"Leave it to me."
Doug, who had war maniac tendencies, immediately brandished his Plain Double Axe upon hearing me say this. He spoke with an excited look, like a Corpse Fiend, which sent a shiver down my spine. Had I accidentally awakened the devil buried deep within him?
The three of us slowly crept towards the Fallen Camp, crouching low. I acted as the strategist and cheerleader from the back, planning and boosting morale. In truth, I wasn't as relaxed as I appeared; I still harbored a trace of worry about the upcoming battle.
The Elite Fallen Shaman before us, if compared by Level, should be equivalent to a normal Monster around Level 10. Adding a group of Level 2 Fallen, they seemed easy to deal with.
But based on many years of Diablo experience, the Fallen Shaman's dark red skin, if my guess was correct, indicated that its Elite special ability was Fire Enchanted. The Fallen Shaman's own moves were primarily Fireball and Resurrection. With Fire Enchanted, its Fireball damage would definitely increase significantly. Furthermore, Fire Enchanted Monsters have a certain probability of exploding upon death. If Lars and the others weren't careful, they might truly stumble here.
However, facts proved I was overthinking. If even I, with my half-baked Diablo experience, could see it, how could Lars and the others, these battle-hardened warriors, not know? Once the battle officially began, Lars was the first to act. He swiftly circled around the Fallen, sword in his right hand, and skillfully used Sacrifice on the Fallen Shaman. Then, raising the Round Shield in his left hand, he immediately followed up with a Bash to stun it. The two Barbarian brothers behind him had already started swinging their axes wildly at the Shaman the moment Lars used Sacrifice.
After stunning the Fallen Shaman, Lars immediately turned around. Relying on his high defense, he held off the Fallen Mobs behind him. Once Sacrifice and Bash cooled down, he turned back and unleashed another Skill combo.
The tactic was simple, yet extremely effective.
The Elite Shaman lived up to its title. Its high defense and life, eight times that of a normal Monster of the same Level, allowed it to stand firm even under the frenzied axes of the Level 11 Barbarian brothers and the Skill attacks of the Level 12 Lars.
Unfortunately, Lars's Bash Level wasn't high, and the Elite's powerful body also shortened the Fallen Shaman's stun duration. It regained consciousness in less than a second, and the Barbarian brothers had only left four wounds on its body.
The recovering Fallen Shaman immediately took a step back, muttering rapidly. A bright red Fireball, carrying thick waves of flame, struck Doug. Normally, this enhanced Fireball would have caused Doug considerable trouble, but at some point, Lars had already activated Fire Resistance. That fierce Fireball ultimately only took away about a fifth of Doug's health.
With Lars's Fire Resistance for defense and the Barbarian brothers' frenzied battle axes for offense, the Elite Fallen Shaman had no power to retaliate at all. Although I had watched the trio's coordination many times over the past few days, the battle ended much faster than I had imagined. The Elite Fallen Shaman let out a final scream and died ignominiously, without even triggering an explosion. The remaining nine Fallen had also been held off by Lars, who took advantage of openings to kill two. By the time the two Barbarian brothers turned back to deal with the remaining seven Fallen, everything was already decided.
Finally, Lars was cleaning up the battlefield, while Geoff and Doug took turns using Find Potion, trying to get some Small Potions from the Fallen's bodies to replenish their consumption. Barbarians don't have many useful attack Skills in the early stages, so Doug and his brother hadn't used much Mana. It was enough to support the consumption of 4 uses of Find Potion. In the end, they found a bottle of Minor Mana Potion on the Fallen Shaman's body. Seeing the two brothers panting after exhausting their Mana, this result could only be considered a slight gain.
"Brother Doug, what Level is your Axe Mastery?" I asked Doug, who was sitting nearby resting and recovering Mana, out of boredom.
"Oh, only Level 3," Doug told me without reservation.
"You should have learned Shout by now, doesn't it increase defense? Why don't you use it?" I asked curiously.
"Shouldn't Shout be learned at Level 12?" Doug looked at me with even more curiosity than I had.
"Oh, haha, I completely forgot. I remember someone saying Level 12 is a Skill threshold. Look at my memory."
I slapped my head as if suddenly enlightened and laughed to hide my shock. I pulled out a hypothetical person's words to continue probing, so even if I said something wrong, it wouldn't arouse their suspicion.
"Yeah, that's right. You have to reach Level 60 to learn all Skills."
Doug nodded, "Whirlwind, Berserk, Battle Orders, Natural Resistance... these top-tier Skills can only be learned at Level 60. Only then can one be called a true Barbarian warrior!"
Doug's eyes were full of stars. He was probably fantasizing in his mind, using Berserk one moment, then Whirlwind the next, with wind, fire, lightning, and poison attacks hitting him like stones sinking into the sea, having no effect at all. It was a scene of passing through a crowd of ten thousand enemies without getting a drop of blood on him.
No wonder Lars didn't choose the precise and sudden Charge for his first attack, but instead used the self-damaging Sacrifice. According to this calculation, Charge should be learned at Level 24.
I firmly imprinted this important point in my mind. I didn't know if I could ever go back in the future, perhaps I would have to live here for the rest of my life. This important information absolutely could not be missed.
"Everyone, quick, come over quickly..."
Lars, who was cleaning up the battlefield in the distance, suddenly waved his hands and shouted towards us excitedly.
"Something good must have dropped!"
Doug's eyes lit up, and he said, trembling. Years of tacit understanding allowed him to guess the reason for Lars's excitement at a glance. Unable to contain his excitement, he rushed over.
We saw Lars standing by the Fallen Shaman's Corpse, holding a Ring in his hand. It was clearly a drop from the Fallen Shaman. As expected, an Elite is an Elite; their drops are truly extraordinary.
"We gained a lot today! The Fallen Shaman not only dropped 2 Minor Healing Potions and 1 Minor Mana Potion, but also a Ring!"
From Lars's excited eyes, one could see how important this Ring was. Among the three of them, Lars had been a Class Holder for 3 years, while Doug and Geoff had been for over 2 years. Yet, among the three of them, only Lars had a Ring with +1 Strength. Even that had made the Barbarian brothers envious for a long time. Now, this Ring was worth a fortune to them, and that wasn't an exaggeration.
"And look, it's a Ring with Fire Resistance Attribute! Oh God, the divine must have heard our prayers!" Lars prayed with a face full of piety, truly a Paladin whose mind was deeply influenced by the Holy Order.
Doug and I quickly looked at the Ring in Lars's hand. The Ring, lying quietly in Lars's palm, was emitting a faint blue light. Its Attributes had already been Identified by a Scroll.
Bronze Orange Ring: +11 Accuracy, +8% Fire Resistance.
This trashy Ring, which I wouldn't even bother picking up when I played Diablo, was now being gently held in Lars's palm like a rare treasure, as if it wasn't a Ring but his son.
"This is great, this is great..." Doug rubbed his hands vigorously, overwhelmed with joy, and said excitedly.
Finally, after a brief discussion, the ownership of this Ring fell to Doug. Lars already had a Ring, so he naturally felt awkward asking for another. Moreover, the +11 Accuracy was also suitable for a Barbarian. One must know that high attack power and a high miss rate have always been unique characteristics of Barbarians.
Thus, the final distribution right naturally fell upon the Barbarian brothers. Geoff admirably upheld the fine tradition of respecting the old and cherishing the young, like Kong Rong yielding the pears, and gave the Ring to Doug. Doug, on the other hand, was deeply versed in my generation's 'thick-skinned and dark-hearted' theory; he didn't even politely refuse or feign humility before immediately accepting it. It seems if there's a chance in the future, I should introduce these two to transmigrate to my world. Yes, Geoff is qualified to be my subordinate, and as for Doug, I'll let him sell meat.
"Lars, I also want to learn some combat techniques." That night, while everyone was resting around the campfire, I pleaded with Lars.
"Huh? Didn't your teacher teach you?" Lars asked, looking puzzled.
"Uh... my teacher disappeared after I became a Class Holder."
After so many days of gaining experience, I had gained a certain understanding of this world. I could even lie convincingly, and Lars believed me.
"What an irresponsible teacher! No wonder you ran carelessly into the depths of the Wilderness by yourself," Lars said angrily, as if he was the one who had been abandoned, not me.
Every Class Holder is a treasure of this Continent. It is precisely because of the existence of these Class Holders that the entire Continent has not been swallowed by Hell. And a genius who becomes a Class Holder at my age is especially precious. One must know that on the Dark Continent, there is only one Class Holder for every 10,000 people on average, and the average age of Class Holders is over 30. Becoming a Class Holder before 30 can be called a genius, so Lars's anger was not without reason.
Just as a side note, the average lifespan of commoners on the Dark Continent is around 150 years, while Class Holders can live to at least 200. I heard that the Legendary Mage Tal Rasha even lived for several thousand years.
"Uh... exactly, exactly..."
I quickly agreed with Lars and sincerely apologized in my heart to this hypothetical teacher. Of course, if this teacher truly existed and was the culprit who pulled me into this world, I might have to sincerely greet his entire family, down to the eighteenth generation.
"First, every Class Holder has their own Interface. You should know this," Lars said, looking as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I don't know..." I shook my head, looking like a good little child. Lars's face immediately turned a multitude of colors, as if frozen, burned, paralyzed, and poisoned all at once, looking extraordinarily 'colorful'.
"That damned fellow! Wu, what's your teacher's name? The next time I see him, I'll definitely give him a proper greeting on behalf of the divine!" By the last few words, Lars was practically gnashing his teeth, looking like he was facing his sworn enemy.
I quickly expressed that a teacher's nurturing is like a mountain, and their kindness is like the sea, and that even if a teacher is wrong, a disciple cannot blame them, and so on. Hearing this, Lars immediately praised my display of valuing relationships and loyalty. Doug and Geoff had already started calling me brother, and our relationship had even escalated to the point of agreeing to eat, drink, whore, and gamble together.
"Cough cough~~ Let's get back to the main topic. I'll temporarily do my part for your irresponsible teacher." Lars was eager to nurture talent and couldn't bear to see me led astray by these two Barbarian brothers. While we were discussing heatedly which brothel had the most alluring women, he started coughing violently like a consumptive patient, interrupting us in our excited state. He also didn't forget to express that his resentment towards my fabricated teacher was still very strong.
"First, close your eyes and quietly recite your Attribute status in your mind."
I followed Lars's words, closed my eyes, and thought silently in my mind. Lars's continuous guidance still came from beside my ear.
"Don't worry, the first time is always more difficult. It will be easier once you get used to it..."
In truth, I had always been skeptical about my identity as a Druid in their eyes. Would the fact that I was a Transmigrator make me seem different from the people in this world? What if they found out and used me as a Guinea Pig? This question lingered in my heart like a Nightmare.
Whether I was a Class Holder or not, the answer would soon appear.
I took a deep breath and suddenly opened my eyes. Success or failure depended on this one attempt.
(end of chapter)