Iron Wall’s skill book sold quickly at the auction house for 60 copper coins.

While waiting for her companion, Ye Yuan kept busy. She used the copper coins she’d received after the transaction tax was deducted, along with what she had left, to buy a few things from the trading post.

A Rogue’s Flash Step—a must-have survival skill in the early game.

She also picked up a few pieces of plain white gear, replacing the beginner set she’d been wearing ever since she entered the game.

After she finished all that, a familiar voice finally arrived, rather late.

“I’m here, Ah Ye!” Mushi, an Elemental Mage, jogged over.

“Come over here.”

Ye Yuan turned around, ready to greet her, but then noticed the weapon in Mushi’s arms and frowned. “Did you go and waste money again?”

The weapon in Mushi’s hands was none other than the bronze staff Ye Yuan had seen earlier in the plaza—the one that increased Ice Elemental damage by 10%. Mushi must’ve happened upon it when she logged in and bought it for a steep price.

“I still have plenty of allowance left, anyway.”

“Aren’t you worried someone might scam you?” Ye Yuan reached out and pinched Mushi’s adorable cheek.

Era hadn’t opened up a way to exchange in-game currency for real-world money yet, so Mushi had definitely bought it from a black-market trader. And there was no guarantee of safety with that sort of thing.

Seeing Mushi’s pitiful expression, Ye Yuan sighed and let go.

“Relax, I only buy from people my friends recommend. And now our leveling won’t be more efficient? We can catch up to Youyou and the others faster.”

Mushi rubbed her thoroughly abused cheek, then suddenly remembered why she’d come over. “Oh, right. Ah Ye, where are you taking me?”

“A leveling spot where we can catch up to Youyou and the others faster.”

As she led Mushi toward the Forest Ruins, Ye Yuan told her what had happened earlier.

“Was whoever designed those monsters trying to take revenge on society?”

Mushi couldn’t help complaining. She stuck out her tongue a little. “Are you sure we’ll be okay leveling there?”

“The two of us should be fine handling five or six at once.”

As they talked, the two of them reached their destination.

Mushi’s eyes lit up at the sight of the swarms of Dark Bats wandering through the ruins.

“Ah Ye, Ah Ye! So much experience!”

No wonder she was so excited. Back at the Wanderer Camp, they’d been lucky if they could even snag three monsters.

Finding such a huge leveling spot with no one around would get anyone excited.

Though saying no one was around wasn’t quite right.

Ye Yuan spotted movement in the distance. The Paladin from earlier had returned with his teammates. This time, they’d been careful and only pulled six monsters to fight at once. They must’ve been spooked by what happened before.

The Paladin’s group seemed to notice the two girls, but they made no move. Both sides tacitly agreed to focus on leveling.

Ye Yuan didn’t have to worry about them giving the guild the location, either. The area was so large that even if an entire guild claimed it, there’d still be plenty of monsters left for the two of them.

If they really went too far, Ye Yuan wouldn’t mind sharing the location with others. They probably wouldn’t be that ruthless.

“Ah Ye, Ah Ye, hurry up and pull some monsters! I can’t wait to test this staff’s power.”

“Show some respect.” Ye Yuan turned her gaze back, tapped Mushi on the back of the head, and entered Stealth.

She crept silently behind a Dark Bat.

After what happened last time, Ye Yuan wasn’t about to pick a fight with another small Dark Bat. Even so, as she struck with Backstab, a bad feeling suddenly crept over her.

-27

Another type with high defense!?

Had she been wrong from the start? Was size just a trick to throw people off, with defense having nothing to do with it and being completely random instead?

A flood of thoughts flashed through Ye Yuan’s mind. She reacted quickly, immediately changing direction and choosing the smaller Dark Bat.

Shadow Assault.

She dodged the attacks of four bats in an instant, then struck again with Gouge. The damage number that appeared seemed to confirm her theory.

-63

“Mumu, take down the small one first,” Ye Yuan ordered immediately through the party channel.

“Huh? Ah Ye, didn’t you say the small ones had high defense?”

Mushi blinked, looking confused, but Ye Yuan quickly cut her off.

“Just do it!”

Mushi instinctively ducked her head, then hurriedly fired the Ice Lance she’d finished casting at the small Dark Bat in front of Ye Yuan.

-68

The Dark Bat’s HP dropped to almost nothing. Ye Yuan finished it off with a quick basic attack.

“Ignore the one on the left. Take care of the others first.”

After using Flash Step to dodge an attack, Ye Yuan retreated a step and re-entered Stealth, laying out their temporary plan.

With their target gone, the Dark Bats’ aggro shifted to Mushi. She wasn’t a fool; she’d already backed away more than ten yards.

Before the four Dark Bats could reach her, Ye Yuan burst out of Stealth and struck again. Together, she and Mushi took down another one.

At the same time, the Dark Bats’ attacks had nearly emptied Ye Yuan’s HP bar.

But Ye Yuan didn’t panic. She burned Shadow Assault, then used Backstab and Gouge to take down another Dark Bat.

“Skills—quick!”

“I’m getting it ready!”

As the incantation ended, a rush of biting cold appeared beneath the two remaining Dark Bats. Sharp ice pillars shot up in an instant, then burst apart.

Iceburst was the only area-of-effect spell an Ice Mage had before level five. It was also why Ye Yuan had stayed so calm: by her calculations, the damage would be more than enough to kill the remaining monsters.

To avoid a miss, Mushi had carefully centered the circular area on one of the Dark Bats, with a radius of 2.5 yards. There was no way it wouldn’t cover both of them.

But the next second, both Ye Yuan and Mushi just stared in disbelief.

By what seemed like a complete fluke, the other Dark Bat was just outside Iceburst’s range—only by a hair, but enough to escape unharmed.

Fortunately, Ye Yuan reacted quickly. Without the slightest hesitation, she charged at the last Dark Bat.

-29

-15

Two damage numbers appeared above their heads.

Perhaps the one thing they could be thankful for was that the last Dark Bat was the high-defense type. Ye Yuan survived with only a sliver of HP left, while the bat wasn’t so lucky—it was taken out by Mushi’s Ice Lance right after.

The battle was over. Mushi finally let out a breath and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, then couldn’t help complaining.

“Whoever designed these monsters really is a demon!”

…

“Achoo!”

“Huh. Am I catching a cold?”

I sneezed and muttered to myself, a little puzzled.