25: Chapter 25 Heavy Blow

After eating breakfast, the two continued their journey while hunting.

With Tang Long's Fire Eye acting as a map, they were invincible along the way, achieving fruitful results.

They hunted continuously until the afternoon. After felling another Four-Horned Giant Ox, Tang Long finally called for a rest.

After Man Hai removed the ox horns, he went to a small mountain waterfall to wash off the blood and sweat on his body. Upon returning, he found Tang Long still tirelessly butchering the beast meat.

"Little brother, it's such a huge thing, do you really have to chop it all up? You haven't rested well these past two days, aren't you tired?"

Tang Long smiled. "Do you want to pull off an even bigger job?"

"How big?" Man Hai asked, blinking.

"About a kilometer to the west, there is a bald rocky mountain. On the summit, there is a large snake. It looks similar to a Thorn Snake, probably thicker than you, and it's coiled there, though I don't know how long it is. It also has a golden horn on its head."

Man Hai was greatly shocked. "Are you sure it has a golden horn?"

"Certain. Even its head has a large patch of gold."

"A golden horn means it has already undergone Spiritualization. Do you understand Spiritualization? The cultivation process is actually the process of the body undergoing Spiritualization. I've heard that when Spiritualization reaches an extremely high level, this can also happen to humans. Gold reflects the Metal attribute, and its nature is hardness and sharpness. Its horn is comparable to spiritual metal, and its scales are definitely harder than an ordinary Thorn Snake."

"To break its defense, you not only need a weapon made of spiritual metal, but you also need to be at least at the seventh stage of Qi Manipulation, capable of releasing spiritual energy blades to have any chance."

"The most terrifying thing is its toxicity. I've heard this thing feeds on poison, and almost nothing grows where it passes. Without special anti-poison medicine, getting close is a death sentence."

"It is the king among the Thorn Snake Kings. I'm afraid even those at the seventh stage wouldn't dare to provoke it easily."

Seeing Man Hai's obvious expression of fear, Tang Long couldn't help but smile.

In reality, he didn't want to take too much risk. Although he had Man Hai as a good fighter, he couldn't work him to death.

Poisonous creatures are indeed very troublesome.

Even in the game, such poisonous bosses were very difficult to fight. Especially in the early stages when the team's poison resistance and output were insufficient, the healers couldn't keep up with the healing. To force a win, the whole team had to consume potions, which was extremely costly.

Speaking of poison resistance, after his own poison resistance increased to 5, ordinary Thorn Snake gallbladders were no longer effective. Even with high HP, he probably wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

Unexpectedly, Man Hai suddenly said, "I understand! So you wanted to use the bloody scent of the beast meat to lure more exotic beasts to block the guy behind us! If you lure a Thorn Snake King... you are too smart, brother Tang!"

Tang Long was surprised, thinking to himself that his friend was the real genius, possessing quite the imagination.

However, he had held back a bit just now. The Thorn Snake King wasn't actually on the summit but deep inside a cave. It seemed very lazy and had remained motionless the whole time.

The giant ox they had just hunted weighed two or three tons. After butchering more than half of it, Tang Long had gathered enough experience to reach level 7.

[Your level has increased to LV7! Vitality increased by 1000, Health recovery increased by 100/hour, Spiritual Energy cap increased by 100, gained 5 free attribute points, and 1 skill point!]

[You have learned the skill: Heavy Strike LV1. After charging for 10 seconds, the next attack's damage increases by 10%. Cooldown is 30 seconds. Proficiency: 0/100.]

Finally reaching level 7 and learning Heavy Strike, Tang Long inwardly cheered.

The initial cooldown for Heavy Strike was only half a minute. That meant he could use it twice per minute, increasing his proficiency by two points.

The proficiency requirement doubled every level. The total requirement to reach level 4 was 700, which only required about six hours.

The total requirement from level 4 to 7 was only 5600, with a total hard training time of about two days.

Moreover, with every upgrade, its power increased and the cooldown decreased.

Levels 2 and 3 increased power by 10%, reduced charging time by 0.5 seconds, and reduced cooldown by 1 second. Levels 4, 5, and 6 increased power by 20%, reduced charging time by 1 second, and reduced cooldown by 2 seconds. Levels 7, 8, and 9 increased power by 30%, reduced charging time by 2 seconds, and reduced cooldown by 3 seconds.

By level 9, it no longer required charging, the attack boost reached 180%, and the cooldown was only 16 seconds.

Upon reaching level 10, the max level, it would grant an additional 60% boost and reduce the cooldown by six seconds.

The final attack boost would be 240% with a cooldown of only ten seconds, cementing its status as a core output skill in the early game.

Of course, its utility would gradually diminish as the player's level increased. Because compared to later skills, it was, after all, just an enhanced basic attack.

Later, in the Doomsday Era, its importance became prominent once again.

Because players gradually lost their supply of spiritual energy, its consumption was conversely the lowest.

After the two were full and rested for a while, they continued hunting.

By nightfall, Tang Long's experience points had already reached level 7 and a half. This speed was much faster than he had anticipated.

However, leveling up was becoming increasingly difficult.

The experience required to reach level 8 had already reached 6400, and reaching level 9 would start exceeding ten thousand.

Furthermore, as the level rose, the experience gained from low-level monsters began to decay, while high-level monsters... were very dangerous, making the choice of prey increasingly difficult.

That night, while practicing Breathing Technique, after frantically swallowing over 600 pieces of spirit residue, the consumption of the Barbarian Blood Breathing Technique seemed to reach a certain limit and faintly began to recover, which gave Tang Long some slight relief.

However, before dawn, the Barbarian Blood Breathing Technique reached level 3.

Tang Long didn't even have time to be happy before he discovered that even spirit residue was no longer effective.

Even consuming two or three pieces of spirit residue at once couldn't stop the decline in spiritual energy intensity.

In this situation, he had to stop immediately and consult Man Hai as soon as it was dawn.

"It's still dropping even when using two or three pieces of spirit residue at once? You've already reached this stage? Little brother, you really are a genius among geniuses! Back then, it took me a full three or four years to reach this level. Incredible, simply incredible!"

Tang Long smiled bitterly. "Brother Hai, please stop praising me for a moment. Quickly, give me some pointers. How did you overcome it?"

Man Hai immediately shook his head. "There's no good way. If spirit residue doesn't work, use spirit stones to push through. Back then, I used about twenty spirit stones to get through this phase."

"Our Breathing Method can only be compatible with Fire and Blood attributes. I've heard that using blood spirit stone is the most effective, but that stuff is really too expensive. The price of one blood spirit stone is enough to buy ten fire spirit stones with some left over; I've never used one either."

Tang Long frowned deeply.

He did have some spirit stones in his possession, but it was inconvenient to take them out in front of Man Hai. There were certain secrets he subconsciously didn't want anyone to know.

As for blood spirit stone, it was impossible to get one right now.

Man Hai took out his own spirit stone again. "You use this first. If we walk faster, we have a chance to arrive at Linshan Market tomorrow, where we should be able to get some. However, spirit stones on the market are very expensive; fire spirit stone costs over ten thousand, so we need to prepare more valuable items."

Tang Long still didn't take it. "You are the main combat force; you can't be without hard goods in your hand, and we might need it today, so you'd better keep it."

Man Hai's eyes shifted as he asked, "Are you going to take action against the guy behind us?"

Tang Long nodded. "That guy is injured, which makes hunting inconvenient, and he doesn't seem to want to start a fire and expose his tracks. That's why I roasted extra meat every time yesterday, and sure enough, he followed behind to scavenge our leftovers."

"However, yesterday noon I deliberately left very little, so he shouldn't be full. This morning we won't leave anything for him either; we'll eat a bit later at noon, and then... put poison in the food."

"He must be starving. As long as he is desperate enough to eat anything, we will take his life this afternoon."

After hearing Tang Long's strategy, Man Hai felt a chill run down his spine.

He felt that this brother Tang... it was fortunate that he wasn't his enemy.

After the two finished breakfast, they continued to move forward while hunting.

Not long after they left, Mapu quickly arrived, but when he saw the mess here and that not a scrap of food was left, his expression immediately became ferocious.

As for the raw meat butchered on the side, it had already begun to rot in the sultry heat of the mountain forest.

"Bastards! This time they didn't leave a single bit for me."

"Why chop the meat they didn't eat so finely? And these scales and furs, once cut open, they are all worthless. They really know how to waste things!"

"I'll endure you for one more day, and by midnight, I'll send you on your way!"

Mapu said, taking out his own dried meat and taking a vicious bite.