「Three days later, the afternoon sun shone everywhere.」

"The season of warm springs and blooming flowers, when all things revive, has arrived. On the Serengeti Plain in East Africa, hyenas are among the most unruly animals, forming groups to hunt the young of both herbivores and carnivores, not sparing any, even daring to snatch food from the mouths of cheetahs. Humans hold no good impression of them, but the hyenas seem to care less, continuing to run wild across the plains... A Husky arrived on the plain, embarking on a challenging adventure..."

"I say, Fu Yi..."

"Hmm?"

Huai Shi sighed, "Could you drop the "Animal World" announcer's tone?"

"Hey, I just spent too much time in the school's broadcasting room. I thought I'd add some flair to the narration, keep you entertained..."

"Keep your voice down."

Huai Shi shook his head. Then, a patch of unremarkable brush began to stir. As the branches parted, a hedgehog rose gently from within. Following that, an enormous dog's head appeared. Huai Shi's dog head had effectively become Fu Yi's seat; she perched on top as though astride a tall steed, looking as majestic as could be.

Meanwhile, Huai Shi's ice-blue eyes warily surveyed the surroundings, spotting several lazy Hyenas basking in the sun after stealing another's food.

"Is it them?"

"Right, watch for the biggest one there, that's a Level Four Hyena; the rest are Level Two and don't include any Explorers..." Fu Yi whispered, "Should we use the same old strategy?"

"Yeah, the same old."

The dog's head nodded, lay down to let Fu Yi off. "After I maul them, watch for an opening to finish them off. But don't rush too far in, one bite and you're done for."

"I have a shield, I'm not afraid." The little hedgehog confidently waved her claw. "You've been enhanced; let's go get them!"

"..."

Huai Shi rolled his eyes at her and continued to crouch in the brush, inching forward bit by bit, careful not to disturb the twigs. The scent of the Hyenas' musk, carried on the upwind, grew stronger; there must be at least a dozen nearby. One wrong move in this operation could easily end up feeding the enemy.

Settling his nerves, Huai Shi stuck his butt up and edged further, creeping until he was within ten meters. Only then did his front claws reveal eight sharp, dagger-like nails, which scraped across a Stone leaving four white marks.

Just as the Hyenas noticed the disturbance, a Husky, the size of a calf, had already pounced from the bush, hurtling toward them with a roar.

"Take my military boxing!"

The Level Four Hyena leader had no time to react when it looked up to see Huai Shi's paw swooping down, scratching several gashes across its face.

In a burst of pain, the Hyena leader howled furiously, its body suddenly swelling, and shockingly, it shot a blaze of fire at Huai Shi.

Immediately following, Huai Shi delivered an uppercut... with his claws.

CRACK! The Hyena's agape mouth was forcibly shut by Huai Shi; the flames vanished without a trace, leaving only two plumes of smoke billowing from its ears.

Huai Shi's jaw, now gleaming with a steely light, snapped violently towards the Hyena's throat, instantly severing its spine, yet not in a hurry to claim its life. Instead, he turned to tackle the charging Hyena mobs.

After toughening his skin, the Hyenas couldn't so much as scratch him; Huai Shi was knocking them out left and right with single punches. He swiftly clawed two to death, bit another in his mouth, and used a canine adaptation of the Yu Step to intercept a fleeing one. With a head-on charge, he soon left the Hyena pack devastated and scattered.

More Hyenas had started to flee when suddenly, a little hedgehog leapt from the brush in their path. Several Hyenas simply ignored it and kept running. Then they saw a white-foreheaded tiger appear out of thin air, roaring furiously at them, the stench of its breath overwhelming.

The illusion vanished in an instant.

But it had bought Huai Shi enough time to leap in for the execution. Against a Level Four Husky, these Level Two Hyenas had no chance unless they relied on numbers—they were simply dead meat.

After four escaped, eight remained on site. Huai Shi accidentally bit three to death, leaving the rest heavily injured.

Fu Yi laughed out loud, leaping forward, stabbing and poking with her spikes. Whether it was anger or the assault that killed that Hyena was unclear, but after stabbing four or five to death, she finally reached Level Four. The hedgehog's start was indeed weak, with an Illusion Technique skill but virtually no offensive power.

Following this level-up, Fu Yi vibrated abruptly, her spines moving as if animated, radiating a metallic glow. Then, with a soft shout from her, two spikes shot out like arrows, piercing the throats of two Hyenas. Now things were much more convenient.

"Wow, Fu Yi, you're shedding!" an astounded Huai Shi, who watched from the sidelines, exclaimed before receiving a glare from Fu Yi. When it came time to finish off the last leader, Fu Yi thought for a moment and stepped aside.

"Your turn, you're the main damage dealer now; if you take it down, you should hit Level Five, right?"

Huai Shi didn't decline.

They were already slightly behind in their progression. Yesterday, Fu Yi saw, through an add-on, a Level Seven Explorer who had evolved into a lion. After circling the dense forest a few times without finding prey, the lion left dejectedly, leaving Huai Shi and Fu Yi in cold sweat.

Dispatching the leader in one bite and claiming the big reward, Huai Shi mentally filled in the leveling up sound effect. The progression bar was full once more.

LV5!

In the previous four levels, Huai Shi had strengthened his fur, bones, muscles, and claws. This time, he decided to apply the Skill points to his overall constitution. After shuddering neurotically on the ground for a while, Huai Shi stood up to find he had grown even larger, moving beyond the range of large dogs and into the domain of fierce beasts. Apart from a pair of ice-blue eyes that occasionally betrayed its classically clueless Husky look, there was no way to tell this was a Husky.

What thrilled him even more was that his originally scant Source Substance was gradually becoming abundant, no longer as dry and scarce as before. With this momentum, by the time he reached Level Ten, he would be able to take back the Soul Ability that Raven had reserved for him.

In comparison, Fu Yi's size didn't grow at all, but her speed and fur became sharper, and she could Maintain her Skills for longer, transforming into a ferocious beast for an extended period. But with Fu Yi around, a Player with official cheats from GM, things were overly convenient. As soon as she opened the map, it was clear where the monsters were, making leveling up a breeze...

The only downside was that he was leveling up so quickly that the tree hole was getting too cramped for Huai Shi. Luckily, these Hyenas had also occupied a cave. It looks like I'll have a more spacious place to live in the future.

By the time he had cleared the nearby area, Fu Yi had already hopped in, then scrambled back out in a hurry.

"Huai Shi, Huai Shi, Huai Shi!" Fu Yi yelled, "Come here and look!"

"What?"

Huai Shi jogged over, lay down, then lifted Fu Yi onto his head and crawled into the cave. He then froze.

What the hell is this?

Inside the cave, it was a mess—a group of Hyenas naturally couldn't be expected to be tidy. But what shocked Huai Shi wasn't the filthiness, but the faded mural on the wall. On the light grey walls, there were drawings of a group of people that looked like Snakes. It was as if they were performing some kind of Sacrifice, surrounding a high platform, their movements like dancing. And atop the platform was the shadow of what at first glance seemed to be a mountain range, but upon closer inspection, it bore the outline and features of wild beasts...

Mountain-like wild beasts!

Huai Shi sucked in a breath of cold air.

Is there still civilization in this world? he wondered in disbelief. In my memories, all civilizations had been completely destroyed in the cataclysm. I even doubted if there were any people left in this world. After such a long time on this plain, I haven't even found a monkey, let alone a human. Not a single primate. It's as if humanity has been abandoned by this world. Gone without a trace.

"Does that mean what we saw on the grassland the other day were really wheel tracks?" Huai Shi asked in disbelief.

"Maybe. If there are things like wheels, the level of civilization must be pretty advanced. Look at the Aztecs, they didn't even have wheels hundreds of years ago, it's said."

"That was an exception, okay?" Huai Shi curled his lip. "A bunch of guys who had developed mathematics enough to calculate calendars ten thousand years ahead were obsessed with live sacrifices, and after more than a thousand years, they couldn't even come up with a wheel... Truly a peculiar bunch."

"So, should we go check it out?" After thinking for a moment, Fu Yi asked.

"Let's hold off for now?" Huai Shi shook his head. "There are still so many monsters left to defeat in the Newbie Village; running to Storm City would probably blow our brains out..."

"Why Storm City and not Orgrimmar?"

"Haven't you heard? The Warchief is dead again! The trash writers are even calling him useless; the Horde has it so tough."

"Yeah, really tough."

A dog and a hedgehog looked at each other and shook their heads in agreement.

"Now that you're Level Five and I'm Level Four, should we consider taking on a swarm of Elite Monsters?" After pondering awhile, Fu Yi's eyes lit up again.

The Elite Monster mentioned by Fu Yi was another Explorer. They had discovered a wolf pack by the lake last night with around seventeen or eighteen members, all of respectable levels, and the leader of the pack was also around Level Five. But on this Witch's Night, it seemed the path to leveling up wasn't limited to just strengthening oneself. Just like the guy who led the pack of Hyenas to attack Huai Shi, Skill points could also be used to expand and improve one's group, which meant adding followers, although followers could level up through training, they would do so much slower than the Explorer themselves. Without a doubt, in the early stages when everyone's output is limited, these Explorers with numerical superiority are the strongest, and if handled well, could remain powerful in the later stages as well.

The one occupying the lakeside seemed to be waiting for something, never leaving his spot. When Huai Shi got too close last time, he was chased by three wolves for a distance of two li.

We're all dogs, why can't we be best friends!

Hmm, that actually rhymed...

If Huai Shi could be as successful in Beheading as he was this time, they might be able to take down this wave of experience points...

Huai Shi hesitated for a long time, about to shake his head when he heard Fu Yi's voice.

"Looking at the map, there seems to be a Relic Bone there..."

Huai Shi gritted his teeth and slapped his paw.

"Let's do this!"

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