Carefully counting my skills, besides the passive skill Berserker, I only had Heavy Strike, Combo, and Ice Seal Slash as active skills. Compared to Xu Lin, a Mage who could learn 6 magic skills upon job advancement, I was so ashamed I wanted to find a hole to crawl into. This was the awkwardness of close-combat professions like Swordsmen. I was still pretty good, as the system rewarded me with a skill. Most Swordsmen probably only had Heavy Strike and Combo right now.
It was then that I remembered the skill trainer nearby seemed to have an additional skill available to learn after I advanced. I quickly opened the conversation interface with him, and a skill jumped out at me: Suppress!
Suppress: Passive Skill. Has a certain chance to add an extra attack opportunity after a physical attack. The chance increases with skill level.
Although the cost to learn the skill was as high as 3 gold coins, I gritted my teeth and learned it. At level one, the chance of Suppress appearing was only 3%. Each subsequent skill level would increase the chance by 3%, meaning that when the skill reached level 10, the chance of Suppress appearing would increase to 30%. It wasn't high, nor was it low, but it made sense; otherwise, if it were 100%, other professions wouldn't be able to compete.
After learning the skill, it was time to go to the Exchange to consign that green dagger. I was sure it would sell for a good price!
The Exchange was packed with players, all browsing the equipment and materials consigned there. All equipment could be searched by equipment level and quality, which greatly facilitated player purchases.
I looked at the dagger in my bag; its stats were quite good!
[Phantom Dagger] (green equipment)
Attack: 21-36
Strength: +8
Agility: +12
Required Level: 16
Although the +8 Strength was a bit redundant, the 21-36 attack was enough to make any player under level 20 drool, not to mention the +12 Agility. For a Thief who prioritizes Agility, this was undoubtedly a handy weapon for killing and plundering.
I clicked consign, quickly entered a starting bid of 3000 RMB, and didn't set an upper limit. After six hours, it would go to whoever offered the highest price. If no one bought it, it would be delisted for me to retrieve.
After consigning my item, I opened the consumable consignment section and was surprised to find a stack of red potions being sold at an astonishingly cheap price. Others sold medium red potions that restored 500 HP for 1 gold coin, but this person named 'Peerless Little Potion Master' was selling a large quantity of medium red potions for 30 silver coins each.
Opportunities like this were rare, so I bought 10 bottles in one go. Even though it instantly cost me 3 gold coins, I didn't feel any heartache at all.
After tidying up my equipment, I knew it was time to check on the mission to rescue Princess Misha. If I could complete it alone, there would be no need to waste everyone's leveling time to help me with the mission. Now with these 10 medium red potions, the chance of completing the mission alone was even greater... The Skeleton Warriors in the Plague Graveyard still patrolled back and forth. At my current high level of 21, fighting them didn't yield much experience anymore. I simply cleared a path and headed towards the haunted house in the center of the graveyard.
Skeleton Warriors no longer spawned near the haunted house; instead, there were level 26 Skeleton Mages. Fortunately, they didn't appear in groups, or my plan to complete the mission alone would have failed.
After estimating the distance, I immediately rushed towards the nearest Skeleton Mage. As it spotted me, it had already begun to gather Fireball magic elements. Without hesitation, I first interrupted its magic with a Combo, then finished off the low-HP, low-defense Skeleton Mage with a Heavy Strike. With my current attack of 120-155, it only took two normal attacks to defeat a level 26 Skeleton Mage.
After neatly clearing out dozens of Skeleton Mages near the haunted house, my level actually rose to 22. My total HP also reached 720. Calculating that each Fireball from a Skeleton Mage hit me for 40 damage, I could withstand at least 18 magic attacks, meaning I could fight three Skeleton Mages simultaneously without dying.
Turning past the door curtain, I pushed open the large door covered in cobwebs and dust. Seeing the scene inside, I immediately turned and ran out without looking back.
"Phew~!!"
At least 40 or more Fireballs flew out after me!!
Fortunately, only a few Fireballs hit me, otherwise I would probably have been sent back to town for free. But even so, I was hit until I had less than 100 HP left. I hastily used my talent—Stealth. A few seconds later, the Skeleton Mages finally calmed down. It seemed this talent was somewhat useful!
I was drenched in cold sweat, sitting there nervously, recovering my HP.
After reaching full HP, I walked to the entrance. The Skeleton Mages inside were staring wide-eyed at the outside of the door. Oh, I'm sorry, they don't have eyes; they were staring with big holes. With my current abilities, it was impossible for me to forcefully kill all of them. They were densely packed inside the house, making it much harder to aggro them. It was almost impossible to pull a single monster. The setting in moons constant was quite interesting: if one of the monsters clustered together was attacked, the others would also counterattack with it. However, if no one attacked, and they were simply approached and actively lured away, the other monsters would not move.
Slowly approaching the Skeleton Mages, all the Skeleton Mages inside the house were staring out the door, and I didn't know if they could see what was in front of them. I was trembling with tension, afraid they would suddenly roast me with a pile of fire!
Finally! Three Skeleton Mages moved, and fire elements gradually condensed in their hands!
I immediately ran back, followed closely by three large Fireballs and three Skeleton Mages!
Seeing that the three Skeleton Mages had all followed me out, I immediately turned around. After taking down one of the Mages with a Combo followed by a Heavy Strike, Ice Seal Slash was cast for the first time. Another Skeleton Mage was immediately frozen and stunned. A subsequent normal attack finished it off. The remaining one posed no threat, and I took it down with two normal attacks. I was also lucky enough to get a piece of equipment!
[Intelligence Shorts] (green equipment)
Defense: +16
Stamina: +8
Intelligence: +14
Required Level: 18
...An item with +14 Intelligence, I had never seen one before. Xu Lin would be overjoyed this time.
I created an item card of the stats and sent it to Xu Lin. She immediately excitedly demanded that I return to town for the trade. It took a lot of comforting before I convinced her to wait until I finished the mission to trade...