When John emerged from the other end of Wolffang Gorge, the world chat had already exploded.
Countless players in Zone 5 were flooding the channel with messages about John solo-clearing a dungeon.
Some were simply in awe of his strength.
[Hannah] (Zone 5): "He actually cleared an entire dungeon by himself. That's terrifying."
[Allen] (Zone 5): "When will I ever become as strong as him? Anyone who's actually fought dungeon monsters should know how insanely difficult soloing one is."
[Beta] (Zone 5): "With someone this powerful in our zone, maybe tomorrow's monster tide really can be held off by him?"
But among the players of Zone 5, even more voices were attacking John for what he had done.
[X] (Zone 5): "John, how can you be this selfish?!"
[Mia] (Zone 5): "You cleared all these dungeons by yourself, so what are we supposed to farm?"
[Jamie] (Zone 5): "You've already reached the Level 50 cap, so why are you still competing with players like us who haven't even hit Level 15 yet?"
[Jamie] (Zone 5): "There's only one day left for us to develop. You ran through everything by yourself, and now we have to wait for the monsters to respawn."
[Jamie] (Zone 5): "Isn't that basically squeezing away our leveling time in disguise?"
Each accusation sounded righteous and morally indignant, as if John had committed some unforgivable crime.
Meanwhile, John was checking his loot.
After soloing that dungeon, his backpack now held several hundred E-rank skills and a massive pile of equipment.
All of it could be used for synthesis later.
"Once I take all the remaining first-clear rewards from the dungeons, then run them a few more times, it should be enough."
John closed the panel and leaned quietly against the stone wall to rest.
Only then did he finally notice the commotion in world chat.
The moment he opened it, a flood of attacks and insults poured into his eyes.
Zone 5's players might not be strong overall, but when it came to cursing people and turning on others, they were astonishingly gifted.
The words they used were vicious, filthy, and unbearable to read.
Anyone who didn't know better would think John had dug up their ancestral graves.
"Hmph. A bunch of trash who only dare wag their tongues behind a screen. Monster respawns only take an hour anyway. Even if these people were allowed to farm on their own, they probably wouldn't gain more than a few levels in an entire day. At their current rate of progress, once tomorrow's monster tide hits, they'll still die all the same."
John sneered inwardly and could not even be bothered to argue with them.
In his eyes, these players who only knew how to blame the heavens and complain about fate were no different from the dead.
Let them curse all they wanted. No amount of abuse would stop him from continuing to farm dungeons.
It was a meaningless matter, completely beneath his concern.
John stood up, ignored the players raging in world chat, and activated Instant Move to rush toward the next dungeon.
…
Over the next eight hours, Zone 5's announcements practically never stopped.
[Zone Announcement: "John" has completed the first kill of elite-grade boss "Monster Hunter Bird"!
Reward: EXP ×15,000, gold coins ×20, Fame ×100!]
[Zone Announcement: "John" has become the first player to conquer D-rank dungeon "Misty Forest"!
Reward: EXP ×70,000, gold coins ×20, Fame ×300!]
[Zone Announcement…]
John was like a dungeon-slaying machine, tirelessly running these dungeons over and over again.
The players of Zone 5 were already numb from watching the announcements.
Having a monster like this in their zone was simply despair-inducing.
At the same time, inside Novice Village—
The female knight glanced at the time. It was already midnight.
A chill night breeze swept past, leaving the gathered combat-class NPCs at the village entrance more and more disappointed.
The female knight frowned slightly and let out a quiet sigh.
"It's already midnight, and yet the brave hero still hasn't returned. Could it be that he asked us to wait here just to toy with us?"
Her words immediately drew agreement from the many NPCs behind her.
Guard Rus said, "I was supposed to go on a date with my girlfriend today. Because of the brave hero's summons, I gave it up and came here to wait. And in the end, this was all just a joke?"
The Assassin Class Mentor added, "I never thought a hero with such high Fame would have such a nasty sense of humor."
The Warrior Class Mentor said, "Just when exactly is the brave hero going to show up? If he doesn't appear soon, we should disperse."
This group of combat-class NPCs had already been assembled at the village entrance for a very long time.
Yet John, the one who had summoned them, had still not shown himself.
Even though John's Fame in Novice Village had already reached the cap, their patience still had limits.
Hearing the complaints from the crowd behind her, the female knight felt the pressure mounting.
Just as she raised her hand, ready to dismiss everyone—
she saw surprise spread across their faces, followed by bursts of shocked exclamations.
"Quick, look! Who's that up ahead?"
"Someone's coming—and so fast!"
"Is that the brave hero?"
The female knight's heart tightened, and she quickly turned around.
At the village entrance stood a figure draped in a long robe, flickering forward step by step like a ghost.
Then he stopped in front of them.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
The person who had arrived was none other than John, the very one who had summoned them.
After farming monsters nonstop for eight full hours, a trace of fatigue had surfaced in John's eyes.
But all of it had been worth it.
He raised his hand and waved it through the air. Instantly, a huge amount of equipment poured out from his backpack.
In the blink of an eye, several small mountains of gear had formed before the NPCs.
Every single piece glowed with extraordinary brilliance.
The female knight casually looked at one of them and realized, to her astonishment, that it was actually B-rank equipment!
Shock spread across the faces of the NPCs.
None of them had expected the brave hero to produce so much equipment in one go—
and at such a high level, even by their standards.
This scene also drew the attention of the other players inside Novice Village.
Ever since these NPCs had gathered at the village entrance and stood there motionless, a large crowd of players had been watching from the sidelines.
They had all been curious: what exactly were these NPCs doing?
Only after John returned did they realize in shock that these NPCs, who normally could not be bothered with ordinary players, were treating John with such respect.
So NPCs could actually be interacted with like this?
He could even make them stand at the village gate waiting as punishment?
Looking at the sheer number of fine weapons and armor before her, the female knight swallowed hard.
She turned to John in confusion.
"Brave Hero, this is…"
John waved his hand and urged them, "These are all for you. Hurry up and put them on."
The reason he had gone so mad farming dungeons today was precisely to arm these NPCs.
Time was running out. In only a few more hours, the monster tide would arrive.
At a time like this, asking the blacksmith shop to forge weapons would be far too inefficient.
Besides, the quality of the forged weapons might not even compare to this batch John had synthesized.
That was why he had made these NPCs wait at the village entrance—
so that he could save as much time as possible.
The moment they heard that, the NPCs were shaken to the core and deeply moved.
Usually, it was players who came to them shamelessly asking for free resources.
Never had they imagined that one day, someone would主动 bring them equipment.
How noble, how selfless, was this brave hero!
The female knight's face even flushed slightly red.
"On behalf of everyone, I thank you, Brave Hero. We will never forget your kindness for all eternity."