The developers had placed an extremely rare hidden quest in every starter village.
And as far as Lin Mo knew:
In my previous life, a student from Ning'an University accepted and completed Cloudside Town's hidden quest. Its rewards catapulted him from a nobody straight to the top of Cloudside Town's combat rankings!
Not only did his strength skyrocket, he also won the hundred-thousand cash prize for topping Cloudside Town's level rankings. He shot to the top both in the game and in real life!
That was precisely how Lin Mo had learned the way to trigger this hidden quest in Cloudside Town!
"Sorry, but I can't leave this quest to you again in this life!"
As he spoke, Lin Mo headed out of town.
Outside Cloudside Town.
Every level 1-2 wilderness zone was packed.
Countless new players hunted level 1 pheasants or level 2 wild boars in groups of three to five.
But even in parties, they were struggling.
White flashes signaling player deaths lit up among the crowds from time to time.
Mixed in with them were the players' curses:
"Goddammit! Why's this damn chicken so strong? A few pecks took off more than half my health!"
"Why is this game so hard? Get out here, devs! I've got a few choice words for you!"
"Fuck! Three of us can't even beat one pig? Why the hell are we playing games? We should go home and farm!"
Following the map, Lin Mo reached his destination ten minutes later: the level 1 shrubland.
Quite a few players were hunting weasels in parties here, too. Clearly, they had all accepted the [Retrieve the Eggs] quest.
Spotting a lone weasel ahead, Lin Mo casually cast Reconnaissance on it.
[Weasel] (Normal monster): Level: 1 Attack: 15 Defense: 1 HP: 60 Description: Little old me? I just love eating eggs...
It was no wonder those new players couldn't beat a single level 1 monster even with several people working together.
This weasel's stats were simply far too high!
"Fifteen attack. Two or three hits could kill a newbie..."
"That's brutal! Are the devs treating the players like Japanese soldiers?"
As he spoke, Lin Mo raised the World-Shattering · Flowing Light Sword.
He approached the lone weasel ahead.
Slash!
He brought his sword down, striking the weasel.
-113!
The triple-digit damage stood in stark contrast to the measly 3-4 damage most nearby players could deal.
It instantly emptied the weasel's full health bar.
Squeak, squeak...
With a muffled cry, the weasel collapsed.
[Ding! Killed a level 1 weasel. EXP +5!]
"Holy shit!?"
The surrounding players stared at the sight, dumbfounded.
"What was that damage?"
"He one-shot my weasel bro?"
"Dude, is your starter sword blessed or something? Why isn't mine like that?"
"Please party with me, boss!!!"
With that single swing, Lin Mo became the most sought-after player around.
Quite a few female players ran over to strike up conversations with him.
At that moment, Lin Mo fully appreciated the status and authority that strength brought!
No wonder strong players in my previous life were always surrounded by beautiful women, no matter how ugly they were!
For now, this was still just a game. Plenty of people felt it didn't matter if they were bad at it, since they didn't rely on it for a living.
Once Oracle devoured reality three months later, the value of being strong would only keep rising!
Lin Mo rejected every invitation from the women to join their parties.
Because...
"Women would only slow down my sword draw!"
He picked up an egg dropped beside the weasel's corpse.
Lin Mo stepped over the body and locked onto his next target.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
[Ding! Killed a level 1 weasel. EXP +5!] [Ding! Killed a level 1 weasel. EXP +5!]
His gold-grade weapon dealt outrageous damage!
He killed almost every weasel with a single swing.
After slaying twenty weasels in a row...
Whoosh!
A shaft of golden light fell over Lin Mo's head.
[Ding! Congratulations on leveling up! All five core stats +1, free stat points +3! Current level: 1. EXP required for next level: 250!]
He put all three free points into strength.
Lin Mo continued killing weasels.
One thing worth mentioning was that eggs had a 100% drop rate.
In less than half an hour, Lin Mo had killed a hundred weasels and collected a hundred eggs!
But aside from those, the drop rates for everything else were outrageously low!
Never mind that a hundred monsters hadn't dropped a single piece of equipment.
They had only dropped seventeen copper coins!
"Oracle really is as stingy as ever!"
Lin Mo couldn't help shaking his head.
He turned and left the shrubland.
He returned to Cloudside Town.
He found Auntie Li and turned in the quest.
[Ding! Congratulations on completing Retrieve the Eggs! Rewards received: EXP +50, copper coins +8, reputation +1, Auntie Li's affection +1!]
At the official 1:1 exchange rate, eight copper coins were worth eight yuan.
"Eight yuan for one quest. For a student, that's pretty damn sweet!"
After turning in the quest, Lin Mo took out another ten eggs and turned it in again!
The same quest could be completed repeatedly, and its rewards could be earned each time.
So he handed over the hundred eggs in ten batches, completing the quest ten times.
Lin Mo earned 500 EXP, eighty copper coins, ten reputation, and ten affection!
Whoosh!
Golden light washed down over his head.
Lin Mo, who had already reached level 2 with 30% progress toward the next level from killing weasels, smoothly advanced to level 3!
At the same time, the system notification Lin Mo had been waiting for sounded in his ears-
[Ding! Your affection with Auntie Li has reached 10 points. Auntie Li's affection level toward you has increased to level 1. Affection required for the next level: 100!]
"That's it!"
"Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Joy surged through Lin Mo.
The reason he had completed Auntie Li's quest ten times was to earn those ten affection points and raise her affection level to 1.
The unique hidden quest in Cloudside Town that she held could only be accepted by players with level 1 affection!
So Lin Mo continued his conversation with Auntie Li.
"Ma'am, is there anything else I can help you with?"
Auntie Li looked at Lin Mo with appreciation. "Young man, you seem like a good fellow. As it happens, there really is something troubling me that I'd like your help with. If you can solve this problem for me, I'll be sure to reward you generously!"
As soon as she finished speaking...
A pleasant notification sounded-
[Ding! Congratulations on triggering the E-rank hidden quest: Slay the Wolf King. Accept?]
Lin Mo, who had been too weak to encounter any hidden quests in his previous life, felt an indescribable excitement.
"Accept quest!"
[Slay the Wolf King] (E-rank hidden quest): Difficulty rating: 100 Description: The weasels are only a minor threat. Auntie Li's greatest threat is actually the Howling Moon Wolf King! The Howling Moon Wolf King often sends his underlings into Cloudside Town to steal and eat the chickens Auntie Li raises. Please travel to Wild Wolf Ridge and kill the wild wolves and the Howling Moon Wolf King... Quest progress: 0/30 (Wild wolves), 0/1 (Howling Moon Wolf King) Quest rewards: EXP +20,000, gold coins +1, reputation +50, Auntie Li's affection +50, random tier 2 equipment +1, random D-rank skill book +1... Time remaining: 11 hours, 59 minutes
Looking at those tempting quest rewards, Lin Mo couldn't help feeling his eyes light up.
"Now that's a hidden quest!!!"
"But with a difficulty rating of 100, this quest probably won't be easy."
Lin Mo opened the map and checked. Sure enough, Wild Wolf Ridge was a wilderness zone ranging from level 8 to level 10!
Even with a gold-grade weapon in hand, it was clearly beyond what Lin Mo could handle at his current level of just 3.
"Looks like I'll need to prepare first!"
Even as he spoke, Lin Mo seemed to have already come up with a plan.
After saying goodbye to Auntie Li, he headed straight toward the north of town.
Just as Lin Mo left...
Three male players around eighteen or nineteen, who looked like college students, came running over with eggs in their arms.
One of them, a skinny young man with the ID [Skinny Monkey], eyed Lin Mo's retreating figure suspiciously. "Xiao, that guy looked like he turned in this quest a bunch of times just now. Don't tell me he already took Auntie Li's hidden quest?"
"Impossible!"
The young man named [Wind Soughs Sadly], who stood a full 185 centimeters tall and had handsome, refined features, said, "I took out a twenty-thousand-yuan loan just to buy this information from a friend who worked on Oracle's game design. He said you can trigger Auntie Li's unique hidden quest by raising her affection to level 1."
"No one besides the three of us knows this secret!"
The other young man, a chubby fellow with an honest, good-natured face named [Pang Dahai], scratched his head and muttered, "But what if he really did take the quest? What do we do then?"
Staring at Lin Mo, Wind Soughs Sadly's deep eyes concealed a murderous intent that someone his age should never have possessed. "If he really dares steal my quest, I'll make him cough up every last bit of it!"
Before you continue