When he arrived at the entrance of the village, Mark was stopped by the guards. "Halt!"
The two guards scrutinized his face and compared his appearance to the wanted posters in their hands. "What's your name? You don't look familiar." One of the guards asked him.
Mark wanted to give them his in-game name, but he was embarrassed to say since it was too edgy. "You can call me Wolf. I'm a wanderer and I got lost in the forest. I only managed to find my way here with some effort."
The guards gave him a deep look. "You need to pay 10 Orbes for the entrance fee." One of them said.
Mark only had 1000 Orbes, but he readily gave 10 Orbes to the guards to save himself the trouble. "Can I go now?" He asked.
The guard's face relaxed after getting his payment. "You may enter." The guard then gave him a black token and said. "Just show this the next time you enter the village. Don't lose it or you will have to pay 10 Orbes to get another one."
Mark nodded his head as he kept the token inside his storage bag. He then thanked the two guards before he entered the village. From the signage he saw at the top of the wall, the village was called Greenwood Village. The houses reminded him of the ancient China in the 15th century. There were quite a few people on the streets and he even saw some vendors selling their wares.
Mark looked up and saw that the sky was darkening. "I have to search for a room to stay." He didn't know if the village was safe at night so he had to find a place to stay.
Mark walked along the paved road and he soon found a four-story building called Mystic Cloud Inn. The walls of the building were painted with red and there were also images of mystical creatures. They looked terrifying and incredibly lifelike. 'Whoever painted those images was a great artist.'
Mark entered the building and walked towards the reception area. "Greetings, guest! Welcome to Mystic Cloud Inn!" A beautiful girl with blonde hair greeted him at the reception.
Mark smiled at her. "Hello! Do you still have a vacant room?" He asked.
The blonde-haired girl nodded her head. "Yes, sir! We still have some empty rooms upstairs. What kind of room are you looking for?" She secretly observed Mark's attire and when she saw his ordinary clothes, a trace of disdain flickered across her face. It was only a moment, but Mark saw it clearly. After working as a service crew for over a year, he learned how to perceive his customer's emotions through their facial expression.
"I'm only by myself so I just need a single room. I wonder how much your rate here is?" Mark was upset by the reaction displayed by the receptionist, but he maintained a calm demeanor. It was already getting late and it would be too dangerous for him to stay outside.
"Our single room is 50 Orbes per day." There was an obvious change in the receptionist's tone. She was no longer as polite as earlier, but Mark ignored this.
"I'll stay for three days." Mark didn't know how long he had to stay in the village, but three days should be enough for him to gather some information.
He grabbed 150 Orbes from his storage bag and handed it to the receptionist.
She thought that Mark was only there to strike up a conversation with her and she didn't expect him to actually rent a room. "Here's your key, sir. You can find your room on the second floor." She handed him a key with the number 18 on it.
Mark grabbed the key and kept it in his pocket. "By any chance, do you have a map for sale?" He inquired.
The receptionist was taken aback. "What kind of map are you looking for, sir? We do have some maps here. We have a map of the entire village and we also have a map of the Western Capeland where the village is located."
"I'll get them both." Mark was pleasantly surprised. He was only trying his luck. He didn't expect that the inn actually had maps available for sale.
"The map of the village is 5 Orbes, while the map of Western Capeland is 12 Orbes." The receptionist said as she grabbed two maps from the drawer underneath the table.
Mark took out 17 Orbes and handed it to her. He then grabbed the two maps before he turned around and headed upstairs. He didn't bother to say anything more to her because he was still unhappy about her attitude.
It didn't take him long to find his room. The room wasn't big. There was only a bed and a comfort room. There was a small table and a chair at the window side, but other than that, there was nothing else. There wasn't even a kitchen or a bathroom.
Mark was disappointed, but he didn't complain. He would only stay here temporarily so there was no need to dwell on such trivial matters.
He locked the door before he sat in a lotus position on top of the bed. He decided to cultivate for the next few hours before taking his dinner.
+1 Qi
+1 Qi
+1 Qi
Mark was already familiar with the feeling of absorbing Qi. He thought that cultivating would be a boring process, but he found out that it was actually a unique experience. He felt like he was in a trance every time he cultivated. His mind was in a relaxed state and his body was filled with energy.
+1 Qi
[You have absorbed the required Qi for a breakthrough!]
[You have reached the First Level of Body Strengthening!]
Mark opened his eyes and he felt a wave of intense hunger. He ignored the prompts and grabbed the remaining three pieces of coarse bread in his storage bag. It didn't take long for him to devour the bread. He then checked his player information.
Player IGN: Wolf of the Grassland
Cultivation: Body Strengthening First Level
Physique: Mortal
Qi: 0/100
Wealth: 823 Orbes
Vitality: 0.7 —> 1.7
Endurance: 1.4 —> 2.4
Strength: 0.8 —> 1.8
Stamina: 0.7 —> 1.7
Speed: 0.7 —> 1.7
Spirit: 1.9 —> 2.9
Cold Resistance: 0.3
Heat Resistance: 0.3
Damage: 0.5
All his stats increased by 1 with the exception of the three last attributes. "Perhaps I can only increase these attributes by equipping more powerful items." He mumbled. He was already very satisfied with his gains.
[You have unlocked the Leaderboards!]
"Huh? What's this?" Mark was surprised by the prompt that suddenly appeared before him.
He found out that he could now check the leaderboards by clicking on the leaderboard panel.
[Cultivation Ranking]
[Wealth Ranking]
[Physique Ranking]
[Pet Ranking]
Mark clicked on the cultivation ranking.
[Cultivation Ranking]
1st - Xuanyuan Wentian ( Body Strengthening Second Level)
2nd - The Destroyer of Worlds (Body Strengthening Second Level)
3rd - Saber King (Body Strengthening Second Level)
4th - Lord Shiva (Body Strengthening First Level)
5th - Miyamuto Musashi (Body Strengthening First Level)
6th…
There were a thousand people on the list and he was stunned when he saw that the top 3 were already at the second level of Body Strengthening. "How did they cultivate that fast?"
The Ordinary Cultivation Manual gifted to the new players could only give 1 Qi in every hour of cultivation. Not even a day has passed since the game started and there were already three people at the second level of Body Strengthening. He wondered how they managed to reach that level in such a short period of time.
To reach the second level, one needs to absorb 100 Qi. "Only a little more than half a day passed since the game started. How is that possible?" He was in disbelief.
To reach the second level of Body Strengthening, he had to cultivate for 100 hours using the ordinary cultivation technique!
400,788th - Wolf of the Grassland (Body Strengthening First Level)
His rank wasn't even close to the top 100. That means there were already over 400 thousand players who had reached the first level of Body Strengthening!
Mark was dispirited as he thought about it. He then checked the other rankings, but he found out that he was so far behind compared to the other players. He closed the leaderboards with a heavy sigh.
"Nevermind. I bought this game to have fun so it doesn't matter if I'm behind in the rankings." He consoled himself.