Nie Yan had specifically come here to deal with Lion King Kado because he knew Lion King Kado had no ranged attack capabilities. In his memory, there were at least dozens of bosses located under cliffs like this one, but Lion King Kado was the easiest to handle since it only used physical attacks. Naturally, Nie Yan chose to target the weakest opponent.
Lion King Kado used every trick it had. When its health dropped below 20%, it even entered a berserk state, relentlessly charging at Nie Yan with its powerful body. However, all its struggles were in vain.
Within thirty minutes, Lion King Kado’s health was completely depleted. It roared furiously toward the sky before collapsing to the ground in defeat.
This elite creature, which would later become a target of countless players’ competition, was defeated by Nie Yan without him losing a single point of health.
A crisp system notification chimed, “Ding!” The 800% experience reward from defeating a higher-level monster caused Nie Yan’s level to jump to level 5, with an additional 36% progress toward the next level.
Lion King Kado dropped two pieces of equipment, glowing near its corpse.
Excited, Nie Yan noticed the loot but couldn’t go down yet.
Not far from Lion King Kado’s body were over ten lions. Nie Yan shot arrow after arrow, killing all of them.
Equipment dropped by monsters wouldn’t be removed by server resets. Such loot could remain on the ground indefinitely, just like real-world objects. As for unwanted gear, it could be disassembled by a professional deconstructor into raw materials, still worth a decent amount of money.
After confirming no nearby monsters remained, Nie Yan leaped from the cliff, landing on the ground below. A twenty-yard drop only cost him sixty hit points—this height wasn’t enough to kill him.
Nie Yan approached Lion King Kado’s body and picked up the two dropped items. Both were unidentified, so he used Super Insight to appraise them.
Cape of Black Blood (Epic): Requires Level 5.
Stats: Defense 19–21, +5 Tenacity, +6 Movement Speed.
Weight: 2 pounds.
Class Restriction: Rogue, usable by all factions.
Lion King’s Shield (Epic): Requires Level 5.
Stats: Defense 39–51, 12% Block Rate, +5 Tenacity, +7 Magic Resistance.
Weight: 10 pounds.
Class Restriction: Warrior, Paladin, usable by all factions.
Nie Yan was already satisfied with the Cape of Black Blood, but he hadn’t expected to also obtain the Lion King’s Shield. The Lion King’s Shield was worth far more than the cape. Nie Yan wouldn’t sell it for less than twenty silver coins on the market. Ideally, he could exchange it for some rogue equipment.
Shields for shield warriors consistently commanded high prices on the market, always ranking at the top of trading values. Eight out of every ten most expensive items traded on the market were shields for shield warriors.
This was truly a great find. Combined with the Cape of Black Blood, his loot was quite impressive. Nie Yan carefully stored both items away.
Finally reaching level 5, Nie Yan checked his status. Thanks to the Chapter of Courage, he gained 7 attribute points and 2 feat points upon leveling up. He allocated 2 points into Strength and 5 into Agility. His Crossbow Specialization couldn’t be upgraded yet, so he invested the two feat points into Dagger Specialization and Dual Weapon Specialization. His dagger skills improved, granting a 10% attack bonus, and he could finally wield two weapons simultaneously.
Nie Yan immediately equipped all level-5 gear he carried in his backpack and checked his equipment list.
Main Hand: Horn Dagger (Common), Off-Hand: Assassin’s Lesson (Epic), Boots: Swift Turn Boots (Epic), Armor: Headhunter’s Leather (Uncommon), Cape: Cape of Black Blood (Epic).
The dark Headhunter’s Leather exuded a grim aura of death and carnage, while the dark red cape behind him shimmered with golden highlights like flowing blood. The two exquisite, sharp daggers in his hands gleamed coldly. The rogue gear had a subtle, understated style. Nie Yan concealed the gear’s colors, but even from the outside, its quality was evident.
His movement speed had increased dramatically, swift as the wind, leaving behind afterimages.
“Not bad,” Nie Yan felt quite satisfied with his current equipment.
At this time when quality gear was scarce, this set of equipment alone would command admiration from most players.
With this gear, he could now freely roam monster zones up to levels six or seven.
After defeating Lion King Kado, it would take a day to respawn. Nie Yan headed toward the exit of Vermilion Dream Plains. His next target wasn’t far from here—a elite Ogre Devourer, an 8th-level creature. The loot from that Ogre Devourer was also quite good, covering various classes’ equipment. Reportedly, some players had even obtained an elite rare artifact for rogues from that monster, although the drop rate for such rare items was extremely low. That Ogre Devourer also respawned once daily.
Nie Yan carefully avoided nearby lions when suddenly, some grass nearby rustled. A shield warrior player wearing white armor and wielding a silver-gray shield leaped from the grass, running toward Nie Yan. Three lions chased closely behind, lunging at him.
The shield warrior maintained steady footing, retreating while fighting. The situation was unfavorable—he was nearly out of health, while the lions’ attacks grew fiercer.
Intimidate!
The shield warrior roared, momentarily halting the lions. He used Cripple to strike the closest lion, then quickly retreated.
The lion hit by Cripple temporarily became disabled. The other two growled lowly before leaping toward the shield warrior.
The shield warrior used Cleave to knock one lion back and blocked another lion’s attack with his shield. Even as a level-6 shield warrior, surviving against three level-7 lions while nearly out of health was extremely difficult.
As soon as the shield warrior appeared, Nie Yan activated Stealth, hiding within the jungle background and circling around the warrior.
In this situation, if Nie Yan attacked, the shield warrior would surely die. However, that would seem like taking advantage of someone in distress. The opponent’s movements were steady—clearly an expert. Nie Yan considered whether it was worth provoking an enemy over a piece of equipment or if he should wait for the lions to kill the warrior before collecting the loot for himself.
As for rescuing the shield warrior, Nie Yan had seen too many cases where saving someone only led to betrayal. In this world, everyone had to learn to be ruthless for self-preservation.
Anyone daring to farm lions here must possess considerable strength. Nie Yan used Super Insight to check the shield warrior’s information.
Cui Can Dao Guang (Radiant Blade): Shield Warrior, Level 6.
Seeing the name Radiant Blade, Nie Yan raised his eyebrows. He knew almost everyone somewhat famous around Carol City, and Radiant Blade was no exception.
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