I put the two pieces of white equipment I had just obtained into my backpack, and Lu Xuehan and I logged off together.
The dishes were already on the table. Besides milk and bread, there were also two plates of stir-fried dishes, which was quite a surprise. I quickly heated the stir-fries in the microwave, and then Lu Xuehan and I started eating.
"Lin Fan, I'm almost Level 11. How about you?" Lu Xuehan asked, biting into her bread.
"Level 13 and a half. The leveling speed isn't slow right now."
"Hmm, I've finished my quest. What about you?"
I thought for a moment and said, "I still have two quests to do, one of which is unique. Why don't you level up by yourself for a bit? I'll finish my quests and then take you."
Lu Xuehan pouted and said unhappily, "Are you afraid I'll drag you down?"
I hastily explained, "No, not at all. I'm just afraid that helping me with my quests will delay your leveling."
"How could that be? Leveling up with you is very fast for me. Besides, are you going to make me, a Healer, level up by myself?"
I realized she had a point, so I nodded and said, "Then come do the quests with me. Any equipment we get from killing monsters will be yours."
"How can that be? You're helping me level up. I don't want the equipment!"
"Alright then, any equipment you can use will be yours."
"Okay."
After a few minutes of battle, Lu Xuehan and I immediately returned to our rooms and re-entered the game.
The Snake-Head Men hadn't respawned yet, so we continued heading east. In the distance, we could vaguely see the outline of Half-Side Mountain.
Along the way, the variety of monsters increased: Level 14 Carrion Vultures, Level 16 Ferocious Werewolves, Level 17 Mutated Dire Wolves... After clearing out the monsters blocking our path, we reached the foot of Half-Side Mountain half an hour later. My level had also reached 14, and Lu Xuehan had reached Level 11 twenty minutes earlier. Looking at the others, I found that Sister Lin and Xin Yu were still striving for Level 10, while the rest were still at Level 8. My only friend I hadn't met in real life, Murong Shanshan, was already Level 11. Indeed, with that green sword, her leveling speed was divine.
Lu Xuehan pointed ahead and said excitedly, "Look, One-Claw Werewolves! I can't see their level. Can we handle them?"
"They are Level 18 monsters. Try to pull one first and see."
Lu Xuehan immediately used a Curse to pull a nearby One-Claw Werewolf. I quickly moved to block the Werewolf's path, and my longsword drew a beautiful arc in the air, unleashing a Heavy Strike on the Werewolf. The damage number of 124 didn't disappoint me, but the 34 damage the Werewolf dealt to me also startled Lu Xuehan, who quickly and continuously cast Healing Spells. Even so, by the time I finished off one Werewolf, my health was already less than half.
After trading the small blue potions I had just obtained to Lu Xuehan, I panted and said, "We don't need to clear all the monsters. Let's just fight our way through the base of the rocky mountain. The ore should be on the hillside."
"Okay, I'll pull the monsters; you just focus on killing them. We have enough blue potions now to clear a path."
I nodded, and to be safe, I also drank a bottle of tomato sauce, then rejoined the battle.
The two of us cautiously walked along the rocks. The One-Claw Werewolves were gathered in twos and threes around bonfires, seemingly discussing something. After two days of training, Lu Xuehan had adapted to the fast-paced operations in the game. Whenever she pulled two monsters, she would flexibly use a Curse to pull one away, then use her positioning to mitigate the damage the monsters dealt to me. However, sometimes she left me with only a sliver of health, which made me laugh and cry at the same time. Heaven knows if she would accidentally kill me like this.
A few minutes later, Lu Xuehan suddenly stopped. "Lin Fan, behind those monsters ahead, is that yellow glowing thing the ore you need?"
I immediately opened my quest log. Yes, this rare copper was exactly what I needed!
Lu Xuehan quickly pulled the monsters, and with her help, I took down the four Level 18 monsters one by one. Our luck was good this time; heaven finally opened its eyes. After eight hours of silence, we finally got another piece of green equipment!
[Werewolf's Guardian] (Shield — green equipment)
Defense: 42
Stamina: +2
Strength: +1
Physical Dodge Rate after equipping: +2%
Required Level: 12
...It was a shield. Unfortunately, as a Swordsman, I couldn't use a shield. Shields could only be used by the Knight class, which pursued defense. However, a single shield adding 42 defense was quite exaggerated. One could imagine that a Knight equipped with such a shield would definitely be a typical tank in the early game.
Lu Xuehan smiled and said, "This equipment is good. It should sell for a lot of money, right?"
"Yes, in three days, the price of this shield will reach its peak. That's when a large number of Knights will be taking their class. Such a top-tier shield will definitely be a hot commodity. If we sell it, we'll split the proceeds fifty-fifty."
Lu Xuehan chuckled, "Whatever you say. Oh, right, hurry up and mine the ore before the monsters respawn and it's too late."
I nodded and walked over, swapping my longsword for the small iron shovel in my inventory. Then I used my mining skill on the ore. Sure enough, the progress bar slowly started to fill.
"Ding~!"
System message: You have obtained Rare Copper Ore x 5!
The copper ore slowly disappeared, but I only had 5 pieces of ore in my inventory. It seemed this quest couldn't be completed with just one ore deposit.
"Let's keep looking for ore. We don't have enough quest items yet. We can just treat it as leveling."
Lu Xuehan nodded and said, "Okay. Oh, right, you're treating everyone to dinner tonight, aren't you? Have you discussed a time with Sister Lin? I'm so excited!"
Girls are always a bit greedy. I immediately glanced at Lu Xuehan's flat stomach and said with a smile, "Don't get too excited, or you might end up with a 'bucket waist'~"
"Hmph, I won't!"
...Constantly fighting Level 18 monsters, both Level 11 Lu Xuehan and Level 14 me gained considerable experience, especially Lu Xuehan. She was 7 levels lower than the monsters, couldn't even see their level, so she must have been getting an insane amount of experience, which was evident from her constant cheerfulness.
After searching the hillside for nearly seven hours, and clearing out the monsters several times, I finally gathered enough ore. Lu Xuehan had directly leveled up from 11 to 13, and I had also reached Level 15 and a half. The only regret was that even though we were fighting monsters several levels higher, we didn't get any equipment besides that shield all afternoon. The drop rate in moons constant was evident from this. It was quite rare for players fighting monsters of the same level to get green equipment.
My stomach was already rumbling, and it was already 5 PM. The remaining quest was not something my current level could handle, so I simply asked Lu Xuehan to log off, then notified everyone else to log off and go for drinks.