Chapter 3

Le Heli, with a cheerful demeanor, once again stood before the village chief of the newbie village. Now that Le Heli was in a good mood, he even found the old man with the gray beard somewhat endearing.

"Old man, I've completed your task," Le Heli said happily.

"Brave warrior, you have indeed lived up to my expectations. The scars bear witness to your bravery. This is your reward," the gray-bearded village chief replied in his usual monotonous tone.

System notification: Completed E-level task, Eliminate Black Slime. Experience deducted: 200. Copper coins deducted: 10.

"Damn!" Le Heli instantly collapsed. Why did he have to lose 200 experience and 10 copper coins for completing the task? He checked his experience bar, which indeed showed -250/500. He had originally picked up 13 copper coins from the slimes, but now he only had 3 left.

The experience loss was fine; he was already in the negative, and he could recover from a few deaths. But the money was frustrating. He had only a few coins, and it wasn't easy to earn them, yet 10 were taken away in an instant.

"You damn scoundrel, you actually stole my money!" Le Heli didn't care whether the other party was an NPC or not; he directly grabbed the village chief by the collar. "Give me my money back, you bastard!"

"What's going on?" The surrounding newbie players were a bit puzzled. They were all preparing to take on tasks, but they didn't expect a player to seemingly want to attack the village chief. They curiously gathered around.

The village chief remained calm and continued to repeat himself: "Brave warrior, I have no more tasks for you at the moment. However, I heard that the blacksmith and the tailor in the village need help. You can talk to them."

"Talk to your sister! Give me my money back," Le Heli continued to pull on the village chief's collar. "If you don't give it back, I'll beat you up."

"He seems to want to attack the village chief. What's going on?" The surrounding players were also puzzled.

"Hehe, you don't understand, do you?" A player nearby seemed to have figured something out and started to analyze the situation. "Heart of Glory has hidden quests. Look at this player; he must be trying to trigger the village chief's hidden quest."

"Oh, I see." The surrounding players nodded, accepting this explanation.

"Che..." With a disdainful voice, over a dozen players emerged from behind them. These dozen players clearly played together, and even though they were in the newbie village, their equipment was complete. The leader was a man in his thirties, wearing armor that glowed with a faint blue color, which was actually a bronze-grade item. Players who could obtain bronze-grade items in the newbie village were definitely guild players, as only guilds could defeat bosses to get such items. For ordinary players, the chance of getting bronze-grade items from small monsters was extremely slim.

"Does he think he can trigger a hidden quest? What a joke. Our Lingjie Guild has tried every method, but we haven't triggered any hidden quests." The leader said, "Just wait and see. This village chief is a level 30+ NPC. Newbies will be killed instantly. Just wait for him to be killed."

"Lingjie Guild..." The surrounding players were in an uproar but quickly believed the man's words because of the credibility of the Lingjie Guild.

"You keep repeating yourself. I'll really beat you up if you don't stop," Le Heli, not noticing the surrounding players, continued to threaten the village chief.

"Brave warrior, I have no more tasks for you at the moment..." The gray-bearded village chief, as expected, only knew how to say two things, with no surprises.

"You're asking for it." Without a word, Le Heli raised his right hand and punched the village chief in the face.

-2

System notification: Due to your attack on the newbie village chief, the village chief's favorability towards you has increased by 20. Current favorability: Friendly.

"Damn!" Le Heli was shocked again by the system notification.

"He really attacked!" The surrounding players immediately became excited, all waiting to see the show.

One second passed, two seconds passed, and soon ten seconds passed. The scene was very quiet, and nothing happened. Soon, someone noticed something was wrong.

"What's going on? Why didn't the village chief counterattack?" a player asked.

"Yeah, I saw someone attack the village chief and get killed instantly. Why isn't the village chief counterattacking?"

The Lingjie Guild members were also stunned. What was going on?

The situation became even more frustrating. The village chief, who had been expressionless, actually smiled after being punched.

"Brave warrior, it's you. It's great to see you. I heard the blacksmith and the tailor have tasks for you. Could you please check with them?" The village chief smiled and said to Le Heli.

"Damn, is this village chief masochistic? He smiles even when someone hits him. Is he crazy?" The surrounding players were really unsettled.

Le Heli was slightly shocked but quickly understood what was happening. His favorability was supposed to decrease, but it increased instead, rising to 20 points and becoming friendly. No wonder the village chief suddenly smiled.

"Such a masochistic NPC. Since you stole 10 copper coins from me, I'll hit you a few more times." Le Heli said, then grabbed the village chief's collar again and slapped him hard, making the surrounding players feel a bit sore.

System notification: Due to your attack on the newbie village chief, the village chief's favorability towards you has increased by 15. Current favorability: Friendly.

"Damn, he hit him again!" The surrounding players were shocked again.

"Let's just beat him up." Le Heli became more and more excited, even getting addicted to it, and started to hit the village chief hard.

System notification: Due to your attack on the newbie village chief, the village chief's favorability towards you has increased by 12. Current favorability: Respectful.

System notification: Due to your attack on the newbie village chief, the village chief's favorability towards you has increased by 10. Current favorability: Respectful.

...

System notification: Due to your attack on the newbie village chief, the village chief's favorability towards you has increased by 3. Current favorability: Admiration.

After slapping the village chief over a dozen times, Le Heli finally felt satisfied. He had reduced the village chief's health by 40 points, and his favorability had risen to the maximum, which was admiration.

The surrounding players were all stunned, not knowing how to react. Even the Lingjie Guild members were dumbfounded, watching Le Heli.

"Alright, I'm done. The 10 copper coins are for your medical expenses. No need to give change." Le Heli patted his hands, satisfied.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Le Heli let go, the village chief, who had been unresponsive, suddenly grabbed Le Heli's hand, startling him.

"Great warrior, I finally see you again. Your bravery should be praised by the whole world, and your achievements should be engraved in the temple." The village chief said excitedly, his eyes full of admiration.

"Uh-huh." Le Heli nodded in satisfaction. "Old man, you're right. It was worth it to beat you up so hard."

"Damn." The surrounding players were all stunned. What bravery and achievements did this guy have? Was it the achievement of slapping the village chief a dozen times?

"By the way, brave warrior, I have a hidden task I want to entrust to you." The gray-bearded village chief continued.

System notification: The village chief of the newbie village has issued an AA-level hidden task, Source of Evil. Do you accept?

"Accept your sister! Get lost, no." Le Heli was startled. Although he didn't know the reward for this task, the AA-level indicated it wouldn't be easy. If the reward was tens of thousands of experience, he would be in trouble, as it would take hundreds of deaths to make up for the experience loss.

"Damn, the village chief really issued a hidden task!" The surrounding players were immediately excited.

"Did you hear that? He actually refused!" Another player immediately said.

"Too amazing, I'm already stunned."

"Brave warrior, won't you reconsider? The reward for the task will definitely satisfy you." The gray-bearded village chief asked again when he saw Le Heli refuse.

"I..." Le Heli naturally wanted to refuse, but just as he was about to do so, a hand suddenly rested on his shoulder from behind.

"Wait, friend."

A voice came from behind, and Le Heli turned to see the Lingjie Guild members standing behind him, with the leader, a man in his thirties, stopping him.

"Is there something? Do I know you?" Le Heli was a bit puzzled. He had been too focused on hitting the village chief and hadn't noticed the surrounding players' conversation, so he didn't know these people were from the Lingjie Guild.

"I am the vice president of the Lingjie Guild, Night Sailing. These are my subordinates," Night Sailing introduced himself.

"Lingjie Guild..." Le Heli's eyes slightly narrowed. The Lingjie Guild was a large guild, and in the few online games he had played before, the Lingjie Guild was always present, ranking at least in the top three. When "Heart of Glory" opened, he naturally thought that the large guilds from other games would move in, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Had they given up the resources and market of other games?

After a moment of thought, Le Heli didn't show it and smiled, "I'm a solo player, with a broad mind. You can call me Heli."

"Hello, Heli." Night Sailing was very polite. "I just saw you refuse the hidden task. Could you tell me why?" Night Sailing was also puzzled. Normally, people would go out of their way to find hidden tasks, so why did this guy throw away such a big reward without thinking?

"Oh, I saw that the task was AA-level. I don't think it's worth it to complete it, and it would be a waste of time to spend so much time on it." Le Heli, of course, wouldn't be foolish enough to say that he would lose experience, especially since he was an illegal player and could be banned if discovered.

"Oh, I see." Night Sailing nodded. Le Heli had already said he was a solo player, and his equipment was clearly newbie gear, so he probably couldn't complete the task. It made sense. "However, our Lingjie Guild is very interested in this task. Could you let us have it?"

"Oh?" Le Heli smiled slightly. "Business opportunity?"

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