Chapter 9: Mystical Fox

With excitement, George arrived at Mr Li's. "Mr Li, I'm here. Do you need my help with anything?" George asked enthusiastically after knocking on the door. The old village chief could call him Li casually , but George didn't dare to. "It's you? I know you. Aunty Wang said that you are a warm-hearted child." Pharmacist Li greeted George with a smile, "I happen to need help with something here." It seems that kind people were indeed rewarded. He worked hard the day before to help Aunty Wang catch chickens. Although he only got a bowl of chicken as a reward in the end, word was spread by Aunty Wang, which increased the villagers' respect for George. In his opinion, this was much better than any other reward. "If there's anything I can do, you can just say the word" George Wu said while patting his chest. This was a novice village after all, so the tasks wouldn't be too difficult. Hence, George didn't have to worry about not being able to complete them. "Here's the thing, I've been researching a new hemostatic medicine recently, and I'm still missing a few herbs. I'm old and my legs aren't what they used to be, so I need someone to help me pick the herbs. Those herbs are in the forest in front," said Pharmacist Li. "Leave it to me, I'll help you with that." George said immediately. "Then I'll leave it to you. You are indeed a warm-hearted child just like Aunty Wang said." Pharmacist Li looked at George with relief. "It's just a small matter." George said, and then a trace of embarrassment appeared on his face as he said: "But, I don't know much about medicine, I'm afraid I won't be able to recognise the herbs you are looking for." "It's true that although those medicinal herbs are not particularly rare, people who don't know about them may not be able to find them." Pharmacist Li said, "Well, I'll teach you how to identify herbs. That way, you'll be able to differentiate them.” Another skill! George was instantly overjoyed. Although it was just a medicine identification skill that didn't seem to be of much use, it was always good to have another skill. Who knew when it would be useful? After learning the skills in identifying herbs from Pharmacist Li, George set out with a new medicine shovel in his backpack, which Pharmacist Li gave him to dig out herbs. The destinated forest wasn't far from the village. There were many wild beasts in it. However, with the invasion of the dark magic, many of the beasts have turned into ferocious monsters. Before George set out, Pharmacist Li repeatedly warned him to be careful. If he was to encounter a monster, he should hide away if he could, and come back if he couldn't. George also prayed in his heart that he would not encounter those monsters. The demonized rabbit from before had left a deep impression on him. Although it was only the lowest level monster, it was not a small threat to George. That was because he was just a level 2 newbie. He had only wandered around looking at the scenery and did not level up the day before. Now that he had some dangerous missions, George felt a little regretful that he did not upgrade his skills. "My luck wouldn't be that bad, right? I won't really encounter any, right?" George thought to himself. However, he definitely jinxed himself. Shortly after George entered the forest, he saw two fox-like creatures blocking his way. The foxes also noticed him at the same time. George used his appraisal skill and some attributes of the fox appeared in front of him. Demon Fox: Level 2 An active attacking monster with high agility, weak defense and no skills. Contrary to George's imagination, the specific attributes of demonized fox did not show up. He didn't know whether this was how it was supposed to be or whether it was because George was lower in strength compared with the opponent. However, George did not have time to dwell on this because the two demonized foxes had already rushed towards him. In that moment, George understood what the high agility mentioned in the attributes meant. The foxes were really very fast. The weeds and shrubs in the forest did not affect their speed at all. They shuttled dexterously and appeared in front of George in just the blink of an eye. George didn't dare to let his guard down and quickly took the medicine shovel out to use it as a weapon. Sonny Li's medicine shovel: Bronze level, it was the medicine shovel used by Sonny when he was an apprentice in his early years. It can increase the success rate of digging herbs. Attack: level 3; Agility: level 1. George originally thought that the rusting medicine shovel that Pharmacist Li took off a nook was just an ordinary shovel. He did not expect that this medicine shovel could not only dig up herbs, but it can also be used as a weapon. It's still a bronze-level equipment, but it can actually increase attack and agility. This was much better than the broken wooden stick George took before. There was no time to dwell on that. As soon as George took the medicine shovel out, the two demonized foxes were already in front of him. Moreover, one jumped up and attacked George's upper body, whereas the other attacked his legs. Their coordination was actually very good. George saw the window of opportunity, picked up the medicine shovel, and hit the fox that was in mid-air. Although the fox was very agile, it couldn't change his direction in mid-air and was hit square in the face. With a dull "thump", the fox flew in the direction it was hit. George saw a trace of blood on the shovel and thought that he managed to kill the fox in one blow. "Ah!" George didn't have time to celebrate. Although he knocked away one of the demonized foxes, the other one had already thrown himself at his legs. Its sharp claws easily tore George's pants, and at the same time scratched his right leg. Three scratch wounds appeared. "Go away, you beast!" The agony made George forget that this was a game world. After being scratched by the demonized fox, he became furious and kicked it away. Before the fox could come at him again, he used the shovel to hit the demonized fox on the head. The fox fell to the ground, twitched twice, and finally laid there motionlessly. As for the previous demonized fox, after being beaten away, there wasn't any movement for a long time. It must have been killed instantly. Although George Wu was only a level two newbie with low attributes, the medicine shovel added three points of attack, and the demonized fox was only a level two monster. Hence, it was understandable that the fox was killed instantly after being hit in the head. This gave George a better understanding of the world. Although this was a game world, it is infinitely close to reality. Being hit in fatal places such as the head and heart can cause very high damage, and worse, instant death was also possible. "Hey, the corpse of this demonized fox hadn't refreshed?" George, who had already planned to leave, looked at the dead fox on the ground and said to himself in surprise.