Volume 1: Chapter 8 – Compulsory Quest
Brutal Charge was a D+ ranked attack skill and the top players currently did not exceed level 2, therefore, if they were to take a direct hit, they would be severely wounded or killed.
Leng Yun and the others were completely shocked, was this magnitude of destructive power even possible for a human?
Zhang Mu picked up the pistol and unloaded the magazine to check it and there were only five bullets left.
Fatty shouted, “Boss, there are still several people breathing!”
Several of the thugs had avoided death by the collision, but they had been severely wounded, with their bones fractured, vomiting blood. They laid on the ground struggling desperately as they watched Zhang Mu silently walk over, whereupon they immediately struggled to kneel down and beg for mercy.
“We know we were wrong, you guys are powerful and merciful, spare us.”
“Don’t kill me! I don’t want to die!”
“We only did all this because we were forced by Heige!”
“…..”
Zhang Mu did not heed their pleas for mercy, methodically ending their lives.
“They did not have the strength to resist.”, the tall middle aged honest looking man could not resist speaking up. “It isn’t right to kill them all off, they were just underlings.”
Zhang Mu indifferently replied, “The disaster has just happened and they have already started demonstrating such malicious actions, this reflects that their inherent nature is evil and they will continue to do evil after they recover and will even maintain a grudge against us. There is no guarantee that they will not come back for revenge. The world has already changed, no matter what your final decision is, you should absolutely not leave any risks.”
These people had been ordinary law abiding citizens yesterday, each performed work according to their station in society, it was completely unimaginable to even think of committing murder. No one was born a killer, everyone needed an ideological transformation. This was a lawless time where human life was insignificant, and the viciousness of human nature would be revealed as people would kill without reason. If you don’t kill people, people would kill you. In such troubled times, compa.s.sion was a burden and sympathy a sin.
All the bodies were disposed of.
Fatty introduced the two of them, “We might as well get to know each other. This brilliant and courageous hero is Boss Zhang Mu, nicknamed Mu Tou. You guys saw the post in the forum right? Correct, that was published by my amazing boss!”
The few people revealed shocked expressions. The short haired girl cried out in surprise, “So you were the publisher of that post, how formidable! How did you discover so much information on the various powerful monsters?”
Fatty triumphantly huffed, “That small bit of informations counts for a.s.s! If it weren’t for boss, I would have lost my life a long time ago. In the future, interacting with boss will provide you with no small benefits!”
“Can you spout less c.r.a.p?” Zhang Mu threw over the monster dictionary, “I am a fourth year Chinese student at the River City University.”
The short haired girl was surprised, “I am also a River City University Chinese student. I am Qin Min, but I am only a first year. If I remember correctly, you are the well known author, Zhang Mu Senior!”
Leng Yun was flipping through the monster manual, her face covered in unspoken surprise, “You are the horror suspense writer from the Chinese Department? I am a researcher from the River City University Medical Inst.i.tute currently working at the affiliated hospital. My roommates and I have read your work!
Zhang Mu had been a writer for the past five years and could be considered a minor celebrity within River City University. No one would have been able to imagine the very talented young student as the current cold blooded killer.
Fatty cried out in exaggeration, “Boss is a suspense novel writer? No wonder your IQ is higher than the average person! In the future, you will definitely be a leader who will lead others to conquer the North, South, East and West, unifying the city!”
Zhang Mu could not be bothered with Fatty and asked the middle-aged man, “What is your name?”
The honest-looking middle aged man replied, “I am called Sun Bing, I was a chef.”
Zhang Mu had the demeanor of a student and did not fit the image of a heartless murderer, therefore, the caution that the group held towards him slightly lessened.
“Fatty, go look for something to eat.”
“Yes, earlier I was already feeling extremely hungry.”
Zhang Mu sat down and inquired about the skills of the two other people.
Qin Mei had chosen the summoner cla.s.s, while Sun Bing had chosen the knight cla.s.s.
The summoner cla.s.s was weak in the early stages because summoners had extremely low attributes. Their skill books were extremely rare and hard to find in the early stages and even if the enemy was fully equipped from head to toe, once a summoner learned several powerful summoning skills, they would become extremely difficult to take down.
Knights had defense second only to that of shieldbearers and had higher offensive capability. They also possessed several buffs and restoration skills, making them an extremely popular cla.s.s.
Zhang Mu also asked, “What are your starting skills?”
Qin Min’s skill: [Communicate, Level 1], F ranked skill, maximum level: 3. Able to communicate with smaller organisms, consumes mana based on target, and grants the ability to control small animals, up to a maximum of one. Skill has no cooldown.
Sun Bing’s Skill: [Taunt, Level 1], F+ ranked skill, maximum level: 3. Able to attract monster’s hostility towards oneself, increasing monster’s attack by 5%, and reducing defence by 10%. Maximum skill duration 5 seconds, consumes 5 mana points. Skill has 30 seconds cooldown.
These two people did not obtain outstanding skills. Fortunately the skills that they did obtain were the most practical within the F rank.
[Communicate] was originally the skill used by hunters for reconnaissance purposes, it allowed the use of small mammals and birds to ascertain the distribution of nearby terrain and monsters.
[Taunt] was a skill meant for the shieldbearers and knights to enrage monsters to attract their aggression, this skill was crucial in any team battle.
There was reconnaissance, recovery, monser attraction and damage output.
This fulfilled all the necessary requirements of a basic combat team!
Zhang Mu grinned in satisfaction, “Not bad!”
“Boss, I’ve found stuff to eat!” Fatty had returned. Because it was a hotel, food was not hard to find. The food was mainly comprised of mostly fresh vegetables and chilled meat in addition to a large number of alcoholic drinks and for these semi-starved people, who would complain? As long as they could eat, it was fine!
Fatty consumed two whole roasted ducks, several plates of peanuts, and downed three bottles of beer before he finally had enough. He also dug out from his bag a packaged bag while he licked his lips, drawing out several cigarettes to pa.s.s to Zhang Mu and Sun Bing. “Boss, have a smoke!”
“I don’t smoke.” Zhang Mu rejected his offer, “I noticed earlier that the restroom had clean water. Everyone should use this opportunity to freshen up.”
The group had been thoroughly convinced by Zhang Mu’s cool-headedness and decisive actions especially since he was the first person to post on the forums. Consequently, they were very respectful towards him. Leng Yun and Qin Min were females, while Sun Bing was a humble cook. Fatty was especially devoted and loyal to Zhang Mu as a result of being saved multiple times, therefore, everyone regarded him as the leader.
Zhang Mu washed off the blood and soot covering his face, using a towel to scrub his body.
On close inspection of the backpack, it was concluded that it could only store items with game attributes and it was unable to store items without attributes and had five grids of s.p.a.ce to store items and a separate slot to store gold. At this moment, Zhang Mu had collected 523 gold coins, a huge sum of money in the early stages.
After a six hour lapse, the forum post was automatically deleted, the information had yielded a tremendous return in addition to granting aid to many people. Secondarily, it made him a celebrity among players.
Zhang Mu wiped his face dry, walking out from the restroom. Leng Yun had just come out from the ladies restroom. Coincidentally, they came face to face.
The two people stared blankly at each other..
They could see astonishment reflected in each other’s eyes.
Leng Yun’s long hair was tied up, revealing an attractive face with smooth skin, her facial features were as delicate as snow, truly exquisite with a pair of bright calculating eyes that projected a profoundly deep impression on anyone that met her gaze. Approximately 1.68 meters tall, her slender and plump frame exuded an aura of warmth and gentleness, like a flowing river in spring. Meticulous observation revealed that beneath her elegance and unapproachable demeanor, she possessed the temperament of a successful career woman, she was not one to be overlooked or incensed.
The two contradicting temperaments melded together to portray a visage of delicate beauty and a strong unyielding heart, she indeed was an unsurpa.s.sed beauty.
“I suddenly remembered.” Zhang Mu pondered for a moment, “Leng Yun is the River City University’s famous ice beauty, even in different campuses I have heard a lot of rumors about you.”
Unlike the cold indifference that the name implied, Leng Yun was actually very gentle and considerate. None of the countless suitors pursuing her had ever gained her favor, therefore, she was crowned the t.i.tle of ‘ice beauty’ because her heart was like an unmeltable block of ice. Leng Yun was the flower of the medical school, while Sun Lin was the flower of the Chinese department. She was also a quite well-known beauty but in comparison to Leng Yun, regardless of whether it was in terms of looks, stature or temperament, they all seemed to be inferior to her.
“That is just meaningless gossip exaggerated beyond proportions. Don’t believe it.”
Leng Yun sized up Zhang Mu, his height was not considered tall at just 1.78m, with extremely handsome facial features, he gave off the impression of being the boy next door and it allowed people to feel an intimate sense of comfort, but it made him indistinguishable in a crowd. One would not equate this seemingly sentimental young man with that of a cold blooded warrior who would kill without a second thought.
As the two were not very familiar with one another, they were both considerably quiet. They did not know what to say, making the atmosphere slightly awkward. Just at this moment, the emotionless voice of the system sounded in their ears.
————
Quest name: [Dawn Camp].
Difficulty: F+ difficulty level.
Properties: Compulsory Quest
Content: Following the map, arrive at Dawn Camp in twenty days.
Success reward: 50 gold coins, a random F grade drop.
Failure penalty: Death!
————
Leng Yun’s face changed when she saw the quest, “This quest…”
She remembered what Zhang Mu said in the post.
Zhang Mu said, “In this game of survival, life is nowhere near that simple. If you don’t follow the instructions of the system, you will only end up being eliminated. I will go find the others, I need to make several announcements.”
As Leng Yun stared at Zhang Mu’s back, a flash of surprise and bewilderment emerged in her eyes. After reading Zhang Mu’s monster dictionary, it only held records of information pertaining to monsters and no other content, so how did Zhang Mu expect the arrival of this compulsory task?
This man was definitely not someone to be underestimated!
The five people gathered together.
Upon meeting, Qin Min asked, “Zhang Mu senior, what is this quest about?”
Qin Min had just finished cleaning herself and while she was nowhere near as stunning as Leng Yun, she had fair skin and extremely attractive facial features. If one were to base her looks on a standardized ranking system of 100, she would have had a score of at least 60, basically the qualification to be a cla.s.s beauty.
Zhang Mu spoke, “The quest instructions are extremely detailed, we must move quickly to Dawn Camp. If you open the map, you will be able to see the location of Dawn Camp.”
The quest had provided a map. On the River City map, only a very small part was surrounded by forest, the rest was covered in grey fog, making it impossible to see the surrounding terrain, but there was a dim light in the dark region to the west, which was estimated to be the location of the Dawn Camp. As the five people were located in the western suburb, they did not have to trek across the city because Dawn Camp was located further to the west. They only needed to walk towards the camp, so they had an advantage that other people did not.
Leng Yun frowned as she spoke, “The map provided by the quest is too vague, it only provides us with a general direction.”
Zhang Mu took out a huge spool of map from his backpack, laid it out on the floor, and shined a torch on it. “This is a map that I acquired from the Mysterious Merchant at a very high price.”
This map was extremely detailed, providing information on the terrain and it also displayed the unrevealed areas as well as the distribution of monsters.
Qin Min looked at the map. River City just made up a small part of the entire surface. “The b.l.o.o.d.y forest, Goblin mountain fortress, Gnoll Camp, Cat-men burrows… such strange names!”
Zhang Mu spoke as he pointed to the map, “We must pa.s.s through the b.l.o.o.d.y forest. From the information on the map, the monsters range from level 1 -10. This level variation is very big, so it will be quite dangerous. We don’t have to rush to enter the forest, so we will first use the next two days to raise our levels to 4 as leaving then, won’t be too late.”
The monsters in River City ranged between level 1 – 3, for players whose levels reached level 4, the experience gained would fall sharply, taking them even longer to level up. The earlier one entered the camp, the sooner one could grasp early stage advantages, especially Zhang Mu who had a large amount of valuable information. He did not want to waste time in the lower level monster zones.