9: Chapter 9 Acquiring Skills

The ensuing battle turned into a continuous game of cat and mouse. Lin Yan darted back and forth between the buildings arranged in a triangular pattern, using every broken wall, concrete pier, and slanted beam as cover.

When the Rift Wolves gave chase, he would circle behind cover to make them miss; when a Rift Wolf was isolated, he would immediately mark it and strike.

There was no fixed battle rhythm, no safe time to wait for cooldowns. Sometimes, just as he applied a mark, another Rift Wolf would pounce from the side, forcing him to abandon the attack and keep running.

Sometimes, when Heartsteel's cooldown wasn't finished, he would trade blows head-on with his standard issue dagger. After all, his health and defense could withstand the damage from a single Rift Wolf; as long as he wasn't surrounded, trading health was a fair deal.

"Steel!"

"Steel!"

"Steel!"

The crisp sound of steel rang out repeatedly through the ruins, each sound signifying that a Rift Wolf had been severely wounded or killed. Lin Yan's stamina was depleting rapidly, his breathing grew heavier, and the muscles in his arms began to signal soreness.

Yet his gaze grew increasingly calm; the number of Rift Wolves was dwindling.

The fifth one fell, then the sixth, then the seventh.

By the time the tenth Rift Wolf fell, Lin Yan had been kiting them in these ruins for nearly fifteen minutes. His health had dropped steadily from the over a thousand points he had when he first discovered the pack, having been hit by the elite Rift Wolf seven or eight times, taking dozens of damage each time. In total, his health bar had fallen below 500 points.

His right pant leg had been torn open by wolf claws, a patch of dark red blood staining the fabric. Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep and didn't affect his movement.

Two remained: one ordinary Rift Wolf and that elite one.

The ordinary Rift Wolf pounced first. Lin Yan dodged to the side while stabbing his standard issue dagger into its flank. Without the Heartsteel bonus, this strike only dealt double-digit damage, but the Rift Wolf winced, its body tilting, giving Lin Yan enough space to turn.

He applied the mark—three seconds.

The elite Rift Wolf did not give Lin Yan the chance to kill its companion. It growled and charged from the right. Its speed was at least 30% faster than the ordinary Rift Wolves. Lin Yan couldn't dodge in time and had to block horizontally with his standard issue dagger.

Clang! The immense impact made the entire dagger vibrate violently. Lin Yan's web between his thumb and index finger went numb, and he was knocked back three or four steps before barely managing to steady himself.

He didn't have time to check if his hand was torn; the elite Rift Wolf's second attack followed immediately. It swiped its front claw, striking his shoulder at a tricky angle.

The iron bone breastplate's shoulder was struck by the claw, emitting a dull thud. The defense absorbed most of the impact, but the residual force still knocked Lin Yan back two steps, and a dull pain radiated from his shoulder. This hit cost him at least 40 points, and it also carried the Rend bleeding damage.

Seeing he had just over 400 health left, Lin Yan gritted his teeth, pulled an intermediate health potion from his waist, flicked off the wax seal with his thumb, and downed it. The 50-point-per-second recovery rate restored 500 health over 10 seconds, bringing his health bar above 900 points.

At the same time, he forcibly locked onto the last ordinary Rift Wolf, applied the mark, and waited three seconds.

"Steel!"

As the eleventh Rift Wolf fell, the elite Rift Wolf let out an angry roar, its dark red pupils showing a clear emotional fluctuation for the first time.

It no longer maintained its calm, commanding stance, but instead scraped its front claws against the ground, lowered its body, and readied itself for an all-out charge.

Lin Yan panted, wiping the sweat from his forehead. His stamina was nearing its limit, and his fingers gripping the standard issue dagger were trembling uncontrollably. Yet his eyes were locked onto the elite Rift Wolf, his gaze as calm as if he hadn't just been besieged for over ten minutes.

The elite Rift Wolf charged, not in a straight line, but in a zigzag pattern. Lin Yan didn't take it head-on; he dodged to the side, sliding half a step to the left, barely avoiding the collision.

The elite Rift Wolf's front claw grazed his side, scraping the side of his iron bone breastplate, but he wasn't hit directly.

The mark was applied.

The elite Rift Wolf missed its attack, but without a moment's pause, it kicked off its hind legs upon landing, using the rebound force to turn and pounce back immediately. Lin Yan couldn't dodge this time; he could only force a side-turn and use his left arm to block the fangs aiming for his throat.

A sharp pain shot through his body from his left forearm. It wasn't just a normal puncture; a strange burning sensation radiated from the wound, as if something had been injected into his muscle fibers along with the fangs.

Lin Yan groaned in pain and jerked his arm back; blood beads seeped from a row of deep tooth marks. He could feel that the burning sensation hadn't vanished but was continuing to surge within the wound, like a small ball of fire slowly spreading beneath his skin.

The elite Rift Wolf didn't pursue; it stopped a few steps away. Its dark red eyes stared at Lin Yan, and a low growl rumbled in its throat, as if confirming the effect of its attack.

Three seconds had passed; the weak point suddenly lit up on the side of the elite Rift Wolf's neck.

Lin Yan stepped forward, gripping his standard issue dagger, and with all his remaining stamina, drove it into that pale red light spot.

"Steel!"

Heartsteel triggered, and a chunk of the elite Rift Wolf's health was gnawed away. Lin Yan didn't retreat to wait for the next cooldown; instead, taking advantage of the brief stun inflicted on the elite Rift Wolf, he pressed his left hand against its neck and stabbed its chest and abdomen twice with the standard issue dagger in his right hand.

The elite Rift Wolf, in pain, thrashed its head and knocked Lin Yan away. Lin Yan's back slammed into a concrete pillar, his bones aching from the impact.

But the corner of his mouth curled slightly. He had seen the damage from those strikes clearly; the elite Rift Wolf's condition was slipping, its movements were a fraction slower than before, and its bite force was a bit weaker.

It had around 1200 health. The first weak point hit dealt nearly 237 points of true damage, and with the few dagger strikes, its health bar had dropped by nearly 300 points.

Wait for Heartsteel to cool down, and three more rounds would be enough. His basic attack damage was too low; after circling for another minute or so, he would win.

After 30 seconds, it happened again: true damage plus dagger damage. The pained elite Rift Wolf didn't dodge but instead pounced even more viciously.

Lin Yan circled a wall, using kiting to stall for time. Whenever Heartsteel cooled down, he would turn back to knock the elite Rift Wolf away, getting in a few extra stabs while he was at it.

The elite Rift Wolf seemed furious; its speed increased again as it pounced.

Lin Yan couldn't dodge, so he took it head-on. At the same time, he reapplied the Heartsteel mark; the 30-second cooldown was complete.

Three seconds. In those three seconds, Lin Yan took a claw swipe and a bite, pushing his health bar below 300 points.

"Steel!"

The fourth sound of steel rang out. Heartsteel's true damage poured into the elite Rift Wolf's wound, combined with the dagger's damage, all unleashed on the same spot.

The elite Rift Wolf's body stiffened abruptly, its dark red pupils dilated suddenly, and then quickly lost their luster. Its massive body swayed twice before collapsing, hitting the gravel ground with a heavy thud.

[Ding! Successfully killed 11 Level 2 Rift Wolves, gained 242 EXP!]

[Ding! Successfully killed a Level 3 elite Rift Wolf, gained 150 EXP!]

[Current EXP: 392/300!]

[Level Up: Level 2 → Level 3! Gained 3 Free Attribute Points!]

The warm current of leveling up swept through his body. Lin Yan braced his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. Sweat dripped from the tip of his nose onto the gravel, creating a small dark stain, and his body was covered in bloodstains.

He didn't rush to allocate his points, instead sliding down to sit against the concrete pillar, closing his eyes to rest for a full two minutes. It wasn't just his health that had dropped; his stamina was nearly exhausted.

He had won. Twelve Rift Wolves, including an elite-level leader, all lay dead in these ruins.

The wound on his left forearm was still throbbing, the strange burning sensation having lessened significantly but not yet fully faded. His stamina was nearly overdrawn, and only a sliver of health remained, but he had won.

Lin Yan opened his eyes and added all 3 free attribute points to Constitution. The leveling-up warmth, accompanied by the vitality brought by the attribute points, surged into his limbs and bones. A sharp itching sensation came from his wound as muscle fibers accelerated their repair and damaged blood vessels began to heal.

Leaning against the pillar, he adjusted his breathing to let his health slowly recover naturally, while taking dry rations and water from his backpack and eating heartily.

Rest and food were the most basic recovery methods in the Dungeon. Although slow, they were the least wasteful way to recover health between battles. He still had 2 intermediate health potions left, which he had to save.

After finishing his rations, Lin Yan pushed himself up against the pillar, walked over to the elite Rift Wolf's corpse, and bent down to search it.

First, he found 10 low-rank dimensional crystals; they were slightly larger than those dropped by ordinary Rift Wolves, with a dark red shimmer flowing inside.

Then, beneath the elite Rift Wolf's abdomen, he felt something unexpected—a skill book, its cover glowing with a pale green luster.

Lin Yan picked up the skill book, and a notification sound rang in his mind.

[Obtained Passive Skill Book: Rend]

[Quality: Green, Fine]

[Skill Effect: Attacks have a chance to apply the Rend effect, causing the target to lose health equal to 30% of your physical attack power per second for 5 seconds, stackable up to 3 times.]

[Learning Requirement: Level > 5, Strength ≥ 8]

Rend, exactly the same skill the elite Rift Wolf used. But the learning requirements—Level greater than 5, Strength greater than or equal to 8. He was only Level 3 now, with only 1 Strength; he was far off. However, this skill book was of green quality and could be taken out of the Dungeon. It wouldn't be too late to learn it when he met the requirements, or he could sell it directly.

Lin Yan put the skill book away and searched the corpses of the other eleven Rift Wolves. He harvested a total of 44 low-rank dimensional crystals. Adding the 10 dropped by the elite Rift Wolf and his previous stock, his total number of low-rank dimensional crystals broke into the triple digits. He also gained 3 more Rift Wolf pelt fragments, with the one from the elite Rift Wolf being of noticeably higher quality, thicker and tougher.

He stood up straight and summoned his attribute panel for a look.

[Current Level: 3]

[Current Attributes: Constitution 9, Strength 1, Agility 1, Spirit 1, Luck 1]

[Health Points: 267/2861]

[Mana Points: 100]

[Physical Attack Power: 20]

[Magic Attack Power: 10]

[Physical Defense: 55]

[Magic Defense: 45]

[Speed: 10]

[Talent: F-Rank Weak Constitution]

[Skills: None]

[Equipment: iron bone breastplate Level 1, standard issue dagger, Standard Issue Set (excluding breastplate)]

[Current EXP: 92/400]

[Items: intermediate health potion x2, Some Food, low-rank dimensional crystals: 130, Rift Wolf Pelt Fragments x12, Green Skill Book: Rend, Broken Officer Badge x1]

[Heartsteel Stacks: 1761]

Lin Yan looked down at his body. Within the Dungeon, the increase in his health had caused his physique to expand slightly once again.

His shoulders had widened, and the muscle lines of his arms were more defined. Standing in the middle of the carpet of Rift Wolf corpses, the oppressive aura he exuded was like a different person compared to a few hours ago.

He stood before the elite Rift Wolf's corpse for a moment, moving his still-sore left arm. The wound no longer hurt; the leveling-up warmth had helped him repair most of the muscle damage, but his stamina hadn't fully recovered.

He looked up at the sky; the gray-yellow sky of the Rift Wasteland was a bit darker than when he first entered. More than half a day had passed in the Dungeon.

He rested against the pillar for a while longer, letting his health slowly recover in a resting state. With a total health of 2861 points, natural recovery took time.

When his health bar became somewhat fuller, Lin Yan gripped his standard issue dagger, stepped over the Rift Wolf corpses at his feet, and walked toward the depths of the triangular-shaped buildings.

That rusty iron door was still waiting for him in the same place.

The Second Lieutenant badge at his waist was slightly hot, like a key calling out to its corresponding keyhole.

Clearing complete.

It was time to open the door.