The buff is permanent, and you start the game with a fountain of water.

Huan Cheng had no interest in the two fleeing bandits; instead, he picked up the weapons they had thrown down with great interest.

[Thief's Longsword]: Level 20, base stat, +100 Physical Attack. Additional Attribute: +10 Strength. Equipment Requirement: Strength stat greater than 100.

Note: This was originally standard equipment for the lowest rank of the Gale Thieves, but it's unclear why it was left here.

"interesting!"

Looking at the two identical pieces of equipment in his hand, Huan Cheng smiled.

I never expected the humanoid monster to have such a hidden feature.

This is very advantageous to him, as it can, to some extent, compensate for the negative effect of the forced 1 point of luck from the Heavenly Sin.

Upon opening the task interface, Huan Cheng was surprised to find that the progress had changed.

As required by the mission, he had to kill the leader of the Gale Bandits and eliminate more than 70% of the Gale Bandits.

Having scared away two thief henchmen, Huan Cheng noticed that the mission progress had increased by 0.3%.

"Does scaring people away count as eliminating them?"

Putting away his two long swords, Huan Cheng looked at the bandit camp with its gates tightly shut and had an idea in mind.

He lingered at the camp gate for a while, then pretended to retreat, but actually hid in the distant jungle to observe secretly.

A few minutes later, the camp gate opened again, and two thieves walked out, standing on either side of the gate.

Huan Cheng jumped out again and ran wildly toward the gate of the stockade.

"Who dares to trespass on the Gale Squad's camp?"

The two guards reacted exactly as before, but Huan Cheng ignored them and seized the opportunity to use the Wind Slash, rushing into the camp before the gate closed.

The next moment, he leaped up, flipped over, and climbed onto the arrow tower, face to face with the archer above.

"what!"

The archer seemed to be startled by something, jumped off the arrow tower, and then limped away.

Huan Cheng followed the same method and solved the other arrow tower.

As for the guards at the gate, they had already fled when Huan Chengchong was at the arrow tower.

Huan Cheng glanced at the panel and saw that the mission progress had increased to 1.2%. He grinned.

After clearing the guards at the entrance, he continued walking inside, only to encounter a patrol of thieves a few steps later.

There were six thieves, all level 20: two with knives, two with archers, one with a shield, and one with a staff. Their class setup was quite complete.

Huan Cheng rushed forward, and the patrolling thieves immediately assumed a fighting stance, surrounding him and staring at him fiercely, but they never took the initiative to make a move, appearing all bark and no bite.

Huan Cheng was overjoyed. He leaped up and rushed to the knife-wielding thief, making a face at the same time.

The thief screamed and turned to run.

The remaining thieves looked even more nervous, but still dared not make a move.

"hey-hey!"

Huan Cheng chuckled and provocatively threatened each of them, scaring away all the patrolling thieves in no time.

"That's a great idea!"

Huan Cheng was in high spirits after eliminating more than a dozen thieves without bloodshed.

A level 20 normal monster gives about a thousand experience points when killed, so he needs to temporarily suppress his level and avoid fighting them if possible.

After scaring away more than thirty bandits, Huan Cheng finally encountered his first elite monster.

[Elite Bandits]: Level 22, Grade Elite (One Star), Health 32000, Elite Backbone Member of the Gale Bandit Group.

Three elite thieves, along with eight ordinary thieves, surrounded Huan Cheng.

However, under the Abyss Breath state, there is no difference between ordinary thieves and elite thieves. These people still surround but do not attack, their expressions uneasy and fearful.

Huan Cheng, seized by a sudden surge of amusement, drew his Ripper's Blade and, with a powerful voice, glared at the crowd, roaring, "What are you trying to do, neither fight nor retreat?!"

The three elite thieves all took a step back, and then, to Huan Cheng's astonishment, they turned tail and ran.

The remaining ordinary henchmen were even more pathetic, abandoning their armor and weapons and scattering without a fight.

Looking at the mess on the ground, Huan Cheng was somewhat bewildered.

He was just joking out of boredom, how did it have such an exaggerated effect?

"Ding! Congratulations, player Chengfeng! You have successfully mastered a special skill. You can name this skill."

The system notification suddenly sounded, and Huan Cheng, disregarding everything else, immediately opened the panel to check.

[Unnamed Skill]: A special skill developed by the player Chengfeng based on his own situation. It can intimidate and frighten hostile targets, and has a chance to make them flee without a fight.

The success rate of deterrence is related to the level, rank, and reputation of both parties; the stronger the party, the higher the success rate.

This skill cannot be upgraded. Before activation, you need to activate the Breath of the Abyss. It does not consume mana and has no cooldown.

Note: This can only be used once against the same target. If the deterrence fails, the target will take it as a provocation and launch a fierce attack on the user. Please use it with caution.

"This... this is how you learn a skill on your own?" Huan Cheng was somewhat bewildered.

"What were the conditions Andrew said were required for self-taught skills?"

"To gain insight into energy flow, possess rich combat experience, and be at least level 30?"

He opened the attribute panel and glanced at the level again. It was indeed level 19. Huan Cheng didn't know what to say for a moment.

He didn't meet either of the two prerequisites, so how did he manage to learn a new skill in such a muddled way?

"A deterrent!"

After naming the skill "Intimidate" and closing the system panel, Huan Cheng couldn't help but start to ponder.

"It seems that Andrew was wrong about the skill acquisition."

"No, it should be that my situation is special, and the experience that the Warriors Guild accumulated before is not applicable to me."

"It seems that we need to broaden our thinking and not be bound by traditional experience in the future."

Just as he was thinking this, he saw another group of thieves appear not far away. Huan Cheng wanted to try out his new skill, so he charged forward to meet them and then used his Intimidate skill.

The next moment, before the thieves could even utter their lines, they scattered and fled in a panic.

Among the weapons and equipment abandoned by the thieves, a staff emitting a faint glow caught his attention.

Upon picking it up, it turned out to be a level 20 Black Iron Staff, crafted by an elite rogue.

Satisfied, Huan Cheng put away his staff and continued on his way.

The deterrent effect was very high, and in a short time, Huan Cheng's mission progress reached 50%.

However, deterrence alone cannot solve the problem.

The deeper he went into the enemy territory, the stronger the thieves became. Before long, he encountered a group of elite thieves led by a bronze boss.

The intimidation tactic only scared away three elite thieves. The leader, a bronze-level thief, charged at Huan Cheng with bloodshot eyes, like an old man who had been cuckolded.

Huan Cheng watched his leader charge forward with a bow and arrow, feeling rather speechless, and his evaluation of the intimidation skill rose even higher.

This skill has a wrong name; it should clearly be called Provocation. To make an archer lose their mind and engage in close combat—that's way too overpowered!

Despite his chaotic thoughts, he didn't hesitate to deliver a heavy blow to the bandit leader!

After being stabbed, the leader finally realized what was happening and retreated rapidly, while ordering his remaining men to attack.

As for himself, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, firing three arrows in a row, shooting straight at Huan Cheng.