Chapter 12: First Dungeon Clear — Dead Tree Meets Spring! - My Basic Attacks Permanently Increase HP

Lin Tianhao wasn't about to underestimate the boss just because it only had one skill.

In fact, bosses like that were often the hardest to deal with.

Whoosh!

Lin Tianhao struck first.

-785.

No critical hit, but the damage was still decent.

However, in the very next instant, he learned exactly why the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress was so terrifying.

-1355.

Two vines lashed him in rapid succession, shaving off over two thousand HP in one go.

That was absolutely absurd!

On top of that, Lin Tianhao noticed something troubling — the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress's vines seemed to cover the entire room. In other words, there was no way to dodge its basic attacks by repositioning alone.

This was a nightmare!

The boss attacked with two vines at a time, and with just over thirty thousand HP, he could only tank a dozen or so hits before going down.

Even as his mind raced through the problem, his hands never stopped moving.

He kept up a relentless barrage of attacks against the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress.

When the vines came lashing at him again, Lin Tianhao immediately rolled to the side.

"Dodged it."

His eyes lit up. Just as he'd suspected — the vine attacks could be dodged.

If they could be dodged, then killing this Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress was only a matter of time.

Still, to be safe, Lin Tianhao switched to the Jungle Longbow.

The Jungle Longbow boosted his max HP and provided lifesteal.

Relying solely on the Rejuvenation skill to recover HP was too slow.

So lifesteal became absolutely critical.

After all, the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress had far too many vines, and each basic attack came from a different one.

His reflexes were good enough to dodge most of them, but achieving a perfect one hundred percent dodge rate was still a bit unrealistic.

His movement speed hadn't been invested in at all, after all.

+50.

+16.

His HP began to slowly recover as he continued searching for the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress's weak point.

Every monster had one.

Striking a weak point increased the chance of landing a critical hit.

Even after switching weapons, his crit rate had dropped to a mere one percent — the bonus from the Savage Boots was gone. But as long as he hit the weak point with enough precision, he could still chain critical hits.

"Found it."

Truth be told, Lin Tianhao had never encountered the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress in his previous life.

Back then, he had been diligently grinding and farming gold, and by the second day he had already moved on to the main city.

When this dungeon eventually opened, some players had attempted the Hell difficulty — but no one in the novice village had ever managed to clear it.

And as the game progressed and Level 15 and Level 20 dungeons began appearing, players lost interest in the novice village dungeon entirely.

So this Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress was, for Lin Tianhao, a completely new encounter.

Whoosh!

Another arrow flew. Lin Tianhao kept weaving and repositioning.

He was pushing his movement to the absolute limit — even dodging basic attacks!

"There it is."

His eyes lit up. Behind the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress, he spotted nine blood-red vines.

Each of those crimson vines bore a dark-red head at its tip.

At that moment, one of the heads was staring right at Lin Tianhao with a sinister grin.

Whoosh!

Critical hit!

-1574.

A bright red critical damage number appeared, and Lin Tianhao felt a small surge of excitement.

He'd found the weak point. His attacks would be far more effective from here on out.

Whoosh!

The sound of arrows cutting through the air rang out without pause. The blood-red vines swung the heads around in an attempt to dodge, but Lin Tianhao's experience was on another level entirely.

That kind of swaying evasion was, in his eyes, nothing more than decoration.

Critical hit!

Another critical hit!

This was the absurd power of weak point attacks — even with a one percent crit rate, he was pumping out massive critical damage.

The corners of Lin Tianhao's mouth curled upward. Critical hits didn't just mean higher damage — his lifesteal also scaled up with them.

With the counter strategy figured out, Lin Tianhao began chipping away at the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress's HP at a pace of two arrows per second.

Finally, the boss's HP was whittled down to ten percent.

The kill threshold was right in sight.

But then, in the very next instant —

A green glow radiated from the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress, and its HP shot straight back up from ten percent to full.

Lin Tianhao: ???

He nearly shut down on the spot.

He couldn't even blame himself — what kind of godlike skill was that?

How could anything be this ridiculous?!

This was a novice village! He wasn't grinding some Level 200 world boss — this was a Level 10 Bronze-grade boss.

What on earth?!

A million curses stampeded through his mind.

But Lin Tianhao had no intention of giving up. He chose to keep attacking.

With the experience he'd already built up, he was now moving through the fight like a seasoned veteran.

Fifteen minutes later!

"Ding. You have slain the Bronze-grade Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress. EXP +31,280."

"Ding. You have achieved the first clear of the Twisted Jungle dungeon. A server-wide announcement is about to be made. Do you wish to hide your name?"

"No."

"Server Announcement: Congratulations to player Snow Emperor for achieving the first clear of the Twisted Jungle! This achievement is hereby announced to all. May all players continue to strive forward."

The sudden server-wide announcement left countless players still grinding through dungeons utterly dumbfounded.

"Holy shit, it's that Snow Emperor again. He solo-cleared a dungeon? How is that even possible?"

"Solo boss kills, solo dungeon clears — did this guy awaken some kind of talent back in the novice village?"

"I think it might be some kind of hidden class. Even if it's a talent, what 1-star talent could be this insane?"

The chatter was everywhere, and more than a few guild players were beating their chests in frustration.

A first dungeon clear — the rewards were beyond question.

"Ding. You have achieved the first clear of the Hell-difficulty Twisted Jungle. Calculating rewards…"

"Ding. You have obtained Iron-grade Treant Set ×1."

"Ding. You have obtained Skill Books ×13."

"Ding. You have obtained Heart of the Treant ×4."

"Ding. You have obtained Elite-grade Equipment ×35."

"Ding. You have obtained Gold Coins ×350."

"Ding. You have obtained Free Attribute Points ×50."

"Ding. You have obtained Quest Scroll ×1."

A cascade of system notifications left Lin Tianhao's eyes spinning.

These rewards were awesome.

The Iron-grade Treant Set — aside from the main weapon slot, Lin Tianhao could equip everything else. And since he was the first-clear player, there was no level restriction; he could use it all immediately.

That said, the set was best suited for shield warriors. On him, it felt a bit out of place.

Among the Elite-grade equipment — thirty-two pieces in total, plus three Bronze-grade items — Lin Tianhao glanced through them and found they were almost all tank gear. Wearing them would be better than nothing, but only barely.

Then his gaze landed on the Skill Books.

Lin Tianhao's interest immediately spiked.

Because he spotted one skill in particular: Dead Tree Meets Spring!

Dead Tree Meets Spring (Passive Skill): 1 Star.

Effect: When your HP drops to 10%, you will immediately recover 10% of your maximum HP.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Cost: None.

Proficiency: 0/10 (Proficiency is gained by sacrificing Skill Books. Each Skill Book sacrificed grants 1 point of Proficiency. Certain special skills may grant multiple points of Proficiency.)