Xin Yu seemed to have forgotten about the after-dinner walk, rushing into her room right after eating. I was happy to have some peace and quiet, so after glancing at the forums, I logged into the game.
At my current level 11, I was only ranked 87th in China. I really had no idea how the 86 players ahead of me managed to level up so quickly. But it didn't matter; I was just here to pan for gold, not to conquer the world.
After returning to the village, I found the Thief's class trainer.
"Are you willing to become a Thief, hidden in the shadows?"
"Yes!"
"Ding~!"
System Prompt: Your talent is not suitable for the Thief class. Please choose another profession!
What? Not suitable? What kind of nonsense is this? My dream assassination class, is it really going to be stillborn?
Looking at the trainers for other classes around me, I reluctantly chose Warrior.
"Are you willing to become a Warrior? Please choose the direction you wish to develop in! Becoming a Warrior requires two gold coins!"
Looking at the options that appeared before me, I was completely bewildered. Do Warriors also have development paths?
1. Swordsman 2. Battle Axe Warrior
Since I was currently holding a sword, I naturally chose Swordsman.
"Ding~!"
System Prompt: Congratulations on becoming the first Swordsman in this village. Reward: EXP +300!
I was speechless. Why was the reward EXP and not a divine artifact? And only 300 EXP... After completing the class change, "Apprentice Swordsman" appeared as a small line of text below my name. So, I was just an apprentice...
With the class change complete, the next step was, of course, learning skills, which was also the most expensive part.
I opened the skill page available for learning and found that there were only two skills I could learn: "Heavy Strike" and "Combo." Each cost 50 silver coins.
Heavy Strike: Level 1 increases the damage of this attack by 10%. The higher the skill level, the more obvious the attack effect. Skill cooldown is 10 seconds (meaning Heavy Strike can be used once every 10 seconds).
Combo: Frequently attacks the target. Each attack deals half of the user's base attack damage. The higher the skill level, the more attacks are dealt!
They both looked good, so I learned them all!
Another 1 gold coin was gone, but in return, I gained two skills with 0 proficiency.
What next? Leveling up, of course!
I was currently level 11 and a half. I needed to reach level 12 soon to equip the pine forest greatsword. A beautiful future seemed to be right before my eyes!
I returned to Wild Wolf Valley and walked directly to the level 11 monster area. As expected, all the monsters had respawned. Being two levels higher, my attack and defense had both increased significantly, so I certainly didn't put them in my eyes. I continued with my old method, hiding among the rocks and slaughtering the level 11 Dire Wolves one by one. This was probably unimaginable for most current players, as few people had such high defense to tank monsters. Currently, there were no Priest classes, which meant players had to rely on potions to withstand monster attacks. Unfortunately, items at the village Pharmacy were exorbitantly expensive, and no one could afford them.
The most crucial point was that the game design was quite abnormal; there were no level 5, 6, or 7 monsters. After level 4 Wild Dogs, it was directly level 8 Dire Wolves, which level 4 players simply couldn't contend with. So, most players were still killing level 4 Wild Dogs. After reaching level 5, the experience gained from killing Wild Dogs would decrease, making it even harder to reach level 6. Without reaching level 7 and without good weapons, it was impossible to fight against level 8 Dire Wolves.
I kept hacking at the monsters repeatedly, and an hour passed by in a flash. After a flash of red light, I leveled up to 12. I immediately equipped the pine forest greatsword and put my attribute points into Strength. Since I chose Swordsman, I might as well go all in and be a Strength Warrior to the end!
With the new weapon, my attack power immediately increased significantly, and my personal attributes reached an enviable level:
Qing Cai Bai Yu Tang (Apprentice Swordsman)
Level: 12
HP: 402
Attack: 50-86
Defense: 54
Reputation: 60
Luck: 0
Equipment:
Two-Handed — [pine forest greatsword] (green equipment)
Attack: 24-45
Strength: +8
Stamina: +7
Required Level: 12
Chest — [Soldier's Armor] (green equipment)
Defense: 22
Stamina: +4
Strength: +3
Required Level: 8
Legs — [Dire Wolf Leggings] (green equipment)
Defense: +8
Stamina: +3
Strength: +2
Required Level: 4
... A level 12 character actually had three pieces of equipment with decent attributes. This was quite impressive at the moment, at least beyond what most players, who were still hovering around level 5, could imagine.
Wielding the greatsword, even without a critical hit, my current attack power could deal over 120 damage to a level 11 Dire Wolf monster, almost doubling my overall stats. I could take down a level 11 monster in four or five hits. I had even killed the Dire Wolf Leader again, but unfortunately, it only dropped money and nothing else. It was then that I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to turn in the quest when I went back to the village for the class change...
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I roughly calculated that I had been online for 18 consecutive hours. No wonder even an old night owl like me felt tired. However, what surprised me were the girls I was playing with. Looking at my friends list, seven names were still lit up. These guys usually paid close attention to their rest; they must have gone completely crazy by now.
"Beauties, it's 7:45 PM. Please rest, it's time to sleep. Get up early tomorrow!"
I sent a group message and quickly received replies:
"Okay, I'm going to sleep right away. Do you want me to make you a cup of coffee?" — This was from Lu Xuehan.
"Yes, sleep early. I'll call you promptly at 3 AM!" — Xu Lin replied.
"Do you want me to sleep with you? Oh, by the way, let's change our date to tomorrow night. How about a secret rendezvous tonight?" — 555, this was Xin Yu's reply... Liu Yun remained as cold and aloof as ever, only replying: "Okay, sleep!"
Li Qing was probably being chased by monsters, her words coming in fragments: "Okay, sleep... sleep..."
JOLY replied with something that made me break out in a cold sweat: "Alright, but we can't sleep together~" — I really didn't know how long this girl would keep up her innocent act. She was already 24, yet she still acted like an inexperienced young girl all day long. Heaven knows how many men she had been with... Compared to JOLY, Guo Zi was truly innocent. She simply replied: "Okay!" After that, I saw her go offline. It seemed she was also on the verge of collapsing...
After replying to and comforting each of them, I returned to the village. In the dilapidated auction house in the center of the village, I listed my level 4 Green Greatsword for 20 gold, including my contact number and city in the information, and then logged off to sleep.