Chapter 3

Update Time: 2014-02-09

The cornfield is on the other side of Hare Hill, bordering the Green Forest. The monsters here range from level 8 to 14. Lin Zheng arrived at the cornfield and, at a glance, saw that the corn was growing well, with several ears on each stalk. It didn't look scientific, and the ears were huge, making him quite hungry! However, this bountiful harvest of corn had also attracted many unwelcome visitors.

Large Crows: Level 8, Physical Attack 65-174, Physical Defense 55, Health 500. Thieves who steal grain, they travel in groups and often leave the villagers with nothing.

Lin Zheng is currently level 5, and he gains 5 attribute points per level. He分配 his points as 3 Strength and 2 Constitution, so his current Physical Attack is 100-168, Defense is 72, and Health is 800. He is clearly much stronger than the level 8 crows, and fighting these crows should be no problem.

He saw a few players who were already level 7 killing crows here, but they seemed to be struggling! Bird-type monsters are generally more agile, after all, they can fly! Their advantage is too obvious. When a large crow flies and crashes into a player, if the player's operation is not good, they will likely be hit. Moreover, the player must attack the crow before it hits them, which tests the player's predictive skills. At least, the few players Lin Zheng saw had poor operations. They barely managed to kill a crow, but their health was already down by more than half, which was extremely inefficient!

"Damn! Killing these crows is too inefficient, let's change places, guys!" A tough warrior cursed, and his companions nodded in agreement. Thus, a small team of people left.

Lin Zheng didn't feel much, though the crows were fast, they were much slower than real crows. After all, they are game monsters. If they flew as fast as real crows, how many players could hit them? At this speed, it wasn't difficult for Lin Zheng. Yes, he would give it a try. Lin Zheng threw his dagger at a large crow, -96, "Caw!" The hit crow immediately flew towards Lin Zheng. Lin Zheng, with his dagger in hand, threw it again, -94! The hit crow's attack was interrupted, and it stopped in mid-air. Now, he had to act quickly. Lin Zheng rushed forward, swung his dagger, -82, -75. The crow's claw attacked Lin Zheng, -65, no problem! He swung his dagger again, -78, and the crow fell to the ground, still with some health left. No difficulty, he continued to kill, and Lin Zheng gripped his dagger and walked towards the next crow.

After killing seven or eight crows, Lin Zheng would stop to meditate for a while, as his health was almost depleted. Meditation could speed up health recovery. After about 10 seconds, his health was fully restored, and Lin Zheng picked up his dagger and attacked the crows again. The afternoon passed quickly, and many players came to the cornfield to level up, but they all left in frustration. Only Lin Zheng and a few players with good operations remained, killing crows. The experience from crows was good, and Lin Zheng was already level 8, but the glasses he needed for the quest had not dropped yet, which made him very frustrated! This damn quest, would he still be unable to complete it when he reached level 10? Just thinking about it made Lin Zheng feel depressed.

Well, it's 8 o'clock, time to log off and eat something before coming back to work! Lin Zheng opened the operation interface and clicked to exit the game. He got out of the game pod, stretched his neck, and went to the kitchen, where he found Yang Qi already there, impatiently waiting for the water to boil.

"Is there enough water? I'll have a bowl of noodles too!"

"Hey! You came at just the right time!" The kettle whistled, signaling that the water was boiling. Yang Qi turned off the stove and, while adding water to her noodles, said, "Not too much, not too little, just enough soup to get by!"

"Whatever, too much soup is hard to finish anyway!"

"..."

Each holding a bowl of noodles, they returned to the living room and ate with relish. In the middle, Yang Qi asked, "How's it going, Lin Zheng? What level are you? Need your big sister to help you?"

That smug look on her face made Lin Zheng want to punch her, if she were a man. Do you think it's interesting to compare a professional with an amateur? Is it interesting? Well, no need to say, Yang Qi must find it very interesting and satisfying!

"I'm level 8 now, doing a quest that's driving me crazy!" Lin Zheng said gloomily. Yang Qi was surprised, "Level 8 already! Not bad, I'm only level 9, still a bit away from level 10. Not bad, kid!"

"Yeah, what quest is making you so frustrated?"

"Finding the village chief's glasses, damn it! I've been killing crows all afternoon, and they haven't dropped yet. I'm starting to doubt if I'll have any hope of completing it before my first class change!" Lin Zheng took a big bite of noodles, as if trying to swallow his frustration. Yang Qi, however, was uninterested.

"Hey! I thought it was some amazing quest! Just give up on these item-finding quests, they don't have much reward and waste time!"

"You don't know!" Lin Zheng said mysteriously, "The reward for this quest is amazing, the pre-quest gave me a gold coin!"

"What! A gold coin for the pre-quest!? Damn!" Yang Qi jumped up. "I've been working hard all afternoon and only earned 13 silver coins. What kind of quest is this? A gold coin for the pre-quest! Damn! Damn!"

"What quest is it? How did you get it? I'll see if I can take it!" Yang Qi, now calmed down, stared at Lin Zheng with eyes full of greed, thinking about the gold coin. Lin Zheng didn't hide it from her and told her about his afternoon. When he mentioned that he got the quest item from a boss, Yang Qi deflated, knowing she couldn't take it. But she quickly perked up.

"The quest you're doing is called an 'Item Quest.' The official website has an introduction. The acceptance conditions for these quests are specific items dropped by various bosses, which are very, very rare, you know?" Yang Qi licked her lips, still excited. "These quests, regardless of difficulty, have very rich rewards. You saw it, a level 8 boss's drop gave you a gold coin for the pre-quest! There will be more later! The most valuable part is!"

"Equipment! Completing these quests will definitely give you an attribute item, and the attribute level will not be lower than the boss's level. You said the boss was bronze, right? Too bad! If it were gold, you'd get at least a gold item!" Yang Qi said, both excited and regretful. Lin Zheng rolled his eyes, "Gold? Then it wouldn't be us killing it, but it killing us. Look at what level and equipment we had back then!"

"True!" Yang Qi touched her chin, then said with a mischievous smile, "You have to complete this quest, even if you reach level 10 and change class, you have to go back and finish it! When you complete it, you'll get a bronze item! Hopefully, it's a weapon, a sword, and then you can mail it to me, and I'll use it to dominate the world! Hahaha!"

"Shameless!" Lin Zheng could only exclaim. This female thug was really something! "Dominate the world, why not build a harem while you're at it?"

"Don't worry! When I build my harem, you'll be the queen!"

"..."

Lin Zheng ignored the female thug, knowing that if he continued this topic, who knows what shocking words she would come up with!

"By the way, what's your name in the game? Add me as a friend, and we can keep in touch!" Yang Qi asked.

"I'm called Yiping Daoist! I'm a marksman, what about you?"

"Yiping Daoist? Damn! You chose a marksman, at least choose a mage and then change to a priest! Being a priest is so unprofessional! I despise you!" Lin Zheng, as expected, was despised by Yang Qi. Well, he had anticipated this result when he chose the name.

"I'm called Hongchen YanYu, a warrior, and I plan to change to a heavy sword knight after my first class change!"

"You're kidding!?" Lin Zheng was surprised, "A girl, why are you playing a knight?"

"I despise you!" Yang Qi gave Lin Zheng a flirtatious look, "Who says girls can't be knights? I've been playing knights for decades and still beat a bunch of guys!"

Lin Zheng rolled his eyes, "Decades? You're only 23 this year!" Ignoring the female thug, he focused on finishing his noodles.

When Lin Zheng logged back in, there were fewer players in the cornfield. He didn't pay much attention but first opened the operation interface and added Hongchen YanYu as a friend. As soon as he added her, a message appeared: "Player Hongchen YanYu has accepted your friend request!" Wow! This girl logs in quickly too.

"Xiao Lin! Which newbie village are you in?"

"Um—017 newbie village, what about you?" Lin Zheng checked the map and replied.

"Oh! Far away! I'm in 011 newbie village. Wait until you level up and change class, then we can meet in Frost Heaven City! Finish your quest first."

"Okay! See you then!" Lin Zheng closed the communication, took his fancy new player's dagger, and attacked the crows again, praying that the glasses would drop. He didn't want to have to come back to do the quest after his first class change, which would be very frustrating! However, his prayers were in vain. He kept killing until 1 AM, and the glasses still hadn't dropped. His experience was already at 97% of level 9, almost ready to level up to 10 and change class. Lin Zheng couldn't help but feel frustrated. Anyone who spent so much time without getting a drop would be driven mad! Probably nine out of ten would give up. If it weren't for the promise of a rich reward, Lin Zheng would have given up on this damn quest too.

"Congratulations, you have reached level 10. You can return to the village and find the village chief to accept the first class change quest!" Finally, level 10, but still no glasses. Well, he would complete the first class change quest first. Yang Qi had already changed class at 12 PM and had boasted about it for a while. Lin Zheng learned from Yang Qi that completing the first class change quest would reward a weapon, though it was a basic one, it was still better than the new player's dagger!