Chapter 2: A Small Advantage

Chapter 2: A Small Advantage

Chapter 2

Throwing knives paired with poison powder. On the screen, the doctor dressed in short garments was laboriously fighting monsters, attracting inquiries from a group of players.

[Current] Hua Tuo Reborn: Where did you get throwing knives? (wide-eyed)

[Current] Don't Call Me If You Don't Need Healing: Why is your damage so high??

Ying Long pretended not to see the densely packed speech bubbles, quickly finished the fight, and ran over to turn in the quest to her senior brother.

The senior brother was very satisfied. He taught her another skill and issued a quest, asking her to deliver a letter to the senior sister who was far away in Beauty of Xi City, guiding her to use the "Post Station" function, which was the teleportation point system on the Nine Provinces map.

There were two ways to travel around the Nine Provinces map. One was to carry a Horse Talisman and summon a swift horse to rush to the destination. The other was to activate the Post Station function and teleport directly. The process of activating the various teleportation points one by one was called "running the map" by players.

The letter-delivery quest issued by the senior brother was meant to teach players how to use a Horse Talisman to summon a chestnut-colored pony, run to the Post Station in Beauty of Xi City themselves, and activate the teleportation function.

Anyone who had played games would probably know this process by heart. Unfortunately, inexperienced players had underestimated the development team's attention to detail.

Do you know how expensive horses were in ancient times? Only nobles and high officials could ride horses. For ordinary families, merely having a bullock cart to ride in was already impressive, and owning a donkey meant the family was well-off.

The Horse Talisman given by the senior brother could only be used once. It could travel eight hundred li in a day, and it could reach Beauty of Xi City in half a minute.

After that... you had to walk on foot, or purchase the ten-yuan, twenty-four-hour Horse Talisman from the cash shop, a function that could only be unlocked at level 20.

Therefore, Ying Long accepted the quest but did not immediately act. Instead, she found the NPC at the private school in the Valley of the Medicine King.

After selecting him, he would ask: [Excellent disciple, are you ready to accept the trial?]

Under most circumstances, new players would not consider choosing quests on their own. The game had just launched, and following the guidance of the main quest was the easiest and fastest approach. It helped players quickly familiarize themselves with the game's settings and functions, so at this moment, there were hardly any players standing in front of this NPC.

Ying Long chose to accept the quest.

The page immediately displayed [The Trial of the Omniscient: First Question].

As someone who had been through this before, she knew that this was Nine Provinces' longest-running weekly quest: answering questions.

Ten questions about sect knowledge, ten questions about the geography of Nine Provinces, ten questions about the knowledge of other sects, ten questions about poetry, ten questions about idioms and historical anecdotes, ten questions about morality, ten brain teasers, and thirty questions about general historical knowledge.

After answering all one hundred questions, players could obtain a huge amount of experience based on the number of correct answers and the time taken.

To be honest, Ying Long had not expected that the Omniscient's questions would already exist at launch. Who could answer so many questions right after the game opened? And who would have the mind to stop leveling and come to the game to do quizzes?

What were they thinking?

The only person who benefited was this reincarnated player of hers.

The Omniscient's question bank had basically not changed over the course of ten years, aside from the addition of some knowledge points from subsequent expansions.

Ying Long had answered it once every week. She could not claim she would get one hundred percent correct without fail, but if she searched for something, she certainly would not get it wrong.

First question: Who was the founder of the School of Medicine?

A: Divine Farmer

B: Yellow Emperor

C: Fu Xi

D: Nu Wa

The answer was B.

Next question: Which manual could treat patients and eliminate the source of their illness?

The answer was The Plain Questions Classic.

Click, click, click. If there had been anyone in the dormitory, they would have easily noticed that Ying Long was pressing the mouse almost exactly once per second.

She knew every question by heart and did not need to think about them at all.

In less than one minute, she had answered the first fifty questions. Her speed still slowed down afterward. There was no helping it. The general history question bank was relatively large. Something as simple as "Which of these is not a poem by Li Bai?" could be distinguished at a glance, but "How many years did the Song Dynasty last?" was a little more difficult. She had to search it to know the exact number.

Five minutes later, with the click of the mouse, the hundredth question was answered.

The NPC displayed an entirely new interface.

[Omniscient]: Apothecary Exquisite, your excellence exceeds imagination. The simple trial can no longer stump you? I still have twenty additional questions here. Are you willing to accept the challenge?

Ying Long was quite surprised. She had answered the questions countless times, but she had never heard of additional questions.

But there could not possibly be anything bad about an unexpected encounter in the game. She would accept it first and worry about the rest later.

(Countdown: 60 seconds)

Question 101: Which is the incorrect first-aid method for a burn?

A: Immediately rinse with cold water

B: Apply burn ointment

C: Apply a cold towel

D: Try applying soy sauce

The answer was D.

Question 102 was also about treatment: What was the correct method of cardiopulmonary resuscitation?

Question 103: After being poisoned, what could be used as emergency first aid to induce vomiting?

Question 104: Which of the following plants has roots that are highly poisonous?

Question 105: Which emergency first-aid method should be used to clear an obstruction in the upper respiratory tract?

The questions were not difficult. They were knowledge questions about everyday first aid, and some of the content also appeared later in the question bank.

Ying Long took exactly one minute, neither more nor less, to finish answering them.

[Omniscient]: Excellent disciple, your wisdom is truly admirable! Please remember that wisdom, perseverance, and patience are the most important qualities in Nine Provinces. Never abandon them. One day, your efforts will be rewarded.

From the perspective of the game, the wording was merely adequate. Ordinary players would forget it after reading it, but Ying Long had a mystery in her heart. Something stirred inside her, and she immediately took a screenshot and saved it before clicking next.

[Omniscient]: You are the first person in Nine Provinces to complete the challenge. Take the honor that belongs to you!

A reward appeared at the bottom of the dialogue interface.

She clicked "Accept," and a brocade pouch appeared in her inventory.

She right-clicked to open it. When she moved the cursor over it, the item description appeared:

[Title: Peerless Sage, Duration: 30 days, Attribute: Increases Intelligence by 5% when equipped.]

In the game, a character's ID appeared above their character model. It could of course be hidden as well. A title was a line of small text underneath the ID. Its greatest purpose was to show off and look cool, such as "Number One Scholar of Nine Provinces," "Number One Beauty of the Royal City," or "Richest Under Heaven." Just like in the real world, it allowed you to stand out from the crowd and distinguish yourself.

There were many ways to obtain titles. Buying enough costumes made you the Number One Beauty, having enough gold in the bank made you a Regional Tycoon, and the most domineering of all was "Overlord of Nine Provinces," the title of the king of the entire continent.

But looking cool was only superficial. Many people scrambled to obtain titles because they wanted the attribute bonuses.

Attributes determined a character's strength and were divided into six categories, all of which were deconstructions of real-world traits.

Physique (Physical Defense): The stronger the physique, the more external injuries one could withstand, and the higher one's health would be, with a greater probability of resisting external injuries.

Strength (Physical Damage): The stronger the strength, the harder you hit others, causing various kinds of external injuries.

Agility (Hit Rate): Whether using external or internal techniques, the higher the agility, the greater the probability of hitting an enemy.

Body Technique (Evasion and Blocking): The more agile one's movements, the greater the probability of evading or blocking damage, corresponding to hit rate.

Intelligence (Spell Damage): The smarter the mind, the more powerful the techniques one could practice, causing various kinds of internal injuries.

Vital Qi (Spell Defense): Related to internal techniques. With sufficient vital qi, one's internal energy value increased, and one could resist more internal injuries.

There were also several other values, such as stamina, resilience, composure, critical hit, additional damage, and so on, which would not be detailed for the time being.

Increasing Intelligence by 5% meant that, with the same equipment and level, the power of one's techniques would increase by one tier. Exactly how much it increased depended on the skill formula, so there was no need to elaborate for now. In short, the higher the level, the more Intelligence one accumulated, and the more obvious the bonus became.

An absolute divine item.

Ying Long immediately equipped it in the character panel and chose to hide the title.

But although a character could hide information, the system announcement could not.

[System] "Thought makes one wise, wisdom makes one a sage." Apothecary Exquisite of [Ruler of the World] has become the first player on the entire server to complete the "Nine Provinces Omniscient's Trial." Her wisdom is astonishing!

The game's announcements were divided into two types: server announcements and global announcements. Both were displayed by the system on the players' information screens. System messages could not be blocked, and all players could see them immediately, which was why they were also called "appearing on television."

Less than an hour after launch, the players' information windows were filled with sect, regional, and current messages. This was the first global announcement.

The regional channel immediately became extremely lively.

[Region] Can't Think of a Name: Where is the Omniscient quest?

[Region] Number One Handsome Under Heaven: Holy crap, the first announcement! A closed-beta player?

[Region] Eight-Treasure Congee: What do I do if my Horse Talisman is gone?

[Sect] Hua Tuo Reborn: Apothecary is from our sect. I just saw her. She's insanely good at fighting monsters.

[Sect] Clear Autumn Moon: What channel is this?

...

It was just a little discussion, nothing particularly noteworthy. This was normal as well. Veteran players might keep an eye on the system, while new players could not even figure out the interface. Who would care?

Ying Long did not pay much attention either. Her experience bar flashed, reminding her that she could level up.

She pressed the level-up button, and light burst from the character.

Once, twice, three times... she went from level 7 to level 15.

An astonishing experience bar!

This was the real reason she had not left the sect and had stayed behind to do the questions.

The first time a player completed one hundred questions, the Omniscient would give an extremely generous amount of experience. With the same amount of experience, the lower the level, the more levels one could gain. Nine Provinces' first twenty levels in particular had an enormous amount of leeway. The average leveling time was five hours, making it no different from riding a rocket.

This setting had been heavily criticized in the early stages. Many veteran players felt that leveling was too childish, but the official explanation was quite interesting.

The first twenty levels represented the player's first twenty years of life. From entering a sect and studying, to completing one's studies and leaving the sect to roam the martial world, the player experienced twenty years of life at accelerated speed, which was why it was so fast. After level 20, time flowed normally, and every level required hard work.

Ying Long accepted this explanation. As the saying went, twenty years marked adulthood; in ancient times, men only became adults at the age of twenty. This setting made sense.

But even if it took five hours, she could not let an opportunity to get ahead slip away. Not to mention that being a higher level also made quests faster. A single step ahead could lead to being ahead at every step.

She opened the inventory and right-clicked the 168-yuan gift box.

She unpacked two items: a costume called "Quiet Maiden" and a mount called "Little Donkey."

An ordinary horse had a movement speed of 100, while Little Donkey had 80. Although it was slower, the advantage was that there were no restrictions. Ordinary families could not afford to raise horses, so riding a donkey was very realistic. The developers deserved thanks for not making everyone ride an ox, because in feudal society, bullock carts were more common than mule- or donkey-drawn carts. They could both plow fields and serve as vehicles.

... That was getting off topic.

Ying Long had the little doctor mount Little Donkey. Clip-clop, clip-clop, it set off toward Beauty of Xi City.

The first version of Nine Provinces contained multiple feudal states: Yan and Zhao in the north, Qin in the west and Chu in the south, Wu and Yue in the southeast, as well as Qi and Wei, along with the Son of Heaven's City where the Son of Heaven of Zhou resided. Beauty of Xi City was the capital of Wu.

Leaving the sect and entering Nine Provinces meant that players were becoming involved in the conflicts between the various states, and the main storyline officially began.

The plot of the first section went like this: Wu and Yue had recently gone to war, but the King of Wu's beloved concubine had suddenly fallen seriously ill. The king was frantic with worry, abandoning his government affairs and staying by his beloved's side every day, demanding that the medical hall immediately develop a medicine to cure the illness.

Ying Long did not know what kind of king this was or why the players could not simply rebel, but that was how the quest went, so she could only run errands.

As a disciple of the School of Medicine, she ran for a few minutes to the Post Station in Beauty of Xi City, activated the teleportation point, and then continued on to deliver the letter to the senior sister.

The senior sister was the head of the medical hall and was responsible for treating the King of Wu's beloved concubine.

She issued a new main quest.

[Senior Sister]: The beauty's illness is homesickness. Only the pure water from beside the Clear Stream, Heart-Tugging Grass from the deep forest, and the heart of a cuckoo can cure her.

Don't think this was simply a matter of running three errands.

Go to the stream, and you would discover that Upper River Village and Lower River Village were fighting over the water source used to irrigate their farmland. If you dared to take water, they would beat you up.

Go to the deep forest, and you would discover that a giant python was guarding the forest. The medicinal herb had already been swallowed into its belly, and you had to defeat it to obtain it.

Find the cuckoo. Sigh, cuckoos could fly, so you had to camp out and wait for one.

The three side quests respectively allowed players to become familiar with three types of quest mechanics.

Communicating with NPCs, where different choices produced different results.

Fighting monsters and gathering, learning how to hunt wild monsters.

Learning to examine the details on the quest panel and understanding the purpose of coordinates.

After completing these three quests, players would basically understand the game's fundamental mechanics. The experience bar could also reach level 20, and the sect's senior brothers and sisters would indicate that the player had some ability after all and could remain behind to roam the martial world.