Liu Ye was already so deep within the chain quest that he couldn't simply reject it. What more, eradicating the bandits hiding inside the Waterfall Forest didn't have any time restrictions which would let him complete the quest whenever he wanted.
Naturally, he couldn't jump straight into the battle without any prior preparation. He could not afford a repeat of the Masked Bandits incident, where he had no counterplay against the enemies and was forced to rely on luck and his quick wits to survive.
It all came down to farming once again.
-2
-2
-2
Liu Ye stood on top of a boulder and tried out his newly-acquired skill, creating tens of Ice Projectiles which floated around him. After the ice shards reached twenty in total, he finally reached his limits.
"Come on, don't move…" Liu Ye muttered as he looked in the distance, aiming his projectiles at the leading monster.
[Adult Wolf - Lvl. 5]
[HP: 150/150]
———
[Alpha Wolf - Lvl. 7]
[HP: 250/250]
[MP: 70/70]
Three hours had passed since Avatar Online was launched, and many players had already entered the Waterfall Forest to roam, forcing Liu Ye to switch to stronger monsters found deeper within the map. Thankfully, not far from the Mad Dogs' spawn zone, he found a pack of five Adult Wolves roaming together with an Alpha Wolf leading them. Perfect target to test his new strategy.
Swoosh!
Twenty Ice Projectiles flew in a beautiful arc towards the unexpecting wolves. The attacks from elevated position could reach much further than from the ground.
-16
-16
-16
[Ding! You killed the Alpha Wolf. You received 200 Experience and 2 silver.]
All shards slammed at the leading wolf at the same time, killing it before it could react. Just as he thought, the wolves didn't notice his attacks since he was outside their aggression zone.
Awoo!
The remaining four wolves howled at their leader's death and quickly searched for the culprit to get their revenge. Too bad, Liu Ye was sitting on top of a boulder outside their range, causing them to miss their target and return to their spawn position.
Swoosh!
-16
-16
-16
[Ding! You killed the Adult Wolf. You received 50 Experience and 50 bronze.]
One by one, Liu Ye killed all four adult wolves without risking his life. Even though Liu Ye had to use two small Mana potions, he still got his money back and the Experience was decent as well.
Unfortunately, he spotted only one boulder in the area which was high enough to protect him against wolf attacks. Even though he only had access to one wolf spawn in the vicinity, his time was well spent.
Liu Ye waited patiently to check the respawn time and to his surprise, the wolves reappeared after only five minutes.
400 Experience every five minutes? Count me in!
———
"Miss Katherine! I think we have a problem!"
Katherine was on her feet for the last three hours. Only after things settled down did she finally find a chance to rest her mind on her couch. Unfortunately, just as she closed her eyes, the door of her office burst open and one of the developers called out to her in alarm.
"What is it?" Katherine asked as she rubbed her temples, trying to ease her headache. "I assume it's something that requires my authorization?"
She had used much of her brain power during the initial Elemental Affinity testing and then supervised the whole launch without any rest after. She was used to hard work, but even she needed some time to breathe.
"Yes, Miss. The overall launch is an all round success with no major complication in any servers yet a particular Newbie Village has been giving us one problem after another," the developer reported. "You wanted us to monitor that one player, Grind God, and Miss, you were right. Whenever there is a problem, that man is always involved."
Katherine's eyes lit up with new life as she got up and followed the man out of her office. "What did he do this time?"
Katherine had a good feeling about him already, and being right only made her even more interested in him.
"First, it was the trap quest which we placed to trick the first players to leave the village but someone managed to steal it from him," the developer explained. "Normally, the first chain quest wasn't supposed to be completed until a few people failed it but something unexpected happened. The Player Black Rose managed to sneak into the bandit camp without being noticed and stole the Fire Stone."
"How does it connect to Grind God?" Katherine questioned.
"Well, Black Rose ended up getting caught when she was escaping and three Masked Bandits chased after her. We were sure she would fail but just before Black Rose got caught, she ended up passing the quest onto another player—"
"Grind God," Katherine finished for him, her lips curving. She was sometimes surprised how accurate her instinct was.
"Yes. It shouldn't have been possible but since Black Rose had a choice to abandon her quest, the quest transferred owners when she threw the Fire Stone to him," the developer elaborated. "All unique quests are managed by the AI and it adapts to the situation. Players can change the course of the chain quest depending on what path they take."
"Alright, get to the point." Katherine stopped him right there as her headache was getting worse the more information she consumed. "What did he do?"
Upon entering the main developing hall, the loud chatter immediately silenced as everyone got back to work. It was well known in the headquarters that the pretty Game Design Director hated noise.
"There are two matters that require Miss Katherine's attention," the developer began as he led her to the main screen. After clicking a few buttons, the scene of Liu Ye confronting Arthur was displayed for her.
When the hostile trader reached out to Liu Ye's body, the video paused. "Here. Based on the script, Arthur was supposed to steal the Fire Stone with a simple touch but Grind God outplayed the AI."
The video resumed playing, showing the guards taking Arthur away.
"Elemental Stones are not supposed to be rewarded from quests until players enter the mainland. All we wanted is to let the players know about its existence. That's not all." The developer skipped the video forward. "Because of the change in the quest, he received a completely new quest created by our AI. Right now, we have no control over where this chain quest will go."
"I see. Did anyone else in the game do this?" Katherine asked calmly, not really concerned.
"No. Not yet," the developer shook his head. "There are many ongoing quests though so we are trackin—"
"Don't do anything," Katherine cut him off. "Let the AI learn from its mistake. It doesn't really matter as long as players continue playing the game and master the elements."
"Yes, Miss Katherine," the developer nodded firmly, treating her words as gold.
"Next time don't call me unless it's something serious," Katherine ordered as she rubbed her forehead, fatigue overwhelming her. "Anyway, If that's all, I will return—"
She couldn't finish her sentence as sudden beeping disturbed her.
The developer next to Katherine looked at his pager and quickly sat down next to his computer.
"Someone is leveling up like crazy!" the man cried out as he pulled up the notification on the main screen. To everyone's surprise, Liu Ye's familiar outfit showed up again.
"It's him again! How is he already Level 6?!"
The developers widened their eyes while Katherine only let out a soft smile. Talented and smart players were exactly what she wanted to see.
They rewinded the last few minutes and Liu Ye's new farming strategy got exposed.
"He already killed three camps while standing on this rock and the fourth one is respawning soon," the developer reported. "If he continues at this pace, he can reach Level 10 in just six hours. Isn't that too soon? Shall we increase the respawn time?"
"How about we make the boulders slippery so he falls down?" another developer proposed.
Katherine rolled her eyes as she simply pressed one button on the keyboard, closing the video for them.
"Stop treating this game like a typical game," Katherine scolded. "That's not even a bug but a player using his wits to gain an advantage. This is exactly what we want to see. Let the players explore and enjoy the game as if it was real life. Unless someone is trying to break the game, stay put."
Her words caused silence in the room but she stopped paying them attention and walking towards the exit.
"Don't bother me anymore today. I'm going to rest."
Katherine returned back to her office, and after checking if anyone was around, she locked the door behind her while pulling down the blinds. Her gaze immediately fell onto her headgear console that laid on her desk.
"Grind God, huh..."
