Wu Shaochen, wary of the Wild Boar's Savage Charge, led it around the large trees. Sure enough, after a dozen seconds, the boar, unable to catch up with the tiny human before it, stopped and scraped its front hoof on the ground before charging at Wu Shaochen.
Keeping a close eye on the boar, Wu Shaochen swiftly sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the attack.
"Phew... that was close..." Wu Shaochen exhaled, realizing the difficulty wasn't too high. The boar had a noticeable wind-up before using its skill, scraping its hoof twice. As long as he wasn't directly in front of it and moved quickly, it was relatively easy to dodge. After all, a high-damage skill with displacement and stun would be too difficult to handle without a wind-up.
After charging past Wu Shaochen, the boar quickly halted, paused for about a second, then turned around to chase him again.
Rubbing his chin, Wu Shaochen's eyes gleamed as he continued to lead the boar in circles. When the boar used its skill again, he easily dodged and, during the boar's one-second pause, swiftly struck its rear with his sword before retreating. By the time the boar turned around, Wu Shaochen had already moved two body lengths away.
It worked. This way, he didn't have to worry about the boar regenerating health when the poison wore off, as each application of poison refreshed the poisoned duration. There was also no need to fear it suddenly using a skill when he moved in for the final blow.
After a few minutes, the boar was nearly dead. Just as he was about to finish it off, another boar suddenly burst out from a nearby bush and charged at Wu Shaochen without hesitation.
"Damn, are you kidding me?" Wu Shaochen narrowly dodged. He knew there were many boars around, so he kept the boar circling here, not daring to go too far. He didn't expect another boar to find him; aggressive monsters were truly annoying.
Frowning, he knew he should leave decisively now. Each boar could kill him with a single hit. But seeing the boar that only needed one more strike to die, Wu Shaochen was reluctant to leave just like that.
Licking his lips, Wu Shaochen stared sharply at the two boars following him. "Let's try dancing on the edge of a knife." His talent would likely lead to more thrilling situations like this in the future, so it was better to adapt early.
Leading the two boars in circles, he knew he couldn't go in for the final strike now, or he'd be gored by both boars. He had to slowly wait for an opportunity.
Suddenly, the nearly dead boar scraped its hoof and charged at him. Wu Shaochen calmly dodged, ready to strike, but the other boar also used its skill. Wu Shaochen had to abandon the attack and dodge again.
"These damn things know how to coordinate, what the hell." Wu Shaochen cursed. The poison on the nearly dead boar was about to wear off, and if he didn't act soon, it would start regenerating health.
Watching the two boars walking side by side, Wu Shaochen analyzed seriously, "My Agility is 13, the boar's Agility is 11, and our attack speeds are the same. I hit it once, and it can hit me back once, with an interval of no more than 0.01 seconds. This time isn't enough to create a gap of one attack range. But if I don't attack first and dodge when they attack me, then counterattack? That doesn't seem to work either. With the current Movement Speed, a second isn't enough for a back-and-forth of one body length, at most just one body length."
"What if I don't create a gap?" Wu Shaochen suddenly thought, "If I dodge to the side of the nearly dead boar when they attack, I can avoid the full-health boar's attack, take one hit from the nearly dead boar, then counterattack and run. This way, I only have to endure one attack, which I can handle."
Deciding on this, Wu Shaochen slowly approached the two boars, his heart pounding with tension. Although it was theoretically sound, the execution required precise timing.
Soon, he was within the boars' attack range. As their sharp tusks came at him, "Now!" Wu Shaochen's eyes flashed with determination. He sidestepped to the nearly dead boar, its tusk grazing him, while the other boar's attack missed.
Wu Shaochen quickly turned and struck with his sword, then dashed away, narrowly avoiding the second attack from the two boars.
"Phew... that was close... Damn, this game almost gave me a heart attack. But the level of control in this game is incredible. I need to practice more to adapt quickly."
Now, he just had to wait for the nearly dead boar to succumb to the poison, making sure not to get hit by both boars' skills simultaneously.
Soon, the nearly dead boar fell to the ground unwillingly, and a system notification sounded.
[Ding, you have slain [Wild Boar], gaining 20 experience points. Bonus 10 experience points for defeating an enemy five levels above you.]
[Ding, Talent Trait activated, Poison Damage increased by 1 point.]
"Phew... finally killed one, that was tough." Wu Shaochen exhaled, glancing at the boar's corpse. Besides copper coins, there seemed to be a boar tooth.
Avoiding the other boar, he quickly ran over to pick up the two copper coins and the boar tooth.
[Fang] A material, perhaps needed by villagers, or it can be sold to a general store for 1 copper coin.
Tch, just this? He thought it was something good. Wu Shaochen disdainfully glanced at it and tossed it into his backpack. Money in this game is hard to come by. So far, he only had 12 copper coins. Even fighting monsters five levels above him, each only dropped two copper coins. Watching groups of people hunt rabbits without seeing a single copper coin drop showed how low the drop rate in Oracle was.
***
After quickly dealing with the remaining boar, Wu Shaochen began searching for more boars. Once found, he lured them here to kill. He was genuinely afraid of another situation with multiple boars. With his talent improving, the speed at which he killed boars increased. Finally, upon killing the eighth boar, he was generously rewarded with a piece of equipment.
[Boar Leather Armor]
Quality: Blank Slate
Health +40
Physical Defense +2
Requirements: None
He quickly replaced his cloth armor, raising his Health to 110 points and Physical Defense to 9 points, providing a bit more survival assurance.
Continuing, just two more boars and he would level up. At this point, Wu Shaochen's talent poison had stacked to 14 points, showcasing the terror of this talent. 14 points of damage per second meant 840 true damage per minute. A boar had 2000 health, and now he could kill one in just over two minutes, requiring only three strikes.
He soon killed two more boars, and the long-awaited leveling glow enveloped him, accompanied by the system notification.
[Ding, congratulations on leveling up. Health +20, Mana +10, you have gained 5 Free Attribute Points. Please allocate them wisely.]
Wu Shaochen allocated all five points to Agility, and his attributes changed accordingly.
Name: Chen Feng
Level: 2
Health: 90+40 (equipment bonus, total will be shown in the future)
Mana: 70
Physical Attack: 10+2
Magical Attack: 10
Physical Defense: 5+4
Magical Defense: 5
Movement Speed: 15+3
Experience: 10/500
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 5
Physique: 5
Constitution: 5
Spirit: 5
Agility: 15
Skills: Insight (can view information of monsters up to 10 levels higher than oneself)
Talent: Source of Venom: Normal attacks or melee skills inflict venom on the target (does not trigger with ranged attacks), dealing 16 true damage per second, stackable once, lasting 60 seconds. Targets cannot regenerate health while poisoned. Trait: Each kill of a target 5 levels above oneself increases poison damage by 1 point. Each kill of a BOSS not lower than one's Realm level increases stackable poison layers by one (each Realm BOSS can only trigger once).
Equipment
[Wooden Sword] (Beginner Equipment): Physical Attack +2
[Boar Leather Armor] Blank Slate Equipment: Health +40, Physical Defense +2
[Canvas Shoes] Blank Slate Equipment: Movement Speed +3, Physical Defense +2
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan