Chapter 17: Departure and Cultivation
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Qin Yumo explained indulgently, “You have to learn skills when you reach Level 3. I’ve already prepared all the Experience Manuals and skill books for you.”
Zero nodded repeatedly with a smile. “Mm. Give me the skill books first. I can learn them slowly later. I just want to follow you.”
Qin Yumo smiled bitterly. “If you don’t learn skills and personally experience fighting monsters, how will you know which class to awaken later?”
Zero countered with a perfectly serious expression, “What’s the point of experiencing it? When the time comes, I’ll just choose the easiest class.”
Helpless, Qin Yumo tried to persuade her another way. “You’ll definitely have to complete your own quests. No one can do them for you.”
“That’s fine. I can level up just by tagging along with you. Quests aren’t important.” Zero waved her hand dismissively.
Fu Chen found the tug-of-war between the two best friends quite amusing, but they could not keep wasting time.
After thinking for a moment, he said something that immediately extinguished Zero’s plan to follow them.
“We’re going to Hidden Hero Village. Run east for a little over two hundred miles, and you should arrive in about five hours.”
Zero was startled. She looked at Qin Yumo with a questioning expression and saw her nod firmly.
Her attitude changed at once. “Mm, I thought it over, and Yumo is right. I’ll go learn skills and do quests.”
Qin Yumo handed Zero the Experience Manuals and skill books she was missing, then said to Fu Chen, “Hongchen, let’s go back.”
Just before leaving, Fu Chen teased her, “If you get killed by a monster, you’ll revive at the Journey’s End Inn. It’ll save you the trouble of running all the way back.”
Zero froze for a moment, then fixed her gaze with determination. “It’s only one more death. I’m going all out!”
She actually charged straight toward a wild hedgehog, struck it twice, then stood motionless and let the monster kill her.
Fu Chen was utterly dumbfounded. He turned to Qin Yumo with a bewildered expression and said, “Damn, I was only joking. I never thought she would actually do it.”
Qin Yumo could not help laughing. “I’m always saying she’s lazy to the point of death. Today, I finally witnessed it with my own eyes.”
Fu Chen sighed in relief and decided never again to casually joke with people he did not know well. Some people actually took jokes seriously!
“Let’s leave too. We’ll return to Sword Immortal City to learn our skills, then head to Hidden Hero Village to complete the quests.”
After speaking, Fu Chen immediately cast [Return]. Qin Yumo followed close behind.
The two appeared one after another in the teleportation array of Sword Immortal City and headed straight for the elder.
As they walked through the city, Fu Chen saw that Sword Immortal City had completely changed.
Some people were shouting for party members, others were anxiously urging their companions along, and still others were calling out to buy skill books.
The emptiness and silence of before had vanished. The streets were bustling everywhere, brimming with boundless vitality.
Looking at the city, which was now even somewhat crowded, Qin Yumo could not help asking in confusion, “Just how many people have entered this place?”
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“I’m not sure. At least several tens of millions, I’d guess.” Fu Chen made a rough estimate after thinking it over.
While chatting, the two arrived at the elder’s residence in Sword Immortal City and, with practiced ease, went before the bronze mirror to learn their skills.
There were only five Level 6 Experience Manual skills, and they had already collected all of them while completing quests and fighting monsters earlier.
After learning the skills, the two teleported directly from Sword Immortal City back to Hidden Hero Village.
When they returned two hours later, many people were already in Hidden Hero Village, turning in and accepting quests.
Qin Yumo frowned slightly. “There are so many people. Won’t they catch up with us?”
“Of course they will. At this level, everyone has already learned a few skills, so our advantage is no longer very great.”
Fu Chen answered firmly, then continued, “They probably won’t catch up immediately. Let’s go accept the quests.”
The two first found the sentry and accepted two quests: [Wild Wolf Disaster] and [A Regional Menace].
They then found the blacksmith and accepted [Revenge and Retribution].
After looking over the quest details, Fu Chen fell silent.
The three quests required them to kill three different Level 8 monsters: wild wolves, Hundred-Pace Snakes, and Demon Ox Porters. All of them were located beneath Ant-Gathering Mountain.
Ant-Gathering Mountain, however, lay east of Hidden Hero Village, beside another stronghold called Four Directions Fort.
Four Directions Fort was even farther from Hidden Hero Village than Hidden Hero Village was from Sword Immortal City.
If they wanted to complete all three quests, merely traveling there would probably take them until morning.
Seeing that Fu Chen was not saying anything, Qin Yumo asked doubtfully, “What’s wrong?”
He had a bellyful of complaints, but unfortunately, none of them could be voiced.
Fu Chen could only smile and cover it up. “Nothing. I was just wondering where Ant-Gathering Mountain is.”
Qin Yumo was equally helpless. She sighed and said, “We can only follow the quest description and head east. We’ll look for it along the way.”
The two departed from Hidden Hero Village and raced eastward at full speed.
Seeing people everywhere fighting monsters and completing quests, they knew that the advantage they had enjoyed was gradually being erased.
Half an hour later, they had already reached the dark region shown on the map, yet they had not even seen a trace of their target monsters.
Fu Chen finally suggested, “Forget it. We might as well fight Level 7 monsters and level up. That’s more worthwhile than spending all this time traveling.”
Qin Yumo found Fu Chen’s depressed expression rare and smiled as she nodded. “You decide. I’ll follow your orders!”
The area was filled with Level 7 monsters called [Wasteland Dragon Leeches] and [Young Mountain-Piercing Martens], saving them the trouble of continuing their search.
The two worked together with perfect understanding, deliberately keeping nearly twenty meters apart before beginning their hunts almost simultaneously.
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Fu Chen nocked an arrow, circulated his true energy, and launched a [Rapid Volley] at the Wasteland Dragon Leech before him.
[Health 560/560; Level 7, Wasteland Dragon Leech; Earth; Hit 93%, Evasion 6%]
Nearby, Qin Yumo waved her staff and struck the Young Mountain-Piercing Marten ahead of her with a [Tornado].
[Health 540/540; Level 7, Young Mountain-Piercing Marten; Hit 94%, Evasion 7%]
They had both killed these two types of monsters once before while completing quests, so even Qin Yumo could handle them with ease.
Moreover, they had now learned new Experience Manual skills, especially the healing skill [Heart-Calming Mantra].
Compared with the earlier [Purifying Heart Mantra], it had a shorter casting time and a stronger effect. It was one of the Feather Spirit’s signature skills.
Whenever danger arose, it could immediately restore health to herself or her companion, greatly increasing their survivability.
The two fought and leveled without distraction, continuously gaining cultivation and soul force.
Just ten minutes later, other players arrived in the area. They were extremely surprised to see Fu Chen and Qin Yumo already fighting monsters there.
Wandering the World exclaimed, “Damn, someone actually beat us here. They’ve already started killing monsters!”
White Garment Like Snow said, “There are plenty of smart people around. Of course they know to look for places with fewer players.”
Night Enchantress scolded, “Stop wasting time. Hurry up and kill monsters to level. If more people show up, we’ll have to find another place.”
Seeing this, the other party members said nothing more and rushed toward the nearest monsters.
Fu Chen noticed that the opposing party had more members and was killing monsters faster than they were.
He ran directly to Qin Yumo and said, “Damn, let’s attack together. We’re a little too slow otherwise.”
Qin Yumo liked this method best, and it was also the easiest for her: joining forces to attack the same monster.
Every monster was killed cleanly before it could even complete its counterattack.
On the other side, when Wandering the World saw this, he shouted to his teammates, “Everyone, put in more effort! Those two are killing monsters faster than we are!”
From then on, in the secluded wilderness, the two groups began competing against each other, relentlessly hunting the monsters around them.
Ten minutes later, white light shimmered around Qin Yumo as she became the first to reach Level 9.
She then looked at Fu Chen in surprise. “Hongchen, I actually received an orange-grade cultivation quest.”