"Oh heavens and earth, gods bless us!" The Flame Rat leader exclaimed, its whiskers trembling slightly with excitement.
He thought, I just need some food to replenish my physical strength, and the blind man happens to appear here, it's clear enough that he is indeed a lucky charm.
It must be that the blind man was quick-witted, seeing the situation turn ugly, he escaped amid the chaos. Little did he expect that in his panic, he would run wildly in the forest, and accidentally collide with this blind man who cannot distinguish direction—he's delivered himself right to me; how could I refuse such a genuine gesture?
Fate, how wonderfully inexplicable it is!
"Emmm... Your Majesty?" Jiang Yuan saw the prey, and simultaneously noticed a progress bar indicating the threat level lighting up in his view.
The data was precise and easy to judge; the big rat intended to swallow him, but lacked the strength, so the overall threat level wasn't high.
Even though the big boss was beaten to a critical state and ran off, it still belonged to the realm of wild monsters, and he, as a newbie just entering the game, could kill and loot it—it's practically a windfall!
Despite this, he understood the importance of caution near harvest to avoid sorrow in joy.
Therefore, Jiang Yuan pretended to sniff the air, lowered his voice, and asked, "Is it Your Majesty? I can smell your unique regal aura. It's chaotic over at the mine site, so I made my escape, and couldn't have imagined I'd encounter Your Majesty here—it's truly wonderful."
"Indeed, it is truly wonderful." The Flame Rat leader sighed, drool flowing uncontrollably from its mouth as it gazed at the tender human before it.
It seemed to have already tasted the tender flesh bursting with sweet flavor, impossible to imagine how comforting such a meal would be to a hollow stomach during such destitution!
It forced itself to sit up, striving to make its voice sound amicable, "Those damned bastards stole our mine, but from this battle, I've seen your cleverness and strong ability to handle matters. Rest assured, I won't let you suffer losses, as I promised.
Come, come to my side.
I'll teach you the Heaven-Burning Scripture, hand-by-hand guiding you to cultivate the way. Once you successfully achieve the Foundation Establishment, you'll surely restore your remnants and regain sight. By then, with you and me joining forces, we'll definitely rise again and reclaim the mine. Then, you'll be the illustrious Second Prince!"
What's this grand promise now?
Jiang Yuan could plainly see the current situation, the big rat was trying to lure him within its attack range to seize him in one move and then feast, yet he still portrayed a deeply convinced joyful expression, stepping forward two steps, perfectly positioned outside the big rat's attack range but within the attack range of his jujube wood staff.
The sole reason for not attacking immediately was due to Jiang Yuan's love for life.
He didn't want to recklessly charge in without thoroughly understanding his opponent's details, considering it still had the capability of spraying fire and releasing ranged skills despite having a broken left arm with feathered arrows stuck in it.
Unless the big rat used the ultimate skill of exploding with fireballs while consuming its health bar, otherwise, based on the observed circumstances, its flame spray range doesn't exceed two meters—perfect, as the jujube wood staff, being a long weapon, has a length of 2.2 meters; this wave grants me the advantage.
"Come closer, there's no need for formality between brothers. My Heaven-Burning Scripture is a secret that's not shared, not to mention there's a strong enemy searching for my whereabouts, we must discreetly pass on the teachings." The Flame Rat leader watched the blind man approach with no suspicion, excitedly waiting for the delicacy to enter its mouth for a hearty meal.
Yet he respectfully stood two meters away, unwilling to step forward, which frustrated it greatly.
Having escaped the talons of the eagle, it was severely injured, unable to even spray fire; it needed the blind man to bring his head close to the sharp claw to savor a delicious meal full of nutrition.
Jiang Yuan, seeing the big rat laboriously wave its right claw, evaluating the physical attack range, and using cultivation methods to lure him closer, relaxed completely; it seemed the creature couldn't spray fire due to low health, then what are we waiting for?
Of course, the bewildering and brain-busting Heaven-Dropping Staff Technique ought to be employed!
"Eighty! Eighty!" Swinging the staff while shouting the slogan, as Jiang Yuan struck down with a blow, the big rat was really caught off guard, followed by fury, "You-you dare to..."
The dignified Mouse King had never suffered such indignation, actually being struck by a mere human; it was furious, gathering all its strength thinking to fight with its life, even dragging the blind man down with it before dying.
However, the -80 weapon boost caught it completely off guard; facing a full-health big boss, Jiang Yuan's attack power wouldn't suffice, but a single powerful blow rendered impactful in its weakened state.
Jiang Yuan saw clearly, moving swiftly, repeatedly striking with the staff, rendering the big rat too weak to even curse and swear, only able to glare angrily at the "blind man," enduring the blows until its last second of life, still unable to comprehend how a mere human devoid of any Spiritual Energy could challenge a Demon Beast with just a wooden staff, actually managing to take it down.
[Achievement: Kill the first Foundation Establishment realm beast. Reward: Spirit Stone X2000]
[Premium Flame Rat Hide +1]
[Premium Flame Rat Sharp Claw +3]
[Level One Storage Bag +1]
Along with a sharp rise in experience points, Jiang Yuan discovered a golden ray flashing across his body, officially leveling his combat skills to Level One!
A faint crackle sounded within his bones; he could feel a power rising from within, flooding throughout his body.
Personal info panel showed a weapon boost, indicating his total attack power was now 110, meaning next time he swung to attack beasts, he shouldn't shout eighty but instead switch to the police alert.
The bound broken storage bag had a total of twenty slots, filled nearly to the brim with spoils and essential tools.
Jiang Yuan greatly coveted the big rat's visibly higher-grade storage bag; unfortunately, the system showed it couldn't be used, only sold at the Floating Market for money; meanwhile, there were many items in it, needing twelve hours for it to be deemed ownerless before it could be opened and taken.
Eager to return to the straw hut to craft a storage box and transfer resources, while also accepting the next task, he saw that after killing the Flame Rat leader, the loot was automatically picked up, its body dissolved into blood and disappeared, finally feeling reassured to look at the map and adjust direction to return home.
"Little brother!" Not far after setting off, Jiang Yuan heard a gentle call.
Lin Chunxi and her mother, along with a few villagers, were hiding in a large tree hole, spotting the figure they've been longing to see emerging from the dense forest. She hurriedly whispered in concern, "We're over here, come hide with us! It's still not fully dawn, and Demon Beasts might appear in the wilderness at any moment to hunt prey—it's really dangerous!"
Jiang Yuan hesitated for a second, then turned to rush toward the large tree hole. It was a rare opportunity to learn more about the cultural geography of the wilderness game, otherwise navigating by himself would lead him astray often.
Wan Mingchuan, who was injured, was also amongst them, initially resting with his eyes closed, but smiled slightly as Jiang Yuan approached, displaying a handsome appearance, "Thank you for using your wit to save my life, otherwise I would've been killed by that foul rat!"
Other villagers quickly expressed their gratitude as well.
"Brother, thank you for saving us."
"Yes, yes, at that time I was so frightened my legs turned to jelly; it's all thanks to Brother pulling me up that I wasn't trampled to death."
"And for pointing us in the right direction, that's how we escaped the catastrophe..."
...
Within the tree hole, eight men and women, young and old, nestled together, with a space offered for Jiang Yuan after shuffling slightly to avoid being noticed.
Lin Chunxi sneaked a glance at her mother, thinking that everyone acknowledged the little brother's kindness, so he should smoothly move to the village to live; surely this time her mother won't suspect him of being a bad person, right?
Jiang Yuan heard that the miners had fled successfully, spread out to find hiding spots once out of the marshland, and felt relieved knowing that surviving until dawn meant safety through Wilderness Ascension.
"Don't mention it anymore; previously, we only knew to stay indoors in the village during the wilderness's nighttime descent, unaware it was this dangerous!"
Upon hearing Brother inquire about how they were captured as miners, the village elder over fifty with a robust body smoothed his flourishing beard and sighed, "We were truly unfortunate.
A few days ago, a stranger suddenly arrived in the village—a dark-skinned, thin and sly-looking youth, loudly yelling things like 'Crack gold,' 'Golden finger,' and 'Big boss's harem,' which we didn't understand. Then, he took out a handful of gold coins, asking us to arrange accommodations and seek out young, beautiful girls to serve him in sleep.
Mad and glib, he was evidently not a decent person.
We tried to chase him away, unexpectedly he brought out an axe from somewhere, claiming something about NPC revolting against heavens, threatening to kill us all and claim the village—he was extremely fierce!
During the confrontation in the square, he even cracked the Divine Statue of Lady Nuwa that protected our village.
We united to fight and threw him out, not realizing he had damaged Lady Nuwa's statue, with the wilderness descending, the safety barrier provided by it was weak. Before we could fix it, the rat spirit found and broke through, capturing people…"