Chapter 2: Deep Blue, Stats!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2: Deep Blue, Stats!
"Huh?"
Xie Bai nearly choked when she saw the curses listed first.
Fortunately, the blessings that followed were powerful enough to make the price somewhat worth paying.
"But only mentioning that it can't be removed at the very end... that’s a bit of a scam, isn't it?"
"I was wondering why it wouldn't let me see the stats before putting it on. It was afraid I wouldn't dare wear it!"
Xie Bai was speechless, but the Ring of Seven Curses was truly unique. Even if the information had been laid bare from the start, she wouldn't have refused.
After all, she was a transmigrator and a white-haired, red-eyed loli. There was no way she’d bite the dust that easily.
"But what does it mean by 'the only Demigod walking the mortal realm'?"
"My panel hasn't changed at all. I'm still a little weakling with only 2 points in Strength."
Xie Bai didn't dwell on it too much.
The priority right now was to level up and fix her laughable stats.
Under the blessings of the Ring of Seven Curses, not only would leveling be easy, but the rewards would be incredibly generous.
Just as Xie Bai was pondering how to grind, a small slime hopped out.
[Small Slime Lv.1]
[HP: 50/50]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 2]
[Talent: Plasticity]
[Skills: Impact Lv.1, Mucus Lv.1]
[Description: Even the legendary adventurers who saved the world started by defeating slimes.]
"There it is! The legendary XP sack you always find right outside the beginner village!"
"Gulu!"
The slime seemed provoked and immediately launched a Charge at Xie Bai.
Whoosh—
Splat!
The slime slammed headfirst into a tree trunk, flattening into a blob of jelly-like sludge.
"Phew, that was close."
Xie Bai wiped her forehead.
If her Agility of 4 hadn't been higher than the slime's, she wouldn't have dodged so easily. Otherwise, she might have been killed by a slime right at the start.
Taking ten times the damage was no joke, especially since her Constitution was a pathetic 1 point, giving her only 100 HP. Two hits from a slime and she’d be gone.
"But I can deal ten times the damage too."
While the slime was still stuck to the tree, Xie Bai grabbed a handful of stones.
"For someone like me with high attack and low defense, the best choice is a ranged build."
Though she didn't have a single weapon, she had been a crack shot with stones in her past life. People used to call her the Yan Shuangying of the stone-throwing world!
Thwack!
-10
A stone struck, dealing only ten damage.
And that was with the ten-fold multiplier.
In other words, Xie Bai’s original damage was a measly 1 point.
It was honestly a bit embarrassing.
Thwack!
Thwack!
-10
-10
Under Xie Bai’s relentless barrage, the slime was actually pelted to death.
Normally, stones dealing only one damage would struggle to kill a monster, but stones dealing ten times that were a different story.
Still, it was a pathetic way to die.
The moment the slime expired, a notification popped up.
[Killed Small Slime Lv.1]
[Triggered Gluttony's Blessing: Strength +0.05, Agility +0.02]
[Gained 10 Gold Coins]
[Gained 20 Experience Points]
[Leveled up to Lv.2!]
[Obtained 20 Free Attribute Points, 10 Skill Points, 1,000 Gold Coins]
[Current Level Progress: Lv.2 (10/30)]
The rewards for killing monsters and leveling up were all boosted ten-fold.
It was worth noting that the level-up reward was originally only ten gold coins. However, under the dual effects of Sloth's Blessing and Greed's Blessing, it became a hundred-fold increase.
Ten gold coins had turned into a staggering one thousand!
Xie Bai wasn't sure what the value of a thousand gold coins was yet, but having that much at level two was definitely beyond common sense.
A normal player would have to grind a thousand slimes to save up that much.
"But do slimes not drop anything?"
"Is it my Luck stat, or are small slimes just too weak?"
After a brief thought, Xie Bai decided to set that question aside and start assigning her points.
"Since I'm a glass cannon, I'll put more into Strength, and Agility..."
"Ehh... I'll add a bit to the others too."
After a flurry of clicks, Xie Bai had boosted every stat except for Charm and Luck, which were special attributes that couldn't be increased manually.
[Xie Bai Lv.2]
[Class: None]
[HP: 500/500]
[Mana: 60/60]
[Strength: 11.05]
[Constitution: 5]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Agility: 10.02]
[...]
Unfortunately, Xie Bai’s class, talent, and skills were all empty. She couldn't even use her skill points.
She was a total blank slate, save for the Ring of Seven Curses in her equipment slot. She didn't even have a weapon.
Otherwise, with stats comparable to a level ten player, she could have run rampant through the beginner village.
Then again, with the ten-fold damage taken penalty, she couldn't exactly afford to be reckless even with these stats.
"Mm-hmm~"
"Shall I continue grinding my old friends, the slimes?"
Two slimes suddenly appeared before her.
Bam!
Bam!
-110
-110
With zero technique, Xie Bai punched the two slimes to death with her bare hands.
Was this a joke? Her left fist was high damage, and her right fist was even higher. A basic punch now dealt 110 damage.
Bullying two slimes with 50 to 100 HP was effortless.
-110
-110
-110
[Leveled up to Lv.6]
[Current Level Progress: Lv.6 (30/70)]
Carrying her level two stats, Xie Bai sliced through the Slime Forest like a hot knife through butter. After killing over twenty slimes, she finally reached level six.
Between monster drops and level-up rewards, Xie Bai had amassed over twenty thousand gold coins. Her total assets now stood at 21,240 gold.
This was wealth accumulated just by reaching level six. An average person would have to grind twenty thousand slimes to match it.
Strangely enough, after twenty-odd slimes, not a single item had dropped. Even the experience and gold per kill were identical—exactly 20 XP and 10 gold per slime.
It was as if she was stuck at the absolute minimum threshold.
"Is it really my negative Luck at work?"
"Does this mean I'll never find good loot?"
Xie Bai felt a sudden pang of sadness.
But at least she had the Ring of Seven Curses. So far, its effects were mostly positive, which compensated for her abysmal luck.
In addition to the gold, she had accumulated 1.45 Strength and 0.58 Agility through Gluttony's Blessing. This was thanks to the later slimes having higher base stats, generally around 6–8 Strength and 3–4 Agility.
However, compared to the massive influx of attribute points from leveling, the gains from Gluttony's Blessing were just a drop in the bucket.
[Remaining Free Attribute Points: 80]
[Remaining Skill Points: 50]
She couldn't use the skill points yet, but that didn't stop her from stacking her stats.
"Strength gained through bitter training is too flimsy. It's nowhere near as reliable as clicking a button."
"Deep Blue, stats!"
Shouting the strange meme, Xie Bai dumped her attribute points in an instant.
Having 80 points to squander felt incredibly indulgent. In the blink of an eye, her character panel underwent a massive transformation.
[Xie Bai Lv.6]
[Class: None]
[HP: 1,000/1,000]
[Mana: 100/100]
[Strength: 62.5]
[Constitution: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Agility: 31.6]
[...]
With these powerful stats combined with the ten-fold damage of Wrath's Blessing, a light punch from Xie Bai now dealt 625 damage.
Whether she had a weapon or not was irrelevant.
Furthermore, due to Envy's Blessing ignoring damage reduction, that 625 damage was dealt in full. In this forest, nothing could survive a fist packing over 600 damage.
And if one punch wasn't enough, she’d just throw another.
With over 30 Agility, she was an absolute menace to slimes that barely had 10. They couldn't even touch her. Their only crowd-control skill, Mucus, was useless because it never landed.
As long as there was no area-of-effect damage, Xie Bai could grind however she pleased.
The cute white-haired loli was gone. In her place was a humanoid freight train, barreling through the forest and sending slime after slime flying. She was lawless, arrogant, and utterly unstoppable.
"Mm-hmm~"
"These trash slimes are way too weak. No challenge at all."
"I only killed a few, and now I can't even see their shadows."
"So weak and cowardly."
In less than two minutes, Xie Bai had cleared another dozen slimes, reaching level nine.
Just as she was about to assign more points, a massive shadow loomed over her.
When Xie Bai turned around, she found a giant slime wearing a crown standing right in front of her.