19: slippery turtle

This Border Wild City was truly dilapidated; there wasn't even one decent shop.

The owners of the pharmacies, general stores, and equipment shops all resembled street vendors, operating in the open air.

Bai Tian quickly arrived at the myriad manifestations stone gazing at heaven in the city center to learn his first-tier skills.

The myriad manifestations stone gazing at heaven immediately cast a Brilliant light upon him.

—"(Ding dong!)"

" (As a hidden class, the cost for you to learn first-tier skills is 10 times that of ordinary classes.)"

" (Special Note! For skills after the first tier, the myriad manifestations stone gazing at heaven will no longer provide them. All players will need to acquire them through their own fortuitous encounters.)"

" (Below are all the skills you can currently learn!)"

Holy moly!

The cost for a hidden class to learn skills is 10 times higher than for ordinary players. That's a bit of a rip-off!

Bai Tian muttered to himself, but when he saw the four powerful skills he could learn, this small bit of resentment immediately vanished.

—[Cold Abyss Shield] D-rank!

(Consumes 100 Mana. Summons Cold Abyss Qi to form a divine shield for 10 seconds. During its existence, the shield ignores most crowd control effects and absorbs all damage. The current damage absorption limit is 5000 points.)

(Skill Cooldown: 15 seconds)

Learning Cost: 2 Gold.

—[Cold Abyss Blessing] D-rank!

(Consumes 110 Mana. Bestows a group blessing upon yourself and friendly units within 50 yards, increasing Attack, Defense, Attack Speed, and Movement Speed by 10% for 3 minutes.)

(This skill's amplification effect is doubled for yourself.)

(Skill Cooldown: 4 minutes)

Learning Cost: 4 Gold.

—[Cold Abyss Burst] D-rank!

(Consumes 100 Mana. Unleashes a spell attack of Cold Abyss power towards a target, causing freezing and explosive effects on targets with lower Intelligence than yourself.)"

(Damage depends on the caster's Attack Power and Intelligence bonus.)

(Casting Range: 60 yards, Skill Cooldown: 6 seconds.)

Learning Cost: 4 Gold!

—[Group Heal] D-rank!

(Consumes 150 Mana. Casts a Group Heal Spell on yourself and friendly units within 50 yards. The recovery effect depends on the caster's Attack and Intelligence. This skill's effect is doubled for yourself.)

(Skill Cooldown: 6 seconds.)

Learning Cost: 8 Gold.

Cold Abyss Shield, Cold Abyss Blessing, Cold Abyss Burst, and Group Heal—these four first-tier skills were all extremely powerful. Bai Tian was very satisfied, and he readily paid 18 Gold to learn all four skills.

Bai Tian currently possessed 119 Gold, making him a minor tycoon in the game, so 18 Gold was no problem.

However, recalling the system's previous hint, Bai Tian couldn't help but feel that this game was a bit too realistic.

All skills after the first tier would have to be acquired by players themselves; there would be no place to learn them.

This gave Bai Tian the feeling that players in the game needed to constantly cultivate to become stronger.

Bai Tian shook his head, not wanting to think too much. He found the open-air pharmacy owner, intending to purchase supplies before heading out to level up.

—[Intermediate Health Potion]!

Restores 400 Health, 5-second Cooldown.

Price: 1 Silver.

Daily Limit: 9800/10000.

[intermediate mana potion]!

Restores 200 Mana, 5-second Cooldown.

Price: 1.5 Silver.

Daily Limit: 9800/10000.

The highest-grade potions sold here were only intermediate, and they were limited to 10,000 per day.

Upon realizing this, Bai Tian's heart skipped a beat.

Once most players reached Level 10 and left Novice Island, wouldn't there not even be enough potions for everyone?

Would there be a situation where you couldn't buy potions even with game currency?

"Brat, are you buying or not? If not, get lost."

The potion seller was a fat auntie weighing at least a hundred kilograms. She had a terrible temper and was already scolding Bai Tian.

Bai Tian was speechless, then said, "Do you have any higher-grade mana potions for sale?"

The intermediate mana potion's replenishment was simply not enough for Bai Tian's thousands of mana points.

"No, this is all there is for today. If you're not buying, go somewhere cool and stay there."

The fat auntie said ungraciously, her greasy, plump face dark.

Seriously! What an attitude. I really hope you go out of business soon.

Bai Tian suppressed his displeasure and bought 1 stack of Intermediate Health Potions and 10 stacks of intermediate mana potions, spending a total of 16 Gold.

The gold coins in his inventory immediately shrunk to 85 Gold.

Each stack of potions contained one hundred, occupying one inventory slot.

It wasn't that Bai Tian didn't want to hoard more, but he only had 30 inventory slots, which wasn't enough.

Furthermore, he still had a bunch of good items in his inventory that hadn't been sold, all taking up space.

However, this ill-tempered fat auntie was a money-grubber. Seeing Bai Tian buy so many potions, she finally managed a small smile.

—"(Ding dong!)"

" (You gained the Potion Seller Auntie's Favorability: +20!)"

"Young man, you're so generous, unlike that girl before who was so stingy even when buying potions."

The fat auntie suddenly said, "Since you're so straightforward, I'll secretly tell you a piece of news."

Bai Tian's ears perked up: "What news?"

"Didn't you complain that the potions I sell are low-grade?"

"A hundred miles to the east, there's a dilapidated temple. There's a Flower Monk there who doesn't adhere to monastic precepts, and it's said he knows Alchemy."

"If you can learn his Alchemy, you won't need to patronize me anymore."

Bai Tian looked at the fat auntie with suspicion. Was this person really so kind?

But Bai Tian still smiled at her and said, "Thank you for the information, Auntie. I'll definitely go check it out when I have time."

Seeing the fat auntie's face suddenly darken, Bai Tian quickly corrected himself: "Thank you for the information, Sister. I'll definitely go check it out when I have time."

The fat auntie finally smiled with satisfaction: "Such a sweet talker. Next time you come to buy potions, Sister will give you a 0.1% discount."

0.1% discount!

You're truly generous!

Bai Tian was speechless, and immediately headed out to level up.

After Bai Tian had walked far away, a meaningful, mischievous smile appeared on the fat auntie's lips.

Although Bai Tian was somewhat suspicious, since he was heading out to level up anyway, he decided to just follow the direction the fat auntie pointed.

If he really encountered that Flower Monk and learned Alchemy, it would be more cost-effective to brew his own potions than to buy them.

He might even be able to make a huge profit through Alchemy.

After leaving Border Wild City, Bai Tian soon entered a desolate plain.

Suddenly, several whooshing sounds echoed from behind him.

Three earthy-yellow energy projectiles shot up from beneath the ground behind him.

A monster ambush?

Bai Tian wanted to try out his new skills, so he immediately burned 100 Mana and instantly activated—[Cold Abyss Shield]!

Around him, Cold Abyss Qi immediately condensed, forming a black and white interwoven energy shield.

The three sneak attacks all struck the Cold Abyss Shield.

Damage Absorbed: -543, -544, -545!

40x Rebound: -21720, -21760, -21800!

After enduring three attacks, the Cold Abyss Shield only rippled gently like water, absorbing all damage completely. Bai Tian didn't lose a single drop of health.

However, the 40x Rebound effect was still active.

—"Ooh ooh ooh!"

Three pained cries of monsters echoed from beneath the ground 10 meters behind him.

Immediately, the ground cracked open, and three enormous monsters emerged, fleeing with their remaining health.

All three monsters had a thick, earthy-yellow tortoise shell on their backs, a donkey-shaped snake head, four legs, and a tail, running as fast as the wind.

—[Tortoise Beast]!

(Elite Monster)

Level: 15

Health: 22000

Mana: 2000

Magic Attack: 598

Dual Defense: 290

Skills: Stealth, Earth Pattern Bullet.

They were actually Level 15 Elite Monsters in the wild?

Each Tortoise Beast had 22,000 health. The 40x Rebound didn't kill them, leaving them all with a sliver of health.

But that wasn't the main issue. The problem was, these monsters not only ambushed but also ran away?

Seeing the three low-health Tortoise Beasts trying to escape, how could Bai Tian let the experience he was about to get slip away?

He raised the green wave pure lotus splendor in his hand and immediately unleashed his new skill—[Cold Abyss Burst].

The Tortoise Beast with the lowest health in the middle was immediately struck by a magical energy of extreme cold, freezing its entire body.

Damage: -1598!

This skill's damage was explosive!

It instantly killed one escaping Tortoise Beast, but the surprise was yet to come.

With a "bang," the instantly killed Tortoise Beast suddenly burst open, spewing cold air that knocked down the two nearby Tortoise Beasts.

Damage: -3196, -3196!

This damage was truly terrifying!

—"(Ding dong!)"

" (You killed three Tortoise Beasts 4 levels higher than you, gaining 450 experience, and an additional 45 bonus experience.)"

So cool!

The Cold Abyss Burst skill not only dealt high damage but also caused freezing and secondary explosive area-of-effect magic damage to targets with lower Intelligence than himself.

This skill was truly powerful!

Bai Tian walked over to pick up the copper coins dropped by the three Tortoise Beasts, then continued his exploration.

After a while, Bai Tian was ambushed by several more Tortoise Beasts, but this time, three low-health Tortoise Beasts managed to escape.

That was truly embarrassing.

The Cold Abyss Burst skill was a predictive one. This time, when he cast it, he missed, and as a result, not a single one of the three low-health Tortoise Beasts was caught.

The hit rate wasn't good!

It seemed he still needed more practice.

But then again, why were the NPCs becoming more sinister and even the monsters more cunning after leaving Novice Island?

These Tortoise Beasts not only ambushed and fled, but they were also incredibly slippery.

Over the next hour or so, Bai Tian encountered countless waves of Tortoise Beast ambushes.

These cunning tortoises' Stealth skill made them undetectable when they weren't moving.

They would ambush Bai Tian, deal some damage, get hit by the Rebound, then turn and flee.

Along the way, at least 20 Tortoise Beasts had escaped from Bai Tian.

Fortunately, Bai Tian was also constantly improving, and now achieved a 95% kill rate against the Tortoise Beasts.

The hit rate of ranged Cold Abyss Burst had significantly increased.

After a "bang" of ice explosion, several Tortoise Beasts 31 yards away were all taken out by the secondary explosion damage of Cold Abyss Burst.

Bai Tian gained hundreds more experience points.

Oh!

Something dropped.

His eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over, finding an earthy-yellow blueprint under a Tortoise Beast's corpse. He quickly picked it up to examine it.

—[Border Wild City Outskirts Map]!

(After use, you can learn the distribution of terrain, beasts, BOSSes, herbs, minerals, etc., within a 500-li radius.)

Awesome!

This was a valuable map, precisely what Bai Tian needed most at the moment.

Bai Tian had been frustrated by his unfamiliarity with the area and the low leveling efficiency from only farming low-level monsters.

He eagerly used this map.

It was very magical; there was no system prompt, but upon using it, a living map suddenly appeared in his mind.

Immediately, the terrain and the distribution of monsters, herbs, and so on, within a 500-li radius, all appeared in his mind.

That fat auntie really hadn't lied to him.

There was indeed a dilapidated temple a hundred li to the east.

However, whether there was a Flower Monk who knew Alchemy was another matter.

While checking the map in his mind, Bai Tian was suddenly pleasantly surprised to discover an elite BOSS not far from him.

BOSSes offered high experience and drop rates, and they only refreshed once a week after being defeated, so such resources definitely needed to be seized!

Without another word, he quickly rushed towards the location of the elite BOSS.

It wouldn't be too late to look for the Flower Monk after defeating the BOSS.