Absolute Death Game

Feeling his interest wane, he walked down the mountain path. Halfway there, a grey shadow flashed by, and he saw that strange little beast again. This time, however, instead of running off as before, it lingered in the distance.

He moved his cursor toward the little beast, and Xiao Buli was finally able to see its name clearly.

Biao (Mutated Wild Beast), huh, it's an exotic beast too, but why is its name in grey? Aren't grey names indicative of inferior goods? Could it be an inferior mutated wild beast?

Xiao Buli thought to himself that regardless, he should capture it first. With that in mind, he threw a piece of wild boar meat over.

The Biao sniffed the boar meat but did not eat it. It looked up at Xiao Buli with a red hostile unit icon above its head, showing no intention of surrendering. Instead, it let out a mournful howl, sounding a bit like a wolf's cry mixed with a lion's roar, but far more piercing.

After throwing another piece of boar meat, which it completely ignored, the Biao continued to loiter, neither leaving nor attacking.

Dammit, this one's picky, Xiao Buli thought to himself, and suddenly felt that the howl might have some meaning. He opened his bag and aside from boar meat, all he had was the tiger meat he had just dissected. But are tigers and Biao relatives? Would it eat that? Xiao Buli hesitated before thinking, "But it seems there are no other options."

While thinking, Xiao Buli threw a piece of tiger meat. As soon as the Biao saw it, it pounced on the meat, gulping it down in a few swift bites. After finishing, it stretched lazily, and its icon changed from red to brownish-red, the hostility gone.

—But what shocked Xiao Buli even more was the change in the color of the Biao's name, which suddenly turned from grey to white.

("Huh, it evolves too? I thought that was something only green beasts had." Xiao Buli was puzzled, but regardless of the reason, this pet looked extraordinary, and capturing it would surely do no harm. With this in mind, he used Taming Skills on the Biao, and with a flash of golden light, the grey big cat was tamed.

He checked its attributes and Xiao Buli was stunned.

Biao (Mutated Wild Beast)

Intelligence: 6.
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Strength: 10.

Speed: 19.

Agility: 19

Stamina: 23. — Stamina Points 230 (1 point of stamina corresponds to 10 stamina points).

Physique: 22. — Health Points 220. (1 point of physique corresponds to 10 health points).

Combat Skills

Claw Strike: LV3. Standard attack skill, scratches the enemy with claws, dealing base attack +6 physical damage.

Wildness: LV5. This is a proud and unruly wild beast that yearns for freedom and a wild life, full of aggressiveness, difficult to get along with humans peacefully, and long-term taming will decrease the level of this skill.

Rip and Bite: LV5. Inflicts significant damage on a target and causes it to bleed, dealing 25 damage over 10 seconds. Consumes 5 stamina points, skill cooldown time 5 seconds.

Pounce: LV3. Launches a pounce at the target, dealing double Claw Strike damage and causing them to lose balance. Consumes 10 stamina points, skill cooldown time 10 seconds, must be used within a 3-8m range.

Sprint: LV5. Instantly increases speed by 100 percent for 25 seconds. Consumes 20 stamina points, skill cooldown 90 seconds.

Feign Death: When the Biao receives a potentially fatal blow, it forcibly reduces the damage by 90 percent and enters a state of feigned death, in which it's treated as if it were already dead (limited to once per day).

Wild Heart: Ignores dizziness, bleeding, broken bones, or any other negative effect on itself for 10 seconds (limited to once per day).

Tiger-Devouring (non-upgradable skill): Biao is the natural enemy of tigers, able to gain more powerful abilities by devouring the flesh and blood of tigers, increasing damage dealt to tiger species by 50 percent. Every tiger will attack it without hesitation upon sighting the Biao.

But looking at its basic attributes, this Biao really isn't that strong, with only a poor 6 points in intelligence, it's even simpler than the Meatball he initially had. Although it has high speed and agility, it still doesn't compare to feline pets. However, the "tiger-devouring" skill at the bottom was quite a surprise for him; this pet obviously had the potential to grow!

No matter how poor the basic attributes, as long as it could level up, it would become incredibly powerful one day, much stronger than the likes of the White Tiger.

The only thing he couldn't figure out was why its name wasn't green.

Xiao Buli started analyzing again, recalling the Pale Ring, which also seemed to be an item that could be upgraded continuously, and wasn't green either. Could there be a connection between them?

As he pondered, he walked down the mountain with his newly caught pet, and of course, he did not forget to name this new pet. Since you're all furry, let's call you Maoqiu (Fluffball).

Unlike Meatball or Coal Ball, 'Maoqiu' had no awareness of being a pet; it followed from a distance, seemingly still on guard. If not for the suffix (Xiao Buli's pet) after its name, Xiao Buli might think he hadn't tamed it at all.

He checked the Loyalty, and it was ??? What was this now?

He was genuinely puzzled, thinking that this game simply couldn't be described with common sense.

Upon arriving at the trade station, he approached Ge Qiugang (Master Leatherworker) to turn in the quest. Upon receiving the White Tiger skin, Ge Qiugang was delighted, "Hahaha, that's wonderful, you actually did it, I really didn't expect it, it's just a bit damaged, such a pity for a good piece of skin. Here, this is your reward."

System notification: You've received the item 'Sturdy Wild Boar Leather Boots' (Blueprint).

He glanced at it, but it was just a blueprint for light blue equipment with average attributes, ("I'll hang it up in the auction house later.")

Xiao Buli was thinking and about to leave when Maoqiu leaned in, curious. When Ge Qiugang caught sight of Maoqiu, he was taken aback, "Why are you bringing such a pet? This is an Ominous Beast, it will bring misfortune to its owner, heed my advice, just kill it."

PS: The power went out at my place today, sorry for not updating this morning, here are 5000 words for you. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please feel welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation.)