Chapter 3 - Lonely Snow
Shi Feng walked on the path towards the town hall, crowded with people.
The less than spacious road was filled with players. They were conversing with the NPCs, taking the chance to obtain a Quest. Such a scene gave one a feeling of arriving at a market.
Unfortunately, it was not an easy task obtaining a Quest in God’s Domain. The main reason being, the NPCs had high intelligence, giving them the capability to hold one-to-one conversations. Also, players must watch what they say or risk being given the cold shoulder by the NPCs. And there was a tide of players as competition; obtaining an easily found Normal Quest was truly difficult.
After more than ten minutes since God’s Domain started, there had yet to be a single player within Red Leaf Town to receive a Normal Quest.
In comparison, Shi Feng’s advantage as a reincarnated person was truly great. Not only has he received a Quest, but it was a Unique Quest; albeit a slightly damnable one. However, a Unique Quest’s reward was incredibly generous. Even top-tier players who had played God’s Domain for a month would drool at the reward of this Unique Quest.
As a person who had been reincarnated, Shi Feng had the experience of leading thousands of people while he was in Shadow Workshop. They had even built ten City States. The amount of information on God’s Domain that was within his grasp far surpassed what the average player knew. It was especially true when it came to strategies on leveling up and earning money. These were the must-have essentials for a Workshop with thousands of players to grow in strength.
Now that he had been reincarnated and was playing God’s Domain again, Shi Feng wanted to use this information to accumulate a significant amount of advantages. It was all to build a better foundation for his future development. So naturally, he would not be imitating the average player, wasting hours on the streets just to fight over a single Normal Quest. Even more so, he would not be emulating those skilled players, using their refined techniques to kill monsters in the wild, because, at this moment, there were probably more players than monsters in the wild.
What Shi Feng wanted to do was to avoid these piles of players; hence why he chose the Unique Quest which had an absurd difficulty.
However, completing this Quest required money, something Shi Feng did not have right now.
Every player would receive 10 Copper Coins at the start of the game. Although it was not enough to buy a Weapon or Equipment, purchasing HP or MP replenishing refreshments was not a problem.
When Shi Feng arrived at the front of the two-storied Town Hall, he was met with a scene of hundreds of people, queuing up into a long line.
Regardless of which game it was, the Village Head or Town Mayor was unquestionably a target to receive Quests from. Naturally, no player would let this chance go.
“Hey newcomer, queue up if you don’t wanna cause a public outrage,” from within the queue, a simple and honest looking male Warrior looked at Shi Feng. The Warrior held up his hand, pointing towards the back of the line of people.
“I’m not here to receive a Quest.” Shi Feng said indifferently as he looked at the long line in front of the Town Hall.
Compared to the other locations, this place had great order and efficiency. Although it would take more time to receive a Quest, it was much better than some who could not receive one at all.
The male Warrior cautiously looked at Shi Feng. Everybody was frantically trying to receive a Quest right now... but there was someone who actually said that he wasn’t interested towards it? Not even a ghost would believe that!
“I’m honestly not here to receive a Quest,” Shi Feng looked at the male warrior. Seeing the person’s hostile eyes and how he thought Shi Feng had wanted to jump queue, Shi Feng said with a smile, “However, I advise you to receive a Quest somewhere else. You’ll just be pointlessly waiting here.”
“Why would it be pointless? There were already a few people who came out after receiving a Quest.” After determining that Shi Feng had no intention to jump queue, the male Warrior let out a sigh of relief. He had already been in the queue for over ten minutes now and he definitely would not want someone to cut in line. However, hearing Shi Feng’s firm tone made him curious as to why he would be waiting for nothing.
Shi Feng smiled but did not elaborate. Instead, he changed the topic saying, “Seeing as you’re not a bad person, I’ll point you towards a brighter path. Kill mobs in the fields. You’ll have a better future than remaining here.”
“I’m not going. There are too many monsters in the wild and I can’t compete with those other people. This place is still better” the male Warrior shook his head. He was not an idiot. At this moment, there were definitely tides of people out in the Field Area. With just his skills, he probably couldn’t even snatch a monster, so he was better off just waiting here.
“That’s because you went to the wrong place. If you go somewhere with few monsters, naturally, there wouldn’t be anybody to compete with you. Compared to the areas packed with both players and monsters, the leveling efficiency there is several times better. Not only that, the respawn rate of the monsters there is slow, so a single person could easily handle themselves,” Shi Feng said with a smile.
“Is there really such a place?”
The male Warrior was excited after listening to Shi Feng. He was extremely interested in such a location. He still needed to wait for more than an hour to receive a Quest and the rewards he could obtain would only be EXP and some meager amount of money. If he could grind on monsters for an hour unhindered, the EXP he could obtain would far surpass that from the Quest.
“Of course there is. I’ll give you a preferential price of 20 Coppers if you want to go to such a treasured location. Don’t mention EXP; after grinding for a day, the materials you could obtain would earn you more than 40 Coppers. If you’re lucky, you could make a ton more if a piece of equipment drops,” Shi Feng walked closer to the male Warrior, whispering into his ears.
“You’re not tricking me, right?” the male Warrior looked at Shi Feng with hesitation in his eyes. If there was such a treasured location, he could definitely surpass the other players by a lot; but 20 Coppers was not a small amount. The monsters in God’s Domain rarely drop money or equipment, so Copper Coins were incredibly precious.
“If you don’t believe me, you can pay 10 Coppers up front first. You’ll know just from trying after you arrive at the spot. If it’s true, you can then pay me the other 10 Coppers. I’m only telling you this because I see that you’re a good person. Just forget it, if you don’t believe me.” Shi Feng turned and left after saying his piece.
Shi Feng wouldn’t be doing this if he didn't lack money. At worst, he’ll just use some other method to earn money.
Just after walking a few steps away, Shi Feng was stopped by the male Warrior.
“Expert, hold on a moment. Let’s talk about it, alright? Isn’t it just a deposit of 10 Coppers? Here, take it. I trust that an expert like you won’t trick me.” The male Warrior revealed an honest smile, resolutely trading 10 Coppers to Shi Feng.
“Seeing your performance, I’ll give you a good location. Although this place is slightly far-off, there is only a single mage-type Level 0 Green Gnome. It has low defense and a quick respawn rate. Chances are also greater of money dropping. A Berserker would be great at killing there.” Shi Feng gave the Warrior a good grinding location after happily receiving the ten Coppers.
The male Warrior was relieved when he noticed how familiar Shi Feng was with the wild monsters, even to the degree of knowing the amount of money dropped. He never imagined he would be so fortunate as to meet an expert of God’s Domain and not just any expert; Shi Feng might even be a Beta Tester. The male Warrior became even more excited as he thought of this possibility.
“Brother Expert, do you know a location that drops skill books for Berserkers? It’s really hard to fight against mobs with only a single skill.” The male Warrior was more fond of Shi Feng now, even treating Shi Feng as his superior.
“It’s fine if you want to know., but it’ll cost you 2 Silvers,” Shi Feng smiled. Who would give out such valuable information after only a short conversation? Shi Feng would not unless there was money involved, of course.
The male Warrior paled when he heard the price. Two Silvers equaled 200 Coppers. Not even the average Guild would have that much money.
“Expert, let’s add each other as friends. I’m Lonely Snow. I’ll contact you again once I’ve saved up enough money.” The male Warrior sent Shi Feng a friend request.
“Alright.” Shi Feng accepted Lonely Snow’s request.
“Then I’m off to fight mobs, Brother Expert. I’ll mail you the 10 Copper immediately after I’ve saved up enough.” Lonely Snow happily parted with Shi Feng, leaving the long queue and dashing towards the grinding location.
Now that Shi Feng had money, he walked towards the fruit stall by the Town Hall.
“Boss, how much for this Tomato?” Shi Feng asked as he held up a ripe, red Tomato.
Both Fruits and Vegetables could aid in recovering a player’s HP and MP. Their tastes were also quite delicious. The only downside was the bad recovery rate. In normal circumstances, players wouldn’t buy them at all, especially during such a period where money was a big problem. Spending money on Fruits and Vegetables was just wasteful behavior.
“2 Coppers each.”
“Give me ten of them.”
Shi Feng paid the 20 Coppers. He walked into the Town Hall after receiving the 10 Tomatoes.
“Hey newcomer, queue up. Can’t you see others are queuing up as well?”
“Swordsman over there, what do you think you’re trying to do? Do you know how many people are queuing up behind?”
The players in the queue became enraged and started criticizing when they saw Shi Feng cutting the line, walking directly towards the Town Mayor. They would’ve long since murdered Shi Feng, were it not for the fact that they could be jailed for attacking another player inside the town.
“Sorry, but I’m really not here to receive a Quest. I’m just here to take a look.” Shi Feng smiled at the players; he turned to look at the fat Town Mayor, Cross.
[Cross] (Elite, Friendly)
Level 15
HP 2400/2400
MP 1500/1500
There was not a single player who could beat him at this stage. It was not possible, even with a team.
Subsequently, Shi Feng took out a ripe and red Tomato, taking a bite out of it.
“What is this person doing?”
“Hell! He’s actually eating a Tomato! Each of those costs 2 Coppers! Such luxury!”
The other players could not understand what Shi Feng was trying to do. By coming to the Town Hall to eat Tomatoes... was he trying to show off how rich he was?
Halfway through his Tomato, Shi Feng suddenly threw it towards Town Mayor Cross’ face.
The Tomato accurately landed on Cross’ face, spreading bright red liquid all over.
System: Cross’ favorability towards you has been decreased by 100 points.
Unsatisfied, Shi Feng took out another Tomato from his bag, throwing it at Cross.
“Hypocrite! Fatty! Bloodsucker! You’re not fit to be the Town Mayor!”
Shi Feng kept cursing as he threw Tomatoes, whereas Cross’ favorability kept decreasing. Cross’ body turned bright red as tomato juice kept flowing down his body. Adding to his enraged expression, it created an incomparably funny sight.
However, nobody within the Town Hall was laughing; it was exceptionally quiet. All of the players became slack-jawed and dumbfounded at Shi Feng’s actions.
Just after twenty minutes since God’s Domain’s opening, there was a player that dared to actually attack an NPC and not just any NPC; he was attacking the leader of a town, the Boss of the Beginner’s Area!
This person was insane! Wasn’t he afraid of being jailed until his death?
Did he no longer want to stay in Red Leaf Town?
Even taking your revenge on society shouldn’t be done in such a way!
Just when the other players were expecting the Guards to detain Shi Feng or for the Town Mayor to kill off Shi Feng in a rage, none of these things actually occurred.
None of the players knew that insulting an NPC was not considered an attack. Hence why neither the Guards nor Cross attacked Shi Feng. Shi Feng’s actions would only lead to the NPC hating him to the bones and he could forget receiving Quests from the NPC in this lifetime.
As Shi Feng’s last Tomato landed on Cross’ face, Cross’ favorability fell towards Hostile. Cross’ Level became question marks and the yellow marker above him quickly turned a crimson red.
“Damnable insect! I’ll send you down to hell!”
The bright red Cross roared loudly as he rushed at Shi Feng.