The Novice Village’s Final Boss

After bidding farewell to Grove, Lin Shenyue didn’t resume alchemy. More than fifteen hours had passed, bringing them closer to Ye Jue’s login time.

Lin Shenyue’s experience had reached level 9, 38978/100000. She anticipated reaching level 10 today, and Ye Jue was in a similar position. While he had slightly less experience than Lin Shenyue, the difference was not significant.

Bored, Lin Shenyue continued browsing the forums when a post caught her eye, detailing a slight decrease in Heaven Guild’s membership.

The author was an unknown player, claiming to be a recent recruit to Heaven Guild. They had chosen to leave the guild due to Fantasy City’s subtle targeting.

The author further stated that Fantasy City wasn’t the only one targeting Heaven Guild; numerous unknown players had also joined the ranks against them. Consequently, Heaven Guild now faced widespread opposition, struggling in every novice village.

This player also mentioned that they had initially joined because Heaven Guild was a dominant force across multiple games. However, after joining, they found the guild’s atmosphere stifling and its members’ character questionable.

The post was inundated with replies. As the saying goes, ‘when a wall falls, everyone pushes,’ and many unknown players chimed in. Though their comments were somewhat veiled due to Heaven Guild’s formidable power, they all subtly pointed blame towards the guild.

Lin Shenyue silently closed the forum. Heaven Guild’s past actions were bound to incite widespread dissatisfaction, but back then, their power was too great for anyone to speak up.

‘Given this situation, can Heaven Guild truly remain idle?’ Lin Shenyue thought to herself. ‘They’ll surely dispatch more personnel.’

Ye Jue logged in a little earlier today, intending to check on Heaven Guild’s recent predicament. As the primary cause of his tragic life in his previous incarnation, it was fated that they could not coexist in this life.

Lin Shenyue paused slightly when the system notified her of a friend logging in. She had few friends; besides the regulars for dungeon runs, only Xu Linglong remained.

The dungeon group, excluding Ye Jue, typically played for longer hours. Even beyond the eight-hour experience cap, completing quests still granted 10% experience. Everyone was racing against time to level up, and most had already reached level 9.

At this time, the only person likely to log in was Peerless Karma Fire.

“Why are you online so early today?” Lin Shenyue sent a private message.

“School’s out today,” Ye Jue replied. Their high school was a provincial key institution, granting more holidays than others, even for third-year students who had a break every two weeks. Today happened to be a holiday, so he had returned early. After finishing his homework, he found himself with a bit of extra time, prompting him to log in.

“Oh…” Lin Shenyue pondered for a moment, ultimately deciding it was best to inform Ye Jue. “With Heaven Guild facing such pressure, I believe their main guild will likely move in ahead of schedule.”

Ye Jue paused, then furrowed his brow in thought. He considered Lin Shenyue’s assessment highly probable. After all, if Heaven Guild’s main branch didn’t intervene quickly after facing such suppression in this game, they would lose face entirely.

‘I never expected that merely accelerating the actions against Heaven Guild would alter history,’ Ye Jue mused inwardly. ‘It seems many plans will need to be moved up. If such a situation recurs and I’m unprepared, I could be caught off guard.’

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for the reminder, Yue’er,” Ye Jue responded.

Lin Shenyue offered a faint smile. “No problem. We should both reach level 10 today, right?”

As Ye Jue walked towards Lin Shenyue, he said, “Yes. Actually, the biggest hurdle in the novice village is repairing the teleportation array. Every novice village requires it to be fixed; otherwise, no one can leave.”

“This also indirectly limits those who level up too quickly. Generally, these novice village quests demand strong small teams or, failing that, a human-wave tactic.”

“However, employing a human-wave tactic significantly buffs the boss. If not executed perfectly, even with sheer numbers, it might not be enough to overwhelm it.”

Lin Shenyue mused, “Can we defeat it, then?”

Ye Jue chuckled. “Of course… not. Even we would need an elite squad to defeat the final boss of the novice village.”

Lin Shenyue was somewhat speechless, surprised by Ye Jue’s mischievous streak. While she was still contemplating, she heard Ye Jue announce his arrival, prompting her to step out.

After inviting Lin Shenyue to the party, Ye Jue said, “Let’s do today’s dungeons first. Although the equipment isn’t of much use anymore, there’s still a good amount of experience to be gained.”

Lin Shenyue nodded in agreement. Ye Jue then contacted Fissure, Divine Wind, and Iron Blood Plume.

After gathering at the dungeon entrance, the group spent about two hours completing all three dungeon quests. Any dropped equipment not immediately usable was sold to Iron Blood Plume. Lin Shenyue also kept two pieces of warrior equipment, intending to send them to Xu Linglong later.

Once they finished, Ye Jue called out to the others, who were about to disperse for quests. He spoke with a serious tone: “We’ll reach level 10 very soon. I believe those leveling maniacs are already close to it.”

“However, to leave the novice village, we must clear the teleportation array. The faster we clear it, the more advantageous it will be for us.”

Iron Blood Plume pondered, “Does that require killing a specific boss?” Since Lin Shenyue and her group had already completed the prerequisite quest for the teleportation array, the Village Chief hadn’t issued it again, making it the only remaining task.

Ye Jue nodded. “We need to defeat the novice village’s final boss, the Tiger King.”

Iron Blood Plume asked, “Just the five of us?”

Ye Jue replied, “The five of us are enough. The more people there are, the stronger the boss becomes, so five is just right.”

Divine Wind, Iron Blood Plume, and Fissure all expressed no objections.

Lin Shenyue hesitated. “There should be quite a few people grinding for experience in that forest right now, shouldn’t there? What if they try to snatch the boss?”

Ye Jue sneered. “If they truly have the skill, let them try to snatch it. Anyone killed by the Tiger King instantly loses 50% of their experience. If they don’t have 50%, they’ll drop a level.”

Lin Shenyue was slightly taken aback. “That’s brutal?”

Ye Jue spread his hands and shrugged. “Otherwise, why would it be called the final boss of the novice village?”

Upon hearing such a severe death penalty, Iron Blood Plume hesitated. “With such a harsh penalty, shouldn’t we take some time to prepare?”

Ye Jue nodded. “Then everyone go prepare. We’ll aim for a one-shot clear. Let’s meet at the novice village entrance in thirty minutes.”

After everyone dispersed, Lin Shenyue asked, “Aren’t we going to prepare?”

Ye Jue looked at Lin Shenyue and smiled. “With you here, what else do we need to prepare?”

Lin Shenyue was momentarily stunned by his words. Catching his gaze, she instinctively looked away, avoiding his direct stare. “There’s still something. Take me to my master’s house.”

Ye Jue felt a flicker of disappointment when Lin Shenyue avoided his gaze. Upon hearing her request, he led her to Grove’s house with a touch of curiosity.

Lin Shenyue stepped inside. Ye Jue, lacking the necessary permissions, naturally couldn’t enter and patiently waited outside.

Lin Shenyue deliberated, ultimately deciding to make her best home-cooked dish: stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts. She prepared five portions of rice, with the best achieving a taste and texture score of 115, and the lowest still reaching 108. These five dishes offered various attribute bonuses, each adding at least 5 points.

By the time Lin Shenyue placed the dishes into her inventory, ten minutes had passed. The player inventory system was incredibly powerful; not only could it store a wide array of items, but it also slowed the degradation of edible goods. Typically, a dish’s shelf life in the game was 12 hours, but in the inventory, it extended to one day. However, these dishes occupied considerable space, with each taking up a single inventory slot, meaning players usually only carried a few for emergencies.

Lin Shenyue gave Ye Jue a portion that granted 6 Constitution and 6 Strength. Ye Jue was astonished, especially by the taste and texture scores, which reached a high of 113. Lin Shenyue clearly came from a privileged background, a type of person who typically wouldn’t dabble in cooking. Moreover, culinary skills were notoriously difficult to acquire in the early stages of the game.

After placing it in his inventory, Ye Jue exclaimed, “Did you really make this?”

Lin Shenyue looked a bit displeased. “If not me, then who? Did you make it?”

Ye Jue scratched his head awkwardly, regretting his words immediately after they left his mouth. He had indeed annoyed Lin Shenyue. He quickly changed the subject. “With your dish, our chances of success have greatly increased.”

Lin Shenyue was successfully diverted by Ye Jue’s change of topic. “A few of my life-saving skills are still on cooldown. Will that affect our fight against the boss?”

Ye Jue mused, “It’s hard to say. We’ll have to adapt as we go.”

Lin Shenyue nodded and followed Ye Jue towards the novice village entrance.