Volume 1, Chapter 63: The Golden Carp Stone Statue
Moreover, Li Chuan was no longer the inexperienced novice he used to be.
By now, he had reached level twenty, donned a complete set of blue-tier gear, wielded two blue-tier weapons, and acquired three powerful sub-class skills.
[Li Chuan (Cold-Blooded): Human]
[Level: 20/70]
[Experience: 5320/20000]
[Class: Jungle Hunter]
[Sub-class: Level 19 Phantom Spirit Master (Purple)]
[Strength: 60 + 45]
[Agility: 68 + 58]
[Intelligence: 7 + 25]
[Mana: 10 + 90]
[Armor: 2200]
[Free Attribute Points: 0]
[Active Skills: Side Roll (Blue) Proficiency: Mastery 403/1000, Blade Impact (Blue) Proficiency: Intermediate 98/100, Elemental Giant (Green) Proficiency: Intermediate 12/100, Group Ice Element Enchantment (Green) Proficiency: Intermediate 12/100, Stun Arrow (Green) Proficiency: Mastery 14/1000, Weakness Strike (White) Proficiency: Mastery 24/1000, Locked Strike (White) Proficiency: Intermediate 99/100, Trap Making (White), Arrow Making (White)]
[Passive Skills: Jungle Stealth (White), Melee Weapon Mastery (White), Ranged Weapon Mastery (White)]
[Equipment: God of Deception's Probability Glasses (???), Piercing Dagger (Blue), Advanced Combat Upper Armor (Blue), Advanced Combat Boots (Blue), Advanced Combat Trousers (Blue), Advanced Combat Pauldrons (Blue), Advanced Combat Belt (Blue), Space-Rifting Ring (Blue), Warrior's Bracers (Cyan), Luminous Necklace (Green), Critical Strike Ring (Green)]
[Advanced Combat Set Bonus 1: Armor +1000]
[Advanced Combat Set Bonus 2: Grants skill 'Emergency Shield (Passive)'. Automatically activates upon taking heavy damage, providing a shield with 5000 armor. Cooldown: 3 hours.]
[Advanced Combat Set Bonus 3: All Attributes +10]
Compared to when he left the Forbidden Forest a few days ago, Li Chuan's strength had grown by leaps and bounds.
Bending down, lifting his head, and mentally preparing himself, Li Chuan slowly crawled into the range of the rule-bound stone statue.
Only by entering the rule-bound statue's domain in this posture could one completely bypass all of its rules. Although a bit humiliating, fortunately, there was no one around.
Ten meters, five meters, one meter!
Li Chuan stopped moving forward, drew his piercing dagger, and began rhythmically attacking the sea urchin-shaped stone statue.
Thud... thud... thud...
Nothing unexpected happened; the king-tier statue's health steadily dropped until it finally hit zero!
[Ding! Slain Level 30 Rule-Bound Stone Statue (King) x1, Experience +1500]
As expected of a king-tier monster, the experience yield was substantial!
However, his luck today was lacking, as it didn't drop any purple-tier equipment.
It only dropped a purple-tier 'Cursed Energy Core', dozens of gold coins, and a blue-tier class advancement book.
[Advanced Class Advancement Book: Blue]
[Usable by players Level 20 and above. Applicable classes: Warrior, Berserker, Shield Warrior... Upon use, you can choose an advanced combat class: Knight, Wind-Chasing Swordsman, Bloodthirsty Axeman (Note: Class advancement will grant a free attribute point reset)]
[Evaluation: The God of War Trivis always deserves your devotion!]
He couldn't use this himself, and he felt Lin Yaoyao couldn't use it either.
He would take it back and put it on the auction house to exchange for something he could actually use.
Stowing all his loot into his inventory, Li Chuan cautiously continued deeper into the withered forest.
"Damn it, just how deep is this forbidden land? Where on earth is the golden stone statue required by the quest?"
Just as he was muttering complaints, the corner of Li Chuan's eye caught sight of another sea urchin-shaped sculpture.
Hm? Another rule-bound sculpture?
Li Chuan squinted at the statue.
[Rule-Bound Stone Statue: Purple]
[Health: 5000/5000]
[Level 32, a bizarre stone statue corrupted by rules. It will attack anything within its range that dares to gaze at it, swing its hands, or fail to sing out loud...]
[Attack Range: 15-meter radius. Attack Method: Expansion. Trigger Time: 0.5 seconds. Weakness marked!]
This thing...
Singing should be fine, right? Being tone-deaf shouldn't count as violating the rules, would it?
Li Chuan bought a small mirror from the shop, turned his back to the statue, and backed into its range while singing a nursery rhyme.
Singing a nursery rhyme without missing a beat—this rule-bound stone statue couldn't possibly find fault with that!
[Ding! Slain Level 32 Rule-Bound Stone Statue (King) x1, Experience +1600]
Why haven't I leveled up yet?
Li Chuan was slightly bewildered. Logically speaking, with experience rewards as generous as a purple statue's, killing two of them back-to-back should have been more than enough for a level up.
[Experience: 7980/20000]
What the hell!
It takes twenty thousand experience points to level up now? When did that happen?!
Li Chuan was so angry he wanted to curse, but he had no choice except to accept this established fact.
The increase in experience requirements must have started the moment he reached level twenty; it was just that adding an extra zero wasn't particularly eye-catching, so he hadn't noticed.
"Well, damn it!"
At least this rule-bound stone statue was quite generous, dropping a piece of purple equipment for Li Chuan.
[Ranger's Belt (Set): Purple]
[Required Level: Level 25]
[Armor +1000, Agility +15, Evasion Rate increased by 10%.]
[Set Bonus: Not yet activated]
[Evaluation: Collecting a complete set of Ranger gear is the lifelong dream of every Western Spirit Planter.]
It was a leather belt with a somewhat Western flair—full of character, but unwearable for the time being.
Throwing it into his inventory, Li Chuan quickened his pace and pushed forward.
He had been back in the forbidden land for at least an hour. If he couldn't find the golden stone statue within the remaining hour, the quest would fail!
He certainly didn't want to turn into a stone statue!
...
Aman Forest — Giant Sanctuary, Second Floor of the Giant Palace.
This was a massive space filled with towering pillars. The thirty-meter-high stone hall was densely packed with yellowish-brown pillars over two meters in diameter. Atop the pillars, exceptionally thick iron chains were interlinked, and countless deformed giants wandered among the pillars beneath the chains.
Thud! Thud! Thud...
The giants' footsteps were heavy and dense, making it difficult to keep one's heart calm.
Lin Yaoyao was sneaking along the far end of an iron chain suspended above the pillars, her large eyes unblinkingly fixed on a fierce battle unfolding ahead.
The combatants were a man and a woman. The man wore a metal helmet, carried an iron box on his back, and had a mechanical right arm.
The woman wore a breastplate and boxing gloves, with most of her wheat-colored skin exposed.
The two were engaged in a fierce battle in the middle of the iron chain, both vying for a purple potion bag hanging from it.
It was unclear what kind of potion was contained in that bag; it lacked an attribute panel, but through experiments conducted by the players who had entered the area earliest, throwing it into the mouth of a deformed giant below would instantly shrink the massive creature down to a normal human size. Afterward, one could easily slay the once-immense giant and obtain its bloodline factor.
This item was threaded onto the iron chain via multiple straws, with almost every chain holding seven or eight bags. Furthermore, Lin Yaoyao noticed that these potion bags regenerated after being plucked.
Yet, such a common and easily obtainable item had driven two powerful top-tier players into a fight to the death.
Finding no other reason, it could only mean that both of these individuals were utterly stubborn diehards.
"Go to hell!"
The female brawler roared, delivering a fierce diving straight punch that knocked the mechanical-armed man right off the iron chain.
Bang!
The mechanical-armed man plummeted into the hall below, and the deformed giants, drawn by the sound, swarmed over instantly.
Thump, bang, snap...
The sound of snapping bones and breaking limbs was hair-raising.
The female brawler looked down at the ground, sneered, and turned back to claim her hard-won victory.
"Loser! Die!"
...
In the lifeless withered forest, Li Chuan stared with great excitement at the golden carp stone statue fifty meters away.
"Holy bananas! I've finally found you!"