"Hey, I killed the Demon King's clone, and I think I got a piece of The Crimson Chronicle gear." John remembered the system prompt before he disconnected from the game. He opened his inventory to check.
In his inventory was a treasure map, a staff, two Basic Skill Upgrade Stones, and a dark red ring.
John took out the ring and looked at it curiously.
[Ring of Greed]
[Rank: The Crimson Chronicle]
[Equipment Requirement: Exclusive Gear, only for John, cannot be dropped, cannot be traded]
[Attribute Bonus: +10 to all four basic attributes, +25 inventory space, +10% damage against Demon Race]
Awesome stuff!
John was happy. This was an exclusive gear, and it was a rare accessory ring.
The attribute bonus was really strong. It doubled his inventory space, and the most important part was the +10% damage against the new Demon Race.
This was definitely a legendary item.
John didn't hesitate. He equipped it immediately. Then he took out the two Basic Skill Upgrade Stones and upgraded the Basic Physical Damage Amplification skill.
[Beep, you used a Basic Skill Upgrade Stone. Basic Physical Damage Amplification skill level +1.]
[Beep, you used a Basic Skill Upgrade Stone. Basic Physical Damage Amplification skill level +1.]
Basic Physical Damage Amplification: Level 4; increases Physical Damage by 4 points, lasts 10 seconds, cooldown 2 minutes, consumes 80 magic points.
Level 4 Physical Damage Amplification. Each time he used it, it added 4 points of Physical Damage. John's improvement efficiency had increased a lot again.
He raised his hand and cast the Physical Damage Amplification skill on himself. His Physical Damage jumped to 1209, but his magic points also dropped a lot.
Luckily, the Green Jade Ring had enough magic recovery.
But after getting more skills, the magic recovery was still too slow. He needed to find items or gear that could increase magic points and improve magic recovery.
"Back to the newbie village to turn in the quest." John didn't think about it anymore. He headed back to the newbie village.
The game had just finished updating. There were already a lot of players coming in.
Many people hadn't gone to sleep, waiting for the update to finish.
John also noticed that many Karlove Academy students were there. Without hesitation, he attacked them and made them lose 1 level again, sending them back to the newbie village for free.
But as soon as he killed a dozen of them, someone in the newbie village chat channel warned: Karlove Academy people were either offline or hiding in the village and not going out.
John didn't care. He entered the newbie village and found the village chief.
"Kid, I didn't make a mistake about you. I just got the system message. I didn't expect you to kill the Twin-Headed Wolf and even the Demon King's clone!"
The village chief came running over, grabbed John's arm, and was full of excitement.
It seemed this old man knew about the Demon King.
John asked curiously, "Village Chief, who is this Demon King? And what is the Demon Race?"
The village chief shook his head. "I don't know the exact details. The Demon Race is also a race that invaded The Alternate World. They were supposed to come out only when the Demon King woke up. But because you killed the Demon King's clone, you made the Demon King angry. They forced their way through and came into this world. Well, this isn't exactly a good thing."
The village chief sighed. He looked very helpless.
John frowned. Humans had already learned some information about The Alternate World.
At first, people thought the NPCs were just invaders from the game. But after investigating, they found out it wasn't true.
The NPCs in The Alternate World were the original people of this land. They were also victims of the invasion. If Erythra couldn't stop the monsters from coming in, the same fate would happen to them.
John was still weak, and this kind of problem wasn't something he could handle right now.
He asked, "Village Chief, where's my reward?"
"Don't worry, I always keep my word," the village chief said, and took out a pale blue jade stone.
[Beep, you completed the village chief's quest. You received Basic Artifact Core 1.]
[Basic Artifact Core: A special item. When used, it can merge your game stats into the real world.]
"It's really an Artifact Core!" John was happy, but he didn't rush to use it.
The Artifact Core only fused his current stats. His power could still grow. It would be better to add more Physical Damage Amplification first before using it.
"Kid, did you get the treasure map from Abyssmere Kingdom?" the village chief asked curiously.
John became alert. "You want it, don't you?"
The village chief frowned and glared at him. "No, I have something more important to ask you. Are you willing to do it?"
[Beep, a unique hidden quest has been triggered. Save Princess of Abyssmere Kingdom. Reward: Abyssmere Kingdom treasure. Quest time limit: unknown. If the quest fails, the Abyssmere Kingdom treasure map will disappear. Accept the quest?]
A message appeared. It was a quest related to the treasure map in his hands, and it was a unique hidden quest.
John looked at the quest message. There was no time limit, and the punishment for failing wasn't too bad. He accepted it without hesitation.
Most importantly, a kingdom's treasure was sure to be rich.
He asked curiously, "Village Chief, wasn't Abyssmere Kingdom already destroyed? Is the princess still alive?"
The village chief nodded. "Abyssmere Kingdom was destroyed by Lionheart Kingdom. The princess was captured. I got the latest news. The princess is being held in The Lion's Citadel. They want to get the location of the treasure map from her."
He thought for a moment and added, "By the way, don't show that map around. If you do, Lionheart Kingdom will notice you."
John nodded. It looked like this quest wouldn't be finished anytime soon.
Lionheart Kingdom was one of the three main kingdoms in The Alternate World. It was powerful and controlled almost half the land.
And The Lion's Citadel was full of strong people. Adventurers needed to reach at least Stage 360 to even be allowed into the city.
"As long as the princess is still alive, I'll save her," John said confidently.
The village chief nodded and then thought of something else. "By the way, there's another thing. Did you kill some players?"
"What, you're watching over that too?" John frowned. He didn't expect this kind of thing to reach the village chief's ears.
The village chief shook his head. "You're overthinking it. I just want to warn you. The people you killed paid a Captain of the Guards. The guard soldiers in the newbie village will attack you. But you're still safe in the village."
Bribing a Captain of the Guards?
John was surprised. He had underestimated Macbeth and his group.
The NPCs in The Alternate World were real people, and being bribed was normal.
Also, the guards in the newbie village weren't under the village chief's control. He could only give quests to new players.
"Okay, thanks for the warning." John didn't take it seriously. The newbie village guards were just 30-level regular monsters. Even the Captain of the Guards was only 30-level bronze boss. He could handle them easily now.
He cast the Physical Damage Amplification skill on himself again, just for fun while wandering around the newbie village.
Some players recognized him and ran away in fear.
John had a bad reputation in the newbie village. Even though he only attacked Karlove Academy players, some others got caught too. He now had a nickname — the "Slaughterer of the Newbie Village." Almost everyone avoided him.
"Well, I miss Aurora. I wonder if that little girl has left the newbie village yet?"
John muttered to himself. He checked his friend list. Aurora was still offline. It was late, so she was probably sleeping.
He didn't think about it anymore and left the newbie village, continuing to hunt down Karlove Academy players.
Most of Karlove Academy's players had heard the news, and some were offline, while others stayed inside the village.
But some still hoped to get lucky, sneaking out to kill monsters and level up.
John found them easily and killed them without effort.
"They're really weak," he said, not feeling any pressure. He wanted to leave the newbie village, but letting these people go was too kind.
"I'll stay for two more days," John decided in his mind. He cast the Physical Damage Amplification skill on himself again.
The sky was getting lighter. More players were around, especially in the 5-level Stone Golem area, where many groups were leveling up.
John didn't find any Karlove Academy players. He kept going deeper into the wilds.
Soon, he reached the werewolf territory. A sound of fighting came from the distance.
"Did someone already get here to level up?" John was surprised. He ran toward the sound.
In the rocky forest ahead, a five-player team was fighting werewolves, with a group of guards nearby.
"Macbeth!" John's eyes lit up. He recognized the leader — it was Macbeth.
No wonder he hadn't seen that guy for days. He must have come to the werewolf area to level up.