"Ding, you have five minutes of game time remaining. Would you like to top up your game time? It costs 30 gold coins per hour."
"If you do not top up, you will be forced to log off in five minutes. Please ensure you are not in combat when logging off."
Unknowingly, Lucien had been killing Little White Rabbits continuously for over seven hours.
At this moment, he realized this and checked his mission progress.
Little White Rabbit Hunter: Kill 5,000 Little White Rabbits. 4,321 / 5,000
He still needed to kill over six hundred more to complete the first stage of the hidden mission.
However, it was clear he had no time left today.
It looked like he would have to wait until tomorrow to finish.
As for using gold coins to extend his time, Lucien had never even considered it.
With his super-high drop rate, killing Little White Rabbits had only yielded two silver coins so far.
He remembered that in his previous life, his harvest on the first day had been only fifty copper coins.
That was nowhere near the thirty gold coins required for just one extra hour.
As for equipment, Little White Rabbits did not drop any—only mission materials and rabbit meat.
Currently, Lucien had no equipment equipped at all.
One hundred portions of rabbit meat made up one unit, and one unit could be sold for two copper coins.
Of course, the rabbit meat could also be cooked to restore stamina.
It could even be brought into reality to fill one's stomach.
Right now, Lucien had a full thirty units of rabbit meat in his backpack.
Clearly, it was nowhere near enough to top up his time.
It seemed he would have to wait until he was out of combat to log off and return tomorrow.
He checked the time; it was already eight in the morning.
Lucien had logged in right on time, so it had been exactly eight hours.
To continue playing, he would have to wait until midnight the next day.
After eating breakfast, Lucien lay on his bed and fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up, he checked the game forums out of habit.
"Congratulations to Caleb Thorne of the Gods Guild for reaching level 40." (The game had already been open for five years, not just the first day. Sigh, I really have to explain everything!)
"So fast! He's already level 40, and I'm only level 35. We were both in the first batch to enter Battle Online, so why is he leveling up so quickly!"
"That's nothing. James over in the Lighthouse Country has already reached level 43."
"It's a pity that our country's SSS-Rank Talent player hasn't logged in for so long. Otherwise, they would definitely have reached level 50 by now!"
Lucien was aware of the SSS-Rank Talent player they were talking about.
Their talent increased experience gained by tenfold. Originally, they could definitely have charged into the top ten on the rankings, but unfortunately, they were too high-profile.
They exposed their talent too early, got targeted by people with ulterior motives, and never logged in again.
This was also why Lucien had been trying his best to hide himself from the very beginning.
If his own talent—Destiny—were exposed, his situation would not be much better than theirs.
He went out for dinner, which cost him five copper coins.
The currencies previously issued by various countries had collapsed shortly after Battle Online was released.
After all, the game represented power, and the currency within Battle Online definitely had a greater store of value than paper money in reality.
Therefore, shortly after the game appeared, the entire world's monetary system collapsed, and gold coins in the game became the mainstream currency.
Lucien returned home and prepared to enter the game to continue leveling up.
Soon, the time reached midnight, and he hurriedly logged in.
His figure appeared once again in the Little White Rabbit area.
This time, he was only a few hundred rabbits away. After spending another half hour, he finally heard the sound of mission completion.
"Ding, congratulations on completing the Little White Rabbit Hunter mission. You have obtained one Gold Weapon Chest!"
"Ding, the next part of the mission, reach level 5, has been automatically accepted!"
Lucien was just about to open the Gold Weapon Chest.
"Ding, because you have killed a large number of Little White Rabbits alone in a short period, you have attracted unknown attention. Please be careful!"
"Ding, because you have killed a large number of Little White Rabbits alone in a short period, you have attracted unknown attention. Please be careful!"
Hearing this notification repeated, Lucien's eyes lit up. Could it be that a BOSS was about to spawn?
A BOSS represented a large amount of equipment and experience.
As for whether he could defeat it, Lucien didn't take that to heart at all.
Although he was only level 3, relying on his powerful attributes and ten years of combat experience, as long as the BOSS didn't exceed level 5, taking it down would definitely be a piece of cake!
Immediately after, a white light flashed in front of him, and a big white rabbit the size of a calf appeared.
This big white rabbit didn't have a single stray hair, and its fur was like white jade.
It looked very cute, and Lucien even felt the urge to pet it.
Moreover, there was a faint, elusive fragrance coming from the big white rabbit.
Insight Skill inspection failed, proficiency increased.
Seeing that the Insight Skill had actually failed, Lucien was greatly surprised.
His was an Immortal-Grade Insight Skill!
As long as the target did not exceed his level by twenty levels and was not above Immortal Grade, it would succeed 100%.
Only when exceeding his level by more than twenty levels would there be a chance of failure.
The higher the level exceeded, the higher the chance of failure.
Relying on his high Luck of 21 points, even against a monster thirty levels higher than him, it shouldn't have failed.
However, it had actually failed now.
Just what level was this rabbit?
It was at least a monster above level 33.
Just what kind of existence had he provoked?
Could it be related to that hidden mission?
At this moment, the big white rabbit also looked at Lucien, but it didn't attack him; instead, it seemed a bit curious.
Seeing that the BOSS didn't attack immediately, Lucien didn't turn and run; instead, he continued to use the Insight Skill.
After all, the gap was too large—even if he tried to run, it would be too late.
Just like that, the person and the rabbit stared at each other.
Lucien silently kept using the Insight Skill, and finally, on the tenth attempt, it succeeded.
"Ding, your Insight Skill has leveled up to Intermediate. You can now inspect monster attributes up to 30 levels above your own and some unknown hidden clues."
Name: Jade Rabbit
Grade: Immortal Grade
Level: ???
Attributes: ???
HP: ???
MP: ???
A pet raised by a mysterious powerhouse, dreaming of eating a carrot without a fishy smell.
If you can give it a normal carrot, you might get an unexpected reward!
Looking at the pile of question marks, Lucien's face turned dark.
Fortunately, this Jade Rabbit hadn't attacked him all this time.
It didn't seem to be an aggressive monster.
Normally, encountering a BOSS would be a happy event.
However, Lucien couldn't be happy at all about a BOSS filled with question marks.
First, this BOSS was Immortal Grade.
Even a level 1 Immortal Grade BOSS was not something the current Lucien could handle.
Second, its level was unknown—at least thirty levels higher than his own.
He couldn't even handle a level 1 Immortal Grade BOSS, let alone one thirty levels higher!
Seeing this, Lucien already had thoughts of retreating.
His game time for today had only passed by ten-something minutes.
If he died, it would be a huge loss.
Moreover, there were severe death penalties.
And according to what he saw with his Insight Skill, this BOSS was simply not killable at the current stage.
Furthermore, there was basic information below; as long as he could buy a carrot, it looked like the creature would give him a gift.
It was just like a hidden mission.
Anyway, anything could happen in Battle Online, so Lucien didn't find it strange.
At this moment, some players had already noticed this unique monster.
"What is that?"
"It looks like a Little White Rabbit Plus version."
"What Plus? That's a BOSS! Let's go, let's see if we can snatch this BOSS!"
As for Lucien standing on the side, they ignored him completely, even hoping that the two would fight so they could reap the rewards.
In the game, killing people and stealing goods was common.
After all, you couldn't die permanently in the game; at most, you would drop a level and be banned from entering for a day.
Coupled with the fact that people nowadays were very aggressive, incidents of snatching BOSSes and killing others to loot equipment happened often.
The BOSS they encountered this time was one that was hard to find in the wild.
You have to know that most fixed spawn points where BOSSes refreshed were already controlled by major factions.
For ordinary people, wanting to encounter a BOSS in the wild was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Fortunately, this was still the Novice Village—once you left the Novice Village, it was very difficult to return.
Those factions had very weak control over the Novice Village.
Otherwise, the BOSS in the Novice Village would probably also be controlled by the major factions.