Aliel was walking in the middle of Newbie Village 21. Unlike when Aliel first logged in, the streets now only had 2 or 3 players talking with NPC. Aliel didn’t look at them and went to the blacksmith. She wanted to fix her equipment that lost durability after hunting for 4 hours.

“The monster spawn rate is too random. To think I need 4 hours to reach level 3. Usually, in the other game, the players just need around 3 hours to get to level 5. I am lucky to meet with Rare monster that dropped weapon and got a title though.”

Aliel entered the blacksmith to look for the NPC. The NPC was standing behind a counter and greeted Aliel when she entered the blacksmith.

“Welcome! What do you need in this blacksmith?” A muscular NPC wearing clothes with rolled-up sleeves shouted.

“I’m here to repair my equipment, can you do that?” Aliel unequipped her armor and weapon. She gave them to the Blacksmith’s NPC.

“That’ll be 3 coppers coin.” Aliel takes out 3 copper coins and gives them to the Blacksmith’s NPC. After receiving the money, the NPC went towards the door behind him bringing Aliel’s armor and weapon.

After the door closed, the sound of hitting metal could be heard. After the sound stopped, this time Aliel hear the sound of a sewing machine.

“Damn, they had a sewing machine in the blacksmith?” Aliel was surprised by the details that Atlas put into the game. The NPC’s behavior, the sound inside the game, and all other details. Aliel even started thinking that this was not inside the game, but a different world.

“That’s pushing too far.” As Aliel said that, the door was opened and the NPC put Aliel’s weapon and armor on top of the counter.

“Here, thanks for your patronage!” The NPC said and smiled.

Aliel take her weapon and armor and equipped them. She looked at the weapon and armor status and saw that the durability was restored.

“Good, now let’s search a place to sell this Kick Rabbit’s fur alongside the Large Kick Rabbit’s fur.” Aliel said out loud and walked to the exit.

“Wait! Did you just said Large Kick Rabbit’s fur?” The Blacksmith’s NPC shouted at Aliel.

Aliel stopped and turned around, she could smell a quest from the Blacksmith’s NPC.

‘Oho, is it a quest?’ Aliel smiled and approached the Blacksmith’s NPC slowly. She put her hands on the counter and asked the NPC.

“Yes I have it, what about it?”

“Did you hunt it by yourself?” The NPC slammed the counter and leaned towards Aliel.

With the NPC’s face so close, Aliel backed away. “Of course I am. The proof is my weapon and armor that I asked you to repair earlier! It was that bad because I fought the Large Kick Rabbit by myself.”

“That’s true.” The NPC backed away and crossed his arms. “Then I have a request. If you can fight Large Kick Rabbit by yourself, then you must be able to complete this. I will give you something equal if you complete my request. Are you willing to accept my request?” The blacksmiths hold a hint of anticipation on his face.

“May I ask what your request is?” Aliel questioned.

The blacksmith looked around the store and said. “Did you notice that the weapon and armor in this store are too few for a store this large?”

Aliel looked around the store for a while and nodded. At first, Aliel thought that a store in the Newbie Village will, of course, had a little variety of weapons and armors. But after listening to the blacksmith, she began to think differently.

‘Atlas made this game with realism as the main sell point. If I think about it, doesn’t that mean a Newbie Village is no different than any other area? There is no limit to what’s available in the store. So maybe it’s not strange if the blacksmith originally had a lot of variety of weapons, and something made him unable to supply it anymore.’

Aliel analyzed the situation, if what Atlas informed about the realism aspect of this game. Then it’s not strange if players could find a top-tier weapon or armors in the Newbie Village.

After analyzing the situation of the store, Aliel asked the blacksmith, “Yes that is strange, is there any problem that caused the store to be this empty?”

“The shop was never this empty, this situation had been caused by a certain monster. This monster blocked our ore supply, that’s why I can’t make any new weapon or armor. Traveler, could you kill the monsters for us?” The blacksmith’s NPC bowed her head to Aliel.

“Of course, I will get rid of those monsters for you.” Answered Aliel. The blacksmith’s NPC raised his head and smiled after hearing Aliel’s answer.

"Thank you!" He said.

A window appeared in front of Aliel right after that.

【System: Quest “Blacksmith’s Request” Accepted.

Kill ‘Mad Rock’ that infested in the Village’s mine.

Mad Rock Killed 0/50

Rewards: ??

Failure Penalty: Decreasing Villager’s favorability.】

‘Hmm? There is favorability too? But, I never get any of it until now. Is it a hidden stat?’ Aliel thought.

“Traveler, you will not be able to defend Mad Rock’s attack with equipment like that. Give me your Large Kick Rabbit’s fur, I will make you a leather armor.” Said the blacksmith’s NPC.

‘Is it a bonus reward? A leather armor, I guess it’s better than the newbie armor. There is no harm getting new armor right now.’ Aliel took out the Large Kick Rabbit’s fur from her inventory and give it to the blacksmith’s NPC.

“Here.”

The blacksmith’s NPC took the Large Kick Rabbit’s fur and inspect it. He nodded in satisfaction and said. “Come back here in 2 hours, your armor will be ready then.” The blacksmith’s NPC entered the back room again after he said that, leaving Aliel alone.

“Well, 50 Mad Rock as my first quest. From its name, I guess it’s a rock-type monster? I better check it right now to analyze its attack pattern.” Aliel exited the blacksmith and went outside the village.

Her destination was the Village’s Mine, right now the Mine is one of the most popular spots amongst the player. Especially amongst the production players that wanted to get an ore.

When Aliel reached the Mine, the Mine was crowded by players. They blocked the Mine entrance, causing Aliel unable to enter it.

“Damn it, they are everywhere. Should I try to find another entrance?”

Aliel walked away from the Mine and went along the mountain. She tried to find another Mine’s entrance. After walking for around 20 minutes, Aliel found a track. The track seemed like caused by something heavy being dragged.

“What is this? The grass was trampled by something. Could it be?” Aliel had some suspicion about the track. She decided to follow the track to find where the track leads to.

“Bingo!” At the end of the track, Aliel found a small cave.

The cave was hidden by a rock formation, if Aliel didn’t found the track, maybe she will need a lot of time to find it.

“Let’s check it real quick, what sort of monster Mad Rock is.”

Aliel stealthily entered the cave, the cave entrance is 2 meters in height, which means the Mad Rock will be smaller than 2 meters or they are flexible enough to enter the cave by crouching. She cautiously searching the cave, analyzing every rock that she had found. The hallway of the cave was 3 meters in height and 4 meters wide, enough to swing a sword freely.

“Where is the Mad Rock?” After advancing a bit deeper into the cave, Aliel arrived at a wide room with a high ceiling. In the wide room, there were a lot of rocks lying around.

Aliel tried to analyze the rock and a text appeared above the rock.

***

[Mad Rock](Common Monster)

Level 5

HP 450

***

“Mad Rock, I finally found it. But they are level 5, and their numbers. This is bad, I need to think about how to deal with them.”

The number of rocks lying around the room was at least 40 to 50. Aliel analyzed some of the rocks and they all were a monster, Mad Rocks.

“Their size is big, my chance to beat them lies in this hallway. Can I dig a hole to trap them here?”

Aliel unsheathed her sword and stabbed it to the ground. She used her sword as a shovel and tried to dig the ground. Aliel tried it one time and successfully scooped out the dirt.

“Aha! With this, the hunt will be easier.”

Aliel then continued to dig the hallway’s ground until it was 2 meters deep. After getting the result she wanted, she jumped out from the ground and sighed in relief.

“That took me an hour. Now, let’s bash some rock to finish this quest!! But before that, let’s add my unused point to DEX.”

Aliel put her unused points to DEX, her movement speed instantly increased from 1.4 to 2.6. She planned to make use of her speed to bait the Mad Rock one by one and lure them to the pit.

“I’m ready! Let’s go~”