Chapter 27: Leaving the Cave

The silver elite monster was extremely powerful, so powerful that Leng Yun almost lost her life, and even Fatty, Sun Bing, and Chen Ling were heavily injured.

After Fattys injuries had recovered by a bit, he immediately shouted, Damn it, why is it that when every time we encounter a strong monster, it always leaves me covered in injuries!

Zhang Mu said, You should be happy you didnt die.

Sun Bing went to pick up the two pieces of his shield. He tried to piece it together but since even the shields properties had disappeared, it had been reduced to two pieces of scrap metal.

This battle had done a number on their equipment. Every piece of equipment had a durability value attached, and their properties worsened in proportion to lost durability. When an equipments durability reaches 0, the equipment is completely destroyed.

It was impossible to repair Sun Bings shield, while Fattys leather armor also had precious little durability left. Its attributes were weakened by half, and it probably wouldnt survive more than two more battles. With their current pace of battles, their equipment was being worn down rapidly. If they couldnt find a place to repair their equipment, it would be ruined in a matter of days.

Zhang Mu stood up and said, Lets check what the monster dropped.

After the steel skeleton died, it had dropped three items, which were all equipments.

Fine Scale Armor(Superior Black Iron) Level 5 armor, Physical Defense +15, Magic Defense +6, Health Points+20, Durability 40/40.

Skull Helmet(Superior Black Iron) Level 5 helmet, Physical Defense +5, Magic Defense +3, Strength+3, Durability 30/30.

Bloody Axe(Superior Black Iron) Level 5 one handed axe, Attack damage+15, Strength +4, ignores 10% of the targets defense, durability 30/30.

Superior Black Iron ranked equipments were arguably the best equipment at present, so this harvest wasnt bad. But because not even a skill book or special item dropped, they felt a bit regretful. The steel skeleton had about 5 skills, even if just one dropped, that would have been an enormous harvest for their small group.

But even if they kept regretting, nothing would change.

The three pieces of equipment didnt disappoint them, especially theFine Scale Armor, it actually increased physical defense by 15 points, which wasnt a negligible number. If someone was going to receive 30 points of physical damage, after putting on this armor, he would only receive 15 points of damage. This scale armor had similar defense to Sun Bings plate armor but it was lighter and it even increased health points by 20. If players obtained this armor, their chances of surviving would increase many times over.

However, the classes that could use it were limited. Offensive classes like thieves, assassins, or archers, who used leather armor, couldnt use it.

Zhang Mu equipped the fine scale armor. It was very well made, with a comfortable leather inner layer of leather, and an outer layer covered with strong leaves of armor, increasing its protective capability. Even though Zhang Mu couldnt be considered tall, after putting on the armor, he looked a bit dignified and he had an air of an old general.

Leng Yuns eyes sparkled. Her gaze was deep yet her eyes remained bright; she felt her mind also get sucked in. Suddenly, she covered her mouth and laughed.

Zhang Mu sent her a strange look and asked, What are you laughing at?

Leng Yun flushed a bit red as she said, No Nothing, but I think our blockhead captain should change his pants.

When Zhang Mu entered the forest, he had specifically searched for wear-resistant jeans, which was now worn out and deformed. It had countless of tears,among these was a hole near his thigh that faintly revealed his underwear. He had a majestic armor on his upper body, while he had lousy pants that even beggars would laugh at on his lower body, this kind of matching would truly take anyone by surprise.

When Fatty saw this he burst into laughter, Boss, your appearance is really quite funny.

Zhang Mu gave him a harsh look, mildly irritated, Shouldnt you worry about covering your ass?

Fatty turned his hands towards his buttocks, where his pants had a huge gaping hole, Its only a small hole.

Zhang Mu faintly said, Within the jungle, theres a leech known as a mountain leech, it likes entering the body by drilling itself into cracks. During the Vietnam war, an American soldier was within the jungle when a leech entered his third leg and it eventually reached his urinary bladder, it only got removed after an operation. With your giant fat ass, I think the leech will really like you.

Theres something like that?! Fatty immediately grasped his buns, he felt the wind blowing on his buttocks, Boss, dont scare me.

Leng Yun lightly smiled, I can testify, this is really true.

Everyone laughed after seeing Fattys distressed appearance, the tense mood after fighting a battle was swept away.

Zhang Mu glanced at Leng Yun.

She had always been a taciturn and silent woman, but she suddenly changed, she was almost like a different person.

Zhang Mu was a level 6 ranger, his base health points were 70, and hisJungle Cloakgave him +10 whileFine Scale Armorgave another bonus of +20, so his overall health points had reached 100, but it was still lesser than Sun Bings. Sun Bing was a level 6 knight and his base health points had reached 105 without the aid of equipments, so his health points were much greater than Zhang Mu.

The Bear Leather Armor still had half of its durability left and its attributes hadnt fallen by much so Chen Lin could continue using it.

The skull helmets properties were also pretty good, they gave it to Fatty because it could raise his strength.

The skull helmet had a very sinister appearance and there were even a few horns on its top. When Fatty equipped the skull helmet, his huge bald head, combined with his ugly fat face, made him look very frightening.

As for the one handed axe, only Fatty and Zhang Mu could equip it, since Fatty liked using two handed weapons, he couldnt use the one handed axe, and besides, the attack damage of hisBlade of the Junglewas still pretty high.

Zhang Mu thought over and over, before finally deciding to switch theSkeleton Soldiers Swordthat he recently obtained with the axe. He held an axe in his left hand and a sword in the other, he could attack with 16 points of damage with his left hand and 18 points with the right. With his Piercing Wind ring giving him an additional 8 attack points and the White Bone necklace also giving 4 attack points, his left hand could deal 27 points of damage while his right hand had reached 30 points. His current strength value, because of the +4 strength from the axe, had reached 20, so Zhang Mu could now deal around 50 points of damage using ordinary attacks.

Level five or six black iron elite monsters only had 10 to 20 defense points, therefore Zhang Mu could deal around 30-40 damage if he attacked. But this was merely a rough calculation, it was still affected by the monsters specific defense, the power of the strike, and where the strike lands.

Now, it was time to open the chest!

The five of them encircled the black iron treasure chest, compared to the chest that he had opened in Jiang City, this was at least two or three times bigger. It was delicately decorated and it looked extremely luxurious, it was definitely a high grade treasure chest. ThisResplendent Black Iron Treasure Chest,the probability of it giving good equipment and skill books were several times higher than that of an ordinary black iron treasure chest.

Fatty asked, Boss, can I open it?

Zhang Mu nodded, Go ahead, open it.

Fatty rubbed his hands and prayed silently to Buddha, then he pressed the button to open the chest. The lid of the treasure chest immediately sprang open, but since it was accompanied by countless rays of light, they couldnt clearly see what was inside. Fatty reached inside and pulled out bottles one after another; they were health potions and magic potions.

Vial of Lifex4, restores 4 health points per second for 10 seconds, can be interrupted by attacks.

Vial of Magicx4, restores 5 mana per second for 10 seconds.

50 gold coins.

Most treasure chests dropped potions and gold, there wasnt anything rare about it.

Zhang Mu asked, What else is there?

Fatty kept taking items from inside the chest for a total of four items, namely a magic staff, a pair of pants, two scrolls, and a skill book.

Skeleton Staff(Excellent Black Iron) , level 5 magic staff, magic attack +25, spirit +5, 5% chance to summonan ordinary skeleton soldier when casting magic, durability 40/40.

Iron Plated Pants(Superior Black Iron), level 5 lower body armor, physical defense +8, magic defense +5, vitality +2, durability 30/30.

Skeleton Captains ScrollF+ grade magic scroll, consumes 30 mana points to summon a skeleton captain to assist in battle, can be summoned three times, 30 minutes time limit, 60 minutes cooldown.

Skill Upgrade Scroll LV1A magic scroll capable of upgrading a LV 1 skill.

Life Skill Book: Culinary Artsuser learns culinary arts, no learning requirements, no class restrictions.

The skeleton staff was actually an excellent ranked black iron equipment. Excellent black iron items only dropped from gold ranked elite monsters! The magic staff raised magic attack by a full 25 points, an extremely high value. The disadvantage of long skill cooldown times for mages were counterbalanced by the unusually high damage output. After equipping this magic staff, each of Leng Yuns attacks would be raised about 20 points of damage! An elemental mages damage output had already been very high to begin with, but after this, it will definitely become one of their biggest strengths.

Excellent ranked equipment! Fatty was so jealous he almost went crazy, Damn! Why cant I use it!

Leng Yun ignored Fattys jealousy and happily equipped the skeleton staff.

Iron plated pants was a type of plated armor, therefore only Sun Bing could use it, Zhang Mu gave it to him along with the skill upgrade scroll, since Leng Yuns damage output had increased, relying on a LV1 taunt to pull enemies wouldnt be easy, therefore it was necessary to upgrade taunt to LV2.

As for the summoning scroll, it was definitely going to be useful. A bronze elite monster like the skeleton captain had a high battle strength. With the ability to use the scroll three times, it could be used to great effect in crucial moments.

Life Skill Book: Culinary Arts,he had originally planned on giving it to Sun Bing, but since Sun Bing had already received two equipments, hed probably feel too embarrassed to accept another item.

Therefore Zhang Mu might as well learn it.

The Life skill could be learned by anyone.

Initial Level Culinary ArtsInitial practice of magic culinary skills, user obtains access to culinary techniques, consumes 1 mana point to magically process ingredients, proficiency 0/3000.

A life skill was different from a battle skill, a life skill needed large amounts of practice to upgrade to the next level, proficiency was developed from the continuous usage of the life skill, the proficiency speed was also related to perception, it was possible to become a master of any life class without much hard work if given enough talent, therefore talent and perception was very important.

Chen Ling was very curious, Isnt culinary arts the same as cooking? Is it really necessary to learn it through a skill book?

Its different, culinary arts is a type of magic. Zhang Mu said, Go collect some firewood, Ill give you guys a demonstration of culinary arts.

They were very curious about the culinary arts; they wanted to know what it was. Everyone went outside to gather some firewood, and soon they had built a bonfire inside the cave. Zhang Mu made Fatty throw an egg into the fire to roast it, when Zhang Mu felt that the egg was almost roasted, he suddenly used a culinary technique on the birds egg.

The roasted eggs within the fire shone brightly for a second, but quickly faded. When Fatty took the roasted egg afterwards, he couldnt help but be shocked, it was because the properties of the roasted egg had greatly changed.

Delicious Roasted EggF+ grade food, roasted egg successfully processed with magic, effects are amplified, Restores 25 health points, maximum health points +10, duration: 45 minutes, doesnt stack with other effects.

Fatty turned pale with shock, You can do this?

Satisfied, Zhang Mu nodded and smiled,Its true. If I want to master this life skill, not only do I need proficiency and a life skill book, but also a deep understanding of the field and thorough research of culinary arts.

The main life skills were: Culinary arts, enchanting, forging, tailoring, pill concocting, medicine refining, and alchemy.

Compared to the other life skills, the price of processing food was the cheapest and it also had the largest applicability.

Cooking was a must, the culinary arts made the roasted eggs even more delicious, it was a taste not found in this world. The egg white was as tender as tofu, while the egg yolk was half cooked paste. It was incredibly tasty, if someone doesnt personally eats it, they simply wouldnt be able to accept that an ordinary egg can be so delicious.

Zhang Mus approach was astute. There were still a few people with a lot of uncooked eggs, and with the assistance of culinary techniques, he could now make high quality food with simple techniques.

When the others ate a roasted egg, their injuries almost completely recovered.

They had obtained many benefits from the skeleton cave, but now it was time to leave.