My talent is 1.

30 wild boar hides, submitted three times, yield 400 experience points and a boar bone staff.

Zhong Wuyai was stunned when he looked at the attributes of the pig bone staff.

This is ridiculous! They even gave us professional-grade equipment.

【Pig bone cane】

French equipment

Durability: 25/25

Grade: Blank

Magic Attack +5

It has a single attribute, but it is currently the highest attribute among blank-grade items.

Damn, if I had known about this equipment, who would have bothered using an ebony sword?

Let's not upgrade the damaged Magic Gathering Ring for now; let's get this staff sorted out first.

I'll use my talent on the Boarbone Staff, and the 1 point of mana regeneration per second from the Ring of Conduit is enough for now, since I only have one skill anyway.

The ebony sword has been honorably retired.

Physical attack has dropped to a pitiful 7 points.

However, the magic attack reached 141 points.

If you kill the bison at this point, two fireballs won't be enough to reduce its health.

Zhong Wuyai dared not sell the two pieces of equipment that had been returned from the package, let alone sell them to NPCs.

What if someone manages to buy this?

You must never let anyone discover your biggest secret.

However, after delivering the wild boar hides three times, Zhong Wuyai noticed a question mark on the tailor's head.

Is there a mission involved?

After exchanging words, Zhong Wuyai received a task to deliver cowhide.

[Task: Collect cowhides]

Task Description: Kill the wild buffalo outside the village to obtain buffalo hides.

Completion condition: Cowhide (0/20)

Reward: 5 silver coins, 500 experience points.

Repetitive tasks can be submitted up to 3 times per day.

Goodness, this is like a pillow being delivered just when you're about to fall asleep.

However, his talent is still on cooldown, so he should put it aside for now.

Upon arriving at the blacksmith's, Zhong Wuyai, as before, engaged in a brief conversation before accepting a horn-related quest.

[Task: Collect bull horns]

Task Description: Kill the wild buffalo outside the village to obtain buffalo horns.

Completion condition: Bull Horn (0/50)

Rewards: Choose one of the following: Ox Horn Bow, Ox Bone Staff, Ox Bone Knife, Ox Horn Dagger, or Ox Bone Shield.

Each player can only play once.

Damn it, what the hell are you talking about?

Isn't a cow bone cane delicious?

The pig bone staff is clearly only useful in the early game, while the cow bone staff can be used even after leaving the village.

Damn it, let's go slaughter the cow, we can't wait a second longer.

The wild boar enclosure was overcrowded, and the elk enclosure also had a few people.

There's still no one here with the bison. The bison has high attack and high defense. Let alone level 4 or 5 players, even if they reach level 7, it would take several players to kill it together.

"Fireball!"

-1160…

The damage left a player who was farming reindeer nearby completely stunned...

He was sent flying by a deer's antler.

I couldn't figure it out even in mid-air.

Even with my A-level talent and hidden class, my damage output is still less than a fraction of others'.

Zhong Wuyai glanced at the player who had been launched into the air by the deer. The poor kid was really pitiful; he landed headfirst when he fell.

He didn't stop what he was doing and continued walking towards his next target.

He raised the pig bone staff, its tip gleaming slightly.

"Fireball!"

A blazing fireball flew from the tip of the staff, and because of the close distance, it went straight into the bison's mouth.

-1160!

The bison let out a mournful howl, its health bar instantly emptied. Zhong Wuyai nodded in satisfaction; the damage was explosive, it was really fun to fight.

He wasted no time and quickly went forward to collect the hide and horns. The bison carcass also disappeared soon after.

Zhong Wuyai continued to cast fireballs at the next bison.

With a fireball spell every 10 seconds, he had already killed more than a dozen bison in just a few minutes, and the number of hides and horns in his inventory was also rapidly increasing.

Just as he was about to continue grinding, a commotion suddenly arose in the distance. Zhong Wuyai looked up and saw several players looking towards the Bison area. They were clearly attracted by the fireball spell from earlier.

"Holy crap, who cast that fireball? The damage was insane!" one player exclaimed.

"Besides that freak Zhong Wuyai, who else in our village has that kind of ability?" another player chimed in.

"Damn it, comparing yourself to others is infuriating. You work so hard to cut down people, but you don't even get a fraction of what they did."

Zhong Wuyai frowned; he didn't want to be watched. He quickly gathered his spoils and turned to walk towards the herd of bison further away.

Although the players were curious, they dared not approach the bison area rashly, after all, the bison's high attack and defense were no joke.

Zhong Wuyai continued grinding monsters, his fireball spells making him virtually invincible. The bison were like paper in front of him, unable to withstand even two fireballs.

I don't know how long I farmed, but the talent finally cooled down.

Zhong Wuyai opened the package.

56 pieces of cowhide and 52 pieces of cow horn

Zhong Wuyai looked at the talent and dragged the 1 after the number on the bull's horn.

521 cow horns

Hehehe... Look how rich we are...

Go back and turn in the mission first.

Turning in the bull horn quest is the obvious choice... equipment comes first, after all.

[Ding! Quest complete. Congratulations on obtaining the Ox Bone Staff.]

【Ox bone staff】

Durability: 30/30

Grade: Black Iron

Wearing level: 5

Magic Attack +12

Magic skill cooldown -1 second

So conflicted, so very conflicted...

121 points of magic damage and skill cooldown time are both very important to me.

However, after seeing the damaged Demon Gathering Ring, Zhong Wuyai made up his mind that it didn't matter if his magic attack was a little lower.

The cooldown of Fireball cannot be negative; it should be forcibly reduced to 1 second.

If the Ring of Guiding Mana regenerates 11 mana per second, I can cast Fireball infinitely.

Even a level 10 boss isn't impossible to challenge.

Zhong Wuyai wasn't in a hurry to grind monsters anymore; he wanted to see if his talent could be used on the quest panel.

However, this hour was a bit boring, so I sent a message to Yang Yimu.

"Want some bull horns? 10 for 1 silver coin."

"Brother, this is way too expensive."

However, when Yang Yimu sent over the screenshot of the ox bone staff's attributes, he lost his composure.

"Bro, where did you get this equipment? Is it from that quest with the bull horns?"

"Yes, 50 horn collars, limited to one per person."

"Brother, wait for me, I want all 471 of these bull horns."

"Come to the blacksmith, I just turned in my quest."

A short while later, Xiang Yang and Yang Yimu arrived with a large group of people, all of whom were level 5 players.

Bull horns are a rare commodity now; apart from Zhong Wuyai, no one has ever managed to get one.

However, its attributes are absolutely top-notch; the attributes of level 5 black iron equipment are far superior to those of other equipment.

After quickly completing the transaction, the group began to receive and complete their tasks.

The horn bow has an attack power of 15, while the ox bone knife has a terrifying attack power of 20.

Zhong Wuyai himself was a little astonished. He was a mage, and if he were a warrior, how high would his physical attack be...?

After one of the thieves obtained the Bull-shaped Dagger, Zhong Wuyai was immediately envious of its attributes.

[Bull Horn Dagger]

Agility-based equipment

Durability: 25/25

Grade: Black Iron

Wearing level: 5

Physical Attack +12

Physical critical hit chance +5%

If I were to use this on myself, I'd have a 51% chance of a physical critical hit, meaning one critical hit every two attacks.

No, I have to get some equipment that increases my spell critical strike chance.

Of course, my own Oxbone Staff is still the best option right now. Once the talent is restored, the cooldown reduction will completely eliminate the cooldown of Fireball.

He happily took out more than forty silver coins, and Zhong Wuyai was also very pleased with himself.

After his talent cooled down, Zhong Wuyai went to the tailor.

Open the dialog box, drag the 1 talent from the talent tree onto it...

"Ah, it's done!"

The 500 experience points above have been increased to 5100 experience points.

Zhong Wuyai chose to submit the task!

[Ding! Quest complete. Congratulations! You have received 5 silver coins and 5100 experience points.]

Zhong Wuyai instantly leveled up to level 6.

Why bother farming monsters? Just turn in the quest and you're done... All that boar hide I got is wasted.

However, after waiting for an hour, when I tried to accept and complete the task for the second time, I couldn't change it anymore; it had already been used once.

The silver coins couldn't be changed either.

Zhong Wuyai had no choice but to give up, having already anticipated this outcome.

After completing the quest, Zhong Wuyai received 5 silver coins and 500 experience points, and then used his talent on the Ox Bone Staff.

Opening the skill panel, sure enough, the cooldown of Fireball had been reduced to 1 second.

I can't do the "cow leather" quest anymore, but I should be able to do the "boss head" quest again.

After talking with the blacksmith, I didn't receive a quest. Or rather, the quest was public; all I had to do was bring the Wind Wolf's Head to the blacksmith to complete it.

After equipping the Ox Bone Staff, Zhong Wuyai's magic attack was reduced to 103 points. However, the continuous fireball spells increased Zhong Wuyai's output several times over.

The deer antler quest is even simpler.

It also needs to be submitted 3 times a day.

Zhong Wuyai handed it in twice, receiving 200 experience points and two low-level mana potions.

The healing potion is completely useless to me, but the mana potion is somewhat useful for now.

Low-level Mana Recovery Potion *2

Recovery-type items.

Restores 100 mana points over 5 seconds.

Before the ring can be upgraded, I can only rely on these two potions to hold out for a while longer.

Upon returning to the bison area, Zhong Wuyai unleashed his full power, hurling fireballs at the bison one after another.

-862……-862……-862

[Ding! You have killed a common monster, a bison, and gained 20 experience points. Killing a monster of a higher level grants an additional 2 experience points.]

Although it takes three fireballs to kill a bison, my monster-killing efficiency has increased significantly.

A cow every 3 seconds, that's insane.

The bison area was quickly cleared out.

"Moo~~……"

Holy crap, you finally showed up! After grinding for so long, the elite monster Mighty Bull finally arrived, do you know how long you've delayed me?

【Mighty Bull】

Elite Monster

Rating: 8

Health: 8000/8000

Mana: 2000/2000

Physical attack: 120

Magic Attack: 20

Physical defense: 41

Magic Defense: 8

Power: 70

Agility: 25

Physical condition: 80

Intelligence: 20

Spirit: 40

Skill 1 [Strength Lv.4 (Max)]

Passive skill

Increases physical attack by 50 points and physical defense by 25 points.

Elite Enhancement: Increases HP by an additional 100%.

Skill 2 [Savage Charge Lv.3]

Active skills

After charging for one second, charge towards the target, causing massive damage upon impact and knocking the target away. Upon landing, the target will take secondary damage and be slowed by 20%.

Mana cost: 120

Collision damage bonus: 50 + 100% physical attack.

Landing damage bonus: 50 + 20% physical attack.

Cooldown: 100 seconds.

Release distance: 50

Damage range: Single target damage.

To be honest, Zhong Wuyai was quite envious of the Great Bull's skills.

Either one would be ridiculously powerful if given to me.

These stats are significantly higher than those of a level 5 Black Iron BOSS.

It has already vaguely reached the level of an 8th-level BOSS.

Physical attacks broke through the defense, but not by much. Savage Charge dealt some damage, but it wasn't unacceptable.

A 100-second cooldown is enough time for you to kill it yourself.

After drinking two mana potions and receiving 29 points of mana from spirit, his mana was restored to over 1000.

Zhong Wuyai unleashed a fireball spell at the Mighty Bull.

-854…

It's doable...

Fireball... Fireball...

Fireballs were fired one after another, and streaks of damage floated up.

The Mighty Bull had only moved towards Zhong Wuyai for two seconds when it was hit by three fireballs, and then immediately activated its Savage Charge skill...

"Bang!"...

A sharp pain shot through his abdomen, and Zhong Wuyai lost 66 points of health. After landing, he felt another wave of pain. Although the landing damage was missed, the pain after his defense was broken was just too unbearable.

The bones were completely broken.

I can't walk fast to begin with, and now I feel like I can't walk anymore.

Just as I stood up, the Mighty Bull was right in front of me.

I took a hit and lost 16 points of health.

"That's it?...That's it?...Who gave you the guts to hurt me with this little bit of pain?"

"Fireball! Fireball! Fireball~..."

Several fireballs were fired in succession, and the Mighty Bull died instantly.

[Ding! You have defeated the elite monster Mighty Bull, gaining 800 experience points. Defeating a monster of a higher level grants an additional 160 experience points.]

Not bad, over 900 experience points.

I got a piece of equipment and two materials, one of which was a Mighty Bull Horn.

[Ding! Hidden quest triggered. Deliver the Mighty Bull Horn to the blacksmith; you might receive something unexpected in return.]

The task notification bar is completely empty; it doesn't even show up.

This is a hidden mission, it's been hidden very well.

Even you yourself can't see it. If you encounter someone with a bad memory, they might not even know they have such a task after a couple of days.

Zhong Wuyai, who had originally planned to return, saw that the bison had respawned and immediately disregarded everything else, starting to fight.

However, after killing a few bison, the blue ore ran out.

I'm currently recovering 9 mana points every 8 seconds, and my mana is really running out.

Left with no other choice, Zhong Wuyai had to return to the village to complete the mission.

Next time, no matter what it is, I'll prioritize increasing my mana regeneration, otherwise fighting monsters will be incredibly difficult.

When we passed by the deer area, only Xiang Yang, Yang Yimu, and seven or eight other people were hunting deer.

The rest of the people were still fighting over and killing the wild boar.

It was alright at first, but starting from level 4, the experience required to level up increased, and the monsters became harder to defeat. By level 5, there were only a handful of players.

I'm not sure about other starting villages, but in my own starting village, I'm currently the only level 6 player, and there are no more than 10 level 5 players, all of whom are at the deer spawn points.

This level was achieved with the help of a large number of people.

Moreover, with more and more people robbing wild boars, leveling up has become even more difficult.

The requirement of 5000 experience points to upgrade from level 5 to level 6 will cause many people to get stuck at this stage for a long time.

Zhong Wuyai thought to himself, "Doesn't this mean that cowhide is in high demand right now?"

500 experience points and 5 silver coins are a huge sum of money for most people...

After arriving at the blacksmith's shop, I handed over the Mighty Bull Horn.

[Ding! Quest complete. You have gained 100 reputation points and 1 gold coin.]

[Congratulations to player Zhong Wuyai for completing the hidden quest for the first time! Reward: 1 skill point, 500 reputation]

[Ding! A new monster spawn point has been added to the beginner village: Yellow Horned Ox]

The elite Mighty Bulls disappeared, and they all became level 8 ordinary monsters, the Yellow Horned Bulls.

One skill point—this is the first time in the newbie village.

Zhong Wuyai was about to use 1 skill point on Fireball, but he was stunned when he saw his 12 free attribute points.

No, we can't just use them like this. We need to save them up, even if it's just 10 points. Once the talent is maxed out, it'll be 110 points, right? Wouldn't that be better than now?

He'd definitely go hunt the yellow-horned bull, but now, Zhong Wuyai had his sights set on the sharp-horned elk...

The level 6 Sharp-Horned Deer should also be a BOSS.

There are also level 1 monsters. If I remember correctly, chickens are level 0, rabbits are level 2, and there are no level 1 monsters at all.

Could it be another hidden quest?

However, I'm too lazy to bother with level 1 monsters; I have to take down the Sharp-Angled Deer.

He then sent a message to Yang Yimu.

"Want some clues about the hidden quest?"

Yang Yimu, who was brushing the reindeer, was stunned...

"Yes, brother, you're my own brother, tell me quickly!"

"The newly added Yellow Horned Bull spawn point is triggered after killing the level 8 elite monster Mighty Bull. Similarly, the level 6 elite monster Sharp Horned Deer is also a hidden quest, but I'm going to take care of the Sharp Horned Deer now. However, I haven't seen any level 1 monsters yet, but there should be a level 1 elite monster that can trigger the quest after I kill it."

"Thanks, brother. I'll go find it right away."

The experience from level 1 monsters is no longer important, but everyone is envious of the rewards from hidden quests.

"One gold coin, I'll owe you for now."

"Okay, I'll give it to you as soon as I have the money!"

Gold coins may be expensive now, but the clues for the hidden quests at this stage are definitely worth the price.

Zhong Wuyai wasn't afraid of them going back on their word. With his current attributes, how many people could break through his defenses? Besides, he could easily get a magic attack ring or bracer and kill someone with a single fireball.

It can be said that Zhong Wuyai is invincible at this stage and can wipe out all the players in the newbie village.

No matter what their intentions are, if they dare to do anything to you, you'll be sent back to level 0.

Upon seeing the elk again, Zhong Wuyai felt like he was just killing small monsters.

Three fireballs took him down instantly.

Everyone in the elk enclosure was once again stunned.

"This guy's gone crazy again."

"Absolutely! One fireball per second, elite monsters gone in three seconds—is that even human?"

"Shh~ Keep your voice down, don't mess with him, he can't be bothered with us anyway, just focus on grinding!"

Because of Zhong Wuyai, there haven't been any large-scale conflicts among the players in this village; the only intense fighting is over monsters.

Unlike other newbie villages, where the wild boar area is constantly being fought and everyone wants to monopolize the area, the deer area has become the main battlefield.

Some villages have super-strong players with SS-level or SSS-level talents stationed there. Although they may be dominated at the beginning, they can still get some benefits later on.

Some villages are unlucky; a few talented people monopolize the area, and apart from a few who can do some quests and fight monsters, the others are still complaining in the rabbit and wild dog hordes even at level 4.

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this fantasy world. If it were a normal game, at least 50% of players would quit due to this situation.

Zhong Wuyai couldn't be bothered with any of that.

I received a notification the moment I picked up the material [Acute Angle].

Okay, go back to the village to turn in the quest.

[Ding! Quest complete. You have gained 100 reputation points and 50 silver coins.]

[Ding! A new monster spawn point has been added to the beginner village: Sika Deer]

Good grief, the reward has been cut in half, but it's better than nothing.

My reputation is now 1710 points.

Although I don't know what it's for, you can't do without reputation in many situations, and you can't even accept some quests without it.

Satisfied, Zhong Wuyai closed the panel, removed the broken Demon Gathering Ring, and used his talent points to upgrade it...

OK, put on the ring, and Zhong Wuyai's battery life is instantly full.

Now we can grind monsters like crazy.

【Zhong Wuyai】

Talent: 1

Class: Mage

Reputation: 1710

Rating: 6

Experience: 4/10000

Health: 950/950

Mana: 1550/1550

Physical attack: 8

Magic Attack: 104

Physical defense: 104

Magic Defense: 16

Power: 8

Agility: 4

Physical condition: 7

Intelligence: 60

Spirit: 29

Mana restored per second: 11

Free attribute points: 12

Skill points: 1

Skill [Fireball Lv.1]

Active skills.

Condensing magical energy and burning it, it deals fire magic damage to the target.

Mana cost: 10

Damage bonus: 20 + 810% magic attack

Release distance: 50

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Damage range: Single target damage.

Regarding physical defense, the Pigbone Helmet can be upgraded again in another hour, but there's no rush for now.

You should accumulate more experience points, use the talent to upgrade them, and you can get 5 silver coins per set. You can also get 5 silver coins for completing the quest, which means you can earn 500 experience points for free. There will definitely be a lot of people buying them.

Let's make a small fortune first.