Volume One, Chapter 14: Goblins in the Forest.
Whoosh!
[—27]
The vine adorned with bright flowers, after being innocently struck by an arrow, instantly erupted in fury. It swiftly withdrew its roots embedded in the soil and charged toward Li Chuan with an ugly gait.
The Poison Bloom Flower ran while frantically spraying colorful toxic mist from its buds.
Unfortunately, the toxic mist’s propulsion was weak, unable to reach beyond three meters from the flower.
Seeing this, Li Chuan felt reassured and quickly loaded crossbow bolts with both hands.
Whoosh!
[Critical Weak Point Hit — 57]
Whoosh!
[Critical Weak Point Hit — 109]
A critical hit on the weak point? The ring truly wasn’t worn in vain!
Although the Poison Bloom Flower ran as wildly as if possessed, its speed was not slow, nearly matching Li Chuan’s first-level speed.
After firing several bolts, the Poison Bloom Flower was closing in.
Li Chuan swiftly rolled twice to the side to distance himself and continued damaging it with crossbow bolts.
Since the flower could spray poison, Li Chuan had no intention of engaging in close combat, though his bolt supply was dwindling.
Whoosh!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
[Weak Point Attack — 114!]
[Ding! Killed level 10 Poison Bloom Flower (Elite) *1, experience +20]
[Ding! Player “Li Chuan” experience bar full, level +1, gained 5 free attribute points.]
Level seven!
Li Chuan didn’t rush to pick up the dropped Evolution Core, instead immediately allocating attribute points to Strength and Agility.
After the colorful toxic mist around the Poison Bloom Flower dissipated completely, Li Chuan jogged over.
[Evolution Core: Green]
[One of the specialties of the Plant Spirit Realm, containing abundant life energy and widely useful.]
[Evaluation: Even in the Core World, this remains a precious and scarce material.]
[Poison Bloom Flower: Green]
[A vine rich with toxic sap, versatile in use.]
Poisonous sap?
Li Chuan pondered briefly, then took out an empty pure water bottle he had used up over the past two days and sliced a slit in the vine with his long sword.
Immediately, the purplish-red sap flowed down the vine.
A smile crept to Li Chuan’s lips as he placed a bottle to collect the poison beneath the vine.
He then sat on a fallen log nearby, took out some wood, and patiently began crafting arrow shafts.
When the young woman known as Black Friday had traded him a standard crossbow, she had only provided fifty bolts. After killing three Plant Spirits and a giant dog, Li Chuan’s supply had dwindled to less than ten.
***
Before long, when the first bottle was filled with poison, Li Chuan hurriedly swapped it out using an empty bucket.
Looking at the full container of deadly poison, Li Chuan silently tossed in all the wolf, lion, and dog teeth he had collected, finally storing the full vial in his backpack.
Just as he prepared to craft more bolts, strange and indistinct sounds echoed through the forest.
“Jili gulu, guli jili? Gulu!”
What was that sound?
Li Chuan, splitting wood at the time, immediately became alert.
The noise came from behind the bushes on his left.
He carefully packed away the arrow shafts and poison, then quietly crept toward the bushes.
“Li jilu gu, jili jili!”
Li Chuan’s eyes widened.
What on earth was this?
A goblin?
By a large, greenish-blue tree stood a small creature with dark green skin, large eyes, and pointed ears, muttering something incomprehensible toward the tree.
This little creature was not naked but wore a grayish-white mini robe, resembling a scholar.
A white beard dangled from its chin, suggesting some age.
Identification effect triggered.
[Wise Goblin: Purple]
[HP: 1000/1000]
[Level 60, seer of the Goblin tribe, possessing strong magical aura, weak point marked!]
A level 60 boss monster!?
Good grief! The weak point mark was completely unnecessary!
Li Chuan quickly crouched low and stealthily retreated.
Damn it! Besides the treasure chest guardians and unclaimed Plant Spirits, other monsters had appeared in the forest! And a level 60 one, no less!
They were determined to push us into the white zone!
Swish.
Just as Li Chuan left cautiously, the Wise Goblin suddenly turned its head toward him.
Li Chuan’s heart jumped to his throat.
It’s over!
Sure enough, the goblin suddenly conjured a bright green staff. With a wave, a pale green bubble slowly floated toward Li Chuan.
Li Chuan was startled, performing three consecutive side rolls to maintain distance, then leapt up and ran without looking back.
Run!
Run fast!
Li Chuan sprinted wildly, wishing for engines on his feet.
Damn it! Damn it! How did it spot me?
Was that green thing magic?
Li Chuan looked back as he ran.
***
Pop.
The green bubble exploded right beside his head without hesitation.
Despair filled Li Chuan’s heart; he thought he was doomed.
Yet after a moment, he felt no harm, only an inexplicable shame, as if someone had seen him completely naked.
“Jili gulu, jigulu lu!”
The Wise Goblin’s voice seemed to echo directly in Li Chuan’s ear, so clear that he could perfectly mimic the tone of the meaningless words.
Glancing at the Wise Goblin, which had not pursued him, Li Chuan calmed down a bit but continued running deeper into the forest.
After about half an hour, Li Chuan finally leaned against a large tree, panting heavily.
“What the hell, this Apocalypse Game System says the initial unlock is for the level 60 boss wizard monster? How am I supposed to survive?”
He knew that “boss” tier was the same grade as purple-quality equipment.
“Damn! Maybe they really don’t want anyone to survive.”
“But why didn’t that Wise Goblin chase me? And what did that jibberish mean?”
He couldn’t figure it out.
Checking the map, he saw he was roughly 500 meters from the white zone boundary.
The mission time left was eight hours.
Plenty of time to reach level eight.
Using hands and feet, Li Chuan climbed a giant tree behind him, rested briefly, then continued crafting crossbow bolts.
He had plenty of shafts, but his supply of arrowheads—beast teeth—was limited to only 112.
That was enough. At level seven, over a hundred bolts could get him to level eight and into the white zone.
But it would be best to reach level ten and unlock the level ten profession skills before entering, to prepare for the many dangers ahead.
***
Unordered Island Area Chat Channel.
Current surviving players in this area: 289/1000
It seemed the players reaching this stage were formidable; the death rate had significantly dropped compared to before.
A Long: “There are goblins in the forest! Low level, very easy to kill! Everyone, kill goblins to level up!”
Chen Hesheng: “I just met one too, it was over level 20! But it was as weak as a punching bag, took just a few strikes.”
Zhu Menjiurou: “I killed one too, was it called ‘Elder Goblin’?”
High level but easy to kill?
Li Chuan thought he must have misread.
Could it be that those goblins had high levels but were actually very weak?
Zhao Gao Misdirects: “Low level? I was chased by one holding a wooden club, almost had to unleash my War Ancient Tree. You say it’s easy to kill?”
A Long: “Huh? But I just killed a white-bearded goblin. Although it was level 25, it was very weak.”
Zhao Gao Misdirects: “That’s strange. But why are goblins suddenly appearing in the forest?”
High place, cold winds: “Do not kill goblins! Absolutely do not kill Elder Goblins! @everyone!”