Becoming a god starts with enhancing fire arrows.

Please select a skill enhancement direction.

[Appraisal Skill - Value Estimation (Basic): The appraisal skill can roughly estimate the value of an item.]

[Flame Arrow - Fast Flight (Normal): Slightly increases the flight speed of the Flame Arrow.]

[Fire Arrow - Self-Immunity (Rare): The Fire Arrow itself and the damage it inflicts are immune to.]

[Next enhancement requires 135/150 Life Essence]

What is that?

None of these three seem very strong.

It would be great if teammates could also be immune to damage from themselves.

What's the point of having only your own immunity?

Given the limited time, I quickly chose one with a high rarity and began the psychic questioning.

The dead cannot speak to those who killed them, so Paril has to relay their stories.

The charred gnoll floated up, its eyes and mouth emitting the same green light as the staff.

Rhodes began to speak, and Paril relayed his words verbatim:

"Where is your camp?"

"In...east...cave"

"Where are the herbs you looted two days ago?"

"Deep inside...a cave"

How many gnolls are left in the cave?

"A dozen or so..."

After the three questions were asked, the eerie green light on the staff went out, and the gnoll lay lifelessly on the ground again.

Gnolls do not have much of a sense of group identity.

In order to ensure survival, they usually occupy one or two caves, each developing their own way.

Even so, I didn't expect there to be so many gnolls in the cave.

Rhodes had a bit of a headache.

His own explosive fire arrows could only catch the opponent off guard. Once the remaining gnolls discovered the secret of the explosive arrows, it would be much easier for them to evade them.

If they engage in harassment warfare, they have no means of escape, and if they are surrounded, they will surely die.

There wasn't an old man in his own camp who could resurrect him indefinitely.

But with a cave full of experience and a cartload of herbs, there's no reason not to give it a shot.

What should we do?

Rhodes pulled a Disguise Ring from his pocket; it was a trophy from killing the Kurin squad a few days ago.

He tossed the ring into the air and caught it with his hand, repeating this motion over and over.

It has a five-minute disguise function.

Could we make something out of this?

......

Gnoll Cave.

A furtive figure appeared at the cave entrance, looking around suspiciously.

There were no guards at the entrance to the cave.

Rhodes took a deep breath and, without any hesitation, charged straight in with all his might.

The two gnolls, who were sitting against the rock wall in the cave, were clearly taken aback when someone passed by. They looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.

"What just 'whooshed' inside?"

"It seems... to be a human?"

"Did humans intentionally run into the gnoll caves?"

Although the gnolls also walk upright, they are much faster than Rhodes, and can catch up with him in just two steps.

Seeing the gnolls chasing after him, Rhodes quickly turned around, his expression agitated: "Don't you recognize me? I'm Kurin."

"No time to explain, come with me!"

Kulin?

The two gnolls following behind recognized the human who frequently made deals with their leader.

Seeing his flustered expression and urgent tone, they didn't make a move, but followed behind him on either side.

What kind of trouble can a human warrior stir up in gnoll territory?

On the high platform of the cave, Doug, the gnoll leader, looked at Kurin and his two henchmen who had run in, somewhat bewildered.

"Kurin?"

Doug looked up, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and he was chewing something.

It slightly raised its blood-red eyes and sized up the human who had run in.

Rhodes looked up.

Race: Gnoll

Age: 36

[Class: Barbarian]

[Rating: Senior]

[Description: The leader of the gnoll cave, possessing exceptional strength and speed]

Do gnolls also have job ratings?

Rhodes' eyes lit up.

Since even the leader's level is only level two, the other nobodies can't be very strong either.

In academic terms, this phenomenon is called "hatting."

He was panting heavily, and said haltingly, "Something...something terrible has happened!"

"This concerns the life and death of the gnolls in this region!"

"Huh?" Doug sat up straight instantly, his tall figure exuding a sense of oppression.

Upon hearing that it was a matter of life and death, the surrounding gnolls took a few steps closer in twos and threes.

"It's Stanley! Guild Master Stanley is personally leading the team to slaughter the gnolls!"

Rhodes had barely caught his breath when he roared out.

"What?!" Doug was instantly a little uneasy.

Its first reaction was that the town guild no longer actively provokes other races, so how could Guild Master Stanley possibly take action himself?

My second reaction was: such outrageous news could actually be true.

"Why? And how did you find out about this?"

Doug's gaze was sharp as he stared intently at Rhodes' face.

Rhodes did not answer.

Looking around, I found that there were already more than a dozen gnolls scattered around.

The disguise technique will last for about a minute, which should be enough.

His expression was unusually cautious, tinged with a hint of surprise: "You didn't know?"

He then pointed to the nearest gnoll: "You, give me the shield."

The jackal handed it over.

"The reason why Chairman Stanley took action personally is because of this."

As he spoke, he held the iron shield in his right hand and rubbed it with his left.

It seems to be expressing something through the surface of the iron shield.

The jackals were puzzled, but they all wanted to see what tricks this human was up to.

Doug's eyes also flashed with doubt, but he believed that Cullin would never have rashly ventured into the cave alone without a satisfactory answer.

It also got up, its attention focused on the surface of the shield.

Get closer.

Get closer.

As the circle shrank, Rhodes lowered his voice further and further:

"Look."

As he spoke, a flaming arrow struck the shield.

The flaming arrows could not penetrate the iron shield completely; they only went in halfway.

What is this kid doing?

The same thought flashed through the minds of all the gnolls around them at the same time.

Knock knock knock knock.

Four more flaming arrows struck the shield.

Rhodes smiled slightly, then suddenly turned around, his back to the shield.

boom!!!

The massive explosion spread rapidly from the shield as its center.

Rhodes felt his vision turn completely red, followed by a strong push-back sensation.

The next second, he was sent flying.

A sharp pain shot through my back, as if my ribs were breaking.

Despite not feeling the burning sensation of the flames, they were still thrown away by the explosion, defying the laws of physics.

He inhaled two more puffs of thick smoke as he gasped for breath.

"Cough cough cough."

The violent coughing made the excruciating pain in my lungs and back even more pronounced.

dying.

I definitely won't do that again next time.

Rhodes's survival instinct kicked in.

They struggled to climb towards the cave entrance.

Two lines of small text flashed before my eyes.

[390 Life Essence Points Acquired]

[Next enhancement requires 525/150 Life Essence]

I'll try not to play like that next time...