Exhausted, Chen Luo opened the system store and decisively chose the magic scroll 「Water Array」 — a low-tier water attribute spell. Having just finished learning the new skill, he lightly pressed his palm against the ground. In an instant, a pale blue magic circle burst into light above both their heads, pouring down a cool, refreshing rainstorm. The invigorating water washed away the dirt on their bodies and soothed the sticky fatigue following the life-or-death battle.
The sudden cascade of water startled the "Silver Wolf," making it instinctively try to jump backward. But feeling the refreshing coolness soothe its burning skin, it gave up the idea of fleeing, folded its front paws, and closed its eyes to enjoy this pleasant replenishing shower.
After both had washed away the dirt and fatigue with the 「Water Array」, they quickly proceeded to dry themselves in their own ways. After all, in these circumstances, nobody wanted to catch a cold. Especially Chen Luo — he checked his inventory and realized he didn't even have a single cold pill. Falling sick at this critical juncture would be an absolute disaster.
While Chen Luo was still absentmindedly drying his hair, the "Silver Wolf" turned around, raising its chin in a tsundere pose despite having just enjoyed the shower:
—“Hmph! You really have some nerve, don't you! Right after praising my fur for being warm, you turn around and dump a bucket of cold water on me. Are you trying to turn me into a frozen wolf?”
—“...”
Chen Luo remained silent, staring straight into the eyes of the "Silver Wolf" as if looking at a lunatic, secretly doubting whether this wolf's sanity was actually normal. Sensing that disdainful gaze, the "Silver Wolf" got so mad fumes almost blew from its head. Gritting its teeth, it prepared to pounce and bite him, but a few seconds later, it could only gloomily swallow its anger. Who told the guy in front of it to be its contracted master anyway?
—“Hey, do you have a name?” — Chen Luo dropped his playful expression and asked with a serious tone.
—“No! Why do you ask? Want to give me a name?” — The Silver Wolf held its head high with pride and let out a hmph — “Don't give me any ugly names, or I'll really bite you, stinky master!”
Chen Luo didn't expect his intention to be seen through so quickly, but he didn't bother to care. Since the Silver Wolf didn't explicitly object, he should prepare a proper name for her. After all, constantly calling her "silver wolf" or "this wolf" sounded both distant and impolite in a master-pet relationship.
Walking while thinking, the two unconsciously approached the city's West Gate. Chen Luo directly ruled out ordinary pet names. He pondered for a long time when suddenly a name he had heard in his past life flashed through his mind...
—“Then... how about calling you 'Hina'?” — Chen Luo turned to look at her — “It's the name of a flower. Its meaning... seems to represent the things one always longs for. Besides, its blue undertone fits you quite well.”
—“Hina... hmm... Hina...” — The female wolf repeated the name in her mouth a few times, her eyes instantly lighting up — “Fine, from now on, this lady's name shall be Hina!”
The moment Hina spoke to accept her new name, a sacred golden beam of light crashed down from the high sky, enveloping the female wolf's entire body. As the light gradually dissipated, Hina's body size had not only expanded by half, but the aura radiating from her whole body had also become far more majestic and sharp.
-「System Prompt: Congratulations to the player for successfully naming the pet beast!」
-「The player receives the pet beast's third skill: 『Naming』.」
-「Skill Description: When naming a pet beast tamed and contracted by oneself based on mutual consent, it will correspondingly increase the pet beast's level, quality, and potential, consuming Mana. The stronger the pet beast, the greater the Mana consumed, and the more significant the power boost. In addition, naming significantly increases master-pet favorability and activates the "Telepathy" feature — allowing each other to sense positions even thousands of miles apart, and under special circumstances, awakening hidden potential.」
Chen Luo stood frozen in place, dumbfounded. Yet another overpowered skill that he had never heard of in his past life! In his previous life's game "Infinite Profession," naming a pet beast only required typing text into the info box; if you wanted to change the name, you just bought a rename card in the shop. Where was the logic in naming becoming an innate system skill, let alone giving such a terrifying attribute buff?
Before he could fully digest this shock, a wave of severe dizziness suddenly struck. Chen Luo hurriedly opened his status bar and discovered in terror that his Mana bar had plunged off a cliff, losing nearly three-quarters just from naming Hina. No wonder his body had become exhausted so fast.
Without hesitation, he opened the system store and spent points to directly purchase a can of 「Iced Coca-Cola」. The cold, bubbly, sweet soda rushed straight down his esophagus, instantly reviving Chen Luo's spirits as he let out a long, satisfying sigh. Sure enough, no matter which world, iced Coke was always the supreme truth!
Stopping to observe his surroundings, Chen Luo realized he had reached the boundary zone of the city quadrant. Previously in the East Gate area, he had looted almost all the resource safes clean. If nothing went wrong, this West Gate area would also provide him with a large number of 「Safes」 for him to harvest wildly.
However, before continuing his journey, he needed to allocate attribute points. Currently, he had a whole 160 free attribute points sitting idle — an astronomical number. In this cruel world, holding onto points without allocating stats would definitely make him the first one to die.
—“System, allocate 15 points to HP, 20 points to Strength, and 37 points to Stamina.”
-「Allocating... Stats updated successfully!」
Chen Luo's allocation of points was completely calculated. Although it consumed nearly half of his accumulated points, his HP previously was far too low for his current level, making it extremely easy to be killed in a single stealth strike. Furthermore, he wanted to boost his Stamina and Strength to experience the heavy bow he had obtained from the safe. Having read history in his past life, he really wanted to feel for himself how dominant it felt for famous ancient generals to draw their bows and hit every target.
Chen Luo looked up toward the North Gate. The skyscrapers towering there were far grander than any building at the East Gate or West Gate. Despite long years of abandonment, with green moss creeping all the way from the base to the top, they still stood firm without collapsing thanks to ancient architectural reinforcement magic.
While he was absentmindedly gazing north, Hina's voice suddenly rang out in his mind through telepathy, interrupting his train of thought:
—“Hey, stinky master! Enemies are approaching from this side, why are you still standing there dazed?”
Hearing the female wolf's urgent tone, Chen Luo knew the situation was by no means simple. He darted toward Hina and froze in his tracks when he saw the scene before him: hundreds of mutated monsters clad in rusted iron armor were continuously pouring out from every alleyway.
Without any hesitation, Chen Luo signaled with his eyes. Hina understood instantly, taking charge of the monster group on the left while he would clear the right side. Receiving the order, Hina replied with a sharp and confident look.
Chen Luo shot out like an arrow off a bowstring. As he brushed past the monster formation, he took a quick glance at their stats and was secretly astonished — their attack power was hardly inferior to his own. Instantly drawing a 「Military Dagger」, he fully utilized his nimble agility and combat skills from his past life to target the weak points on the targets' bodies. A sharp blade light cut through the air, cleanly slicing across the neck of the first monster.
*Clang!*
A critical hit triggering 5x damage only carved away 65% of its health bar. Their neck armor was too hard! Before Chen Luo could deliver a second slash, he was struck in the chest by another monster's sharp claws.
*Pfft!*
His HP bar instantly dropped to the bottom, leaving less than 30 points. Large drops of sweat slid down Chen Luo's forehead. Taking just one more attack would turn him into dust.
On the other side of the battlefield, Hina displayed total dominance. Thanks to wind-tearing speed alongside her sharp claws and fangs reinforced after leveling up, the female wolf continuously tore through the enemy formation. Now well-fed and upgraded in quality, Hina was no longer the weak softie that Chen Luo had knocked down with a single punch yesterday. When a horde of monsters tried to surround and tear at her, Hina released a furious roar, the shockwave blasting the entire mob far away.
Watching Hina fight, Chen Luo's eyes suddenly changed. The life-or-death crisis stimulated every nerve in his body. A boiling, intense killing intent surged wildly in his chest. Pouncing forward like a beast released from a cage, he lost all his initial composure:
—“Bring on more! Hahaha! Come on! This amount isn't nearly enough... NOT ENOUGH!!”
Chen Luo fell into a frenzy state. Blade light flashed continuously; blood splattered accompanied by monster heads crashing onto the ground one by one. Miraculously, his HP bar that had hit rock bottom actually began recovering at a terrifying speed.
Every time a portion of his health recovered, Chen Luo's figure would completely vanish into thin air, then eerily reappear right behind another monster, swinging his blade to behead it before the target could react. This cycle of death repeated over and over until all the monsters on his side turned into headless corpses.
-「System Prompt: Congratulations to the player for successfully awakening 3 Special Skills: 『Eater』, 『Vanish』, and 『Frenzy』!」
Skill Description:
-「1. 『Eater』: Activate to immediately restore a large amount of HP while absorbing the vitality from the enemy's flesh. While in 『Frenzy』 state, this skill automatically triggers every time a target is slain, draining all of the enemy's health to restore oneself.」
-「2. 『Vanish』: Blur one's existence, increasing movement speed by 80%, and allowing passage through objects for 5 seconds. Reactivate to cancel stealth and increase attack speed by 50%. Requires consuming vitality devoured from enemies. When combined with 『Frenzy』, this skill turns into complete invisibility.」
-「3. 『Frenzy』: Enter 『Berserk』 state — double damage dealt and attack speed (ASPD), increase movement speed (Agility) by 50%, while enhancing the effects of 『Eater』 and 『Vanish』. In return, take 100% additional damage. Duration: 1 hour. Each activation of 『Vanish』 extends 『Frenzy』 duration by 2 minutes. Cooldown: 4 hours.」
The battle was over. Chen Luo stood atop a mountain of corpses, blood flowing like a river, slowly raising his dagger to lick the fresh blood off it. His eyes glowed with a frantic, crimson light.
Hina, having just finished clearing the last monster on her side, turned her head and saw this sight. She instinctively took a step back, an unprecedented chill rising in her heart toward this human master of hers...