Wu Guanyue remained silent for a full five seconds before she finally understood what had happened.
So… she had been beaten up by her fishing rod while fishing?
“…………”
“………………”
A huge crossroad-shaped vein popped out on Wu Guanyue’s forehead.
She had finally figured it out… The creator of this game had indeed inherited the true teachings of Miyazaki the Old Thief, always finding the most inexplicable places to screw over the player.
And when that was combined with the fact that she only had one chance to play, it made the whole thing especially vicious…
But a player would never bite the dust so easily! Nor would they give up on elec—fishing so easily!
Although she had lost eighty-five HP, she had obtained a full eighteen fish. There was no doubt about it—this was a profitable business!
Wu Guanyue opened her inventory, pulled out nine pieces of waterweed, and wolfed them down, restoring her HP to full. Then she continued trading her health for fish.
Charge up, cast—
At that moment, a panicked cry suddenly shattered the silence.
“What is that?!”
“A demon… It’s a demon!”
“Run! Third Brother Li, run!”
Several men dressed as woodcutters stumbled out from deep within the forest, their faces filled with terror.
Wu Guanyue took a closer look. Two of them were NPCs she had spoken to on the outskirts of Red Pine Forest. Running alongside them was a boy of about eight or nine, who was clutching a completely black, long-haired cat in his arms.
The entire pine forest rustled violently, while the earth trembled ever so slowly, as if something were awakening beneath the soil. In an instant, every living creature in the forest sensed the danger and fled in all directions. The mortals were merely the most insignificant among them.
Then Wu Guanyue saw the red-name monster.
It was a pine tree—the tallest tree in the entire Red Pine Forest, its crown blotting out the sky and sun.
At that very moment, its roots writhed through the earth, supporting its enormous trunk as it slowly advanced toward them!
[Name: Living Pine Tree]
[Race: Tree Demon]
[Level: LV.4]
[Description: An ancient tree that has lived for over a thousand years. Just who was it that awakened it…?]
Wu Guanyue: “???”
Why was it a level-four monster?! Wasn’t this game incapable of supporting battles against monsters above one’s level? Yesterday, she had practically only scratched Zheng San, who was level two!
[Woodcutter · Eldest Brother Li: “Could it be that it killed all the people who went missing before?!”]
[Woodcutter · Second Brother Li: “It’s slow, and we’re fast! Run, fisherman! What are you standing there for?!”]
[Boy · Li Sanlang: “There’s something wrong with it!”]
[Black Cat · Wuyun: (hissing)]
The pine crown that blotted out the sky suddenly shifted. In the next instant, countless pine needles shot down like a torrential rain!
“Pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft—!”
A wolf that leaped into the air was instantly turned into a porcupine. The force of the pine needles was so great that they made a dull thudding sound as they sank into its flesh.
“Awooo—!”
The wolf was knocked onto its back, letting out a pained howl.
Then something even more terrifying happened—the wolf’s body suddenly began to swell.
Bubbles emerged from inside its body one after another. The wolf thrashed wildly, as if undergoing some excruciating torture!
“Bang—!”
Its body was forced apart by countless pockets of air, exploding like a firework!
[Skill · Pine Needle Storm: Plants use their leaves to breathe… Leaves that burrow deep into flesh breathe too!]
At the same time, the sky-covering rain of pine needles charged straight toward the people beside the pool!
[Woodcutter · Second Brother Li: “We’re going to die! We’re going to die!”]
[Boy · Li Sanlang: “Wuyun! Don’t run around!”]
[Black Cat · Wuyun: “Meow—woof—!”]
The black cat Wuyun, who had just let out a suspiciously dog-like cry, leaped into the air.
The pool water surged upward, carrying crucian carp with it, and formed a curtain of water above everyone’s heads. The pine needles sank into the watery barrier. Bubbles churned within it, and the sound of pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft rang out without end.
[[Wuyun] used [Skill · Water Curtain] and blocked [Pine Needle Storm]!]
Every strand of fur on Wuyun’s body stood on end! Its tiny body trembled nonstop—
Wuyun: “Meow… gurgle… mrr…”
It was about to collapse!
Wuyun was a demon who had gained intelligence at a young age. It had neither parents nor family, and had been taken in by Auntie Wu when it was little. Now, sixteen years had passed. After Auntie Wu died of old age, Wuyun left her household and spent more than half a month searching around Mount Mei for a quiet place where it could cultivate.
After carefully searching, it had selected Red Pine Forest. Who could have known that Auntie Wu’s three grandsons would happen to be chopping wood there?
Who could have known that Li Sanlang would discover it and chase it into the forest?
Who could have known that such a terrifying demon would be hiding in Red Pine Forest?!
No one had ever taught Wuyun how to cultivate. It did not even know what kind of demon it was! The fact that it had managed to figure out that it was a water-element demon and learn to control water was already impressive enough…
But how could a wood-element demon be afraid of water?!
Water nourished wood… That was the natural law of the five elements…
“Pfft—pfft—!”
More and more pine needles broke through the water curtain and sank deeply into the soil… Yet Auntie Wu’s grandsons and the fisherman were also unable to escape, because behind them lay a freezing pool so deep that its bottom could not be seen…
Wuyun’s claws dug deeply into the earth. Even its tiny triangular mouth was trembling.
“Pfft—!”
A pine needle broke through the water curtain and shot straight toward Wuyun!
Right then, at that very moment, a figure faster than lightning suddenly flew in!
[Used starting proficiency skill—Pickpocket!]
Wuyun felt a sharp pain in its tail… A tuft of fur had been plucked away by the newcomer!
[Obtained: [Fur] ×1]
[Fur: Fur from an unknown creature, but soft to the touch.]
That person’s body firmly blocked the way in front of it. A fishing rod was gripped tightly in her hand—
It was the fishing addict. That fishing addict!
The pine needles came shrieking through the air and struck her!
[[Wu Guanyue] took the [Pine Needle] attack for [Wuyun]. HP -90!]
Yet her body did not burst apart like the wolf’s.
The pine needles struck her, but she did not move an inch. Her expression was as cold and calm as ice, as if there were nothing in this world capable of shaking her resolute heart!
Wuyun stared at her in a daze and heard her icy declaration—
“Even if you’re a monster under the command of Miyazaki the Old Thief, I’ll still kill one for you!”
She abruptly raised her left hand and fiercely bit into the waterweed she was holding!
Wuyun: “…………?”
A master’s movements took place in the blink of an eye. Wuyun had only paused for a moment before that fishing senior had already swallowed eight or nine slimy pieces of waterweed in one gulp. Then…
She moved again!
[Used starting proficiency skill—Pickpocket!]
[Pickpocket failed!]
That’s right! Wu Guanyue had used Pickpocket on the level-four monster, [Living Pine Tree]!
Although she had failed, this was already within Wu Guanyue’s expectations. The level gap between her and the monster was simply too great, so the success rate had been extremely low to begin with.
But pickpocketing has a prerequisite effect, and that effect can make her speed unbelievably fast! That was exactly the trait she used to save the black cat Wuyun just now.
As for the Living Pine Tree... its advantage is its massive size, but that's also its biggest weakness!
Wu Guanyue decided to pickpocket the matsutake growing on the Living Pine Tree's roots.
Star-swift, lightning-quick!
Faster than a flash of light!
In the blink of an eye, Wu Guanyue was already standing on top of the enormous pine root. The fishing rod in her hand vanished in an instant, replaced by a lumberjack's axe!
"Crack——!"
She swung the axe down hard at the root!
[The Living Pine Tree] took a [Slash] attack from [Wu Guanyue], HP -10!
[Wu Guanyue dodged the [Pine Root Whip] attack from [Living Pine Tree], a total miss!
The entire crown of the Living Pine Tree shook violently. The hit clearly stung it, and it was too distracted to keep fighting with Wuyun. The pine needles lost their power boost, got swept up by the water curtain, and crashed right back onto the Living Pine Tree's body!
[The Living Pine Tree] took a [Water Vortex] attack from [Wuyun], HP -3!
That's not even as much damage as the player's axe!
Oh well... when it comes to NPCs that join in mid-battle, it's already good enough that they don't drag the player down.
Wu Guanyue hefted her axe and kept trying to pickpocket the matsutake.
[The Living Pine Tree] took a [Slash] attack from [Wu Guanyue], HP -10!
[The Living Pine Tree] took a [Scratch] attack from [Wuyun], HP -3!
Auntie Wu's three grandsons weren't sitting idle either!
Eldest Brother Li: "You monster! I'll fight you!"
[The Living Pine Tree] took a [Slash] attack from [Eldest Brother Li], HP -10!
Second Brother Li: "Senior! Wuyun! I'm here to help you—wait, where'd my axe go?!"
Li Sanlang: "Wood is afraid of fire! Second Brother, get the flint!"
Second Brother Li quickly pulled out his flint and tried to light the fallen leaves on the ground... but the forest was so damp that the dirt and leaves were all soaked. The two of them fumbled for ages and couldn't get a single spark going.
Wu Guanyue's axe had also reached its maximum durability, slipped right out of her hand, and flew off to who knows where.
Meanwhile, the Living Pine Tree still had four-fifths of its HP left.
Worse yet...
[4 minutes and 39 seconds until [Skill: Pine Needle Storm] finishes charging!]
The wild monster's ultimate skill was less than five minutes away from being ready!
To be honest, this monster wasn't that hard to fight. Its attack pattern was super simple—it only knew how to swing its roots and pine branches to whip people. And since there were matsutake mushrooms all over its roots and Wuyun had a fluffy, thick tail, Wu Guanyue moved nimbly around the battlefield and wasn't in any real danger of losing her own HP.
But its health bar was absurdly thick!
Wu Guanyue had only been in this game for two days, she didn't have any good gear at all. The random lumberjack axe she'd swiped earlier already hit harder than her mop, and even that dealt damage so little it was like scraping dirt off its body... Even that wouldn't have been so bad, she could have just grinded on it all day to kill it. The real problem was that its ultimate skill was completely broken!
Pine Needle Storm was an AoE attack that dealt massive damage. The wolf in the opening cutscene had already showed how terrifying it was. The only thing that could block that attack was Wuyun's Water Curtain skill.
Wuyun planted its four paws on the ground, its tail held high, hissing nonstop at the Living Pine Tree, but its little paws were trembling nonstop.
[Name: Wuyun]
[Race: ???]
[Level: LV.1]
[Description: A creature that doesn't know what it is, so it often makes suspicious sounds.]
But since Wuyun was only level one, its mana bar was almost completely drained, and it didn't have enough left to cast Water Curtain one more time.
Ugh... this is so hard... this game is way too difficult!
But just think about yesterday's tutorial level, Wu Guanyue!
Yesterday's tutorial was just as tough! Back then she used her newly acquired [Pickpocket] skill to turn the situation around. And she had to admit, that tutorial was really useful—now she had a super deep understanding of how the pickpocket skill worked!
So she could definitely use the same line of thinking to solve this problem today!
The same line of thinking... the same line of thinking...
A flash of brilliant inspiration suddenly struck Wu Guanyue!
She got it! She knew exactly what to do!
The new item she got today was the [Lightning-Struck Wood Fishing Rod]!
Just think about it—earlier she got hit by that rod, right? The rod automatically charges up and zaps fish with electricity after you reel in ten items. But she was standing on the shore, so why did she get shocked too?
There's only one truth— the electricity traveled right through the wooden rod!
Wood is supposed to be an insulator, but wait a second! Think about the skill description for the [Lightning-Struck Wood Fishing Rod]!
[Skill: Thunder Force: The powerful thunder qi can penetrate absolutely anything!]
Penetrate absolutely anything— that definitely includes this huge tree!
Wu Guanyue made up her mind in an instant, gathering all her strength as she yelled: "Guard—my—back—for—me!"
Wuyun's eyes narrowed into slits, completely on guard: "Woof woof!"
Eldest Brother Li held up his axe: "Senior! You can focus on your special skill! We've got this!"
This senior was risking her life to save them, and she was their only hope of surviving. They would never let that accursed tree monster touch even a single hair on the senior's head!
They wondered what kind of powerful formation the senior was about to cast.
But then they watched the senior pull a fishing rod out of her pouch... and then plop herself down on the ground and start fishing!
Eldest Brother Li: "............?"
Wuyun the cat: "............?"
Living Pine Tree: "............?"
Wait a second, this tree monster has a mind of its own!
