Xinyu seemed to have forgotten about our plan to go for a post-dinner stroll; no sooner had she finished eating than she dashed into her room. I, quite content to be left in peace, browsed the forums for a while before logging into the game.
My current level of 11 only ranked me 87th in all of China. I had no idea how the big shots in the top 86 had leveled up so quickly, but it didn't matter. I was here to strike gold, not to conquer the world.
Back at the village, I sought out the Thief class trainer.
"Are you willing to become a Thief, lurking in the shadows?"
"Yes!"
"Ding!"
System prompt: Your talent is not suited for the Thief class. Please choose another profession!
What? Not suited? What is this nonsense? My dream of being an assassin... was it aborted just like that?
I glanced at the other trainers nearby and, feeling rather depressed, chose the Warrior class.
"Are you willing to become a Warrior? Please choose your desired specialization! Promotion requires two gold coins."
Looking at the options that appeared before me, I was completely baffled. Warriors had specializations?
1. Swordsman
2. Tomahawk Fighter
Since I was holding a sword, I naturally chose Swordsman.
"Ding!"
System prompt: Congratulations on becoming the first Swordsman in this village. Reward: +300 EXP!
I was speechless. Why reward me with experience instead of a legendary item? And only 300 EXP at that...
Once the promotion was complete, the words "Novice Swordsman" appeared beneath my name. So, I was only a novice...
With the promotion done, the next order of business was to learn skills—the most expensive part of the process.
I opened the list of available skills and found only two options: "Heavy Strike" and "Combo Strike," each costing 50 silver coins.
Heavy Strike: Increases the damage of the current attack by 10% at level one. The higher the skill level, the more significant the effect. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Combo Strike: Unleashes frequent attacks on the target. Each hit deals 50% of your base attack damage. The higher the skill level, the more hits you can perform.
They both looked good, so I learned them both. Another gold coin gone, replaced by two skills with zero proficiency.
What next? Grinding levels, of course!
I was halfway to level 12. If I could reach it soon, I could equip the Pine Forest Greatsword. A bright future seemed right within my grasp!
I headed back to the Wild Wolf Valley and made my way to the area with level 11 mobs. As expected, the monsters had all respawned. Being two levels higher, my attack and defense had both increased, so I didn't take them seriously. I used my old tactic: hiding behind a rock to slaughter the level 11 wolves one by one. This was probably unthinkable for most players, as few had the defense to tank the monsters. Since no one had become a Priest yet, you had to rely on potions to survive the damage, but the village apothecary’s prices were exorbitant; nobody could afford that.
The most critical—and twisted—part of the game design was the lack of level 5, 6, and 7 mobs. After the level 4 wild dogs, you jumped straight to level 8 Mottled Wild Wolves. They were impossible for a level 4 player to handle. Consequently, most players were still stuck killing level 4 wild dogs, but once you hit level 5, the experience from those dogs dropped, and reaching level 6 became an arduous task. Without reaching level 7 and having decent weapons, it was impossible to face the level 8 wolves.
I kept hacking away at the monsters. An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and with a flash of red light, I hit level 12. I immediately equipped the Pine Forest Greatsword and poured my stat points into Strength. Since I had chosen to be a Swordsman, I might as well go all in and be a pure Strength-based Warrior!
With my new weapon, my attack power surged, and my personal stats reached a mouth-watering level:
Qingcai Baiyutang (Novice Swordsman)
Level: 12
HP: 402
Attack: 50-86
Defense: 54
Reputation: 60
Luck: 0
Equipment:
Two-handed: [Pine Forest Greatsword] (Green grade)
Attack: 24-45
Strength: +8
Stamina: +7
Required Level: 12
Chest: [Soldier Armor] (Green grade)
Defense: 22
Stamina: +4
Strength: +3
Required Level: 8
Legs: [Wild Wolf Greaves] (Green grade)
Defense: +8
Stamina: +3
Strength: +2
Required Level: 4
...
Having three pieces of decent gear at level 12 was quite impressive for the current stage of the game. It was well beyond what most players, who were still hovering around level 5, could imagine.
Wielding the greatsword, I found that even without a critical hit, I could knock over 120 HP off a level 11 wolf. My capabilities had essentially doubled. It only took four or five strikes to finish off a level 11 monster. I had even killed the Gray Wolf Leader again, though sadly, it dropped nothing but coins. That was when I realized I had completely forgotten to turn in my quest when I went to the village for my promotion...
I rubbed my weary eyes. A quick calculation showed I had been online for 18 consecutive hours. No wonder even an old-school gamer like me felt exhausted. What surprised me, however, were the ladies. I checked my friend list and saw that all seven names were still lit up. These people usually took great care to rest, but they must have all gone crazy.
"Ladies, it's 19:45. Get some rest, it's time to sleep. Wake up early tomorrow!"
I sent a mass message and received replies almost immediately:
"Okay, I'm heading to bed now. Do you want me to make you a cup of coffee?" — Lu Xuehan.
"Right, early to bed. I'll wake you up right at 3:00 AM!" — Xu Lin.
"Want me to sleep with you? By the way, let's move the date to tomorrow night. How about a secret meeting tonight instead?" — 555, that was Xinyu...
Liu Yun remained as cold as ever, replying only: "Mm, sleeping."
Li Qing must have been chased by monsters, as her reply was fragmented: "Okay, slee... sleeping..."
JOLY sent a reply that made me break into a cold sweat: "Fine, but we can't sleep together~" I truly don't know when she'll stop acting so naive. She's already 24, yet she acts like an innocent young girl every day. Heaven knows how many men she's been with...
Compared to JOLY, Guozi was truly innocent. She simply replied: "Okay!" and I saw her log off. It seemed she was on the verge of total collapse too.
...
After comforting them one by one, I returned to the village. At the rundown auction house in the center of town, I put my level 4 green greatsword up for sale for 20 gold, included my phone number and city in the listing, and then logged off to sleep.