Chapter 12: The Sunken Ship Boss's Self-Evolution
Da Fei returned to the deserted island he had been away from for three days. The shipwreck deck was silent in the night, with no skeletons in sight. Where was everyone? Did they go into the cabin? Or log off to eat?
Without thinking too much, Da Fei activated Stealth; his whole body became blurry and dim, perfectly blending into the darkness of the night. Then he climbed up the ship using the ropes hanging over the side. The deck was littered with bone fragments. They must have gone into the cabin!
Da Fei quietly followed them into the cabin, passing along a hallway lined with zombie corpses. This was interesting! He had to take a look!
And after looking, what then?
Of course, he had to act according to circumstances and adapt to the situation! Anyone who has played as a rogue knows the thrill of spying on the opponent without being detected. As a rogue, the act of spying itself was an unparalleled pleasure.
Of course, the greatest joy for a rogue was likely the locked rooms lined on both sides of the passage. Just thinking about finding a Skill Book or a quest journal randomly in the wild, who knew what treasures might be hidden in these rooms? It meant that he had to learn the Lock Opening Skill!
"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" An angry curse followed by intense sounds of hacking came from ahead. Da Fei hurried forward for a look and was instantly shocked!
The BOSS! Blood Sea Wave was fighting fiercely against several zombies, covered in black smoke and green qi, battling the BOSS with all sorts of curses on him! Damn, he was ferocious!
Da Fei couldn't stay calm! Killing a weak BOSS on the wild beach made him a fortune; the BOSS in the shipwreck must be unimaginable! What was the BOSS holding? Could it be the Dark Magic Book containing all the Dark Skills? How could something like that appear in a newbie trial scenario? Was it the high-end reward for a God-level hero player's trial? This was an A-level strategic treasure! This Magic Book came with its own Magic Value, allowing even a total novice to cast spells without any Magic Power, Mana, or Magic Skills requirements!
For those who specialized in Dark Spells, this book might not be very valuable, but for others, it was like gaining an entire set of Dark Skills outright! This was especially important for players who couldn't use magic! Imagine a newbie acquiring a full set of Dark Magic early in the game, making leveling up and completing quests as easy as a rocket launch! Needless to say, if this book were put up for sale online, it would fetch at least tens of thousands!
At this moment, both Blood Sea Wave and the BOSS were running out of blood!
Damn, the BOSS was about to die! Damn! He missed an attack!
Da Fei made a decisive charge forward with his gun!
No need for words; the eternal topic in online games—kill! Loot!! Snatch the BOSS!!!
These were things he had done often in the past, so it didn't matter if his reputation was considered bad. He wouldn't argue that the other wasn't righteous first, nor would he talk about treating gaming addiction. Now gaming was his profession; when it came to matters affecting his future and destiny, he wouldn't hesitate at all! Success had always been built on the shoulders of failures, and no one cared about the reputation of the losers. Once he was thriving, then he would care about his reputation. As long as he got the book, that God-level hero would become insignificant; he wasn't afraid of any retaliation, no matter how many times they tried!
At this moment, Blood Sea Wave, completely unaware of the backstab coming, missed another attack! The crucial strike he pinned his hopes on missed again! It was over!
Blood Sea Wave's face instantly went pale!
Da Fei's excited heart immediately reached his throat!
Wait! Blood Sea Wave realized he had one last chance! Because the previous strike also missed, and the Ghost Void Body's special skill meant that it wouldn't miss three times. This meant the next strike would surely hit! Although he was out of health and couldn't withstand another hit, his attack speed gave him an edge; the next strike would definitely lead to mutual destruction, and the treasure would still be his! He wagered correctly this time! The victory was assured. The Magic Book would be his!
"Damn it!!!" A cold gleam flashed! Blood Sea Wave swung the final strike he was sure of!
Meanwhile, the zombies surrounding him swung their claws! Da Fei was just a step away from Blood Sea Wave's back!
Da Fei regretted so much, but it was too late. Even if he killed him now, he couldn't stop him from dying at the hands of the BOSS! And the BOSS's loot would naturally fly into the player's inventory! He was a step too late! He should have just charged straight onto the ship!
Just at that moment, the Magic Book flashed with black light, and the Resentful Spirit's body flashed with white light, popping up a bright green "+10!"
Resentful Spirit's special skill, Absorb Magic: The Resentful Spirit can absorb the enemy's Magic Value to restore its own Life Value, usable only once per battle. Though Blood Sea Wave had no Mana, the Magic Book did!
Blood Sea Wave's wild laughter was cut short! He struck the Resentful Spirit, dealing -5 damage and, in utter disbelief, was struck by the zombies that surrounded him. With a look of astonishment, he turned into white light and was gone!
Hahaha! Faced with the sudden change, Da Fei was overjoyed beyond measure!
Great! Died so well and saved me the trouble of losing reputation for killing him! My precious spear doesn't strike insignificant no-names, wahahaha! Nothing left to do but snatch the nearly dead BOSS!
Da Fei charged into the room with joy, stepped forward, raised his spear, ignored the zombies, and fiercely thrust at the BOSS!
——"-3!" Not dead yet, still 3 points of health, a follow-up strike! At that moment, black light flashed wildly from the Magic Book! The entire room filled with black smoke!
——System Prompt: You have obtained the complete information card of the Evil Spirit!
What was this? Evil Spirit?
The black light dissipated, and a fully healed Evil Spirit holding the Magic Book appeared in the room! Da Fei was stunned, his jaw dropping!
Damn, was this a joke? Full health was bad enough, but it even upgraded from a Resentful Spirit to an Evil Spirit!
——Evil Spirit: Attack 5, Defense 6, Damage 5-7, Life 25, Attack Speed 10, Speed 15, Command Value 2, Special Skill: No Entity, Absorb Magic, Self-Healing.
Evil Spirit, the elite form of the Level 3 Soldier in the Undead Race!
In the game, each race's troops of every level had three forms. The Level 3 Soldier of the Undead Race had forms: Ghost, Resentful Spirit, and Evil Spirit. The Ghost was a basic form with weaker stats; Resentful Spirit was an advanced form with an additional special skill, and the Evil Spirit was the elite form with yet another special skill.
Take Da Fei's example with the gunner of the Holy Hall; those born with 0 attack and 0 defense, clad in nothing, were in the basic form. The advanced form was called the Regular Gunner, with additional attack and defense. The elite form was called the Royal Gunner, donning mighty and shiny iron armor, completely different from the basic form where commoners held guns!
Elite troops were the power base of the NPC forces that control the old world. Ordinary players couldn't hire these from the Main City or barracks directly, nor easily train them in their own castles. Only when they reached a certain rank could they obtain them from NPCs. Because NPCs possessed elite forms of troops, players suffered great losses in troop types when fighting against NPC forces. In short, don't provoke NPC forces lightly; death was just losing experience, but losing all your troops meant spending Gold Coins to buy them back.
For every 10 levels players gained, or after acquiring a certain military rank, they obtained more tactical positions, and each tactical position could command one unit type. While the elite, advanced, and basic forms differed greatly, they were the same troop type, so a tactical position could mix these three forms.
Thus, for the Undead Race, the advanced form Rank 1 Soldier, Skeleton Archer, and the basic form Skeleton Warrior, both units with completely different functions, could mix in one tactical position, forming a highly efficient tactical configuration for melee and ranged combinations. Since ranged units had trouble hitting moving enemies, once locked in melee with them, the enemies became sitting ducks, a guaranteed hit. All players understood the benefits of combining melee and ranged attacks. Therefore, the Undead Race had the second most players globally, only behind the Human Race, because it was convenient to start with. As for why the Human Race was popular, no need to elaborate, it was easy to play and immersive.
...
Now, faced with the suddenly mutated full-health BOSS Evil Spirit, Da Fei snapped back to reality from brief shock—run! What else could he do but run?
Yet, as a seasoned player with years of gaming experience, Da Fei knew he mustn't run straight back the way he came; otherwise, he was sure to be cursed all over! He was no match for a God-level hero enduring an entire curse while facing a BOSS head-on!
Seeing the BOSS seemed to still be adjusting, Da Fei immediately turned a corner upon leaving the room, heading deeper into the ship's cabin.
...
Blood Sea Wave revived in the coconut grove on the deserted island, irritably waiting for the 10-minute weakness to pass. If he knew someone almost backstabbed him, he'd be even more irritated. The recent death knocked him back down to level 5, and the system took back the attribute points he gained from leveling, but at least the curses on him disappeared after dying, or else he'd smash the device right now!
Blood Sea Wave started to reflect painfully on the BOSS that could heal once. Clearly, this BOSS grew stronger as he did. He must find a suitable time to challenge it.
One reason he suffered this time was the zombies; although their attack was low and slow, it didn't mean he could ignore them, so the sub-skill Cleave of the Master-level Attack Skill was a must-learn.
——Cleave: Passive skill. When killing an enemy in front, the remaining momentum of the attack can also strike the adjacent units of the enemy in front. For example, if a 5 damage strike kills an enemy with only 1 Life Value remaining, the remaining 4 damage will cleave into that enemy's ally. The larger the troop type, the better the cleave effect. Many large troops come with a cleave skill. Prerequisite for learning: must have mastered Master-level Attack Skill.
A guaranteed graduation skill of Attack Skills! The benefit of this skill was that if he missed attacking the ghost BOSS, all his attack damage would cleave to the zombies beside the BOSS.
Which meant he needed to reach level 7 to save up a Skill Point.
Wait! Suddenly, Blood Sea Wave thought of a critical question, if I were better equipped, wouldn't I have taken it down earlier? Why was he so focused on this BOSS? There must be weapons and equipment in the shipwreck, right? Bypass it, charge into the cabin, and he'd surely find equipment, right? Get the gear, then come back for the BOSS!
"Damn it! Sorry for all my Blood Defense!" Suddenly realizing this, Blood Sea Wave got up angrily, eager to set out at once!