Chapter 30: The Body of the Male Lion

Su Sheng went forward alone; actually, going solo is fine for him.

What Huan Jie said wasn't wrong; without having to look after Huakai, his progress could indeed be faster.

Actually, bringing Huakai along isn't much different; it's just that leveling up would be a bit slower.

But the real reason Su Sheng agreed to go solo was Qiancheng Muxue!

Enemies meet on a narrow road; since Qiancheng Muxue's gang came to Wutong Town, I definitely have to kill them.

Anyone who brings Huakai will definitely be implicated; don't underestimate the power of one of Huaxia's top ten guilds.

Going alone, I can be more free with my actions.

Although I play an assassin in 《Heroes of the Storm》, coming and going like the wind.

But this time the hidden class has off-the-chart frontline combat power.

…

After walking about seven or eight minutes, Su Sheng saw a new monster.

Demon Energy Fox

Level: 20

Attack:??

Defense:??

HP:??

Skill:??

Description: Foxes infected with Demon Energy become bloodthirsty and ferocious.

A level‑20 wild monster, Su Sheng is only level 14, exceeding it by five levels; aside from level and name, basically no other info is visible.

But Su Sheng feels he can handle it; after all, at level 14 with his points allocated, his attack and defense already exceed 300.

Engage the monster!

-13

-14

White numbers, unpreventable forced damage, but his strikes are two fast attacks; it looks like an agile-type monster.

-273

No weak‑point attack; just a normal sword strike, defense isn't high, and judging by the HP bar it's similar to a level‑15 Green Rock Magic Bull: high attack, low defense, fast, fragile.

Su Sheng's definition of this level‑20 monster.

Attack should be pretty high—after all, without breaking defense, the forced white damage is already double digits, but it's still not as high as Su Sheng's.

He easily killed a fox, even easier than the Green Rock Magic Bull.

Su Sheng curled his lips; it seems he's suited for these high‑attack, low‑defense monsters—after all, they hit hard but don't exceed his defense.

But Su Sheng realized that killing monsters six levels above him didn't give the abundant XP he expected; after a moment's thought he understood—this is probably Teng Long Company's XP protection setting: killing higher‑level monsters grants XP bonuses, but beyond a certain range the bonus starts to decay.

Five levels should be about the right range.

Even so, the XP from these Demon Energy Foxes is still higher than that from the Green Rock Magic Bull.

Let's get to level 15 first.

Su Sheng still has two pieces of level‑15 white gear dropped by the Green Rock Magic Bull.

They are bracers and a helmet.

Currently Su Sheng's bracers and helmet are level‑10 white gear; upgrading to level‑15 will at least give a slight boost.

Then he'll go back for a run of the Hui Long Zhai dungeon.

Level 15 is the final level limit, meaning after today Su Sheng basically won't run the Hui Long Zhai dungeon anymore.

This is the limitation of the novice dungeon; once you level up a bit, the dungeon basically makes no difference.

And now, in the novice stage, everyone is busy leveling up; in a couple days basically no one will bother with the Hui Long Zhai dungeon.

That's also why the truly powerful guilds look down on the Hui Long Zhai dungeon; only Qiancheng Muxue came to Wutong Town for this "mosquito‑leg" profit.

After about three hours, Su Sheng finally saw a golden flash and leveled up to 15.

He swapped his helmet and bracers for level‑15 versions, each adding 10 defense for a total of 20; these are the only two white items Su Sheng has equipped, not counting his novice wooden sword in hand, and he doesn't know when he'll be able to replace that sword.

After allocating points, level‑15 Su Sheng's attack and defense reached 327, and his HP increased to 1820.

After reaching level 15, Su Sheng finally saw the foxes' stats: 280 attack, 180 defense, 8500 HP, skill: double‑claw swipe.

At that moment, Su Sheng turned his attention to the task prompt that appeared together with the level‑up golden light.

System Notification: Reaching level 15 triggers the occupational skill trial "Lion's Growth".

Hunt alone a hundred beasts stronger than you.

(Solo‑kill 100 monsters above player level.)

At level 5 he directly grasped the skill Fang.

Now at level 15 he can obtain a new Lion Knight skill; Su Sheng isn't surprised.

Unlike the level‑5 instant grasp of the initial skill, this time the skill must be earned through trial.

However, this level of trial is probably still somewhat difficult for ordinary players.

For Su Sheng, it's just a waste of a little time.

Su Sheng himself was thinking, after hitting level 15, just go back and clear Hui Long Zhai once.

But now that the trial quest has been triggered, there's no rush.

These foxes right in front of him happen to fit the quest goal.

Grind another hundred foxes, finish the quest, then head back.

Anyway, even 100 foxes still couldn't reach level 16.

Thinking of this, Su Sheng directly picked up his sword and started grinding.

…

It took about another hour or so, and as the last fox let out a whimper, it fell beneath Su Sheng's novice wooden sword.

The quest was finally completed.

This last fox even dropped a piece of level 20 white leather armor, better than nothing.

System Notification: Congratulations, player, on completing the quest.

System Notification: Occupational skill trial completed, the player gains an occupation-related skill.

System Notification: Occupational talent, Lion Stance upgraded to Male Lion's Body.

Huh?

Su Sheng raised his eyebrows, no new skill? Just upgraded the talent?

Su Sheng hastily opened the occupation panel; the attack-defense balance of Lion Stance is also one of the core strong points of the Lion Knight occupation.

Occupational talent: Male Lion's Body.

The description of attack-defense balance hasn't changed, but an additional description and effect have been added.

A strong lion has an exceptionally strong physique; unilateral strength is not true strength—only all-around toughness counts as real toughness.

Granted effect: Monster Balance.

Magic defense and physical defense take the higher value, calculated the same as attack-defense balance, with attack-defense balance also taking the higher value.

Looking at the attribute panel, indeed, the magic defense that was originally only 100 has become 332, the same value as the attack-defense balance.

Unbelievable!

Originally, with only the Wolf Fang Pendant and Dragon Scale Shield adding a bit of magic defense, Su Sheng's weakness was just his magic defense, so he still had to be a bit careful when facing mages.

But now, with the appearance of Male Lion's Body, even the mage grandpa could only tear up.

Speed comes from Lion Hunt, defense needs no explanation—being a knight profession template, just stacking defense works.

Attack, magic defense—one synchronized with Lion Stance, the other with Male Lion's Body—from now on, I just need to mindlessly stack defense.