Chapter 19: Wang the Blacksmith's Quest!

However.

Either one of these two quests, pulled out at random, was already absurdly difficult.

And based on Lin Tianhao's understanding of the game, there was very likely a third quest scroll as well.

The requirement for that third quest scroll was, in all probability, to slay the Drought Demon!

If that were the case, he could pursue all three quests simultaneously.

First, destroy the novice village — then release the Drought Demon — then kill it.

Of course, this third quest was purely Lin Tianhao's speculation.

For now, regardless of which quest it was, Lin Tianhao couldn't complete any of them.

So he had no intention of accepting them just yet.

He'd deal with it after finishing the village chief's promotion quest first.

To hunt ten bosses in the novice village, he had already taken down the Hydra Bai, the Twisted Treant King, and the Yellow Weasel — three down.

So next up…

Was hunting some of the other bosses.

Monsters from Level 3 to Level 10 all had bosses, so if Lin Tianhao went through them systematically, he could bag six more.

However, staying true to his principle of targeting the highest-level bosses possible, Lin Tianhao had no intention of grinding those small-fry bosses.

He wanted to hunt some of the other hidden bosses in the novice village — but with his current stats, that was still a drop in the bucket.

So first, he needed to push his level up to ten.

And while he was at it, level his talent, Hand of Divine Punishment, up to three stars.

He wasn't far from Level 10 in terms of experience, but reaching three stars on Hand of Divine Punishment still required a considerable amount of grinding.

One hundred thousand basic attacks — that was still going to take a long time.

Back to the Level 10 Twisted Treant spawn point.

There were no other players here. Level 9 players didn't grind here, and most players who had already hit Level 10 had gone off to try clearing dungeons.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow split the air — a critical hit.

-2,288.

A massive damage number appeared. The ordinary Twisted Treant couldn't even survive a single basic attack from Lin Tianhao before dropping dead.

Lightning Leap triggered.

Over a dozen Twisted Treants were pulled into the chain.

The result was never in doubt — one arrow per Twisted Treant, and the ones drawn in were quickly dispatched as well.

This high-frequency grinding speed might have been impressive for an ordinary player.

But for Lin Tianhao, it was a bit of a problem.

For no other reason than this:

He needed to stack his HP cap through basic attacks.

If he one-shotted everything with a single arrow, he had no opportunity to land multiple basic attacks.

After grinding at the Twisted Treants for over ten minutes, Lin Tianhao's HP had barely budged.

But his experience had more than met the conditions for leveling up.

"Ding — You have reached Level 10. Free Attribute Points +5."

"Ding — You have met the level requirement to leave the novice village. You may accept the departure quest from the village chief and exit Novice Village #10086."

Lin Tianhao ignored the departure quest entirely.

He put all five free attribute points into Movement Speed.

With enough Movement Speed, it would be easier to kite monsters.

If he later needed to take on the quest to hunt novice village NPCs, Movement Speed would be essential.

After allocating the five points, Lin Tianhao's Movement Speed increased by 0.5 — a modest gain, but better than nothing.

Next, he had to think about hunting the fourth boss.

And Lin Tianhao already had a plan in mind.

The hidden bosses in the novice village weren't limited to just the Bard.

His next move had the potential to take out all seven remaining bosses in one go and complete the village chief's quest.

That was… the Village Chief Showdown.

Inside the novice village.

Wang the Blacksmith had been eyeing the village chief's seat for a long time, and had been working hard to topple the old village chief.

He had been secretly recruiting players within the novice village. When Lin Tianhao had sent Zhou Xiaopang to do the blacksmith shop quests, that was precisely to accept the blacksmith's recruitment.

The final quest in the blacksmith shop chain was to help Wang the Blacksmith defeat the old village chief.

Supporting the rise of a new village chief in the novice village — the rewards for this quest would be extraordinarily generous.

And it was precisely because of this quest that Lin Tianhao saw a viable path to completing the "Destroy the Novice Village" mission.

Whether he helped the old village chief wipe out Wang the Blacksmith's faction, or helped Wang the Blacksmith wipe out the old village chief's faction —

Either way, the novice village would be reshuffled, and a good number of NPCs would be eliminated.

Especially if both sides ended up destroying each other — that would be even more interesting.

He could sit back and reap the rewards of their conflict.

However, since he had already accepted the old village chief's follow-up quest to hunt 10 bosses —

For that quest to be completable, the one who had to die, for now, could only be Wang the Blacksmith.

But before that, he still needed to freeload off Wang the Blacksmith first.

Returning to the novice village, Lin Tianhao first stopped by the tavern, purchased two bottles of the most expensive spirits, and then made his way to the blacksmith shop.

Wang the Blacksmith spotted the bottles of spirits in Lin Tianhao's hands and asked with a grin, "Adventurer, what can I do for you?"

Lin Tianhao set the two bottles of spirits down in front of Wang the Blacksmith.

"I've heard that Wang the Blacksmith is the greatest smith in all the land. I've come to ask you to forge me the mightiest weapon in existence."

Flattered by Lin Tianhao's praise, Wang the Blacksmith immediately puffed up with pride.

"Heh heh, keep it down, keep it down — knowing it is enough, no need to say it out loud."

As he spoke, Wang the Blacksmith discreetly pocketed both bottles of spirits.

"Now, forging a weapon naturally costs money. For the mightiest weapon, it all depends on whether you've got enough gold coins."

Lin Tianhao dumped every last gold coin he had onto the counter in front of Wang the Blacksmith.

"Is that enough?"

Wang the Blacksmith's eyes went wide. This was a novice village, after all — in all his years at the forge, he had never seen so many gold coins at once.

"More than enough, more than enough."

"However, gold coins alone aren't sufficient. I'll also need ten Bronze-grade pieces of equipment, fifty Iron-grade pieces of equipment, and two hundred Elite-grade pieces of equipment as raw materials."

"Ding — Wang the Blacksmith has issued you a quest."

"Quest Requirements: 10 Bronze-grade equipment, 50 Iron-grade equipment, 200 Elite-grade equipment."

"Quest Penalty: The gold coins and spirits you have paid will not be refunded."

"Quest Reward: You will receive a Gold-grade longbow with no equip requirements."

Lin Tianhao's eyes lit up. He had originally expected only Silver-grade, but it turned out to be Gold-grade — now that was awesome.

"Understood. I'll gather everything as quickly as possible."

For any other player, collecting that many pieces of equipment would have been harder than climbing to heaven.

But for Lin Tianhao, it just meant clearing the Twisted Jungle on Hell difficulty a few more times.

Quest accepted.

Lin Tianhao headed to the Twisted Jungle once more.

Without a moment's hesitation, he selected Hell difficulty and set off on his solo run.

Two and a half hours later!

Lin Tianhao looked at the equipment filling his inventory and broke into a satisfied smile.

Wang the Blacksmith's quest — complete!

A Gold-grade weapon!

And rumor had it this weapon would be custom-made.

With a custom-made Gold-grade weapon paired with his Hand of Divine Punishment talent, his growth rate going forward could only be described as terrifying!

"Wang the Blacksmith, I've gathered everything you asked for."

Lin Tianhao returned to the blacksmith shop once more.