Regarding the Matter of Encountering a Father in the Game

Chapter 3: "On the Matter of Meeting My Dad in the Game"

"Honestly, after playing games for so long, this is the first time I've felt ripped off."

The Minotaur grumbled to the Tyrannosaurus Warrior as he swung his pickaxe, mining ore.

"What kind of NPC actually charges money to give out quests?"

"It is a bit like that," the Tyrannosaurus Warrior agreed, then offered his own perspective. "But I don't think that's the real issue here."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Look at the quest panel."

The Minotaur, confused, opened his quest panel.

Besides the quest issued by [???], there was nothing else on the panel.

"Look at the quest description. Did he even mention what the reward is?"

The Minotaur froze.

Having played countless games over the years, he immediately understood and said, "He really didn't. Could it be that this quest isn't just about mining?"

"Exactly, this must just be a prerequisite quest," the Tyrannosaurus Warrior said with great certainty. "The characters we played in single-player blockbusters were protagonists with established roles in the game's story. But Kingdom of Heavenly Principles is different. According to the official promotion, it's an exploration game. To the NPCs here, we're travelers, strangers. They wouldn't trust us right off the bat, so what we're doing now is earning their trust."

The Minotaur listened to the Tyrannosaurus Warrior's lengthy explanation and suddenly had an epiphany.

"So that's how it is. Brother, how can you analyze things so clearly? What do you do in real life?"

"Just a regular gamer," the Tyrannosaurus Warrior replied without a hint of embellishment.

"Alright, let's hurry up and mine more ore. Maybe we can even increase the NPC's favorability."

[You have chosen to deliver ore (100/10)]

[Confirm?]

"Confirm."

"."

Linton stared at the two large sacks of ore in front of him, lost in thought.

Are all players this enthusiastic nowadays?

He hadn't even hinted at anything, and due to his inexperience with issuing his first quest, he'd forgotten to include the reward details. Yet, they had completed the quest beyond expectations.

"Thank you for your help. Please accept this small token of my appreciation."

[Quest Complete]

[Reward Obtained: Gold Coins x1000, Character Experience x100]

"..." The Minotaur looked at the reward and fell silent for a moment, then suppressed his voice. "It really is just a small token of appreciation!"

The Tyrannosaurus Warrior also hadn't expected such a stingy reward. He could only stare hopefully at Linton, waiting for a follow-up quest.

In reality, they had misunderstood Linton.

In his previous life, the most criticized aspect of Kingdom of Heavenly Principles among most players was the excessively slow character leveling.

Defeating a normal monster yielded only a few dozen experience points, an elite monster around a hundred, and even higher-level bosses only five hundred.

Linton was currently level eighteen, still in the novice stage, but he needed twelve thousand experience points to level up. This meant he would have to defeat at least twenty-five boss monsters to level up.

If it were just that, it would be manageable, but the problem was that monsters only respawned after a certain time!

This was just the early game. By level eighty or ninety, facing hundreds of thousands or even millions of experience points needed for a single level was a truly despair-inducing thought.

Despite this, players had repeatedly requested modifications in Kingdom of Heavenly Principles's surveys, but the official response was always silence.

Fortunately, character level wasn't particularly critical. As long as your operational skills were good enough, you could defeat some bosses without taking damage even at level one. This didn't significantly ruin the game experience, so players eventually let it go.

Now, the Minotaur and the Tyrannosaurus Warrior had just transferred from other games. Compared to the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of experience points characters in other games often gained, Linton's quest reward was indeed a bit meager.

But Linton felt somewhat wronged.

He had actually set the quest experience to the maximum he could possibly give.

Mining quests were considered one of the simplest types of quests in the game, classified as [Daily].

And daily quests, regardless of where, only awarded a hundred experience points.

If he could, Linton would have gladly given more. This was because he also received one-fifth of the experience points he rewarded. The more he rewarded, the more he gained himself – a win-win situation, who wouldn't love that?

Unfortunately, he was ganked by the system and couldn't give more.

He could give more gold coins, but gold coins weren't very important to early-game players, especially in a closed beta that would be wiped. Giving too much would be pointless and would just be swallowed by the system.

Therefore, to avoid his money going down the drain, Linton had to play it smart.

Facing their expectant gazes, he spoke, "Two travelers from afar, your journey will not end here, will it?"

"Here it comes!"

The Tyrannosaurus Warrior and the Minotaur's eyes lit up simultaneously—though the sight of the red-skinned pompadour and the blue-skinned Minotaur's eyes glowing green was somewhat bizarre.

The Tyrannosaurus Warrior's head spun rapidly. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the turning point of the mission. We should have two options: continue traveling or stay here."

"Which one do we choose?"

The Minotaur had long since given up thinking.

Why use his brain when he had a master leading the way?

"Choose the first one!" the Tyrannosaurus Warrior replied after a moment's thought. "Since our identity is that of travelers, it's natural that we wouldn't make a decision that goes against our persona. If we choose the second option, he might suspect our identity, thus lowering his trust in us, and preventing the second mission from triggering."

The Minotaur was utterly impressed by the master's analysis. "Ah, yes, yes, yes! Then how should we answer him?"

The Tyrannosaurus Warrior smiled faintly. "This is just the first stop on our journey. Of course, we won't stop chasing the wind."

So true, brother!

Linton's lips, hidden beneath his hood, were almost crooked with a smile. "If that's the case, your journey will inevitably encounter various crises. Coincidentally, I have many items here that can enhance your strength. Would you like to take a look?"

"Look at this skill book. You're a mage, right? How can a mage not know the essential Fireball Spell for lighting fires? Get one, not for 114514, not for 8848, only 998, and take the skill book home."

"And you, sir, esteemed guest, look at the weapons I have here. They are all exquisite, and also only 998. They are all crafted by master hands, quality guaranteed!"

[[???] has opened a personal shop for you]

"Huh?"

The two players were completely dumbfounded.

This was a little different from what they had imagined.

Why did it feel so familiar, like visiting a souvenir shop at a tourist attraction?

However, upon seeing the goods in the shop.

The Tyrannosaurus Warrior unhesitatingly deleted the title of the game review he had written in his mind.

"On How Hidden NPCs Are So Deceptive" (X)

"On Me Meeting a God in the Game" (√)