Update Time: 2014-02-17
This hunter wasn’t a player. Well, players don’t wear tiger skin equipment, nor would a player come here to kill Three-Eyed Bulls with just a wooden bow! Alright! Lin Zheng didn’t pay much attention to that; he just saw the NPC name, Wang Hu, above the hunter’s head!
An NPC killing monsters in the wild? Anyone who isn’t a complete novice at the game would guess that this NPC definitely has a quest!
Lin Zheng immediately rejoiced; he hadn’t expected to encounter such a good thing while gathering milk. He quickly walked over, preparing to talk to Wang Hu and obtain the quest.
Lin Zheng was less than ten meters away from Wang Hu when, unexpectedly, a Greatsword Knight suddenly appeared, with his character ID clearly displayed above his head—Brilliant Heavy Cavalry!
Upon seeing each other, both were somewhat surprised. Immediately, both became wary. Who knew if the quest from Wang Hu was unique? If it was unique, then only one of them could accept the quest, and a quest appearing on a 40+ map would certainly offer substantial rewards. Neither wanted to just hand over the quest!
“Swordfighter?!” Looking at Lin Zheng holding the Sword Blade Bow, Brilliant Heavy Cavalry immediately recognized his profession. “A Swordfighter who can grind monsters in such a high-level map, I guess you must be Yi Ping, right?!” Lin Zheng hadn’t revealed his character name, so Brilliant Heavy Cavalry could only guess.
“You’re right, that’s me!” Lin Zheng didn’t try to deny it and simply nodded in admission!
“Oh?” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry raised an eyebrow and asked, “Our Glorious Guild is preparing to establish a guild and recruit Expert players from all over. Are you interested in joining us?”
“My apologies!” Lin Zheng shook his head. “My friends and I are planning to establish our own guild, so I won’t be joining any other guilds!”
“Hmph! Is that so?!” Lin Zheng’s refusal and his declaration of establishing his own guild made Brilliant Heavy Cavalry very displeased! However, displeasure aside, facing a player ranked third on the Heaven Rankings, Brilliant Heavy Cavalry didn’t dare to underestimate him, though his tone became much more arrogant. If they weren’t friends, they were enemies, so why be polite to this fellow!
“So, what do you plan to do about the current situation?” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry glanced at Wang Hu and asked.
“It’s very simple!” Lin Zheng said. “Although I’ve been killing monsters here all afternoon, and I discovered this NPC first, since you’ve also appeared, saying that the quest on him is solely mine would be a bit unreasonable. How about this: let’s leave it to luck. Both of us go up and see who can accept the quest!”
“Good!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry agreed readily!
“Then let’s go!” With that, Lin Zheng turned and walked towards Wang Hu, but at that moment, a fierce glint flashed in Brilliant Heavy Cavalry’s eyes, and he suddenly swung his sword down at Lin Zheng! “Clang—” Lin Zheng quickly turned, raising his shattered moon to parry the incoming sword strike.
“Hmph! I knew you had ill intentions when you agreed so readily!” Lin Zheng sneered!
“So what if you know? Today, I’m going to kill you!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry’s face was grim. After parrying, his body, which was forcibly pushed back, leaned forward, and with a push of his feet, he unleashed a Stomp towards Lin Zheng! Lin Zheng was slightly surprised. This guy had some skill; he could recover from a disadvantaged state and launch an attack so quickly—that’s not common! But Lin Zheng wasn’t to be trifled with either. Facing the Stomp that came whistling through the air, there wasn’t enough time to dodge, so Lin Zheng opted for a damage-for-damage trade-off. A Stomp landed on the ground, bang! At the same time, Brilliant Heavy Cavalry’s Stomp also struck Lin Zheng, -1420, a considerable amount of damage!
However, in comparison, -2410 damage floated above him!
“How is that possible?!” Seeing the damage, Brilliant Heavy Cavalry was greatly alarmed, but before he had a chance, Lin Zheng slightly raised his foot and delivered a low kick, *thwack*! Another -2300!
“You! Your weapon is shattered moon?! A Gold-grade item?!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry roared in shock and anger!
“Hehe! Good eyesight! It is shattered moon!” Lin Zheng, who had retreated several meters, said with a mischievous smile. Brilliant Heavy Cavalry had been hit by a low kick, and as a melee combatant, he was now at Lin Zheng’s mercy!
“You! Let’s talk this over!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry looked at Lin Zheng drawing his bow and felt a little afraid. Dying once meant losing a level, which would take a lot of time to regain. At the beginning of the game, everyone cherished their levels like their lives, and he was no exception!
“Talk it over! It’s very easy to talk over! We’ll have a good talk next time we meet!” With that, Lin Zheng unhesitatingly released the energy bowstring in his hand. “Whoosh—” The dagger turned into a golden light and struck Brilliant Heavy Cavalry, -2140. Good heavens, his health was truly thick; he still wasn’t dead! Having not been instantly killed, Brilliant Heavy Cavalry began to flee. Brilliant Heavy Cavalry undoubtedly knew how to escape from an Archer’s pursuit; his Z-shaped movement was very precise and difficult to lock onto. At the same time, he desperately consumed potions; every bit of extra health meant another chance to escape! Unfortunately, in the low kick state, his movement speed was reduced by 21%, and he ultimately couldn’t escape Lin Zheng’s sniping, being shot dead with an arrow on the edge of Qingfeng Forest.
“Damn it! You wait, I won’t let you off!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry spat out a threat as he fell to the ground. He was quite lucky; nothing dropped. Lin Zheng, seeing this, couldn’t be bothered with him and strode towards Wang Hu, who was still hunting.
“Young man, you’re in high spirits! You have time to play arrows against cows here!” Lin Zheng walked up to Wang Hu and said. Wang Hu was a young fellow, frowning at the Three-Eyed Bulls, having not managed to hit a single one. It seemed he felt his own strength was insufficient!
Seeing Lin Zheng appear, Wang Hu showed a surprised expression, then happily said, “Hello, big brother! You look like a powerful warrior at a glance. Can you help me with a favor?”
“Quest ‘Night Banquet One’ triggered. Quest difficulty: C-rank, lower grade. Accept?”
Night Banquet One? So that means there’s a Two, Three, Four, and so on?! It’s a series quest, very good, very nice! Lin Zheng happily accepted it. After accepting the quest, Wang Hu then said, “It’s like this: the City Lord is holding a grand banquet tonight to welcome the Princess from Red South City, and the City Lord’s Mansion is currently lacking many high-grade ingredients, so I was sent out to gather them. I now need 400 portions of Three-Eyed Bull meat, but I cannot defeat these powerful creatures. If you help me gather enough Three-Eyed Bull meat, I will give you a very generous reward!”
“Quest commission accepted. Under quest status, you can gather Level 7 material ‘Beef’! Quest time limit: 40 minutes. Gather 400 portions of beef. If not completed within the quest time, the quest fails, and all skill proficiency gained from gathering beef will be reset to zero!”
Upon hearing the prompt, Lin Zheng’s eyes immediately sparkled. This quest, not to mention the reward upon completion, even the quest process itself was a huge reward! Level 7 cooking materials could actually be gathered immediately, wouldn’t his proficiency just skyrocket?! In his surprise, Lin Zheng patted his chest and said, “No problem, I’ll take care of this!” With that, Lin Zheng walked away and began to continue hunting Three-Eyed Bulls. The poor Three-Eyed Bulls once again faced a great calamity because of Wang Hu’s arrival!
After shooting a Three-Eyed Bull to death, Lin Zheng quickly switched to his dagger and went forward to gather. “Ding—Gathering successful, obtained 3 portions of milk, 4 portions of beef, can gather 2 more times! Ding—Gathering successful, obtained 2 portions of milk, can gather 1 more time!…”
Holding the dagger, gathering one portion of beef gave 17 proficiency, it was truly amazing! This way, after the quest was completed, his gathering proficiency would increase significantly! Hmm! I need to hurry, there are only 40 minutes, I should try to gain as much proficiency as possible! A somewhat anxious Lin Zheng quickly hunted the next Three-Eyed Bull after finishing gathering.
More than 30 minutes passed in a blink of an eye, and Lin Zheng had unknowingly wandered far away. This trip was fruitful; his inventory now contained around 500 portions of beef and 600 portions of milk. When the gathering skill level is high, the success rate also increases significantly! Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gathered so much. Worried about accidentally forgetting the quest time, Lin Zheng quickly ran back to where Wang Hu was. Unexpectedly, just as he arrived, he found five more people around Wang Hu!
One of them was none other than Brilliant Heavy Cavalry, and the other four were also from the Brilliant Godslayer family: Brilliant Novice, Brilliant Mad Blade, Brilliant Mad Mage, and Glorious Healing Father. A Greatsword Knight, a Guard, an Archer, a Mage, and a Priest—what a complete setup, they were clearly preparing to fight a boss!
It was clear that these people were brought by Brilliant Heavy Cavalry to settle the score. Brilliant Heavy Cavalry went up to talk to Wang Hu, trying to see if he could accept the quest. As a result, Wang Hu smiled and said, “Thank you, but a big brother is already helping me, so I won’t trouble you!”
“Damn it! It really is a unique quest!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry turned around resentfully. Brilliant Novice, who was beside him, said, “How about we kill this NPC and see where that guy goes to turn in his quest!”
“Can’t kill him!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry said in a low voice. “This NPC’s name is golden; in Phantom Spirit, that means he’s a government official. Killing him will make us wanted in Tianshuang City! Besides, we still need him to lure out that damned Yi Ping!”
“Is that guy really that strong? You have 530 defense and heavy armor, yet he can hit you for around 2400 health in one go?” Brilliant Mad Blade asked, somewhat surprised.
“He has shattered moon, the second-ranked weapon on the weapon leaderboard!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry said with a dark expression. “However, just shattered moon, a Gold-grade item, can hardly have such high output. He must have other equipment, for example, the first-ranked Dark Gold-grade item on the accessory leaderboard, Cold Star!”
“Cold Star?” The Brilliant Godslayer members were greatly astonished, and then their eyes all showed greed. A Dark Gold-grade item, at this stage, was like a divine artifact. It was impossible not to covet it!
“Very likely!” Brilliant Heavy Cavalry said. “I heard he accepted a quest yesterday, and Pride Sword’s people even went to track him, but those idiots were too useless. More than twenty people were killed by Yi Ping’s group of five, with only six running back to Tianshuang City. After that, Yi Ping’s group’s levels soared, so it can be guessed that the experience from that quest must have been extremely rich! It might be the highest-level quest to appear in our Tianshuang City! Such a quest must have astonishing rewards! And someone heard in the equipment shop where they turned in the quest that Yi Ping’s reward was a ring, so I speculate that the chance of that ring being Cold Star is over ninety percent!”