011 Mission

“Click.”

[ Ding ]

[ You have learned the skill: Slash ]

In the end, Duan Qing still chose to allocate his points into strength first. Each time he added a point to strength, he went out to test it on a wild wolf. Finally, when his strength reached seven, during another slashing motion, he heard the long-awaited system notification.

After a few strikes, the wolf was toppled to the ground. Instead of hastily inspecting the corpse, he opened his status panel to admire the first skill he had grasped in Free World. But when he opened the empty skill slot and saw the only skill there, he found only a simple description.

[ Slash: A cutting attack that deals linear slashing damage ]

[ Power: 100% ]

[ Skill requirement: Melee weapon ]

Uh... the description was so simple that Duan Qing couldn’t even understand it.

He silently closed the skill panel, then found a safe corner to begin some basic experiments.

He used Slash, then swung his sword forward.

“It seems no different from a normal attack. Both the strike and recovery are painfully slow,” Duan Qing shook his head, sheathing his sword. That simple, clean strike displeased him greatly.

Then he raised his sword and slashed upward.

“No difference either. So as long as the strength is sufficient, the angle and technique are all up to the player...” Duan Qing mused, stroking his chin, “and gravity and resistance are quite limited...”

He thought for a moment, then thrust forward.

“Damn, the skill didn’t activate? Could there be something else... hmm, right, Iron Bro mentioned a piercing skill before...”

After testing several moves back and forth, Duan Qing finally concluded that the Slash skill was essentially no different from a normal horizontal attack. Simply put, this thing was the system’s official certification of a regular slash.

Following this logic, Piercing must be the system’s official certification of a normal thrust...

Game developers, you’re cutting corners!

Duan Qing nearly threw his short sword to the ground. But considering the history of the player community, he guessed they had probably already complained about this.

After acquiring this skill, the fight time against the wolf was shortened, but that was likely due to his increased strength; the combat style itself saw no change.

Step forward, slash once with the short sword—now officially called Slash—and the wolf would swipe with its front paws, sometimes the left, sometimes the right. If it used the left paw, stepping diagonally right would create a good opportunity for attack...

If the wolf leapt forward, step back; if it pounced, it was best to dodge sideways to avoid self-injury, what the game calls “attack judgment.” Of course, the wolf might follow with a spin attack or consecutive jumps, testing reflexes; just jump away accordingly...

Monsters in the newbie zone, theoretically, aren’t too difficult. These ordinary monsters are designed to help new players familiarize themselves with the combat mechanics of this world. Although in Duan Qing’s eyes, so-called combat mechanics were nonexistent—fighting was simply fighting. Wolves that newbies found challenging, requiring long practice to dodge and even risking death from a single misstep, were quite simple to him because those dodging moves had become instinctive reflexes for Duan Qing.

Nonetheless, Duan Qing still took some time to recover, and the game’s “stamina” mechanic limited his performance.

The stamina bar looked as long as the health bar, but each time Duan Qing used a skill or performed a large action, the stamina bar mercilessly drained a portion. After several jumps or slashes, once the stamina was fully depleted, Duan Qing could only walk back and forth, unable even to perform normal attacks. This stamina system severely restricted Duan Qing’s capabilities.

Later, to study this mechanic, Duan Qing fought while keeping the status panel open, ignoring how it blocked much of his view, dancing with the wolf while watching the stamina bar. His observations showed that the short stamina bar could sustain about seven to eight jumps or five to six slashes before needing to wait for recovery. Fortunately, stamina recovered quickly—if no stamina-draining actions interrupted it, full recovery took only three to four seconds; otherwise, the game would be too difficult. Duan Qing even tried forced running and jumping when stamina was exhausted, but besides muscle soreness, his health slightly decreased.

He guessed that acting or using skills with insufficient stamina might even cause instant death, though he couldn’t confirm this as he had no means to rapidly deplete stamina.

Survival was this hard; skill acquisition this demanding; combat this troublesome—with none of the flashy battles or simple systems that made other games exhilarating. Normally, players reaching this stage would delete the game in a heartbeat. Yet Duan Qing was no ordinary player; he found it quite interesting. He even spent some time at the blacksmith’s house, borrowing a wooden shield to study stamina consumption when blocking attacks. Though he gained no useful conclusions, he did learn another skill.

[ Block: Use a shield to block attacks. ]

[ Power: 60% ]

[ Skill requirement: Equipped shield ]

Recalling the time he was knocked flying by Iron Heart’s shield, Duan Qing thought this power might be underrated.

Spending the remaining points, Duan Qing planned to return to the village for rest. But before leaving, he stared at his short sword, pondered, then tried slashing in one direction before swiftly slashing upward.

Then, holding the downward slash pose, he stood still for a long time.

“The recovery time after Slash is quite long...” he thought, slowly sheathing his sword. “So to perform combos, I need to break through this bottleneck somewhere else... Tch, probably another new skill, the sly system...”

He shook his head and walked toward the village. Iron Bro had mentioned many quests in this game; the herb-gathering for the blacksmith was one example. Duan Qing planned to find a couple of quests himself, to experience the local customs.

But first, he needed to obtain a quest.

In recent days, Duan Qing had done much socializing—commonly called “grinding favorability.” He delivered wild rabbits, wolves, herbs, and various loot to many villagers, even the blacksmith patronized his “business,” yet no quests appeared.

After some simple guesses, Duan Qing concluded it was tied to his strength—simply put, his attributes were insufficient. A weakling wouldn’t catch the NPCs’ attention. Now that his strength was seven, even he felt transformed; so he planned to try the villagers again.

“I’m not who I used to be!” Duan Qing shouted silently in his heart as he pushed open a villager’s door.

“Oh, Brother Green Mountain! You’ve brought so many trophies again, thank you very much! What do you want this time? I have plenty of dried wild meat...”

“Thank you, Brother Green Mountain. These wolf pelts are very precious. We have nothing to repay you, but these coarse cloths I just woven today—you can have them to make clothes...”

“You are... Brother Green Mountain, right? What do you want?”

The cold reality shattered Duan Qing’s illusions. After visiting the hunter’s house, the weaver’s, the blacksmith’s, and various villagers, experiencing the simple rural life, he felt he had high favorability with them all, yet still no quests appeared. Hmm, maybe his relationship with the blacksmith was different...

Could this game have a charm stat? The thought made Duan Qing lose confidence instantly, for his past gaming experience suggested he had the luck of an unlucky man—whenever fortune and face mattered, he always fared poorly...

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Duan Qing felt uneasy and immediately contacted Iron Heart offline, since the game was so realistic it didn’t even have private messaging.

“Quests? Of course there are, but what they’re about, how should I know...”

In Free World, players cannot see private messages outside the game; Iron Heart only saw Duan Qing’s message when he was idle and replied by leaving a message, so Duan Qing read the reply later.

“Here’s a hint: Free World prides itself on realism, and in the real world, no idle person randomly sends you quests... so.”

“Quests are basically events you encounter by chance.”

“Of course, that’s not my quote, it’s from a friend of mine... For example, you know about the herb quest for the blacksmith—at the time I happened to visit his house and saw his sick wife bedridden, so he asked me to find herbs.”

“So if you want to get quests like that, first you need a reason for someone to give you a quest. If no one needs anything and everyone is peaceful, why would someone give you a quest?”

“It’s not that you seek quests, but that quests find you—that’s how I understand it.”

Duan Qing hadn’t yet seen Iron Heart’s full explanation about quest “settings.” After leaving his questions, he re-entered the game, determined to wander around and hope some metaphysical luck would help.

He visited the tavern, the inn, and observed much local culture and heard many local anecdotes. Among these, the most notable was that he found the village chief of Greenstone Village.

In any newbie village, it’s obvious the village chief is the most important NPC, or at least the best source for information. But the village’s alleys were maze-like, and Duan Qing, engrossed in skill research, hadn’t paid attention to special locations, so he hadn’t encountered the chief before.

Players with some game time usually knew where the village chief’s house was—not because the chief gave many benefits, but because many people had been there hoping for luck and rewards.

When Duan Qing arrived, two or three new players were already eagerly pestering a white-haired, spry old man who seemed to be the chief, trying to extract quests. Duan Qing frowned and quietly stepped aside, waiting for them to leave before trying himself.

From outside, the chief’s house looked no different from other village homes, except it was slightly taller. The pointed roof stood out among the row of simple houses. On either side were smaller houses; the one on the left appeared inhabited but with the door closed. The one on the right had its door open, welcoming guests. Near its entrance were wooden basins, bamboo baskets, cloth bags, and containers holding wild herbs and branches. Inside were many wooden crates, and a wooden sign hung by the door, roughly stating the collection of various herbs.

Quite a business setup... Could that be a player-run shop? No way, in a newbie village like this, where would wealthy players come from? Even if someone foolishly opened a business here, how could it thrive...

Perhaps having failed to secure any quest, the two or three newbies left, looking dejected one after another. Only then did Duan Qing approach. The white-haired, energetic man, presumably the chief, showed no annoyance and greeted the new adventurer warmly, a broad smile on his face.

“Welcome to Greenstone Village! Though poor, our village has a long history! Many families here have lived for hundreds of years, generation after generation...” Then came a lengthy historical introduction.

Duan Qing listened to the chief’s enthusiastic speech with silent exasperation. Surely every hopeful player who came here was “forced” to hear such a lecture. He wondered if those who had just left had listened to the entire monologue; perhaps hearing it triggered something...

With professional patience and a sliver of hope, Duan Qing endured and planned to finish the entire introduction. However, he never expected it would last several hours.

The speech was so long because the chief’s historical account was extremely detailed, and his language rich and varied—he didn’t repeat a single phrase. Duan Qing gave a resentful glance to two more players who came late and also left after being bored by the rambling. Then, gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and listened for a while longer, sending away yet another group of players he hadn’t noticed. Eventually, he lost track of time and, after the chief’s rousing conclusion—“The village’s future depends on you adventurers! Go forth! More unknown surprises await you!”—Duan Qing could bear no more and logged off.

Fortunately, Iron Heart’s messages somewhat comforted Duan Qing’s spirit. Understanding how pitiful the quest system was, he gave up deliberately searching for quests. When he logged back in, it was already early morning the next day. This time, he planned to explore the other side of the village.

Free World’s system did have a map feature. Players could find places they had visited in the “Adventure Notes” section. This map, like a record, expanded with the player’s exploration, becoming part of their adventure log alongside other records.

At this point, Duan Qing’s parchment-colored map was still small, showing only the village’s layout in the center and some areas north of the village. The farthest spot was the field Iron Heart had once taken Duan Qing to.

He had explored most roads north of the village; the grassland to the east was where he often fought wolves, marked on the map. Beyond that was a forest he hadn’t dared enter—blank on the map. The village’s southern entrance only extended as far as the meadow where Duan Qing had first arrived. Beyond south lay the legendary Emerald Forest.

Why not explore there?

From conversations with Iron Heart and some bystanders, Duan Qing had heard of the Emerald Forest’s reputation. Just its name suggested danger. But Iron Heart could enter at level six, so Duan Qing reckoned he could check it out too, even though his stats were only at level three, roughly matching level three or four players...

Though compared to Iron Heart’s gear and appearance back then, Duan Qing felt his own looked somewhat shabby...

But none of that mattered! Duan Qing thought confidently.

The in-game time was probably morning, the cold of dawn still lingering, the sun’s warmth not yet fully arrived. Duan Qing reached the village’s southern gate and saw a familiar figure.

Still wearing the purple cloak, still the golden ponytail, but unlike the night he had seen her before, this time her braid bounced joyfully, expressing her excitement.

Of course, the girl named Meng Zhu didn’t know Duan Qing, so her excitement had nothing to do with him. Duan Qing stood back and observed. The girl seemed to be having a lively conversation—or perhaps an argument—with the person in front of her, with only her voice noticeably louder.

“These mushrooms are what I painstakingly gathered; how could I possibly...”

“No! You can’t fool me! I know the shop near the village chief collects these mushrooms...”

“What’s the Black Cloud Alliance? I’ve never heard of it...”

Even from a distance, Duan Qing could hear fragments of their voices. To the nearby players selling at stalls, it must have sounded like a loud quarrel.

As Duan Qing drew closer, he saw the girl’s angry face and the other’s embarrassed expression. The argument apparently ended with the girl refusing the deal; she angrily brushed off the man, hoisted her bamboo basket, and walked alone into the village. Perhaps out of “angry shame,” she glanced furtively around, noticing many eyes secretly watching her. She then lowered her head, wanting to leave quickly. Passing by Duan Qing, she didn’t notice him.

The crowd’s attention gradually dispersed as the commotion ended. Just as Duan Qing was about to continue, a surprised shout came from behind. Turning, he saw another novice player blocking the girl, whispering something.

There was plenty of time...

Duan Qing quietly stepped aside and watched as the newcomer spoke briefly with the girl. She went from being upset to suddenly cheerful. She nodded, her ponytail bouncing up and down with the movement. She took something from the newcomer’s hand and emptied her basket into a cloth bag he produced.

The girl waved happily as they parted. After the newcomer left, she stood for a moment, as if pondering her next move. Then she tucked her hair behind her ear, slung the bamboo basket on her back, and turned...

Heading out of the village.

Could she be going into the forest? Off to do some quest again? Duan Qing recalled the mushrooms and the shop she mentioned, his eyes brightened, and he slowly followed behind.