The officials have set up an extremely rare hidden quest in every novice village.
And as far as Lin Mo knew, 'In my previous life, the hidden quest in Yunbian Town was picked up and completed by a college student from Ning'an University. With the rewards from this quest, he jumped straight from a complete nobody to the number one player on Yunbian Town's Heaven Ranking.'
'Not only did his strength skyrocket, he also took first place on Yunbian Town's level ranking and the 100,000 yuan cash prize. In both reality and the game, it was a incredible rise.'
Precisely because of this, Lin Mo knew how to trigger Yunbian Town's hidden quest.
"Sorry, but in this life, I'm not leaving this quest for you again," As he spoke, Lin Mo walked out of the small town.
———
Outside Yunbian Town—
All the level 1–2 wild zones were packed with people.
Countless newbie players were hunting level 1 wild chickens or level 2 wild boars in groups of three to five.
But even in parties, they were still fighting with great difficulty.
Every now and then, a flash of white light symbolizing a player's death would rise from the crowd.
Mixed in were the players' curses, "Damn it! Why is this chicken bro so fierce? Just a few pecks and half my HP is gone!"
"Why is this game so hard? Devs, come out, I've got some f*cking words for you!"
"Crap! Three people can't even beat one pig, what are we even playing for? Let's just go home and farm!"
Following the map guidance, ten minutes later Lin Mo arrived at his destination: Lv1 Shrub Forest.
There were also quite a few players here hunting weasels in parties, clearly all of them had taken the quest [Retrieve the Eggs].
Seeing a lone weasel up ahead, Lin Mo casually tossed a Detection at it.
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[Weasel] (Normal Monster)
— Level: 1
— Attack: 15
— Defense: 1
— HP: 60
— Description: As for me, this little mouse, I just love eating eggs.
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No wonder those newbie players couldn't beat even a level 1 monster even in groups.
The weasel's stats were simply way too overtuned.
"15 attack, it can kill a newbie in two or three hits."
"Too fierce! The devs are treating players like mosquitoes."
As he spoke, Lin Mo lifted the World-Shatter · Flowing Light Sword.
He moved in toward the lone weasel ahead.
Slash!
With a swing of his sword, the blade chopped into the weasel.
-113!
The three-digit damage, compared to the 3–4 points of single-digit damage most players around could deal, formed a brutal contrast.
In an instant, the weasel's full HP bar was emptied.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
With a muffled cry, the weasel collapsed to the ground.
[Ding～ You killed a level 1 Weasel, EXP +5!]
"Holy crap!"
The players around, seeing this scene, all stared wide-eyed.
"What kind of damage is that?"
"One hit and my weasel bro got insta-killed?"
"Bro, is your newbie sword blessed? Why is it different from my newbie sword?"
"Big shot, please party up!"
With just that one strike, Lin Mo instantly became a hot commodity in the eyes of all the players.
Quite a few girl players ran over to chat up Lin Mo.
In this moment, Lin Mo fully experienced the status and authority that strength brings.
'No wonder in my previous life, those players who were strong, no matter how ugly they were, never lacked beauties around them.'
For now this was still just a game, and many people felt that it was fine to be weak, since they didn't rely on games to live anyway.
Once Divine Oracle devours reality three months later, the value of being strong will get higher and higher.
Lin Mo rejected all the girls' party invitations.
Because, "Women will only slow down my sword-drawing speed!" [T/N: He said it!]
Picking up an egg dropped beside the weasel's corpse, Lin Mo stepped over the weasel's body and locked onto his next target.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
[Ding～ You killed a level 1 Weasel, EXP +5!]
[Ding～ You killed a level 1 Weasel, EXP +5!]
[Ding~...]
Golden weapon, completely broken damage.
Basically one weasel per sword swing.
After he had continuously killed twenty weasels—
Whoosh!
A beam of golden light fell from above Lin Mo's head.
[Ding～ Congratulations, you've leveled up. All five main stats +1, free stat points +3. Current level: 1. Next level requires 250 EXP!]
He put all 3 free points into Strength.
Lin Mo continued to kill weasels.
It was worth mentioning: the drop rate for eggs was 100%.
In less than half an hour, Lin Mo had already killed 100 weasels and collected 100 eggs.
But aside from that, the drop rate of other loot was unbelievably stingy.
One hundred monsters, not a single piece of gear dropped.
And as for copper coins, only 17 fell!
"Divine Oracle really is as stingy as ever!"
Lin Mo couldn't help shaking his head.
He turned and left the Shrub Forest.
———
[Back in Yunbian Town]
He found Aunt Li and turned in the quest.
[Ding～ Congratulations, you completed the quest Retrieve the Eggs. Rewards: EXP +50, Copper +8, Reputation +1, Aunt Li's Favorability +1!]
According to the official 1:1 exchange rate, 8 copper was 8 yuan.
"Eight yuan per quest, for students this is insanely good."
After turning in the quest, Lin Mo took out another 10 eggs and turned in the quest again.
The same quest can be completed repeatedly, and the rewards can also be claimed repeatedly.
So, by submitting the 100 eggs in ten batches and completing the quest ten times,.Lin Mo earned 500 EXP, 80 copper coins, 10 Reputation, and 10 Favorability.
Whoosh!
Golden light fell on his head.
Lin Mo, who had already reached level 2 and 30% from killing weasels, smoothly reached level 3.
At the same time, the system prompt he'd been waiting for sounded in his ear: [Ding～ Because your Favorability with Aunt Li has reached 10 points, Aunt Li's Favorability level with you has increased to Level 1. Next level requires 100 Favorability.]
"Right!"
"That's the feeling."
Joy rose in Lin Mo's heart.
The reason he had done Aunt Li's quest ten times was precisely for those 10 Favorability points, to raise Aunt Li's Favorability level to 1.
Because the only hidden quest in Yunbian Town buried in her requires a player with Favorability Level 1 to pick it up.
So, Lin Mo continued to talk to Aunt Li.
"Auntie, do you have anything else you need my help with?"
Looking at Lin Mo, Aunt Li said kindly, "Young man, you seem like a good person. I do actually have a troublesome matter I'd like you to help me with. If you can help me solve this problem, I'll definitely give you a generous reward."
As soon as her voice fell.
A pleasant prompt followed—
[Ding～ Congratulations, you've triggered the E-tier hidden quest · Exterminate the Wolf King. Accept?]
In his previous life, Lin Mo had been too weak and had absolutely no chance to come into contact with any hidden quests. At this moment, he felt a kind of inexplicable excitement inside.
"Accept!"
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[Exterminate the Wolf King] (E-tier Hidden Quest)
— Difficulty Rating: 100
— Description: The threat of the weasels is only secondary. In fact, the greatest threat to Aunt Li is the Howling Moon Wolf King. The Howling Moon Wolf King often sends its underlings into Yunbian Town to steal and eat the chickens Aunt Li raises. Please head to Wolf Ridge, kill Wild Wolves and the Howling Moon Wolf King.
— Quest Progress: 0/30 (Wild Wolves), 0/1 (Howling Moon Wolf King)
— Quest Rewards: EXP +20000, Gold +1, Reputation +50, Aunt Li's Favorability +50, Random Tier 2 Equipment +1, Random D-tier Skill Book +1
Quest Time: 11 hours 59 minutes
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Looking at the tantalizing quest rewards, Lin Mo's eyes couldn't help shining.
'As expected of a hidden quest!'
'But with a difficulty of 100, this quest seems a bit hard to handle.'
Lin Mo opened the map and took a look, and sure enough: Wolf Ridge was clearly marked as a level 8–10 wild zone.
Even with a golden weapon in hand, it was obviously not something Lin Mo, currently only level 3, could handle.
"Looks like I'll have to prepare first."
As he spoke, Lin Mo already seemed to have a plan.
Saying goodbye to Aunt Li, he headed straight toward the north of the town.
And just as Lin Mo had left with his front foot.
With their back feet, three young players, about eighteen or nineteen years old and looking like college students, ran over carrying eggs.
At this time, one skinny young man whose ID was [Skinny Monkey] looked at Lin Mo's departing back and said doubtfully, "Brother Xiao, I think that guy just now seemed to turn in this quest a lot of times. Could he have taken the hidden quest from Aunt Li already?"
"Impossible!"
The tall, 1.85-meter, handsome young man with the ID [Wind Whistling] said, "I borrowed twenty thousand yuan just to buy information from a friend of mine who worked on Divine Oracle's game design. He said that as long as you raise Aunt Li's Favorability level to 1, you can trigger the only hidden quest on her."
"Other than the three of us, absolutely no fourth person knows this secret."
Another chubby young man with an honest, simple face, ID [Fat Dahai], scratched his head and muttered, "But if he really did snatch the quest, what do we do then?"
Staring at Lin Mo, the depths of Wind Whistling's eyes hid a killing intent far beyond what someone his age should have, "If he really dares swallow my quest, I'll make him spit out every last bit of it!"