With a bang, yet another small fireball landed on its body. Its remaining health finally hit rock bottom. It let out a miserable howl toward the sky and crashed heavily to the ground.

Brian Carter fumbled under the Goblin Warrior for a moment and picked up three items. The first was a level 15 white bronze warrior helmet, defense 31-33, +2 defense enhancement—not bad. The second was something like a cat’s eye gem, about the size of a pigeon egg, entirely emerald green and extremely smooth to the touch. Brian Carter's heart skipped a beat—he actually managed to get it to drop!

Chapter 9: Bloodthirsty Vine Technique

Goblin’s Eye: Special item.

In addition to the Goblin’s Eye, there was also a tattered book.

Skill Book: Bloodthirsty Vine Technique.

This skill book was exactly what Brian Carter had expected—he had come here for this very skill book! Vine Technique is a basic Druid skill, just like Black Oil Technique and Small Fireball, all of which are leveled up through use. Only the first kill of a Goblin Warrior will yield the Bloodthirsty Vine Technique; subsequent kills will only drop the regular Vine Technique.

Bloodthirsty Vine Technique is a growth-type skill. With each level up, its attribute growth far surpasses that of Black Oil Technique or Small Fireball. Later on, it even undergoes special mutations, gaining attributes like bloodthirst and death devour. Brian Carter pulled up some information on the Bloodthirsty Vine Technique.

Bloodthirsty Vine Technique: Skill growth 27, modifiability 32.

Skill Level 1: Number of vines summoned: 1, Attack: 15, Tenacity: 3, HP: 30, Preparation time: 5 seconds, Mana cost: 5, Cooldown: 20 seconds, No special attributes.

Skill Level 2: Number of vines summoned: 1, Attack: 25, Tenacity: 6, HP: 50, Preparation time: 4.6 seconds, Mana cost: 7, Cooldown: 18 seconds, No special attributes.

Skill Level 3: Number of vines summoned: 1, Attack: 35, Tenacity: 8, HP: 80, Preparation time: 4.4 seconds, Mana cost: 9, Cooldown: 16 seconds, No special attributes.

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For ordinary plant-type skills, a growth rate of 20 is already considered very high, but Bloodthirsty Vine Technique reaches an astonishing 27. As for modifiability, it’s also a very good attribute. Once the Bloodthirsty Vine Technique reaches a high level, players can use certain quests and items to customize its attributes. The higher the modifiability, the greater the chance of success. Regular plant-type skills usually have a modifiability of only about ten, but Bloodthirsty Vine Technique reaches 32.

With the Bloodthirsty Vine Technique in hand, he also gained an extra Goblin’s Eye. This Goblin’s Eye is the key item for entering the Goblin Temple deep within the Bloodshadow Plains!

Brian Carter learned the Bloodthirsty Vine Technique, and finally had another active attack skill in his skill bar.

Whether in the early or later stages, Bloodthirsty Vine Technique is a very powerful skill. Brian Carter had already decided where to train the skill and planned to level it up first. Sharpening the axe won’t delay the job of cutting firewood—once the Bloodthirsty Vine Technique is leveled up, his leveling speed will increase dramatically. However, before training the skill, he needed to raise some money to buy a large amount of magic spring water, since skill training consumes a lot.

He currently had three pieces of warrior equipment, two of which were white bronze. Given the current scarcity of equipment, they should fetch a good price. There were also silverleaf grass, bloodstop grass, and so on—at least enough to cover his skill training expenses for quite a while, though he wasn’t sure if anyone would want them.

He searched all the coordinates of nearby herb-producing spots and gathered another twenty-six silverleaf grass and twenty-two bloodstop grass. For most players, collecting two or three herbs after several hours of leveling is already quite good. Almost no one, like Brian Carter, heads straight for herb growth points to gather herbs. Brian Carter's gathering skill proficiency increased rapidly, and when he picked the last bloodstop grass, a crisp system notification chimed—Brian Carter's gathering had advanced from beginner to intermediate.

It’s actually quite easy to go from beginner to intermediate—only 50 skill proficiency points are needed. But to go from intermediate to advanced requires 2,500 points, and from advanced to master is even more daunting. With intermediate gathering, any herb on maps up to level 30 can be collected.

He checked the time—over an hour had passed. Brian Carter sped toward Tagite Village.

As more and more players entered, and as some leveled up, item trading between players increased, making Tagite Village even livelier. The entrance was lined with stalls.

At the village gate stood two level 60 elite guards, each wielding a giant sword and clad in full silver armor, maintaining order.

“Buying full sets of level 10 equipment for all classes—message me if you have any!”

“Buying all kinds of herbs, ores, gem fragments, quest items…”

“Buying level 5 warrior helmets…”

Shouts rang out endlessly at the village entrance. The vast majority were buying level 10 equipment, herbs, ores, and other items in bulk—usually representatives of major teams or studios. Their main members were out grinding levels, while one or two people stayed in the village to handle logistics.

Brian Carter sent the stats of the equipment he had on hand to several players buying gear, inquiring about their purchase prices.