“Ding… The No. 60001 novice village chief asks you to help him collect one hundred wolf fangs. Quest type: Ordinary. Time limit: None. Quest reward: 1,000 experience, one random Level 5 Steel-grade piece of equipment. Note: originally an Ordinary quest triggerable only at Level 5; upon completion, an additional reward may be obtained.”
Wolves… wolves again. First wolves’ eyes, now wolf fangs. Ye Tianxie chose to accept, and then heard the village chief nod in gratification. “Young man, I’ll be waiting for your triumphant return. Here — I hope these things can be of help to you.”
“Ding… You have received from the No. 60001 novice village chief: 10 Minor Recovery Potions, 5 Apples, 5 Steamed Buns.”
Minor Recovery Potion — Instantly restores 100 HP. Cooldown 5 seconds. Effect cannot be stacked with recovery items of the same kind.
Apple — A common fruit. Restores 50 HP when eaten. Hunger -10.
Steamed Bun — A common wheaten food. Restores 10 HP when eaten. Hunger -30.
So there was a prize in it after all… Ye Tianxie stowed the items away and said to the village chief, “Thank you, village chief.”
“Heh heh — before you go, let me first teach you a most basic life skill.” The chief’s aged hand waved, and a dim white light appeared at once between his hands and over Ye Tianxie’s body.
“Ding… You have learned ‘Basic Gathering.’ You can now gather some low-grade items from monster corpses.”
“Master, master! That thing called an Apple looks like it might be edible! I want some, I want some!” Guoguo, who had finally been quiet for a little while, clawed at Ye Tianxie’s ear and started clamoring. Ye Tianxie, in the middle of listening to the village chief, had veins popping out on his forehead, and muttered under his breath, “No talking!”
“Oh? What did you just say?” The village chief looked up, puzzled.
Ye Tianxie turned to him with an almost identical look of puzzlement, wearing an innocent expression without a single flaw in it. “I didn’t say anything.”
The chief couldn’t help but start wondering whether his advanced age had left something wrong with his ears. He didn’t dwell on it, and said with a chuckle, “Oh, that’s right — old Wang at the blacksmith shop seems to have something he’d like help with. Go take a look.”
Ye Tianxie nodded, bade the village chief farewell, and headed toward that little hut ringing with even hammer-strikes.
“Boo-hoo, master, I want to eat that thing called an Apple. Master… you said you wouldn’t bully the cutest, most obedient Guoguo anymore, boo-hoo…”
With that on-the-verge-of-tears expression, that pitiful, tender little voice, and those piteous starry eyes ready to spill a flood the instant he refused, Ye Tianxie could only admit defeat. He took a freshly acquired Apple from his backpack and put it in Guoguo’s hands. The moment the Apple landed in her grip, her body suddenly dropped, nearly plummeting to the ground before she managed, both arms wrapped around the Apple, to float laboriously back up.
“Wah! It’s so big — it looks really tasty!” Guoguo opened her little mouth and bit down hard on the Apple, and after a great deal of effort finally managed to gnaw a tiny notch in the peel, then set to eating with pure contentment, the crisp sweetness drawing little gasps of delight from her every so often.
The sight of a little girl clutching an Apple nearly as big as her own head and eating away at it with gusto was, it had to be said, both a delight to watch and impossible not to laugh at — even Ye Tianxie smiled, almost imperceptibly.
“Hello, blacksmith. Might there be anything I can help you with?” Stepping into the blacksmith shop, Ye Tianxie addressed the smith at his forge.
Hearing the voice, the blacksmith turned around, a smile breaking across his swarthy face. “Hello, adventurer from another world. There is indeed something I could use your help with. I’m running a bit short on forging materials lately — could you help me collect some boar tusks?”
“Ding… Owing to your superhuman Charm, blacksmith old Wang’s favorability toward you increases by 20. Blacksmith old Wang asks you to help him collect twenty tusks from mountain-forest wild boars. Quest type: Ordinary. Time limit: None. Quest reward: 200 experience, one random Level 3 Pale-grade piece of equipment. Accept?”
In his ears came the crunch, crunch of Guoguo gnawing her Apple — a sound that hadn’t stopped since the moment it landed in her hands. Fortunately, once the Apple reached Guoguo it had bizarrely become as invisible to others as she was; otherwise, the sight of an Apple floating in midair and vanishing bite by bite would probably have thrown quite a few people into confusion. Ye Tianxie thought for a brief moment, but chose not to accept. Instead he said with a smile, “Blacksmith, boar tusks are a fine forging material, true, but I’d think wolf fangs would have the edge in toughness. How about I collect some wolf fangs for you instead?”
Wild boars were Level 2 monsters, and the boar territory was right now occupied by the surging army of players leveling and running quests; collecting these twenty boar tusks would waste no telling how much time. And he’d just accepted the village chief’s wolf-fang collection quest… what a marvelous point of overlap.
The blacksmith’s eyes lit up at once, his smile deepening. “It’s rare to see so warmhearted a young man these days. But wolves are savage creatures, and collecting wolf fangs is far more dangerous. Are you truly willing to collect twenty wolf fangs for me?”
“Ding… Blacksmith old Wang’s favorability toward you increases by 10. Quest objective changed to collecting twenty wolf fangs. Time limit and reward unchanged. Accept?”
“Of course I’m willing. I’ll bring the wolf fangs over as soon as I can.” Ye Tianxie said with a smile. The quest reward hadn’t changed in the slightest, but that +10 favorability was already enough to satisfy him. He was just about to turn and leave when the blacksmith called out to stop him. “Young man… ah, it’s rare these days to meet a young man so warm and easy to be near. Could I trouble you for some of your time to help me with something? Perhaps you’re the one who can do it.”
Ye Tianxie’s steps halted at once, and he said, face wreathed in smiles, “Helping others is my honor.”
If that line of his ever reached the ears of everyone who’d heard of his reputation, there was no telling how vast a wave of scornful sighs it would draw.
The blacksmith set down the forging hammer in his hand, let out a long sigh, and a deep sorrow welled up across his weathered, careworn face. “I have a seven-year-old son — the most precious treasure in this life to me and my wife both. But a month ago, an enormous bat, black all over, suddenly appeared in the skies above the novice village. After circling for a long while, it abruptly swooped down here, seized my son in its huge talons, and flew off toward the distant south… It was a demonized giant bat — or perhaps it was a dreadful evil demon that had escaped the Tower of Fate to begin with. From the moment my son was taken, I knew I could never see him again in this life; under that terrible demon, there was no way he could survive… Young man, could you help me comfort my wife? Ever since our son was carried off by the bat, she’s become a completely different person. Her body grows frailer by the day, her mind more disturbed by the day; every day she raves and mutters our son’s name. If this goes on, before long she’ll leave me the same way our son did… Everyone in the whole novice village has tried to talk to her, to no effect at all. Young man, will you help me with this favor? Even if she still doesn’t change, I’ll be grateful to you.”
(End of Chapter 14)