The next day, Fang Xinhan and Yuan Qingchen woke up early.
The two of them were here for a mission, not a vacation.
"By the way Qingshui, what level are you?"
Fang Xinhan asked.
"Me? Level 5. Oh, I haven't told you yet, but you can only check your attributes once you reach Level 5. You probably can't see your attributes right now."
Fang Xinhan was quite curious about this. He wasn't sure why the instance game restricted viewing one's attributes until Level 5.
His current level was Level 3, and he probably needed some more experience to reach Level 4.
However, due to the special nature of the instance game, experience would only be settled after the game ended.
"Today we have to work to continue living in this house, but I'm a little curious what kind of work it is?"
Yuan Qingchen recalled what the Old Town Chief said yesterday.
"Let's go to the town center and ask the Old Town Chief for work first, then look for clues. By the way, do you have a weapon?"
Yuan Qingchen took out his Sacred Dao Sword (Tetanus Cleaver).
Fang Xinhan's mouth twitched, then he threw a stone sword to Yuan Qingchen.
"Although it's not as strong as my white sheath, this stone sword is good enough for self-defense."
Yuan Qingchen actually wanted to say that his weapon was quite strong, but after taking the weapon offered to him and looking at it, he decisively swallowed his words.
"It's really good."
The two tidied up a bit. After all, it was someone else's house, and they were just staying there. Not cleaning up would make them seem ill-mannered.
Then Fang Xinhan and Yuan Qingchen arrived at the town center. At this time, almost everyone in the town was there. Men, women, and children of all ages were waiting for the Old Town Chief to speak.
After a long time, the Old Town Chief spoke.
"Go to the church."
Then everyone followed the Old Town Chief towards the church. Upon reaching the church, they saw everyone inside, and a man dressed as a priest was holding a book.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, he slowly began to recite, and everyone closed their eyes and listened attentively. Fang Xinhan and Yuan Qingchen did the same.
After a long while, the priest finished reciting, and people dispersed to do whatever they needed to do. At this moment, the Old Town Chief walked over.
"This is a daily ritual in the town, to let people listen to the Lord's teachings. The Lord will bless us."
Fang Xinhan and Yuan Qingchen were not surprised. People who believe in the Lord are not a minority.
"Alright, now you need to work."
The Old Town Chief arranged for two young men to come over.
"Kent, Rainer, you two teach them."
The man with a sunny and cheerful face, resembling Henry Cavill, was named Kent. The other handsome man with a buzz cut was named Rainer.
"Okay, Old Town Chief. Outsiders like you certainly haven't done this kind of work before."
Then Kent and Rainer led Fang Xinhan and his companion to a small riverbank.
"Our job is to find these stones before noon. Stones found after noon won't count."
Fang Xinhan and his companion approached to observe. It was a kind of black but very lustrous stone.
"What's the use of this kind of stone?"
Yuan Qingchen felt that besides being pretty, this stone didn't seem to have any other use.
"I don't know. Anyway, the Old Town Chief told us to collect them before noon and hand them over to him. He didn't say anything else."
Rainer said indifferently, then began to search.
Fang Xinhan and Yuan Qingchen didn't say a word and also started searching. Time passed quickly, and it was almost noon before they knew it.
Kent looked at the time and said,
"That's enough. Once we hand them over to the Old Town Chief, our work for today is done."
"What kind of work is this?"
Yuan Qingchen complained. He had expected to move things or do some heavy physical labor, but it turned out to be just picking up stones?
Fang Xinhan and his companion handed the black stones they had collected to Kent, then the two went back to turn in the quest.
After the two left, Fang Xinhan took out another black stone and looked at it, seemingly trying to discern something.
"Isn't this the stone we just picked up? What's so interesting about it?"
Yuan Qingchen asked, but Fang Xinhan didn't speak, just quietly looked at the stone in front of him. As noon arrived, the black stone in Fang Xinhan's hand changed.
The originally smooth and flat stone became uneven, then shattered.
"What's going on?"
Yuan Qingchen was also full of questions when he saw this scene.
"I don't know, but this kind of stone must have some purpose. Don't think about it now, let's look for clues. You go and ask around among the townspeople, and I'll go to the Old Town Chief. If we split up, we should be able to get some information."
Immediately, the two separated. Fang Xinhan went to the Old Town Chief's house, while Yuan Qingchen went to mingle with the townspeople.
Knock, knock, a knocking sound rang out. The Old Town Chief opened his front door, and standing outside was Fang Xinhan.
"Outsider, is something wrong?"
The Old Town Chief's voice was full of doubt, as if he hadn't expected Fang Xinhan to come.
"Old Town Chief, can we talk? About those 'vegetable people'."
As soon as Fang Xinhan finished speaking, the Old Town Chief's expression became solemn.
"I told you, you can't open the door at night. You have violated the town's rules."
The Old Town Chief's voice carried displeasure.
Fang Xinhan, however, showed a slight smile, but since Fang Xinhan was wearing an Ultraman mask and under the influence of the instance game, no one could tell.
"Old Town Chief, to be honest, we came here to eliminate these monsters."
The Old Town Chief's solemn expression suddenly froze.
"You are Exorcists?"
"In a sense, yes."
Fang Xinhan hadn't expected to have such a professional identity in the eyes of these NPCs.
The Old Town Chief stroked his white beard with his right hand as if thinking about something, then finally sighed and gestured for Fang Xinhan to come in.
Fang Xinhan entered the Old Town Chief's house, which was quite simple inside.
Fang Xinhan looked around and saw a photo frame on a small wooden table. In the frame, a family of three showed happy smiles.
The Old Town Chief seemed to notice Fang Xinhan's gaze and explained,
"These are my wife and child, but they are no longer here."
As he spoke, the Old Town Chief's expression became sad. Fang Xinhan hadn't expected his casual glance to plunge someone into painful memories and quickly apologized. The Old Town Chief waved his hand, indicating it was fine.
"Since you are an Exorcist and came to eliminate these monsters, feel free to ask anything you want."
"Then, Old Town Chief, do you know what's going on with these mists and monsters?"
"It might be related to him."
The Old Town Chief reminisced.
"His name is Chuckel. He was a man deeply obsessed with witchcraft. He was originally an ordinary person, but suddenly one day, he found an ancient witchcraft manual from who knows where.
When he first got the witchcraft manual, he scoffed at the witchcraft inside. Nothing more, the spells recorded in that manual were too evil.
But he still couldn't resist the temptation to become a wizard and performed his first witchcraft spell according to the manual.
After that, he became more and more reckless, even starting to use dead people to create spells. That time, to prove to us that he was a wizard, he summoned the deceased from their graves.
The deceased hated the living. They attacked us, and my wife and child also died there."
As he spoke, the Old Town Chief's eyes filled with tears.
"What happened to Chuckel after that?"
"After that, I opened an ancestral book from my family and found a way for the deceased to return to the underworld. Chuckel was also driven out of the town by everyone, and then the mist came, followed by the monsters.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, my ancestors had wizards, but not the evil kind."
The Old Town Chief specifically explained, fearing Fang Xinhan would misunderstand.
"What are those black stones?"
"Those are the blessings we receive from the Lord every day when we pray. These blessings are placed in a special magic array to protect the town's safety."
(PS: What do you think the magical fishing rod will catch? ) (๑•̌.•̑๑)ˀ̣ˀ̣