"Chapter 3

Along the way, Wu Shaochen found it impossible to make any moves—there were people everywhere, chaotic and disorganized. Whenever a rabbit respawned, a crowd would rush over and wildly attack it. However, Wu Shaochen, with keen observation, noticed several groups who seemed well-trained, cooperating silently to ambush near respawn points. They divided roles clearly: some delivered the final blow each time, while others weakened the targets, ensuring all resources concentrated on one person. This was the power of a guild, Wu Shaochen mused.

Feeling anxious, Wu Shaochen hadn't even touched a rabbit's fur yet. At this rate, he was sure to be left far behind. However, he didn't want to compete with others for kills—whether he could compete or not, even if lucky enough to occasionally snatch one, it was inefficient.

"Should I head to the Level 2 monster area?" Wu Shaochen pondered briefly and continued forward. It was better than standing around doing nothing. Monsters below Level 5 wouldn't attack unless provoked, so as long as he avoided them, he'd be safe.

Nearby players waiting for the respawn of a white rabbit noticed Wu Shaochen walking alone towards the Level 2 monster area. One short young man remarked, "Is that kid going to the Level 2 monster area?"

"Looks like it. Probably couldn't find any kills here and wants to challenge something tougher inside. Haha, he'll feel hopeless once he gets in. I had the same idea at first, but after seeing the Level 2 monsters' stats, I came back running." said a slightly chubby youth.

"Chubby, have you been there? Are the monsters really that tough?" asked the short young man.

"Yeah, it's not something current players can handle unless swarmed. But even then, it's not worth the risk. Better stick to hunting rabbits honestly," Chubby replied with lingering fear.

After walking for a while, Wu Shaochen finally encountered different creatures ahead: a group of goats leisurely grazing. Checking around and seeing no other players, he wondered why no one was attacking so many goats. Wu Shaochen approached and used his Insight skill.

[Goat]

Level: 2

Health: 300

Physical Attack: 21

Physical Defense: 8

Speed: 7

Skill: Headbutt - The goat lowers its head and rams the target with its horns, dealing 120% of its physical attack damage. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Looking at the goat's stats, Wu Shaochen's mouth twitched again. Now he understood why no one came here to attack—they were Level 2 monsters with skills? Seriously, at Level 2? What were the game developers thinking? With these stats, who could handle them at this stage?

Suddenly recalling his own talent, he needed to kill monsters over five levels higher to increase his poison damage slightly. He had thought it wouldn't be difficult, and he'd soon become successful, marrying a beautiful woman and reaching the pinnacle of life. Now, it seemed he had been overly optimistic. If monster attributes continued to increase like this, how could he level up his talent?

Unwilling to give up, Wu Shaochen continued forward until he reached a fork in the road. Ahead was a bamboo forest, the left led into a forest, and the right seemed to lead to a beach—perhaps he had reached the seaside in the game. Thinking it over, Wu Shaochen headed right towards the beach. Even if he didn't fight monsters, exploring the sea wasn't a bad idea.

Before long, he indeed saw a stretch of beach, with the vast sea stretching out before him.

The scenery is so beautiful, is this really a game? It feels like a real place. Feeling the sea breeze, Wu Shaochen opened his arms and took a deep breath, saying, "In the real world, there's no longer such fresh air." This game completely immerses people in it.

"Damn, that's a huge crab!" Wu Shaochen suddenly caught sight, out of the corner of his eye, of a crab the size of a washbasin emerging from the sand, waving its massive claws and walking towards him horizontally.

Wu Shaochen used Insight and then sprinted away faster than a rabbit.

[Giant Crab]

Level: 4

Health: 800

Physical Attack: 45

Physical Defense: 15

Speed: 8

Skill: Dual Claw Kill - Waves its two giant claws to deal consecutive 70% physical damage twice to the target. Cooldown: 10 seconds.

After running quite a distance, Wu Shaochen looked back at the crab in the distance with lingering fear, muttering to himself, "Damn developers, are you sure this game is meant for humans? This crab can easily one-shot people. How are we supposed to survive?"

Sighing, Wu Shaochen realized he should probably go back and join others to compete for rabbits honestly.

As he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed a gigantic turtle slowly crawling on the beach. Out of curiosity, Wu Shaochen used Insight again.

[Sea Turtle]

Level: 5

Health: 1800

Physical Attack: 50

Physical Defense: 40

Speed: 3

Skill: Thorn Shield - Blocks the next attack and reflects 50% of the damage back to the attacker. Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Looking at the attributes of this sea turtle, almost everyone would undoubtedly turn and run without hesitation. It's a typical case of high defense and thick health, with a whopping 40 points of defense and 1800 health. Even if players were at higher levels, nobody would willingly engage with such a creature because the rewards are too low.

However, at this moment, Wu Shaochen's eyes shimmered with an inexplicable light. Indeed, for Level 0 players, the sea turtle's attributes are an insurmountable obstacle, with its high defense of 40 points being impenetrable. But Wu Shaochen's damage doesn't depend on attack power. What he's interested in is the turtle's speed, which is only 3 points. This allows him to kite it.

Even if the turtle manages to hit him with its 50 attack, it wouldn't be able to one-shot him because his defense is 6, reducing the damage to 44 points. Its only skill is completely useless against him. Since he can't break its defense, even if all the damage were reflected back, it wouldn't matter. Moreover, considering his poison damage of 60 points per minute, and the fact that the turtle can't regenerate health, in just 30 minutes he could poison it to death. Returning to the village entrance in thirty minutes might still not guarantee grabbing a rabbit.

Most importantly, he's Level 0, and the turtle's level is conveniently five levels above his, which means he can trigger his talent.

Without further ado, Wu Shaochen swiftly approached the turtle. Level 5 turtles don't attack players on their own, so Wu Shaochen walked up to it and swung his wooden sword at its shell.

-1

-1

A red -1 appeared above the turtle's head, indicating a slight forced damage despite not penetrating its defenses. Immediately after, a white -1 representing actual damage also appeared.

While the turtle moves slowly, its reaction speed is surprisingly quick. After Wu Shaochen struck it, its head extended, and it bit him.

-44

With only 50 health left, Wu Shaochen was instantly left with a small amount of health. Frightened, he quickly turned and ran. At this moment, his speed advantage became evident. The turtle, despite its slow pursuit, could only watch as Wu Shaochen got farther and farther away, while white -1 symbols continued to appear above its head. Its health bar was slowly decreasing.

After running a considerable distance, Wu Shaochen looked back at the slow-moving turtle behind him and smirked triumphantly, "Come on, chase me, if you can!"

The poor turtle could only continue its slow pursuit, steadfastly following Wu Shaochen step by step.

Ten seconds later, Wu Shaochen slowly regained health at a rate of one point per second, all the while taunting the turtle. In the realm of prophecy, whether it's characters or monsters, if there's no attack or damage received within ten seconds, they are considered out of combat. Health slowly regenerates at a rate of 1% per second, and below 100 health, default regeneration is one point per second. Without potions, this is the only way to recover health.

This was how Wu Shaochen engaged in a stubborn battle with the turtle, using such a rogue-like tactic. He timed it precisely, waiting until just before the poison effect expired to strike again, then promptly fleeing. With each poison lasting for 60 seconds, it was ample time for him to fully recover between each strike.