“Wait, what’s this?”
After picking up the [Door-Panel Greatshield], Liu Xuan suddenly noticed a piece of black leather glowing with blue light, along with something that looked like a scroll, both of them pressed underneath it.
Could it be that there really was another ten yuan under the first ten?
He picked up the leather and examined it.
[Thick Porcupine Hide (Rare Material): Give a certain amount of this material to a leatherworker, and they can craft a piece of Fine-quality armor for any body slot. Each person can equip only one piece of this armor.]
After reading the material’s description, Liu Xuan immediately understood.
Since the Lumberyard had been converted into a five-man dungeon, it could probably be farmed repeatedly in the future. Once they accumulated enough [Thick Porcupine Hide], they could take it to an NPC and have a piece of [Fine]-quality equipment crafted.
Aside from the first-clear rewards he had obtained this time, the [Porcupine Chieftain]’s two weapons would probably be extremely difficult to obtain on subsequent runs of the five-man dungeon.
The drop rate was definitely going to be tiny.
After all, everyone had already experienced how low the equipment drop rates were on this battlefield.
They were low enough to make a person curse.
So for ordinary people, obtaining Fine-quality equipment would probably mainly depend on repeatedly running dungeons, gathering materials, and having NPCs craft it for them.
Next was the skill scroll.
[Boar’s Charge: Consume 10 mana to charge at an enemy within 30 meters, knocking back enemies along the path and stunning the target for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 20 seconds.]
This should be the skill the boss had used earlier.
When Liu Xuan had explored the Novice Village, he had seen that soldiers also possessed a skill called [Charge]. However, it was considerably weaker than this one. It had neither the knockback nor the stun effect, and its range was shorter as well.
Although he had already expected as much, Liu Xuan still tried using the scroll.
[You cannot learn this skill.]
All right. As expected, he couldn’t learn active skills.
There was no reason to be disappointed. His passive abilities alone were already more than strong enough.
Liu Xuan began considering where to use his equipment upgrade opportunity.
Leaving aside those white-quality items that only provided armor, he currently had the [Rare]-quality [Lucky Rabbit’s Foot] necklace and the [Hide Armor] he had just obtained.
Then there were the [Fine]-quality items, the newly acquired [Great Sawblade] and [Door-Panel Greatshield].
After thinking it over, Liu Xuan decided that the equipment upgrade could only be used on equipment of Fine quality or below. Ultimately, the increase would be limited.
Take the [Great Sawblade], for example. It already increased Strength, and its special effect also increased Strength. After its quality was raised, it would probably just provide a little more of the same attribute.
And it wouldn’t be much more, because the equipment itself was too low-level.
But saving the upgrade opportunity for later didn’t make much sense either.
If he obtained a level-five item today and couldn’t bear to upgrade it, then when he obtained a level-fifty item in the future, he probably still wouldn’t be willing to upgrade that one.
He might as well use it on a piece of equipment with a special effect, like the [Lucky Rabbit’s Foot].
Liu Xuan had a feeling that he could wear this item until the day he died.
An increased equipment drop rate was far more valuable than some transitional piece of gear, wasn’t it?
Having made up his mind, he stopped hesitating and used the upgrade opportunity on the [Lucky Rabbit’s Foot].
[Lucky Rabbit’s Foot (Necklace)]
Quality: Rare → Fine
Level Requirement: Level 3
Effect: Equipment drop rate from ordinary enemies increased by +1% → +3%.
Liu Xuan’s eyes lit up.
Although the increase from 1% to 3% didn’t seem like much, most of the time on this battlefield was spent farming monsters and leveling up. He often killed thousands of monsters at a time.
An extra 2% meant he might obtain twenty more pieces of equipment.
After completing the upgrade, Liu Xuan happily put on the necklace. At that moment, another announcement rang out.
[Huaxia Battlefield No. 2468 Announcement]
[The Novice Village Lumberyard has been conquered. Other warriors on this battlefield may no longer participate in the Lumberyard battle in Campaign Mode.]
[This area will be converted into a simplified five-man dungeon.]
This announcement was not broadcast worldwide. It was limited to Huaxia Battlefield No. 2468.
As before, Liu Xuan also received a personal announcement shortly afterward.
[Phase Two Campaign: Orchid River Outpost. The first step, the Battle of the Lumberyard, has been completed.]
[You are temporarily ahead of the Ascension Mastermind’s projected estimate for humanity on Earth by 404%. Rewards will be calculated together after the campaign concludes.]
The announcement appeared without increasing his resurrection probability, leaving Liu Xuan somewhat disappointed, though he wasn’t surprised.
When the village chief had given him the main quest, he had said that the objective was to establish an outpost. Naturally, the rewards would only be calculated once the entire objective was complete.
It was just that Liu Xuan found the 404% score unacceptable.
The attributes of the [Bouncing Rabbits] in the Novice Village were far too low. Based on the projection, five thousand people from a single battlefield could theoretically charge in at level one and conquer the area in a relatively short time, regardless of casualties.
That was why he could accept the 457% score he had received last time.
But the Lumberyard was a true hard nut to crack. At low levels, people couldn’t even make it through the three monster zones in the middle—the rats, monkeys, and wolves—let alone deal with those extraordinarily powerful porcupine-men.
So why was his score lower than it had been in the Novice Village?
Never mind the several hours he had spent farming attributes. If you brought in anyone else, it might take them several hours just to get one person to level six. And they still wanted to conquer the Lumberyard?
“Could there be something I’ve overlooked?”
Liu Xuan racked his brains but couldn’t figure it out.
The so-called Ascension Mastermind calculated the theoretically fastest possible speed. But based on the information he had, ordinary humans on Earth were completely incapable of reaching that theoretical pace.
That left only one possibility: the Novice Village contained information that Liu Xuan knew nothing about.
Still, the battle was already over. There was no point dwelling on it.
After sorting through his loot, it was time to get rid of some of the useless items.
Liu Xuan sent Zhang Meng another message.
“Old Zhang, are you still in the Novice Village?”
At that moment, Zhang Meng was outside the Novice Village, miserably farming rabbits with a group of soldiers.
Just as Liu Xuan had expected, no one was stupid. After arriving at the Novice Village and seeing the attributes of the [Bouncing Rabbits], they had immediately thought of forming an all-Agility ranged party.
As soldiers, Zhang Meng and the others could only painfully form a melee party. They would hack down one group, stop to recover their health, and then move on to the next.
Their efficiency was, to put it mildly, dreadful.
They were currently recovering on the spot. Potions cost ten copper coins each, which was far too expensive for them. They couldn’t afford to drink them.
They would rather save that money to craft equipment. Thanks to the large quantities of materials Liu Xuan had provided, people on their battlefield could now craft a piece of equipment at an NPC for just over twenty copper coins, using materials plus a small payment.
Armor was simply too valuable right now. As long as they put on several more pieces and went to fight the low-damage [Bouncing Rabbits], they would basically only lose a tiny amount of health.
So everyone was saving their money and holding out for equipment.
As Zhang Meng and the others rested, they were also discussing the announcement about the Lumberyard.
“Why didn’t we get an experience reward this time? Thanks to the previous experience bonus, we shot up to level three. Now it feels so slow. It takes an absurd amount of experience to go from level three to level four.”
“I talked to the village chief before. The announcement said that the Battle of the Lumberyard was only a prerequisite for establishing the outpost. We probably won’t receive the rewards until the outpost has been established.”
“Lumberyard? What’s that?”
“I saw people saying in the chat channel that the rats in the woods to the west are disgusting. Even after reaching Level 4, it’s best not to go there. You’re better off grinding rabbits for a while longer—the low-level monsters are much easier to deal with.”
“The rats are probably just the monsters around the outskirts, right? I suspect everything around the lumberyard is Level 6 or higher.”
“Tsk, tsk. We’re still grinding Level 3 monsters, while someone else is already taking on Level 6 ones.”
“It’s probably that big shot from before. Man, that guy’s incredible!”
“Hopefully the big shot keeps it up and helps carry us Soldier-class players. Damn, things get way too painful after Level 3. I’m just waiting for the future experience bonus.”
Listening to his teammates’ discussion, Zhang Meng couldn’t help sighing inwardly. Liu Xuan was as strong as ever—just like in all those games they had played before.
Ordinary people simply couldn’t imagine how he managed it.
Just then, Zhang Meng suddenly received a message from Liu Xuan. He froze for a moment.
He was asking if I was in the Novice Village?
He immediately realized what was going on. Liu Xuan wanted him to help sell some items again.
Damn it, I’m a top-tier professional gamer, yet I’ve actually been reduced to a human mailbox?
Zhang Meng quickly replied, “Brother Liu, I’m right at the village entrance. I can head back anytime! (●'◡'●)”