Becoming a god starts with enhancing fire arrows.

"Rhodes! Rhodes!"

The petite, silver-haired Paril ran towards the cave entrance.

Rhodes had instructed him to hold the high ground at the cave entrance, and to use tracer rounds to deal damage if any gnolls came out from behind.

Unexpectedly, such a violent explosion occurred in the cave.

Paril panicked.

Ignoring all the instructions, he hurriedly ran inside.

Entering through the cave entrance, after running a few steps, I found Rhodes crawling laboriously on the ground.

Paril burst into tears.

Perhaps it was a little girl's nature, but seeing Rhodes with blood at the corner of his mouth and on the verge of death, she couldn't suppress the sadness in her heart.

She took a few steps forward, grabbed Rhodes's hand, and pulled him towards the opening.

step.

Two steps.

Although Rhodes wasn't heavy, Paril's strength was unfortunately too weak.

It took all his strength to barely drag it.

"Well..."

Rhodes uttered a single, unintelligible syllable from his hoarse throat.

"Did I pull you too hard? You have to bear it, we'll be out soon."

Paril's tears were still falling, but she didn't forget to comfort Rhodes.

"Well..."

Rhodes spoke again, seemingly protesting something.

Paril immediately stopped pulling.

She wiped away her tears and quickly knelt down: "What's wrong, Rhodes? What did you want to say?"

Rhodes' lips moved slightly, his eyes filled with urgency, as if he wanted to express something.

"What do you mean? Do you still have unfulfilled wishes?"

"It's alright, you won't die. I'll drag you out right now."

Paril felt a fire ignite within her.

A resolute voice echoed in his heart: Rhodes must be rescued!

Rhodes, dragged along the ground, managed to squeeze out a few words with all his might:

"The old man needs treatment first!"

"Oh? Right." Paril seemed to wake from a dream, and as she chanted, emerald green light emanated from her hands.

After the two healing spells, Rhodes felt refreshed and his body had fully recovered.

The girl stood there timidly, somewhat embarrassed.

Rhodes saw that there were still glistening teardrops on her eyelashes, so he didn't say anything more.

Well, even though he's not the best of a nutcase, he meant well.

Rhodes ruffled her silver hair and said, "Come on, let's search the cave."

"Stay vigilant, lest any jackals still survive."

"Oh, okay." Paril obediently followed.

The two stepped over the gnoll carcasses on the ground and headed deeper into the cave.

The air was filled with the stench of excrement and vomit, as well as a faint smell of blood.

Paril silently gagged a few times.

Rhodes took a dagger out of his bag and began collecting the gnoll's ears.

Deep inside the cave, there is a small stone platform.

On the stone platform were simple blankets and sheets, on which twenty or thirty young and middle-aged people, both men and women, were huddled.

Their remaining clothes were already tattered and covered in filth and dried blood.

A few small, fist-sized ventilation holes high up in the cave wall let in a sliver of faint moonlight.

By the moonlight, Rhodes could barely make out their faces.

Their cheeks were sallow, their lips were pale, and their eyes held no anger, no fear, not even sadness.

When they saw Rhodes enter, these people merely raised their heads slightly, without any further expression.

"The gnolls are all dead. You can leave now."

Rhodes addressed the group.

The stone platform was completely silent.

Everyone acted as if they hadn't heard anything and didn't react in any way.

"I said the gnolls are dead, you are free."

He raised his voice, but the only response was silence.

Rhodes was somewhat stubborn, so he went outside and picked up a gnoll's head.

It was thrown in front of everyone with a "bang," as if it had hit their hearts.

Several figures twitched involuntarily, and a human emotion flashed in their eyes.

A boy with few wounds suddenly ran towards the cave entrance as if he were going crazy.

Then came the second, the third...

As if stimulated by something, these people ran outside one after another.

In the end, only a few scattered people remained.

He sat there numbly, lifeless.

Rhodes shook his head, having no intention of continuing the rescue.

Perhaps they were already dead when they were sold in as resources.

What a chaotic world!

Tears welled up in Paril's azure eyes again.

She seemed to have thought of something, but didn't say anything, just followed Rhodes blankly.

......

The clear moonlight shone through the forest.

Under the moonlight, two people were pushing a small wooden cart together.

The little wooden cart's wheels were a bit damaged, and it creaked and groaned all the way.

The wooden cart was loaded with yellowish-brown oiled paper bags, from which a faint scent of medicine occasionally wafted.

The girl finally couldn't help but ask, "Rhodes, what do you think will happen to those people after they escape?"

Rhodes shook his head: "I don't know. Maybe I'll be captured by another race and enslaved, or maybe I'll find a village to live in."

Paril thought for a moment, then asked, "Rhodes, why do other races treat us humans this way?"

Rhodes shook his head again: "I don't know. Maybe it's because the human race was too powerful fifty years ago, and when it suddenly lost the protection of the gods, it caused a backlash from other races."

"Perhaps it's because there are too many humans, and treating them as a racial resource is a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers."

Paril clearly didn't understand. She looked up at the other person and asked, "What if one day we become incredibly powerful adventurers? Could we change all of this?"

Rhodes was silent for a moment: "I don't know. The power of a few people is still too insignificant, but maybe it can help."

Paril did not ask any more questions.

He was looking down, seemingly lost in thought.

It's too early to think about the future of humanity. In this world, only power has the right to speak.

I am getting stronger step by step, and I also have the system as a cheat.

There is still hope for the future.

Rhodes sorted out his thoughts, clearing the jumbled ideas from his mind.

Only then did I open the panel.

[Next enhancement requires 525/150 Life Essence]

Since things have come to this, let's focus on strengthening them first.

Please select a skill enhancement direction.

【Flame Arrow - Power Manipulation (Rare): The power of the Flame Arrow can be adjusted manually (but cannot exceed the maximum value)】

[Identify - Reduced Mana Cost (Normal): Casting Identify will reduce the amount of mana cost.]

【Authentication Techniques - Historical Tracing (Rare): Authentication techniques can reveal the historical roots of the object being authenticated】

[Next enhancement requires 375/200 Life Essence]

Appraisal is not a combat skill, so we will not consider enhancing it for now.

Rhodes did not hesitate to choose the first card.

Please select a skill enhancement direction.

[Fire Arrow - Mage Slayer (Epic): Targets hit by Fire Arrow cannot cast spells for ten seconds]

[Identify - Faster Casting (Normal): Identify can be cast even faster]

[Loss the [Delayed Explosion] and [Power Manipulation] enhancements, gain the epic enhancement [Precision Explosion]]

So lucky, two epic upgrades?

Rhodes focused his attention on the term "precision blasting".

The corresponding description immediately appears before your eyes:

[Precision Detonation: Your maximum blast radius is increased to 6 meters, and you can freely control the power and duration of each fire arrow's explosion.]

[Note: The explosion time is limited to 0 to 300 seconds.]