Chapter 1 Victory

The kobold leader exploded, scattering items all over the ground. Copper coins were everywhere, their copper light shining and illuminating the entire mine, as if celebrating Shi Feng's victory.

Hei Zi was already slumped on the ground, cold sweat soaking through his entire body. It was as if all his strength had been drained, leaving him weak and without any energy. He wasn't even in the mood to look at the loot on the ground. This battle had been too difficult, not giving them even a moment to breathe. Every second was a thrilling, eye-popping experience.

Every second of the battle was a gamble with his heart. If you didn't have a strong heart, you simply couldn't endure it.

It was hard to imagine what kind of heart Shi Feng, who had been fighting the kobold leader all this time, possessed.

"Awesome, we won! Brother Feng, you're simply my idol!" Hei Zi shouted loudly, extremely excited. Looking at Shi Feng's calm expression, he was filled with admiration.

Although Shi Feng's previous strength was good and his skills surpassed those of ordinary players, he was still just an ordinary professional player. His skills didn't make Hei Zi feel like he couldn't catch up. Moreover, Shi Feng's personality used to be easily excitable, even arguing endlessly over ordinary equipment, like a drawn sword. But the current Shi Feng was completely different from before, as if he were a different person. He remained calm and composed, giving people a sense of security, like a dormant dragon, silent until it surprises everyone with its roar.

"Hei Zi, wasn't Bai Qingxue your idol?" Shi Feng said with a slight smile.

"Bai Qingxue is of course my idol, but Brother Feng, you're also amazing! You're usually so quiet, but now you've soared to the sky! You even killed such a powerful kobold leader. A true professional expert is nothing more than this. How can I not admire you? They say it's good to relax in the shade of a large tree. Brother Feng, please teach me how to play a Curse Master. I've been dreaming of becoming a top gamer," Hei Zi looked at Shi Feng as if he were looking at a gold mine. At the same time, he felt happy about his choice. If he had gone to Youying Studio, he would probably still be an unknown gold farmer, without even the opportunity to meet any experts, let alone become one himself.

"Alright," Shi Feng smiled. Hei Zi's personality was just that straightforward.

In his previous life, when he was fired, Hei Zi had quit without saying a word, giving up a job with a million-dollar annual salary to share his hardships. He would naturally not let Hei Zi down. He would definitely teach him everything he could. Although he hadn't played a Curse Master himself, he had seen many experts playing Curse Masters. He knew the general development direction of Curse Masters and was more than capable of guiding Hei Zi.

"Brother Feng, how should I allocate stat points in the early stages? Should I add all points to Intelligence?" Hei Zi asked.

Shi Feng shook his head and thought for a moment before saying, "Adding all points to Intelligence in the early stages is good, but if you want to become a powerful Curse Master, Agility is also essential. Agility not only increases movement speed but also increases casting speed. Curse Masters have few life-saving skills, and they're slow. They have many chanting skills, and their spell power is not very high. Most of their skills focus on cursing to drain health. If you want to unleash all the damage, you need time, unlike Elementalists who are like turrets. So, after adding Intelligence to 20 points, you need to allocate half of your free attribute points to Agility to ensure your safety and also have more output."

In his previous life, there was a very powerful Curse Master who broke the traditional stat allocation method and added a lot of Agility. Not only was his output incredibly fierce and fast, but he was also skilled in player-versus-player combat, giving the Assassin class, which countered magic-users, a run for their money. Those Assassins didn't even manage to touch the Curse Master before dying, breaking the rule that magic-users were bound to die if melee classes got close. Subsequently, many Curse Masters started adding Agility, frustrating many Assassins who were bullied by Curse Masters every day.

Hei Zi nodded, feeling that what Shi Feng said made a lot of sense, and said with a smile, "Alright, I'll add all points to Agility after Intelligence reaches 20."

After discussing the stat allocation for Curse Masters, Shi Feng and Hei Zi began picking up the loot.

The kobold leader was indeed a leader. Coupled with the first kill, the loot was very generous.

It dropped a total of eight Bronze equipment pieces: one Gray Giant Axe, two pieces of plate armor, two pieces of leather armor, and three pieces of cloth armor. In addition, there were 273 copper coins and three skill books: Taunt for Shield Warriors, Silent Step for Assassins, and Evil Lash for Curse Masters.

"Hei Zi, your luck is too good. This Evil Lash is a rare skill with an extremely low drop rate. It's also one of the few control and damage skills for Curse Masters. As long as your level is high enough, it's a godly skill for leveling up." Without saying anything, Shi Feng gave the Evil Lash to Hei Zi, and also gave him two pieces of Bronze cloth armor for level 2 players to wear.

Evil Lash: Casting time is 3 seconds. Uses 5 thorns to bind the target within a certain range. If the target exceeds the range, the thorns will break, and each thorn will deal 20 points of base damage, plus 30% of the spell damage. Cooldown is 20 seconds.

Hei Zi was ecstatic when he saw it and quickly learned the skill. With this skill, his combat capabilities could be greatly improved. And with the two pieces of equipment, he had gone from using a slingshot to a cannon. His spell damage had increased to 48, and with Intelligence reaching 20, he had unlocked the hidden basic Intelligence skill, Spellcasting Fluency, which allowed players to skip spellcasting incantations shorter than 1.5 seconds, only requiring gestures. This allowed spellcasters to better focus on attacking the target.

The two pieces of plate armor were the Recruit's Armor and the Black Iron Gauntlets. However, among these Bronze equipment pieces, Shi Feng only took a fancy to the stats of the Black Iron Gauntlets.

Black Iron Gauntlets, Plate Armor, Bronze rank, Equipment Requirement: 9 Strength, Equipment Level: 3, Defense 14, Strength +2, Stamina +2, Agility +1, Durability 20/20.

As for the Recruit's Armor, it was very mediocre. The level 5 Recruit's Armor couldn't compare with the Sky Battle Armor at all. However, plate armor was still very valuable and could be sold for a good price.

The two pieces of level 3 Bronze leather armor could be taken to sell.

And the most valuable of these equipment pieces was the Gray Giant Axe, which was definitely a favorite of Berserkers.

Gray Giant Axe, Bronze rank, Equipment Requirement: 15 Strength, Equipment Level: 5, Attack Power 21, Strength +5, Stamina +2, Durability 30/30. It was definitely a violent weapon. If a Berserker got their hands on it, their output would be very violent and terrifying.

"If the Gray Giant Axe is hyped up, it will definitely be very valuable." Shi Feng smiled slightly, having a plan in mind to make a fortune with the Gray Giant Axe.

Afterward, Shi Feng and Hei Zi returned to the blacksmith's shop.

"Master Jack, I have killed the kobold leader. This is its head." Shi Feng took out the kobold's head and said respectfully.

Master Jack, who was forging iron, glanced at the kobold's head, confirming that Shi Feng had indeed done it, and then said with satisfaction, "Young man, you are very good. You are indeed qualified to inherit my forging techniques."

System: Completed the hidden quest 'The Road to Forging'. Player has learned Forging and become a Novice Forging Apprentice, possessing the Forging Talent 'Forging Genius'. Reward: 10 pieces of Refined Steel.

Forging Genius: After a successful forging, there is a certain chance to gain an additional 2 proficiency points.

Don't underestimate just an additional 2 proficiency points. You must know that the success rate of a Novice Forging Apprentice crafting an ordinary piece of equipment is only 20%. Even if successful, there is only a 40% chance of gaining 1 proficiency point. Now, as long as a forging is successful, there is a chance to gain an additional 2 proficiency points, increasing the leveling efficiency by several times.

Moreover, becoming an Intermediate Forging Apprentice requires 1000 proficiency points. Ordinary players would need at least ten days to become an Intermediate Forging Apprentice, and the materials couldn't be interrupted. The terrifying failure rate would waste a lot of materials. With the Forging Talent, a lot of materials could be saved, saving a lot of money.

Refined Steel: An excellent auxiliary material for manufacturing Bronze equipment, increasing the success rate of manufacturing Bronze equipment by 10%.

With the Forging Talent and the Forging skill, Shi Feng couldn't wait to start crafting equipment now. However, if he wanted to craft equipment, materials were essential, and the demand was very high. Collecting them himself would waste too much time. He could only buy them in bulk, but that would require a lot of money. Moreover, forging ordinary equipment wasn't cost-effective at all; it was a complete loss. Only Bronze equipment could be sold, but he needed blueprints. He didn't have a single design blueprint right now.

"The Silent Forest is a must-go." Shi Feng thought of the Bronze equipment design blueprint in the Silent Forest. The equipment created from that equipment design blueprint was not only low in cost but also had excellent attributes. Back then, many blacksmiths made a fortune because of that design blueprint.

Just as Shi Feng turned to leave,

"Young man, you have truly given me a new perspective. I have been forging weapons for so many years, and this is the first time I have seen a demonic weapon." Master Jack stopped Shi Feng. His gaze was drawn to the black longsword at Shi Feng's waist. Even though the black longsword was rusty and looked like a fire starter, it could not escape the eyes of the forging master.