Wild Boar Equipment
Ethan Carter spent over an hour killing 38 Wild Boars, raising his level to 4. He gained 20 Health points and 10 Mana points, allocating all his attribute points to Agility. During this time, he finally obtained another piece of equipment—a helmet.
[Wild Boar Leather Helmet]
Quality: White
Health +30
Defense +3
Equipment Requirement: None
In Oracle, clothing, pants, belts, and helmets belong to defensive equipment, primarily increasing Health and Defense. Weapons, rings, bracelets, and necklaces are offensive equipment, primarily increasing Strength and Critical Strike. Shoes mainly increase Movement Speed. Of course, this is relative, not absolute.
Ethan decided to equip the helmet directly. Although selling these pieces of equipment would undoubtedly earn him a substantial amount of money, thinking of the Wild Boar King, he decided to arm himself first, hoping to defeat it sooner for a significant reward.
After equipping the helmet, Ethan's Health reached 200, Defense reached 12 points, and Agility reached 25 points. Combined with his shoes, his Movement Speed reached 28 points.
"Once I level up to 33, my speed will surpass the Wild Boar King's. Then I can consider taking it down." Ethan mused to himself.
With his current attributes, should he fight the Gray Wolves? It would be a good opportunity to grind talents. As long as there's a possibility, he couldn't give up on grinding talents, after all, it's the core to reaching the pinnacle of his life.
After some thought, he shook his head. The Gray Wolves' skills include 150% Attack, dealing up to 172 damage. Subtracting his Defense, that's still 160 damage. Their bleeding effect deals 50 damage, which can kill him. It's better to continue equipping himself first.
Looking at his experience, 4/2000, fighting level 6 Wild Boars at level 4 grants a 20% experience bonus. That means killing one Wild Boar gives 24 experience points. He needs to kill 84 Wild Boars to level up. As long as he can obtain two more defensive pieces before leveling up, he might be able to tackle the Gray Wolves. Thus, Ethan had no choice but to continue grinding Wild Boars.
Meanwhile, in the Level 2 Goat Area, several groups of players were grinding level 2 Goats.
"Nathan, fall back and heal. Let Harold take the front, others continue attacking." Jeremy calmly directed the battle. Soon, the Goat was defeated by the combined efforts of the group.
"Jeremy, the monster finally dropped equipment!!" Harold, a handsome and sunny young man, excitedly grabbed a helmet and exclaimed.
"Phew… Finally got a piece of equipment." Jeremy sighed with relief. They had killed over thirty Goats, and despite being seasoned players who had dominated many online games, this was their first time struggling so much. The difficulty of this game was making even gaming experts doubt themselves.
"Why are the attributes so poor?" Harold looked at the helmet in front of him with frustration.
"What attributes?" Jeremy asked.
"Health +10, Defense +10." Harold replied, speechless.
"Probably, the helmet's attributes are just lower. Since it increases Health and Defense, Harold, you should equip it directly. We'll continue as long as we can obtain equipment. Eventually, we'll find better gear." Jeremy responded calmly.
Other squads were in much worse conditions compared to Jeremy's team. Their operations and awareness were different, making it too challenging to kill level 2 Goats. They often witnessed death flashes.
Ethan Carter spent over an hour killing a total of 32 Wild Boars and finally obtained another piece of equipment.
[Wild Boar Leather Belt]
Quality: White
Health +30
Defense +3
Equipment Requirement: None
After equipping the belt, his Health reached 230 points, Defense reached 15 points. "Not bad. Just need to equip one more defensive piece, and I can go tackle the Gray Wolves." Ethan thought.
He glanced at the three small red potions in his backpack. Each small potion restores 10 Health points per second for 10 seconds when consumed. Even if he wasted some potions, he needed to grind a few more talents. Otherwise, by level 5, he'd have to hunt level 10 monsters for talents, which would be even more difficult. He realized that the higher the monster level, the greater the attribute differences per level.
"Let's continue grinding…"
He spent another hour killing 28 Wild Boars and obtained another piece of equipment. However, upon picking it up, he was frustrated—it was a Wild Boar Leather Armor that he already owned.
"Ah, I'll have to list it on the auction house. But thinking about the impending influx of money eases my frustration."
He listed the Wild Boar Leather Armor on the auction house, following his usual method: bidding mode, 10-minute bidding time, anonymous listing to avoid being spammed in private messages. Staying low-key and quietly making money was the way to go.
With Ethan Carter's Wild Boar Leather Armor listed, the entire novice village became active again, with various factions competing in bidding.
At this moment, Jeremy looked at the attributes of the Wild Boar Leather Armor in the auction house with a frown.
"What's wrong? Jeremy, is there a problem with this equipment?" Harold asked.
"What are the attributes of your helmet?" Jeremy inquired.
"Health +10, Defense +10." Harold replied.
"Jake, what are the attributes of the shoes we just obtained?" Jeremy asked Nathan, who was expressionless.
"Movement Speed +1, Defense +1." Jake responded.
As Jeremy spoke, the others quickly realized. As gaming experts, their understanding of the game far exceeded that of ordinary players.
"All our equipment attributes are +2, while the equipment in the auction house has +6 attributes, including the previous Pig-Slaying Knife, which has +6 Strength. These two pieces of equipment must come from the same type of monster, meaning the same person listed them on the auction house. This level of attribute equipment couldn't have been dropped by hunting rabbits; according to the calculations, it's likely equipment dropped by level 6 monsters." Jeremy said gravely.
"What are you talking about, a level 6 monster? We've been brutally beaten by level 2 monsters. How can you tell someone can kill level 6 monsters?" Harold exclaimed incredulously.
"Exactly, unless they're using hacks, how is it possible for someone to kill level 6 monsters? Given the nature of this game, level 6 monsters can probably easily one-shot us." Liam interjected.
"This game probably doesn't have hacks. Jake, you're fast. Go check if there are any Wild Boar monsters around. Look at their levels and attributes. The name of this equipment suggests it was dropped by Wild Boars. Head to the left at the upcoming three-way junction. If it's Wild Boars, they're most likely in the left forest." Nathan instructed.
"Alright."
On the other side, The Woman in White, holding the freshly obtained clothing, looked thoughtfully at the equipment listed in the auction house. She had initially thought that the attributes of white equipment in the early game were similar, but now realized she underestimated the person who listed the equipment. This person's white equipment certainly wasn't dropped by hunting level 1-2 monsters.
"Uncle Lee, can you help me find any Wild Boar monsters? Check their attributes and let me know." The Woman in White said to the middle-aged man behind her.
"Yes, Miss." Uncle Lee responded.
Jake quickly returned to the group, looking serious as he shared the attributes of the Wild Boar monsters he had found using Insight.
"Damn, 2000 Health, 70 Attack, Defense up to 30 points. Are you telling me someone can kill these at our current level?" Harold exclaimed exaggeratedly.
Jeremy remained silent. If someone could kill monsters with such attributes, even he would suspect they're using hacks. These attribute differences were beyond what mere skill and awareness could overcome.
"Forget it. Since we're in the same novice village, we'll eventually encounter them. Then we'll see what tricks they have up their sleeves. Since this equipment was likely dropped by level 6 monsters, which we currently can't kill, we'll see if we can take it down when we do. A +6 attribute increase is still significant." Jeremy said quietly.
On the other side, The Woman in White looked at the attributes of the Wild Boars shared by Uncle Lee, remained silent for a long time, and finally said, "Do your best to obtain this equipment."
At this moment, Bobby Smith, who had raised his bid to $20,000, mocked the situation as no one else competed with him. "Hmph, only $20,000 and no one is bidding? Just poor folks."
As the bidding time was about to end, Bobby calmly waited for the transaction success notification. Suddenly, in the final second, two bids appeared simultaneously—one for $25,000 and another for $30,000. The player who bid $30,000 won the auction.
"Damn, someone beat me to it!" Bobby gasped in frustration.
Holding the Wild Boar Leather Armor, Harold admired, "Jeremy, you're still the smartest. You anticipated that someone would think like us. I was originally going to bid $21,000. If someone does that, this equipment would be out of my reach."
"Ding, auction failed. The amount has been refunded to your bound bank account."
Upon hearing the system notification, The Woman in White frowned. She had thought that by increasing her bid by $5,000 in the last second, she could secure the equipment, but someone had preempted her strategy.