Powerful Slime

"Want me to look up to you?" The old man remained unmoved, pointing towards the lively blue slime outside the village with impatience. "It's simple, kill a slime to prove your strength."

"Ding!~"

System prompt: Do you accept the quest [Prove Strength] (Difficulty: D)?

"Yes!" Although Jiang Han had myriad thoughts, this was not the opportune moment. Feeling regretful for the old man not praising the centrality of his mother, he accepted this rather inexplicable task.

[Prove Strength]

Introduction: Valiant adventurer, slay a slime to demonstrate your might, provided you are capable.

Reward: 20 experience points.

Time was precious. After receiving the quest, he swiftly left the novice village. His gaze scanned various creatures oozing viscous liquid, and without hesitation, he retrieved the only top-quality equipment from his ten-slot backpack.

"Born to be Jiang Han, the novice village forever in darkness!"

"Equip!"

A half-meter-long, wrist-thick novice wooden stick appeared in Jiang Han's hand, landing heavily on a slime's head.

-5!

The bright red damage numbers suggested Jiang Han's attack was terrifying. Surprisingly, the initial damage was controlled so low.

"That's unexpected," Jiang Han thought.

"Bang!" However, the next second, he found himself terribly wrong. The slime bounced up with astonishing speed. Jiang Han, mentally relaxed, couldn't react in time. He felt a dull pain in his chest, staggering backward, and his health was halved.

-50!

"What?!" Jiang Han was shocked.

The slime's damage was ten times mine; this is not scientifically possible!

Just as the slime prepared for another attack, Jiang Han decisively retreated to the safety zone of the novice village, quickly opening the panel to check if something went wrong.

[One Jiang Han]

Level: 1

Health: 100

Attack: 2

Defense: 1

Reputation: 0

Luck: 0

Skill: [Scouting] (Effect: Can inspect basic information of creatures or items below level five)

Apart from having three-digit health, only the attack reached two. This was due to the wooden stick bonus, but overall, the panel data was impressively high.

"Something's wrong. There are no free attribute points..." Jiang Han was puzzled, unable to understand the situation. It seemed like the game was strange from the beginning.

"Damn, I can't even beat a slime!" Meanwhile, a burly young man appeared next to Jiang Han, cursing and seemingly resurrecting after being killed by a monster.

Jiang Han glanced at his in-game ID, shocked:

"The Piling Machine."

"All childish names got rejected. Why can this guy have such an excellent name and succeed? I don't accept this!"

Although not familiar, Jiang Han didn't ask much. He just watched more and more players get stuck in the novice village, unable to leave due to slimes. After some thought, he entered the official forum within the game. As expected, the forum had exploded with complaints about the slime's excessive strength.

One post, titled [I Am the Slime, Suppressing All Enemies in the World], had become the number one hot topic.

Afterward, Jiang Han scrolled through the comments section, hoping to find a solution from the omniscient netizens.

Old Horse's Father (player): Everyone, stop arguing. There must be a reason for the official's actions. I'll be honest; the official is screwing us over!

Clearly (player): Sorry, without competition, they can do whatever they want.

Handsome Suspect (player): I asked all the villagers, and they were about to raise their middle fingers as encouragement. Thank you, official.

...

No one has cracked it yet?

Jiang Han was speechless.

"Ding!"

System prompt: You've received an email!

Email?

Quickly opening it, Jiang Han saw that the official had sent a message:

"Dear adventurer, greetings. This game adopts a special method to let the Tianheng Continent evolve its worldview independently. All NPCs have their own stories and emotions. Unfortunately, we cannot arbitrarily change any data in the game. However, we assure you that the novice village is not a dead end. We believe adventurers can earn the respect of the indigenous people through their strength, courage, and wisdom."

"Are they determined to disgust the players?" Jiang Han raised an eyebrow, admiring the official's mail.

Inability to change any data in the game sounded nice. Still, to him, the real intention of the official might be to create a commotion, increasing the heat. After all, even negative publicity could be beneficial. All NPCs having their stories and emotions...

After rereading the email, Jiang Han seemed to have understood something. After circling the novice village, he finally fixed his gaze on a sword-wielding soldier wearing tattered armor.

[Novice Village Soldier·???]

A bunch of question marks indicated that Jiang Han couldn't accurately inspect the opponent's information panel, including their strength and level.

"It seems that the novice village soldiers are at least level five or above..." The reason Jiang Han targeted the novice village soldier was because of the opponent's strength.

Without hesitation, he walked up quickly and smiled, "Brother, can I ask you for a favor?"

"No." The novice village soldier's refusal was straightforward.

However, Jiang Han persisted. Raising a finger slowly, just as he was about to speak, the soldier answered directly, "You adventurers should think about how to protect yourselves under the slime's attack. Do you really think a small benefit can tempt me? Let me tell you, even if it's ten gold coins, don't think about taking anything from me!"

Damn, indeed, there are talented people among players. Some are already using benefits as a stepping stone to test the waters!

Jiang Han took a deep breath, speaking in a deep voice, "Ten thousand gold coins!"

Although Eternal's official content was meager, it had mentioned the currency system. In Eternal, there were three types of currency:

 copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins. Similar to common game settings, one hundred copper coins exchanged for one silver coin, and one hundred silver coins exchanged for one gold coin. As for the recharge system, it was temporarily unavailable in the early stages. Therefore, even the wealthiest players couldn't produce a single gold coin now. After all, the setting of copper and silver coins would be meaningless if players could obtain gold coins in the early game.

"!!"

Obviously, the novice village soldier was stunned by Jiang Han's charm, unable to speak for a long time.

After a while, he said coldly, "Adventurer, do you know what ten thousand gold coins mean?"

"Let me tell you, among adventurers, my wealth is massive, enough to last several lifetimes." Jiang Han fabricated.

Enough to last several lifetimes!

This statement was, of course, false. Just before entering the game, he had finished a pack of instant noodles. Among the so-called beef, there was a lot, and after drinking all the soup in the bowl, he finally found one piece at the bottom. The feeling could only be described in four words: like finding treasure.

"Although I can't bring wealth into the Tianheng Continent temporarily, I can guarantee that in the future, I will become one of the richest adventurers on this continent." Jiang Han said solemnly, "If you don't believe it, you can make a covenant with me. If I breach the contract, you can freely chase and kill me."

Chase and kill!

As a player, he feared chasing and killing the least. As the level increased, these small novice village soldiers wouldn't create much of a wave.

"This..."

The novice village soldier hesitated.

He was the first to encounter such a generous and confident adventurer. As a soldier with a monthly income of only fifty silver coins, saying he wasn't tempted would be a lie. Moreover, considering that these adventurers were weak, even if they breached the contract, they couldn't escape from his palm.

"If you think I'm lying to you, then forget it." Jiang Han, retreating as a form of advance, said regretfully, "I believe there will be someone in the village willing to help me."

Saying that, he turned and left.

"Wait!"

Hearing that Jiang Han was going to find someone else, the novice village soldier quickly spoke up, then said seriously, "Young adventurer, your generosity has convinced me. Tell me, how can I help you?"

At the words, Jiang Han, with his back to the soldier, curled the corner of his mouth.

Although the bait was salty, the other party had been hooked forcefully!