With the grand sum of 1,000 gold tucked away, Ye Tianxie couldn’t help feeling his confidence bolstered considerably. But at the thought of those heaven-defying items with their sky-high prices, each more frightening than the last, he sighed inwardly and headed toward the novice village chief.
“Hello, village chief.”
“Oh! Brave young man, are you ready? Do you wish me to teleport you to the distant Lost Continent? There, you’ll find another starting point. I’m sure your name will spread across that land in no time at all.” The chief said with a chuckle on seeing him.
“Not yet.” Ye Tianxie shook his head and asked, his face earnest, “Village chief, there are a few things I need to ask you. If it’s convenient, please answer me.”
“Heh heh, ask whatever you like. Whatever I know, I’ll surely tell you.” The chief still wore his cheerful smile. A “Heart-to-Heart” level of favorability was by no means as simple as mere friendliness. Just as he’d said, whatever he knew he would generally tell Ye Tianxie truthfully.
“Beneath that crook-necked tree north of the village, there’s an old woman with petrified legs. Village chief, you must know her… Who is she? What’s her background?” Ye Tianxie asked.
Unexpectedly, the chief shook his head. “Her origins have always been one of our novice village’s mysteries. Back when I was born here, she was already there — she’s sat there in that state for who knows how many years. She’s never bothered to speak with anyone; when we asked her who she was, she never answered… And the only words she’ll speak to us are demands for wolves’ eyes. No one knows what she’s collecting them for. Although, blacksmith old Wang’s wife once said she might be using those wolf eyes to break the strange seal on her legs.”
“Ah, I see.” Ye Tianxie nodded slowly, though he was still without a single thread to follow.
“I’ve heard that blacksmith Wang’s child, Xiaoming, was carried off not long ago by an enormous bat-demon. Where did that bat-demon come from? Why did it appear in the novice village? And where did it fly off to?” Ye Tianxie moved on to his next question. He had no reason to leave the novice village without completing its hidden quest.
“This…” The chief hesitated briefly, then finally let out a long sigh and said with feeling, “It’s true — old Wang’s child was indeed taken by an enormous bat. But that bat is no longer in the novice village; it went to the Lost Continent, and Xiaoming must surely already be… Ah.”
“The Lost Continent?”
“Our novice village has always been peaceful, at odds with no one. The appearance of that enormous bat was a terrible accident to begin with. Afterward, Yuan Que told me that the giant bat closely resembled a demon general under one of the Eight Demon Kings of old — it very likely escaped from the Tower of Fate because of the Hour of Fate’s disappearance. But just what method it used to appear here, and why it appeared here at all… no one knows.” The chief shook his head. This truly was one of Novice Village No. 60001’s great inexplicable riddles.
Ye Tianxie thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “So that means… there must be some special method of returning to the novice village from the Lost Continent, doesn’t it?!”
The chief was visibly taken aback. “This… it does seem to be as you say…”
Ye Tianxie’s expression turned markedly more contented. Just as he’d thought — the World of Fate wouldn’t really set up a quest that was genuinely impossible to complete. And whether it was that strange old woman’s monstrous quest, or helping blacksmith old Wang’s family find their lost son, or those heaven-defying items in the novice village’s item shop… everything pointed first and foremost to the same thing: how to return to the novice village from the Lost Continent.
There had to be a method. There had to be a sliver of hope!
“Village chief, I’ve nothing left to hold me here. Please send me to the Lost Continent. Since that bat-demon could return to the novice village from the Lost Continent, then perhaps this parting isn’t forever — perhaps one day I’ll find some way to come back here too.” Ye Tianxie said with a smile.
“Oh? Hahahaha! Good… Those words of yours leave me both gladdened and full of anticipation. Very well, I’ll send you to the Lost Continent right now. Staying here would only limit your abilities; there, you’ll gain a mature class and become a true warrior… But before that, let me first raise your life skills a little.”
A white light tinged faintly with yellow blazed from the chief’s palm and then scattered over Ye Tianxie’s body. A clear, pleasant chime sounded in his ears at once:
“Ding… The No. 60001 novice village chief has raised your ‘Gathering’ skill to the Intermediate level. You can now gather higher-grade items from monster corpses and certain special locations.”
There were many life skills one could learn at the novice stage. Besides Gathering, there was Herb-Picking for plucking medicinal plants growing in the environment, Mining for digging ore, Forging for crafting equipment, and so on. These could all be learned easily in the cities of the Lost Continent as well. The only life skill Ye Tianxie currently possessed was Gathering; he couldn’t be bothered with the others. Life skill ranks ran from low to high as Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Immortal, Heaven, Divine, and Holy. Raising a life skill’s rank was far, far harder than raising one’s level, and the chief bumping his Gathering straight from Basic to Intermediate had saved him a dozen-odd days of gathering practice.
“Thank you, village chief.”
“The Lost Continent has five great main cities, named after sun, moon, star, chronicle, and mystery: the City of Heaven’s Sun, the City of Heaven’s Moon, the City of Heaven’s Starlight, the City of Heaven’s Stars, and the City of Heaven’s Mystery. And toward the center of the Lost Continent lies the Imperial City. That is the Lost Continent’s greatest city and the highest seat of power; you humans from another world may only go there once your level exceeds 50. The Imperial City is also the city nearest the Tower of Fate, and so it bore the brunt of the tower’s demonic energy — by now, there’s no telling what has become of… Well. Off you go. I look forward to the day you inscribe your name in the annals of the Lost Continent!”
A ball of pure white light draped over Ye Tianxie’s body. The world around him turned a lustrous white, and his body vanished from the novice village along with it.
The scene shifted, and when Ye Tianxie opened his eyes, his surroundings were already another world.
The novice village, the first starting point every player must pass through, was thus at an end. When he departed it, his level was already 11. At present, the number of players who had left the novice village for a city to advance their class was beyond counting — but he alone had passed the Abyss trial, and as for those who had reached Level 11… he was perhaps the only one of those as well.
The rise from Level 10 to 11 required a relatively enormous amount of experience, and Ye Tianxie’s advance had relied on the vast experience granted by the Abyss trial. In other words, Ye Tianxie right now ought to be the highest-leveled of all players. And the various rankings that inevitably exist in a virtual gaming world would open once the number of first class-advancements reached a certain figure.
(End of Chapter 55)