Opening the Newbie Area map, it was indeed as Lu Xuehan said: Wild Dog Village and Wild Wolf Village were right next to each other, and it seemed like it wouldn't take more than ten minutes to get there.
Along the way, I casually dealt with the monsters blocking my path. By the time I reached Wild Wolf Village, I had miraculously leveled up to 6. The experience from level 9 monsters was truly something else!
Oh, right, there's a level leaderboard!
Opening the leaderboard, all of the top ten players in the China Region were level 6. It seemed that the leveling speed in this game was indeed quite slow; otherwise, someone should have already taken a job after 9 hours of the game being open!
I carefully looked through the top 50 several times but couldn't find my name. It must be that others had more experience than me! At the bottom of the leaderboard, a small line of text read: Your current level world ranking is 98652, China ranking is 60231.
I was quite speechless. Out of the top 100,000 players in the world, sixty thousand were Chinese. My compatriots were indeed quite crazy!
...At the village entrance, a beautiful MM was standing there, looking around. That pretty face was clearly Lu Xuehan's, completely unmodified! This Gu Nai Nai, wasn't she afraid of being recognized in real life?
"Lu Xuehan? Is that you?" I walked over and asked.
Vegetable Cocoa's name was displayed above her head, so I awkwardly said, "I'll just call you Ke Ke, it's more natural. I won't use your full name anymore."
Lu Xuehan nodded, looking enviously at my longsword. It was then that I remembered I needed to give her some things, so I immediately opened the trade window and put two items in:
[Sorcerer's Robe] (green equipment)
Defense: +6
Intelligence: +4
Required Level: 6
[Mining Staff] (White Equipment)
Attack: 4-6
Required Level: 3
I was lucky enough to get the staff from a small monster on the way. Lu Xuehan was clearly still holding a broken sword with 1-2 attack, so a staff would be perfect now.
"You're level 3 now, so you can't wear the robe yet, but you can use this staff. It's much better for hitting monsters than that crappy sword. What, aren't you going to click trade?"
Lu Xuehan hesitated, saying, "This piece of clothing can probably sell for nearly a thousand RMB right now. Are you just giving it to me?"
I couldn't help but laugh, "Silly girl, this is assigned to you by the organization, not a gift from me. Don't be embarrassed. Take it so you can level up faster. Don't you understand what Sister Lin means?"
Lu Xuehan finally accepted the clothes, but interestingly, she traded me a hundred copper coins. This was probably all the money she had right now; she was really having a tough time. She wasn't like Xin Yu, who could rely on her beautiful face to trick men into leveling with her. This level 3 was probably achieved through her own hard work. I accepted the money. I'll give her more when she can take a job. There's no time for such trivial matters now; this way, she'll probably feel more at ease.
"Alright, let's go level up. Stay close. My equipment is good, so I'll tank the monsters later. You can attack after me!"
"Okay." Lu Xuehan obediently agreed.
After teaming up with Lu Xuehan, we returned to Wild Wolf Valley. There were still no players there, but down the hillside, we had just seen groups of players ganging up on level 8 scruffy Dire Wolves. It was comical how often someone would scream, then turn into a white light and respawn.
"Are the monsters we're going to fight stronger than these?" Lu Xuehan looked at the clusters of white light with lingering fear, her voice trembling slightly.
"Of course, these are level 8 monsters, and we're going to fight level 9 ones. Don't worry, I've got everything!" My tone was calm, and Lu Xuehan quickly settled down, following closely behind me into the misty forest.
With previous experience, I no longer bothered with fancy moves, killing monsters in the simplest way possible. If I hadn't been soloing monsters and researching combat techniques just now, I'd probably be close to level 7 by now, and entering the top ten in the world shouldn't be too difficult.
A sword slash landed on the Cyan Wolf's head, and a large "64" floated up. Lu Xuehan watched in amazement, her small mouth agape.
"Aren't you going to come and attack?"
At my reminder, Lu Xuehan also joined the battle, her short wooden staff striking the Cyan Wolf's head.
"-2"
I looked at this number in disbelief. Was it an exaggeration? Lu Xuehan should have at least 8 attack now, so how could she only deal 2 damage? It was probably because the level difference was too great, a full 6 levels!
Lu Xuehan was unfazed and continued to fight seriously. I also focused on the battle.
"Ow!"
The Cyan Wolf fell, dropping two teeth!
Just as I was surprised, Lu Xuehan smiled and said, "I also accepted the quest, so there are two sets of quest items."
So that's how it was. I immediately clicked to pick them up, but found I could only take my share; I couldn't touch Lu Xuehan's. After a while, Lu Xuehan suddenly cried out.
"What's wrong?"
Lu Xuehan's mouth was wide open: "My... my experience suddenly increased by half!"
"..."
It would be strange if she didn't get a lot of experience jumping 6 levels to fight monsters. However, probably because Lu Xuehan's damage output was too low, the Cyan Wolf didn't drop any equipment for us, which was a bit of a pity.
I continued towards the next monster, and Lu Xuehan stuck out her tongue and followed.
"Lin Fan, your sword must have very high attack, right?" My repeated high damage output piqued Lu Xuehan's curiosity.
"Yes, 7-12 attack. Although it's not super high, it's not bad. The reason you're doing so little damage is because the level difference between you and the monsters is too great."
"Oh, I see. Then I need to level up quickly!"
"Exactly. When you reach level 6 and can wear that robe, you should be able to solo the monsters here."
Lu Xuehan nodded, then asked, "Oh, right, why don't I have any magic power right now?"
I thought for a moment and said, "It'll probably appear after you take a job."
"Okay."
Chatting and killing monsters like this, it wasn't boring at all. Lu Xuehan's operations gradually became more skillful from her initial awkwardness. I even taught her some monster-pulling and escape techniques, which she applied quite well.
Unknowingly, four hours passed; it was already 1 PM. Lu Xuehan astonishingly leveled up to 6, and because her level was lower, she didn't split much of my experience. I also rapidly leveled up to 8. Opening the leaderboard, I saw that I had already entered the global top 10,000. There really are a lot of strong players!
Lu Xuehan put on the long robe, and her entire demeanor immediately became elegant. Her high chest and firm, round hips were so alluring beneath the robe.
After being looked at so flirtatiously by me, Lu Xuehan immediately blushed and quietly said, "Let's go back and turn in the quest."