After Lin Yi's combat power broke ten million, his expression gradually relaxed.
He stood at the edge of the cliff, letting the night breeze brush his face and carry away the restlessness in his heart.
In his previous life, his combat power had been only five hundred thousand when he left the novice village.
Su Xiaoya's had been ten million, a full twenty times his!
But now, at just level 7, his combat power had already broken ten million. What a leap!
And he still had enormous room to grow. At his current rate of growth, his combat power would reach ten billion by the time he left the novice village at level ten!
In terms of combat power alone, he would be a full thousand times stronger than Su Xiaoya had been when she left the village!
Twenty thousand times stronger than he himself had been when he left the village in his previous life!
A confident smile curled the corners of Lin Yi's mouth.
Even without the equipment and skills in the treasury, what monster could withstand even a single normal attack from him?
Just now, the [Tauren Chieftain], which had taken considerable effort to kill in his previous life, had trembled beneath his sword.
Just leveling up step by step already gave him ridiculously overpowered gains!
The other equipment in the treasury?
Nothing but trash!
In an excellent mood, Lin Yi finally reined in his slightly fluttering excitement and slowly walked toward the cavern.
He turned toward the portal, and with a flash of light, his figure disappeared into the blue vortex.
When he appeared again, he was back at the novice village's respawn point.
At the same time, a voice sounded in Lin Yi's ears once more:
"Congratulations! You have obtained free access to the North Pole teleportation array. The system will broadcast the player who unlocked the teleportation array. Would you like to hide your name?"
"No!"
Lin Yi answered calmly.
He knew that thanks to You Duoduo, Ma Ke, Lu Renjia, and their lackeys spreading the word, his reputation probably wasn't very good.
But so what?
An infamous reputation?
Arrogant and overbearing?
No!
Lin Yi wanted people to know that mere trash talk couldn't solve any problems.
But the strength of the weapons he carried could settle every dispute!
Anyone who refused to accept it was welcome to fight!
If they had the guts, he would oblige them anytime!
At the same time, three announcements echoed above the novice village!
"Ding! The novice village's North Pole teleportation array has been unlocked by player [Return to Zero]. Players may pay one year of lifespan to use the teleportation array and travel directly to the North Pole."
"Ding!..."
"Ding!..."
It was the dead of night in the novice village, and most people were still fondly reliving happy times with their families in their dreams.
But some shuddered and broke out in chills, and some even jolted upright from their dreams as though on their deathbeds!
"Mommy, I've been having this dream these past few days where I got sucked into another world to play a game. The rabbits there could suck away half my life with one bite!"
"Holy shit? Return to Zero? 'Zero Game' wasn't a dream?"
"Uh... did you guys not hear that earlier announcement about the human player named [Su Xiaoya]?"
"Who cares? Back to sleep!"
"Sleeping on the street tonight means I get to live five more days! Hehe!"
Lin Yi walked straight back to the inn. After wolfing down several meals, he lay quietly on his bed.
If there was another key in the treasury east of the novice village, he absolutely had to get it.
Three keys...
Maybe they could be combined into a legendary gold item!
He didn't need to worry about experience, either.
The village's collection quests should provide a level and a half's worth of experience.
Once Lin Yi gained another level and a half, his journey through the novice village would pretty much be over!
Although this level and a half...
Might take more effort than all his previous leveling.
"Tomorrow, I'll sort through my equipment and post the collection quests. Then it'll be time to head east!"
Lin Yi planned his daytime itinerary, then lay in bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Early the next morning, the clamor of voices rang out throughout Novice Village No. 4396.
"Did you guys hear last night? Someone's already left the novice village!"
"I know! There was something about a [Hell-Level Class Change Trial], too. Sounds freaking awesome!"
"The important part is that she's called [Su Xiaoya]. You can tell from the name that she's fair-skinned, rich, and beautiful!"
"Wait, isn't our village's [Return to Zero] pretty awesome too?"
"Awesome, my ass! A bunch of people said yesterday that [Return to Zero] tried to hog all the treasure, only for monsters to be lured over and wipe out his party!"
"Yesterday, someone called [Ma Kebolo] shared part of his logs. He said that after killing someone, you can get half the lifespan the victim loses!"
"Holy... shit! That's brutal! Surely nobody would be that crazy?"
"That Return to Zero is exactly that crazy! [Ma Kebolo] was killed and sent back to the village by [Return to Zero]!"
"Yesterday, [Renxin Envoy] took the teleportation array to the South Pole and soloed a giant bear boss. I heard it dropped a piece of equipment, but when he took the teleportation array back, another year of lifespan was deducted. His face was terrifyingly dark!"
"Good grief, these developers really are scummy! They even have hidden fees!"
"Ho... holy shit! The Bounty Board's been updated!"
"The Bounty Board? What's that?"
"The Bounty Board is a platform where players in our novice village can post quests for other players, but the system takes a 10% fee."
"So what's been updated? Let me have a look too..."
"Quest 1: Collect 100 bones that the village chief's [Wangwang] likes to eat. Time limit: 48 hours. Reward: 2 years. Posted by: Return to Zero."
"Quest 2: Collect 100 cartilaginous venomous stingers from [Green Caterpillars]. Time limit: 48 hours. Reward: 2 years. Posted by: Return to Zero."
"Quest 3: Collect 100 pairs of ears from [Ferocious Big White Rabbits]. Time limit: 48 hours. Reward: 2 years. Posted by: Return to Zero."
"Quest 15: Collect 100 pairs of eyes from [Flounders]. Time limit: 48 hours. Reward: 2 years. Posted by: Return to Zero."
"This, this, this!!!"
"Aren't these the experience quests everyone can only do once? I've helped someone do them before!"
"Big shot Return to Zero is willing to spend thirty years of lifespan for this 150% experience?"
"Wait, last time I only got two months as my quest reward. Return to Zero's offering twelve times that?"
"Why don't you think about where he got all that lifespan? It must all be ill-gotten! Not even a dog would take his quests!"
"What the fuck? I just refreshed. Why are all the quests gone?"
"They've all been fucking snatched up! Shit, I didn't get a single one! There go several hundred duck-leg rice meals!!!"
While everyone was discussing it and lamenting their losses, an exceptionally handsome young man, 1.8 meters tall, happened to stroll past.
He scratched his head and muttered to himself:
"If you won't do it, plenty of others will!"