Chapter 049: Two Missions at Once!

Compared to Mengzhong Province, the situation with server lag in Bichi Province was slightly less severe. At least for now, in Mengzhong Province, you could barely take a step before freezing, whereas in Bichi, you could manage three steps before the screen stuttered—a much swifter pace! Helpless, Lin Jia had no choice but to dash out of Bichi City, searching the surrounding forests for those lucky few chickens and fawns that had not yet met their fate at the hands of novice adventurers.

After nearly half an hour, he had only managed to dig up two pieces of chicken meat with a quality rating of five. At his wits’ end, Lin Jia tore at his hair and cursed, “Damn it! I can’t take it anymore! This quest is absolutely insane! I’ve carved up over a dozen deer and not a single piece of meat over twelve quality!” Most meat quality maxed out at ten out of ten, but there were so-called rare monsters from which one could occasionally obtain pieces exceeding that limit. Ordinary deer, when killed, usually yielded mediocre quality meat; only on rare occasions would a piece with a quality in the teens appear. However, there was a particular kind of deer that, when attacked, would flee rather than fight back, and its meat was often of exceptionally high quality—sometimes reaching over twenty out of ten. This was the renowned “prime venison.”

But these deer were infuriatingly swift. Newbies had low attack power to begin with, and the deer sprinted away at the slightest provocation. By the time you took a second swing, the creature was already far off. The chase was agonizing: players needed a running start to gain speed, and by the time they caught up with the deer and stopped to strike, the deer would dart off again.

This maddening pursuit nearly drove Lin Jia to despair. The prime deer always moved just a shade faster than the player’s character. The only hope was to anticipate its path, cut it off, and land a heavy blow before it could turn and escape.

Lin Jia chased one such prime deer from Bichi City all the way to the novice village. Just when he thought he had it cornered, it turned around and bolted back the way it came, leaving Lin Jia shouting in frustration. The stubbornness of both man and beast turned the chase into a duel of wills, with Lin Jia determined not to relent. At last, through dogged pursuit, he managed to drive the deer into a fenced enclosure by a small thatched hut near Bichi City. With a sly grin, he closed in for the kill.

He finally brought down the deer and, faster than lightning, cut out a piece of meat—beating out the four or five other eager novices who had been trailing him expectantly. After a tense standoff with these hostile newcomers, they eventually slunk away, and Lin Jia, grinning in triumph, opened his inventory. To his amazement, he found that he had acquired a piece of venison with a quality rating of twenty-three—a rare prize indeed!

“If only it were a bit higher and split into two pieces,” Lin Jia sighed regretfully as he closed his pack and began searching for new prey. He had never been to this little fenced hut before. Back when he and his companions, Fourth and First, roamed these lands, they rarely ventured beyond the novice village’s outskirts, let alone into Bichi City. He had no idea what purpose this small house served.

Since there were no monsters nearby, curiosity got the better of Lin Jia, and he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The small room was modest. On the floor was a fire pit, flanked by two cushioned mats. Above the fire hung a soot-blackened kettle, and beside it, a tray holding what might have been bottles of wine or something else—aside from these, the room was nearly bare. In the corner stood a long altar-like table displaying three samurai swords, and an NPC with a bobbing head stood nearby.

Lin Jia glanced at its name: “Senior Samurai.” A look at the map revealed he was in the “Senior Samurai’s Home,” and it suddenly clicked—this was the location for the first monster-hunting quest mentioned in the guides. Hunting monsters? Chickens, deer, sheep?

An idea struck Lin Jia—a way to gather chicken meat in bulk! These two quests could be combined! First, complete the monster-slaying quest by collecting chicken, deer, and sheep meat, then use that meat for the other task.

Grinning with excitement, Lin Jia set to work. He checked the first novice quest’s instructions, which required him to go to the border village at coordinates 300:600 and speak to Assistant Ah Yan to accept the task. After a frantic run, he found Assistant Ah Yan at the village gate, accepted the “Strengthening Yourself” quest, then dashed back to the Senior Samurai’s Home. Sure enough, this time the Senior Samurai’s dialogue box—previously indifferent to Lin Jia—displayed a new option: to enter a mysterious battle location. Lin Jia clicked eagerly, and in a flash, his character was transported to a small pasture fenced with wooden stakes, teeming with chickens, deer, and sheep packed close together!

Unable to suppress his delight, Lin Jia exclaimed, “This is truly pastoral bliss—a landscape full of deer and sheep!”

Nearby, his companion, First, was chatting with others but was drawn by Lin Jia’s outburst and craned her neck to see. “What are you doing? Wait, why are there so many spotted deer and lambs? Did you find another hidden map?”

Lin Jia grinned sheepishly. “It’s a quest map! I’m working on a task that rewards equipment…” He explained the process, and First scolded him, “Why didn’t you say something if there was a quest to do? Are you asking for trouble?” Lin Jia opened his mouth to reply but had nothing to say—she had seemed so engrossed in conversation that he hadn’t dared interrupt.

First quickly created a new character, but she was unlucky enough to spawn in Ginkgo Novice Village rather than Border Novice Village. The journey from Ginkgo was much longer, requiring her to cross half the map and a bamboo bridge spanning a river. With frequent stops to rest, it would take her ages to arrive. Meanwhile, Lin Jia busied himself in the small pasture, sending chickens and deer scattering as he targeted one after another with his club, then pounced to jab away with wild abandon.

After some time, First called out, “Is it this old man?” Lin Jia was momentarily confused—what old man? He peered over and realized that First had gone to a different place, where an NPC called “Border Veteran” stood by another house. Lin Jia asked, “Where did you end up? That’s not it! Have you reached Bichi City? It’s just outside the city. Try heading a bit further north!” Checking her coordinates, he saw she was slightly south of his current location.

“Further north? Any further and I’ll be in the Skeleton Cave!” First muttered, fumbling her way onward in the dark. The day-night system in this game was truly a nuisance—once night fell, you couldn’t see a thing. For players like Lin Jia, who navigated by instinct, getting lost and failing to find their way back to the city was almost inevitable.

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