“It’s as I said, it’s a beginner village quest, and there are two requirements to trigger it. First, you have to be helpful to others, and second, you must do good deeds without expecting anything in return.”

“What do you mean?”

“Being helpful means you have to help everyone in the village who asks for help; doing good deeds without expecting anything in return means you have to refuse all quest rewards after completing the help tasks! Actually, quite a few people manage the first part, but as for the second—just look at all these Axe Gang members and you’ll understand! Plus, the system announced that this hidden quest is a high-level hidden quest, which means: now that someone has completed it, it can never be triggered again in the future!”

“Why doesn’t the homepage say who this person is?”

“That’s the player’s privacy, and besides, revealing it might bring a lot of trouble to this player!”

“Trouble! What kind of trouble?” Eric Ford felt a jolt in his heart. He had originally planned to tease Mr. Know-It-All a bit and then tell him that he was the one who completed the hidden quest, but hearing there might be trouble, he was already thinking of dropping the idea.

“What kind of trouble? Just look at the people who were chasing us earlier—what do you think?”

“Oh, oh, let’s not talk about that. Since you know so much about the game, tell me about something else!” Eric Ford quickly changed the subject.

“Well, you’re putting me on the spot—I’m not sure what to talk about!”

“Just tell me what’s special about this game, anything worth paying attention to!”

“There’s a lot! What do you want to know about?”

“Let’s start with martial arts!”

“You can learn martial arts from sects, or by reading martial arts manuals. Some martial arts moves are for attack, some for defense—you already know that. There’s also internal skills, which are for cultivating internal energy, and they’re very important, because the amount of internal energy directly affects attack and defense. This is a lot like wuxia novels. Other things like qinggong are probably considered support skills!”

“What about equipment?”

“As for equipment, there’s only one thing that’s special compared to other games: if rare equipment drops in the game, the system won’t reclaim it during refreshes. In other words, if no one picks it up, it’ll just stay there forever!”

“Wouldn’t that mean the ground will be littered with weapons?”

“What do you think those are? Those are rare weapons! The game’s been open for so long, and only one has ever appeared!”

“What is it?”

“The Seven Absolute Whirlwind Sword!”

“The Seven Absolute Whirlwind Sword? One Sword Soars to the Sky!” Eric Ford shouted.

“One Sword Soars to the Sky! Where, where?” People nearby were drawn over by the shouting.

“No, no, I was just telling my friend a story!” This time, Mr. Know-It-All had learned his lesson.

“You know One Sword Soars to the Sky?” Mr. Know-It-All turned to ask Eric Ford.

Eric Ford nodded and said, “The first person I met in the game tonight was him. He even gave me a throwing knife. I didn’t expect him to be so amazing!”

“Exactly, the only rare weapon is in his hands. They say this ‘Seven Absolute Whirlwind Sword’ also has a matching martial art, also called ‘Seven Absolute Whirlwind Sword’, and it’s incredibly powerful! One Sword Soars to the Sky relies on this sword and martial art—he’s now the number one in ‘Jianghu’.”

Eric Ford gasped. He hadn’t expected that, just as he entered the world of Jianghu, he’d already crossed paths with such an incredible person.

Mr. Know-It-All continued, “Once the player guild system is launched, people like him will definitely be big shots!”

“What about you? What are you planning to do in Jianghu?”

“Me? Heh, just look at my name—you can tell my dream is to become the all-knowing person in Jianghu!”

“That’s even harder!”

“What’s so hard about it? Don’t forget, this is just a game. As long as you pay attention and collect information, you can do it!”

“Heh, then if I have any questions in the future, I’ll know who to ask!”

“No need to even say it, we’ve already been through thick and thin together! Come on, let’s add each other as friends!”

After adding each other as friends, Mr. Know-It-All stood up and said, “Alright, brother, I’m logging off now! Take care of yourself! Haha!”

“Take care!”

Chapter 10: Skipping the Bill

Mr. Know-It-All vanished into thin air right across from Eric Ford, who sat there in a daze for a while before standing up, ready to leave.

Just then, the Waiter came running over cheerfully and said, “Sir, are you leaving? Please pay your bill—a pot of tea is 10 copper coins.”

Eric Ford felt dizzy and lightheaded. He steadied himself, shook out his clothes, patted his pants, and said nonchalantly, “No, I’m going to sit a while longer.”

He sat back down, first imagining peeling Mr. Know-It-All’s skin, pulling out his tendons, and chopping him into pieces, then started worrying about the situation at hand.

Sigh! At times like this, you really can’t avoid asking for help. Eric Ford opened his friends list and sent a message to One Sword Soars to the Sky, asking if he was online.

The system replied on behalf of One Sword Soars to the Sky, notifying Eric Ford that he was offline.

Helpless, he only knew two people, and now neither was online—what to do! The first idea that came to mind was to just log off, but that seemed too simple. If he logged off without paying, the system would definitely punish him.

With no other choice, he called the Boy over. “Ah, the Boy bro, it looks like I don’t have enough money for tea. What should I do?”

the Boy said, “I can’t make that decision. You’ll have to ask our the Shopkeeper.”

“Where is your the Shopkeeper?”