Update Time: 2014-02-10
“Task overlap?” Before Lin Zheng could figure out what was going on, the Old Village Chief spoke, “You've been looking for my glasses for so long and haven't found them. I estimate that the hateful Big Bandit Crow picked them up! How about this! You go defeat the Big Bandit Crow and retrieve my glasses, and the final trial will be over! However, that Big Bandit Crow is very cunning, and you might not find it. I have a Hundred-Mile Incense here; go find a spot in the cornfield and light it, and the Big Bandit Crow will appear! The Big Bandit Crow is not only cunning but also very fierce. You should use strategy to overcome it. Go!”
Big Bandit Crow? Just hearing the name, Lin Zheng knew it was a boss, but he didn't know what level it was. He wanted to ask the Village Chief for more information, but—he wouldn't say a word, which greatly frustrated Lin Zheng! However, since the Village Chief said to use strategy, it was probably difficult to defeat it head-on. It seemed he needed to prepare first. After thinking for a long time, Lin Zheng finally walked towards the general store, bought a coil of rope, and then headed to the cornfield.
There was a crooked-necked tree deeper in the cornfield, and since there were no other players around, Lin Zheng chose this spot to kill the Big Bandit Crow. Opening his inventory, Lin Zheng took out the rope and also pulled out the medal he had almost forgotten.
SS Evaluation Medal: Experience gained +10%, skill learning fees at the professional instructor reduced by 80%, effective when placed in inventory. Bound.
Good stuff. This way, 10% of the experience absorbed by the dagger would be offset, and Yang Qi said that learning skills cost a lot of money, so this would save him a lot. Putting the medal back into his inventory, Lin Zheng began to strategize for the Big Bandit Crow that was about to appear. Actually, what was there to strategize about a beast? Just make a trap for it! After setting up the trap, Lin Zheng took out a stick of incense, which was the Hundred-Mile Incense the Village Chief mentioned.
Hundred-Mile Incense: When lit, it emits a strange scent that attracts the Big Bandit Crow. Quest Item.
This was practically custom-made to trick the Big Bandit Crow! Lin Zheng clicked 'use,' and the Hundred-Mile Incense automatically lit up. Then, Lin Zheng quickly inserted the incense into the pre-set spot and immediately hid himself in a nearby corn patch. The Hundred-Mile Incense was indeed very effective. In less than a minute, accompanied by an unpleasant squawk, a huge three-eyed crow flew over. Looking at its size, it could rival the eagle from The Condor Heroes. With the players' current small arms and legs, they really couldn't defeat it head-on!
Big Bandit Crow: Level 15 Silver Boss. Physical Attack 389-560, Physical Defense 250, Magic Defense 250, Health 15000. Skills: Gale Slash, Shadow Raid. The leader of the giant crows, a greedy thief, extremely obsessed with shiny objects.
Damn it, look at these stats: 15,000 health and 250 defense. It would take Lin Zheng a long time to fight it non-stop. If he didn't set a trap, a one-on-one fight with it would definitely lead to death! No wonder the Village Chief emphasized using strategy! Seeing the Big Bandit Crow step into the trap Lin Zheng had set and greedily sniff the Hundred-Mile Incense, Lin Zheng unhesitatingly pulled the rope in his hand! The noose around the Big Bandit Crow's feet instantly tightened, trapping its legs before it could react. The Big Bandit Crow let out a startled “Squawk—!” and was hoisted into the air. At this moment, Lin Zheng immediately rushed out, swung the rope in his hand, and looped it around the Big Bandit Crow's neck, leaning against the crooked-necked tree. Finally, after wrapping it around the tree several times, the Big Bandit Crow was spectacularly tied to the tree trunk, no matter how much it struggled, it couldn't move! Finally, under the Big Bandit Crow's terrified gaze, Lin Zheng smiled sinisterly and slowly approached the Big Bandit Crow with his dagger. Without suspense, the Big Bandit Crow was miserably stabbed to death on the tree, then unwillingly dropped its loot.
The Big Bandit Crow was definitely a first kill, dropping a lot of items. First, there was a good amount of money, 20 gold coins! But what Lin Zheng was most looking forward to were the two pieces of equipment the Big Bandit Crow dropped! The first was a sword, which had a pretty good appearance. The sword was three feet and three fen long, an inch wide, entirely black, with a ferocious crow as its guard, and a blue gem adorning its pommel.
Black Crow Sword: Level Requirement 15, Silver-grade.
Physical Attack 210-316, Magic Attack 190-223.
Strength: Strength +20.
Tear Level 1: 10% chance to activate, continuous bleeding of 100 points per second for 5 seconds.
Greed: 5% chance to obtain an additional item when killing a monster with the final blow.
Comes with special skill: Shadow Raid.
“That excellent item really showed up!” Lin Zheng thought, stroking his chin. Although this sword couldn't compare to Lin Zheng's dagger, it was like a divine artifact in the early game. If he sold it for RMB, how much would it be worth?! But if Yang Qi found out, she would come for a real-life PK. “Hehe! I'll tease her with it later!” With that thought, Lin Zheng put away the Black Crow Sword and picked up a mask. The mask was shaped like a fierce, ferocious crow and could cover the upper half of the face. It looked pretty cool and had a strong air of showing off!
black crow mask: Level Requirement 15, Silver-grade.
Physical Defense 20, Magic Defense 20.
True Sight: When inspecting all monster data, level limit +20.
Focus: Increases intelligence equal to the player's level.
Masks belong to the accessory category of equipment, and they are special accessories, quite rare. The attributes of this black crow mask are already very good, making it suitable for mage-type professions. However, Lin Zheng decided to keep this item for himself. Hmm, for showing off!
Besides all that, Lin Zheng was most relieved to finally get that damned pair of glasses. Looking at the reading glasses he had been trying to get all day, Lin Zheng was utterly speechless. No matter how he looked at it, that old man didn't seem to have presbyopia; his eyesight was excellent. But then again, this was just a game, so it was better to be prepared for various absurd settings.
“Haha! As expected, that damned thieving bird picked it up! Thank you, young man! Speaking of which, you're quite quick-footed, young man! You defeated that thieving bird in such a short time!” The Old Village Chief said, happily taking the glasses from Lin Zheng's hand.
“First Job Advancement Composite Quest Completed, Completion Time 6 minutes 21 seconds, Times Hit 0, Quest Evaluation SS-rank, received one SS-rank Class Special Gift Package, 50 gold coins, Character Level +2. Congratulations! You have successfully changed your class to Swordfighter!”
50 gold coins? And a Class Special Gift Package? That's awesome! Lin Zheng was so excited he almost shouted. At this moment, the Old Village Chief handed him a letter and said, “This is my letter of introduction. Take this letter to the Professional Hall in Tianshuang City and find the Professional Instructor. He will teach you powerful combat techniques!”
Receiving the letter of introduction, Lin Zheng knew that his novice career had come to an end. It wasn't easy! He checked the rankings; he was currently Level 12, ranking several thousand places behind. However, the highest-level player on the Tianshuang City rankings was actually Level 18! What a guy, he wondered how he leveled up so quickly. Looking at this person's name, Chong Chong, it looked like a name a female would use. Could she really be a girl?! That's too fierce! Then Lin Zheng also found Yang Qi's name, “Hong Chen Yan Yu,” ranked 6th at Level 15. This person was quite arrogant. But it was too coincidental; her level was just enough to equip the Black Crow Sword. So, Lin Zheng maliciously created an image of the Black Crow Sword and sent it to Yang Qi, then blocked all communications and slowly took out his gift package.
SS-rank Class Special Gift Package: 100% chance to obtain a Silver-grade Class Item, 30% chance to obtain a Gold-grade Class Item, small chance to obtain items above Gold-grade, one random Class Skill Book.
Lin Zheng eagerly opened the gift pack. Under his expectant gaze, the gift pack shimmered with white light and disappeared, leaving him with a bow and a skill book in his hand.
Lin Zheng’s eyes lit up; a weapon! At least a Silver-grade one, that’s good stuff!
He looked at the bow—it was silver-white with mysterious and beautiful patterns, but it looked like two short swords pieced together.
And, it didn’t have a bowstring?
Yes, this was the Swordfighter’s exclusive weapon—the Sword Blade Bow.
shattered moon: Level Requirement 30, Gold-grade (Swordfighter)
Physical Attack 420-550, Magic Attack 360-464
Ferocious: Physical Attack +100, Physical Defense -50
Overlord Body Lv. 1: 3% chance to enter Overlord Body state when attacking, lasts 5 seconds
Armor Break Lv. 2: 4% chance to inflict Armor Break state on enemy when attacking, defense reduced by 80% in this state, lasts 5 seconds
Moon Soul: 3% chance to cause frozen strike when attacking, and ice attack increases by 5000 on next attack
A Level 30 Gold-grade equipment!
Lin Zheng muttered a bit; it would take quite some time to reach Level 30!
Never mind, he had a dagger to use for now, so he would put it in the warehouse.
However, a Swordfighter without an exclusive weapon seemed a bit out of place!
He looked at the skill book.
Arrow Mastery: A skill that only Archer professions can comprehend; after learning, it increases archery damage and allows any item to be shot as an arrow.
This skill seemed pretty good.
Lin Zheng clicked to learn it, then opened the skill system to check.
Arrow Mastery: Lv. 1. Proficiency 0/1000, Passive Skill, Archery damage increased by 10%, any item can be used as an arrow.
The next level would increase damage by 15%, and at max level 20, it could reach 105%!
This increase was too significant!
However, it wouldn’t be easy to max out, especially since Swordfighter was a profession that used archery relatively little, so it would take a long time to max it out.
Lin Zheng now had a bit of regret; this skill was good, but its effect on him was minimal.
If he were to sell it, an Archer would definitely be willing to pay a high price for it, what a pity!
Lin Zheng slapped his thigh, regretting it!
Never mind, since he had already learned it, it was better to have more skills than fewer!
He checked the time; damn, it was already three o’clock.
He needed to quickly log off and go to sleep; the rest could wait until tomorrow!
But before that, there was one more thing to do, otherwise, he estimated there would be a real-life PK later, and Lin Zheng didn’t want his good sleep to be disturbed.
So, Lin Zheng opened the communication system, and immediately, a pile of call requests popped up.
Just as he opened it, a new call request popped up again.
Lin Zheng’s only friend currently was Yang Qi, so these requests were undoubtedly from that female Liu Mang.
Lin Zheng casually clicked accept, and after a few seconds of silence, Yang Qi’s furious roar came through!
“You bastard! Even if you want to keep me in suspense, you don’t have to take this long! Do you have any humanity left?!”
“Hehe! You’re an expert, aren’t you! I always believed you could get something better than the Black Crow Sword, I trust you, buddy!” Lin Zheng said with a mischievous smile, “Alright, I won’t tease you anymore.
Go to the Tianshuang City teleportation point now, I’ll head over to give you the item, I need to sleep!”
Yang Qi was about to curse him out, but hearing this, she choked on her words, feeling extremely uncomfortable, but then she became excited.
The sword was about to be hers!
“Hurry up! I’m going now!”
When Lin Zheng teleported to Tianshuang City, he immediately saw a female warrior looking around, her brows slightly furrowed, waiting anxiously.
At first glance, no one would associate this beautiful and pitiful woman with a Liu Mang.
Some perverts lurked around, their eyes green with lust, staring at the beauty!
Indeed, although the female Liu Mang had adjusted her appearance a bit, Lin Zheng still recognized her at once!
By the way, Lin Zheng was currently wearing a mask, with only his mouth exposed, so it was truly difficult to recognize him.
As a result, even when Lin Zheng walked up to Yang Qi, she still hadn’t recognized him.
“Liu Mang!” Lin Zheng stood in front of Yang Qi and called out helplessly.
This person was truly a gem; he was so obviously standing right in front of her, yet she still hadn’t realized he was Lin Zheng.
At this call, Yang Qi finally came to her senses, “Damn it! Where did you get such a pretentious mask, making this grandma unable to recognize you for half a day!”
“I can interpret that as jealousy, right!” Lin Zheng said very proudly, and then, as expected, received Yang Qi’s contemptuous gesture.
Yang Qi was filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.
Despite being an expert herself, she still didn’t have any decent equipment and had to be “helped” by Lin Zheng, an outsider.
Just thinking about it made her feel like crying!
And when Lin Zheng recounted the details of his quest, Yang Qi stomped her feet and pounded her chest, secretly regretting that she was still an expert!
She didn’t even know the little tricks of the First Turn Quest!
When she heard that Lin Zheng had used the hundred-mile incense given by the village chief to kill Big Bandit Crow, Yang Qi was so envious that she almost drooled, and at the same time, she coveted the Black Crow Sword even more, her eyes glowing green, which startled Lin Zheng!
“What do you know?!” Yang Qi swallowed her saliva and said, the green light in her eyes undiminished, “How much do you really know about Phantom Spirit’s data?!
There are many things you don’t know.
Take equipment, for example.
Many pieces of equipment in Phantom Spirit are duplicates, but some are unique.
Epic-grade and Mythical-grade items are all unique, and there’s another type of unique equipment called Lord Exclusive equipment.
These items all come with boss special skills, and without a doubt, the Black Crow Sword is one of them!
The data says that the drop rate for this type of equipment is no higher than Mythical-grade, and you actually managed to get one.
Besides dumb luck, I really can’t think of anything else!
But now! Hand it over quickly!!!” Yang Qi’s eyes blazed with a fierce green light, like a fiend.
Lin Zheng estimated that if he didn’t hand over the sword, she would immediately devour him, which sent shivers down his spine.
He quickly handed the sword to her.
Yang Qi got the sword, as excited as if she had received a huge diamond.
She held the sword, unable to put it down, and after wiping it for a long time, she said energetically, “Let’s go, let’s go! Find a place to test the sword!”
“Test your Big Head ghost, what time is it? Hurry up and log off to sleep!” Lin Zheng said grumpily.
“I’m excited right now, how can I sleep?! If you want to sleep, go ahead and log off first.
I probably still need to stay up for another two hours!” Even if she hadn’t gotten the Black Crow Sword, Yang Qi wouldn’t be sleeping now.
For players like her who earned money through gaming, staying up late was commonplace!
Besides, it was the early stage of the game now, so she had to seize the time to level up.
“Then I’ll log off first.
Don’t stay up too late either.
Wouldn’t it be better to wake up earlier tomorrow?
It’s not good for a girl to stay up late; be careful not to turn into a haggard old woman too soon!” Yang Qi nodded casually.
Lin Zheng saw it and figured she probably didn’t take it to heart!
He opened the system interface and clicked log off.
Climbing out of the game pod, Lin Zheng stretched.
It was late at night, and only the ticking of the clock could be heard.
However, outside the window, lights were still brightly lit, and he could see that many homes still had their lights on, though he didn’t know how many people were still fighting in the game.
Never mind, sleep was important.
Lin Zheng yawned, flopped onto the bed, and quickly fell asleep.