"Ding, ding, ding…"
Ye Bai transformed into a miner, taking advantage of the fact that her weapon's durability wasn't being consumed, and relentlessly struck every piece of fluorite ore she came across.
After clearing another wave of ten bats, she continued mining until her stamina dropped to 49, at which point she finally stopped.
When stamina falls below 50, the character gains a 'Fatigued' debuff, reducing gathering and crafting efficiency as well as attack and defense by 20%. At this point, continuing to mine wouldn't be worth it.
Ye Bai opened her inventory, which now contained 45 fluorite fragments.
A player's initial inventory has 20 slots, with weight restrictions applying only to weapons and materials. The maximum number of weapon slots is 4, and carrying more than 2 weapons will slow the player down. Materials, such as ores and wood—items that would be heavy in real life—have a maximum limit of 5 slots, and exceeding 3 slots will also affect the player's speed. Other items can be stored without any impact.
Fluorite and fluorite fragments are both considered materials, and every additional set beyond the limit occupies extra material slots.
Currently, Ye Bai was carrying 3 complete fluorite pieces, a stack of 40 fluorite fragments, and 5 additional fragments, filling all three material slots. She stood still and combined all the fluorite fragments she could. Since a full stack of fluorite can hold up to 20 pieces, after combining, she ended up with 14 complete fluorite pieces and 1 fragment. The quantity remained the same, but she saved one precious inventory slot.
In the early stages, when upgrading the inventory isn't an option, it's crucial to pay attention to these small details.
The cost was that Ye Bai's stamina dropped to 38 points. If her stamina were to hit zero, the 'Fatigued' state would turn into 'Exhausted,' causing her health to continuously deplete.
There are two conventional ways to restore stamina: eating food or resting in places like homes or inns.
The raw meat Ye Bai obtained from killing bats earlier counts as food. She currently has 10 pieces in her inventory, but consuming one raw meat restores 5 stamina points while deducting 10 health points. If she were to eat enough to fully restore her stamina, her health would be completely depleted.
Only cooked meat can restore stamina without reducing health, but there’s no way to cook food inside a dungeon, which is why Ye Bai considers the raw meat a useless burden in her inventory.
Of course, Ye Bai has an 'unconventional' method to restore her stamina.
[Would you like to spend 100 experience points to level up?]
[Yes]
A flash of white light filled her vision as Ye Bai leveled up to Level 1, and her stamina instantly refilled from 38 to 100.
She had been holding onto her experience points without leveling up, not only to maintain a level difference for the bonus drop rate from higher-level enemies but also for this free stamina recovery effect.
After leveling up, Ye Bai's maximum health increased from 100 to 125, and all her base attributes improved by 1 point. Now, with her wooden sword, she could deal 10 points of damage, which would improve her efficiency in dealing with bats later on.
Continuing forward, Ye Bai cleared all the fluorite and the remaining two waves of bats, finally reaching the deepest part of the cave.
The terrain here had changed noticeably, with green moss covering the stone walls. The dungeon boss was inside the cave.
As she prepared to face the boss, Ye Bai's body flashed with white light repeatedly as she leveled up.
She had enough experience to reach Level 9, but she stopped at Level 5.
[You have gained 1 Talent Point]
At the same time, a previously unseen Talent Tree interface appeared in Ye Bai's mind.
In "Boundless Realms," players, as the protagonists of the era, are 'Divine Bloodlines' with significant origins. In addition to learning skills from NPCs in this world, they also have a unique talent system.
In the game's lore, this represents the gradual awakening of their divine bloodlines, bringing them closer to godhood. These paths vary, allowing players to flexibly and freely construct their combat styles. Many class advancement prerequisites require the activation of specific talents.
Talent Points are precious. Aside from gaining one every 5 levels, they can only be obtained by successfully advancing to a higher class or completing high-level quests.
At this moment, all other talents in Ye Bai's Talent Tree were hidden, with only the three most basic talents at the bottom available for activation:
[Agility], [Dexterity], and [Appraisal].
Basic talents are all highly practical abilities, and Ye Bai planned to invest in all three eventually. However, she allocated her only Talent Point to [Agility].
The moment she activated the talent, Ye Bai felt a surge in her bloodline, as if countless silhouettes of figures flipping and dodging flashed through her mind. Her body felt lighter, as if unburdened.
The effects were impressive!
Mentally praising the game's design, Ye Bai glanced at the newly unlocked talent's effects:
[Agility]
Passive Effect: Movement speed increases by 5% when not in combat.
Unique Active Skill (Roll): Perform a roll to evade, covering a maximum distance of 4 meters. Cooldown: 5 seconds. No cost.
The Roll skill is a lifesaver for beginners and a tool for experts to showcase their skills. Players familiar with action games know its value.
After rolling in place a couple of times to get a feel for it, Ye Bai stepped into the cave, and her vision suddenly widened—
A spacious circular cavern surrounded by spore-bearing plants, with glowing creatures slowly fluttering about. In the center of the terrain, a beam of light shone through a crack in the ceiling, illuminating a leafless white tree. At the top of the tree, a fruit the size of an apple hung, shimmering like a diamond. It was clearly something valuable.
Beneath the tree lay a beast resembling a lizard, over seven meters long, with a single horn on its head.
Without the [Appraisal] talent, Ye Bai could only see the beast's name, [Horned Ragebeast], displayed in red above its head, and a long health bar marked with '????'. However, she knew the hidden number was 45,000.
Ye Bai held a shield in her left hand and a wooden sword in her right, slowly approaching the Horned Ragebeast.
When she was about 18 meters away, the Horned Ragebeast, which had been resting with its eyes closed, suddenly opened its golden, slit-like pupils and stood up. Even without counting its horn, its height exceeded three meters in this upright position.
Without hesitation, the Horned Ragebeast immediately charged at this intruder who dared to approach its territory.
"Thud, thud, thud…"
The ground trembled slightly as the Horned Ragebeast ran. As a Level 20 boss, its basic attack dealt 300 damage. Ye Bai, at Level 5, had 225 health, meaning a single hit from the boss would kill her.
Therefore, the key to defeating this boss was… not getting hit!
[Roll]
Just as the Horned Ragebeast was less than two meters away, Ye Bai curled her body into a ball and executed a flawless roll to the side, moving 4 meters away and perfectly dodging the boss's charge.
Without the Roll skill, Ye Bai's current movement speed wouldn't have allowed her to evade the attack. Timing was also crucial; using the skill too early would have allowed the boss to adjust its charge direction.
After successfully dodging the attack, Ye Bai didn't turn back to deal damage but instead continued to run forward.
"Whoosh—!"
Just as Ye Bai had moved about four meters, a thick, scaly tail covered in gray scales swept past her back, missing her by less than ten centimeters. The tail's motion kicked up a small cloud of dust that brushed against her back.
[Charge] and [Tail Swipe] were the Horned Ragebeast's two main skills, dealing 450 and 500 damage respectively, with additional stun and knockback effects. Failing to dodge either would have been fatal for Ye Bai—twice over.
This combo was the Horned Ragebeast's inevitable 'welcome gift' at the start of the fight. Players often managed to dodge the charge but were caught off guard by the tail swipe. For a normal Level 20 player with 600 health, even with armor, this attack would take out half their health bar.
Regarding this, the game's designer, Ye Bai, commented: "A boss has to have some dignity, after all~"
After dodging the tail swipe, the Horned Ragebeast entered its skill cooldown period. Ye Bai quickly turned and approached its side.
'-30'
Due to the height difference, Ye Bai's wooden sword could only strike the Horned Ragebeast's thick leg.
Feeling the attack, the Horned Ragebeast roared and turned toward Ye Bai, raising its front claw high in her direction. This wasn't a skill but a regular attack. However, with 300 damage, it might as well have been a skill for Ye Bai, given her low health.
‘-30’
After landing the second strike, Ye Bai immediately retreated.
“Whoosh!”
The claw of the Ragehorn Beast sliced through the air, missing its target.
After reaching level 5, Ye Bai’s speed stat had improved, increasing her attack speed slightly. If she had used a roll to dodge, she could have landed another hit, but she chose not to. Rolls had a 5-second cooldown and had to be saved for critical moments when dodging skills.
The biggest difference between a pro player and an average one lies in the former’s ability to stay calm and patient. When facing a boss that could kill you in one hit, greediness could be fatal.
‘-30’, ‘-30’, ‘-30’…
Ye Bai’s figure danced around the towering Ragehorn Beast, advancing and retreating, occasionally rolling, steadily dealing damage. The scene looked perilous, yet she always managed to narrowly evade danger, reducing the once-mighty nightmare boss to a state of helpless fury.
However, the Ragehorn Beast’s health pool meant this was destined to be a long battle.
……
After rolling to dodge a skill, Ye Bai took a moment during the brief lull to check the time.
Unbeknownst to her, eleven hours had passed since she entered the game.
She had spent the earlier hours mining and fighting monsters, then immediately jumped into the boss fight without delay. In the keyboard era, such intense gaming would have left her body exhausted. But in *Worlds*, Ye Bai never felt that way.
This was the main reason she had chosen the Nightmare-level dungeon after disabling the free combat mode.
Challenging a Nightmare dungeon with starting gear meant Ye Bai couldn’t afford a single mistake. She had to maintain complete focus throughout.
In the keyboard era, prolonged focus would lead to hand fatigue, stiff shoulders, hunger, or even the need to use the bathroom. Under such negative conditions, even with the right mindset, mistakes were inevitable.
But full-dive gaming was different. Her physical body was in a resting state, and her consciousness, free from fatigue, replaced the keyboard. External factors that could lead to mistakes were minimized.
This allowed Ye Bai to achieve something that would have been impossible in the keyboard era—soloing a Nightmare dungeon with basic gear!
……
Another hour passed. After using her roll skill to plow through the terrain and giving the Ragehorn Beast a thousand pedicures with her wooden sword, the boss’s health finally dropped to 3%.
Suddenly, the Ragehorn Beast stopped moving, stood still, and let out a long howl toward the sky.
The boss had entered its enraged state!
Ye Bai’s heart tightened. She immediately stopped attacking and retreated a distance. Seeing the horn on the Ragehorn Beast’s head begin to glow, she raised her shield.
Before learning the 【Block】 skill, the shield, like the wooden sword’s basic attack, only had a defensive stance. Assuming this stance immobilized the character but reduced damage by 30 points based on Ye Bai’s stats. While the reduction was small, it was crucial now.
“Rooooar~~~~”
With a long roar, red circular ripples emanated from the horn, spreading outward.
“Crack, crack, crack…”
The ground around the Ragehorn Beast shattered like a spiderweb.
When the first ripple hit Ye Bai, she took her first damage since entering the dungeon.
‘-90’
【Roaring Shockwave】 was the Ragehorn Beast’s full-range skill, unleashed in its enraged state near death. It consisted of 9 waves, each dealing 120 points of shockwave damage.
As this was non-physical damage, Ye Bai couldn’t dodge it with a roll before learning energy defense skills. She had to endure it.
The second red ripple struck her.
‘-90’
Ye Bai’s defensive stance reduced the damage by 30 each time, allowing her to survive the second wave with 45 health left.
Then, the third ripple arrived as expected.
Just as the red light was about to touch her, a white glow flashed around Ye Bai.
She had leveled up!
Her health instantly went from 45/225 to 250/250, fully restored with an increased maximum.
Moreover, the third ripple’s damage was nullified.
This was a hidden detail in the level-up mechanics: during the 0.5 seconds of the level-up glow, the character was invincible.
Ye Bai had saved her experience points for this critical moment. This micro-mechanic not only restored her health but also allowed her to block a short-duration damage trigger, like the 【Roaring Shockwave】.
From there, the rest was straightforward.
By the time Ye Bai reached level 8, the Ragehorn Beast’s final skill ended, and it entered a weakened state with reduced damage and speed. With her health fully restored, Ye Bai moved in to finish off the boss.
“Thud!”
The massive body of the Ragehorn Beast collapsed, dissolving into nothingness as a large pile of loot spilled out.
Among the colorful array of treasures, a glint of gold stood out…
