“Ding! You have completed the quest: Eliminating Evil for the People, and gained 10,000 experience points!”

“Ding! Your reputation among humans has increased by 200 points!”

200 reputation points! David Bolton curled his lips. Reputation was a tricky system in the game—every race had its own reputation, ranked from lowest to highest as: Hostile, Indifferent, Neutral, Friendly, Respectful, Revered, and Worshipped. If a player's reputation with a race was below Neutral, entering that race's territory would result in attacks. If reputation reached Friendly or above, players could buy items there, and the higher the reputation, the better the items available!

David Bolton arrived at the south side of the village and saw that in three watermelon fields, wild boars were everywhere, constantly munching on the watermelons. Nearby stood a farmhouse, and an old man with a white beard was anxiously pacing in circles.

“Sir, is there anything I can do for you?” Seeing the yellow exclamation mark above the NPC’s head, David Bolton immediately ran over to talk to him.

“Look at those damn wild boars! They’ve ruined all my watermelon fields! Kill them all for me, and I’ll pay you a reward!” the old man shouted angrily.

[Kill Them] (Quest Difficulty: C Level)

Quest Description: Kill those damn Stonehide Wild Boars!

Progress: Stonehide Wild Boars killed 0/10

[Stonefang Wild Boar] (Normal)

Level: 10

HP: 500

In the watermelon fields, there were also four or five other player teams. Because the Stonefang Wild Boars were high-level, most players, who were only around level 5, couldn’t solo them and had to team up. Even so, due to the huge level gap, a five-person team still struggled to kill a single wild boar!

Although the killing was slow, no one wanted to leave, since at least there were monsters to fight here—much better than those places where a single monster would be swarmed by a dozen weapons the moment it spawned!

Seeing that David Bolton was alone, quite a few people started laughing.

“Noob, you think you can farm here solo? Did a donkey kick your head or something?”

“Haha, how many times would you have to be kicked by a donkey to be this dumb?”

“Just wait and watch him get wrecked by the wild boars!”

Of course, there were also some kind-hearted players.

“Hey friend, all the monsters here are level 10. You can’t handle them alone!”

“Our team’s mage just had to leave, so we have an open spot. Want to join us?”

All these people ignored the shield on David Bolton’s back—a reward only given for completing the level 5 class quest! At this stage, there were already plenty of level 5 players, but those who had completed the class quest were still very few!

David Bolton smiled slightly, declined the team invitation, raised his novice sword, and walked toward the nearest wild boar. When he got within charging distance, he immediately activated his skill.

Charge—Stun!

“-30!”

David Bolton swung his weapon, slashing the wild boar and instantly drawing a spray of blood.

“Huff! Huff! Huff!” The Stonefang Wild Boar snapped out of its daze and let out an angry squeal, thrusting its two sharp tusks at David Bolton.

David Bolton activated the “Block” skill.

“-27!” The block caused a counterattack!

“-64!” Shield Bash!

“-31!” Another normal attack!

“-29!” Rage built up to 30 points—Power Strike!

Dodge!

With “Block” on cooldown, David Bolton nimbly sidestepped, easily dodging the wild boar’s attack—even the level 15 Panther King couldn’t lay a finger on David Bolton, let alone this level 10 normal monster!

In just four or five seconds, David Bolton unleashed 181 points of damage, taking off more than a third of the wild boar’s HP, leaving the nearby players wide-eyed as if they’d seen a ghost! That damage was insane! Was this guy really a shielded warrior?

Shielded warriors actually had decent burst potential, and the key was the “Block” skill! The timing of using “Block” was the best way to distinguish an excellent shielded warrior from an average one in the early game!

After using “Block,” the character gained a buff that allowed them to block one attack within the next second! But since it only lasted a single second, if you activated it too early, the effect would expire before the attack landed! If you activated it too late...

Block would fail, and the follow-up high-damage “Shield Bash” couldn’t be used!

Of course, if you maxed out “Block” to level 10, you didn’t have to worry about this—just keep pressing it.

David Bolton moved skillfully, and once “Block” was off cooldown, he unleashed another combo. The Stonefang Wild Boar let out a miserable squeal, flashed white, and collapsed dead, granting David Bolton 500 experience points. He reached out to loot and, lucky him, got a Stonefang Wild Boar’s tooth!

“Damn, this guy’s a pro!”

“Yeah, he killed it so fast, and didn’t even lose any HP!”

“I just realized—you can actually use movement to dodge monster attacks!”

“Huh? I thought characters avoided damage through dodge, parry, and block stats?”

“Bro, this is a simulation game, not a traditional MMO. Learn something new!”

“……”