“You the hell better keep your voice down! Talking so loud—are you trying to embarrass me even more?”

Amid the noisy crowd, these comments were like tiny waves, quickly drowned out, but Charles Bennett still managed to catch some similar discussions.

His eyes narrowed slightly. Charles Bennett once again recalled all the points from the “Beginner’s Survival Guide,” following even more closely behind Miller Warrior.

“As expected, as a newbie, I should build rapport with NPCs who approach me first.”

Staying by Miller Warrior’s side, it didn’t take long for Charles Bennett to get familiar with his surroundings. He was currently in a small village on the southern outskirts of Wind Whisper Town, about 200 miles from the southernmost Hurricane Bay of the Kingdom of Gentle Forest. Recently, this village had been plagued by a series of incidents: first, the crops were destroyed by greedy groundhogs, then firebirds of unknown origin rampaged through the forest. Because of all this, Miller Warrior and the other village defenders had been run ragged.

But in just the past few days, someone had even discovered traces of chaotic faction evil beastmen.

“These greedy groundhogs are really damned. If this keeps up, the village won’t have any harvest this year, and people could starve.” Miller Warrior led Charles Bennett back around the village, his expression filled with worry and hope as he looked at him.

“Hm? What’s with that look?” Charles Bennett tensed up, but before he could react, the system prompt in his ear gave him the answer.

“Village Defender Miller Warrior asks player Jason Carter to go to the southern wheat field and hunt 15 greedy groundhogs. Do you accept?”

“So this is how you get a quest!” Charles Bennett realized, and naturally accepted the quest quickly.

“General Quest: Clear the Wheat Field.”

“Quest Description: The village’s wheat field has been damaged by groundhogs. Due to a lack of manpower, Village Defender Miller Warrior asks you to go to the southern wheat field and hunt 15 greedy groundhogs.”

“Quest Target: Greedy Groundhogs.”

“Quest Tip: As a general quest, you won’t face much danger from the greedy groundhogs, but don’t expect too many surprises either.”

Charles Bennett quickly skimmed through the quest, smiling as he chatted with Miller Warrior.

“Thank you! Young adventurer.” Miller Warrior laughed heartily, then seemed to remember something and lowered his voice: “There may be evil beastman scouts lurking around the village now, so we’ve set up many traps and snares around the wheat field. You must follow this route to reach the field safely.”

Listening to the route described by Miller Warrior, Charles Bennett nodded repeatedly, finally understanding how unfair it was for those reckless players who wandered around and got killed.

“I await your good news, young adventurer.” With that, Miller Warrior ignored Charles Bennett and ran up behind another player who had just entered the game, saying the same thing: “Young adventurer, please wait. This must be your first time…” Other villagers and defenders in the village were doing the same as Miller Warrior. At that moment, Charles Bennett found it all rather absurd—if these NPCs spent their time clearing the wheat field, there wouldn’t be any need for players like them. Of course, then there wouldn’t be any quests to do.

Watching the new player completely ignore the enthusiastic Miller Warrior and head straight south out of the village, Charles Bennett could pretty much predict what would happen to him soon.

While browsing the first quest—Clear the Wheat Field—in his quest interface, Charles Bennett glanced around. The number of players nearby hadn’t decreased despite it being the middle of the night. With the launch of “Night Lord,” more and more players crowded the square outside the village, to the point where it was now packed tight.

“With so many people, there probably won’t be any shortage of players doing the groundhog quest in the southern wheat field.” Charles Bennett figured this first quest wouldn’t be so easy. The wheat field was surely a case of too many monks and too little gruel. He’d never encountered a situation like this before. In real life, Charles Bennett would never have such concerns—never mind groundhogs, even mosquitoes wouldn’t stand a chance against his custom silver revolver.

But now, Charles Bennett opened his character interface, frowned slightly as he looked at these attributes and skills he’d never seen before.

[Jason Carter]: Race—Night Elf · Druid, Faction: Order Keepers.

Level: 1.

Strength: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 15.

Spirit: 10.

Stamina: 15.

HP/MP: 150/225.

Skills: Wrath, Perception.

Equipment: Worn Novice Robe (Chest · Leather), Worn Novice Gloves (Hands · Leather), Worn Novice Pants (Legs · Leather), Worn Novice Boots (Feet · Leather)

Weapon: Crooked Staff.

Defense: 78 points.

Attack: 7–9.

Spell Power: 10 points.

……

“So trash!” Even though Charles Bennett had never played a large-scale game before, he could tell these character stats were absolutely bottom-tier, with nothing to recommend them.