Chapter 38: The Small Town of Stone Terrace

“Time to take the quest to leave the village. It’s about time to depart from the beginner’s village, but I can’t shake the feeling that something’s off.” Huang Yunshuo left the mulberry tree, entered the village chief’s house, and picked up the quest to exit the village.

The departure quest wasn’t difficult, but it was tedious: a ten-part chain task that sent him running all over, forcing him to traverse the entirety of the beginner’s village from start to finish. He set up auto-pathfinding, surrendered control of his body to the system, and dashed about in a haze, his mind preoccupied with other matters.

To be fair, players could only leave the beginner’s village at level ten, so the monsters should be around level ten as well. Yet he’d only ever farmed level three rabbits; where had the level four to ten monsters gone? And what about the infamous level ten boss, the so-called Tyrant of the Beginner’s Village? He knew that monsters of that caliber would be out of reach for most players, but for someone like him—an outstanding player in the beginner’s village—what if he managed a first kill and the loot was phenomenal?

It nagged at him, that sense of missing out on a fortune.

He checked the leaderboard.

Still not listed.

First place: Dimensional Harvester, Demon Race, level 13
Second place: Sorrow Comes, Elemental Race, level 13
Third place: Yuwen Fragrant, Berserker Race, level 13
Fourth place: Crimson Massacre Tower, Human Race, level 13
Fifth place: Gank, Divine Race, level 13
Sixth place: Dream Death Countless, Elf Race, level 13
Seventh place: Autumn Wing, Feather Race, level 13
Eighth place: Peerless Radiance, Human Race, level 12
Ninth place: May I Be the Star, You Be the Moon, Human Race, level 12
Tenth place: Your Yida, Berserker Race, level 12

Seven players had reached level 13; over three thousand players were at level 12. Being level 11 and not on the board was perfectly normal.

“Forget it, I’ll stop having unrealistic expectations for this damn leaderboard,” he sighed, shaking his head. He moved on to check the equipment rankings and the power evaluation board.

Equipment ranking.

Nineteenth place: Simpleton, score 9,582 (first place 10,000)

“Not bad, top twenty.” He nodded with a smile. What a joke—he wore a white-quality headpiece, robe, gloves, shoes, and weapon, five pieces in total. If he didn’t make the list, he’d call it quits.

“Right, there’s still that Cloud Chestplate posted on the forum.” Huang Yunshuo’s heart stirred; he immediately logged onto the forum. The post’s replies had surpassed a hundred thousand. He filtered them to show only those with screenshots of white-quality gear.

Suddenly, the replies shrank to just a few dozen. His eyes brightened as he spotted a Cloud Waistband.

Cloud Waistband (white), level 10

Constitution: +4
Agility: +4

Counting it up, the Cloud Chestplate added twelve points of strength, making it more valuable than the waistband, but he didn’t mind. Out of dozens of equipment, only one waistband appeared; its drop rate seemed low, so he decided to swap it first.

“Fourth Cousin! That name, I have to hand it to you.” He added Fourth Cousin to his friend list; within three seconds, his request was accepted.

“Is this the legendary Simpleton?” Fourth Cousin asked via voice chat, her voice soft and sweet, inexplicably enchanting—so much so that Huang Yunshuo’s heart fluttered.

“No need for pleasantries, let’s just swap the gear!” Huang Yunshuo got straight to the point. Soon, the transaction was done, and as usual, they chatted a bit afterward.

“That Cloud Chestplate, are you planning to use it yourself?” Huang Yunshuo asked.

Fourth Cousin smiled, lips pressed together, “You can call me Fourth Cousin.”

“…”

Huang Yunshuo swallowed his retort—“Call you what now?”—and reminded himself that first impressions counted, especially when chatting with a girl for the first time.

“All right, I’ll be honest—it’s not for me. If you ever have good gear, come to me first! I can definitely use it, and if there’s anything good, I’ll let you know too. Goodbye, mwa!” Laughing, Fourth Cousin ended the voice chat. Huang Yunshuo equipped the Cloud Waistband, pushing his agility past sixty and his health up to one hundred eighty.

Six pieces of white-quality gear—he wanted to ask, who else could compare?

His power evaluation ranking jumped.

Third place: Simpleton, 9,878 points (first place 10,000)!

Equipment ranking.

Sixteenth place: Simpleton.

Clearly, the power evaluation board considered more factors: not just gear, but also player attributes and skills. Although he hadn’t acquired class-specific gear or weapons yet, his attributes and skills were already explosive.

Ironically, it was pure equipment that held him back—six pieces of white gear, yet only ranked sixteenth? Seriously?

Just after wondering “who else?” Huang Yunshuo felt his pride take a hit.

By now, the departure quest had been completed automatically. Huang Yunshuo stood on a dilapidated teleportation array in the village chief’s backyard; after paying one hundred copper coins, he was whisked away.

Stone Terrace Town.

Stone Terrace Town belonged to Cangchu County in the Province of Arya, situated on the province’s frontier, surrounded by complex terrain—high mountains and dense forests.

True to its name, Stone Terrace Town’s architecture was dominated by stone: spacious, open streets and lanes, houses and towers made of stone, giving the place a clean, tidy look.

It was a sizable town, but with few players.

Accustomed to the primitive, natural landscape of the beginner’s village, arriving suddenly in a town saturated with culture was a wholly different experience, leaving Huang Yunshuo a bit caught off guard.

He walked along the leaf-strewn main street, taking in the scenery and familiarizing himself with the layout while consulting his map.

The trading zone lay in the southern part of town, including player market stalls, rental shops, and system shops.

The eastern district was for housing rentals—system-run houses leased to players, though Huang Yunshuo seriously doubted anyone could afford them at this stage.

To the north was the garrison barracks; to the west, the NPC residential area, where players rarely ventured without reason.

Thus, the southeast was the liveliest part of town.

Huang Yunshuo excitedly ran from the central square to the trading zone, only to find no player stalls. A few shops had been rented, but they were empty, presumably reserved by guild or merchant players.

Many players were browsing the system shops, so Huang Yunshuo joined them.

The shop district included general stores, material shops, smithies, taverns, and restaurants—the entire southern zone could be called the commercial district.

“Boss, one basket of soup dumplings!” Huang Yunshuo, mouth watering, ordered a basket at a breakfast shop.

Impatiently, he popped a steaming dumpling into his mouth.

“Your constitution increases by one point for sixty seconds.”
“Your hunger is zero; hunger reduction zero.”

The system notification chimed, and Huang Yunshuo immediately understood the purpose of these delicacies.

Besides allowing players to savor genuine flavors and satisfy cravings, they could boost temporary attributes and reduce hunger.

Since arriving in town, Huang Yunshuo had noticed several adjustments to the attribute interface—three in particular.