Chapter 3: The Number One Village in the World
"Armed" and ready, looking at the dense forest in front of me, no matter how dangerous it is, I have to move forward. I gritted my teeth and walked in a direction that looked relatively easier on the eyes. The high degree of greening was a good thing, but at least leave a path for people. Even the road had to be "trod" out by myself, which was depressing enough. There were too many weeds, so I casually broke off a branch about one meter long as a walking stick. The system's voice sounded again:
"Ding! Congratulations, Evil Shadow has learned a basic skill: Woodcutting!"
Is this okay? I'm not impressed, really can't do anything about it, is my comprehension ability higher than others? 25... Not having dementia is good enough. Ugh... Didn't I learn mining already? Why is it a stone and not an ore? Xiao Ying muttered to herself, quickly opening her skill panel to take a look, and was shocked to see: "Basic Skills: Mining, Logging". That's it, no beginner, intermediate, advanced, or mastery levels? Xiao Ying had picked up quite a few stones already, looks like it really is just a basic skill, useless for anything, can't even level up, only enough to keep you from starving, what's the point of being notified that you've learned "Basic Skills"? It's really frustrating, but there's nothing I can do, the system is the biggest in the game, and I have to endure it.
After walking for about an hour or two, I feel a bit tired. All I see is grass, trees, and rocks, it's dizzying. Can't even get a glimpse of "the wind blows the grass low to reveal cows and sheep". No cows, no sheep, not even snakes, rabbits, monkeys, sparrows, nothing. Deep in the mountains and forests, there are no animals, nothing to eat, I'll probably starve to death if I don't die from exhaustion first.
This doesn't seem right, with so many trees and flowers, even if there aren't any animals, there should be some wild fruit or something. After carefully searching around, while walking, it didn't take a few minutes for Xiao Ying to spot several fruit trees on a tree trunk, but she didn't know what they were, looking like apples yet like pears. Taking a break would be good too, as Xiao Ying hadn't become so spoiled that she couldn't even climb a tree, and with a few swift movements, she climbed up. After climbing for a bit, the system transmitted another "ding" sound or something, but whatever was easily obtained definitely wasn't useful, so she ignored it, plucked a few wild fruits, and the system again transmitted its annoying voice, too lazy to look, also not caring if they were poisonous or not, wolfing down five in one go, then sat on the tree to rest.
Out of boredom, I rummaged through the system and indeed learned two skills: "Hunting" and "Herbalism". Although I know that since the system has prompted me, they must be useful, but Xiao Ying thinks she's not clever enough to figure out what use they have. Anyway, whether or not she learns them, it doesn't change how she does things!
Look at the sky, it's getting a bit dark, don't know if it's almost evening or if the weather is changing. My physical strength has recovered and I feel more energetic. I threw away 20 stones and picked 40 wild fruits. I jumped down from the tree and continued walking in one direction. This time the system didn't give any prompts... He lost his chance, he had deliberately jumped with such great force...
After walking for a long time, I suddenly heard a faint rustling sound. Following the feeling, I looked over and saw a three-finger-thick, dark-colored snake about two meters away from Xiao Ying, its forked tongue darting in and out of its mouth with a "hissing" sound. Looking at its cold, sinister eyes, I wondered if it was considering whether to launch a sneak attack. It's better to take the initiative, so I quickly used my left hand to pin down the snake's neck with a specially selected forked wooden stick, and then took out a stone from my waistband and threw it with all my might until the snake was battered to death. I reckon it had been dead for some time already. Since it was the first "monster" to die at Xiao Ying's hands, I gave it a free beating of its corpse.
Picked up the dead snake and threw it into his waistband, checked the attribute bar, experience became: 60/1000. Heh heh, didn't expect to kill a rotten snake and get so much experience. Just about to continue advancing, suddenly heard the system announcement voice:
"System Announcement: China region player Xiong Ba Tian Xia has established the first village in the entire system - Tian Xia First Village, located in Sizhou, and is specially rewarded with 500 prestige!"
“……”
The announcement was made three times, but the name of the village "雄霸天下" (Overlord of the World) is not a system reward, it's just the village name... Alas, starting off so domineering, if their power doesn't grow quickly, they might become the first village in the entire system to be annihilated.
Still want to continue playing online games, others have built villages, but Xiao Ying hasn't even seen a personal shadow, let alone leave this mountain range. Looking at the endless high mountains and wild forests, I can only continue forward, but this time I'm using a small run. Alas, with so many people in the world now, the official said that the ratio of NPCs to players is 1000:1, how come there's not even a personal shadow? It would be better if bandits came out too. But Xiao Ying forgot that the map is also a thousand times larger than reality...
After walking with his head down for more than a day, he would eat some wild fruits or the corpses of monsters he had killed when he was tired. After resting, he would continue on his way. Fortunately, although there is a distinction between day and night in the game, as long as you have enough physical strength, you don't need to sleep. Sleeping only accelerates the recovery of injuries and physical strength. On the road, he also killed dozens of monsters, mostly snakes and rabbits, and even a wild boar. Unfortunately, the wild boar was too heavy, and Xiao Ying couldn't carry its corpse on his way, let alone put it in his belt. However, until now, there is still no sign of human habitation. The only comforting thing is that he has leveled up one level, but the 1 point of experience gained from leveling up didn't add to Xiao Ying's stats. He'll see what use it has later. As expected, dissecting and roasting also allowed Xiao Ying to learn farming and fishing skills. However, the most important thing is that after gritting his teeth and rushing for nearly two days, Xiao Ying's martial arts level actually increased by a point, although it was small, but it also sounded an alarm for him. It seems that even if he didn't level up, hard work and bitter efforts can still bring about attribute increases. It's just that every time you level up, it's like a child growing one year older, and various abilities are quietly increasing. The martial arts value is only the specific data of strength, but it also gave Xiao Ying another goal to strive for. If his current state were compared to when he was a child, maybe children could have more strength than adults too? Haven't you heard of innate divine power?
He was wearing his own 50-level equipment with strength over 90, and he couldn't help but feel confident. He hurried on the road even more diligently, but this was unlikely to happen. The higher the level and attributes, the more effort it took to upgrade and increase attributes. However, in his mind, if he persisted with the same effort as the past two days, and endured for another hundred years, he should be able to reach strength 90 by the time he reached level 50...
On the second evening after entering the game, he finally saw a few houses in the distance, blurry and sparse. The system didn't disappoint him, finally letting him see where people lived. He quickly ran towards them, and soon saw a small mountain path extending from the edge of the mountain road at the foot of the mountain. Without thinking about anything else, he rushed excitedly towards those houses. A wooden fence made of branches and vines surrounded the entire village, with only six or seven dilapidated wooden houses inside, built on the side of the mountain. The whole village could be seen at a glance, but it was strangely quiet.
Among the three or four houses, it was obvious that no one had lived there for a long time. The thick dust and messy debris were evident, and even the door had fallen off, leaning crookedly against the entrance. The other houses were slightly better, but it was hard to imagine anyone living there. It wasn't just a matter of being dilapidated or not, but rather the obvious lack of signs of life. I felt a sudden surge of disappointment. To build a village, players need a Village Construction Order or to receive an NPC's village through quests. I reckon that's probably why it's so hard to establish a new village from scratch, as it requires various basic resources. In the past two days, however, the Chinese server has already established three villages, with system announcements awarding 500, 300, and 100 reputation points respectively for the first three villages. Although the rewards may seem small, reputation is extremely hard to come by.
