Half an hour later, John returned to Novice Village without stopping for a moment.
The instant he entered the village, he went straight to the NPCs connected to goblin-related quests.
The first was the blacksmith near the village entrance.
The moment John appeared, the man took the initiative to greet him because of his Fame value.
"Greetings, brave adventurer."
Once Fame increased, it did not just unlock certain Hidden Quests.
It also improved NPC affinity, allowing players to receive discounts when buying or selling items.
John wasted no time and went straight to the point.
"Do you have some kind of grudge with the goblin tribe north of the village?"
The blacksmith immediately flared up in anger.
"Of course I do! Not long ago, I forged a longsword, and one of their thieves stole it!
If possible, I'd like to ask you to retrieve it for me. Better yet, bring back a few goblin heads so I can offer them in sacrifice to the blade!"
A quest prompt instantly appeared before John's eyes.
[The Blacksmith's Fury]
[Quest Objective]: Retrieve the longsword and bring back three goblin thief heads
[Quest Reward]: 5 Silver Coins, Fame +50, EXP +1000
…
John immediately accepted.
And in the very next moment, he pulled the corresponding quest items out of his backpack.
He had picked up all of these items on purpose while slaughtering goblins along the way.
There were so many that even he had lost count.
They were perfect for farming a round of goblin-related NPC quests inside Novice Village.
One second earlier, the blacksmith's face had been twisted with rage.
The next second, he saw John hand over a flute-shaped longsword and three goblin heads.
Shock and delight instantly appeared on his face.
"Wait, you… my heavens!
Thank you, adventurer. One day, you will surely become a great hero!"
[Quest completed. You obtained 5 Silver Coins, Fame +50, EXP +1000!]
Making money was just that easy.
John did not linger. Drawing on memories from his previous life, he found the NPCs throughout the village one by one.
After accepting their goblin quests, he immediately turned in the matching quest items from his backpack.
Every single NPC revealed the same stunned expression.
In the logic of their programmed settings, they had never seen such a ferocious player before.
He was completing quests the very instant he accepted them!
After John finished farming every goblin quest in the village, his Fame had already risen to 4000.
With another 1000, he would be able to trigger special dialogue options from certain NPCs.
And when that happened, another wave of rewards would be his.
On top of that, he had also gained 568 Silver Coins, several pieces of quest equipment, and 34,500 EXP.
After this wave of goblin quests, the experience bar he had just filled to reach level 30 rose by another small chunk.
"Not bad."
John nodded slightly.
Then he headed to the village shop.
"Hello. I'd like to buy a batch of smoke bombs."
Thanks to his increased Fame, the shopkeeper was far warmer than last time.
Smiling, he said, "No problem. Smoke bombs cost 1 Silver Coin each, but I've admired you for a long time, so I can offer you a fifty percent discount.
Just 500 Copper Coins each, noble hero. How many would you like?"
John asked in return, "How much stock do you have?"
The shopkeeper replied, "One hundred."
John was now rich enough to throw his weight around, so he answered on the spot,
"I'll take all of them."
The shopkeeper's pupils trembled.
After two seconds of silence, he pulled out a whole crate of smoke bombs from beneath the counter.
"They're all here."
John paid immediately.
Smoke bombs originally worth 100 Silver Coins in total only cost him 50 Silver Coins after the discount.
To him, that was basically the same as getting them for free.
After storing all one hundred smoke bombs in his backpack, John bought a few miscellaneous supplies.
At last, everything was fully prepared.
His figure flashed, and he activated Instant Move, rushing toward the Catacomb Complex south of the village entrance.
Half an hour later, John appeared before the ruins of an abandoned church.
Inside the ruined church were exposed white bones and all kinds of decaying plants.
Dry, withered vines crawled across the broken walls.
A thin layer of mist floated through the air.
The moment John approached, he felt a bone-deep chill wrap around his body.
His expression did not change in the slightest. He quickly found the entrance to the underground catacombs behind the church.
It was a giant stone coffin that had been pried open.
Beneath it lay a staircase carved into the stone, descending directly into the dark underground.
John stared at the underground passage, and the related information appeared before him.
[Catacomb Complex] (Hidden Quest Area)
[Difficulty]: A-Rank
[Description]: In the dark, damp depths below dwell a group of dead who shall never rest. They long to crawl out from underground and share their sleep with the living!
[Recommended Entry Level]: Lv.20–Lv.30
[Maximum Party Size]: 10
…
As the most difficult dungeon currently available in Novice Village, the terror of the Catacomb Complex needed no further explanation.
Even if all the players in Zone 5 were stuffed into it together, they still might not be able to clear it.
In his previous life, even the first top-tier squad to conquer this place had only barely managed it after every member reached level 20.
Yet John showed not the slightest hesitation and charged in alone.
Bang!
The instant his foot stepped into the passage, the stone coffin lid slammed shut behind him.
[You have activated the "Catacomb Complex." This dungeon cannot be exited. Good luck!]
As soon as the prompt appeared, a burst of eerie laughter rang sharply beside his ears.
At the same time, a sinister wind swept through the underground, enough to make one's hair stand on end.
If an ordinary player were entering this place for the first time, this scene alone would probably scare them half to death.
But John had come prepared. His steps were steady, and he did not panic in the slightest.
When he reached a fork in the road, he did not even pause.
He went straight to the left path.
Having entered this place many times in his previous life, John knew the terrain of the Catacomb Complex even better than his own home.
He advanced as if walking on flat ground, rapidly descending deeper into the catacombs.
Before long, he successfully passed through the maze-like stone corridors and stairways, arriving at the true underground tombs.
There was no light at all in this region.
Only the occasional clusters of ghostly green phosphorescent flames drifted through the air, casting dim illumination around them.
John took out a torch and lit it.
Its warm yellow glow illuminated a radius of about three meters around him.
Beyond that, the darkness seemed almost solid—impenetrable.
In front of John stretched a long passageway.
He held up the torch, but he did not move forward right away.
As someone reborn, John knew better than anyone just how disgusting this Catacomb Complex truly was.
The first problem was the undead creatures.
Under normal circumstances, they did not reveal themselves at all, remaining in an invisible state.
The moment a player passed nearby, those undead would silently manifest and launch a surprise attack.
Treacherous to the extreme.
The first time John entered this dungeon in his previous life, he had fallen for that trick himself.
And that was not all.
They also possessed another trait—
revival.
Most undead creatures had to be killed twice before they were truly dead.
After being killed the first time, they would pretend to be corpses.
Then three seconds later, just when the player turned around, they would revive and strike.
Players unfamiliar with them almost always suffered badly from this.
Beyond that, the catacombs were also filled with built-in traps.
A single floor tile might serve as the trigger for multiple mechanisms.
Step on one carelessly, and hidden arrows and poisoned darts would erupt from every direction.
The damage was extremely high, and they came with all kinds of debuffs.
For a class with even slightly low HP, stepping on the wrong tile could mean instant death on the spot.
In short, danger lurked everywhere in these underground tombs.
Other than a freak like John who dared to force his way in alone, any other player attempting the same would basically be courting death.
"Heh."
John stared at the tomb passage ahead, half-swallowed by darkness.
With a cold sneer, he raised his hand and pulled out a smoke bomb.