Chapter 16：The Bloody Grass

The sand salamander leader turned around and charged toward Xiao Yu. He had just completed the backstabbing skill and didn't have enough time to twist his body around. However, he relied on his excellent muscle memory and swift reaction time he had developed during his practice of the reversed backstabbing skill.

Because his center of weight was a bit off, Xiao Yu could tell that he hadn't completed the reversed backstabbing skill satisfactorily this time.

System: the success rate of reversed backstabbing is 95%, causing 198% of skill damage.

Though he didn't complete the skill satisfactorily, he caused 270 points of damage because of the two combo attack points he had accumulated.

He had about 20 health points left. If he were to be attacked again by the sand salamander, he would be finished for sure. Xiao Yu didn't dare linger around the sand salamander leader after he succeeded in the reversed backstabbing skill. He ran away as quickly as his legs could carry him.

The sand salamander leader was furious after it had received such a highly damaging blow. It turned around and found Xiao Yu had fled, so it pursued him immediately.

-20

-20

The notifications of bleed damage emerged from its head one after the other. After pursuing Xiao Yu for five or six seconds, the sand salamander leader collapsed onto the ground with a thud, and a pool of blood formed around it.

A powerful sand salamander leader had been killed just like that. Xiao Yu fell onto the ground too, panting heavily, but he was quite excited.

The sound announcing an upgrade came from the system. Xiao Yu was upgraded to level 5 after he had killed the sand salamander leader.

Seeing the spark underneath the corpse of the sand salamander, Xiao Yu was excited, thinking that an item would be dropped.

"It's unknown what items I will get. At least, it should be some green-level equipment; otherwise, this wouldn't have been worth the effort." Xiao Yu totally forgot about the tiredness he had felt after killing the sand salamander leader, and he scrambled up to search for the dropped items.

He picked up three items and one silver coin in total.

Snake-tooth dagger: green-level equipment; attack 23-35; agility +5; one point of speed reduction for the person being attacked; the prerequisite level is 5.

Snakeskin armor: green-level equipment, scale armor; defense 58-59; strength +5; agility +2; for soldiers only.

Instant health potion formula: applicable for mystical pharmacology, creates an instant health potion.

It turned out that the formula for the instant health potion actually came from the body of a sand salamander leader. It was no wonder the sand salamanders he had killed earlier didn't drop this item. This item was very useful.

The snake-tooth dagger had very good attributes and could be counted as an excellent item for lower-level thieves, which made Xiao Yu feel thrilled. As for the snakeskin armor, it could only be used by soldiers. It had a high level of defense, and it was rare scale and shell armor. He should be able to sell it for a good price.

Xiao Yu picked up the snake-tooth dagger and then switched the dagger in his right hand to the left. His attack damage had increased a great deal, especially the feature where one point of attack speed reduction occurred. That was very useful. The next time he met another sand salamander leader, he wouldn't have such a hard time killing it. But he would have to encounter it first; it was not so easy to run into a monster leader.

He took a look at his hand which now held a commonly looking dagger. In comparison, the dagger in his right hand emitted a greenish glow; anyone could tell that it was an excellent item.

With the aid of the snake-tooth dagger, Xiao Yu tremendously sped up his upgrading process. By the afternoon, he had already completed 59% of level 5. After checking the Level Rankings List, the highest level player was level 7.

"They are leveling up really fast," Xiao Yu murmured. It turned out that he hadn't caught up with them yet.

As a matter of fact, those players who had been leveling up fast were all mages. And they usually teamed up with someone to work on leveling up together. It was already a remarkable achievement that Xiao Yu was leveling up all by himself.

What made Xiao Yu feel troubled was that he could hardly complete backstabbing and evisceration with a 100% success rate after he had killed the sand salamander leader.

System: the success rate of backstabbing is 90%, causing 92% of skill damage, gaining one combo attack point.

"It's still kind of difficult to complete it if the most powerful attack is exerted only in the most dangerous situation." Xiao Yu smiled helplessly. He could complete about 90% of backstabbing and evisceration. It would be difficult if he wanted to improve the success rate. Still, it was a good result when he was involved in combat with monsters.

Xiao Yu took a look at his backstabbing and evisceration skills and found that they could be upgraded soon. But when he thought of the formidable price for upgrading skills, he couldn't help but feel distressed. Would he owe Thief Teacher Ode again? Xiao Yu didn't wish to owe him too much. What if he couldn't pay him back later?

It was still a thorny issue if he couldn't pay for the upgrading of his skills.

Xiao Yu fixed his sight on the snakeskin armor. He believed he could definitely sell it for a good price. But would the money he earned from selling the snakeskin armor be enough to pay for upgrading his skills? Maybe, but he was still unsure if he could sell it.

He shook the bag a little and found that he had thirteen white-level items of equipment, which were his winnings for the entire day. He believed he could sell them for some money. He already had 36 silver coins in his bag, and with the money he earned from killing the monsters, he might have enough money to upgrade his skills.

"I should practice the skills to their full extent first and then sell the snakeskin armor in the evening," Xiao Yu thought. He continued his journey of killing monsters.

Seven sand salamanders were wandering up ahead. They were too close together for him to kill them. As Xiao Yu was thinking of this, his eyes suddenly lit up because he found a small, dark patch of grass under a huge rock near the seven sand salamanders.

This was "bloody grass," which was used for making instant health potions! It was worth at least three gold coins on the current market. If he could get this grass, it would be worth the money he won the entire day.

He surveyed the surroundings and found that the seven sand salamanders were traversing back and forth, blocking the route leading to the huge rock. Xiao Yu wondered how he could collect the bloody grass.

Xiao Yu was pacing back and forth, looking for a route to the site, but he was disappointed by what he found. No matter how he approached the place, he would definitely alert the seven sand salamanders. He had no chance of defeating them if the seven sand salamanders attacked him all at once.

"What should I do then? Give up?" Xiao Yu was very frustrated at the fact that he couldn't get the precious item even though it was right in front of him.

Xiao Yu went somewhere close by and killed two solitary sand salamanders before he came back to the site. Those seven sand salamanders were still there.

He wondered if the seven sand salamanders were placed here by the game designer to increase the difficulty of collecting the medicinal plant.

"I don't want to give up."

Xiao Yu felt terribly troubled, wondering if he had absolutely no chance of getting the friggin' grass.

Just then, the sand salamanders crawled to different spots, leaving a gap in the route.

"This is an opportunity," Xiao Yu thought excitedly as he beamed with happiness. His dagger landed squarely on his right palm after he flipped it up into the air.

"Here's hoping that nothing goes wrong." Xiao Yu approached the seven sand salamanders slowly and carefully and then activated stealth travel. He intended to pass between these sand salamanders.

It was no doubt risky to do so, but he didn't wish to let this opportunity slip away. Ordinary people often let opportunities slip away because they were afraid of taking risks. It was evident that Xiao Yu didn't want to be an ordinary person.

He was already at level 5, which was the same level as these sand salamanders. Also, his stealth travel was already upgraded to level 2, so it wouldn't be easy for these sand salamanders to discover him.

Of course, the sand salamanders would be able to discover him if he got too close to them.

This was just bloody grass; should he take such a high risk?

Xiao Yu mulled over the issue and decided that it was worth it. He couldn't figure out the proper price for bloody grass because no bloody grass was for sale on the market at the moment, but he believed it was at least worth three gold coins. Judging by its practicality, this bloody grass could save a life after it was used to make an instant health potion. For instance, when he was in combat against the sand salamander leader, he wouldn't have had low health if he had had an instant health potion. Drinking an instant health potion could fully recover all your health points.

Xiao Yu was moving gingerly toward the gap left by the seven sand salamanders by using stealth travel. Seeing the seven sand salamanders wandering nearby, Xiao Yu could feel the cold sweat gathering in his hands.