William Carter couldn’t be bothered to expose his lie. He carefully examined the properties of the purple ultimate magic orb. Unfortunately, it had no attributes at all; it really seemed to be just a decorative item. It felt cold to the touch, but brought a sense of calm and peace.

Well, let’s just keep it as a memento.

He then spent three more gold coins to buy two daggers with +1 attack, and another gold coin to buy five Ancient Essences of Ashley (Ancient Essences of Ashley, commonly known as “tree-eaters” in Dota, effect: eat a tree to slowly restore health. As for the principle behind this, only IceFrog knows.)

In an instant, he spent four gold coins and ten silver coins. Adding in his expenses at the bar, William Carter was basically broke. Five gold coins felt like a lot in the bar, but here, they were spent in no time.

With enough supplies, William Carter set out. He walked the entire afternoon and finally arrived at his destination—the Despair Prairie. By now, it was already evening. The setting sun in the west shone through the clouds, casting a glow over the entire prairie, as if it had been smeared with fresh blood—so red it was suffocating.

The bleak evening wind swayed the waist-high grass, tearing off tufts of fluffy seeds from the tips of the mugwort, which danced in the air, pure white, like the souls of countless fallen warriors.

Lonely and ethereal.

Maybe I’ll die here too, William Carter thought with a hint of self-mockery. So what? No guts, no glory. Eighteen years later, I’ll be a hero again. For the future, I’ll risk it all!

Many antelopes, sheep, and wild boars lived on the Despair Prairie. In Warcraft, these little animals were just decorations—0 armor, 15 health, no attack power, a light scratch would kill them. But in reality, they were not so easy to deal with.

“When the wind blows, the grass bends and you see cattle and sheep.” In the distance, William Carter spotted a sheep and began his first monster hunt.

Rolling up his sleeves, William Carter imitated the tone of the big-bearded guy and shouted a slogan of the Dota Continent’s Sentinel Legion, “For the glory of the Sentinel!”

Then, as if facing a formidable enemy, he charged forward.

The sheep had no attack power and 0 armor, but it had 100 health and could slowly regenerate. Slash after slash, after more than a hundred strikes, the sheep finally collapsed with a bleating cry. A hoarse prompt sounded: experience gained: 1, experience needed to level up: 999.

William Carter was already exhausted, his whole body scratched and bleeding from the sheep’s horns. Helpless, he took out an Ancient Essence of Ashley and ate it (restores 20 health over ten minutes). One Ancient Essence of Ashley cost twenty silver coins—he couldn’t afford to keep eating them like this.

A level one hero’s natural health regeneration was one point every half hour. If he waited for natural regen, it would take at least nine hours to fully recover. That was just ridiculous. So, if you wanted to level up quickly, you had to eat trees.

Killing one sheep cost twenty silver coins. A month’s allowance could only buy enough potions to kill about twenty sheep. That was way too expensive.

Actually, most newbies would choose to bring the sheep back to town to sell, earning a few dozen silver coins. But the inventory could only hold four or five sheep, and the round trip would take at least a day. If you killed a few sheep a day and went back, it would take half a year to reach level two.

No wonder everyone wanted to join the warrior guild and team up to level. It was slower, but much less costly.

Do I have to team up with others to level? William Carter was pondering this when an antelope suddenly leapt out from the tall grass.

When William Carter saw the so-called “antelope,” he couldn’t help but curse. This was an antelope? Its fur was jet black, its eyes blood-red and fierce, a triangular horn on its head sharp as a broken halberd piercing the sky, the mane on its back like burning black flames, its four hooves strong and powerful, bones protruding to form sharp barbs. With a single leap, it could cover ten meters. If you got kicked by those legs, you’d be half-dead if not killed outright.

Luckily, it was still far away. Antelopes should be pretty docile and not attack on their own, right?

As William Carter was considering running away, the antelope had already charged over. In just a few leaps, it was right in front of William Carter.

Damn, seriously? Was the sheep I just killed its mate? Does it have to go this hard?

There was no way to escape. William Carter gripped his dagger tightly. Seeing the antelope charging at him with such ferocity, he felt a bit nervous. He only had one chance to attack—he had to stab its throat.

At the critical moment, a flash of inspiration struck William Carter’s mind—Holy Persuasion!

Chapter Five: The First Summoned Pet

Whew...

William Carter let out a long breath and plopped down on the ground. Damn, that scared the hell out of me.

Looking at the antelope quietly grazing beside him, William Carter felt like he’d just survived a disaster. Luckily, there was no prompt saying his level was too low this time.

Persuading the antelope didn’t give any experience. William Carter focused his attention and checked the antelope’s stats, instantly jumping up from the ground in excitement.

Demonic Antelope:

Level: 6

Attack: 3–3, Attack Type: Normal Attack

Health: 100

Armor: 2, Armor Type: Medium Armor

Attack Speed: Medium

Movement Speed: 300 (thirty meters per second)

Skills: Critical Strike, 15% chance to deal 1.5x damage to the enemy.