Who told you I am an NPC

Chapter : 18

"By the small pond in the Sunset Forest to the east..."

Yan Yunqing looked at the location displayed on the minimap and compared it with the surrounding environment.

The forest, having just rained, was full of dew, completely soaking the hem of his clothes.

Yan Yunqing plucked a leaf from his head and casually tossed it, "This should be the place, right?"

"Why did you even accept a hunting quest..."

Lilian followed beside Yan Yunqing, extremely bored.

"And you used the excuse of being a bounty hunter to trick little Yuli.

What kind of bounty hunter accepts this kind of quest?

No, you can't even be considered a bounty hunter.

No bounty hunter would help an old man in the village farm for a day for five Copper Coins!"

Yan Yunqing, who was being criticized for not being a bounty hunter, looked at the [Planting] life skill that had been unlocked on his panel.

Its level had already reached Lv.2, and the experience bar was just a little bit away from breaking through to the next level.

He decided to go back and see if any other villagers needed help with farming.

How could a player's business be considered tricking! Mind your own business!

The place called Sunset Forest was actually marked on Yan Yunqing's minimap as a small wood leaning against the Sunset Mountains.

The periphery was frequently patrolled by the village guards and was relatively safe.

However, a little deeper in, one might encounter more dangerous wild beasts.

But as for wild beasts, the village guards were enough to deal with them.

As long as they brought their weapons, a small team of a few strong young men could completely hunt those beasts and bring them back to add a meal for the entire village.

As for the battle a few years ago in which Yuli's parents died, it was not because of the wild beasts that appeared in this forest.

It was because a Demonic Beast of a not-so-low level suddenly appeared and attacked the village.

This village itself didn't have any powerful people.

Because it was relatively close to the capital of Bartovita, the children with more outstanding talents in the village were all sent to the capital to study magic or swordsmanship.

The remaining guards were just ordinary people with stronger bodies.

In the face of a terrifying Demonic Beast, ordinary people were of no use at all.

They could only use their lives to delay the Demonic Beast's slaughter of the village, protecting all the elderly and children behind them, and stubbornly holding on for a day and a night until the rescue from the Bartovita army arrived.

It could be said that the final victory of that defensive battle was actually paid for with the lives of the young people in the village.

Having found the pond the village chief mentioned, Yan Yunqing looked around, searching for the 'Lulu Pig' the village chief spoke of.

After completing this quest, his character level would rise to ten, officially shedding his newbie status, and he would be able to accept the job advancement quest.

Although Yan Yunqing had used a bug to skip the job advancement quest, the game system reacted quickly and patched up the hole for him.

All the skills that could only be used after job advancement were locked again, and the permission to unlock them would only be granted upon reaching the corresponding level.

Only some skills with no level requirements allowed him to use skill points to learn them.

It even blatantly sent him an email, thanking him for finding a bug in the game.

The game company had already fixed the bug and given him compensation—a delicate little cake.

It looked good and tasted good, but had no buff effects whatsoever.

Perfunctory! It was just too perfunctory!

After receiving the compensation email, Yan Yunqing had a bout of powerless rage and angrily shared the small cake with Lilian and Yuli.

—The blacksmith grandfather was old and couldn't eat things that were too sweet.

Yan Yunqing found the Lulu Pig the village chief wanted. Relying on the many points he had added to agility, he kited the Lulu Pig all over the forest.

Finally, when the Lulu Pig's stamina was exhausted and it stopped to rest, he took away the pig's last drop of HP with a single sword strike.

The pig let out a wail and fell to the ground with a thud, becoming a fresh, warm corpse.

Yan Yunqing skillfully took out a dagger and used [Gathering] on the pig's corpse.

A progress bar appeared over the pig's corpse, displaying [Butchering].

After the progress bar slowly filled up, the pig's corpse instantly turned into several pieces of pork.

Yan Yunqing then put these pieces of pork into his inventory.

A scene that would be very magical and unrealistic in reality appeared exceptionally normal in a game.

Even Lilian seemed to have had her common sense altered, not feeling that there was anything wrong with the scene before her eyes at all.

It was at times like these that Yan Yunqing would deeply realize that he had transmigrated into a game, and not some other world.

It was just that for such a large Lulu Pig, only a few pieces of pork were left after gathering, which was a bit much.

Where was the pig's head? The pig's offal?

The pig's... ahem, where did all the parts of the pig that tasted delicious after special cooking go?

This life skill was simply like a black-hearted merchant.

They say they're selling a whole pig, but when you bring it back and weigh it, half the pig's weight is gone out of thin air.

What a crooked merchant!

If it weren't for the fact that both turning in the quest and storing it in the inventory required the gathered pork, Yan Yunqing would have definitely taken this entire fresh pig corpse back.

It was truly heartbreaking that so much meat was reduced by more than half after being processed.

Yan Yunqing put away the dagger and took out his longsword again to look for the next target.

If he killed a few more Lulu Pigs, after turning in the village chief's quest, he could take the rest back and have Yuli roast pork chops for them.

The meat of this Lulu Pig was exceptionally delicious.

When roasted until it sizzled with oil, the aroma of the fat would be completely released, an temptation that no one could resist.

Thinking of this, Yan Yunqing couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Looking at the Lulu Pigs moving in the distance, his gaze became much more loving.

Piggies are so cute, of course you have to eat piggies!

"But will Demonic Beasts really appear in this forest?"

Yan Yunqing ambushed a dazed piggy while surveying the Sunset Forest.

"No matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem like a place where Demonic Beasts would exist."

Lilian held a small magic staff, occasionally hitting the pig with an 'Intimidate' spell.

The piggy, afflicted with [Slow] and [Daze] debuffs, was forced into a state of lowered intelligence and crashed headfirst into a tree in front of Yan Yunqing.

While its head was spinning with stars, Yan Yunqing took it down with one sword strike.

"Who knows?

After all, the formation of Demonic Beasts is also very strange.

Maybe some unknown deity is buried here."

Demonic Beast.

When Yan Yunqing played "Demon King," this setting had never appeared.

'A deity falls, and upon the deity's bones, a foul creature is born.'

This was the explanation given by the game panel, but Yan Yunqing had not yet encountered a Demonic Beast, so he was not sure what it looked like.

But just from the description, he knew that this Demonic Beast should be a completely hostile monster unit in this new version of "Demon King."

A creature born from the bones of a deity.

This setting reminded Yan Yunqing of a whale fall. As the saying goes, one whale fall gives birth to ten thousand things.

It's just that in this world, the whale fall gives birth to Demonic Beasts.

Damn, what kind of dark humor is this?

Yan Yunqing was amused by his own strange train of thought.

He gathered the newly fallen pig corpse again, and his character level just happened to break through to level ten.

His mind felt a wave of clarity, a feeling that was profound and mysterious, very difficult to describe.

In short, Yan Yunqing felt as if he had become stronger.

He opened his panel to admire the stats that were gradually becoming more beautiful through his training, and conveniently unlocked a few basic magic spells for his post-advancement job.

The Swordsman's skills could not be unlocked yet.

He hadn't completed the job advancement quest, and the path of using a bug had been blocked by the game system.

On the other hand, the Magician job didn't require another job advancement quest; it automatically advanced upon reaching level ten.

He returned the Refined Iron Sword forged by Old Jason the blacksmith to his inventory and took out a sharpened tree branch, waving it in his hand a couple of times.

This was a branch from a Ziwu Wood tree.

This type of tree was very common and could be found in the Sunset Forest.

Its material was gentle, its magic circuits were simple, and it felt slightly warm to the touch.

It was the most common material for beginner magic staves, and the staves made from it were not expensive, making them very suitable for beginners.

Compared to Swordsmen, which anyone with a strong body had a chance to learn, the threshold for becoming a Magician in this world was very high.

Not only did it depend on talent, but it also required sufficient money and status to have the opportunity for in-depth study.

The village Yan Yunqing was in had no Magicians at all, let alone a shop that sold magic staves.

That was a type of shop one only had the chance to see in large cities.

Therefore, Yan Yunqing couldn't find a place to buy a magic wand at all, and the magic wand in his backpack was of too high a level for him to equip, so he could only think of another way.

Lilian came up with an idea for him, directly plucking a branch from the Ziwu Wood, sharpening it, and grinding down the thorny end to temporarily use as a magic wand.

It was just that its effect was definitely not as good as a specially tempered magic wand, and could potentially lead to spellcasting failure.

However, for Yan Yunqing, the probability of spellcasting failure was too low.

He was someone who could cast magic created by the First Elf King with just incantations and without a wand.

With such a magical talent, he could use magic just the same with a tree branch.

It was no wonder that the theory of talent being paramount had always existed in the world of magic.

Yan Yunqing chanted a Fireball Spell towards the pond.

A fireball the size of a sandbag ignited and was controlled by Yan Yunqing to plunge fiercely into the pond, creating a splash.

Gurgling sounds emerged from the water's surface, and after a short while, several fish floated up, belly-up.

A strange light emitted from the fishes' eyes, and steam billowed out.

Lilian: "Wow!"

Yan Yunqing awkwardly hid the magic wand behind his back and bowed three times to the fish that died with grievances.

He had only been thinking that throwing the fireball into the forest might cause a forest fire, which would be bad, but he didn't expect to cook the fish in the pond.

Lilian: "You can even use the simplest Fireball Spell to achieve the effect of a high-level magic.

Tsk tsk, this talent, I'm even getting a little jealous."

Yan Yunqing ignored these sour words and tried a few more basic spells he had just unlocked.

After confirming that the lethality of each spell was not low, he put away the magic wand with satisfaction.

"We should be leaving in a little while." Yan Yunqing said, "After turning in this quest to the village chief, I'll ask if any of the guards in the patrol team can teach me swordsman skills.

It's still a bit dangerous outside."

Lilian was puzzled: "What are you learning swordsman skills for?

Don't tell me you don't want to become a mage?"

In this world, if people could test for magical talent, they would squeeze their heads off trying to get into the world of mages.

Only those who truly had no magical talent would consider becoming swordsmen.

Although a swordsman who cultivated to the end could have a status comparable to a mage of the same rank, there were not many swordsmen who could reach the pinnacle, whereas a novice junior mage could earn the respect of the vast majority of people in this world.

For commoners, becoming a mage was the simplest way to change their family's standing.

No one who possessed the 'noble' magical talent would go and learn the 'lowly' skills of a swordsman.

Perhaps this was also influenced by the upper nobility's subtle 'magic-centrism'.

"Hmm? Do I have to choose between being a swordsman and a mage?"

Yan Yunqing asked back, "Can't I train in both swordsmanship and magic, and become a close-combat mage?"

"Close-combat mage..."

Lilian's mouth twitched, imagining Yan Yunqing fighting an enemy with a greatsword, and then suddenly pulling out a magic wand from the greatsword and smashing it fiercely on the enemy's head...

That scene was both beautiful and horrifying.

"A person's energy is only so much, how can one be proficient in everything while training in two paths?

I advise you to still... watch out!"