Rat King

After completing the task of killing Wild Dogs, Su Jiang quickly changed locations.

He went to the chicken farm behind the Novice Village.

The NPC chickens were invincible. After taking this task, players had to chase the chickens around. Frightened chickens would lay eggs.

This was an exceptionally easy task with very generous rewards.

As Su Jiang chased the chickens into flapping everywhere and laying eggs all over the place, he also kept an eye on the No. 13 Novice Village chat channel.

Someone said gunshots had appeared on the village road. They suspected that some player had drawn a gun-related talent when entering the game; otherwise, with everyone starting out dirt poor, how had he gotten a gun?

"Hmm, the gunshots were so loud, so it's only natural that they were heard. But they probably didn't see who fired them."

Su Jiang picked up the eggs from the ground and spoke after pondering for a moment.

If the transformation had been discovered, the chat channel would definitely be flooded with pictures of Kurumi by now.

Watching these players laze around so carefree, Su Jiang wondered whether they would still be in such high spirits if they knew this game would affect reality in the future.

"Cluck cluck—!"

System Prompt: You obtained an egg...

System Prompt: You obtained...

System Prompt: ...

Su Jiang threw the entire chicken farm into chaos. Players who noticed him chasing chickens were curious about what he was doing, and before long, even the spectators joined the chicken-chasing frenzy.

How could people who could afford VR equipment worth tens of thousands possibly catch chickens? For a while, everyone found it quite amusing.

But with such a huge commotion at the chicken farm, how could the village chief fail to notice? All players who had entered the farm without permission were driven out. They even had to compensate the village chief with 100 copper coins each to soothe the frightened chickens.

The players were instantly dumbfounded.

"Where are we supposed to get copper coins now? We don't even have a single one..."

Su Jiang, meanwhile, happily walked past them, handed all the eggs he had collected to the village chief, and left with a delighted expression.

Seeing that Su Jiang was allowed to leave normally, the players detained by the villagers immediately became dissatisfied.

"Why doesn't he have to pay a fine?!"

"I saw him chasing the chickens first! He's the real culprit!"

The village chief was so furious his mouth twisted. He shouted, "He is a respected adventurer! How can you suspicious fellows compare to him?!"

"Come on, take them all to the fields! Anyone who can't pay will work on our farms for a day!"

At the village chief's command, dozens of people marched grandly toward the fields near the village.

Some players who did not know what was going on thought there was some kind of quest and followed along.

Meanwhile, many new posts appeared on the game forum.

"Guys, who gets this? I only went to chase the Novice Village chickens, and now I owe 100 copper coins. I can't pay it back, so please, kind souls, spare me a little charity..."

"Does anyone know what an adventurer is?"

"I ran through every Novice Village NPC and still couldn't get a quest... This game is way too confusing."

"Could adventurers be related to the Adventurer's Guild in the village? But the beautiful lady inside said non-adventurers aren't allowed in..."

Seeing that these players had yet to figure out the real way to play, Su Jiang replied in one of the Q&A posts, "If you want to accept quests, you can apply to become an adventurer at the Adventurer's Guild. Once you pass the Adventurer's Guild's test, you can do so!"

"Ah, so that's how it works? Damn, you actually have to go through an intermediary platform just to do quests..."

"OP, you're such a good person. May you have eighteen babies in one litter!"

They would discover this gameplay sooner or later. Su Jiang was merely telling them a little earlier.

As the village chief escorted the group to the fields, Su Jiang's third task happened to be related to that place as well, so he followed the crowd over in grand fashion.

After arriving there—

Everyone held a bundle of burning straw in their hands and fiercely poked it into the rat holes in the ground. Thick smoke surged in from all directions, choking the underground rats until they could no longer endure it, forcing them to flee one after another.

Not long afterward—

The rat-driving task was completed as well.

Su Jiang withdrew after achieving his goal.

If he had done this task alone, it would have taken some time. But with so many people helping, it was finished in no time!

He went to the Adventurer's Guild and turned in the three tasks.

Ding. Congratulations on completing the task. Your adventure reward settlement increased by 20%. You obtained 120 experience points, 120 copper coins...

Ding. Congratulations on completing the task...

Ding. Congratulations...

Three consecutive prompts sounded, and Su Jiang rose to Level 4 (16% experience).

Your attributes have increased.

Current Attributes:

Attack: 40 ((Strength + Intelligence) / 2, attack calculation method for balanced development)

Defense: 4 (Constitution × 0.1)

Health: 400 (Constitution × 10)

Mana: 200 (Spirit × 5)

Attributes (Balanced Development): Strength 40, Intelligence 40, Constitution 40, Spirit 40.

His main body still gained 40 attribute points each time it leveled up.

Su Jiang switched to Kurumi's status panel.

System Prompt: Your Life Level has received a slight release...

Base attribute growth increased to 13.

Current Attributes:

Attack: 52 ((Strength + Intelligence) / 2, attack calculation method for balanced development)

Defense: 5.2 (Constitution × 0.1)

Health: 520 (Constitution × 10)

Mana: 260 (Spirit × 5)

Time Value: 53

Attributes (Balanced Development): Strength 52, Intelligence 52, Constitution 52, Spirit 52.

Sure enough, Kurumi's panel increased its attribute growth cap by one with every level.

At Level 10, Kurumi's template would have 400 more attributes than others out of thin air.

Truly absurd!

Su Jiang remembered that, in his previous life, Kurumi's template had a final limit of gaining 400 attribute points per level...

Tsk tsk. World-destroying.

While a large number of players went to drive away rats, Su Jiang continued taking rare quests and killing monsters to level up.

Before the change limiting players to only ten quests a day appeared, he had to complete as many as possible.

Otherwise, there would no longer be such an easy way to gain experience and copper coins!

Just as Su Jiang completed another five rare quests and reached Level 5 (70% experience), a game announcement suddenly appeared above the Novice Village.

Ding—System Prompt: Due to the actions of No. 13 Novice Village players, a large number of rats have been driven from their homes. Homeless and gazing longingly toward their former nests, the rats have decided to invite the Rat King from the forest to avenge them! Please assist the village chief in resisting the Rat King's attack!

Ding—System Prompt: The Golden Lifeform Rat King will appear in the fields in ten minutes. Please prepare yourselves.

Ding—All players who enter the No. 13 Novice Village fields will automatically accept the resistance task. Completing the task will yield generous rewards! If the task fails, the Novice Village's crops will be destroyed, and all players will enter a Hunger state (all attributes reduced by 10%) for one day.