Hunt the wild wolves

*Ding* – "The item you listed in the auction house has been purchased by another player. The transaction amount is 30,000 copper coins. After a 4,500 copper coin handling fee, the remaining 25,500 copper coins have been transferred to your linked bank account."

"Holy crap, the price went up?" Wu Shaochen exclaimed, stunned as he opened the transaction record. "This doesn't make sense!" Logically, the second piece of equipment shouldn't be worth more than the first, especially since the first was a weapon—so why had the price increased?

Confused, he quickly checked his bank balance, and seeing 43,900 copper coins, he couldn't help but grin. "I've never seen this much money in my life... It feels like a dream."

"Boom!"

Just as Wu Shaochen was basking in his newfound wealth, he was suddenly struck, crashing into a tree and dazed for a moment, his vision flashing with stars.

-90

"Dammit, an ambush? You coward! You little piece of trash!" Wu Shaochen cursed, enraged. He had been so lost in his thoughts about the money that he had forgotten he was still fighting monsters. After so many wild boars, he had finally experienced the brutal charge firsthand.

While Wu Shaochen was stunned, the boar rammed into him again.

-55

Fortunately, Wu Shaochen's health had reached 230. At level 3, he would've been back in town by now, but at this point, it was just a small setback.

He quickly retaliated, striking the boar with a sword before running away, muttering curses under his breath. "That really hurt! A 5% pain sensitivity, and it feels like I've been hit in the kidneys!" He glared at the boar following him. "You're dead."

After enduring Wu Shaochen's poison and insults for two more minutes, the boar finally fell. It dropped two copper coins, a tusk, and a piece of equipment.

"Wow, that drop came quickly. Guess it's my reward," Wu Shaochen remarked as he picked up the item.

[Wild Boar Leather Pants] 

Quality: Common 

Health +40 

Defense +2 

Requirements: None

Without hesitation, he equipped the pants. His health rose to 270, his defense to 15, and with his newly acquired gear, he felt more prepared. 

"Just one more defensive item, and I'll be set to take on the wild wolves," he thought.

Wu Shaochen examined his stats again:

Name: Chén Fēng 

Level: 4 

Health: 270 

Mana: 90 

Physical Attack: 12 

Magical Attack: 10 

Physical Defense: 17 

Magical Defense: 5 

Movement Speed: 28 

Experience: 1580/2000 

Strength: 5 

Intelligence: 5 

Constitution: 5 

Root Bone: 5 

Spirit: 5 

Agility: 25 

Skills: Insight 

Talent: Source of Deadly Poison: Deals 16 true damage per second to the target for 60 seconds, stacking 1 layer.

Equipment: 

[Wooden Sword] (Beginner Equipment): Physical Attack +2 

[Wild Boar Leather Armor] (Common): Health +40, Defense +2 

[Canvas Shoes] (Common): Speed +3, Defense +2 

[Wild Boar Leather Helmet] (Common): Health +30, Defense +3 

[Wild Boar Belt] (Common): Health +30, Defense +3 

[Wild Boar Leather Pants] (Common): Health +40, Defense +2

The defensive set was nearly complete—too bad it wasn't a full set. It seemed that wild boars didn't drop jewelry, but that didn't matter to Wu Shaochen. For him, defense was far more important than attack.

Looking at his current attributes, Wu Shaochen furrowed his brow. He wasn't quite ready to face the wild wolves yet. The defensive gear was equipped, but to improve further, he would need to level up, though that didn't seem particularly worthwhile at the moment.

Wu Shaochen calculated again. The wild wolves had 4000 health, and with his poison damage at 16 per second, he'd need five layers of poison to defeat one. That meant taking five hits, and while regular attacks weren't a problem—he would only take 98 damage after factoring in his defense—skills could be dangerous, especially if they caused bleeding. In that case, he wouldn't start healing until ten seconds after the bleeding ended, making it necessary to rely on potions.

He looked at the six small red potions in his inventory and made up his mind. "Let's do this. Worst case, I'll use some potions. If I can kill one, it'll be worth it. Even a small increase in talent is valuable."

With that decision, Wu Shaochen set off toward the wild wolf area. He crossed the wild boar forest and soon arrived at the wild wolf plains, feeling uneasy at the sight of so many wolves.

Pulling monsters was an art, as it was hard to predict their aggro range. Drawing just one wolf out was a challenge, but Wu Shaochen's speed was significantly higher than the wolves', so if things went wrong, he could always run back to the boar forest, where the wolves would lose interest once they left their territory.

Slowly, he approached a group of wolves, hoping to pull one. As he entered the aggro range, four or five wolves immediately charged toward him.

"Damn, so many!" Wu Shaochen cursed and quickly ran back to the boar forest. After a while, the wolves returned slowly to their original positions.

For the next ten minutes, Wu Shaochen repeated the process, until, by sheer luck, one lone wolf followed him out of the group. He smiled a wicked smile as the wolf approached, raising his sword.

-1 

-16

Perhaps the wolf sensed the insult in Wu Shaochen's smile, for it immediately lunged at him, biting him fiercely.

-155

*Ding* – "You have been affected by the bleeding effect, losing 5 health per second for 10 seconds."

"Damn it..." Wu Shaochen swore, frustrated by his bad luck. He quickly ran away, leading the wolf in circles while drinking one of his red potions, cringing at the loss. The drop rate was so low, and using potions meant losing a valuable resource.

Timing his next strike, Wu Shaochen attacked the wolf just before the poison wore off. The wolf struck back, but luckily it was only a normal attack, not a skill. Wu Shaochen breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, his luck didn't last long. On the third attack, he was bitten again, and, to his dismay, the bleeding effect triggered once more.

...

"Isn't the bleeding effect only supposed to trigger 50% of the time? Why am I always the one it hits?" Wu Shaochen gritted his teeth and drank another potion. Using two potions for a single wolf was hardly a good trade.

On the fourth attack, he managed to avoid the bleeding effect, but the fifth attack almost cost him again. Fortunately, it didn't trigger the bleeding, and if it had, he could have just waited for it to end.

Soon enough, the first wild wolf collapsed, its body lying lifeless on the ground.

*Ding* – "You have killed the [Wild Wolf], gaining 40 experience points. As the monster was 5 levels above you, you gain an additional 20 experience points."

*Ding* – "Talent feature triggered, poison damage increased by 1 point."

It had been a while since Wu Shaochen heard that prompt, and he couldn't help but feel nostalgic. Despite the two potions he'd consumed, hearing that sound made it all worthwhile.

As he examined the wolf's corpse, he was pleased to find it had dropped four copper coins and a wolf claw, similar to the wild boar tusk. "I'll check if there are any quests to turn this in when I return to the village."

However, the experience from the wild wolf was higher than expected. With just six more wolves, he would level up again, but that also meant he would only have a few more points to allocate to his talent. It was annoying that the experience was so high.

He continued his monster-pulling journey. Fortunately, the previous wolves had been drawn away, creating a gap, and he was able to pull out another wolf easily.

After his talent reached 17 points, he only needed to attack four times to defeat a wild wolf, saving himself one attack. Sadly, Wu Shaochen's luck didn't improve, and three of his attacks were skills, two of which triggered bleeding. With a sigh, he drank two more potions, cursing the wolves under his breath.

As the wolf finally fell, his talent increased again, reaching 18 points. However, Wu Shaochen glanced at the two potions left in his inventory and decided not to continue fighting. If three out of four attacks were skill-based with bleeding, he'd be in serious trouble. Though the chances were low, Wu Shaochen felt the mastermind had it out for him.

"Forget it, I'll head back to the village and buy some more potions. I'm done with the boars for now—time to grind the wolves. With over 200 copper coins in my bag, I'll stock up and be ready," he thought, planning his next steps.