Chapter 1 The Boy Who Ran Away from Home

  "This NPC's ability to read between the lines is quite extraordinary. Jia Wen finally understood that these NPCs in this chaotic world are completely different from those in other games - they're fully intelligent NPCs, and some high-level ones might even be smarter than players. As a result, Jia Wen's attitude towards NPCs has changed significantly. Looking at the smiling face of the pharmacy owner, he asked in a low voice: 'Do you have any medicine that can temporarily increase defense power?'"

  The middle-aged NPC was taken aback for a moment, staring intently at Jiawen for a long time, muttering: "A temporary boost to defense power medicine? This... this..."

  "Is there?" Jiawen seemed to see a glimmer of hope in the middle-aged NPC's expression.

  "There is, but...," said the middle-aged NPC, stopping himself from saying more, and instead smiled wryly, carefully putting away a dozen red envelopes on the counter. "We don't buy this kind of thing in our store."

  "Why is that?" Jiawen continued to ask, wanting to know, he had thought for a long time before coming up with this unworkable plan.

  "This is a small shop's secret recipe, no matter how much money you offer, it won't be sold." The middle-aged NPC spoke very decisively, glanced at Jiawen out of the corner of his eye, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly said: "However..."

  "What's going on?" Seeing the NPC boss speak in a cryptic manner, Jiawen felt anxious and impatient.

  The middle-aged NPC looked at Jia Wen and chuckled: "I'm making medicine, but I still lack one thing. If you agree to help me find it, I can give you a defense-boosting potion right now, and it's free."

  "What did you say?"

  At this moment, Jiawen seemed to have realized that the task was approaching. He wasn't a gaming newbie and had seen such things many times before.

  A middle-aged NPC's eyes flickered, and suddenly a dialogue box appeared in front of Jia Wen.

  Respected player: Apothecary owner Jacques requests your help in collecting 30 wolf ribs to make medicine. Will you accept?

  "This task, isn't it the same as killing monsters for a profession? Jia Wen's heart suddenly felt a surge of excitement. Killing one monster and completing two tasks, such a good thing, where can you find it in the world? So, Jia Wen didn't think twice before clicking confirm. Only then did the middle-aged NPC smile and glance at Jia Wen, waving his hand as he suddenly walked towards the back room..."

  Before long, the middle-aged NPC came out carrying a black cloth package and looked at Jia Wen, laughing loudly: "Ah, this is 30 bottles of defense-boosting potion. You'd better use it sparingly, if you can't complete the task, I won't have any more here."

  Jia Wen took the package handed over by the middle-aged NPC, opened it and looked at it, and suddenly his eyes lit up. In the package, there were thirty bottles of medicine that emitted a purple glow, which looked like an elixir at first glance, and was very beautiful to look at.

  After putting the package back into his backpack, Jiawen nodded to the middle-aged NPC. He then took out two gold coins and bought 10 bottles of medium red from the middle-aged NPC. The NPC was quite generous and gave Jiawen an extra three attack potions as a gift. Only then did Jiawen leave with a huff...

  Arriving at the Hunting Dog Forest, Jia Wen took a look at the hunting dogs that were still roaming around in the forest. At this moment, his confidence increased greatly. With good medicine, he should be able to take on these level 25 monsters as well. For all of this, he had indeed invested a lot of money.

  He carefully took out a bottle of defense-enhancing potion emitting a purple glow from his backpack and drank it down resolutely. In an instant,

  Jia Wen's entire body suddenly flashed a dazzling purple light, and at the same time, a circular purple glow was imprinted on the ground beneath his feet. His whole body was also enveloped in a faint purple aura. The system prompt also arrived at the same time.

  System Prompt: You have taken a defensive potion. Within 3 minutes, your character's physical strength and defense will each increase by 30%.

  Is this a mutation? Jia Wen looked at the defense potion in his backpack with some disbelief. Overjoyed, Jia Wen suddenly discovered that his HP had increased from its initial 210 points to over 300 now. His defense had also risen from its initial 42 points to 58 points.

  "This defensive potion is indeed a treasure. After Jia Wen's brief moment of madness, he suddenly raised his head, grasped the long sword in his hand, and swiftly charged towards the nearest lone hunting dog..."

  Hehe...

  A crimson damage value floated above the hound's head, and Jia Wen's confidence doubled. With one hit, he immediately flashed to the side, but unfortunately, this 25-level monster was too agile, and even though Jia Wen tried his best to avoid the attack, he still lost 136 health points.

  Jiawen was shocked and hastily swallowed the red pill. In an instant, his HP rapidly refilled. At the same time, he stabbed out with his long sword once again. This attack did not disappoint him, as a blood-red number -268 floated above the head of the hound, filling him with joy...

  This 25-level hunting dog, although its attack power is frighteningly high, its HP and defense are not much different from those of the 20-level red-haired rabbit. Dealing with such monsters, as long as there is enough medicine, it's actually not difficult to get rid of them.

  Jia Wen finally turned this son of a bitch into a corpse after 5 minutes of trying.

  System Prompt: Congratulations, you have killed a level 25 Hunting Dog. Since it did not transform into another job, you will not gain any experience.

  The annoying system prompt was despised by Jia Wen. But just as he turned around, he suddenly found that next to the corpse of the hunting dog, there were some shiny things. Out of curiosity, Jia Wen bent down and picked them up.

  What he didn't expect was that this killed a level 25 hunting dog, although no experience was gained, but it exploded with an equipment, as well as dozens of silver coins and a dog rib bone.

  Hunting Hound Bone Necklace: Attack +13

  Vitality +2

  Required level: 18

  It seems the system is still fair. This experience isn't given for free, after all. Someone, after a bout of daydreaming, dragged their long sword and continued to head towards another lone hunting dog...

  Facing a monster 10 levels higher than himself, Jia Wen was extremely cautious. He knew that the defense potion was very precious and if he wasn't careful and died, the effect of the potion would disappear. If he drank another bottle, it would be a waste. So when approaching the second hunting dog, he became even more careful...

  As he approached the second hound, Jia Wen gradually discovered its characteristics. This level 25 hound was similar to the red-haired rabbit, not an aggressive monster and also unable to recover blood. It seemed that the method of dealing with the red-haired rabbit would still be applicable...

  One sword thrust out, the hunting dog in front let out a mournful howl and immediately turned around to pounce on Jia Wen fiercely. Jia Wen knew his own strength and weakness, after one strike, he quickly retreated, thus reducing the dog's attack by quite a bit.

  After the second hunting dog almost killed him, Jia Wen looked at his remaining HP. Helplessly, he had to sit down and recover according to the old method. There were indeed many mid-reds in his backpack, but those were all silver coins that he couldn't bear to use unless absolutely necessary. The dozens of small reds accumulated on the ancient battlefield were useless during this emergency period. So it was better to spend more time recovering...

  Looking at the wandering hunting dogs in front of him, Jia Wen was now both loving and hating them. He loved that these guys would bring results for himself, but hated that if he wasn't careful, he might be killed by these guys in an instant.

  Taking advantage of the time to recover, Jiawen took out the communicator and connected it, suddenly laughing lightly: "Master, have you left the village?"

  It was a long time after the voice fell before a noisy sound came from Qi Yuan's side. Judging from the sound, it must be in the transfer hall. At present, only the transfer hall and outside the novice village would be so bustling with people.

  "Heh heh, just about to switch jobs, kiddo, what about you, switching to what profession?"

  Jia Wen's face fell as soon as he heard this, and he let out a light sigh, saying faintly: "Master, no matter what profession you switch to, just please don't become an assassin."

  "Hmm... got it." In response to Jia Wen's words, Qi Yuan didn't ask much either. After a moment of contemplation, he chuckled and said: "Being a mercenary is a good profession, it suits my taste."

  Ka Wai smiled and didn't say anything else. He hung up the communicator with one hand and slowly stood up. He looked at his fully recovered HP. Ka Wai took a deep breath, and began to fight again...

  Old trick, still targeting the lone hunting dog to launch an attack. But it's clear that Jia Wen's luck has run out this time. The long sword in his hand didn't play out as expected, and Jia Wen ended up getting taken down by the hunting dog once again.

  He didn't care about the broken Jia Wen, what he cared about was that the hunting dog's bone chain had also been blown out earlier, which was the most depressing thing for him. Fortunately, the long sword in his hand was safe and sound, which made him sweat a little.

  Although 12 hunting dogs were killed, the Azure Sword required for the professional task was still nowhere to be found. The pharmacy owner only needed 3 dog ribs after all. Jiawen wondered if he really had to kill 300 hunting dogs to complete the task. If that's the case, then he wouldn't need to level up for the next few days and could just stay here killing hunting dogs. But in that case, maybe Jiawen wasn't crazy, but the hunting dogs here probably were...

  The 11th time he got up from the resurrection point and ran out of the north gate, the several NPCs guarding the north gate looked at Jia Wen's departing back with strange eyes. Perhaps they were also wondering if this adventurer was crazy, having done so many times in a whole day.

  They still don't understand that all of this is caused by their own kind. Unfortunately, Jiawen, a top-notch online gamer, came to this chaotic game with unparalleled enthusiasm, but ended up suffering greatly and becoming disheartened. This is what they mean by "a dragon swimming in shallow water gets teased by shrimp" and "a tiger fallen into a plain gets bullied by dogs". Jiawen has finally gained this realization.

  As Jia Wen struggled, the sky in the game gradually darkened. At this moment, Jia Wen sat under a small tree to rest and recover his blood, helplessly looking at the faint blue glow not far away. He knew that those were the eyes of the hunting dogs, these guys had made him miserable enough.

  The hunting dogs wandering around, at this moment also stopped wandering, I guess these guys are extremely dissatisfied with Jia Wen, this uninvited guest, staying here every day and slaughtering their companions.

  After HP was full, Jia Wen took advantage of the bright moonlight and quietly approached a lone hunting dog. He made a silent sword strike, followed by a swift dodge. The hunting dog habitually turned its head to pounce, but this time it clearly missed...

  Jia Wen, after countless experiments, finally found a way to deal with the hunting dog. He had figured out the dog's attacking pattern and now he didn't sneak up behind it like before, but instead attacked from the side, which made the dog have to turn around to counterattack, giving him enough time to dodge...

  After a dozen or so sword strikes, with the sudden collapse of this hunting dog, Jiawen astonishingly discovered that beside the dog's corpse, there appeared a shining weapon and a translucent rib bone...