Chen Lang wasn't surprised that he could dodge the Poison Bee's attack. He had experienced similar situations when fighting Turtles.
Of course, that was largely due to the Turtle's slow speed.
"Die for me!"
Without holding back, Chen Lang stabbed the Poison Bee right in the eye!
"-32"
A blood-red number floated up, and Chen Lang was delighted—a critical hit!
"The Poison Bee's weakness is its eyes!"
"Buzz buzz!"
With its eyes injured, the Poison Bee became enraged, its tail twitching, a venomous stinger glinting.
"I was waiting for you!"
In a split second, Chen Lang swiftly sidestepped to the Poison Bee's rear and instantly launched a [Backstab], thrusting towards its abdomen!
"-23"
A decent damage number appeared, simultaneously interrupting the Poison Bee's skill.
"Just as I thought!"
Chen Lang couldn't help but feel pleased.
[Backstab] not only had a damage bonus but also silenced the target for a second, perfectly interrupting the Poison Bee's skill.
(Silence: Unable to use skills)
With its skill interrupted, the Poison Bee was momentarily stunned, and Chen Lang wouldn't miss this opportunity. He swung his dagger twice more, viciously stabbing the Poison Bee's eyes!
"-30"
"-16"
The second stab was slightly off, missing a critical hit.
After all, the Poison Bee wasn't like the Mountain Chicken or Turtle, with a long neck and slow speed. Its eyes were small, making it hard to hit the target every time.
However, Chen Lang was quite satisfied. He hadn't lost any health and had already taken out two-fifths of the Poison Bee's health bar. It was quite impressive.
"Hiss!"
"-14"
But the next moment, a sharp pain shot through Chen Lang's forehead, instantly losing a sixth of his health.
"Watch me skin you alive!"
Having found the Poison Bee's weakness and knowing that [Backstab] could interrupt its skills, Chen Lang felt confident. He swung his dagger repeatedly, engaging in a fierce battle with the Poison Bee.
A minute and a half later.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, player, for killing the [Poison Bee], gaining 20 experience points."
"Not bad."
Chen Lang's health bar was still around one-fifth, not too dangerous. He kicked the Poison Bee's corpse aside, revealing a small pile of copper coins and a sharp stinger underneath.
"As expected from a skill user, quite generous!"
Chen Lang collected the copper coins, totaling seventeen, then picked up the stinger.
[Poison Bee Stinger] (Quest Item)
Chen Lang stored the stinger in his backpack, sat down to rest for a few minutes, and once his health bar recovered, he went back to hunting Poison Bees.
By eleven o'clock at night.
After nearly three hours of fighting, Chen Lang finally killed enough Poison Bees to complete the Village Chief's task.
At first, the kills were challenging, and he failed to interrupt the Poison Bee's skills several times, almost dying. But as time went on, Chen Lang's movements and attacks became more precise, consistently interrupting skills, and eventually, he could effortlessly kill the Poison Bees.
Checking his experience bar, he needed 72 more points to level up. Chen Lang pondered for a moment, not in a hurry to leave. He planned to kill a few more Poison Bees to reach level 3, then return to town to hand in the quest at midnight and log off to sleep.
Tianyan had a protection mechanism where experience gained from killing monsters between midnight and 6 AM was halved, making it quite unprofitable.
In the dim depths of the forest, two eerie lights flickered, and Chen Lang's heart skipped a beat.
"This is a game, this is a game..."
Chen Lang swallowed hard, repeatedly reminding himself, and after a moment, he bravely took a few steps forward.
With the faint moonlight, Chen Lang vaguely saw what it was.
A colorful Poison Bee, similar to the others but much larger, with glowing eyes.
"Could it be a Boss?"
Chen Lang took a deep breath and cast an Insight Art.
[Poison Bee King] (Boss)
Level: 3
Attack: 25
Defense: 12
Health: 2000
Skills: Stinger, Venom.
...
"How do I fight this..."
Looking at the Poison Bee King, Chen Lang felt helpless.
It was indeed a Boss, but he really couldn't beat it, not a chance.
The Poison Bee King's attack and defense were acceptable, only 5 and 2 points higher than a regular Poison Bee, but its health was ridiculously high at 2000 points, and it had two skills!
Even a Five-Man Party would find it hard to take down this guy!
But leaving just like that, Chen Lang was truly unwilling.
Bosses had a high drop rate, especially the first kill, which was guaranteed to drop equipment.
If he left now, by tomorrow, someone else might have taken it. There were plenty of night owls at this stage.
"Fuck it, let's do it!"
After hesitating for a long time, Chen Lang gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, choosing to return to town on the spot.
With a flash of white light, Chen Lang reappeared in the Novice Village Plaza.
He quickly found the White-Bearded Village Chief.
"Old man, I've completed the task, give me my reward!"
Chen Lang handed over the 20 Poison Bee Stingers to the White-Bearded Village Chief.
"Oh, I didn't expect you to actually complete it, not bad, not bad."
The White-Bearded Village Chief took the Poison Bee Stingers, looking at Chen Lang with some surprise.
"Sir, I'm in a hurry, please give me the reward quickly."
Chen Lang said quickly.
He didn't have time to exchange pleasantries with the White-Bearded Village Chief.
"Alright, young warrior, here is your reward."
"Ding!"
[System Alert: Congratulations on completing the quest (Collect Poison Bee Stingers), gaining 200 experience points]
Swish!
A golden light flashed, and Chen Lang successfully reached level 3.
"Thank you, sir, goodbye!"
Chen Lang thanked him, then quickly ran to the village's only Blacksmith Shop.
Chen Lang checked them out, and sure enough, there was nothing good, and damn expensive too.
A Common dagger with 4-6 attack was priced at 10 Silver Coins, an absolute rip-off!
He had only managed to save up 6 Silver Coins after killing so many monsters.
(1 Gold Coin = 100 Silver Coins = 10,000 Copper Coins)
Cursing under his breath, Chen Lang ran to the Tailor Shop.
It was just as much of a rip-off.
But to defeat the Poison Bee King, Chen Lang had no choice but to be a sucker.
After careful selection, Chen Lang spent 5 Silver Coins on a pair of Cloth Shoes and a set of Bracers.
[Cloth Shoes]
Quality: Common
Defense: +2
Agility: +1
Required Level: 1
[Worn Bracers] (Leather Armor)
Quality: Common
Defense: +2
Constitution: +1
Required Level: 1
Putting on the Cloth Shoes and Bracers, Chen Lang allocated 5 free attribute points, not putting them all into Strength this time, but adding 1 point to Constitution.
His health was just 10 points short of 100, so he added a point to Constitution. (1 Constitution = 1 Defense + 10 Health)
After doing all this, Chen Lang opened his attribute panel, seeing a significant improvement.
ID: Tianya Langzi (Apprentice Assassin)
Level: 3 (128/1000)
Attack: 23-24
Defense: 20
Health: 100
Mana: 130
Attack Speed: 110%
Movement Speed: 110%
Strength: 22
Intelligence: 3
Constitution: 7
Agility: 10
Luck: 0
Insight: 0
Skills:
[Insight Art]: Can probe information on targets up to 10 levels higher than oneself.
[Assault] (Assassin Novice Skill, non-upgradable): Launches a fierce attack on the target, dealing 120% damage. (Cooldown: 10s) (Mana Cost: 5 points)
[Backstab] (B Grade) (lv2): Launches an attack from behind the target, dealing 130% damage and silencing the target for one second. (Cooldown: 15s) (Mana Cost: 10 points)
...