bandit

"The equipment attributes increase so much, but leveling up only adds a few points to each attribute, and leveling up is so difficult. Then, what's the point of leveling up? Just wear various powerful equipment, even if they are lower level, and you can roam freely everywhere." After checking his attributes, Jake's mind was filled with these doubts.

Jake had been here for a while, and although he rarely focused on monster hunting, he had killed quite a few creatures. However, he had only leveled up twice, indicating how difficult leveling up was. After leveling up, each attribute point only increased slightly, and it paled in comparison to the attributes added by a single piece of equipment. Even a random piece of silver-grade equipment could provide more attributes than leveling up by ten or twenty levels, not to mention golden-grade equipment and higher.

As a result, leveling up seemed exceptionally unappealing to Jake. He was already not very keen on grinding and leveling up as it was monotonous and boring. Now, with this realization, he had even less motivation to kill monsters.

However, what Jake didn't know was that the vast majority of golden-grade and higher equipment had level requirements. Unlike the equipment he had acquired so far, which had no level restrictions, most golden-grade and above equipment had certain level prerequisites. Even if he was only at level 3, he could still wear them.

Of course, this wasn't an absolute rule. Grandmaster-level individuals usually crafted equipment without level restrictions because of their formidable abilities. However, equipment dropped by wilderness monsters, especially golden-grade and above, definitely had level requirements and couldn't be equipped by just any level. How many Grandmaster-level individuals were there on the entire continent? They were few and far between!

Fortunately, Jake was lucky enough to encounter several of them in the "Newbie Village" and even had the opportunity to become their apprentice and use the equipment they crafted. Also, killing monsters would drop many things that couldn't be crafted, and animal corpses could be decomposed and sold for money, and so on. In short, although Jake now had decent equipment, monster hunting and leveling up were still necessary. However, he was still not very aware of these things because he had just left the "Newbie Village" and was still a rookie who didn't understand many things.

The road to the county town proved to be fraught with danger. Shortly after leaving the village, Jake encountered trouble. "Kid, hand over all the money you have, or else watch me use this axe to chop you up!" A burly man wielding a large axe blocked Jake's path, looking fierce and menacing. It was a bandit, an armed robber!

"I have no money," Jake replied, shaking his head.

Jake really had no money. The little money he earned from monster hunting had all been used to buy seeds and seedlings, and he still owed the village chief a considerable amount. His pockets were cleaner than his face; he had no money at all.

"No money?" The burly man clearly didn't believe Jake's words. "Since you won't hand it over willingly, I'll take it myself! By the way, I also took your life too!"

As he spoke, the burly man charged towards Jake, a malicious smile on his face as he swung the large axe towards Jake's head, creating a cold and chilling gust of wind.

The Blackstone Longsword had always been held in Jake's hand, and all the equipment he had obtained was to wear when he left hermit village. So, Jake wasn't afraid of a level 10 bandit, even though he himself was only level 3.

bandit : Level 10, roams the wilderness, making a living by robbing travelers, ruthless and bloodthirsty, having killed three people, extremely evil. Attack: 30, Defense: 10, Skills: None, Equipment: Damaged Axe.

After identifying the bandit, Jake obtained more detailed information than before. Even his attack and defense were provided, indicating that Jake's current strength, enhanced by the equipment, surpassed that of the bandit by a considerable margin.

"Just someone not even worthy of a name, yet dares to block my path. Perfect, killing you today will be doing the world a favor," Jake said as he faced the charging bandit, showing no signs of panic.

Jake naturally had no favorable feelings towards such ruthless bandits, especially those who still had people's lives in their hands. He wouldn't show any mercy.

"Die!" The bandit, oblivious to the imminent danger, intended to split Jake in half with his axe.

As the large axe descended, Jake slightly sidestepped with his Agility of 15, easily evading the attack. Then, he thrust his longsword diagonally, accurately hitting the bandit's waist and abdomen.

"Spurt!" The bandit wasn't even wearing decent armor, and Jake's Blackstone Longsword effortlessly pierced his body, dealing significant damage.

"I'll kill you!" The bandit, now injured by Jake, became even angrier, seemingly losing all reason. Ignoring the bleeding wound, he broke free from Jake's longsword and swung the large axe at Jake again.

For a healthy bandit, hurting Jake would be challenging, let alone his current injured state. Jake easily evaded the attacks.

"Spurt!" Jake's longsword pierced the bandit a second time. This time, he didn't aim for the abdomen but rather struck the heart. The bandit's focus on wanting to split Jake apart led to an opening, and Jake effortlessly used his longsword to penetrate the bandit's heart.

This time, Jake withdrew his sword on his own, and the bandit couldn't launch another attack. After Jake pulled out the sword, the robust body swayed a few times before collapsing to the ground with a thud!

Though it was just a special "monster," killing someone for the first time still made Jake feel uneasy. Especially when the body didn't disappear like other monsters' corpses and instead remained in place, with blood continuously flowing from the two wounds, staining the ground nearby. The sight of the dead bandit's eyes wide open had a significant impact on Jake's nerves.

"Ugh!" Jake couldn't hold back anymore and vomited. During the fight, Jake could still treat the opponent as a "monster," but after killing him, he felt disturbed. He vomited for a while until he finally regained his composure. However, his face turned pale, and he appeared somewhat drained.

After leaving the Newbie Village, encountering this first "monster" in the outside world didn't pose much of a threat to Jake, but it was still a mental test for him.

"Perhaps, I may encounter similar situations in the future, especially since I'm heading for military service. I must overcome this discomfort! I should treat them as mere 'monsters,'" Jake reminded himself.