At this moment in "The Grand Martial World," the sky was just beginning to lighten. Lin Feng was about to leave the yamen when he saw a bailiff posting a task notice on the bulletin board at the entrance.

[Yamen Task]: Suppress Bandits at Cuiwei Mountain

[Task Difficulty]: Normal

[Task Content]: Assist the yamen in besieging the bandits at Cuiwei Mountain at noon tomorrow.

[Task Reward]: Kill one bandit for a reward of one tael of silver; kill five for an additional reward of a Common Grade martial art or equipment x1; kill ten...

Without a second thought, Lin Feng immediately accepted the task. It was rare to encounter such a lucrative task, so of course, he wouldn't let it slip by.

Since the task wouldn't start until tomorrow, he had a whole day to prepare, which was plenty of time.

After making preparations, Lin Feng left Seven Heroes Town and headed towards the outskirts. In ancient times, the outskirts were mostly forests and wilderness, making it easy to find herbs and animals.

He didn't have a weapon, but "The Grand Martial World" wasn't as rigid as other games. Even without cold weapons, players could freely find other items to substitute.

For example, stones, wooden sticks, and so on could all serve as weapons.

Although Lin Feng knew martial arts, he couldn't perform them without internal strength.

It was best to have a weapon at hand; he couldn't just go barehanded to catch rabbits, as that wouldn't be very heroic.

After searching for a while, he broke off a tree branch to use as a weapon and continued his journey into the wilderness.

He hadn't gone far when he heard a rustling in a bush. Approaching quietly, Lin Feng discovered it wasn't a snake but a wild rabbit.

Following the principle of plucking a feather from a passing goose, Lin Feng swung his stick at the rabbit, but the nimble creature jumped away, causing him to miss.

"Hey!" Lin Feng exclaimed, thinking the rabbit would flee, but unexpectedly, it boldly leaped at him and bit his leg.

"-10!"

Lin Feng suffered from his lack of gaming experience. Who would have thought that even rabbits in the game would attack people? Otherwise, he would have dodged it.

A top-tier mercenary getting bitten by a rabbit? Unacceptable.

Lin Feng swung the branch at the rabbit's body, and to his surprise, the sturdy branch pierced right through the rabbit.

"-1530!"

"Killed Wild Rabbit x1! Experience +5 points!"

The rabbit died instantly. With only 50 health points, it owed Lin Feng dozens of lives.

Lin Feng was a bit shocked by the damage he dealt. A casual swing of the stick resulted in such high damage.

But then he remembered his current Force was 155 points, which made sense. What novice player had such monstrous strength?

Forget rabbits; he could easily kill a grown man with a casual hit.

The rabbit's experience was negligible, but rabbit meat was quite tasty. Lin Feng collected its body and hung it at his waist, planning to use it as today's meal.

In "The Grand Martial World," everyone needed to eat, drink, and sleep. If you went too long without food, your condition would worsen, greatly limiting your strength.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Lin Feng hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day yesterday. If he didn't soon, he feared he'd become a player who starved or died of thirst.

There's also the matter of loot rates. In "The Grand Martial World," ordinary animals had extremely low drop rates. Even if they did drop something, it would only be copper coins or Common Grade items.

Only boss-level or rare animals had higher drop rates.

Continuing forward, snakes were relatively easy to find in the wild. Lin Feng soon spotted one and didn't give it a chance to strike first.

"-1505!"

"Killed Venomous Snake x1! Experience +10 points!"

With a light swing, it was another instant kill.

Lin Feng had already adapted to this. This was the attribute boost brought by advanced martial arts. If he relied solely on leveling up for attribute points, it would take forever to achieve such damage.

After collecting the snake's body, with his absurd damage, all the snakes, insects, and rodents he encountered were no match for his normal attacks, all falling in one hit.

***

After spending an hour, Lin Feng finally gathered ten venomous snakes.

His level had already risen to level two.

Each time players leveled up, their four combat attributes would automatically increase by 1 point, and they would receive 10 free attribute points to distribute.

Upon reaching the level 10 threshold, players would also receive 10 talent points to distribute freely.

Talent points and attribute points were different. Talent points enhanced talents, while attribute points enhanced combat.

Seeing that his Force and Agility had both surpassed 100, Lin Feng decided not to add more for now.

Only his Physique and Defense were pitifully low at 5/4 points, so he chose to evenly distribute the 10 points between these two attributes.

Don't underestimate Physique and Defense; this game only gives you one life.

Physique increases Vitality and Internal Strength. Each point added increases Vitality by 10 and Internal Strength by 5. It may seem small, but over time, it accumulates, and eventually, your Internal Strength will become profound.

Defense is also crucial. In expert duels, many rounds of back-and-forth are needed. If you die after taking a couple of hits, what's the point of fighting?

That's why players tend to play cautiously. Many even focus solely on defensive martial arts, running away if they can't win.

There's no other way; with only one life, dying means permanently exiting the game. Who dares to be reckless?

Lin Feng also valued defense. He planned to seek out defensive or Physique-enhancing martial arts manuals once he left the novice area.

For example, the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Cloth from the Shaolin Temple, the Dragon and Elephant's Horrible Power from the Golden Wheel Monk, or the Invincible Vajra Skill from the world's number one Cheng Shi Fei, and so on.

Unfortunately, acquiring these cultivation methods wasn't simple, but he knew an easy way to obtain a defensive martial art of at least Earth Grade.

After completing the snake-killing task, Lin Feng headed back to Seven Heroes Town to hand in the snake skin and gall tasks at the tailor shop and herbal medicine shop.

"Experience +120 points! Congratulations on reaching level 3, all combat attributes +1 point, reward of 10 free attribute points."

Once again, he allocated all 10 points to Physique and Defense.

Lin Feng's attribute interface had improved significantly.

[Player: Lin Yanfeng]

[Level: 3]

[Experience: 0/300]

[Strength: Unranked]

[Reputation: Unknown Nobody]

[Vitality: 370/370]

[Internal Strength: 85/85]

[Physique: 17]

[Force: 155]

[Defense: 14]

[Agility: 182]

[Martial Arts: Profound Grade Medium · Sunflower Acupoint Striking Hand (Beginner), Yellow Grade Lower · Mountain-Crushing Strike (Beginner)]

[Lightness Skill: Profound Grade Upper · Treading on Snow Without a Trace (Beginner)]

[Internal Energy: None]

[Equipment: None]

Now, Lin Feng had enough Internal Strength to perform martial arts, but he didn't try them casually. After all, Internal Strength recovered very slowly.

Elixirs to restore Internal Strength were expensive, and in times of such poverty, he needed to save wherever possible. If normal attacks could solve the problem, he wouldn't waste skills.

Next, there was still a delivery task to complete.

Lin Feng first went to the station in Seven Heroes Town to pick up the letter. After confirming the direction to Zuo Family Village, he set off on foot.

Seven Heroes Town was seventy li from Zuo Family Village, which would take an ordinary person most of the day to reach.

But Lin Feng was different; his Agility was as high as 182 points!

This speed was several times that of ordinary players. Even without using Treading on Snow Without a Trace, he could run as fast as a horse.

Lin Feng sprinted along the official road, overtaking ordinary horses and leaving them behind, drawing shocked looks from nearby players.

"Wow! Who's that, running so fast?"

"His Agility must be at least 100 points."

"He must have learned a Yellow Grade lightness skill."

"Wow, using lightness skill just for travel, that's extravagant."

"Damn, I spent half a month's wages on a horse to do deliveries, and it's not even as fast as this guy?"

Lin Feng ignored the onlookers' opinions, immersed in his superhuman physique.

If he returned to Earth with this speed to compete in the Olympics, Bolt would cry to his coach, saying he wanted to switch to academics.

***

In less than an hour, Lin Feng arrived at Zuo Family Village.

"Delivery from Seven Heroes Town! Please sign."

Lin Feng entered the station, handed over the letter, and received a notification from the game.

"Experience +100 points, Copper Coin +200 wen."

After delivering the letter, Lin Feng didn't rush back to Seven Heroes Town. Instead, he sold all the game he had hunted that day in Zuo Family Village, earning over 500 wen in copper coins.

Including the rewards from the three tasks, Lin Feng now had about a thousand wen in copper coins, equivalent to one tael of silver.