Jiang Ye stared at the enormous number on her personal information.
15.
How strange.
How did she suddenly level up?
She hadn't continued searching for and collecting marine life or completing the Island Manual, had she?
Wait.
A guess flashed through Jiang Ye's mind.
She reread the system prompts and noticed a problem she had overlooked: she would gain experience when constructing buildings.
Currently, Jiang Ye's island Level had reached 15, and her personal Level had also reached 15.
Jiang Ye was already wearing the orange equipment that couldn't be worn before due to the Level restriction.
As the wind blew, her skirt swayed, and her clothes fluttered, looking exceptionally beautiful.
That is, if you ignored Jiang Ye's rather large, squatting posture.
She squatted on the ground in an Asian squat, searching for guides on the forum, researching how to complete the trial.
After all, if she deleted her account, she definitely wouldn't be the first to complete the novice trial and wouldn't get the 300,000 prize money. She had to complete this before deleting her account. Otherwise, it would be too much of a loss.
The research concluded that she needed to temporarily leave the island and head to the novice village.
To solve this problem, she could only rely on herself.
Jiang Ye stood up and walked towards the man who was silent.
As she moved closer, he retreated.
"Second Boss, why are you dodging?" Jiang Ye asked.
"As you wish, I'm keeping my distance," Jing Lian replied.
"Help me out, will you?" Jiang Ye grinned. "Didn't you promise me I was free for these three days?"
"That's right," Jing Lian nodded.
"Then, since I'm free, shouldn't I have the right to go to the novice village?" Jiang Ye knew that arguing with Jing Lian was useless; she had to stick to one principle from beginning to end: reasoning.
"I've played this account for so long, and I'm really reluctant to just delete it. Plus, I haven't even seen the novice village with this account yet. Give me a chance, please."
"Alright," Jing Lian replied after a moment's thought. "But if you encounter danger in the novice village, I won't be responsible for you."
"Oh, I don't need you to be responsible," Jiang Ye said dismissively.
"What I mean is, the novice village map isn't under my jurisdiction, and I can't accompany you. If any variables occur that cause you to be deleted prematurely, I won't be responsible," Jing Lian explained.
"You mean the Big Boss?" Jiang Ye understood.
"Don't worry, I'm just going out to complete a quest. I'll be extremely cautious and won't attract anyone's attention. After all, I don't want to delete my account here yet."
"How about it, Second Boss? Lord Jing Lian? Let me out, please."
Jiang Ye raised her hands, brought them together, and made a pleading gesture.
Jing Lian remained silent, simply raising his hand and drawing a circle.
A water gate appeared before Jiang Ye.
"If you want to return to the island, tap the pet egg three times," Jing Lian said softly.
"Got it!" Jiang Ye nodded happily, waved goodbye to Jing Lian, recalled her pets, and walked towards the water gate.
The moment she left, Jing Lian's face turned pale. He clenched his sleeve with his right hand and stood there for a long time before his mental anguish subsided.
It seemed that forcibly separating himself from the egg before it had fully formed was not an easy task for him.
Fine, thin sweat beaded on Jing Lian's forehead.
He breathed calmly, and the sweat vanished instantly, like dew evaporating under the sun.
Jing Lian looked at the distant sun, his form changing from human to snake. A giant silver python coiled peacefully.
Jiang Ye, completely unaware of what was happening on the island, was experiencing the same temporal and spatial traversal as when she first entered the game.
Unlike the last time when she felt uncomfortable, this time, Jiang Ye felt she was enjoying it.
She was even a little excited.
She had been on the island for so long, and the only two times she had left were directly teleported into dungeon maps.
Jiang Ye wanted to see what a normal player's environment was like.
As the swirling light waves dissipated and the dizzying brightness faded, Jiang Ye landed.
Before she even opened her eyes, she heard many sounds that she couldn't hear on the island.
The chirping of kingfishers, the gurgling of streams, the calls of vendors, and the footsteps and conversations of players passing by.
All the sounds combined into a lively symphony that resounded in Jiang Ye's ears.
Jiang Ye slowly opened her eyes and looked around.
This place was more bustling than the island, full of life and a sense of everyday existence.
Seeing this, the first thought that flashed through Jiang Ye's mind wasn't how wonderful it was, but rather, if only her island could become like this.
With that thought, Jiang Ye smiled and shook her head, letting the idea drift away.
The island was not her island, after all.
With just over a day of real-world time left, she would have her account deleted.
Even in the game, it wouldn't be long, at most a week.
Jiang Ye started walking, her footsteps joining the symphony, becoming a pleasant accompaniment.
Since Jiang Ye had not enabled the visibility of her ID and Level to strangers, she appeared in the novice village as 'A Leaf Boat,' and no one paid her any attention.
Occasionally, someone would glance at her, specifically at her black hair, but quickly look away. Sometimes accompanied by a muttered comment: "Another one imitating A Leaf Boat."
Jiang Ye looked around carefully and realized that in the novice village where she was, besides her, there were a few other scattered players with black hair.
She blended into the crowd, searching for an NPC to take quests from.
The NPC was the village chief, located within the village.
Jiang Ye found him without much effort.
"Outworlder, why have you come?" the village chief asked slowly, stroking his beard.
"Novice trial," Jiang Ye replied concisely.
"Indeed, you have reached the age where you can go for trials, but..." the village chief sighed and shook his head. "Outworlder, I see you have good potential, but without proper guidance, you won't be able to pass the trial."
"You mean I need to change my class first?"
"Here are three Sense Stones. You can choose the one you're interested in and receive guidance."
The village chief waved his hand, and three crystals appeared before Jiang Ye, blue, red, and white, all radiating with light and appearing to be of good quality.
Jiang Ye clicked on them one by one to examine them and found that these three crystals represented three broad categories of classes.
Clicking the white crystal caused a wisp of smoke to drift out, followed by a small line of text.
"With a flick of the finger, like a dream returning in the night."
This was the healer class in the game, named 'Gui Meng' (Dream Return), specializing in healing.
Clicking the red crystal, a warhorse neighed, and text appeared.
"With the clang of armor and horses, everything is under control."
An offensive class, named 'Jin Ge' (Gilded Spear).
The blue crystal was for defense, the class named 'Zhen Tie' (True Iron), implying the ability to withstand all dangers.
Jiang Ye's purpose for coming here was to pass the solo trial, so she unhesitatingly chose the red crystal.
"Next, close your eyes and feel the fighting spirit transmitted by this crystal," the village chief said, following the procedure.
Jiang Ye closed her eyes, and in an instant, she felt many things pouring into her mind, but she couldn't grasp any of them.
When she opened her eyes again, her previously empty skill bar now had the most basic attack skills. To her surprise, some of these basic skills were already at a high Level.
Jiang Ye speculated that even though she hadn't changed her class before, she had trained in the game through combat and other means, which had improved her character's stats.
"Fated one, I wish to gift you a weapon," the village chief said, waving his hand. A pile of weapons appeared before Jiang Ye.
But Jiang Ye was not familiar with any of them.
She flipped her palm, and the boning knife appeared in her palm.
"Can I use this?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Of course," the village chief said, slightly stunned, then nodded with a smile.
Thus, Jiang Ye successfully changed her class.
After completing this, Jiang Ye continued with the procedure and received the quest for the novice trial from the village chief.
— Clear the first floor of the 'Challenge Tower'.
After confirming the information, Jiang Ye walked out of the village chief's house and was about to explore the novice village more before starting the trial when she heard a noisy commotion.
Jiang Ye, from a distance, took a glance and immediately felt amused seeing the person at the center of the chaotic crowd.
Good! It's that bald guy causing trouble again! He probably saw a female player on the way and wanted to pick on someone weak to show off his Level, but ended up getting into a fight with others.
That guy really is a dog that can't change its ways.
However, this time it was different from last time. Jiang Ye didn't have to intervene; the female player's friends and relatives all stepped forward and drove away the player named 'I Have a Lot of Hair'.
'I Have a Lot of Hair' cursed as he left and walked down a small path.
After just two steps, he suddenly felt his vision go black.
"Who! What is it!" 'I Have a Lot of Hair' panicked.
His vision was completely obscured.
He couldn't see anything.
Jiang Ye ignored him and started hitting him with a brick. Although it didn't damage him, it hurt. After a good beating, Jiang Ye imitated Scar Tiger's method of tormenting A-Xing, grabbed the guy she had stuffed into a sack, took him to a secluded wasteland near a tree, took out a rope, and tied him to the tree.
'I Have a Lot of Hair' was going crazy.
"Who is it!! Who dares to hit me!" he yelled.
"Do you know who I am! Huh! Do you know who my dad is in reality!"
"Heh," Jiang Ye chuckled. "I think you're the one who doesn't know who your dad is."
"Forgot? The one with black hair is your dad."
"It's you!!" 'I Have a Lot of Hair' suddenly remembered. At this moment, he felt a sharp pain between his legs; that soul-deep fear and instinctive reaction made him tremble.
He would never forget this woman's voice in his life.
He began to struggle frantically, but Jiang Ye easily subdued him. Seeing that there was no one around, Jiang Ye ordered He Xiaoshang to strip all of this guy's equipment. Although others couldn't take it, stripping it off was a different kind of pleasure.
"What are you doing, you--"
Jiang Ye really didn't want to listen to this person speak, so in anger, she ordered He Xiaoshang to stuff a pile of cloth into his mouth.
She put up a sign and wrote a lengthy message: ID: I Have a Lot of Hair. PS: I'm a hooligan, I have sinned.
After finishing this, Jiang Ye took a photo and posted it to the World Channel.
[World • A Leaf Boat: Coordinates (60, 35), under the old locust tree, welcome everyone to enjoy street art. [Image]]
In the picture, she was taking a selfie in the game's camera mode, making a peace sign at the lens.
Jiang Ye's body was not in the frame, only her hand.
[World • Melon Field Mistake: Woccccc!!!! Great god has appeared!!!]
[World • Drizzle: Oh my, oh my!! The Great God's hands are so pretty!! PRRR!]
[World • Just Watching Not Talking: Are the upstairs people crazy? Which hands in this game aren't pretty? Stop talking nonsense.]
[World • Gossip Newbie: This person tied up looks a bit familiar, seems like the guy who was causing trouble in our village just now.]
[World • Ji Shanshui: Heh, the Great God is bullying people again!]
[World • Drizzle: Enough, Ji Shanshui, are you still dwelling on what happened before? Can't you be more magnanimous?!]
[World • Ji Shanshui: I you Drizzle *!]
[World • Ji Shanshui: What business is it of yours, my feud with A Leaf Boat?!]
[World • Just Watching Not Talking: Speaking of which, is the Great God going to tackle the novice trial? I see she's already Level 15!!]
[World • Drizzle: Wow!! The first player on this server to attempt the trial!!]
[World • Melon Field Mistake: Ahhhh! Great God, don't go!! I'm here to check it out!!!]
By the time other players arrived at the location, they could only see a half-dead guy tied to a tree, but A Leaf Boat was nowhere to be seen.
At this moment, A Leaf Boat had already teleported into the Challenge Tower.
Before her was a dark iron door, its strange totem seeming to announce the impending danger.
Jiang Ye reached out, pushed the door open, and after the system repeatedly confirmed if she wanted to enter, she clicked yes.
Creak, creak.
The wind howled mournfully.
A dilapidated village appeared before Jiang Ye.
She looked back at the iron gate, but behind her, there was nothing, completely empty. Only the village under the dark night, the wind whistling, creating a terrifying atmosphere.
When Jiang Ye turned around again, a white-robed woman was standing in front of her.
"Passerby, where are you going?" the woman asked Jiang Ye in a seductive voice.
"Pretty sister, I want to go into your heart," Jiang Ye said with a slight smile.
The NPC, who had intended to scare her, was momentarily stunned.
Strange, why isn't this player following the script!