Found the militia captain Mason Miller, handed over 20 vials of bat blood, and immediately Mason Miller showed a look of astonishment, exclaiming, “Brave warrior, you really did it! I didn’t expect you to actually defeat those hateful bats. Alright, here is your reward!”

　　“Ding~!”

　　System prompt: Congratulations on completing the quest [Clearing the Fields], you have gained 2,400 experience points, 24 silver coins, +10 reputation, and received the quest reward item [Wilderness Boots]!

　　I was overjoyed—another piece of equipment!

　　[Wilderness Boots] (Black Iron—Armor)

　　Defense: 14

　　Strength: +2

　　Agility: +1

　　Required level: 6

　　……

　　Another Black Iron gear! This one is even more powerful, actually boosting two secondary stats, even though the increases aren’t huge...

　　The quest reward experience just now had already leveled me up to 7. After equipping the Wilderness Boots, my defense had reached 26, and my attack was now 35-45!

　　Looking at the iron sword in my hand, I ran to the village entrance and shouted, “Iron sword with 1-4 attack for sale! Wealthy buyers, come quickly! Only selling for three minutes!”

　　To my surprise, this shout was almost as effective as “Pretty girl’s first night, only 10 bucks!” In just a few seconds, I was surrounded, packed in tight, countless faces eager for weapons yelling at me, “Damn! Sell it to me! Sell it to me!”

　　Facing this crowd of desperate people, I made my intentions clear: “Highest bidder gets it!”

　　Very quickly, several people started pooling their money. One shouted, “I’ll pay 1 silver coin!”

　　Another scoffed, “1 silver coin? You think you’re buying a chick? I’ll pay 2 silver coins...”

　　A “dinosaur” shouted, “Handsome! Give me the weapon, I’ll video chat with you and be your wife!”

　　The crowd cursed, “Damn! Looking like that, you still dare to show off? Go back to Mars already!”

　　Just then, someone squeezed in from the outside and said, “I’ve got 20 silver coins, sell it to me!”

　　20 silver coins—when this price was announced, the crowd immediately fell silent, everyone staring in shock at this player who could have 20 silver coins so early in the game!

　　Seeing how travel-worn he looked, and that no one else could match the price, I directly selected him for the trade. He bought it for 20 silver coins, and I made sure to remember his name—Blake Knight!

　　Looks like he’s probably a professional player; otherwise, there’s no way he’d have so much silver so quickly!

　　I was ecstatic—a broken sword could sell for such a high price! If I sold my Glimmering Battle Axe or the Wilderness Boots, what would that fetch?

　　Of course, I wouldn’t sell either of those. With them, I can level up faster and get even more gear!

　　Squeezing out of the crowd, I quickly headed to the pharmacy to check the list of potions. Potions that restore 100 HP cost 20 copper each, while those that restore 300 HP cost 2 silver each—a huge difference, but the effect is obvious. In critical moments, my current level 7 with 320 HP, using a 300 HP potion is just right. After all, the higher the potion level, the faster it restores HP after drinking. Small potions only restore slowly, which can be fatal at times!

　　Looking in my bag, I now had 43 silver coins and 68 copper coins. So, I bought 15 of the 300 HP potions in one go, and with the rest, I bought 27 of the 100 HP potions. I’ll use the 300 HP ones in emergencies, and the 100 HP ones for regular situations.

　　And just like that, I was broke again!

　　All investments will pay off. When I returned to the militia captain and chose to talk, he frowned and said, “The village chief seems to have something on his mind...”

　　Hmm? Is that a hint?

　　Thinking for a moment, I turned back to the village and found the gray-haired Village Chief in the large house at the center. All the other players were out leveling up, so there was no one wandering around the village—just me, roaming like a leisurely tourist.

　　Seeing me arrive, the old Village Chief sighed and said, “Those demons have started attacking the towns around Twilight City again. Our village has already been attacked. A large number of liquefied evil creatures have appeared on the west side of the village. Young man, can you do me a favor?”

　　“Ding~!”

　　System prompt: Do you accept the quest?

　　I quickly clicked confirm.

　　The old Village Chief continued, “A team of brave militiamen is trapped at an outpost west of the village. I hope you can help them!”

　　“Ding~!”

　　System prompt: You have accepted the quest [Clearing the Outpost]! (Beginner quest. Current difficulty: 80)

　　Quest objective: Go to the outpost west of the village, find the village outpost, kill the slimes there, and collect 100 slime badges!

　　……

　　I was a bit stunned. Slime badges? What the heck are those?

　　Whatever, I’ll find out when I get there!

　　This quest has a difficulty of 80. Compared to my current level 7, those slimes must be pretty high level too. Plus, I have to collect 100 slime badges—just thinking about it makes me shudder. The drop rate for regular quest monsters is about 20%, which means I might have to kill 500 slimes to finish the quest!