"Wait, wait, wait!"
Seeing Qin Ying immediately spring into action, Yu Zhu couldn’t help but laugh helplessly. "Let me make some preparations before we go."
Eager to level up to Lv5 and equip the Equipment Yu Zhun had prepared for her, Yu Zhu had rushed over to fight the Spiky Porcupines without even learning any new skills beyond her starting one. Now that she had finally reached Lv5, she was no longer in such a hurry. After all, the Newbie Area Boss could only be challenged once a day. She planned to familiarize herself with her talent before taking on the Boss.
Yu Zhu pulled a Skill Book from her inventory and learned it.
[Encourage (Lv1): Increases the Physical Attack and Magic Attack of 1 target by an amount equal to 20% of the user’s Magic Attack. Duration: 5s, cooling: 15s, Mana Value cost: 15.]
Yu Zhu’s current Magic Attack was 1,280. According to her talent’s description, she could reduce a target’s Physical Attack and Magic Attack by 2,560—a reduction that far exceeded the base stats of any monster in the Newbie Area. So, what would happen? Would the target’s attack drop to zero, or would it plunge into the negatives?
Yu Zhu raised her Priest’s Book, pointing it at the nearest Spiky Porcupine. "Encourage!"
A streak of light flashed. The creature was successfully enraged, rapidly charging toward them as it entered combat mode.
"Go get ’em, Ying!" Yu Zhu enthusiastically pumped her fist at Qin Ying. "You can do this!"
Qin Ying was speechless. She thought, "You just used [Encourage] on the Spiky Porcupine, didn’t you?"
Even so, Qin Ying let out a low shout and charged forward, holding her Long Sword horizontally in front of her in a defensive stance.
Warrior Skills: Block!
[Life Value +2560]
[Life Value +2320]
Two lines of green text popped up above Qin Ying’s head.
The area fell into an eerie silence.
The Spiky Porcupine shook its head, its clear but stupid eyes revealing a very human-like confusion. It thought, "This isn’t right... This isn’t right at all! My massive 240 Physical Attack just healed the opponent for 4,880 Life Value? Am I really that good of a healer?"
The Spiky Porcupine looked down at its own belly. But... it was a male boar?!
[Life Value -20480]
Yu Zhu’s [Healing] ended all the Spiky Porcupine’s doubts. She then looked at Qin Ying with jubilation. "This is perfect. We won’t have to buy health potions anymore. Even though our family has money now, a penny saved is a penny earned!"
Qin Ying was speechless. She thought, "Hold on... Are health potions really the main takeaway here?" Even the most oblivious person would have realized by now that Yu Zhu was a highly abnormal Priest.
"I know you have questions, but hold on a second." Yu Zhu waved her hand dismissively, her gaze sweeping over the other Spiky Porcupines in the area. When she cast [Encourage] just now, she had discovered another way to utilize her talent.
"Encourage!" Holding her Priest’s Book, Yu Zhu pointed it at a large herd of Spiky Porcupines in the distance.
Ten of them lit up simultaneously and charged toward her.
Target count! [Healing] was the most basic healing skill; even at max level, it could only heal a single target. Hence, its description read "restores Life Value for a designated target." But [Encourage] was different. At Lv3 and max level, the number of buffed targets would increase to two and three, respectively. Thus, its Lv1 description read "increases the Physical Attack and Magic Attack of 1 target." Under these circumstances, Yu Zhu could choose to multiply the target count, buffing ten targets simultaneously! However, doing so meant the buff multiplier wouldn’t increase, so the reduction to their Physical Attack and Magic Attack would only be 256. It essentially gave one skill two entirely different effects.
Yu Zhu’s eyes gleamed with excitement as she watched Qin Ying. The Warrior was completely surrounded by ten Spiky Porcupines, wearing a bewildered expression as constant healing notifications popped up above her head—even if the numbers weren’t as staggering as before. She thought, "If that’s the case..."
She decisively pulled out another Skill Book and learned it.
[Group Healing (Lv1): Simultaneously restores Life Value for 3 targets by an amount equal to 30% of the user’s Magic Attack. cooling: 20s, Mana Value cost: 15.]
"Group Healing!"
[Life Value -768]
The ten Spiky Porcupines collapsed to the ground simultaneously, while another twenty Spiky Porcupines nearby suffered the exact same unprovoked disaster.
[Congratulations! Your level has increased to Lv6!]
Bathed in the light of leveling up, Yu Zhu’s smile grew increasingly unhinged. She thought, "Yu Zhun, oh Yu Zhun! The day I leave the Newbie Area, it’ll be the triumphant return of the Dragon King!"
***
"Chairman Liu, you came in person this time?"
After individually visiting [Assassin’s Creed], [Arcane Roar], and [Storm Eagle Eye]—the three Profession guilds that had looked out for them last time—Yu Zhun arrived at the [Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf] guild’s encampment and was surprised to spot a familiar figure. Having seen Liu Xiongfei in Divine Radiance City yesterday, Yu Zhun had assumed the man wouldn’t show up at the [Celestial Nether Lone Star] Dungeon raid.
"I happened to be free today, so I decided to drop by." Liu Xiongfei laughed heartily, stepping forward to give Yu Zhun a bear hug. "Our guild lost a raid team here recently. As the chairman, I wouldn’t dare stay away."
Despite his words, when Liu Xiongfei looked at Yu Zhun again, there was a newfound complexity in his eyes. As the chairman of a Four-Star guild, personally appearing at the raid of a Lv40 special Dungeon was indeed partially due to the reason he had just stated. But the other reason was Yu Zhun himself.
After parting ways with Yu Zhun yesterday, he had learned about the additional bounty issued by Server 23993 and the series of shocking events that followed. Originally, Liu Xiongfei had only befriended Yu Zhun because he assumed the young man was some "powerful second-generation heir" with an impressive background in the Divine Revelation Hall and exceptional raiding abilities. But now, Liu Xiongfei suddenly realized that Yu Zhun was no "second-generation heir" at all. He was a rising future Strongest!