Chapter 20: The Secret Realm System Unlocks

Having inexplicably spent two gold coins, Night's Gentle Chill had a vague feeling of being swindled — but that feeling quickly faded. In a Starter Village where every player wore the same plain cloth outfit, the two of them stood out conspicuously as they walked down the road.

They even ran into Big Dumb Duck at the village entrance, and he did a double take.

"Where'd you get those?" Big Dumb Duck glanced at their IDs before confirming that the two people in front of him were his sworn rivals.

"The blacksmith shop," Night's Gentle Chill said flatly. After being stared at by everyone along the way, his sense of satisfaction was already at its peak, and he no longer felt the items were overpriced. After all, in real life, even if you wore a hat worth over ten thousand yuan, people wouldn't necessarily look at you with envy.

"Alright." Big Dumb Duck turned and headed toward the blacksmith shop.

Copycat. Night's Gentle Chill cursed under his breath.

Arriving at the blacksmith shop, Big Dumb Duck got straight to the point: "Master Liu, I heard you've got some new stock." After two days of playing, Big Dumb Duck had also noticed that the NPCs in this game all had quite distinct personalities, so like Night's Gentle Chill, he'd become much more polite in how he spoke.

"Yeah, I've got a few new items." Liu Kongkong gestured toward the four helmets on the table — in addition to the Thorn Visor and the Dawn Laurel Crown, there was also the Assassin's Skull Mask and the Archer's Midnight Eagle Eye.

"Alright, get me 31 of them — 17 Warrior ones..." Big Dumb Duck started counting on his fingers, tallying up the number of players in each class on his team.

31 of them? Liu Kongkong was stunned. That's over 400,000 copper?!

He'd thought Night's Gentle Chill was already a big spender — he hadn't expected there'd be an even bigger one?!

Big Dumb Duck's reasoning was simple: Night's Gentle Chill's group was treating these things like treasures, so if he had his own crew wear them too, what would everyone else think? No matter the cost, as long as it annoyed them, it was worth it.

He casually picked one up and checked its stats and price.

"Wait!" Big Dumb Duck spotted Liu Kongkong turning to head back into the shop and immediately shouted. This thing was one gold coin each?! Was this blacksmith out of his mind?!

"What's up?" Liu Kongkong poked his head out from behind the door. He obviously didn't have 31 on hand, so he'd need to make them.

"Uh, I can't take that many right now, so first—"

"I can mail them to you. Just pay upfront."

"No, I mean, let me buy one first and try it out. If it works well, I'll come back for more..." Big Dumb Duck laughed awkwardly. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it — it just wasn't worth the price! He'd originally assumed they'd be twenty or thirty silver coins each at most...

"Tch." Liu Kongkong shot Big Dumb Duck a sideways glance. The latter looked a bit embarrassed, but then reminded himself that the person in front of him was just an NPC — if he didn't say anything, no one would ever know. His expression quickly returned to calm. He grabbed one visor, paid for it, and bolted.

Having missed out on a big sale, Liu Kongkong felt a little disappointed.

But then he thought about how he'd already earned ten gold coins today, and his mood lifted considerably. He casually listed two more gold coins' worth of items.

Come to think of it, where was that kid Lonely as a Song today?

Over the past two days, Lonely as a Song had been the most frequent visitor, but it was already three in the afternoon and he still hadn't shown his face. Had he quit the game? That couldn't be — he should have made a decent amount yesterday too.

Liu Kongkong leaned against the doorframe, not because he had any particular quest for Lonely as a Song, but simply out of curiosity about what the guy was up to. He kept handing out quests to players here and there until around four-thirty in the afternoon, when that familiar figure finally appeared.

"Master Liu!" Lonely as a Song called out from far away, then came sprinting over excitedly. "Master Liu, is there anything you need help with?"

Had he only just logged on now?

Liu Kongkong figured that was probably it — after making money yesterday, he'd likely gone out to have some fun last night. "Actually, yes. Go dig up another five hundred iron ore for me." After handing out iron ore quests all day, he wasn't exactly short on supply — people had been trickling in with deliveries all afternoon, and his storage now held three or four thousand pieces. But compared to the tens of thousands of wood and stone sitting nearby, that was clearly still lacking.

Lonely as a Song accepted the quest with a grin — then immediately turned it in. 2,000 EXP instantly credited!

Had this guy been out mining iron ore this whole time? Liu Kongkong glanced at Lonely as a Song — the 2,000 EXP had just pushed him up a level.

"Heh heh." Lonely as a Song scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He'd spent the entire day mining iron ore, and his mining level had gone up several tiers — but that wasn't his real goal. From yesterday's delivery of three hundred iron ore, he'd already guessed that Liu Kongkong needed the stuff. Even without a quest, bringing it over should earn him some goodwill. He'd come to check, and sure enough, there was a quest waiting — the EXP was just a pleasant bonus.

"Got more?" Lonely as a Song's inventory was far from empty. With a 30-slot weightless backpack, each slot holding 50 pieces, he'd hauled over a full 1,500 iron ore!

"Just tell me how much you've got," Liu Kongkong said directly — after all, it was almost time to clock out.

"Another 1,000."

Damn, respect. Liu Kongkong was genuinely impressed. He'd heard other players complain about how exhausting mining was in this game. This guy was built for the grind. He adjusted the quest parameters and sent it over.

"Thank you, Master Liu!" Without a second thought, Lonely as a Song dumped all his remaining iron ore into the quest. 4,000 EXP credited instantly!

"Player [Lonely as a Song] has become the first to reach [LV.10], earning the special title: Pioneer, 10 free attribute points, and a reward of 1 gold coin."

"As a player in Starter Village No. 0113 has reached Level 10, the Secret Realm System has been unlocked. All players are encouraged to explore actively."

"Holy shit?! Someone's already Level 10?! I'm not even halfway there!"

"A reward of 1 gold coin — the system's just handing out money? This guy must be a plant."

The two rival groups, still grinding away, were momentarily stunned. Sure, they'd lost a lot of EXP over the past day, but the gap couldn't be that wide, could it?

"Lonely as a Song — isn't that the person who was selling discount vouchers before?" Ye Weinuan looked over at Night's Gentle Chill, who nodded with a sour expression.

Could that guy have even more terrifying gear stashed away?

Night's Gentle Chill glanced at the longsword in his hand — Attack 15. At this level, he found it hard to believe any equipment with higher Attack even existed. He immediately sent a message asking Lonely as a Song if he'd be interested in joining his team.

"Not planning on it for now, but we can collaborate later." Lonely as a Song replied casually — and sent the same reply to Big Dumb Duck, who had messaged him at almost the exact same time.

He'd already read up on the conflict between these two factions on the forums. In the past, he would've picked a side without hesitation — but now?

He casually listed his gold coin on the trading exchange, and Lonely as a Song grinned so wide he was practically drooling...

Join them? Yeah, right. Raking in over ten thousand copper a day following Master Liu was way more satisfying! If he joined either side, his methods would inevitably get shared, and then where would the money come from?

Even now, Lonely as a Song still believed he'd triggered some hidden quest tied to Liu Kongkong, which was why Liu Kongkong kept giving him quests with such massive EXP rewards.

Liu Kongkong, for his part, would've loved to recruit more people as laborers — he just didn't have enough EXP to go around. Looking at Lonely as a Song, who was grinning like a blooming chrysanthemum, he had no time to deal with the guy right now.

Right after the system announced that the Secret Realm System had unlocked, he received another system message.

"Attention, all villagers: the Secret Realm System has been activated. All villagers have been granted Secret Realm creation permissions."