Chapter 2: Chapter 2 – Strength Miracle
Crunch!
As soon as Qiao Yu stepped in, he crushed a piece of white bone beneath his foot.
"So it's true what they show in movies—weathered bones shatter at a touch!"
The incredibly realistic sensation fascinated Qiao Yu.
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
Entering the Inner World for the first time, Qiao Yu was thrilled, deliberately stepping on bones as he moved forward.
In the early stages of the game, mages are particularly mana-intensive, and casting just a few skills can deplete their mana completely.
And a mage without mana is almost powerless in battle, with a frail body that's easily killed by wild monsters.
But Qiao Yu naturally didn't have this worry.
He soon encountered his first small monster, a Skeleton Soldier wielding a rusty iron sword, with hollow eyes burning with a ghostly blue flame.
Qiao Yu checked the creature's attributes.
[Common Monster: Skeleton Soldier]
[Level: lv1]
[Health: 20/20]
[Strength: 5]
[Defense: 0]
[Agility: 1]
Upon spotting Qiao Yu, the Skeleton Soldier immediately charged with its iron sword.
Seeing this, Qiao Yu quickly pulled out his novice staff, swung his arm, and solidly struck the Skeleton Soldier on the head!
"-20!"
A blood-red number floated up from the Skeleton Soldier.
Crunch! Crunch, crunch!
The familiar sound of cracking bones echoed as the Skeleton Soldier's head exploded under the staff, its ghostly blue soul fire extinguished instantly.
Qiao Yu couldn't help but remark, "Fighting without spells is really tough!"
[Detected that player Qiao Yu defeated a Skeleton Soldier through melee combat, awarding 1 free attribute point, experience +3]
Qiao Yu immediately added the point to Strength, bringing his Strength attribute to 21, and his experience points from 0/10 to 3/10.
[Ding! Congratulations to player Qiao Yu for defeating the first wild monster in the Inner World through melee combat, awarding an A-level passive skill "Strength Miracle"]
"A-level? Such a pleasant surprise!"
Qiao Yu quickly checked the skill.
[Strength Miracle: Level: A]
Effect: Each point of Strength attribute can be converted into two points of attack power.
"So, if the opponent's defense is zero, my basic attack now deals 42 damage?"
Qiao Yu scratched his head in confusion.
Strength determines physical damage, defense determines damage reduction, agility determines evasion and movement speed, spirit determines spell damage, and intelligence determines casting speed.
One point of Strength equals one point of attack power, and the same goes for other attributes.
This skill allows Qiao Yu to use one point of Strength as if it were two, which is practically cheating.
A level one novice player's health bar is only 10 points; one punch from Qiao Yu could leave them owing him three lives.
"Anyway, the priority is to complete the novice quest."
Qiao Yu continued forward, encountering Skeleton Soldiers one after another, but none could withstand a single strike from his staff.
After defeating four Skeleton Soldiers, Qiao Yu finally reached level 2.
[Congratulations to the player for leveling up successfully, current experience: 5/20, awarding 5 free attribute points.]
Adding the 4 attribute points from defeating the Skeleton Soldiers, Qiao Yu's Strength had reached an astonishing 30 points.
Bear in mind, for a typical newbie, having a single attribute reach 10 is considered genius.
"This Misty Cavern can't just have these Skeleton Soldiers for leveling up, right? That would be too easy."
As if the Misty Cavern heard Qiao Yu's words, the entire cave began to shake!
Soon, a much larger Skeleton Soldier emerged, holding a shield in its left hand and a spear in its right.
Its attributes appeared before Qiao Yu's eyes.
[Common Monster: Skeleton Captain]
[Level: lv3]
[Health: 50/50]
[Strength: 15]
[Defense: 20]
[Agility: 1]
Upon discovering the intruder, the Skeleton Captain immediately raised its spear, aiming the sharp tip at Qiao Yu.
Being stabbed by such a creature would surely result in a gruesome fate.
Qiao Yu decided to strike first, swinging his staff.
Clang!
A metallic clash sounded as the staff collided with the Skeleton Captain's shield.
"Huh? This monster can block with a shield?"
Qiao Yu tilted his head in confusion.
The next second, a bright red "-40" floated above the Skeleton Captain's head.
The monster was instantly left with only 10 health points.
Qiao Yu swung again, this time shattering the Skeleton Captain and its shield into pieces.
[Detected that player Qiao Yu defeated the Skeleton Captain through melee combat, awarding 3 free attribute points, experience +10]
"What a formidable opponent!"
Qiao Yu couldn't help but marvel, though he was puzzled about how others could complete such a difficult novice quest.
At that moment, the fallen Skeleton Captain transformed into a Soul Core.
Qiao Yu searched and found a pair of bone gauntlets.
[Skeleton Gauntlets: D-level one-time item, guarantees a critical hit on the next attack!]
A critical hit deals double damage, so with Qiao Yu's 60 attack power, a critical hit would deal 120 damage.
"Tsk, why is it a one-time item? It would be great if it were permanent!"
Qiao Yu shook his head in disdain, but still honestly stored the gauntlets in his inventory.
Just then, the entire Misty Cavern began to shake again!
This time, a Skeleton Captain led five Skeleton Soldiers into Qiao Yu's view!
Qiao Yu immediately got serious; even at level 2, his health was a mere 20 points.
If he accidentally got stabbed to death by a Skeleton Soldier, it would be quite the disaster.
That would mean experiencing the pain of death and losing his save to start over.
Fortunately, these Skeleton Soldiers only had a pitiful 1 point in agility, and after ten minutes of strategic maneuvering, Qiao Yu successfully cleared them all.
Qiao Yu was left slightly breathless, his staff nearly smoking from use, but he managed to reach level 3.
Unfortunately, none of the Skeleton Soldiers dropped any items.
"Check attribute panel!"
[Name: Qiao Yu]
[Class: Necromancer]
[Rank: Apprentice (lv3)]
[Strength: 46 (Herculean)
[Defense: 6]
[Agility: 9]
[Spirit: 0]
[Intelligence: 0]
[Mana: 80/80]
[Health: 30/30]
[Experience: 20/30]
[Talent: Mage's Braveheart (Level Unknown)]
[Skill: [Strength Miracle] (A-level)]]
"All the Skeletons are dead, why haven't I been notified that the quest is complete?"
Qiao Yu scratched his head in confusion; could there be a straggler?
He stepped on the bones again.
A raspy, eerie voice echoed through the Misty Cavern, sounding like a neighbor scraping their nails on a chalkboard.
"Too much bullying of Skeletons!"
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan