“Swish”—person had already changed appearance, now the same beige color as the Village Chief, but the style was clearly not the intellectual type that the Village Chief wore, much more suited for the working masses. Well, I won’t complain—anything’s better than just that pair of shorts from before! Speaking of shorts, I can’t help but wonder: if the gender was female, what would I be wearing? If I entered ancient times in just underwear, wouldn’t that be even more ridiculous!

As for what the Village Chief just said about “helping the villagers more,” that must be a hint about what myself is supposed to do! Alright! Time to go see what the villagers need help with!

Eric Ford began to interact with the villagers to see if things were really as the Village Chief had said. The village wasn’t big, and when you counted, there were only a handful of villagers, but everyone had something to do, and everyone needed help.

At the east end of the village, the woodcutter Mr. Thompson had run out of firewood, and just happened to be sick in bed, so he wanted Eric Ford to help chop some for him. Eric Ford found it odd—if you can’t even get out of bed, why do you need firewood? Just stay under the covers!

At the west end, the blacksmith Mr. Bolton had run out of copper ore, but he was in a hurry to forge an iron knife and couldn’t leave, so he asked Eric Ford to help dig up some copper ore. But the weird thing was, he clearly wanted to make an iron knife, so why was he in such a rush for copper ore? Isn’t that just making trouble for no reason?

Then there was Edward Wood, who said he ran out of paper halfway through writing an article and asked Eric Ford to buy some for him. After leaving, Eric Ford suddenly realized that Edward Wood asked him to buy something but didn’t give him any money. Is it that you don’t need money to buy things in this game, or is he just trying to get myself to do it for free?

The most outrageous was Mrs. White at the south end of the village, who said her Little Max was missing, but she had to go feed the chickens, so she also asked Eric Ford to help look for Little Max. Eric Ford was completely speechless—what’s more important, the chickens or the child?

All these completely illogical requests left Eric Ford feeling lost and confused, not knowing where to even start. Since it was such a hassle, might as well skip it! After all, it’s called the beginner’s village, so it’s probably just for new players to get familiar with the environment and controls. As for the controls, in a virtual game like this, there really aren’t any to speak of!

With that, Eric Ford went straight to the Village Chief and expressed myself’s desire to leave the village. In response, the Village Chief recited the following lines in a formal tone:

You promised to help Mr. Thompson chop wood, not yet completed;

You promised to help Mr. Bolton mine ore, not yet completed;

……

Eric Ford was on the verge of collapse—if only I’d known, I wouldn’t have agreed to so much! Better go back and see if I can decline these tasks. Heading straight to Mr. Thompson’s house, but Mr. Thompson didn’t care at all, just kept repeating that there were lots of trees in the forest south of the village, and even lamented that myself was getting old and forgetful, having left the axe there! What high-intelligence NPCs, what human-computer interaction—why is it so hard to communicate! Damn! So Eric Ford turned and went to Mr. Bolton, then to Edward Wood...

In the end, Eric Ford stood like a statue in the very center of the village, feeling that the one who needed help the most in this village was actually myself!

Frustrated as he was, and annoyed as he was, Kevin Young was cursing the game in his heart, convinced that this thing was boring to the extreme, but his stubbornness made him determined to successfully leave this beginner’s village.

Chapter 3: Hidden Quest

The forest appeared before the ambitious Eric Ford, and he happened to spot a man dressed in animal skins, who looked like a hunter.

Seeing the hunter smiling at myself, Eric Ford felt a chill. In his ears, he seemed to hear the Village Chief’s verse, and remembered Mr. Thompson’s endless nagging, “Good thing I didn’t talk to him—what if I got another quest!” Eric Ford thought with relief.

Ignoring the hunter, Eric Ford walked straight to the edge of the forest and immediately spotted the legendary axe of Mr. Thompson.

Without another word, he grabbed the axe and started swinging it like a windmill in the forest, leaving several not-yet-mature saplings battered and broken by Eric Ford’s efforts.

Using tree bark, he tied up a big bundle of broken branches and returned to Mr. Thompson’s house, swaggering as he tossed the wood by Mr. Thompson’s bedside, giving Mr. Thompson a provocative look. “Hmm, not bad, so capable at such a young age. Where’s my axe?”

“It’s right where you left it!”

“What? Why didn’t you bring it back for me?”

“You’re not chopping wood at home anyway, so leaving it there saves you from carrying it back and forth every day!”

“If you’d brought it back, I was planning to give it to you!”

“Who wants your lousy axe!”

“You little brat, what do you know? This axe is from a long, long time ago...”

Eric Ford instantly felt his head swell several times over. Without waiting for Mr. Thompson to finish, he turned and did a sprinting drill.

Next, he arrived at the mine Mr. Bolton mentioned, grabbed a shovel from the ground, and started digging away. Before long, he’d filled a basket, though with his limited skill, what he dug up was either copper ore or nothing at all. But that was even better—this way, the quest would be completed more easily!

He carried a basket of copper ore back and dumped it at Mr. Bolton’s shop entrance, shouted into the house, and left.

Next up was the paper that Edward Wood wanted, which was a problem—he couldn’t exactly make paper himself!

Sigh, better go ask around and see where to get some paper. He went to the village general store to ask, and sure enough, they had some. He tried to negotiate with the shopkeeper to see if he could get a few sheets on credit!