The moment I saw those damage numbers, I was absolutely thrilled. I hurriedly used Hemostasis to recover, then swung my sword and continued attacking. I could heal, but the Bramble Bear couldn’t—that was my only chance of winning!

A few more slaps, and my HP was almost depleted. The cooldown for Hemostasis was a full 6 seconds, which couldn’t keep up with the monster’s attack speed. I blocked left and right, looking quite desperate. Luckily, just then, a “LV+1” suddenly popped up above my head, and the next Hemostasis cost 10 mana—

“+100!”

Thank goodness, Hemostasis was now level 2. Awesome!

Only now did I realize how terrifying a level 9 monster was. Bit by bit, after a whole minute, I finally took down the Bramble Bear. With normal luck, it dropped 3 copper coins. I picked them up, gulped down a mana potion, and continued searching for the next Bramble Bear.

……

It was past 7 p.m., and I still hadn’t received any message from Emily Lincoln. Looks like she was grinding too and didn’t plan to log off. That’s fine—I’ll push to level 9 here before doing anything else!

At 9 p.m., after a flash of golden light, my Sword-wielding Healer reached level 9. I put all 20 attribute points from levels 7–9 into Strength, keeping up my usual violent style.

Stepping over a trail of Bramble Bear corpses, I pressed on. Suddenly, a strong scent of blood wafted from ahead. Hmm, something’s up!

“Roar roar…”

Flies buzzed around piles of human corpses. Atop a huge green boulder, a wild bear with a golden sheen was dozing, and above its head floated a line of text—

[Bramble Bear King] (BOSS-level monster)

Level: 10

Chapter 10: Bramble Sword

“Clang!”

I stabbed my iron sword into the muddy ground and sat quietly, thinking for a long time. The BOSS of the newbie village—what a rare find! It hadn’t even been killed yet, probably because I’d ventured deep into the forest. This Bramble Bear King was likely the strongest monster in this Doggrass Village. If I killed it, it’d be normal for it to drop some top-tier gear, so I definitely shouldn’t miss this chance.

But… how was I supposed to kill it? With just my cloth armor and mediocre physical attack?

……

I looked at the starry sky, then at the BOSS, gradually calming down. I thought it over—hmm, it wasn’t impossible. I’d have to use the terrain. The Bramble Bear King was huge, with short legs, and its attack style was mostly that. Maybe I could use that big tree hollow on the right, hide inside, and take down the BOSS from there?

“Whoosh!”

I stood up. Since I had the idea, it was time to act!

But just as I stood, a steady voice came from behind—

“Hey, friend, are you planning to take on the Bear King alone?”

Damn, someone’s here…

I turned around with my sword. Thirty yards behind me stood five people, all players between levels 8 and 10. One of them had a captain’s badge on his arm and was a level 10 player—a rare sight—

ID: George Washington LV-10 Apprentice Swordsman

……

The name was pretty imposing. Behind him were four others: two level 9 Spirit Mages, a bald Barbarian Monk, and a Knight wielding a long spear. This lineup was a bit unexpected—wait, these guys didn’t have a healer!

George Washington walked up, looked me over, and suddenly couldn’t help but laugh out loud: “Friend, you’re really something. A Healer who can wield a sword—tsk tsk, just how much Strength did you put in to have that kind of arm power? But even if you can use a sword, you can’t solo a level 10 BOSS.”

I looked at them quietly, saying nothing.

George Washington continued, “How about this: you join our party, and we’ll take down the Bramble Bear King together. For cloth armor drops, you and our two Spirit Mages can roll for them. How about it? Otherwise…”

I couldn’t help but grin. “Otherwise what? Are you threatening me? With a team like yours and no healer, you can’t beat the BOSS anyway, and you know it!”

A flash of killing intent passed through George Washington’s eyes, but he quickly smiled warmly. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s not what I meant. I, Evelyn Lewis, am no saint, but I’d never stoop so low as to kill someone for a BOSS. Look, you can’t kill it alone, and neither can we. So let’s work together, just like I suggested. By the way… your Hemostasis is level 2 now, right? Level 1 only heals 50 HP, there’s no way you could win with that.”

I nodded. “Yeah, my Hemostasis is level 2. But I have one condition—you have to agree, or even if you PK me here, I’ll never give in…”

George Washington burst out laughing. “Alright, what a stubborn guy! Go ahead, as long as it’s not too much, I’ll definitely agree.”

“Deal!”

I glanced at George Washington and his Knight, then smiled. “Here’s the thing: I don’t need any cloth armor. If any drops, give them to your people. I only want sword-type weapons. As you can see, my weapon is a sword. That’s my only request. If a sword drops, we’ll roll for it, and I’ll join the roll. How about it?”