Chapter 5 (Assassin Reborn)

[Translated by ChickenBakuba]

Chapter 5, Mission from a Gay

Perhaps it was because it was the first time the red-tailed snake king was killed that the land was opening up. The red-tailed snake king very generously dropped 2 bronze equipment as well as a mission item. Within 1 hour of the game's release, while players still wore voice garments, the two pieces of equipment could be considered legendary equipment. However, the level requirement was 5. It seemed like he would have to keep the sword for a while before bringing it out again.

Equipment below level 5 would not require appraisal, or the thought of the appraisal costs would make his blood run cold.

Other than the equipment, there were also 81 copper coins. It could be considered as Xu Xiang’s first windfall in the game.

Xu Xiang added the 7 attribute points into agility and 3 into strength. His attack was raised to 10 points. Because he levelled up, all his attributes had risen by one point. His HP was now 120 points, his defence 3. Xu Xiang glanced at his experience bar ‘44,005/50,000’. As expected, levelling up was the most challenging task in <i>Dispute</i>. Even after slaying a high levelled BOSS 8 levels higher than him, he had only risen by one level.

It was a pity that Xu Xiang had no methods to deal with the body of the snake king. Xu Xiang knew what to do, but was helpless. He did not learn the skinning skill for harvesting, and had no way to deal with the snake’s body. Besides, he had no tools on hand. “I’ll leave you with an intact corpse to thank you for helping in my progress. Amen.”

Xu Xing returned to novice village 9527 with his newfound booty. The surrounding players gawked at him. That idiot had actually gotten out with an intact body.

"He must have gone out for a stroll. It seems like monsters below level 5 in the novice village will not take the initiative to attack players." A player conjectured with the typical mentality of others not being able to do something if he couldn't.

"Didn't you see his happy expression? He must have gained something. No, I need to take a look." This was a player who was adept at reading people from their body expressions. However, his mistake of his would cause him to waste a lot of levelling up time.

Xu Xiang blithely ignored the chattering players as he directly headed to the village plaza. He took out the snake king's gall bladder. All the eyes of the surrounding players fell onto the item in Xu Xiang's hand. The snake king's gall bladder was much larger than ordinary gall bladders. It was the size of a human fist, and really red. The amazed gazes of the surrounding players turned into greed and envy. Unfortunately for them, stealing and PKing in safe zones was prohibited. Even if it were in the wild, they would have to consider their gains and losses from conducting theft.

The eyes of the village chief brightened as he spotted the snake king's gall bladder. His two withered hands shot out to grasp Xu Xiang's hand which was clasping the snake king's gall bladder. His expression was like a person who had not met his gay lover in many years, but also the expression of a thirsty gay man ready to embrace his lover.

"Esteemed Warrior Feng Xiang, you have actually defeated the red-tailed snake king! Colour me astonished. Here is your reward." The village chief waved his hand. The snake's gall bladder in Xu Xiang's hands disappeared as he collected his reward.

"Ding~ Congratulations for finishing the [Snake king's gall bladder] mission. Received 5,000 experience points. You have obtained 1 silver coin." The reward wasn't half-bad. Killing a level 1 large rodent would only get him around 20 experience points. This was the equivalent of the experience points from killing 250 monsters. Xu Xiang was content. If this continued, he would level up soon. 49,005/50,000.

Seeing the 1 silver and 81 coppers in his bag, Xu Xiang was delighted. He could be considered a small millionaire. Raising a younger sister was no problem. However, now was not the time to think about raising little sisters. The expression on the village chief's face sunk. It was a mission!

"Senior, is there anything I can help you with?" Xu Xiang's took on a more respectful tone. He knew that the favourable impression of NPCs were important. It affected your odds of triggering a mission or assignment. If on very good terms, an NPC would even help you complete the mission. In addition, who would know if the old man in front of you was actually a legendary magic teacher who lived in seclusion here? That being said, Xu Xiang didn't actually believe the old man was a legendary magic teacher if he were the main lead.

"Esteemed Warrior Feng Xiang, although you have vanquished the red-tailed snake king, its minions still continue to jeopardise the village's safety. Could you help us exterminate them?" Expectation brimmed from the village chief's eyes. Xu Xiang felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

'This old man is definitely gay.' Xu Xiang mentally cursed. Xu Xiang replied immediately, "Of course, I accept."

If one didn't accept a mission when offered, one would be a fool. Even if offered by a gay guy.

"Ding~ You have accepted 9527's village chief's request.

Exterminate red-tailed snakes [Mission difficulty: 45]

Kill 500 red-tailed snakes, collect 20 red-tailed snake tails, and present them to the village chief to obtain a generous reward.

Time limit: None."

Mission difficulty 45 meant that this mission was best done once one hit level 4. Mission difficulties were related to levels and equipment. However, Xu Xiang's level was low and he had no equippable equipment. Naturally, the difficulty level of the mission was drastically raised. As for the 'generous reward' that the system mentioned, Xu Xiang rolled his eyes. Even if it was a mission with a difficulty of 1, the system would also write it off as said 'generous reward'.

Seeing the village chief return to his expressionless NPC state, Xu Xiang knew it was time to leave.

Standing at the entrance of the village, Xu Xiang studied the slime area which was flooded with players. Where would he go to level up next? There was actually another BOSS that he could go kill, but the monsters in that area were capable of taking the initiative attacking players. If he let his guard down even a little, he would die. Dying wasn't that bad, since he was going to level up soon. His experience points would not fall after he just levelled up. However, if he could not kill the boss, he would have wasted a lot of time. The BOSS's difficulty was extremely high.

Furthermore, if he died, a random equipment on his body as well as a random equipment from his bag would drop. He would also have to return to his body. To resurrect directly in the village cost 3 levels. The price was unbearable.

"Screw it, since nobody can catch up to my level till tomorrow, I should think of an idea to get some equipment and skill books." Xu Xiang silently pondered and made his decision.

To thieves, skills and equipment were infinitely more important than levels. Thieves being called the king of control was not for no reason. Their normal strikes, surprise attacks and stunning attacks could stun a person to death. A higher-levelled thief would also possess an arsenal of unusual skills and equipment as well as additional skills from equipments.

All the skills in <i>Dispute</i> required players to search for skill books to learn it themselves. One needed to be familiar with it himself, and there were no special NPCs to teach one skills. Therefore, skill books were higher on the priority list than the talent of the player, as well as the difference between a professional and a noob. The low-levelled basic skill books were on sale from instructors, but the prices were costly.

Thieves were the profession that had the largest requirement towards the success rate of skills. Other professions like warriors only required standard movements. If they followed the requirements of the system, their skills would have a 70% success rate. As for magicians, it was even simpler; as long as one made the correct movements, chanted the full chant, the success rate of the spell would be very high.

The skill of thieves were harder to execute, and it needed one to attack in different manners and patterns. However, a thief with a consistently high success rate in executing skills would be outright terrifying.

How fully a skill was used was based on success rate, movement and weapons. Some skills needed to be changed according to the weapons. As for movement, it was the action made by the players when they were executing their skills. The success rate was the most important to a magician. If a magician's required chanting time was 5 seconds, and the magician casted it within 3 seconds, the success rate would only be at 60 per cent at most, or even lower. The strength of the magic would also be much lower, and it was possible that the magic would backfire and explode from instability.

Chapter 5, END