Chapter Eleven: Leveling Up

Opening the beginner’s area map, just as Snow Han had said, Wolf Village and Wild Dog Village were right next to each other—it seemed it wouldn’t even take ten minutes to walk from one to the other.

Along the way, I casually dealt with the monsters blocking my path, and by the time I reached Wolf Village, I had miraculously reached level six. The experience from level-nine monsters was certainly something else!

Right—wasn’t there a level ranking? I opened the leaderboard. The top ten in the China region were all level six; it seemed leveling up in this game was indeed rather slow. Otherwise, after nine hours since the server opened, someone would have changed class by now!

I carefully looked over the top fifty names several times, but didn’t see mine. Others must have more experience than I do. At the bottom of the leaderboard, a line of small text read: Your current world ranking is 98,652; China region ranking is 60,231.

I was speechless—out of the top one hundred thousand players worldwide, sixty thousand were Chinese. My fellow countrymen truly were zealous!

…

At the village entrance stood a graceful young woman, glancing around. That beautiful face was unmistakably Snow Han—she hadn’t altered her appearance at all! Wasn’t she worried about being recognized in real life?

“Snow Han? Is that you?” I walked up and asked.

The name Green Vegetable Cocoa hovered above her head. Feeling awkward, I quickly said, “I’ll just call you Cocoa—that feels more natural. I won’t use your name, going forward.”

Snow Han nodded, her gaze lingering with envy on my longsword. It was then I remembered I had some items for her. I immediately opened the trade window and placed two objects inside:

[Sorcerer’s Robe] (Green Equipment)
Defense: +6
Intelligence: +4
Level Requirement: 6

[Excavator’s Staff] (White Equipment)
Attack: 4-6
Level Requirement: 3

The staff had dropped for me while fighting small monsters on the way here—by luck. Snow Han was still wielding a broken sword with only 1-2 attack. This staff would be a perfect upgrade for her.

“You’re level three now, so you can’t wear the robe yet, but you can already use the staff. It’s much better for hitting monsters than that rusty sword. Why haven’t you accepted the trade?”

Snow Han hesitated. “This robe could probably sell for nearly a thousand RMB right now. You’re just giving it to me?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Silly, this is assigned to you by the organization—it’s not just a gift from me. Don’t feel bad about accepting it. With it, you’ll level up faster. Don’t you understand what Sister Lin meant?”

Snow Han finally accepted the robe, but amusingly, she traded me a hundred copper coins—probably all the money she had. She really was struggling. Unlike Xin Yu, she couldn’t rely on her beauty to charm men into leveling with her. She’d probably worked hard for every bit of her three levels. I accepted the coins. When she’s able to change class, I’ll give her more. There’s no time to fuss over this now—perhaps this way she’ll feel more at ease.

“All right, let’s go level. Stick close to me—my gear’s better, so I’ll take the hits. Attack after I do, okay?”

“Okay,” Snow Han replied obediently.

After teaming up with Snow Han, we returned to Wolf Valley. Still, no other players had come here, but we did see groups of players further down the hill ganging up on level-eight mangy wolves. It was almost comical how often someone would scream and then turn into a flash of white light, resurrecting back in town.

“Are we going to fight monsters tougher than these?” Snow Han asked nervously, her voice trembling as she watched those bursts of white light.

“Of course. These are level eight. We’re after level nines. Don’t worry—I’ve got everything under control.” My tone was calm, and Snow Han soon relaxed, trailing close behind me as we entered the misty forest.

With previous experience, I didn’t bother with any fancy tactics this time—just fought monsters in the simplest, most direct way. If I hadn’t been experimenting with solo strategies earlier, I’d probably be level seven by now and breaking into the top ten in the world wouldn’t be so hard.

My sword came down on a gray wolf’s head—a bold “64” floated up. Snow Han watched, mouth agape in awe.

“Aren’t you going to hit it?”

Prompted by me, Snow Han joined in, her short wooden staff thumping the wolf’s head.

“-2.”

I couldn’t believe the number. That was a bit much—she should have at least 8 attack now, so why only 2 damage? The level gap—six whole levels!

Undeterred, Snow Han kept at it, and I focused on the fight as well.

“Howl—” The gray wolf fell, dropping two fangs.

I was surprised, but Snow Han smiled, “I took the quest too, that’s why there are two sets of quest items.”

So that’s it. I tried to pick up the items, but could only take mine—hers remained untouched. A moment later, Snow Han suddenly cried out.

“What’s wrong?”

She gaped, “My experience just shot up by half!”

…

Well, jumping six levels, it’s no wonder her experience soared. But since her damage output was so low, the gray wolf didn’t drop any equipment for us—a bit of a shame.

I moved on to the next monster, and Snow Han stuck out her tongue before following.

“Lin Fan, your sword must have really high attack, right?” My high damage again and again piqued Snow Han’s curiosity.

“Yep, attack 7-12. Not the best, but not bad either. You’re not dealing much damage because the level gap with the monsters is too big.”

“I see. I need to level up quickly then!”

“That’s right. Once you hit level six and can wear the robe, you should be able to solo these monsters.”

Snow Han nodded, then asked, “By the way, why don’t I have any magic points right now?”

I thought for a moment. “Probably appears after you change class.”

“Okay.”

Chatting as we fought, time passed quickly. Snow Han’s combat skills, awkward at first, gradually became smoother. I even taught her some techniques for luring and escaping from monsters, which she quickly picked up.

Unknowingly, four hours slipped by—it was already 1 p.m. Snow Han had impressively leveled up to six, and because she was a lower level, she received less of my experience, so I’d breezed up to level eight. Checking the leaderboard, I’d made it into the global top ten thousand—there really were a lot of skilled players!

Snow Han put on the robe, and her whole demeanor instantly became elegant. Her full chest and rounded hips looked alluring, even beneath the long robe.

Catching me staring, she blushed and whispered, “Let’s head back and turn in our quests.”