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“Yoyo, what do you do? How come you have so much time to spend in-game?” Whiteheal asked casually as he cast another healing spell.
“I’m a student. It’s summer break now, so I’ve got a lot of free time.”
“Oh, oh! What are you majoring in?”
“…Painting.”

“Wow! Then you must be amazing at drawing!” Whiteheal said excitedly. “Do you have any finished pieces? Can you post a picture and show us?”
“No… I’m really not that good…”
“That’s okay, no pressure. Just let us take a look. It won’t hurt.”
“I’d rather not…” YoyoPink shook her head.

“Alright, alright. So which city do you live in?”
Endless Sea finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Hey! Are you going to heal me or not? I’m about to drop dead over here.”
“What’s the rush? I’m watching your health!” Whiteheal sent out another Heal and Refresh spell.

Under the barrage of wolf spiders, Endless Sea’s HP slowly ticked back up.

Lordsey and Shiu provided quiet ranged support from the rear.

Their grinding pace wasn’t bad, but wolf spiders were level 20 Rare mobs, so the XP gains were fairly meager. Even after a whole morning of farming, they had barely filled half the bar.

“Yoyo, so you…” Whiteheal tried to steer the conversation back.
“Have you never seen a girl before?” Shiu muttered.
“W-What? Of course I have! I have a girlfriend, okay?” Whiteheal raised his voice, clearly wanting the whole party to hear.
“Then quit pestering the poor girl and talk with us instead! Let’s have a proper guy talk!” After clearing the current wave of mobs, Endless Sea slung his arm around Whiteheal and dragged him up to the front.

Whiteheal’s face turned pale, then flushed as he understood the underlying meaning.

“Pfft!” YoyoPink couldn’t help but laugh softly.
As the two moved ahead, Shiu lowered his voice and said, “Just ignore conversations like that. If you entertain them, he’ll only get more annoying.”
“Mm…”
“Enough chatting. Let’s keep grinding.”

…

The Royal Treant, a Rare level 20 boss, had already claimed quite a few victims over the past two days. Plenty of non-combat players who specialized in secondary professions had risked it all for rare materials, only to get one-shotted by the Royal Treant.

For a Rare boss, these stats were clearly overtuned. But on the bright side, it only had two abilities. Moreover, treant-type monsters all shared one fatal flaw: painfully slow movement speed. If you didn’t watch the ground closely, you’d barely notice it was moving at all.

‘Perfect. No one’s around. Time to shapeshift!’

With a shimmer of light, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed loli appeared on the battlefield. Against this kind of slow-moving enemy, Starry didn’t even need to lift a finger.

After equipping the Ring of Mana, Zane’s magic attack jumped to a staggering 482–502. And with the Crimson Flame Staff’s 50% bonus fire damage, plus the Pride of the Wolf Clan’s 10% attack buff, a monster like this, which could barely move, might actually be one-shotted.

Countless vine-like tendrils extended from the treant’s trunk, surging toward Zane. He paid them no mind and calmly continued casting.

Sensing imminent danger, the boss retaliated with Earthspike! The Royal Treant extended its vines into the ground, and it seemed they might erupt from beneath Zane’s feet at any moment.

But the wall of fire materialized first.

Fwoosh—fwoosh—fwoosh—

Scorching flames exploded within the Royal Treant’s body.

The damage was super-effective. In just two seconds, the once-dominant boss was roasted alive. Even its corpse remained ablaze.

‘Burning a forest down might land you in jail…’

His EXP bar surged by over 20%. As expected of a boss, the rewards far outclassed those from regular monsters.

He stepped forward and found a pair of silver gloves lying among the loot.

‘Nice special effect!’

Even though the description was a little… suggestive, it didn’t detract from the item’s quality. Stat-wise, it was standard for level 20 Rare gear, but Starry had yet to equip anything in the glove slot. That Lightfooted effect, an on-hit movement boost, might only last three seconds, but it was more than enough to dodge most attacks.

In addition to the gloves, the boss dropped a few gold coins.

‘Pretty stingy… not even ten in total.’

It wasn’t that surprising though. This boss had likely been killed countless times already. As players leveled up, even elite bosses like this could be brought down with well-coordinated party play or guild-wide zerg tactics.

After being farmed so many times, its drop rates had clearly diminished. If anything good still dropped, it might have been thanks to Zane’s 6 points in Luck.

Meanwhile, Starmew had reached level 10.

‘A new skill?’

Zane checked the description. Just like Venomous Claw or Corrosive Claw, this one seemed to add a special effect to regular attacks. From the name, it was probably a slow.

“Starmew, go scratch that one!” Starry pointed at a Treant to the front-left.

“Mew~” Starmew yawned sleepily, its eyes glassy. After shaking its head, it pounced and activated Frost Claw! The strike landed, and a shocking damage number flashed overhead.

The Treant lost nearly a quarter of its health bar. A frosty-blue sheen spread across its bark, and then—frost crept through its form from the inside out, turning it into a full-blown ice sculpture.

So it slowed first, then froze… And this was only at level 10? If this scaled up with levels, it could become a game-changer.

…

“HEY!!! Why are you still here!?” a girl suddenly shrieked. The shout was so loud Zane had to cover his ears.

“Why wouldn’t I be? Mapleblossom Grove isn’t your private property,” Zane replied matter-of-factly.
The girl fumed. “What about the Royal Treant?! It should’ve sent you straight back to town!”
“It couldn’t beat me. Simple as that.”

She stared in disbelief. “Don’t tell me… you actually killed it?”
“Believe what you want.” Zane continued picking the Bloodroot calmly.
“Ahhh…” The girl looked like she’d just been struck by lightning. “I’m screwed… completely screwed.”

‘What’s up with her?’ Zane glanced up and looked at the name, DumbCitrus, floating above her head. ‘Huh. Looks like her name checks out,’ he thought.

Curious, he asked, “What’s got you so worked up?”

Her big, round eyes darted nervously as tears welled up. “I sold the Royal Treant’s coordinates to Rainflower Guild through the system log. They’ve been offering big payouts for boss locations lately. If they find out it’s already dead, they’ll make me pay double!”

Zane raised an eyebrow. “That serious? How much did you sell it for?”
She sheepishly raised a single finger. “A hundred gold coins…”
“Respect. Good luck with that,” Zane said, turning to walk away.

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