The Strange Letter and New Quests

Although the BOSS did drop some items this time, it was only a few compared to other bosses. However, these few items were all quite rare.

Since the BOSS was a magic-user, only one item was suitable for Ye Jue: a warrior’s bracer. It was a Fine Bracer (Bronze-tier, Plate Armor) requiring Level 9, offering 10-12 physical attack, +5 Strength, and +4 to both defenses.

Additionally, a Silver-tier cloth lower garment dropped, though it was for men. There were also two other Bronze-tier items.

One was a Strange Hairpin (Bronze-tier, Headwear) requiring Level 9, providing +8 Intelligence, +10 Spirit, +300 Mana, and +3 to both defenses. It was indeed a peculiar hairpin.

The other was a Wind Soul Longbow (Bronze-tier, Two-handed Weapon) requiring Level 9, offering +24-29 physical attack, +6 Strength, +4 Agility. Its special attribute allowed arrows to carry the power of wind, granting +10 Agility for 2 seconds when attacking enemies.

The hairpin perfectly compensated for Lin Shenyue’s lack of headwear, though she put it on with a slight frown. The longbow, however, was intended for Divine Wind.

While the bow’s base stats weren’t exceptional, its special attribute was quite formidable, promising a significant boost to archers’ speed and critical hit rate in the early stages of the game.

Aside from the equipment, Lin Shenyue also found a letter. Typically, letters could not be opened unless they were quest items. Lin Shenyue tried to open it, confirmed it was sealed, and promptly stored it in her backpack.

Upon defeating the BOSS, they were generously rewarded with nearly 15,000 experience points. This was enough for Lin Shenyue to reach Level 9, but Ye Jue was less fortunate, falling short by about 3,000 experience points.

Ye Jue exhaled slowly, then spoke calmly. “Shall we return to turn in the quest?”

Lin Shenyue nodded, accompanying Ye Jue as they walked back towards the village.

As Ye Jue led the way, he opened the regional channel. While the first novice village generally had players of higher caliber, true top-tier experts, even if they started the game a few months later, could quickly catch up.

Therefore, apart from a select few, most of the individuals who dominated the leaderboards in his previous life were not in Novice Village No. 1. Moreover, experts often possessed unique personalities and rarely spoke in regional chat, so Ye Jue didn’t see any of them there.

Nevertheless, the regional channel was still abuzz with chatter, as the recent spectacle had been truly terrifying.

Lin Shenyue, feeling bored, also opened the regional channel. The world channel, requiring 1 silver coin per message and doubling the cost for consecutive messages, saw little activity in the early game when gold was scarce. The regional channel, however, was a different story.

Watching the flurry of messages, Lin Shenyue felt a little speechless. Some people were actually claiming it was the end of the world for the game, which left her utterly dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, a post appeared on the forums with a startling title: “Shocking! Novice Village No. 1 Forest Enveloped by a Black Hole – Is This the Advent of Doomsday?”

The screenshot uploaded with the post showed the black hole directly, a convenient feature of the game’s built-in screenshot function. Within a short span, the post had already garnered at least a hundred replies.

“Is the楼主 for real? Why haven’t we seen anything like this in Novice Village No. 29?”

“Shocking my foot! Another clickbait title, though this one actually *is* shocking.”

“We’re all pretending to be shocked, but secretly, we’re just watching the 楼主 clown around. Even though we genuinely *are* shocked.”

“The end of the world is here! Is it the distortion of human nature, or the decay of morality?”

****

Given that other novice villages hadn’t witnessed the black hole, many people remained curious. The world channel wasn’t entirely silent on the matter, but discussions were infrequent.

Lin Shenyue continued to follow Ye Jue towards the village, silently amused by the bizarre comments of the crowd.

Many players were gathered in front of the Village Chief, as numerous Level 8 quests were being undertaken at this time. Perhaps to protect player privacy, although the Village Chief could only attend to one person at a time, their conversations couldn’t be overheard by others. Naturally, party members could still hear each other.

Despite the crowd, the Village Chief processed requests quickly, and soon it was their turn.

“Why, it’s Yue’er! Have you two completed the quest?” The Village Chief greeted Lin Shenyue with a smile.

“Yes, Village Chief Grandpa,” Lin Shenyue respectfully replied. “We have already defeated that Demonic Apostle.”

“Oh? And did you manage to obtain any information from them regarding the demon realm’s next moves?” The Village Chief asked, his surprise quickly turning to urgency.

Lin Shenyue nodded, producing a letter and handing it to the Village Chief.

The Village Chief’s expression grew increasingly grim as he read the letter. Finally, he spoke sternly. “Yue’er, you must find a way to repair the teleportation array as quickly as possible, then deliver this letter to any human main city lord.”

Observing the Village Chief’s grave demeanor, Lin Shenyue nodded. After accepting the quest, she placed the letter back into her bag.

The Village Chief then turned to Ye Jue, stating calmly, “It seems your strength is barely adequate. Now, I hope you two can quickly defeat the Tiger King and reach Level 10. I am entrusting this mission to both of you, and I hope you can complete it swiftly.”

Seeing the Village Chief, who rarely spoke without a hint of condescension, become serious, Ye Jue’s own expression grew solemn. Although the reasons for those who completed this quest in his previous life remained unclear, he understood that ever since his rebirth, this life would undoubtedly be different.

Unbeknownst to Ye Jue, this main quest wasn’t unique to their village; each novice village had one. However, the letter, crucial for the next main quest, was incredibly difficult to obtain, with an extremely low drop rate. Once one appeared, a second would never drop.

It was Lin Shenyue’s high luck, combined with it being the first kill for the main quest, that caused the letter to drop.

“We guarantee mission completion!” Ye Jue and Lin Shenyue declared in unison.

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the quest: Demonic Conspiracy. You have gained 39,000 (31,000) experience points and 5 gold coins. You have received one skill book.]

The skill book was another for mages: Resist Fire Ring, a common protective skill for advanced fire mages that could push back nearby enemies. At this stage, the skill was undoubtedly valuable.

However, neither Ye Jue nor Lin Shenyue chose to sell it, leaving it to languish in Lin Shenyue’s backpack. After all, selling it to a friend would be fine, but selling it to an enemy would only empower them for no good reason. Especially for such an excellent skill.

After leaving the Village Chief, Ye Jue said, “We only have about an hour left of experience time today. That’s definitely not enough to reach Level 10. Let’s just go fight some regular monsters.”

Lin Shenyue nodded in agreement. Suddenly, she recalled something. “Aren’t we also supposed to help Shifting Winds and Clouds gather herbs?”

Ye Jue paused for a moment, then slapped his forehead. “Right, I completely forgot!” He quickly sent a message to Shifting Winds and Clouds.

Upon learning that the troublesome monsters had been cleared, Shifting Winds and Clouds quickly acknowledged Ye Jue and immediately headed to their agreed meeting point.

When Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue arrived, Shifting Winds and Clouds was already waiting. Seeing them, he walked forward directly. “Can you really help me with that quest?”

Lin Shenyue smiled faintly. “Of course. We happen to be heading that way anyway.”

Shifting Winds and Clouds gazed at them deeply. “Once the quest is done, I’ll owe you both a favor.”

Ye Jue chuckled, indicating his acceptance. In the future, Shifting Winds and Clouds’ favor would become incredibly valuable, often signifying an exceptional weapon.

After Shifting Winds and Clouds joined the party, he noticed Ye Jue and Lin Shenyue’s levels. Seeing that both were Level 9, he was visibly astonished.

At this stage, even hardcore grinders were only just reaching Level 9. For players who appeared to be casual, like Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue, achieving Level 9 at this point was quite difficult.

Of course, Ye Jue and Lin Shenyue’s high levels were also due to the massive experience gains from the main quest and the immense experience from the Hell-difficulty dungeon. This allowed them to reach such high levels without actively grinding.

“Let’s go. We’ll help you finish your quest first,” Ye Jue stated calmly.