Chapter 21: The Carefree Squad

An arrow, as if bearing the weight of a thousand tons, tore through the air and pierced directly through the head of the Rampaging Elite Snow Wolf in the blink of an eye.

In that instant, a spray of blood shot out, and the Rampaging Elite Snow Wolf froze midair like time had stopped. Crimson numbers floated above its head:

"-245"

"-40"

With less than 200 HP remaining, the Rampaging Elite Snow Wolf was one-shot by Jiang Bai's arrow!

For a moment, silence fell across the battlefield. The godlike damage stunned everyone.

The trembling tail of the arrow was still visible in everyone's eyes. After a long moment of dumbfounded shock, Carefree Qingfeng swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as he slowly turned his head toward the man who saved them—Jiang Bai.

"So… so powerful…"

"No way, was that a one-shot kill!?"

The assassin, Carefree Xiaohei, was dumbstruck, staring blankly at the snow wolf's corpse.

"That damage… is insane…"

The beautiful little priestess locked her wide eyes on Jiang Bai, her expression one of uncontrollable astonishment.

"Thank you, brother."

Carefree Qingfeng walked over and gave Jiang Bai a deep bow. He knew exactly what that arrow meant—it meant none of them had to suffer the level loss from dying.

To them, losing a level was worse than death itself.

"No problem," Jiang Bai said, waving his hand nonchalantly.

Having grown up influenced by martial arts novels, Jiang Bai had always dreamed of being a righteous hero. That was what fueled his decision to act.

"This damage…"

The priestess, Carefree Mumu, seemed to have realized something. Her big eyes stared at Jiang Bai for a long moment before she suddenly gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "You… You're not Empty City's Old Dream, are you?"

"Empty City's Old Dream!?" Carefree Qingfeng jolted with surprise, his expression turning extremely complicated. "Is it really you?"

"That's not important," Jiang Bai replied, lifting his longbow and turning to leave. "You guys go ahead and keep grinding. I'm heading off to level up."

"Wait—brother, the loot! Half of it's yours!"

Carefree Qingfeng tried to stop him, but Jiang Bai was already determined to leave, and he couldn't hold him back.

Jiang Bai had glanced at the loot when the snow wolf died: two white-grade equipment pieces and an E-grade skill book. Nothing he cared about.

"Thanks again, brother!"

The Carefree Squad called after Jiang Bai's retreating figure.

Maybe his good deed had earned him some karma, because the remaining two portions of demon wolf blood dropped soon after. They only had to kill a bit more than ten wolves. One kill even triggered a [Plunder] effect, granting him +1 Agility.

"Hey now, this is going smoothly. I guess I really should do more good deeds."

Picking up the last bottle of demon wolf blood and seeing the quest counter reach 100/100, Jiang Bai decided to head deeper into the Misty Forest. Deep within was the Misty Valley, where the magic crystal ore could be found in a cavern.

But just as he was about to set off, he caught sight of a majestic and powerful figure from the corner of his eye.

It was hard to see clearly through the fog, but its silhouette was unmistakable—it was a snow wolf at least twice the size of a normal one.

"What the hell!?"

Jiang Bai froze. "Is that a boss? Am I already running into my second boss!?"

Holding his breath, he carefully stepped through the fog. Then, a silver-white snow wolf, majestic in appearance and drinking from a small stream, came into view.

[Demonic Snow Wolf Lord] (Rare Mutated Boss)Level: 10Attack: 240Defense: 120HP: 6000

Skills:

[Frost Breath]

[Frost Claw Slash]

[Rampaging Charge]

[Savage Bite]

"Holy crap! That's a seriously strong boss! And it's a rare mutated one!"

In Genesis, rare mutated bosses were significantly stronger than normal bosses and also dropped far better loot.

"These stats are pretty terrifying… not gonna be easy…"

Jiang Bai stared blankly at the boss and calculated his own stats.

Right now, he had 1020 HP, 80 defense, 330 base attack, and 46 attack strength—adding up to 376 total damage output.

"With the weapon's 40 points of true damage, that's 416. Subtracting the boss's defense, I can deal about 296 damage per hit. That's one-twentieth of its HP. But the boss hits me for around 140 damage per hit… I can't tank that for long."

After thinking for a while, Jiang Bai decided not to engage—he wasn't confident enough.

"Let's check the trading market first."

With over 30 gold coins in hand, Jiang Bai opened the trading market. Money was the best way to increase his strength. If needed, he'd fuse some ancient-grade gear.

First, he instantly bought 20 Large Health Potions. These instantly restored 100 HP and could be bought from shops for 100 copper each. However, savvy players would buy them and resell them on the market at three times the price or more.

Why would anyone buy overpriced potions if the shop sold them? Jiang Bai was the perfect example: out in the wild without potions, he could only rely on the market.

The 20 potions cost him nearly 1 gold coin. Then, seeing that equipment prices had dipped, he quickly bought 16 level-5 white necklaces, spending 17 gold coins in total!

Saying it didn't hurt would be a lie—but Jiang Bai believed the rewards from killing this wolf boss would far exceed that 17-gold investment.

Right in front of the Wolf Lord, Jiang Bai fused the necklaces and created a new piece of ancient-grade gear:

[Brutal Deathshadow Pendant] (Ancient)

Physical Attack: +30

Agility: +7

Strength: +4

Agility: +5

[Critical]: +3% Critical Chance[Brutality]: +50% Critical Damage

"Damn! Dual primary stats!?"

Jiang Bai was stunned by the necklace's attributes.

In most epic gear, you'd get two additional attributes and one passive effect. The attributes would never repeat—like one Strength, one Agility, or one Intelligence, one Spirit—always including your class's main stat.

But ancient-grade gear changed everything. You'd get three attributes, and the third could be anything—even flat stats or special effects.

For example, one of Jiang Bai's ancient robes added +200 HP as the third stat. His weapon added +2% critical chance—both fantastic bonuses.

But the ultimate was dual primary stat gear. As the name implies, the third stat matched the main attribute, allowing players to stack their main stats even faster. This was rare even among ancient-grade equipment.

The chance of generating such gear was incredibly low. Once it appeared, it usually fetched sky-high prices.

"Another crit boost! And bonus crit damage!?"

"This means I deal 2.5x damage on a crit!"

After equipping the pendant, Jiang Bai's base attack rose to 381, and his attack strength increased to 50—making a total of 430 attack power.

"Let's give it a shot."

Jiang Bai's eyes locked onto the Snow Wolf Lord.