In less than a minute, I fought desperately and slashed down the Flame Bats, earning 120 experience points and 19 copper coins. However, I still hadn’t seen the legendary Bat Blood required for the quest!

It wasn’t until I took down the fifth Flame Bat that I finally heard a “plop”—a droplet-shaped Bat Blood fell to the ground—

【Bat Blood】 (Quest Item)

Nothing special, so I tossed it straight into my inventory.

But after killing five Flame Bats and gaining 600 experience points, I had already used up two small potions, costing me 40 copper coins. Such expenses were truly heartbreaking!

The forest was quiet, with only the “whoosh whoosh” of Flame Bat wings. Just then, I heard voices behind me. Someone exclaimed in surprise, “Damn! This guy is actually soloing level 5 monsters!”

I turned around and saw three level 2 players peeking over. Soon, one of them stepped forward to lure a Flame Bat. Who knew the Flame Bat would be so fierce? It immediately bit off half of the player’s HP, scaring him pale as he shouted, “Second SonThird Son, help me out, quick!”

The other two players rushed up, swinging their short sticks and hitting the Flame Bat on the head twice. Two numbers popped up—

“12!”

“8!”

Watching from a distance, I almost burst out laughing. They didn’t even have decent weapons, yet dared to challenge a terrifying level 5 monster three levels above them—practically a death wish!

As expected, in less than two minutes, the three of them couldn’t withstand the Flame Bat’s fierce attacks and all turned into white light, returning to town to respawn, leaving behind a Flame Bat with only a sliver of HP!

A bargain delivered to my doorstep—how could I not take advantage?

I immediately stepped forward and swung my iron sword down from above!

“Crack!”

With a crisp sound, the Flame Bat let out a wail and collapsed. At the same time, two “ding dong” sounds rang out, as if something had dropped!

Without hesitation, I started searching through the dirt and found, besides 17 copper coins, another Bat Blood, and also a piece of dull-colored leather armor!

I was a bit surprised and quickly picked up the leather armor to check its stats—

【Bat Leather Armor】 (White Equipment)

Defense: 8

Required Level: 4

……

I couldn’t help but smile. Heaven is helping me! I was just worrying about not having any armor, and now, here it is—a gift delivered right to me. If those players knew, they’d be kicking themselves with regret!

Looking at my experience bar, I was just a bit away from reaching level 4!

So, I drank a red potion and took down another Flame Bat nearby. As golden light rained down, I officially leveled up!

“Ding!”

System prompt: Congratulations, your level has increased. Stamina +20, and you have gained 5 freely assignable attribute points!

……

Haha! Finally, I’m getting started!

I immediately put on the Bat Leather Armor, boosting my defense from 4 to 12. Then I put all 5 points into strength, raising my attack to 16-21!

Although the Bat Leather Armor didn’t look great, it was the first piece of clothing I’d ever gotten, and possibly the first to drop in this newbie village. So, wearing it, I was still overjoyed!

With 12 points of attack, I charged off to pick a fight with another Flame Bat. With a mighty slash, a number popped up above its head—“248”!

“What?!”

I could hardly believe my eyes—one strike took out half the HP of a level 5 monster?

Checking the log, I realized it was a critical hit!

Even so, I could still deal 124 HP of damage to a Flame Bat with a single strike, which was already pretty impressive!

At this point, the Flame Bat launched a fierce counterattack. I felt a slight pain, but to my surprise, its poison attack only did 24 damage to me!

I was overjoyed. Looks like with the Bat Leather Armor’s huge defense boost, I could now fight continuously!

So, I eagerly grabbed my iron sword and went off to hunt more Flame Bats!

Time ticked by. Half an hour after 《灵恸》 launched, I had already collected 19 Bat Bloods and smoothly reached level 5. Facing monsters of the same level, my stats were no longer suppressed, so I could kill even more efficiently—almost every three strikes took down a Flame Bat!

After a few more slashes, I toppled another Flame Bat and picked up the loot—Bat Blood!

I counted carefully. There were now 20 Bat Bloods in my inventory—done! Time to go back and turn in the quest!

I immediately turned to head back to the village, but just then, a chill swept in from my right, making me shiver. When I turned to look, I was startled!

Not far away, a gigantic bat appeared, its whole body ablaze, at least ten times the size of a Flame Bat—like a small airplane floating in the air!