed this BOSS, the Magic Book might drop! The Magic Book itself was a source of great magic power! The Magic Book might even be alive! It could allow someone with no magic foundation to cast the spells recorded in it! Such a treasure would appear in the Newbie Trial Village?

Of course, when assessing someone like me, a God-level Hero, it's not strange at all, even if a Divine Artifact appeared!

In his excitement, Blood Sea Wave slashed at the ghost—"Missed!"

—Newbie Prompt: Ghosts have the special skill Nihility Body, giving them a 50% chance to dodge physical and magical attacks! If the first two attacks miss, the third attack is guaranteed to hit.

—Argh! Blood Sea Wave spat!

Damn! Even filled with black magic, I still have 30 life points. I can still take down your weakling with 16 points of life! Blood Sea Wave swung again, "—3!"

This time you better not dodge! You have 13 life points left! Blood Sea Wave's battle spirit surged!

At that moment, two more skeletons emerged from the summoning array, attacking Blood Sea Wave viciously. Surrounded by skeletons, Blood Sea Wave focused on attacking the ghost relentlessly! –4! Miss! Miss! –3! ...

The ghost's health kept dropping, and Blood Sea Wave's health was also dwindling. When another Skeleton Warrior walked out of the summoning array, and when Blood Sea Wave's much-anticipated crucial hit missed again, Blood Sea Wave, down to 4 life points, realized the situation was hopeless, cursed in anger, and reluctantly turned to flee!

At least my move speed was good enough to escape the skeletons, which couldn't catch up! The ghost might be able to, but if it dared to stray away from the skeletons, I could still handle it with my 4 life points and still might take it down!

But ultimately, that hope was dashed when the Ghost Mage didn't pursue out the door.

So close! So close! Blood Sea Wave was fuming with anger, hiccuping all over on the run!

If, if I had teamed up with that dumbass, I would've taken it down, right? This thought lingered in Blood Sea Wave's mind for only half a second before he shook his head and dismissed it. Everything on the ship—experience, equipment, treasures—belonged to me alone. No outsider would get a piece! It's fine if I can't defeat it now, leveling up one more level should do it. I'll continue to kill skeletons on the deck.

It's just that now, filled with all the black magic lasting for a full day of game time, it's incredibly frustrating! Other stuff doesn't matter, I can just revert to a Level 1 state, but this Delay Magic is too annoying! Being slower than skeletons means I'm bound to get hit first! Resting to heal wastes a ton of time, so frustrating!

However, feeling frustrated is a good thing! The more I experience frustration, the more it hints at the value of this Black Magic Book! I must get my hands on it!

...

Deserted island beach.

After swimming ashore, Da Fei found the nearest anemone pool, and with his first shot, got off to a great start!

—System Prompt: You obtained an incomplete information card of the Demonized Poisonous Anemone!

—Newbie Prompt: Incomplete information cards make it difficult to get full rewards from NPCs, continue to fight to collect more detailed intelligence.

Indeed, it was an anemone! So that's its name! How fittingly mighty! Da Fei excitedly checked the information card.

—Demonized Poisonous Anemone:

Creature Type: Small Plant;

Attack: ?

Defense: 0

Damage: ?

Life: 11

Attack Speed: Very Slow

Move Speed: 0

Special Skill: ?

Dropped Items: ?

Experience Points: 10

Hahaha, indeed, a slow build-up! Keep going! Da Fei killed dozens more, yet not a single thing happened.

What was going on? Could it be that because I hit them without getting hit back, I can't know the opponent's damage info? Probably so, after all, you'll never know the pain of a punch if you haven't been punched.

Should I, you know, take a hit and see?

Nah, that's just asking for trouble! Although judging by the health and experience, this anemone was of a second-level troop standard, plant monsters are notoriously tricky and defy logical comprehension, especially with "poisonous" in its name! Can a flimsy gunner like me endure that?

Besides, I managed to rack up 2000 experience while studying, and I'm almost at Level 4, so no slipping up now. Leveling up is the key. Plus, with a low level on the Reconnaissance Skill, the effect of sub-skills is also limited, so I'll wait until I level up and advance to Intermediate Reconnaissance Skill.

So Da Fei continued fighting. Finally, with a flash of gold, he leveled up!

—System Prompt: Congratulations! You've advanced to Level 4, your life +2, you gain 1 strategic attribute point, you gain 1 skill point, your command power +1.

Not much to say, upgrade the Reconnaissance Skill!

—System Prompt: You used 1 skill point and learned Intermediate Reconnaissance Skill!

—Intermediate Reconnaissance Skill: Your field of vision +40%, you can view enemy numbers, morale, and supply information. Has a certain probability of discovering hidden enemies within your vision range and can provide early warnings for attacking discovered hidden enemies, increasing the player's chance of dodging attacks.

At that moment,

—System Prompt: The Reconnaissance Skill warned you that a powerful hidden enemy is lurking nearby, stay alert!

A legendary hidden BOSS! Da Fei was stunned on the spot! The effect of the Intermediate Reconnaissance Skill was too immediate!

At this point, a large red frame constantly flashed on Da Fei's mini-map, indicating danger in that area! A world seen through the eyes of a Reconnaissance Skill player was indeed different from a regular player's eyes.

The question now was, what to do? Faced with a hidden BOSS, what could a weakling gunner like me do? But this question lingered in Da Fei's mind for only half a second before he shook his head and dismissed it!

Of course, find it out first! How else would I know if there's an opportunity? Just like how Da Fei often bought lottery tickets, he had never won, but as long as you bought one, you had a one in a million chance to change your fate. But if you never buy, you never have the chance to change your fate!