Harvest

The primary objective of the "Meta World" was leveling up. Only the attributes and skills gained through leveling were the strongest; these could be considered Acquired Talents.

Innate Talents were the ones drawn in the opening lottery.

The gameplay of the "Meta World" revolved around these two cores.

As for equipment, items, potions, and the like, they could only be considered external aids.

If your foundation was weak, no amount of external aid would help.

After resting for a while, Kurumi continued her grand endeavor of killing wolves and leveling up.

At that moment, a message came through in the background.

It was from the girl who had bought her silver coins yesterday, Mop God of War.

"Big shot, our guild is planning to test Fear's Minion. Are you coming?"

Kurumi raised a brow and asked curiously, "Didn't you watch the video on the forums? That guy had a high-tier talent and still couldn't beat it at level four. How are you going to fight it?"

"Tch..." Mop God of War sounded utterly disdainful.

"My brother's talent is even stronger than his, and he's already level five!"

"Level five..." Kurumi's mouth twitched. How many people had this guy hired to help him grind monsters and do quests?

"How much money has your brother spent?"

"Probably just a few hundred thousand. That's nothing. We've already spent two million buying silver coins~" Mop God of War said proudly.

Even through the chat screen, Kurumi could feel just how lavish the other party was.

"Big shot, are you interested in joining our guild? We'll take you leveling for free~"

Kurumi hesitated before saying, "I'm more used to going solo. If I ever want to join a guild in the future, you'll be the first ones I consider."

She had nearly succumbed to the other party's monetary offensive.

"Sigh, fine. Oh right, you still haven't said whether you're coming. My brother wants to meet you too~"

Kurumi flatly refused. "No, I still have things to do."

At level five, he probably still wouldn't be able to complete the quest.

She just didn't know what her brother's talent was. If it was some special talent that happened to counter Fear's Minion, she might lose her chance at the first-clear reward.

"Hmph, acting all mysterious. The server just opened—what could you possibly have to do? Fine. If you don't come, you'll definitely regret it. Just wait for the system announcement to spam news of our first clear!"

Mop God of War unhappily closed the chat window.

Hmph, she'd been so sincere, yet that person still wouldn't come. Serves them right for missing out on the first-clear reward.

"What? That expert isn't coming?"

"It's fine whether he comes or not, since you're so amazing, Brother~" Mop God of War cast aside her unhappiness, then eagerly ran to a tall, skinny man and clung to his arm as she coquettishly spoke.

"Fine. Then let's get ready to go in."

Fear's Minion was a low-grade energy entity. It had no definite shape, merely a mass of drifting gray-black energy.

At that moment, a large number of players had gathered outside the quest dungeon. Nearly all of them were hired hands invited by Mop God of War's brother.

After waiting for a while, a figure appeared at the dungeon entrance.

It was a player with a talent for concealing their aura, sent inside to scout the monsters' locations and information.

Mop God of War's brother, Cleaver God of War, frowned as he looked over the information sent back by that player.

"It's fine. Although their health is a little higher than ordinary monsters', there isn't a limit on the number of people who can enter. We'll crush them with sheer numbers! Listen to orders after we go in. If we clear the dungeon, everyone gets a thousand in red envelopes!"

Hearing that there were red envelopes to collect, the huge group of hired hands instantly grew excited.

"Cleaver God of War is mighty!"

"Big bro—no, you're my dad! Dad says hit somewhere, and that's where I'll hit!!"

"Big bro, my talent reduces damage. I can tank—let me charge in first!"

The group rushed into the dungeon with imposing momentum.

However, everyone had underestimated the dungeon's difficulty. A human-wave strategy was utterly useless—or rather, the more people there were, the more they held each other back.

One minute...

Two minutes...

Five minutes...

By the time ten minutes had passed, every player assigned to raid the dungeon had resurrected in Novice Village.

They couldn't even kill the first monster they encountered. Whenever they were about to finish it off, it would inexplicably recover health, causing all their efforts to come to nothing!

At that moment, they had all entered a one-hour weakened state.

After waiting an hour, they went back to raid the dungeon again.

After several attempts, they still couldn't get past the first monster. Every run ended in a total party wipe.

Cleaver God of War said with an ugly expression, "What's wrong with this game? I've put so much money into it, yet I can't even kill the first monster?"

His friend guessed, "Maybe we need to find the proper dungeon-clearing mechanic. Brute force doesn't work in this game."

"Then arrange for people to figure out the clearing mechanic. I have something to handle offline, so I'm leaving first."

After giving his instructions, Cleaver God of War logged off with a face as dark as thunder.

Mop God of War also stood there with her hands on her hips, fuming. Inside the dungeon, she was either getting killed or on her way to getting killed, completely unable to fight back.

Now, she could only dejectedly follow everyone else.

Mop God of War inexplicably thought of Su Jiang. She had the feeling that he had a way to clear this dungeon.

Deep in the forest.

Su Jiang had gone back and forth to Novice Village several times. After completing a quest, he would take another one.

He had nearly wiped out all the wolves in the forest by himself.

Level 7 to 10 monsters were scattered about and nowhere near as densely gathered as wolf packs. After calculating the returns, Su Jiang found that killing wild wolves was still the most profitable.

Su Jiang returned to the Adventurer's Guild. After handing in his final quest, he began tallying his gains.

He had gotten roughly 2,600 copper coins from monster drops.

He had gained 7,800 experience points.

He had completed 13 Clear the Wolf Pack quests.

As an elite adventurer, his rewards increased by 20%.

He received 4,680 copper coins.

He received 4,680 experience points.

Adding it all up, his experience increased, and he reached level 8 at 12% experience. He had earned 7,280 copper coins, equivalent to 72 silver coins.

There were also several dozen common-grade pieces of equipment. He could sell both the equipment and the copper coins to Mop God of War.

After finishing his calculations, Su Jiang directly contacted Mop God of War. "Are you still buying copper coins?"

A message quickly came back. "Yes. The price is still 1:20."

"Alright. Are you buying equipment too?"

Mop God of War was somewhat surprised when she saw that message. She knew how absurdly low the game's drop rates were and how hard it was to get equipment, so she hurriedly replied, "Yes, I'll take it all!"

Su Jiang quickly traded with Mop God of War, placing 7,800 copper coins and several dozen common-grade pieces of equipment into the trade window.

"Good heavens... where did you go rob?" Mop God of War was stunned when she saw a whole page of level 6 common-grade equipment.

"Heh. If you're taking it all, you can name the price for the equipment."

Su Jiang said.

He believed that someone wealthy enough to pay 20 per silver coin definitely wouldn't lowball him on the equipment.

Su Jiang didn't want to name a price mainly because these common-grade pieces would soon be obsolete. Asking too much would be inappropriate, but asking too little would feel like a loss.

"Um... there isn't a stable market price yet. How about I count each piece as 1,000 copper coins?"

Good? Of course it was good—the price was excellent!

Equipment that would be obsolete in a week or two could still sell for two hundred. Anyone would say that was a great deal!

"Ahem, that works." Su Jiang suppressed his delight as he spoke.

Very soon, 9,160 was deposited into his account.

She had handed over those nine thousand without the slightest hesitation. As expected of a filthy rich spender.