Chapter 48

It turned out that the short stick in Old Joel's hand had a trick up its sleeve. It only revealed its true form when King Ranus approached. The dark red light that shot out from the tip of the short stick formed a nearly meter-long beam of light, clearly a light saber. The silver short stick was originally the hilt of the light saber.

Light sabers are a rather peculiar type of weapon in "Dungeons and Dragons." They have no physical form or substance, yet they can easily cut or, more accurately, melt through armor. In other words, when attacking with a light saber, defense is ignored. Without a doubt, light sabers are very powerful weapons.

However, light sabers also have a drawback: their lack of physical form and substance. As pure energy, they differ greatly from physical weapons in their use. For example, common sword techniques such as "twisting," "bridging," and "blocking" cannot be used. Therefore, while light sabers are powerful, they also require extremely high skill from the user.

But it seemed that Old Joel was precisely the kind of highly skilled person who could wield and unleash the destructive power of a light saber. Facing King Ranus's powerful one-handed hammer, Old Joel displayed a level of agility and nimbleness that belied his aged appearance. His entire body became a blur, effortlessly dodging the hammer's attacks and, in an instant, circling around to King Ranus's back.

This was a step commonly used by rangers, but few could match Old Joel's speed and precision. With a light flick of his light saber, the dark red blade effortlessly pierced King Ranus's left rib. The smell of scorched protein instantly filled the air. Although the fish king's unparalleled regenerative ability quickly repaired the small but highly destructive wound, the terrifying light damage was clearly displayed above King Ranus's head:

-277!!!

This was still damage to a non-critical area. King Ranus let out a cry of pain and swung his hammer without turning around. But Old Joel had already used the momentum from the hammer to jump sideways, taking a step to the right and circling around to King Ranus's back again. The light saber's ability to ignore any defense and its lack of physical form made Old Joel's attacks extremely easy. He effortlessly pierced King Ranus's other side:

-231!!!

It was clear that the gap between King Ranus and Old Joel was significant. The level 30 boss was completely helpless against Old Joel. King Ranus's attacks couldn't even touch Old Joel, and he could only roar in frustration as Old Joel repeatedly stabbed him from behind. Old Joel didn't want to kill King Ranus, so he didn't aim for vital areas; otherwise, King Ranus would have already met their deity, the fierce Lady Ambri, the Sea Goddess.

However, Alpha was different. He was truly going for the kill. As Old Joel and King Ranus engaged in battle, Alpha smiled lazily and beckoned to Charles and the forty Blackwater Fishmen Warriors. But before they could react, he lunged forward and started attacking, targeting vital points with every finger strike.

By the time Old Joel had stabbed King Ranus a few times, Alpha had already used his "Pressure Point Strike" and "Hidden Arrow" techniques to reduce the first unfortunate Blackwater Fishman Warrior's health by over 2000 points.

If it weren't for the elite monster's 5000+ health at level 20, Alpha would have already taken him down. Of course, this was different from completing Old Joel's task on the Blackwater Mudflats, where real combat required constant vigilance against attacks. Now, with these standing, non-retaliating fishmen, Alpha could attack them at leisure. Therefore, with a focus on targeting vital points, Alpha's attack efficiency was quite high.

Soon, one Blackwater Fishman Warrior was down, and the experience reward invigorated Alpha.

—Equivalent to more than four times the experience of a regular Blackwater Fishman! This was due to the higher level and template of the Blackwater Fishman Warrior, which provided a generous reward. In this case, taking down these 40 Blackwater Fishman Warriors would be equivalent to completing Old Joel's Fishman Eye task nearly twice. The last time, 100 regular Blackwater Fishmen had taken Alpha from level 10 to level 15. Now at level 16, even with the higher experience requirements, leveling up 2-3 levels would not be a problem.

Leveling up was what Alpha needed most, and the reason he requested to challenge the 40 Blackwater Fishman Warriors was precisely for this reason.

Facing a row of fishmen who only took hits and didn't retaliate, Alpha was having a blast, using both finger strikes and crossbow bolts, each attack infused with full internal energy. Using internal energy to perform martial arts techniques increased skill proficiency faster, a discovery Alpha had made recently. He also found that using internal energy could help him practice the "Mixed Yuan Power" technique.

Of course, Alpha didn't forget to activate "Swift Shadow" and switch between "Internal Energy Guard" continuously. In this risk-free battle, Alpha could practice his martial arts techniques without any worries.

Experience and skill proficiency were both taken care of, just as Alpha had planned.

Of course, besides the experience and skill proficiency that Alpha needed most, the level 20 elite monsters also provided him with an additional surprise: equipment.

The first Blackwater Fishman Warrior dropped a nice piece of loot for Alpha, revealing to him that such equipment existed...

...Attack-boosting gloves!!!

【Blazing Fist (Fine Gloves):

Durability: 200/200;

Level Requirement: 20;

Class Requirement: None;

Alignment Requirement: None;

Defense: 6-8;

Base Frequency: 1.8 seconds (effective for unarmed attacks);

Base Attack Damage (effective for unarmed attacks): 17-22;

Equipped: +3% attack speed for unarmed attacks;

Equipped: +26-39 fire damage for unarmed attacks.】

—Gloves that add unarmed attack damage!!!

If Alpha were slightly less of a novice and had played a bit more, he would know that in many games, there is a class that relies on combat techniques, somewhat similar to martial arts.

This class is called a Monk.

He would also know that, by convention, Monks often have a branch that cannot use any weapons and must rely on unarmed attacks to deal damage. Therefore, gloves that add unarmed attack damage become one of the few pieces of equipment that Monks can use to increase their attack power.

This setting is also carried over in "Dungeons and Dragons," and the current "Blazing Fist" is such a pair of gloves that can increase attack power.

The "Blazing Fist" has low defense, but for a level 20 fine glove, it's normal that the defense wouldn't be as high as a level 10 glove with only 6-8 defense. However, the attack speed and damage added during unarmed attacks are not low: a 1.8-second attack interval and 17-22 points of damage.

These values are even better than some level 20 fine weapons.

The additional equipment attributes also enhance unarmed attacks: "+3% attack speed for unarmed attacks" and "+26-39 fire damage for unarmed attacks." These are significant bonuses, and the "unarmed attack" restriction accurately defines the scope of these gloves, ensuring they are used for pure unarmed attacks.

For classes other than unarmed Monks, these gloves are pure junk, but now there's one more person who is fond of them—Martial Artist Alpha.

Previously, Alpha had been somewhat troubled by the fact that he couldn't use weapons after choosing the martial arts path. After all, with the choice of darts, there were few usable weapons left. He hadn't learned sword or saber techniques and could only use crossbows and finger strikes.

Now, with these gloves, his martial arts finally had a "weapon" of their own, even if it seemed a bit unconventional. It was quite suitable, as Alpha relied on his fingers for combat.

Additionally, base attack damage can be enhanced through equipment, which is quite important. This means that Alpha's unarmed attack power can be increased by upgrading his attack gloves. Lancelot had a +4 "Elandir Fragment," and Alpha might eventually get a +n "XXXX Gloves" or something similar.

In short, this piece of equipment was excellent, not only meeting Alpha's current needs but also providing a goal for his equipment upgrades.

"Trade this glove for a 'Glory Touch.'"

While abusing the next Blackwater Fishman Warrior, Alpha sent the "Blazing Fist" attributes to Lancelot. Mentioning the "Glory Touch" made Alpha frustrated. After all, a level 40 epic set glove was inferior to a level 20 fine piece of loot. Damn corpse fire! Thinking of this, Alpha fiercely stabbed the Blackwater Fishman Warrior in front of him.

Lancelot quickly responded:

"Monk gloves? Are you really going the unarmed attack route?"

"Yep, unarmed plus darts."

As he spoke, Alpha's finger struck the fishman warrior's chin, dealing 433 points of golden damage—a critical hit. This was the only critical point Alpha had discovered on the Blackwater Fishmen so far. These fish-headed monsters had few critical points, and the area below the fish head was the only known primary critical point, with a 2x damage multiplier.

Alpha spoke while sending the damage log to Lancelot to show his determination to dominate with unarmed attacks. He could clearly hear Lancelot swallowing hard in the private chat:

"Damn... Okay, but there might not be an epic version. How about a superior one with other bonuses?"

"Whatever you say."

Alpha answered, frowning as the Blackwater Fishman, who had just been hit in a critical point, tightly tucked his head, refusing to expose the critical point again. These fish-headed monsters weren't completely stupid; they knew how to protect their critical points, making the fight more difficult without the 2x critical damage bonus.

After a moment's thought, Alpha chuckled:

"Ha, trying to be tricky, huh? Watch me use my big move!!!"

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