Liu Family Village

Wu Shaozhen led the two women toward the Liu Family Village they had mentioned, with Silver Big Bad Wolf, who had already grown as tall as his knees, following at his feet. Beyond Black Wind Ridge lay Tiger Roar Forest. Its name alone suggested there were plenty of tigers inside, but he wondered how strong they were.

The three humans and one wolf entered Tiger Roar Forest. The two women huddled together, fear written across their faces as they cautiously followed behind Wu Shaozhen. He, on the other hand, looked completely unconcerned. His strength had increased dramatically, and he was eager to find some monsters to test it on.

"Roar!"

A roar rang out, and a huge tiger blocked their path. Both women were so frightened that they took two steps back, while Wu Shaozhen calmly cast Insight on it.

[Jungle Tiger]

Level: 21

Health: 48,000

Physical Attack: 520

Physical Defense: 280

Spell Defense: 220

Movement Speed: 105

Skill: Pounce: Pounces on the target, dealing 160% physical damage. Can knock down targets whose attack is lower than its own. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

After looking at the tiger's stats and then his own, Wu Shaozhen rubbed his nose. Was I really this strong already? Even a level 21 monster couldn't get through my defense?

Wu Shaozhen's defense was a whopping 543, so a tiger with only 520 attack really couldn't get through it. Even its skill would only deal a little over two hundred damage. To Wu Shaozhen, who had over five thousand health, that was barely a scratch.

Besides his full set of equipment, another reason for this was that Wu Shaozhen had invested nearly two hundred points in bone root. Players only received five attribute points per level from levels 0-10, totaling fifty points at level 10, and ten per level from levels 11-20, totaling another hundred. In other words, even a level 20 Shieldguard who put every point into bone root wouldn't have that much. Wu Shaozhen owed this to the attribute points awarded for his various first kills and first realm advancements, which left him with far more points than other players at his level. Besides, a Shieldguard's first choice would definitely be constitution, which offered clearly greater benefits than bone root.

With Immortal Body, Wu Shaozhen didn't have to worry about constitution at all. He had already achieved his little goal: becoming one ridiculously tanky Assassin!

A smile curled Wu Shaozhen's lips. Can't get through my defense? Now this is interesting. No more sneaky tactics today. I'm taking you head-on.

Wu Shaozhen immediately activated Extreme Speed and charged at the Jungle Tiger at blistering speed, opening with a full skill combo: Backstab, Crushing Blow, and Weak Point Break.

-1769 (Backstab ignored 50% defense; equipment ignored 15% defense)

-1754 Silenced!

-2490 Critical hit!

The three skills stripped away over six thousand of the Jungle Tiger's health and applied three stacks of poison.

Then Wu Shaozhen began using basic attacks. With Extreme Speed active, his attack speed reached 154%, or 2.5 strikes per second.

-1007

-1007

-1712 Four stacks of poison damage!

His damage per second exceeded three thousand-an utterly terrifying amount. Despite its 48,000 health, the Jungle Tiger lasted only a little over ten seconds before collapsing dead.

Wu Shaozhen licked his lips. "Fighting like this feels pretty good. After playing it safe for so long, am I finally going to start taking things head-on?"

"Forget it. Why waste the effort when poison can handle it? Wouldn't it be easier to land two hits and walk away?" In the end, Wu Shaozhen still felt that using poison was more satisfying.

Meanwhile, the two women standing some distance away stared at Wu Shaozhen in shock. "That was amazing! He killed such a huge tiger in just a few hits."

"Let's go," Wu Shaozhen called, continuing forward.

The two women hurried after him, their eyes filled with admiration as they watched his retreating back.

Wu Shaozhen led the two women and the wolf onward, cutting through everything in their path. It took over an hour to cross Tiger Roar Forest and reach Liu Family Village. Alone, he could have covered the ten kilometers in just over twenty minutes, but bringing the two women along slowed him down considerably.

Along the way, he killed twenty-four Jungle Tigers and gained 10,080 experience, bringing his experience to LV16: 17,486/80,000. His poison damage reached 452, and Immortal Body added 24 health, bringing its total health increase to 601 and his total health to 5,511.

Wu Shaozhen returned Silver Big Bad Wolf to the pet space and entered Liu Family Village with the two women. The little village had only a few dozen households and sat surrounded by mountains on three sides. The only side without mountains faced Tiger Roar Forest, which they had just crossed. Wu Shaozhen felt that something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Once the two women returned to the village, their earlier timidness vanished. They ran ahead, shouting, "Dad! Mom!"

Soon, the villagers of Liu Family Village came out one after another, all delighted to see that the two women had returned safely.

The women's parents were simple, honest villagers. After learning that Wu Shaozhen had saved their daughters, they thanked him profusely. When he saw them preparing to kneel and kowtow again, he hurriedly held them up to stop them, while inwardly grumbling:

Why does everyone only know how to kneel and kowtow? Couldn't they offer something practical instead?

Wu Shaozhen had agreed to escort the women home because he thought it was a quest. Yet he hadn't received a single quest notification from beginning to end, so this trip really had been nothing more than a good deed.

Man, why doesn't this game follow the usual script?

The women's parents kept trying to invite Wu Shaozhen inside for a meal, but he declined. He needed to return to the city to turn in his quest, then log off and eat. After all this running around, it was already noon.

Just as Wu Shaozhen was about to leave, an old man limped over with a walking stick and asked, "Young man, are you heading back to Jinling City?"

Wu Shaozhen nodded.

The old man hesitated for a moment. "Young man, could you do me a favor?"

Wu Shaozhen's eyes lit up. There really was a quest?

He hurriedly replied, "Sir, nothing makes me happier than helping others. What do you need me to do?"

With trembling hands, the old man took an aged parchment scroll from inside his robe and handed it to Wu Shaozhen. "Young man, could you take this parchment scroll back to Jinling City and give it to the city lord? Tell him that the seal is weakening, and that we hope he can send troops to guard it!"

Ding! The village chief of Liu Family Village has offered you a quest. Quest objective: Deliver the parchment scroll to the lord of Jinling City and relay the village chief's message. Quest reward: Unknown. Accept?

Oh? An unknown reward? Another hidden quest? Now that's more like it. Wu Shaozhen immediately accepted.

After accepting, Wu Shaozhen prepared to return to Jinling City. He said goodbye to the two women and crushed a Town Portal Scroll under their reluctant gazes.

Ding! A special quest is in progress. Town Portal Scrolls cannot be used.

"Motherf-damn it! I can't teleport back again? Jinling City is over twenty kilometers away! I have to run all the way back?" Wu Shaozhen was utterly exasperated. Back in Novice Village, there had been no Town Portal Scrolls for sale, so he had relied on his feet every single day. Now that he had reached the main city and bought Town Portal Scrolls, he still had to walk. He had never even used the scrolls he bought. That was seriously frustrating.

Well, I can't exactly give this parchment scroll back to that old man, can I? It's a hidden quest. The reward has to be good.

"Forget it. I'll call it exercise." Wu Shaozhen sighed and had no choice but to run toward Jinling City. This time, he had no one to escort, and he couldn't be bothered to clear out the tigers he encountered. He just wanted to get back as soon as possible.