A Risky Quest

 After walking for some minutes, he got to a large wooden gate at the eastern part of the village.

 It was reinforced with old iron bands, however, the gate was wide open, revealing a large grassy field.

 The field looked normal at first, but if one looked closely, they would notice the strange rustling going on within the bushes. 

 "Hey! Don't go in there, I heard the monsters there are dangerous!" He heard a player shouted behind him, however, he simply waved at the man, dismissing his advice.

 'These dumb idiots, do you think you know better than the beta players who said the east was dangerous? Such a fool.' The player thought to himself, scowling at Riley. 

 Riley simply smirked, walking towards the gate anyway. 

 However, instead of passing through the gate directly, he suddenly turned towards a tall, bulky man standing at the corner.

 The man was bald, and on his face was a thick, red scar, which ran down to his chin. 

 His intimidating appearance, coupled with the scar on his face, made most of the players think he was meant to guard the eastern gate, which was another reason they avoided it.

 However, that wasn't the case, as the man was just a farmer angered by rats eating his crops without mercy.

 There was also something he had learnt about the man from his past life, which none of the players here knew. 

 Riley flashed a slight smile at the man, who simply replied with an annoyed scowl.

 "What do you want?" The man asked rudely, scoffing at Riley.

 "I was just wondering if you need any help." Riley replied, not even caring about the man's rude response.

 "Of course I do!" The man shouted, leaning over Riley with his huge physique. 

 But still, Riley didn't seem to be fazed by him. 

 "Those damn rats, they keep eating all the crops on my farm…" The man said, and from there, he started ranting on and on about all the losses he had made from the start of the year. 

 Riley simply listened to him attentively, allowing the man to rant all he wanted.

 Then after ranting for a few more minutes, the man finally said the magic words he had been waiting for. 

 "If only one of you could be useful, and help me take care of them… I could even give a gold coin as a reward!" 

 "Deal." Riley quickly said, his eyes flashing with a sinister glint.

 The man was a bit taken aback by his sudden response, and when the words that came out of his mouth fully registered within him, his eyes widened in shock. 

 'Did i just promise to give him… one gold coin?!' He thought, his gaze drifting back to Riley. 

 The latter was simply staring at him with a friendly smile, and for a brief moment, he felt like he saw the edges of his lips curl sinisterly.

 The man pondered his words for a while, then a wide smirk suddenly broke out on his face.

 'This is the best… he looks weak, there's no way he'll be able to finish the task with that useless weapon.' He thought, his eyes shining with an evil glint. 'You think you can get one gold coin off me so easily… you won't even be alive to spend it.' 

 "Hmm! Hmm!" The man suddenly cleared his throat, stretching a hand towards Riley. 

 "Fine, I accept. Clear ten rats from my farm, and I'll give you a gold coin." He said, his eyes twinkling slightly.

 "Okay, that's a deal." Riley replied, taking his handshake with a warm smile.

 A notification immediately appeared in front of Riley, and the smile on his face twisted into a smirk.

[You have triggered the D-Rank Novice Quest: Kill 10 Spiked Rats on Burus' farm.]

[Reward: One Gold Coin from the farmer]

 'Finally… my chance to get my hands on a gold coin!' He thought.

 Another important part of the game [Apocalypse] were the coins, which could be converted to actual monetary value, and vice versa. 

 One Gold coin was equal to a hundred silver coins, and one silver coin was equal to a hundred copper coins. 

 The lowest currency in the world of apocalypse was a copper coin, which was equal to a dollar in the real world.

 So him getting his hands on a gold coin this early in the game meant he would have ten thousand copper coins, or rather, ten thousand dollars!

 Such a huge amount of money was something his younger self would have never imagined getting, especially not like this.

 Meanwhile, the man gestured to him to follow him, before turning towards the gate. 

 'Hehe, at least he can help me whittle down their numbers a bit before dying, what a stupid kid.' He thought. 

 Riley simply followed behind him, narrowing his eyes at the farmer's back. 

*

A few minutes later… 

 "The farm is up ahead, good luck!" Burus shouted, lightly tapping Riley's shoulder.

 They were currently standing in between the green fields, but, they still hadn't gotten to the farm he spoke about yet.

 However, it didn't seem like the man had any plan to actually follow Riley to the farm, as he refused to move even an inch further. 

 Riley frowned, casting a side glance at him.

 "Let's get there together." 

 "No, I'll rather just stay here… you know, so I won't disturb you." The man said with a wry smile. 

 Riley's eyes narrowed, and he clicked his tongue, but he didn't say anything else.

 'What a selfish bastard.' He thought, his gaze drifting down to the ring on the man's hand.

 He could easily tell that was no ordinary ring, but rather a treasure that was meant to ward off low-level spiked rat. 

 That also explained why no rat tried attacking them on the way here so far.

 However, from how he was refusing to go beyond this point, it was clear that the ring was unable to ward off whatever monster was in the farmland.

 'I wasn't sure of it before… but now I am… there's a boss monster in there.' Riley thought, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

 Though he was putting on a brave front, in reality, what he was doing was actually quite risky.

 He got the news of this quest while chatting with a friend who spawned in this particular novice village as a beta player.

 And he could remember how dangerous he said the quest was, especially because of the boss monster.

 Fortunately for his friend, he managed to escape the boss monster, and was able to successfully claim the gold coin, despite the selfish NPC's annoyance. 

 However, Riley was banking on his talent's ability to absorb the attributes and skills of monsters to grow stronger… strong enough to finally take down the monster boss.

 If he succeeded, he would emerge from the farm a new person, many times stronger than he was before, but if he made even one mistake… he would fail, and his future progress would be stagnated.