Absolute Death Game

Walking through the village gate, Xiao Buli's wounds slowly healed, and the changes to his body and surroundings finally made him feel somewhat safe. Leaning against the big tree at the village entrance, Xiao sat down, which was also to allow his body to recover as quickly as possible. Reflecting on the encounter just outside the village, although it was a close call without danger, it had made him break out in a cold sweat. Even when facing the lowest level monsters, he had to be fully alert. After all, a game character's life was only once, and for Xiao Buli, who took the game as seriously as life itself, such a mistake was not permissible.

Moreover, the combat power of the monsters in this game had somehow surpassed his expectations. Despite having been cautioned by Li Jian, and having played for a week himself, the fact that he had just managed to defeat a stray dog was rather speechless. Anyway, it was time to check out the spoils of battle.

He reached out to open his inventory, and there was the body of a stray dog. Xiao Buli clicked to view the item's attributes.

Stray Dog's Corpse: This is the corpse of a stray dog, with blood stains and sword wounds all over it, weighing 24 pounds. By using the dissection skill, you can obtain some materials from it.

Dissection? I have no idea how to do that, better just sell it to the butcher. With this thought, Xiao Buli stood up and headed with his only spoils of the past few days toward the outskirts of the village.

The village butcher doubled as a hunter, located in an inconspicuous cottage on the outskirts of the village. Xiao Buli went straight to the outside of the hunter's house, just in time to see Li Baocheng skinning a rabbit.

"Hey, what are you here for?" Seeing Xiao Buli on the screen, Li Baocheng asked curiously.

"Killed a stray dog, want to see if the butcher can buy it for some money."

"A stray dog? You went out of the village??" Li Baocheng immediately asked, surprised, on the screen. "Let me take a look."

Without answering, Xiao Buli clicked on trade and showed the body of the stray dog to Li Baocheng.

Li Baocheng lifted up the body of the stray dog and examined it, seeing blood stains among the fur and clotted blood adhering to the hair, making it look filthy, but the fierceness of the battle was also evident. Li Baocheng frowned, thinking to himself that Xiao Buli was usually quiet but not slow in progress, and Sun Bin seemed to have started venturing out of the village too. Should he also speed up his pace? No, better wait and see. There were so many places to explore in this game; there seemed to be no need to venture out too early. After all, he could also know the information they got from venturing out of the village and let them pioneer the pathway ahead.

In the blink of an eye, Li Baocheng had made up his mind and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

"Wow, Xiao, you are so amazing. You can leave the village so soon!" Li Baocheng seemed to say with admiration then, like a true professional, he added, "This thing of yours isn't worth much money. How about I dissect it for you for free and you can get some materials. However, you have to leave the leftover scraps to me."

Dissect for free? Xiao Buli understood that Li Baocheng was suggesting this because he wanted to practice his skills. But it was a win-win proposition, so why not? Therefore, he nodded in agreement.

With swift motions, Li Baocheng neatly processed the carcass, quickly completing the dissection and obtaining a piece of low-quality dog meat and a piece of inferior fur.

As he traded the items to Xiao Buli, Li Baocheng laughed awkwardly, "There's no helping it, my skill level is too low, this is all I can manage."

Xiao Buli still thanked him and opened up to look at the dog meat.

Dog Meat: Ingredient (This piece of dog meat appears to be contaminated by some force, emitting a pungent smell).

Dog Skin: Tanning Material (This piece of dog skin appears to be contaminated by some force and is covered with black spots).

That was all.

"By the way, what do you need the minced meat for?" Xiao Buli, who was about to leave, turned back and asked. He paid close attention to collecting all information in the game.

"Oh. Minced meat can be used as bait for traps. A hunter just taught me some wilderness survival skills. If you encounter hostile wild beasts in the wild, you can throw some meat to them. Once they're full, their hostility will decrease. They'll remain hostile creatures but won't attack anymore. So I usually collect some in preparation for leaving the village in the future," Li Baocheng shared openly.

"Oh~ I see," said Xiao Buli, nodding as he turned to leave. But after taking a few steps, he had a sudden flash of inspiration. Reminded by Li Baocheng, he also realized that the key to good relations with animals in reality was feeding them. He hadn't expected that this was also possible in the game. It seemed the game's design closely resembled real life with its vast freedom, NPC characters with their own personalities, and the advice from Li Jian not to speak carelessly with NPCs. It looked like one could utilize real-life experiences to test in the game. If attacking creatures garnered hate points and even affected skill performance, then perhaps feeding meat could also improve the success rate of Taming Skills? Thinking of this, Xiao Buli turned back again.

"Do you have any good meat for sale? Sell me a few pieces," said Xiao Buli upon returning. Li Baocheng, who hadn't realized when Xiao had wandered back, reluctantly showed him some.

After some picking, Xiao Buli spent twenty copper coins and bought two pieces of boar meat. The expense pained him and he thought about sneaking into a farm to steal a couple of pigs someday. But he dismissed the thought as just a thought. For if he were caught, he'd almost certainly be wanted, and that would force him to leave the village prematurely. With his current strength, that would probably be a death sentence.

Having obtained the meat, Xiao Buli was eager to leave the village immediately, but before he could depart, he needed to fully recover his health. The game's health recovery rate was incredibly frustrating; there were no health potions for sale, either. With no other choice, he had to have the village medic bandage him up, which cost another five copper coins. He wondered if, as he leveled up and began teaming up for battles, it would always be this cumbersome. Then he headed out of the village once more.

Rogue dogs were still a common sight outside the village. Xiao Buli hadn't gone far before he encountered another one. This dog looked better than the ones he'd seen before—it was larger, a typical rural Yellow Dog, and seemed much tamer, not as fierce as the first one he'd seen. Xiao Buli stayed at a distance and threw out a piece of boar meat. The wild dog, seeing this, did not attack him immediately but instead ran towards the meat.

After eating the boar meat, the wild dog's name color changed from a blood-like bright red to a less striking brownish red. It sniffed around the ground near him, circling, but did not attack right away.

Haha, it really worked. Seeing the wild dog's actions, Xiao Buli grew more confident and used his Taming Skills on the wild dog.

As his character bent down and gently caressed the wild dog's back, the dog shone with a white light and was successfully tamed. Its demeanor also changed immediately, its tail wagging ingratiatingly.

System notification: Your Taming Skill level is LV2, the target's Wildness level is LV1. You have successfully tamed the target; from now on it will be your ally in combat. When it is in a good mood, it will respond to your commands. If the Loyalty is below 50, there is a chance it will flee, and if Loyalty is below 30, there is a possibility of it lashing out. Current Loyalty is 55. You can increase your pet's Loyalty by feeding, petting, playing, and training it.

Please name your pet.

"I'll call you Meatball," said Xiao Buli, typing the two characters for "Meatball" into the pet name column, and instantly, the wild dog's name changed to Meatball.

After glancing at Meatball's Attributes, Xiao Buli finally understood why Li Jian said that a newbie couldn't defeat a wild dog.

Meatball: (Beast).

Intelligence: 7.

Strength: 8.

Speed: 14.

Agility: 12

Stamina: 12. — Stamina Points 120 (1 point of Stamina corresponds to 10 Stamina Points).

Physique: 10. — Health Points 100. (1 point of Physique corresponds to 10 Health Points).

Combat Skills

Claw Strike: LV1. A routine attack skill where the user scratches the enemy with their claws, causing basic attack damage.

Wildness: LV1. This is a proud and untamed beast, longing for a free and wild lifestyle, full of aggression and challenging to coexist with humans peacefully. Long-term taming will reduce the level of this skill.

Rip and Bite: LV2. Inflicts a strong damage to the target, causing them to bleed and deal 10 damage over 10 seconds. Consumes 5 Physical Strength Points, skill cooldown time 5 seconds.

Pounce: LV1. Fiercely pounces towards the target, dealing double Claw Strike damage and causing the target to lose balance. Consumes 10 Physical Strength Points, skill cooldown time 15 seconds, must be used within a 3-8 meters range.

Sprint: LV2. Accelerates speed in a flash, increasing Movement Speed by one hundred percent, lasting 10 seconds.

Furious Bark: LV3. With a piercing howl, it causes the target to become Impetuous, a certain chance to inflict the 'Impetuous' effect on the enemy, reducing their dodge chance and attack accuracy. The Impetuous effect can stack up to ten layers, after which the target will launch an all-out attack on you. Using this skill does not consume Physical Strength Points and has no cooldown.

Agility: LV1. This creature has an excellent sense of smell and hearing, any slight movement may catch its attention. Its alert range is increased by twenty percent, and its Reveal ability is enhanced by twenty percent.

After dizzily looking over all the Attributes and skills, Xiao Buli thought dejectedly: Okay, even the lowest-level monster has so many skills; I really can't imagine how powerful those stronger monsters are.

To avoid the pet running away due to low Loyalty, Xiao Buli fed it another piece of boar meat and played with it, successfully raising its Loyalty to 80 points.

That should do it. With his newly caught pet, Xiao Buli returned to the village with his head held high.

However, to be on the safe side, as soon as Xiao Buli entered the village, he went straight to the butcher to buy a few more pieces of meat as reserve; just like in World of Warcraft, pets need to be fed frequently, but this was even more lavish. After all, currency in this game was too hard to earn. Fortunately, it was only a wild dog—if it were a stronger pet, he doubted his money would have been enough for the pet's expenses.

Moreover, if the pet dies, you have to catch it again, which also requires a good sum of money. No wonder the guy with the cap said pets weren't practical—it really isn't a lie.

"Damn, Xie, you even got a pet now!" Seeing Xiao Buli again, his magic already surprised Li Baocheng in front of the computer.