The World Online

Outskirts of Quanzhou Region.

A bunch of teenagers were levelling up. The team consists of combat class jobs such as officers, chivalrous experts and government servants, in addition to supporting class jobs like healers and taoists, it was a typical leveling team.

Officers were much like the knights in the west, when they were not equipped with mounts, they could only walk on their legs like a warrior. Chivalrous experts were typical warriors, be it swordsmen or bladesmen, they were all close-combat experts. Government servants were a job that was filled with Chinese characteristics, they wield a water-fire stick and swung an iron chain.

While the healers did not have any skills that could instantly heal the patients, they were more like an army doctor centering on first aid. The Taoist too, was incapable of sorceries and had to use Fulu2 as the main means of attack, similar to the western wizards.

This group of people were dressed in the system gifted coarse linen clothes, in their hands held the cheapest ordinary weapons. The 5 of them could barely kill a level-3 ordinary wild dog, even so, it seemed really difficult. The group didn’t cooperate very well and often gotten themselves into dangerous positions. It was obvious they were a bunch of fresh rookies that just joined the game.

With great effort, the team finally killed the wild dog. The system assessed them based on their performance and contribution, and awarded them differently with a petty tens of experience points. The healer bandaged the wounded government servant while the Taoist went and collect the wild dog’s fur, they had a clear division of labor.

The leader of the team was a young officer 24-25 of age, he had a domineering and bossy look, he held the best weapon in the team, a bronze-level iron spear. With a bitter smile he said: “Oh my god, this idiot game is too real, even leveling is so strenuous, how long is this going to take for us to level up.”

“That’s right, I wonder when can big brother get a village creation token. I heard that when we have militants from the territory to help us, it will be much easier to level.” The beautiful young chivalrous expert said.

The two were the core of the whole team, the others were merely here to accompany them.

“How could it be that easy. We can only blame ourselves for entering the game too late, rumors said that the first 10,000 lord players could skip the Village Building Quest and directly obtain the village creation token. But now, we can only try our luck, praying that any one of the gold farming group have an extra village creation token for sale.” The young officer clearly did not have any expectations.

As the female chivalrous expert was about to reply, a burst of system notifications sounded in her ears.

“System notice: You have an anonymous parcel, do you wish to receive it?”

Anonymous parcel? Her heart skipped for a beat, she quickly glanced around making sure it was safe before she said: “Receive!”

There was a flash of bright white light and as it faded a huge parcel appeared on the ground, one couldn’t tell what it contained as it was fully wrapped in linen sackcloth. The female chivalrous expert had no intention to open it and directly put it in her storage bag.

“Who sent you a parcel, it looks like it contained a huge fortune in it?” The young officer was curious.

She randomly glanced at the items in her storage bag, and for a moment her face was filled with shock, but immediately she returned back to normal and acted as if nothing happened, with a calm voice she said: “Second brother, let’s go back to Quanzhou Region, it is not safe here.” Clearly she was very alert, they were in the middle of the wilderness, facing the risk of getting killed and robbed anytime, it was simply not a good place to check the parcel.

“Alright, let’s return.” The young man understood his little sister very well, she always had a sense of propriety and she wouldn’t make irresponsible remarks. For her to make such decisions, the parcel must be unusually important.

The group of team returned back to Quanzhou Region. They had rented a quadrangle courtyard as their temporary staying place. There were all kinds of people coming in and out of the courtyard, a roughly estimation would be no fewer than 200 people.

“Second brother, third sister, what is it that brings you back to the courtyard so early?” An aged scholar about 27-28 years old stood in the courtyard, he asked curiously as he saw the group of teenagers that returned.

“Big brother, we will talk in the room.” The young officer answered.

“Alright!” The young scholar noticed the unusual atmosphere and he led his two siblings into the secret chamber.

“Little sister, take it out, show us what’s so mysterious about the parcel. I wonder what it contains, it must be some good stuff, show me, let me have a look.” As they entered the secret chamber, the young general became more casual and he said with a smile.

“Hmph, I bet it will blind your eyes, don’t get too jealous!” the female chivalrous expert too, loosened her restrains and she said naughtily. She took out the parcel from her storage bag and placed it on the table that was in the middle of the room.

“Hey, you underestimate your second brother!” The young officer stepped forward and opened the parcel. In the glimpse of an eye, a huge pile of items burst out of the parcel and laid before their eyes. There were skill books, secret manuals, weapons, armors and 10 gold.

The young officer was stunned as he gazed at the items, even the seemingly calm young scholar couldn’t help but to exclaim: “Little sister, who gave you all of these, how generous is this!?”

The young and beautiful female chivalrous expert was naturally Song Jia, her in-game name was Jiaqi Rumeng ,while the two young gentlemen in front of her were her blood-brothers, also the lead representative of Song Corporation in Earth Online. The two, one is a scholar and the other an officer, the big brother Song Wen chose to walk on the civil path of lord’s kingdom building, while the second brother Song Wu chose the military personal adventure mode.

The quadrangle courtyard was actually rented by the Song Corporation as a temporary base, the two hundred or over players were either members of the Song family itself or professional players they recruited in real life.

“Hihi, it’s a secret, don’t bother so much.” Song Jia said proudly.

Song Wu picked up the exquisite iron sword, and his saliva flowed down to the ground, he said enviously: “My god, this is a gold-level weapon. Only the leaders of the top ten mercenary groups have them, little sister you are only level 2, it will be a great waste if the weapon lies in your hands.”

“Hihi, second brother you are jealous of me!”

Song Wu then picked up the leather armor suit, and again he exclaimed: “Oh my god, silver-level armor suit, wuwu...I am only wearing linen coarse clothes.” He was badly hurt, in contrast to the equipment before his eyes, his equipment were like a beggar’s.

Song Jia stood beside and watched as her brother exclaiming over the items, her heart was filled with the sweetest honey, she was really satisfied with the presents Shuo prepared for her.

Song Wu placed his hands on the skill book , he said calmly: “Second brother you are really blind, the value of this skill book is comparable to that of the gold-level exquisite iron sword. My preliminary estimation is that all of these items would cost at least 200 gold. Little sister, are you really not going to tell me anything?”

Even so, Song Wen was still as blind as Song Wu. In a year’s time, after Gaia exposed the truth behind the true and false secret manuals, a true skill book like would cost an arm and a leg. Now, it was the only period that the true skill books and secret manuals were sold like vegetables on the Material Trading Platform, and even at such a low price, there were still little to none buyers. If only Ouyang Shuo had extra funds available, he would have went on a buying frenzy.

“What, they are so valuable!” Even though Song Jia wasn’t as sensitive as her brother Song Wen about the prices of goods, but she had a clear understanding on the rarity of gold. The market price of a copper was 2 credit points, 200 golds would then be translated into 4 million credit points, and that was if they were willing to sell off the gold.

Ouyang Shuo, Ouyang Shuo, what are you? Such an ordinary man in real life, yet you could afford to simply give away such expensive gifts. Saying that it was just a meeting gift for me to enter the game, that said, you must be extraordinary in game right.

“Little sister, little sister!”

“Ah? Ha? Big brother, sorry, I’m distracted.” Her face blushed red, “As for this friend, big brother don’t ask too much, I have promised to keep it a secret.”

“Alright then, I will not force you, as long as you are happy then everything will be fine.” Song Wen pampered his little sister very much, seeing her not willing to reveal the identity of the mystery sender, he didn’t continued on asking, after all, it wasn’t a bad thing.

“Thank you big brother!” Song Jia couldn’t restrain herself any longer, she picked up and learned the 4 skill books and . Then she equipped herself with the leather armor suit and exquisite iron sword, she made a sword posture. Bright and brave, a figure of heroine was freeze-framed, with Song Wu drooling on the side.

“Ah, this is really special, after I learnt it, every stance and every move filled my mind, it feels like as though it is real.” Song Jia questioningly said.

“Probably because the game is so real that you can’t differentiate nicely between the reality and virtual world.” Regarding the truth of the secret manuals, Song Wen knew nothing of it, that was why he could only came out with this conjecture.

“Oh!” Although she disagrees with her brother, but she did not care too much either. Song Jia picked up the 10 gold on the table, smiled and handed it to Song Wen: “Big brother, I will leave the gold with you.”

Song Wen was delighted with his little sister that was always thoughtful and sensible, he patted her head and said: “Since it was a gift from your friend, you should then keep it for yourself. These 10 gold, even if passed on to the family, still wouldn’t affect much to the overall situation. Furthermore, the repairing fees of your equipment are not cheap, you need to have some money with you. Your friend, he or she must be an attentive person to be able to give consideration to all these little details, that is why the 10 gold are included in the parcel.”

“Oh!” Song Jia did not think much, after listening to her brother’s analysis, she did not compel anymore. Who knew, that woodsy would be so attentive.

“However, if it is convenient, can you ask your friend whether if it is possible to get us a village creation token. Of course, we will acquire it at a high price.” Song Wen jokingly said lastly. The village creation token was the biggest problem he was facing right now, his hair almost turned completely white finding a way to get himself a village creation token. Without the token, it was impossible to establish a territory; without a territory, Song Corporation would not be able to take root in the game, and that was a form of failure.

“Alright, I will try and ask.” Song Jia was clear of her brother’s situation, she readily agreed to her brother’s request. Since that woodsy had said, just call him when there’s any problems.

“But, there’s no guarantee my friend can get it!” Song Jia said with a little uncertainly in the end.

“Yeah sure, I’m just sort of trying my luck, it’s best if there is, it is normal otherwise.” Obviously, Song Wen himself did not have any high hopes.

Water-fire stick1 (水火棍): An ancient weapon in Chinese history, used by government servants in the government courtroom. Half of the stick was painted in black and the other half in red. In the Chinese 5 elements, black is the representative color of Water; red is the representative color of Fire. As fire and water does not mix together, the stick itself denotes that: In the courtroom, The law does not have any room for personal considerations.

Fulu2 (符籙): Supernatural talisman with various functions drawn or written by Taoists.