“Chirp, chirp.”
Hearing the sound of birds chirping, Shesmu opened his eyes. He spent the whole night actively cultivation the Rotational Three Tiered method and didn’t feel the least bit tired. In fact, he felt fresh as if he was rejuvenated. The reason for this feeling is the state of mind a person enters when practicing cultivation. When cultivating, a person’s mind enters a passive state close to sleep. The only thing separating cultivation from real sleep is that small part of your brain working on the repetitive task of guiding the Ki through the paths. As for one’s body, Shesmu had a VIP capsule which was loaded with comfort options, making sleep in the capsule even more comfortable than on a normal bed.
Looking at the game clock, Shesmu knew that it was 6.00 in the morning. The real world time indicated that it was 9.00 p.m. This meant that 9-5 workers and students have already entered the game which will make its population reach an all-time peak.
Even though Ashes of Gods was a new game, the amount of media coverage it received made it easily gain millions of users on the first day. Being the first game to not only be run by a singularity, but two already made every normal person hyped up to no end about it. However, what caught most gamers’ eyes and made them quit their main games was the amount of control one had on his avatar. Other games might have tried to simulate the real-world experience, however, it would always feel a little bit clunky. Some gained their charm through that chunkiness and ended up as pretty popular games among certain demographics, however, who would say no to smooth gameplay when it’s presented to him.
However, Ashes of Gods could still not be considered one of the more popular games, as the top games had active users in the hundreds of millions. Compared to those behemoths, Ashes of Gods’ couple million players seemed like a joke. However, this would all change in around 3 months from now on, as people will become more and more interested in this highly sophisticated game.
Shesmu went out of his room to find the maids already walking around doing their tasks. He went to the restaurant and asked for a simple bread and cheese. Finishing his meal, Shesmu went to Armina’s room to see how she is doing.
“Knock! Knock!” Knocking on the door, Shesmu waited before he received a response.
“Leave the meal next to the door.” Hearing her reply, Shesmu wasn’t surprised and just said.
“It’s me, Shesmu.”
“Oh, then come in.”
Shesmu pushed the door open to see Armina still on her pajamas. These clothes looked normal, albeit the knowledgeable eye would tell that they were made of high-quality material. Shesmu guessed that Armina had an inventory-like ability that let her store clothes, food, and other necessities.
“I just came to see if you’re recovering well and if there was no problem with your stay in this inn.”
Hearing his question, Armina didn’t answer right away. In fact, she kept her silence for a long time whilst having a surprised expression on her face.
“You, you already reached the higher levels of Stage 1.”
Armina was surprised and she had enough reasons to be so. She could feel that Shesmu was but at the lower levels of Ki cultivations in the morning, and that’s the reason why she had trouble believing Shesmu’s promise. However, after an afternoon and a night, Shesmu was already at the higher levels of Stage 0. This was basically inconceivable.
Shesmu might have gained much more than just Ki points and cultivation levels. However, Armina couldn’t sense the true extent of his progress in terms of stats. Strength, Agility, and Vitality may change one’s muscle and bone structure, however, even to the most trained eyes, differentiating between an increase of 50 and an increase of 100 is difficult. The only thing Armina could notice the changes of Shesmu’s muscle structure was that he improved quite a bit, while not being sure how far that “quite a bit” reaches. In contrast, Shesmu’s Ki cultivation level was clear. Everyone below Stage 4 couldn’t hide his Ki fluctuations, and as such, Shesmu’s Ki density and strength were clear for Armina to see.
“Yes, I trained hard and reached this level after much effort,” Shesmu said while smiling.
At his answer, Armina could only swallow the myriad of questions stuck in her throat. Shesmu clearly had secrets that he didn’t want to divulge and so did she, so she respected his wishes and didn’t press on the subject.
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“I see. Don’t worry about my health, most of the internal injuries I had have been cured by Alan. As long as I don’t fight, there should be no problem. In a week or so, I should have regained most of my Ki”
Hearing her reply, Shesmu thought for a bit before saying.
“I understand. Once we reach the capital, hopefully, I’ll be able to talk with a stronger healer than Alan so that he can help you recover completely. For the time being, I can only work on increasing my strength.”
After finishing his statement, Shesmu looked at Armina who nodded in response. Seeing that there was nothing much to discuss, Shesmu went out of Armina’s room, ready to start a new day.
First of all, he went to the claim the rewards for the quests he completed yesterday from the guard, the merchant, the tailor and finally the blacksmith.
Knocking on the blacksmith shop’s door, Shesmu received the normal reply.
“Come in, welcome, customer.”
Shesmu opened the door, for the blacksmith to see that it was the same guy as the day before.
“Oh, it’s you. So, how is the quest going, did you finish it?”
The blacksmith looked at Shesmu for a little bit longer before having his facial expression turn into one of surprise.
“Oh, how incredible, I didn’t expect you to finish the quest this early, such a promising young man.”
Hearing the blacksmith’s praise Shesmu didn’t feel any joy. The fact that he is better than most of the players here is but a matter of course. He was better than 99.999999% of the player base in his last life. Now that he returned to the past where the player’s overall level has diminished by thousands of miles if Shesmu couldn’t do things others weren’t able to, he should probably just find a bridge to jump from.
“Young man, to be able to finish such a tedious quest and still be able to kill more wolves than required must mean that you have an adventurous spirit. Being able to challenge oneself and do more than everyone else is a characteristic of every strong person. So, here is what I propose to you. There is a wolf-like no other in the forest, a born of the moon and hunter of the night. If you’re able to kill it, I have generous rewards to give you.”
Hearing the blacksmith’s impossibly long monologue, Shesmu simply replied.
“I already killed it.”
Hearing Shesmu’s reply, the blacksmith was about to continue talking before stopping and analyzing what Shesmu said. His happy expression slowly turned into one of surprise and terror.
“Wait, no, you couldn’t...” The blacksmith stopped for a moment before his expression turned even uglier. “You really did it. How?”
“After I killed countless wolves, this silvery creature appeared. It seemed strong at first but after an arduous battle, I managed to kill it.”
“What a brave young adventurer, your future seems as bright as the day’s sky. I predict that you’re going to accomplish great things in the future. Anyways, here is your reward. Hopefully, this little push let you accomplish even greater things.”
Slay the Silvermoon Wolf (Hidden Quest: Completed)
Description
Kill the Silvermoon Wolf
Reward
Silvermoon Wolf belt (golden)
+1 gold
+7500 Exp
Looking at the rewards, Shesmu couldn’t help but feel elated. Golden items were rarer than phoenix’s feathers and dragon’s wings, only a few hidden quests had it as a reward.
However, remembering the Silvermoon Wolf King, Shesmu couldn’t help but say.
“Actually, there was another monster there that I fought. A wolf not like any wolf, silver light coming from its body like the moon in the sky, and its figure is bigger than a small building.”
Hearing Shesmu talk, the blacksmith was confused. However, as if he thought about something but immediately rejected it, his expression turned into a frown.
“Impossible, it shouldn’t be…” The blacksmith muttered. However, his face turned from a deep frown into one of terror.
“Impossible, the Silvermoon Wolf King. How can this ever happen?!”
The blacksmith was shaken beyond belief. The legendary creature, a monster known only in the myths, a Silvermoon Wolf King has been slain at the hand of a new adventurer. For a while, the blacksmith didn’t know what to say or do. However, after calming his emotions, he finally accepted the facts and said.
“Usually, after the hidden quest, there is nothing more. Even though there a few strong existences close to the beginner town, there is no quest issued for them. The reason is that these existence are town level threats. Due to the level restriction in beginner towns being 25, these creatures can run rampant and if they wished to do so, they can cause great damage to the city. People from the golden generation can’t do anything about them. Whether you throw hundreds or thousands of people at these existences, it’s as if you’re throwing water on sand, completely useless. Instead, if someone did try to kill them, they might enrage them and push them into causing trouble for the city. This is the reason why we don’t give the quests related to them.” The blacksmith then paused for a second before saying. “However, it seems that there is an exception to this rule. If you already killed the Silvermoon Wolf, there is no reason not to give you the quest related to it.”
“Ding”
Slay the Silvermoon Wolf King (Hidden Epic Quest: Completed)
Description
Kill the Silvermoon Wolf King. He only appears on a full moon night when the Silvermoon Wolf is already slain.
Reward
Moon Sword (Epic)
+25 gold
+50000 exp