I collapsed at the edge of the trap, finally victorious, experiencing an unprecedented great sense of achievement. After defeating so many powerful bosses, this time it was as if I was a weakling, with absolutely crappy equipment, desperately trying to kill a boss, and never having any game give me special upgrade points based on my performance. This represented the highest evaluation from the game's mastermind of my efforts.
Not forgetting to collect my loot, don't let them disappear automatically. I quickly calmed my mind and climbed down the trap to cut up the carcass of the Wolf King.
Wolf King skin, Wolf King teeth, to my surprise, I also got a ring. This was the first piece of equipment I had ever obtained in this game! After looking at the attributes, it was silver level, requiring appraisal. I carefully examined this ring, but the level was too high, and "intuition" failed this time, so I had to wait until I was in the city to have it appraised by someone.
The blood potion was used up by two-thirds. For the rest of the journey, I dared not fight any more monsters. I quickly avoided them by removing my armor and flying around. The monsters in the latter part of the route were generally taller than the tiger, and there were more and more monsters. I practiced magic with a few agile monsters with low agility, and the experience was quite good. Let's come back next time, the top priority is still buying horses.
Finally, I arrived at a large grassland. Judging from the gradually weakening wild animals on the grassland, it should be a village or an alien tribe ahead.
Soon, I saw a huge herd of horses, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was estimated to be over ten thousand tall and strong steeds, only a dozen herders were leading them. As the herd ran, dust flew, the earth shook, it was truly thrilling. I remembered seeing Mongolian herders grazing in TV before, although it was also very exciting, I never thought I would feel such a shock when being there in person. At that moment, I almost completely lost myself, not feeling my own existence. It took a while before I came to my senses.
I loudly called out to the nearest herder. Fortunately, the language in this game world was only one type, and the herder could communicate normally with me. He was very surprised to see me, saying that he was the first player he had met. The alien tribe would not have players born, and the closest village to their tribe was about five days' journey away from where I was, and there was no teleportation array in the tribe, so no one had ever come. After all, the game had only been going on for ninety hours, and which newcomer would walk for so many days towards an unknown and desolate place?
However, buying horses presented me with difficulties: there was no currency circulation here! This tribe had never done any trade with the outside world, and there was no trade within the tribe either. It was basically in a primitive state. I was curious why they would keep so many horses if they couldn't sell them? It turned out that there were often events like plagues and monster hunts in the game, and if the herders didn't keep the horses, the herd would eventually die out. At that time, they wouldn't even have horse meat or milk to eat.
After repeated conversations, the herder took me to their tribe to meet the chief. The chief was very generous and hospitable. To welcome the first player to visit, he gave me a rare foal horse. This was certainly an unexpected surprise, but although it was an NPC gift, I felt embarrassed about taking advantage of it, so I proposed what I could do to help. Unexpectedly, this triggered two tasks: killing the horse-eating monsters and removing the plague from the horses.
This tribe was called "Hassar", consisting of dozens of tents. Besides the ordinary herders and the chief, I also discovered several special NPCs: two full-time warriors, and a jewelry artisan. I felt there would be some good things here, at least much better than the Lost Village. So, I decided to stay for a while. After all, the task of killing monsters wasn't something that could be done in a short time.
After I tried the basic treatment technique and "Red Skin" on the horses, I was able to alleviate some of their illnesses. This gave me great hope. Therefore, I would immediately use the treatment technique at 10 o'clock every day without wasting any time. This unexpectedly brought me unexpected surprises. A child from the tribe was cured by me! Although this was only one successful case, the herdsmen's trust in me increased greatly. Soon, I learned "Horse Riding Technique", "Pasturing Technique", and "Animal Training Technique" from them, which made me very excited.
After using the "Horse Riding Technique", the horse that was originally very difficult to ride finally became obedient. The little horse given by the chief was named "Flying", which had a very good bloodline. In the nine-level classification of horses, it belonged to the best "Divine Horse Level". However, it was still in the growth period and could only exert half of its strength.
The "Pasturing Technique" specifically controlled cattle, horses, and sheep herds. Its function was to make the livestock group under your control (it could not be applied to wild animals). With my basic level, I could only control 10 livestock at a time, while an expert herdsman could control tens of thousands. Additionally, long-term pasturing would cause the livestock to randomly reproduce.
The "Animal Training Technique" was very useful. At the basic level, I could only control wild animals for a few seconds to make them calm and not attack. But wild animals already in combat were difficult to control. If I reached the advanced level, I could control monsters for a long time to fight monsters on their behalf and become a temporary pet.
Skills are not limited. Through continuous relationship improvement, I brought out the skin and teeth I killed to the wolf king I killed and showed my achievements. Finally, I gained the respect of two warriors and learned their most proficient "Basic Archery Technique" and "Basic Swordsmanship". The jewelry craftsman, after seeing my ring, expressed that he was amazed. Although he couldn't authenticate, he eventually taught me "Jewelry Making Method".
While I was frantically collecting skills, the system reminded the player "Holy Demon" that he had reached level 40 and had obtained the first golden-level weapon. I finally realized that I should level up. After all, I had never been an expert in the life occupation. Learning so many skills and becoming proficient in each one would take many years.
It is not suitable to level up in the tribe because there is a crucial thing missing here: blood medicine. Although I borrowed a bow and arrow, it was only a stone-level (not made of stone, but its attack was equivalent to a stone-level), and it was too weak to break the defense of most monsters. The advanced bow and arrow was only available in the city. I also understood why everyone in the tribe had the skill of bow and arrow. My bow and arrow master even reached the expert level and was helpless against the monsters.
During this day in the tribe, I accidentally stayed there. Although I learned so many skills, overall, it was still a waste of time because my conversations with the herdsmen were no longer just for building relationships with them. I was somewhat addicted to this almost real small society. If I continued to stay with them, it might not be a dull life.
I have to leave, but to repay their friendship, I decided to do my best to kill monsters for them. With the help of traps and the tribal warriors, it took us a total of ten hours to kill hundreds of monsters. I also leveled up to level 23. Although most of the monsters I killed were above level 25, to save MP for improving the treatment technique, I didn't use fireballs. This made the time spent on killing monsters too long, and with too much external help, the total upgrade points I gained were only 7.
But good people always have good rewards. That was my treatment technique upgrading to the second level. When I treated the horses again, the effect improved significantly. Some horses had already recovered. The chief thought I had completed the two tasks he gave me and awarded me the "Hassar Warrior Medal", with a strength increase of 2 and an explosive force increase of 1. Compared to my "Village Guard" badge, it was much more handsome (representing an honor badge and representing an identity badge can be worn multiple times).
Finally, it's time to leave. Besides the "Flying" horse I rode, there were also ten horses given by the herdsmen following behind me. Besides that, two soldiers gave me a set of stone-tipped arrows and a bronze-level sword for attack, and the craftsman gave me a necklace that increased my physical strength by 1. Although it was only of stone-ware level, it still moved me deeply. Why does this game design the NPCs so realistically? It's completely unlike the games I played before. NPCs were just a medium to trigger tasks. How could the game company spend so much time designing things unrelated to the game? Anyway, this game has given me many feelings that I haven't experienced in real life.
With the horses, it's faster. In three hours, I returned to the long-lost and desolate village. However, on the way, because my herding skills were not proficient enough, I was eaten by a monster and lost four horses. This made me feel heartbroken for a while. But thinking about the future where I can gallop freely, I couldn't help but let out a loud roar and feel elated.
In the past games, relying on the advantage of innate physical strength and using all kinds of ingenious tricks, although I was often at the top of the ranking list for a long time, that feeling really couldn't compare to the joy I now experience after striving and achieving. Although my level and equipment are currently very poor, it doesn't matter. I have had an unprecedented experience.