Chapter 9 – A Hidden Quest
System prompt: You have levelled up!
System prompt: Your basic attributes have increased!Strength +3Stamina +2Agility +2Intelligence +2Spirit +1
The Mutated Black Goblin died without incident. It was Level 4 but the experience it gave was several times more than a normal Black Goblin, and Chen Mo’s experience increased by over 30% in a shot!
Crash!
The instant the Mutated Black Goblin crashed to the ground, a large number of copper coins and items burst forth from its body. Chen Mo was surprised. This was the first time he saw so many items come from one monster.
“105 bronze coins, Low Level Mutated Strength Drug, Low Level Mutated Stamina Drug, Low Level Mutated Agility Drug, Low Level Mutated Intelligence Drug, Low Level Mutated Spirit Drug, Low Level Mutated HP Drug and a pair of Goblin Shoes. Mutated monsters sure are rich! All the monsters I killed combined didn’t drop as many as this one fellow.”
Chen Mo picked up the items and checked them.
He had killed about 50-60 goblins but only got less than 50 bronze coins. This one Mutated Black Goblin yielded more than all of them.
Chen Mo was considered a rich man to have 150+ bronze coins at Level 4 but the Mutated Drugs were more valuable than the coins by far.
Low Level Mutated Strength Drug: Increases player’s Strength by 20. Deals additional 20 damage to enemies when using physical attacks. Drug effects last for 10mins. Cooldown 15mins.
Low Level Mutated Stamina Drug: Increases player’s Stamina by 20. When the player is attacked, all damage taken by player is reduced by 20. Drug effects last for 10mins. Cooldown 15mins.
Low Level Mutated Agility Drug: Increases player’s Agility by 20. Movement speed increased by 3 points. Drug effects last for 10mins. Cooldown 15mins.
Low Level Mutated Intelligence Drug: Increases player’s Intelligence by 20. Deals 20 additional magical damage to enemies when using magic attacks. Drug effects last for 10mins. Cooldown 15mins.
Low Level Mutated Spirit Drug: Increases player’s Spirit by 20. When the player uses a healing skill, the target receives additional 20% healing result. Drug effects last for 10mins. Cooldown 15mins.
Low Level Mutated HP Drug: Instantly recovers 300HP, thereafter HP will increase by 30 every second. Drug effects last for 10mins. Cooldown 15mins.
Chen Mo had never seen what normal drugs looked like but these 6 Mutated Drugs were definitely better!
These drugs looked like they were best suited for those Level 10 and below but the special effects they had made it not a bad item for use at Level 20 or so.
If he had time, he could earn quite a sum by committing suicide over and over again to get more Mutated Drugs.
It was just wishful thinking though. Chen Mo felt that the spoils from killing a Mutated Black Goblin for the second time would definitely not be comparable to the first time. He could try if he got more chances but he wasn’t here to make these little sums of money. He won’t waste his time on it.
Now, these Goblin Shoes. Judging from the name it didn’t seem too bad. It was really just an ordinary White Quality equipment which increased both Strength and Movement by 1 point. It wasn’t much but it was the first equipment drop in the game for him.
Chen Mo equipped the shoes and walked out of the valley. To his surprise, the whole valley was actually sealed. Where the exit lay was a little teleportation platform.
Half an hour later, Chen Mo started running around a little beginner village called Ayr Town.
The little teleportation platform in the valley had brought him directly back to Ayr Town but Chen Mo had not started looking for vulnerabilities immediately. He had spent some time to go on the game’s forum.
He was glad he did.
Somebody else had already attempted to kill an important NPC. Players had attempted to attack all sorts of NPCs and found that though they were beginner village NPCs, they were still not killable by players. The players who tried to kill the NPCs were put in prison and the prison time ranged from an hour to over 4 hours.
He couldn’t kill NPCs anymore but there were plenty other things he could do.
Ayr Town began to suffer a mild calamity. Chen Mo went about causing mischief like he was born into the role of troublemaker. He chopped a chicken he’d passed by. He shaved a dog’s head bald. He cut off the whiskers of a cat… These were all little things but Chen Mo knew that these tiny details often escaped attention and that could mean a higher chance of uncovering loopholes.
Unfortunately, half an hour of Chen Mo’s furtive mischief-making yielded him no result.
System prompt: You have triggered the quest, “Lovers’ Rendezvous”. Would you like to accept the quest?
When causing mischief didn’t work and seemed to get him no results, Chen Mo started molesting the female NPCs. He had casually touched the boobs of the sexily dressed tailor shop boss named Enoch as he had walked past, and a system prompt pinged.
Chen Mo hesitated when he saw the system prompt. He didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
Is this one of those legendary hidden quests? Other players were trying desperately but unsuccessfully to uncover a quest like this, yet he had triggered one by causing trouble everywhere he went.
What now? Should I accept?
He had no idea how difficult it would be but it would certainly not be easy. Chen Mo had always seen his endeavours to the end and was not one to leave things unfinished. If he decides to accept the quest, he will complete it. This though, could cost him a lot of time in the process.
But… Ah, heck. Ayr Town seemed to be free of loopholes. He had to level up anyway so he could spend time finishing this quest and get more capital for after he got out of the beginner village. If the game did have loopholes… well, the loopholes won’t run away.
System prompt: You have accepted the quest “Lovers’ Rendezvous”!
Quest: Lovers’ Rendezvous
Quest difficulty: Unknown
Quest details: Enoch seems to have something to discuss with you. She has invited you to meet her alone at the northernmost corner of houses in Ayr Town at night.
Reward: Unknown
“Night… It’s still early.”
Game time is also divided into day and night but daylight is much longer. The game has 18 hours of daylight but 6 hours of night. These 6 hours correspond exactly to midnight to 6am in the real world.
It was just 8pm in the real world, so he had plenty of time. He decided to level up in the meantime.
He received a quest from an NPC to get rid of 20 Wild White Rabbits, then followed other players to the area outside Ayr Town.
“WTF? So many people?!”
Chen Mo felt suddenly ill when he got to the Wild White Rabbit spawn point.
How could you call this the Wild White Rabbit spawn point? The area’s coated with people!
The respawn light had not even faded before the Wild White Rabbits were slaughtered by the players around it.
Even though the rabbits spawned quickly, with a huge number appearing every 10 seconds, it was not easy to kill 20. If it hadn’t been for the rule that players under level 10 cannot PK, the area would be flooded with blood.
“Humph! Peasants! How hard is it to complete a quest? You! Form a circle around me! I only have a few more to go. The rest of the money will be transferred to your accounts immediately after I’m done!”
“Yes, Big Brother Green Mountain!”
China is massive and has all sorts of colourful characters. Chen Mo immediately had an insight to how the nouveau riche play games. That person did not do the task the hard way like other players but used his money to hire a group of people to form a barricade around a spawn point, allowing him to kill the monster leisurely without fear of anyone snatching it.
This Green Mountain guy was also extremely arrogant, provoking the other players near him. Quite a number of them were full of animosity towards him, but they gritted their teeth and pretended not to hear.
“Hey! You there! Baaaaabe! Wanna come in here with me? I’ll let you do your quest here with me, baby!”
Chen Mo was flabbergasted. Now I’ve seen everything! In real life, guys treat girls to meals or give presents when wooing her… In this game, guys invite pretty girls to kill monsters!
Chen Mo was not an overwhelmingly rich man like Green Mountain so he couldn’t employ the same methods but it’s easy to steal a kill as a hunter!
He found a repawn point and bent to set a Basic trap on the ground.
Heh heh! Once the rabbit spawns, the trap will explode! No need to calculate the best time – nobody can snatch the kill!
“A hunter? Heh! Dream on!”
A few of the surrounding players walked over with smirks on their faces and stepped on Chen Mo’s trap.
Boom!
The trap exploded but the players suffered no damage.
WTF? They countered him just like that?
Chen Mo stared disbelievingly.
Players can set off a trap, fine. But they don’t even get damaged? Damn it, the hunter class is too weak!