Chapter Eighteen: Level Ten

After Stormwalker left, the four continued leveling as a team. Though their efficiency was not high, none of them were truly focused on leveling anymore; instead, as they fought monsters, they quietly waited for the system announcement.

System Announcement: Congratulations to player Stormwalker for being the first to leave the Beginner Village. Awarded: +1 Skill Point, +100 to all attributes, +100 Merit, and the Pioneer title.

System Announcement: As a player has now left the Beginner Village, a new map is unlocked. The cities of the Seven Nations are now open. Each nation has three subsidiary cities and a royal capital; additionally, both the Eastern and Western capitals of the Zhou Dynasty are now accessible to players. Players who reach level ten are welcome to travel to these cities and contribute their strength to the prosperity of humanity.

"Damn, finally we know where to go after the Beginner Village. That’s the trouble with this new world—everything has to be explored by the players," Lone Rider complained.

"So, which nation and which city should we settle in? We’ll probably need a fixed city," someone mused.

"Let's wait. Stormwalker will probably make an announcement soon. By the way, those rewards are incredible. +100 to all attributes? That’s insanely strong. Helping him grind was definitely worth it," Windbell commented.

World Channel

Stormwalker: Stormwalker Guild has established itself in Dangyang City, Chu Nation. Welcome, ambitious players, to join us and explore the new world together.

War God Li Jing: Stormwalker, don’t be so fast! I was just a bit short of experience!

Dominant King: Damn, I’ve already reached level ten and was running back to the Beginner Village. The fact you can’t teleport directly back is so dumb.

Free King: King, you could just lie down and respawn, it’s not any slower than teleporting, haha.

Rogue of the Rivers: Damn, this trash talent ruined me. I’m still not level ten, wait for me!

With Stormwalker entering the city first, the World Channel burst into activity. Though posting on the world chat cost one gold coin, the new world had been open all day, and even Zhang Shan had three or four gold coins saved up, let alone the top players. Spending a coin to chat was no issue, though no one sent a second message—since that would cost ten coins, which was too expensive. No one was that extravagant yet.

"Awooo, I want to reach level ten right away and visit all thirty major cities," Lone Rider exclaimed with excitement after reading the announcement.

The fact that there were thirty cities in the new world made things interesting, and it was ideal for dispersing players. Otherwise, gathering too many players in a few cities would make competition fierce.

"Come on, you really think you can visit all thirty cities? My brother just told me—teleporting to another subsidiary city in your nation costs ten coins, to the capital a hundred coins, and to other nations’ cities a thousand coins. As for the Eastern and Western capitals, it’s ten thousand coins! With such expensive teleport fees, where do you think you’ll go? Planning to run there?" Windbell ruthlessly crushed Lone Rider’s dream of roaming everywhere.

"Damn, seriously? The teleport fees are that high? Not just now, even later, no one will casually teleport to foreign nations or the two capitals. Who can afford a thousand or ten thousand coins per trip?" Zhang Shan was shocked by the prices.

"Don’t worry. Since the game allows teleporting to foreign nations and the capitals, there will definitely be ways to encourage players to use it—events or quests, maybe. The fees are probably a way for the developers to recycle and consume in-game currency," Windbell explained.

...

Let’s grind quickly and leave the Beginner Village as soon as possible.

The four split up to level more efficiently: Zhang Shan and the Secretary teamed up, while Windbell and Lone Rider formed another pair. This way, progress was faster.

Calculating the experience gain, Zhang Shan estimated less than twenty thousand an hour; in about three hours, he should reach level ten, likely around midnight. The Secretary and Lone Rider had dropped back to level eight after fighting the boss, so they’d need two or three more hours.

Time ticked by. Around eleven, Windbell reached level ten first.

"I leveled up! Lone Rider, go team up with the Secretary—I’m heading to Dangyang City! Haha," Windbell said cheerfully.

"I’m almost there too. Lone Rider, Secretary, you two should take it easy with Old Goat, haha," Zhang Shan added, nearing level ten himself.

Lone Rider and the Secretary had missed out on the boss experience and lost more from deaths, so their total experience was five or six thousand short. Zhang Shan couldn’t keep grinding with them forever.

After Windbell left, Zhang Shan quickly reached level ten.

"Guys, I’m heading out. Keep it up, haha."

Lone Rider: Heartless!

Secretary: ...Go ahead. I’ll keep grinding tonight, won’t sleep until I hit level ten.

Zhang Shan ran toward the Beginner Village, swapping out his level-one trash gear. After hours of fighting level-ten monsters, he’d collected plenty of level-ten equipment—being the only agility-based player, his gear was nearly complete. Though most were basic white pieces and a couple greens, it was far better than the level-one stuff.

The most significant upgrade was the exquisite musket dropped by the boss, which he could finally equip. He put on the musket, level-ten white leather armor, white cap, green bracers, plus two rings and a necklace—all green. It was a real leap forward.

He checked his stats:

Character: Six-Barrel Bodhisattva
Class: Hunter
Title: Nemesis of Demons
Level: 10
Health: 300
Mana: 150
Physical Attack: 202-221
Magic Attack: 20-20
Strength: 20
Agility: 116
Intelligence: 20
Defense: 36
Luck: 9 (randomly generated between 1-10; hidden attribute, never changes)
Talent: King of Passives (each time a monster is killed, there is a one-in-a-million chance to randomly acquire one of its passive skills)
Skill 1: Headshot (Passive), Level 10: Each hunter attack has a 5% chance to trigger a headshot, dealing 50 extra damage and stunning for 0.05 seconds.
Skill 2: Heavy Strike (Passive), Level 1 (talent acquired, cannot upgrade): Each attack has a 1% chance to deal five times normal damage.
Skill 3: Taming, Level 1: Chance to tame non-demonic animals as pets, strengthening pet attributes by 10%. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Mana cost: 30. Class: Hunter.
Equipment: Exquisite musket, elven leather boots, refined iron necklace, refined iron ring, refined iron ring, leather armor, leather cap, leather bracers.

Except for health, the other stats were already impressive for Zhang Shan—especially his attack power, which soared above two hundred, greatly increasing his strength.

He was only missing a cloak and a special item. White equipment only had basic effects; green and above granted extra attribute points. For example, his white leather armor added seven defense, the cap added a bit too, while each green piece gave two or three extra agility—quite decent.

There was no need to consider new gear for now. Cloaks were extremely rare; their group had spent the whole day grinding without seeing one. The Secretary kept buying but couldn’t find any. Perhaps none had dropped in the entire Beginner Village. Special items were even more elusive—no one knew if any had appeared in the new world yet.

Zhang Shan jogged along, passing by many players still fighting and leveling, despite it being past eleven. It was the first day, after all—many were determined to grind hard.

When he reached the rabbit map, it was deserted—everyone had leveled up and moved on. No one would waste time on level-two monsters now. Seeing the map full of rabbits, Zhang Shan felt a little itch.

Damn it, let’s try one more time—clear all the rabbits on the map. If the passive doesn’t drop, so be it. With his attack power, each rabbit died in a single hit, and the excess damage meant the clear wouldn’t take long.

He got to work, becoming a rabbit slayer, moving quickly across the map. His kill speed outpaced the rabbit respawn rate, and gradually, the number of rabbits dwindled.

Suddenly, after a rabbit fell, a system notification sounded—Zhang Shan almost missed it.

System Notification: Your talent, King of Passives, has triggered by killing a demonic rabbit. You have automatically acquired the passive skill: Granting Power.

Ha!

Zhang Shan was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected much, given the one-in-a-million chance—statistically, he’d need to kill a million monsters to trigger the talent. He couldn’t stay in the Beginner Village forever, but luck was on his side. He quickly checked the skill attributes.

Granting Power (Passive): Level 1 (talent acquired, cannot upgrade), increases character attack power by 10%.

Zhang Shan checked his attack stats—it had indeed increased to 222-244, equivalent to gaining a small attack gear bonus, and the percentage meant the benefit would grow over time. Truly powerful.

"The rabbit passive finally dropped, haha," Zhang Shan boasted in the party channel.

"No way, your luck is that good?" The Secretary sounded envious.

"Shameless! Level ten and still grinding rabbits in the Beginner Village. How’s the skill? How much attack did you gain—fixed or percentage?" Lone Rider asked, even more jealous.

"Increases attack by 10%, about twenty points right now, haha."

"Awesome!"

"Let’s go, time to see the village chief."

Zhang Shan returned to the Beginner Village and found the village chief.

"Young hunter, congratulations on completing your trial of growth. I hope you continue to strive and face greater challenges. Please choose your destination."

Checking his options, the first was choosing a nation. After leaving the Beginner Village, you had to decide which nation to join. The new world had seven nations: Qin, Chu, Qi, Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan. Once chosen, it couldn’t be changed—no switching allegiance. Who knows if the strong nations will get stronger and the weak ones will become weaker, with fewer players choosing them.

From the Beginner Village, you could only teleport to a subsidiary city. Zhang Shan chose Chu Nation, Dangyang City, paying one gold for the teleport—not free, but affordable for most players upon reaching level ten if they don’t spend recklessly or sell in-game currency.