Ye Kong looked at the items the Forest Watchman had dropped, and the first thing that caught his eye was the weapon—
Forest Watchman's Rod (Bronze Gear - Unique)
Weapon Attributes: Attack +10, Strength +4
Level Requirement: Level 5
Class Restriction: Weapon Specialist, Berserker, Spearman
Note: This piece of equipment is drenched in the Forest Watchman's blood, and it's the only thing he left behind.
"It's a good quality Bronze weapon!"
Ye Kong instantly raised his eyebrows, but then the very next moment, he sighed. "It's a real shame that it's not a Swordsman's weapon. Otherwise, I could replace this novice sword I'm using."
Iron rods were weapons reserved for Strength-type Professions, and they weren't something Ye Kong could use.
It's worth mentioning that classes in the world of Demon Realm weren't limited to one type of weapon—
For example, Swordsmen could wield long swords, rapiers, and other similar weapons. As long as they were considered "swords," the Swordsman tag would be included under the class restrictions for the equipment.
In the same vein, Assassins could wield tantos, daggers, and so on; rangers could choose from longbows, heavy crossbows, and the like; and each variant of weapon had its own unique characteristics.
Among all the classes, the Weapon Specialist and the Berserker had access to the most types of weapons, and could even equip the "tachi"—Tachi were categorized as greatswords, as opposed to sword-type equipment.
As such, in his past life, there were Berserkers who carried around "tachi," while Swordsmen couldn't even equip them...
To get back on topic, the Forest Watchman's Rod had very good attributes, especially the Strength +4 bonus, which was higher than other normal Bronze equipment attributes (the normal bonus was +3 points). As for Black Iron Gear of the same level, it didn't provide a bonus to Main Attributes (Four Major Attributes), and only gave three points of Resistance (a Lower Attribute). The difference was like night and day.
Even if Ye Kong couldn't equip it himself, he could sell it. He believed that the guilds of Qingmu Town were willing to pay good coin for it.
Stashing away the iron rod, Ye Kong looked at the remaining two items—
Mondite (Quest Equipment): This is a piece of stone filled with the energy of the moon.
Badge of the Three Stars (Incomplete): ???
The former item, Mondite, was what Ye Kong had come for, because it was an item related to the story event in the Gray Fog Village—
During the Gray Fog Village story event, the Village Chief - Randy would request players to look for the Forest Watchman. Players would have to take the Hot Spring Medicine given by the Village Chief and look for the Forest Watchman.
After the players accomplished this, the Forest Watchman would give the player "Mondite," and the player could then bring it back to the Village Chief to hand in the quest.
However, Ye Kong had slain the Forest Watchman, causing him to drop his items, which then became Ye Kong's "trophies"!
Having claimed these items, Ye Kong could bring the "Mondite" back with him to the Gray Fog Village's Chief, and directly complete the quest—
This kind of act could be called "intercepting the win"!
"Thank goodness I managed to make it in time."
Ye Kong quietly congratulated himself. "If another player had given the 'Hot Spring Medicine' to the Forest Watchman and allowed him to dispel his 'Unwell' state, he would have recovered to his full strength at level six, and then I really wouldn't have been able to kill him..."
Historically, in this story event, the Forest Watchman was suffering from rheumatism, so until he accepted "treatment," he would maintain an "Unwell" state, and his strength would be capped at level four.
Ye Kong relied on his experience here to seize this "time vacuum" to successfully slay the Forest Watchman before he could receive external aid. Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without his high character level, his excellent equipment (three pieces of Bronze Gear and an Emblem of Potential), as well as his top-tier gaming skills.
Otherwise, any other regular level-two player would face a level-two difference, and wouldn't be able to so much as touch the Forest Watchman. It would probably only take the Forest Watchman a few moments to instantly kill the player!
"But what is this thing?"
Ye Kong pocketed the Mondite, then looked suspiciously at the last item on the ground—
Badge of the Three Stars (Incomplete): ???
It was one half of a badge, which was carved with the image of a shield. This was the left half of it. If he wanted to see the full picture, he would need to find the missing right half and join it with the left half to form the complete image.
"This thing kind of looks like a token. Whatever it is, it's not a piece of equipment."
Ye Kong could immediately rule out the possibility that the item was a piece of equipment. This was because items that characters could equip fell into two major categories—
Regular Equipment:
Weapons, chest armor, leg armor, footwear, waist armor, handguards, helmet/headgear, and rings (two can be equipped at a time).
Artifact Equipment:
Emblems, Seals, Jewels, and Statuettes (these had no class restrictions, and players could equip two different types of artifact equipment at a time), as well as special Pendants (players could only have one Pendant equipped at a time).
Pendants were kept distinct from the other four types of Artifacts, which meant players could have two Artifacts and one special Pendant equipped at any time.
Regular equipment came with stricter level restrictions. If the player's level didn't meet the required level, they couldn't equip the item.
Artifact Equipment didn't have any level restrictions. However, the equipment generally didn't provide any extra Main Attributes (Four Attributes), but only some special effects, and rarely, some Advanced Attributes.
This badge could be misconstrued as an "Emblem." Unfortunately, with his vast stores of experience, Ye Kong could tell it wasn't meant to be equipped.
"Could it be that this is a bonus reward for killing the Forest Watchman?"
At the moment, Ye Kong couldn't figure out what it was, so he just put it away into his backpack. At the same time, he was growing a little worried about the bag's capacity—it was almost full.
The starting backpack that players were given could only hold ten slots. Even though materials (aside from equipment) in Demon Realm could be grouped up and stored in a single slot as a "stack," with ten slots it was only possible to store 10 different kinds of items, so ultimately it still wasn't enough space.
"I need to look for an opportunity to make some money, and exchange this for a bigger backpack."
After some thought, Ye Kong decided that when he returned, he would sell the iron rod and staff in his backpack and use the money to get a bag upgrade. He would also go to the black market to exchange his money for some real-life currency, and help ease the financial burden on his little sister.
He had this rare opportunity to help his sister, so he wouldn't let her suffer again!
Ye Kong made up his mind, then turned to head in a certain direction—
That direction was where the Gray Fog Village was situated.
........
Dark Mist Forest, somewhere else in the forest...
"Hurry! We'll be arriving shortly!"
Floralteapot was running at the head of the group, with two of his guildmates following close behind. There was one man and one woman, and in addition to floralteapot, the three of them formed this small operations squad.
They were all members of the Yokai Legion Guild, and they were here to complete a key story event under the orders of their guild leader - aotabo.
"Quickly now, we're almost finished with the entire story event!"
Floralteapot was full of excitement, and he said in a loud voice, "We just need to find the Forest Watchman and get the 'Mondite' from him, bring it back to the Gray Fog Village's Chief, and then the story event will be finished..."
But before he had finished saying this, a notification sounded, shattering his joyful expression—
System Notification: The Forest Watchman of the Dark Mist Forest has been slain by a player. You have failed the Story Event - "The Gray Fog Village Chief's Request," and any incomplete quest progress will be automatically erased.
"Wh... What?!"
Floralteapot's face froze in shock, but the next moment, it twisted into a fearsome expression—
"How could this be? The Forest Watchman is actually dead?!"