The Elite Forest Wolf

Xu Chao got sent flying into the cave wall and suffered another 9 damage from the impact.

"I'll fight it, you just look for openings that you can exploit!" yelled out Mad Thunder.

Mad Thunder got engaged in a fierce fight with the wolf, but he held the advantage because of the wolf's big frame and the fact that it was still slightly drowsy. He managed to parry every attack aimed his way and struck the wolf with the openings made during those attacks.

"Aah-ooooh!" howled the wolf. Five wolves walked out of the cave floor and rushed both players.

[Forest Wolf]

Level 4

HP: 450/450

"How many do you think you can handle‽" yelled Mad Thunder.

"Maybe three or four!" replied Xu Chao, "You'll have to handle the last one or two!"

"Okay, I can make do with that."

Xu Chao started his brawl with 4 wolves while Mad Thunder got the aggro of the remaining one. One claw barely missed Xu Chao's stomach and taking advantage of that short moment, Xu Chao smacked the wolf with his sword dealing 21 damage.

Two wolves followed shortly after and swung their claws at Xu Chao, but he went right in between their attacks. However, he didn't have enough time to strike before the fourth wolf started its attack. Xu Chao managed to parry that blow but then the cycle started right back over.

'This is going to take a while. I might only be able to stall them. Shall I try training now?'

Xu Chao retreated a short distance and brought out the [Wooden Sword] from his inventory.

'Never was that good at dual-wielding but let's try this out!'

Charging back into the fray Xu Chao started adjusting himself to using two swords. He made a few minor mistakes every now and then allowing one wolf to land an attack on him which dealt 24 damage but he made sure to keep him HP in a safe zone using items and keeping his distance.

When Xu Chao got pushed back against a wall, he struck one wolf while parrying the blow of another wolf into the wall right beside him, causing that wolf's claw to be stuck. Then, utilizing another wolf's blow, he guided the attack into the stuck wolf causing both wolves to skid across the ground.

With two enemies temporarily incapacitated, Xu Chao had a much easier time, landing many more blows and getting hit less. He managed to calmly deal with two wolves at once, keeping one out of the fight by maneuvering around. After landing around 3 blows to each of the wolves, the other wolves got back up and charged at him.

Meanwhile, Mad Thunder was dealing with the Elite Forest Wolf and one other wolf. He seemed to have no trouble avoiding every attack thrown his way and slowly chipped down his enemies HP. Eventually, he managed to get one of the Elite Forest Wolf's attacks to hit the other wolf, finishing it off.

"Now it's a fair one vs. one," said Mad Thunder while forcing the wolf back. "How are you holding up, Wooden Hammer?"

"I'm doing fine. They're almost dead, then I can join you," said Xu Chao before slashing another two wolves.

After dodging another attack, Xu Chao swung his sword and killed the first wolf.

"One down, three to go," said Xu Chao.

"Technically two down, three to go," said Mad Thunder

"Oi, shut up."

Xu Chao managed to sneak another blow onto a wolf and killed that one. Now with much less pressure, he managed to easily finish off the others.

After Xu Chao joined Mad Thunder in fighting the Elite Forest Wolf, they managed to bring down its HP to 300. It suddenly started glowing green and vines wrapped around its body.

"It's using a skill. Can you find its effects?" asked Mad Thunder.

"Nope. We need a better identification skill," said Xu Chao, though he actually did know the skill. He just didn't say anything because it might be too suspicious.

'A skill called Vine Wrap. It gives the user 150% Strength and Defense for 10 seconds.'

Even with the added buff, the results didn't change at all. Mad Thunder could still easily dodge everything thrown his way and before the skill duration even ended, the wolf had only 13 HP left.

Before the Elite Forest Wolf died, it tried one last desperate attempt and used all of its energy in one attack. It was much faster and stronger and even Mad Thunder, who was right beside the wolf, could barely dodge in time. The blow smacked the wall and the cave shook with multiple pieces of rock falling from the roof.

"That was actually dangerous," said Mad Thunder before giving the wolf its finishing blow.

"Collect the items and get out, this cave is collapsing!" yelled Xu Chao.

Mad Thunder collected the items and then dashed out of the cave alongside Xu Chao, the falling rocks barely missing their feet. Soon after, the entire cave crumbled down.

"I hope there weren't any treasures in there because we aren't getting those," said Xu Chao in response to the fallen cave. "What'd we get?"

"Three items," said Mad Thunder while opening his inventory and putting them on the ground.

"One's a quest item, that wolf's tooth. I'll show you the rest of the equipment."

[Vine Fur Boots] (Bronze)

Requirements: Level 4

Defense +5

Agility +3

Spirit +2

Durability: 25/25

Description: Boots made out of vine-enforced fur. Are we sure this is good against fire?

[Vine Fur Chestpiece] (Bronze)

Requirements: Level 4

Defense +12

Agility +2

Strength +2

Spirit +2

Durability: 30/30

Description: A chestpiece made out of vine-enforced fur. Are we sure this is good against fire?

"I have a slightly worst chestpiece so you can take this one. I'm getting those boots though. I am tired of walking bare-feet on the ground!"

"Thanks, but couldn't you just get the better chestpiece and then give the worse one to me?"

"Nah, just take this one."

"But I'll need to grind for level 4."

"Just take it."

"Alright. You can have that ??? equipment from the quest rewards since this is your quest. I just want the experience."

Both players made their way back to [Red Rock Village] and Mad Thunder turned in the quest and gave the Village Chief the wolf tooth as proof of their success.

"Thank you so much, adventurers." The Village Chief expressed his gratitude towards the two players. "As thanks, you can give that wolf tooth to the blacksmith and he'll forge you some equipment, free of charge. He'll definitely give it his all considering that wolf has been a nightmare for him as well. I give you guys my sincerest thanks and gratitude. Now, allow me to visit my son's grave."

Both Xu Chao's and Mad Thunder's body glowed as they leveled up to level 3 and 4 respectively.

"Eh, now I'm ranked 36 for levels globally. How about you?" asked Mad Thunder

"I'm ranked 198 thanks to that quest. Now how about we go to that blacksmith," replied Xu Chao

They walked into a store with a sign informing them that it was the blacksmith's place.

"What are you guy's in here for?" A burly man who was turned away from them greeted them as they walked in.

"We would like you to make something out of this material," said Mad Thunder while taking out the wolf's tooth.

"Is- Is that that darn wolf's tooth‽" exclaimed the blacksmith, in pure shock.

"Yes, it is."

"Well, what do you want for that. Any type of equipment and for free! That wolf has been a nightmare to this village for too long!"

Mad Thunder thought about his options before saying, "Can you make me a necklace?"

Accessory items were usually rarer than normal equipment and the tooth also fit a necklace better than normal equipment.

"Of course I can. Give me an hour, maybe more, maybe less. If it's a necklace, it shouldn't take that long to craft, but I'll need to be extremely careful about the details and magic."

"Do you have anything to do in the meanwhile," asked Xu Chao

"Not really. Maybe I'll just farm some more monsters or look aro- wait a second. Actually they just sent us that chat password," said Mad Thunder while pulling up his messages.

"Oh, it turns out I got my message a few minutes ago and didn't check it out. This sure is convenient timing."

As both players entered the password, they were greeted by a chatroom with players still constantly joining.

[Mad Thunder] How is everyone doing? I'm ranked 36 fo- nevermind 37 for leveling. Who just surpassed me?

[Death Tyrant] It may or may not have been me. I'm behind in levels right now because I picked a fight with a level 10 NPC. Finally killed that guy. Took way too long and was not worth it. It wasn't even a fun fight. Anyway, @top8, I'm assuming you guys are top 8 in levels.

[Slothful Dusk] Doing @top8 is completely useless. All of us hid our names in the ranking for a reason so I'm not going to tell you my specific ranking. I can tell you my level though and you can play a guessing game.

[Death Tyrant] Well it just goes 1-7 with ??? and then 8 with Shifting Breeze on the leaderboard. I think it's quite obvious where you guys place. Also, I see you guys chose the seven deadly sins as your describing word this time.

[Envious Peak] Yep, and I got stuck with envy because of my stupid luck.

[Lustful Lily] Well at least it has even some kind of meaning with you. I got stuck with lust of all the things.

[Mad Thunder] How did you guys decide this?

[Envious Peak] Rock paper scissors. It lasted 5 hours for 7 people to play rock paper scissors. It was stupid.

[Prideful Star] Hey did you guys check out the Useless Stats page in your status yet? It's really fun. Lists your score and then the average player's score.

[Death Tyrant] Do you guys want to compare how many times you got hit? Mine's 3 times.

[Prideful Star] 0. To make things easier, anyone in the top 8 who doesn't have 0, say it.

[Wrathful Hamster] ... I got hit once. Listen, I ran into a cave with 50 level 5 bugs all the size of an eraser alright. Give me a break.

[Death Tyrant] That name is amazing.

[Wrathful Hamster] Shut up.

[Death Tyrant] See, it fits you perfectly.

[Gluttonous Shine] Shifting Breeze, did you finally beat one of us in something?

[Shifting Breeze] Yeah, I got 0.

[Wrathful Hamster] Well how much damage have you done and how many enemies have you killed? I've done 44,000 damage and killed 136 monsters.

[Shifting Breeze] I've only killed 97 monsters and dealt 33,500 damage.

[Wrathful Hamster] Aha, I've won that.

[Slothful Dusk] Don't be petty. Speaking of which, how is Greedy Rain. She hasn't typed anything yet.

[Greedy Rain] I'm fine. Clearing a dungeon right now.

[Slothful Dusk] Oh, that's cool.

[System Announcement]

Congratulations to Prideful Star for being the first to clear Level 5 Hard Mode Burned Forest. Rewarding 2x loot, increased quality of loot by 2x, 2x boss experience, and 2,500 experience.

[System Announcement]

Congratulations to Prideful Star for being the first to clear a dungeon. Rewarding 5 Humanity Reputation, 3x loot, and 2x boss experience.

[System Announcement]

Congratulations to Prideful Star for being the first to clear a Hard Mode Dungeon. Rewarding increased quality of loot by 3x and 2x boss experience.

[Death Tyrant] You already completed a dungeon? Wow.

[System Announcement]

Congratulations to Greedy Rain for being the first to clear Level 5 Hard Mode Abandoned Cave. Rewarding 2x loot, increased quality of loot by 2x, 2x boss experience, and 2,500 experience.

[Greedy Rain] That was stupid. That was so stupid.

[Prideful Star] I'm sorry. Also, all of those rewards stacked for me.

[System Announcement]

Congratulations to Envious Peak for being the first to clear Level 5 Hard Mode Haunted Lake. Rewarding 2x loot, increased quality of loot by 2x, 2x boss experience, and 2,500 experience.

[Envious Peak] ...Why.

[Lustful Lily] You guys look like you are having fun. I'm taking a trial right now.

[Envious Peak] That was not my definition of fun.

[Wrathful Hamster] Why is no one else besides us typing?

[Death Tyrant] Unlike us, they want to focus on the level grind

[Prideful Star] What do you mean, I am focusing on the level grind. I'm level 6.

[Envious Peak] Hey guys, asking for a friend. What do you do when you anger a village and you DON'T and I repeat DON'T want to harm them.

[Gluttonous Shine] Well if you remove the second half of your sentence, I would personally kill them.

[Envious Peak] YOU'RE A PRIEST, HOW WOULD YOU EVEN KILL A VILLAGE‽ Don't answer that.

[Slothful Dusk] Just wear a mask. Don't know where you would buy said mask considering the village hates you, but get a mask. NPCs at this level aren't really the brightest. Also, how did you anger the village?

[Envious Peak] When I cleared the dungeon, I might've accidentally released a few ghosts as well. Said ghosts may or may not have robbed said village and escaped. How ghosts managed to physically rob a village and leave with stuff, I don't know. Why ghosts would even need to rob a village, I don't know. I just know that I hate my luck.

[Greedy Rain] Just kill the ghosts and bring the stuff back

[Envious Peak] The ghosts are level 50. Even I can't do that when there are 10 of them.

[Greedy Rain] Well get strong enough and then kill the ghosts. Actually, why even bother with the village in the first place?

[Envious Peak] It's my starting village and I kinda need to do things with it.

"Okay, that's enough demoralization for today," said Xu Chao feeling depressed.

[Wooden Hammer] Can anyone message me the code for the Blacksmithing chat room or just invite me?

Shortly afterward, Xu Chao accepted an invite and joined the Blacksmithing chat room.

"Mad Thunder, I'm going to get started on my blacksmith subclass in the meanwhile. You can do whatever and let's meet back here in around an hour, ok?"

"Alright, sounds good to me. I'm going to farm some quests while chatting in the chat."

Normally you would get your subclass from the Blacksmith in your village, but the Blacksmith was making the necklace right now. Besides, Xu Chao had a better idea of where to get his subclass.

Xu Chao walked into a store and replenished his healing supplies as well as getting a few other items, like a teleportation scroll to the village which cost him 1 Silver, 2 Silver in total.

Xu Chao dashed out of the village and ran for around 10 minutes before arriving at a small mountain. He ran around the base of the mountain until he found a specific location with a crack in it.

"This should be it if my memory serves me right," said Xu Chao as he knocked three times on the crack. He then proceeded to say, "Nyrath, the forger of destiny, the one who crafted legends. We shall embrace his fire and make our own legends."

The crack slowly got bigger until it revealed an imposing gate, made out of extremely formidable materials and finely crafted.

"Who are you and how do you know these words? A human?" boomed a voice from behind the gate.

"I said the password and found this location. You'll find out who I am later, just let me in."

The gate slowly opened and out walked a short man. He had a long beard and his body was packed with muscles. His body was covered with armor, all clearly of some of the highest grades. He carried a spear and attached to his hip was a blacksmithing hammer.

Dark elves, better known as dwarves.