19: Bumblebee

Maple Leaf Forest is a Rank 10 monster zone and the territory of Bloodthirsty Mad Wolves. Since the wolves have brown fur, it is difficult to spot them in this area covered in maple leaves.

The Bloodthirsty Mad Wolves are extremely fast, and players leveling up here can easily be ambushed and killed, or even surrounded without realizing it. Ordinary players rarely come here to level up.

After Xiao Xing and the other person arrived at Maple Leaf Forest, he relied on his memories from his past life to quickly run toward the depths.

The Hornet's nest is located in the deepest part of Maple Leaf Forest. The location is quite remote, making it difficult for people leveling up here to discover it.

Ten-odd minutes later, the two of them arrived and stopped not far from the hive.

This hive was a massive cave. At this moment, several bees the size of human heads were constantly entering and exiting the cave entrance. These bees specialized in gathering honey from various places and bringing it back to the hive for the Bee King.

Hornet (Common)

Rank: 10

HP: 1450

MP: 1830

Physical Attack: 60

Magic Attack: 155

Defense: 40

Skill 1: Bee Venom (Passive)

Bee Venom: Attacked targets enter a poisoned state, losing 10 HP per second for 10 seconds.

Skill 2: Tail Stinger

Tail Stinger: The Hornet fires its own stinger to attack the enemy. The hit target takes 200% magic damage and enters a poisoned state for 10 seconds, losing 10 HP per second for 10 seconds.

Mana Cost: 100

Cooldown: 20 seconds... This kind of bee has low HP and defense, but the toxin is a bit disgusting. However, the difficulty of killing them is the highest in the Novice Village.

A single bee isn't much of a threat, but they are social animals. There are usually about ten of them within a 10-meter radius, which an ordinary Rank 9 team simply couldn't handle.

This is also one of the few places where gear and skills can be exchanged.

“Brother Jian Chen, did we run all this way just to fight these bees?”

After observing for a moment, Qing Lan’s expression became somewhat dissatisfied.

She saw that these Hornets were only Rank 10. If that was the case, why not level up near Black Wind Mountain instead of running all the way to the other side of the village?

If they hadn't wasted time coming here, given Xiao Xing’s monster-killing speed, she would be nearly Rank 10 by now. Thus, she felt they had wasted a lot of time for nothing.

“Take these pieces of equipment. In a moment, you'll be responsible for picking up the drops, especially the honey.”

Xiao Xing handed her several pieces of Silver Equipment and then vanished from where he stood.

He couldn't be bothered to explain to this girl; taking her along to level up was already good enough.

Swish, swish, swish!

-235 (Weak Point Attack)

-222 (Weak Point Attack)

-214 (Weak Point Attack)

...Damage numbers constantly popped up over the dozen or so Hornets at the cave entrance. After being attacked, they began to use their skills.

Instantly, over a dozen stingers shot toward Xiao Xing from various angles, but his figure threaded through them, easily dodging every single one.

After using their skills, they lunged and bit at Xiao Xing. However, without their skills, it was even more impossible for them to hit him.

Not far away, Qing Lan covered her delicate lips with her hands, her previously dissatisfied Face turning into one of shock.

She only knew that Xiao Xing was fast, but now seeing him weave through the monster swarm like a spirit snake, his longsword attacking rapidly from various tricky angles—the weapon in his hand seemed to possess a soul of its own. Combined with his flashy footwork, it was a mesmerizing sight.

Even though she was somewhat inexperienced, she couldn't help but think to herself—an expert.

After resolving the Hornets at the entrance, his figure went directly into the cave.

This was a massive cavern, and it wasn't dark inside. As soon as he entered, he saw Hornets everywhere.

They flew without any pattern. As long as one spotted him, all Hornets within a 20-meter radius would be alerted. With good luck, he might Face only a few; with bad luck, he could be submerged by a massive swarm.

When he came here in his past life, the Tian Ying Guild had already claimed the area, and a large number of players were gathered outside. Xiao Xing's team saw so many people but didn't join the resistance, so they went elsewhere to level up.

Aurora Step!

Xiao Xing no longer held back, activating his full-speed state.

Because he had put all his points into agility, his agility was already over a hundred. With the 10x multiplier from his passive talent, his speed was over 1000+.

With this level of agility, only a Rank 50 player activating a high-level haste skill could possibly possess such speed.

It could be said that the Aurora Sword Saint class pushed the concept of speed to the absolute limit. Under the doubled bonus of Aurora Step, Xiao Xing's figure was like a ghost, flickering in and out of sight within the swarm.

Due to the System's aggro lock, these Hornets could still find Xiao Xing's position, but just as they intended to attack, Xiao Xing would have already appeared elsewhere.

By the time they tried to turn around, his aggro value was already on the other side. This process was extremely fast, repeatedly preventing them from ever locking onto an attack.

Even with the System's aggro lock, these Hornets were left utterly confused. From a third-person perspective, it looked as if the swarm was frozen in place, slightly trembling.

The reason Xiao Xing bought 50 mana potions was to use Aurora Step continuously here. Not only could he speed up the skill's leveling, but it would also make facing a large swarm much easier.

Qing Lan, who had just finished picking up the drops and entered, was shocked to the extreme. She could no longer see Xiao Xing's specific position with the naked eye.

After an unknown amount of time, Qing Lan snapped out of it and saw that the swarm was dead, with only a ground full of corpses and various drops ahead.

“Go pick up the items.”

Seeing Qing Lan standing there dazed and unresponsive, Xiao Xing tapped her head to remind her.

He had killed over a hundred Hornets in one go, and his character was feeling a wave of exhaustion, so he naturally let her do this work.

There is no fatigue value in this game, but stamina is the same as in reality; you get tired after a certain amount of activity. The higher the Physique and Endurance, the less likely you are to become exhausted.

In the game, if a character is exhausted, they can slowly recover by sitting and resting. To recover quickly, one can buy buns or eat food cooked by players.

However, most people in the game buy buns to recover; only wealthy people would casually buy delicacies to eat.

“Ah!”

A voice suddenly came from behind, giving Qing Lan a fright.

When she turned and saw it was Xiao Xing, she couldn't help but pat her chest and say:

“You really are a bastard, you scared me to death.”

“That's for scaring me, that's for scaring me.”

After patting her chest, she put on a stern Face and raised her delicate hand to swat at Xiao Xing, clearly wanting to regain some Face.

She felt this Jian Chen was too detestable. Not only was she scared, but more importantly, her reaction was so embarrassing, and it was all Jian Chen's fault.

Smack!

A soft sound echoed within the cave.

“Are you still going to be naughty?”

After swatting her bottom, Xiao Xing asked while suppressing a smile.

He wasn't angry; he just found Qing Lan a bit cute and wanted to tease her.

He needed to rest for a while anyway and wasn't in a hurry to go to the depths of the hive to fight the Bee King, so playing around with her didn't matter.

After her bottom was swatted, she looked stunned. Once she came to her senses, she lunged at Xiao Xing with gritted teeth.