The Kobold in the smoke was hit, and a damage number of 21 popped up above its dog head.
Suddenly attacked by an unseen force, the Kobold grew furious. It looked around with blood-red eyes, like searchlights, and this commotion drew the attention of the other Kobolds, who grew wary.
In the woods, Hei Zi's heart was pounding faster and faster, filled with nervous tension.
The Kobolds appeared to be Level 2, but their actual stats were 100% those of Level 4 mobs. Drinking Black Iron Beer merely boosted the character's courage and made them drunk — it caused every enemy the character saw to appear two levels lower, but it didn't actually reduce the Kobolds' stats.
If those Kobolds charged over, they'd be dead for sure.
But Hei Zi's worry was entirely unnecessary.
The struck Kobold looked around but spotted no enemy. It let out a few whimpering sounds, then returned to normal. The other Kobolds paid no further attention to their eccentric companion and went back to wandering.
"Feel free to attack. As long as we stay thirty yards away, they won't come after us," Shi Feng patted Hei Zi on the shoulder and said confidently.
He had planned all of this out long ago — otherwise he wouldn't have spent so much money on supplies.
With Shi Feng's encouragement, Hei Zi grew bolder. He kept chanting his spell and firing off Shadow Arrows.
The Kobolds, with only 420 HP each, couldn't withstand Hei Zi's relentless bombardment. After taking more than twenty Shadow Arrows, one finally dropped. The Kobolds standing nearby showed no reaction whatsoever.
Seeing the first Kobold fall, Hei Zi grew excited.
This was killing monsters four levels above them. Even though the two were in a party and the experience was split, the XP was still incredibly generous — a single kill granted a full 5% boost.
That meant killing twenty Kobolds would level him up, and it was completely safe with no damage taken and a steady stream of monsters. The leveling speed was terrifying. At this rate, grinding efficiently all the way to Level 6 would be no problem. Hei Zi now understood why Shi Feng had been so confident. Grinding here for a few hours of wasted travel time was more than worth it.
Before long, the twenty-plus Kobolds in front of the mine had all been cleared out.
Hei Zi reached Level 1, equipped the Black Wood Staff, and dumped all his free attribute points into Intelligence. His damage surged dramatically — a single hit now took 45 HP off a Kobold.
The twenty-odd Kobolds dropped 12 copper coins, one Level 3 common cloth armor piece, and five Star Meteorite Ore. Not bad at all for luck.
As far as Shi Feng knew, the Kobold drop rate for Star Meteorite Ore was quite low — only about one in ten. You'd need to kill roughly a thousand Kobolds to get a hundred pieces. Yet here, with just twenty-something Kobolds, they'd already gotten five pieces of ore plus a piece of equipment. Hei Zi's luck was absurd.
After collecting all the drops, Shi Feng began pulling mobs continuously. With his 16-point Agility advantage, he was slightly faster than the Kobolds. He aggroed over thirty at once while maintaining a distance of just over twenty yards — less than twenty-five — luring them all into the smoke bomb zone. Then he suddenly accelerated, pulling beyond twenty-five yards so the Kobolds lost their target and stood there dazed.
Hei Zi, waiting thirty yards away, seized the opportunity to attack.
Thirty-plus Kobolds were cleared in under ten minutes, dropping another 21 copper and six pieces of Star Meteorite Ore. Shi Feng and Hei Zi's experience bars jumped considerably.
Just like that, Shi Feng pulled mobs while Hei Zi kept outputting damage. Though the process was mechanical and rather boring, Hei Zi didn't find it tedious at all — in fact, he grew more enthusiastic with every kill, wishing he could grind all day without stopping.
After an hour, Hei Zi reached Level 2. His Shadow Arrow climbed to Level 3, boosting its damage from 40-something to over 60. He was thrilled beyond words. The rocket-like leveling speed filled him with determination to push for Level 3.
The massive damage increase made Kobold kills much faster, but the upgraded Shadow Arrow also consumed more mana. Fortunately, the magic water Shi Feng had bought kept his mana topped off before each pull, allowing continuous output.
Shi Feng monitored Hei Zi's situation while pulling an appropriate number of Kobolds over. Beyond that, he picked up the drops — copper coins and Star Meteorite Ore steadily climbed.
After another hour or so, thanks to Hei Zi's efforts, they had collected 73 pieces of Star Meteorite Ore, six pieces of common equipment, and 264 copper. At this rate, another hour of grinding would be enough to gather all the ore they needed.
Then a system notification chimed.
System: Player Jimo Ruxue has mailed you 10 copper.
Immediately after, a communication request came in — from Jimo Ruxue.
"Who's this?" Shi Feng had just finished pulling a wave of mobs and had some idle time, so he accepted the call.
"Hello, big brother expert! I'm Jimo Ruxue. We met at City Hall — you even pointed me toward a grinding spot out in the wild. That place was amazing! Nobody competing for mobs, and I could handle it just fine. I'm already Level 2 now, and I've gathered quite a bit of materials and copper. I mailed you the 10 copper — I'm not sure if you received it yet." Jimo Ruxue was quite excited. He had been worried that this expert might not want anything to do with him anymore. After all, experts tended to be arrogant and couldn't be bothered to look at nobodies. But that patch of land the expert had recommended had earned him over 60 copper and pushed him to Level 2, putting him well ahead of other players. Spending 20 copper had been a total steal.
"Oh, it's you. I got the 10 copper." Shi Feng's memory was jogged and he recalled the situation. Back then, he had only given casual advice in hopes of killing the Town Mayor a bit sooner. As for the 10 copper afterward, he hadn't cared about it at all.
"Big brother expert, the Level 2 dungeon Silent Forest is now open, and I was hoping you'd come run it with us. A few of my friends are veterans — they're already Level 2 and definitely won't be deadweight. Of course, all the Swordsman equipment in the dungeon goes to you. Would you have time?" Jimo Ruxue was somewhat nervous. Most experts disdained carrying people, especially total newcomers, which was why he had specifically mentioned that the party members were experienced Level 2 players. He was terrified Shi Feng would flat-out refuse.
Silent Forest?
Shi Feng had a very deep impression of this dungeon. Once a certain number of players in Red Leaf Town reached Level 2, Red Leaf Town's first Level 2 dungeon — Silent Forest — would unlock.