He took a hard drag, almost swallowing the cigarette butt, and said, “When I was chatting idly with those people, I kept asking myself, what am I going to do after graduation? I had no answer. I don’t know what I should do, and I don’t know what I can do.”

“Honestly, I’m not afraid you’ll laugh at me. Just like Sammy, I used to fantasize about becoming a professional player in high school. But things happened later that made me realize a fantasy is just a fantasy.” Brian Carter stubbed out his cigarette and said, “I don’t know why, but now that thought has come up again. Anyway, I still have two years left in college. I want to give it a try before I graduate. Even if I don’t succeed, at least I won’t have any regrets.”

Sammy patted Brian Carter on the shoulder. “Boss, I get it. Say no more, let’s do it!”

Dylan also patted Brian Carter on the shoulder and returned to his seat.

“Boss, even if you ignore the coal boss, don’t reject the girls.” The Carter Chief lingered nearby, pointing at Brian Carter’s screen. “Look, this little green tea called 【苹果嘉儿】 has sent you several messages. At least reply to her. Bro, there’s a green tea, go for it!”

“Green tea, my ass. If you don’t join the party, I’ll invite someone else.”

Seeing Brian Carter turn so cold and ruthless, The Carter Chief was heartbroken.

The three roommates exchanged a glance, as if to say: Sure enough, a man who’s just been dumped has no mood to look for a new romance...

……

In the Barbarian newbie village, male and female players were full of enthusiasm, many of them immersed in the atmosphere of the new server.

The barbarian race in this fantasy world wasn’t as ferocious as in some other games; the overall art style was not much different from humans, just a bit taller and more muscular, with a wild and imposing vibe. And the barbarian girls weren’t ugly at all—on the contrary, they were curvy and hot, with a wild beauty that human girls lacked.

Someone on the forum summed up the biggest feature of barbarian women in one sentence: they keep their legs tightly together...

While most players were still hacking away at wild boars and dogs in the newbie village, a five-person team quietly approached the village elder NPC, who was responsible for giving out reputation quests.

The five players had clear roles: 1 tank, 1 healer, 3 DPS—a very common small dungeon setup.

The barbarian warrior serving as MT was named 【来日猩猩的你】, and in real life, he was Cody from dorm 302.

The barbarian priest healer was named 【陈二胖】, which was the nickname of 301’s Sammy.

The barbarian rogue was named 【白日站长】, a username that embodied 301’s The Bennett Chief’s life goal: to build a hookup site where men and women could freely hook up during the day, no charge.

The barbarian mage was named 【动感的天】, a username often used by Eric Bennett, and it was said to have a special meaning.

The leader, a barbarian shaman, was called 【Mr·浪】, which was Brian Carter’s middle school username. For some reason, Brian Carter abandoned the username he’d used for the past seven years and went back to this one from his cringey youth.

All four teammates chose barbarians to follow Brian Carter, and there was a reason for that.

Humans, orcs, elves, dwarves, and undead couldn’t even get to the barbarian lands at this stage. Even if they traveled over mountains and rivers to get here, they’d be attacked by the barbarian guardian NPCs. To enter another race’s territory, you needed to reach “Friendly” reputation. For example, humans needed 1000 reputation to enter barbarian territory. Humans with less than 1000 reputation would be mercilessly bullied by barbarian NPCs.

“A group of savage orcs is roaming east of the village, slaughtering our people who are alone. Brave adventurer, I have sensed your outstanding reputation among the barbarians. Are you willing to lead a team to eliminate those orcs?”

Brian Carter accepted the quest, but didn’t go east of the village. The whole team was teleported into an instance called “Orc Camp.” This was another benefit of reputation quests: you didn’t have to fight over mobs with the crowds outside, and it felt great.

This kind of pure quest instance wasn’t hard; the gatekeeper was just an elite mob, and there was no boss in the whole instance. Correspondingly, these instances mainly provided experience and reputation, and rarely dropped equipment.

The monsters in the camp were scattered, wandering in small groups. This was obviously the system’s way of helping newbies—if a hundred little monsters swarmed at once, no team could survive in the early game.

As soon as they entered the camp, Brian Carter made a bold move.

“Boss, don’t be reckless!”

Sammy was startled, but it was too late to stop him.

All three roommates tensed up, knowing Brian Carter’s style—he always had to show off at the worst possible time.

The little shaman in the camp cast a blood-red light barehanded, hitting a lone orc.

The effect of that blood light shocked all four teammates.

Sammy was once again dumbfounded. “Damn, are you cheating again?”

Chapter 009: The Power of a Divine Skill

The regular orcs in the camp were all level 4 monsters, with 40 HP and 4 attack.

Also, monsters below level 10 basically had 0 defense, perfect for newbie players to rack up a sense of achievement.

Players above level 5 could easily crush these quest mobs.