"Dafuq! He slapped the blacksmith!"
A player finally reacted after a long period of time.
"I remember now! No wonder he looks so familiar, isn"t that Brother Niubi from the post?" A player said after getting an epiphany.
"Yes, yes, I remember too. He is indeed niubi! After beating the village chief yesterday, he beats the blacksmith today! Look, the blacksmith is not retaliating too!"
The blacksmith was indeed not retaliating. Because, the system notice has already appeared.
[System notice]: As you have attacked the Beginner Village blacksmith Bard, Bard"s friendliness level with you has increased by 20 points. You are currently seen as a friend. (Friendly)
"Quickly give the mining permit to me, beardy!" Li Huailin said after the slap.
"Hero, if you want the permit, you have to complete the pre-quest. Only then can I give you the secondary profession…" Bard"s eyes gaze suddenly became friendly, and even his way of calling Li Huailin changed from "kid" to "hero". However, before he could finish his sentence, Li Huailin gave him another slap.
*pa!*
Yet another crisp slapping sound, yet another period of silence.
[System notice]: As you have attacked the Beginner Village"s blacksmith Bard, Bard"s friendliness level with you has increased by 15 points. You are currently seen as a friend.
"The mining permit." Li Huailin repeated again.
"Hero, if you want the permit, you have to…" Just as Bard wanted to explain himself, Li Huailin gave him another big slap.
"Mining permit."
"Hero…"
The surrounding players all watched as Li Huailin wildly slapped Bard. Bard"s expression was also slapped till it turned from disdain at the start to one of worship at the end.
"This NPC is so d.a.m.ned stubborn! I"ve slapped you over ten times already and yet you won"t give me the mining permit." The system has already indicated that Bard"s friendliness level was on the level of worship, but yet still won"t give the mining permit. Looks like Li Huailin really had to complete the pre-quest. As Bard was only an NPC in the Beginner Village, his actions were limited and was limited a specific set of things. Li Huailin who had wanted to skip the quest by raising friendliness level was disappointed by this turn of events.
"n.o.ble hero, I really cannot give you the permit if you don"t finish the quest first!" Bard was almost on his knees already. "Right, I have a hidden quest here too! If you can finish it, not only can you get Blacksmithing as your secondary profession, you can get 6000 Blacksmithing proficiency too. It will directly push your Blacksmithing to intermediate."
"The h.e.l.l!" The blacksmith players around couldn"t stay calm anymore. After you get your secondary profession, you start off as a disciple. You need 1000 proficiency to get to beginner level, and 5000 proficiency to get to intermediate from beginner level. Creating an item would reward you with 1~3 points of proficiency depending on the grade of the item.
Furthermore, after upgrading, making items below your current grade won"t yield proficiency. For example, a beginner won"t get proficiency from making disciple ranked items. Want to level up? Burn money then.
However, Li Huailin initiated a hidden quest that could directly raise blacksmithing to intermediate! This is literally almost heaven-defying. Just the amount of money you can save by directly jumping to intermediate was already exaggerated. What"s more, the time saved.
[System notice]: Village blacksmith Bard is giving you a B-ranked hidden quest, [Perfect Iron Ore]. Do you accept?
"A hidden quest again?" Li Huailin was surprised too. "Is this a solo quest or a party quest?"
"This mission requires you to complete it alone," Bard replied.
"Tch, can"t sell it for money." Li Huailin was disappointed. "Accept."
B-ranked hidden quest [Perfect Iron Ore]: Get an iron ore that is Grade 25 or above. Hint: The depths of the mine could have what you want. Rewards: 20000 EXP, 5 silver coins, 300 Fame.
"Give up."
Without even looking at the quest details, Li Huailin had already given up the quest.
System notice: Do you want to give up the B-ranked hidden quest [Perfect Iron Ore]?
"Yes."
System notice: You have given up the B-ranked hidden quest [Perfect Iron Ore]. Your Fame has increased by 200 points.
"Only 200 points…" Li Huailin sighed.
"n.o.ble hero, do you really not want to learn blacksmithing? I think it is a n.o.ble job!" Bard who saw Li Huailin giving up the quest said with disappointment.
"Don"t bother me, I"m sad over here…" Li Huailin said. "Give me the quest about the tooth thingie to me again."
"No problems, n.o.ble hero."
E-ranked quest [Collect Sharp Tooth]: Gather 10 Sharp-toothed Rat"s sharp tooth. Rewards: 300 EXP, 20 copper coins.
"300 EXP, 20 copper coins… My heart is crying…" Li Huailin sighed, before walking out to find the Sharp-toothed Rats.
Only until Li Huailin left the store did the stoned players react.
"Brother Niubi… He is as niubi as they say. You have no choice but to yield to him…" A player said with admiration.
"This is the first time I"ve seen a person slapping and scolding an NPC like that. He"s so manly!" A female player"s eyes were spewing out so much hearts it looked like a heart machine gun.
"Even I feel a little bit of pity for Bard despite him selling things to me at such a high price. Even a common sword costs 30 copper coins."
"Wait, he just gave up a hidden quest, right?" A blacksmithing player suddenly realised. He then looked at Bard and said, "Though he doesn"t want it, I want it! Give me the hidden quest!"
"Right, right! I want to do it too!" The surrounding blacksmithing players immediately said.
Bard"s face instantly changed change. "Scram! Guys like you who haven"t even grown up yet want to get the hidden quest? In your dreams!"
"This is f*cking discrimination! Brothers! This Bard is a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t who wants a beating! Everyone, beat him and you can get the hidden quest!" A blacksmithing player shouted loudly to rally the discriminated blacksmiths.
"Right, beat him!" The crowd responded to the rally and instantly rushed towards Bard.
The result was a tragedy. Over ten players flew out of the blacksmith shop. Not only did they die once, they also got a system notice saying that friendliness level has decreased by 20, causing Bard"s att.i.tude to become cold. This meant that everything in the blacksmith shop was now 40% more expensive. Being blacksmiths who needed to get blacksmithing materials available only in the shop, they really didn"t know how to live anymore.
Just as over ten humans were thrown out, Li Huailin has returned already. Sharp-toothed Rat"s sp.a.w.n location was not far from the village. Li Huailin had just wanted to run there, but was stopped by a few players. He had thought they wanted to rob him, but…
"Friend, are you doing the blacksmith"s quest and need 10 sharp tooth? There are so many players using those rats to train, so you need to farm for a long time to get it yourself. Here, I have a group of 10 sharp tooth, just enough for the quest. This can be yours for just 20 copper coins! This saves time and saves effort, and if you don"t have the money now, I can accompany you to the blacksmith and take the 20 copper coins the quest gives you instead!" A skinny player was trying his best to make Li Huailin buy the sharp tooth.
Li Huailin was more than happy. Though he didn"t know how much EXP the rats gave, he still had to kill over 10! Li Huailin didn"t even know how many times he had to die to compensate the EXP reduction. Meeting a person selling sharp tooth is heaven-sent.
After spending 20 copper coins to get 10 sharp teeth, Li Huailin ran back again. Coincidentally seeing the scene of over 10 players flying out of the shop and disappearing in a flash of white light too.
"Huh? What happened here?" A slightly confused Li Huailin asked a player who didn"t slap Bard and thus was still in the shop.
"Brother Niubi, you"ve come back. Just now, a few fearless players copied you and tried slapping the NPC, and the result is as you can see. Haaa… Niubiness indeed cannot be learnt…" A player said enlightened.
"That"s a given. Not anyone can learn how to be super-duper-ultra awesome like me!" After finishing his sentence, he slapped Bard again. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d, the sharp teeth are here. Quickly give me the mining permit!"
Bard who had a fierce expression just now instantly had the face of a lackey and replied, "Okay, n.o.ble hero!"
System notice: E-ranked quest [Collect Sharp Tooth] completed. You have lost 300 EXP and 20 copper coins.
System notice: Village blacksmith wants to teach you the secondary profession, Mining. Do you accept?
"Yes."
System notice: Secondary profession, Mining, obtained.
"This is the mining permit. n.o.ble hero, you can go into the mine now. Right, I have a pickaxe pa.s.sed down in my family too. I will give it to you now."
As Bard said that, he took out a paper and a black pickaxe.
"What? Why is it that I have to buy my own pickaxe when I first learnt mining? Brother Niubi is indeed different from us…" A player said with envy.
On the other hand, Li Huailin was thinking, "300 EXP! 20 copper coins! My heart is bleeding…."
Translator"s Notes:
So apparently, there was another translator who translated the first few chapters of this novel. I had searched online to see if anyone had done it before, but it must have slipped past me. Anyways, Sylver135 had translated up to Chapter 4, but said he won"t do it anymore when I checked the site ( So anyway, thanks to the readers who informed me. Going to continue to translate as usual anyway.
Saquacon (Translator)
Saquacon (PR)