After a few moments of hesitation, Meng Jingtian strode in. It was just a game. There was no need to be afraid.
Flocks of Level 30 corpse-eater crows flew about the trees. As field mobs, they should have had red names for ordinary players, but this was not the case for Meng Jingtian.
The Friendliness of the corpse-eater crows was at 70—not comparable to NPCs in cities, but it was enough for the corpse-eater crows to not attack him.
After observing them for a short while, Meng Jingtian realized that there were twelve flocks of corpse-eater crows in total at the edge of Black Crow Forest. Each flock had forty to fifty members, and they were all extremely close to each other.
Normally, this would be a place that only a guild team of Level 30 players would try to grind.
Level 30 monsters… even though they were mobs, they had decent stats. Their HP was only 50000, but corpse-eater crows had an Attack of more than 3000. Ordinary attacks were capable of deleting the current average player in seconds.
"Divine Punishment!" Meng Jingtian attacked one of the corpse-eater crows.
"-10780" A damage number appeared, and this corpse-eater crow had a violent personality, so its Friendliness to Meng Jingtian instantly dropped by 50 points as it flew at him.
But the other corpse-eater crows of the flock were unaffected, continuing to fly here and there as if they had never even seen Meng Jingtian.
"Dodge!"
"-5042"
As Meng Jingtian dodged the corpse-eater crow's attack, he swung Stupa at the crow.
After another few ordinary attacks and one more Divine Punishment, the corpse-eater crow was taken care of. All in all, it had taken less than half a minute.
"Ding! Congratulations! You have gained 30000 EXP!"
He was currently Level 26, and leveling up required 500000 experience points. This meant that he needed to kill 17 corpse-eater crows at most to level up.
Considering that it took half a minute for each one, it meant that he could level up in less than ten minutes! This was truly an abnormal leveling speed!
The game had been open for a little more than a day, and the majority of players were only seventeen to eighteen. This was a sign of just how difficult leveling was.
As expected, grinding high-level monsters was more efficient!
At this time, high-level training zones were for Meng Jingtian alone to enjoy. Other players who tried to get in would face only one end.
That end was instant death by large numbers of corpse-eater crows. Even an elite team of a large guild would not dare to come to this zone with so many high-level monsters.
Let alone grinding, not losing levels would be good enough.
Meng Jingtian grinded for around two hours, in the end reaching Level 35. The higher one's level, the more experience that was required for the next level up.
And as he rose in level, the experience the corpse-eater crows gave to him also dropped.
At this time, each corpse-eater crow he killed only gave him 10000 EXP.
Meng Jingtian glanced at the level rankings. With a five-level gap, he had left Nangong Qi far behind.
Even Nangong Qi would probably take a while to make up these five levels. Meng Jingtian decided to stop grinding. Looking at the pitch-black depths of Black Crow Forest, he raised his saber and began to slowly venture deeper.
His level was far above that of ordinary players now, so he could put aside grinding for the moment and explore other facets of the game.
After all, as a veteran player, he keenly understood that while levels were very important in a game, they weren't everything.
While level had some influence on one's overall fighting power in a game, more important were equipment, abilities, and player skill.
He had no plans on making his character someone that only had levels.
Just as Meng Jingtian was about to venture into the depths of Black Crow Forest, the system made a congratulatory announcement.
"Ding! System Announcement: Congratulations on the number of players joining a faction worldwide reaching one hundred million! Once players reach Level 20, they can find masters or guides to learn the skills of sects and factions!"
The faction system had only been unlocked recently, and already one hundred million players had passed the trials to join a faction?
Meng Jingtian instantly became anxious. He had yet to find any news regarding any hidden factions.
If he still only had his starting skills while ordinary players had already learned faction skills, he would be at a major disadvantage in any fight.
Moreover, the threshold for players to learn faction skills wasn't very high, only Level 20. It probably wouldn't be long before players with faction skills were as common as the hairs on a bull.
Meng Jingtian's heart was rather heavy. He had been watching for any news from Bai Xiaosheng, but there was still no word on any hidden sects.
Moreover, with his money, he would never be able to afford this sort of information.
He could only internally sigh. If he didn't run into a hidden faction soon, he might have to settle for an ordinary faction.
"A skeleton?" As he was lost in thought, he spotted a decaying skeleton lying beneath a tree not far in front of him.
The bright numbers indicated that this fellow was still 'alive', not merely a background decoration.
Moreover, this skeleton was Level 50 and only had a Friendliness of 60, even lower than most NPCs and monsters.
"Young friend! Could you help this old Daoist with something?" As Meng Jingtian was inspecting its info, the skeleton began to speak.
Meng Jingtian thought it sounded rather weird. At first glance, he thought that this was some NPC or monster that had wandered over from the west. He hadn't expected it to be a native!
Meng Jingtian walked closer and realized that the skeleton really was wearing a tattered Daoist robe. The gloominess of Black Crow Forest and the distance had made him not see it initially.
And now that he was up close, Meng Jingtian had to stop himself from vomiting.
Holy shit! If only this guy had been an actual skeleton! After all, he had seen plenty of those in western virtual online games.
But this guy, strictly speaking, was only half a skeleton!
This was a Daoist that could no longer be recognized as human. Many areas of the body had rotted away until only bone was left, but there were also some areas that had yet to completely decay, and the stench of rotting meat was utterly revolting.
Meng Jingtian could only sigh in praise at this person's vitality, that they could still be alive in this wretched state.
Once he had calmed down his turbulent stomach, Meng Jingtian turned and said to this skeletal Daoist called Master Tian Yuan, "What can I help you with?"
As the skeleton had been the one to strike up the conversation, this fellow was probably an NPC, not a monster. And in his past experience, when NPCs asked for help, they were usually offering a mission.
"Young friend, please kill me, and then please deliver my body and this letter to my senior brother, Master Tian Ying!" Master Tian Yuan used his trembling, skeletal hand to take a letter out of his tattered robes.
"Ding! A Heart That Prays for All Peoples (1): Master Tian Yuan has requested for you to bring his corpse back to Qian Kun Monastery and deliver a letter to Master Tian Ying.
"Mission Time Limit: Ten days.
"Mission Reward: Skill Point + 1, Level + 1, 1 piece of purple equipment."