Chapter 8: Top-Tier Player

Liu Kongkong headed downstairs to a barbecue restaurant, picking a random seat to wait for Wang Di. The two of them had long agreed this place had the best food in the area.

A few minutes later, Liu Kongkong spotted a massive figure waving and lumbering toward him.

"You picked the perfect time — I just hit a break and was wondering what to have for lunch." Wang Di plopped down with a grin. It was already late evening, but for him, it barely counted as midday.

"What's the occasion? Suddenly treating me to such a lavish dinner." Wang Di had arrived just as Liu Kongkong finished ordering, so they could dig in right away. That was partly intentional — years of boosting and carry work had built up a steady roster of regulars, which kept him busy most days.

"Nothing big — remember that client you referred me to last time? He finally settled up, so I figured I'd treat you to a proper meal." Liu Kongkong cracked open a beer and took a long swig. Wang Di stuck to cola — as he always put it: I make my living on skill, and alcohol slows my reaction time!

"Ah, is that all? I thought you'd struck it rich inside Hunt Heaven." Wang Di joked, working his way through a skewer.

Liu Kongkong gave an awkward smile. "Haven't even logged in yet. What about you — have you played?"

He had no intention of telling anyone that he was an NPC inside Hunt Heaven — not yet. If word got out, he'd have a swarm of players breathing down his neck before long, and that was the last thing he needed.

Part of his current income relied on players blindly trusting him precisely because they thought he was an NPC. Once his identity was exposed, that revenue stream would dry up fast.

"Of course I have! It's the hottest game out right now. In our line of work, you have to stay on top of what's trending. I'm telling you, with your grind mentality, you could easily pull in a few hundred a day without even trying." This was one of the things Wang Di admired most about Liu Kongkong — the guy could repeat the same monotonous quests for over ten hours a day without complaint. He'd even seen him run five accounts simultaneously in a dungeon, switching between screens at a speed that put Wang Di's own hands to shame.

"Oh? How far have you gotten? Found any good ways to make money?" Liu Kongkong asked without any awkwardness. The two of them both made their living from games, but in completely different ways.

"Making progress. Hunt Heaven doesn't allow account boosting, so I'm planning to hire myself out as a fighter. I've already looked into a few teams that pay a straight salary — if the price is right, I'll give it a shot." Wang Di chewed on a slice of pork belly. "I also checked things out for you — the life-skill classes in this game are pretty diverse. Master one of them and you can make decent money too."

Hire himself out as a fighter? Liu Kongkong had his doubts. "Isn't Hunt Heaven's control scheme totally different from traditional MMOs? With your build, can you actually pull it off?" Unlike Liu Kongkong's lean frame, Wang Di stood at just over five feet three inches and tipped the scales at nearly two hundred and twenty pounds. He didn't exercise much either, so his reflexes probably weren't anything to write home about.

"What are you saying — it's not like I'm physically jumping into the game! A high-end player like me has top-tier mechanics and game sense. It's all about the mental chess during combat, awareness, reaction speed..."

"Top-tier my ass. You couldn't even win a cyber café tournament in that MOBA last time."

"That's a five-man game — what good is one strong player? And the other team had guys from a youth training squad! I only took five hundred bucks from that client to carry him and his girlfriends through a match!"

They drank and chatted, and time slipped by quickly.

"I have to say, the immersion in that game is on a completely different level from anything else out there. You should get on it soon." Wang Di said with feeling, then pulled out his phone and opened an app. "Look — here's my character info. Grinded like crazy for a few hours and I'm only level 3."

Liu Kongkong leaned over for a look.

Name: Sweet Potato Head

Class: Apprentice Assassin (Level 3)

HP: 131/131

Mana: 111/111

Strength: 13

Constitution: 12

Agility: 21

Intelligence: 8

Spirit: 11

These were level 3 stats? Liu Kongkong did the math — the total points were noticeably higher than his own. His stat system was clearly on a completely different scale from regular players. And something else stood out: "Why does an assassin have such high Spirit?"

"It came with the starting stats. My guess is the game assigns initial attribute points based on your physical condition." Wang Di speculated. "Because my Agility started at only 2 — everything else I stacked manually after leveling up..."

"And you call yourself a top-tier player with that class choice and stat allocation?" Who in their right mind dumps points into their weakest stat?

"You don't get it. The class sounds badass for one-on-one fights, and later on I can make money doing assassination contracts — fast cash." Wang Di took his phone back and returned to his skewers. "Besides, this is just the starter class. There'll definitely be class upgrades down the line, and if it doesn't work out I'll just respec."

Class upgrade? Hearing that, Liu Kongkong smiled bitterly to himself. Technically speaking, he was probably the first player in Hunt Heaven to have ever changed classes.

"Alright, I'll check it out when I get back. By the way, have you picked up any hidden quests? I haven't played yet, but I've been browsing the forums, and a lot of people are talking about it." He'd noticed from Wang Di's character screen that he was in Starter Village No. 0287, and he was curious what that one was like.

"I've taken plenty of quests. Hidden quests..." Wang Di thought for a moment. "Not sure if it counts as a hidden quest, but there's this old lady who keeps having me feed her chickens and cook her meals."

Figures, it's the same everywhere...

He thought back to that fake Daoist in Starter Village No. 0113 — Chen the Lame — who tricked players into doing his chores. He'd assumed that was a rare case, but it seemed like every Starter Village had NPCs pulling the same kind of stunt.

"Alright, I've had my fill. Time to get back to grinding. Leveling in this game is painfully slow — if I pull an all-nighter tonight I should hit level 5." Wang Di surveyed the table of empty skewers and leftover scraps, let out a satisfied belch, and stood up without ceremony. "I'm heading out. I'll treat you next time."

Liu Kongkong smiled and waved him off. Trading meals back and forth like this was just how the two of them operated.

Time to head back himself. He had a few remaining orders to finish tonight, and then he needed to hit the forums for intel. Liu Kongkong figured that gathering information about the game was even more important than grinding levels.

He got home, fired up his computer, and by the time he'd wrapped everything up it was already one in the morning.

He closed five game windows in quick succession.

"Finally knocked out those last few orders." He lit a cigarette, stretched, and yawned as he opened the Hunt Heaven forums. After the earlier ordeal, his body was slowly recovering but still exhausted.

He'd take a quick look for anything useful before turning in.

Liu Kongkong scrolled through the forum when a bold headline suddenly caught his eye:

"Hidden Quest Guide? I Might Be the First Player to Discover This!" — Posted by: Lonely as a Song.

Wait — Liu Kongkong froze. Was this the same Lonely as a Song he'd sent off to kill three hundred wild rabbits?!