Chapter 4: The Village Chief's Worries

The dwarf-eared rabbit that Shen Jingbin had just caught clearly meant a lot to the man. A look of joy filled his face, to the point where even the corners of his eyes and brows seemed to have been infected by his mirth.

It was said that everything had the tendency to look nicer when a person felt happy. Sure enough, when he looked at Shen Jingbin once again, he now felt that she looked somewhat kind-hearted and cute.

"Do you know who I used to be?"

Shen Jingbin shook her head and said, "No, I don't."

"I was originally a disciple of the Swordmaster Pavilion. At that time, during the great war between the Celestials and the Demons, I sustained a severe injury that destroyed my foundation. The Swordmaster Pavilion had always been filled with talented people. Back then, I was proud and arrogant. I couldn't bear the destruction of my foundation and the embarrassment of being ridiculed by others, so I made up my mind to leave the sect. Fortunately, I chanced upon a pill recipe that allowed me to reconstruct my foundation. As such, I started touring the world in search of medicinal ingredients."

"Over the next few years, I'd almost managed to gather all of the required ingredients. All except the catalyst — the dwarf-eared rabbit. I'd previously heard my junior disciples from Spirit Beast Garden say that the dwarf-eared rabbit fed on spiritual grass, which allowed them to accumulate an abundant amount of spiritual energy. However, their exceptionally timid nature caused them to dash away at the sight of anything. Not only was it a near impossible task to catch them, even seeing them was a challenge in itself. Most people would have only heard of it, but never seen one before."

"However, when I was still in the sect, I discovered from an ancient bamboo strip ¹ that the dwarf-eared rabbit could only be found in the vicinity of a small frontier settlement called Evening Sun Village. As a result, I made my way over here to look for it."

The man paused for a moment before continuing, "Putting aside the fact that Evening Sun Village was situated in a remote location, it bordered the realms of both the Human and Celestial races. However, both of them had subconsciously neglected the commoners living here. When I first came, these people were still living within an abyss of suffering as a result of their neglect."

"The Swordmaster Pavilion has always paid great attention to fated encounters, righteousness, and benevolence. Using that as a pretext to stay here and heal, I naturally couldn't disregard the dire straits that the village was in. As such, I took on the responsibilities of the Village Chief once I found a place to stay. I tried to provide some help while at the same time giving guidance to youths who wished to travel the world. This could also be considered as my bit of contribution to the Swordmaster Pavilion."

"Only unexpectedly, after so many years of giving guidance to countless youths, I still hadn't seen hide nor hair of a dwarf-eared rabbit. I once asked the elderly within the village about this matter, and they told me that only those with a profound amount of good fortune would be able to catch sight of one. You're the most fortunate person I've seen in all these years, and as such, I'd like to entrust you with a certain matter and hope that you'd be able to accomplish it for me."

Just after he finished speaking, a "Ding" rang out and the system's voice surfaced within Shen Jingbin's consciousness.

"Congratulations on triggering the hidden quest 'Worries of the Evening Sun Village's Chief'. Are you willing to accept this quest? Yes/No. (Trigger condition: submit a dwarf-eared rabbit and have more than 5 points of Charm.)"

Before entering the game, Shen Jingbin had looked through some guides on the forums, so she knew that the novice Village's Chief served no other purpose than to give out a wooden recommendation plaque. The forums made no mention of him giving out a quest, so the quest box that floated in front of her eyes must be the aptly named hidden quest!

There were many hidden quests with generous rewards in <<Legends of Celestials and Demons>>. These hidden quests could more or less be split into two categories. The first of which was a one-off hidden quest, while the other was an epic grade hidden quest that could influence the structure of the game world.

One-off hidden quests referred to quests that weren't affected by a player's ability to complete it. This sort of quest could only be triggered once and couldn't be triggered a second time. Epic grade hidden quests, on the other hand, couldn't be triggered by other players until the player who first initiated it failed. When that happened, the next player who came along would be able to start the quest. Of course, the conditions for triggering these quests could change at any time.

However, regardless of the type of hidden quest they were, one could only come across them by chance.

So, what possible reason could she have to reject a hidden quest?

Shen Jingbin immediately nodded her head and replied, "I'll help, of course I'll help."

Upon hearing her answer, the man was filled with even more elation and said, “That's great! In that case, could I trouble you to help me catch a few more of these dwarf-eared rabbits?"

Shen Jingbin nodded her head in affirmation. Suddenly, a new quest appeared in the originally empty quest interface.

"Quest: The Worries of the Evening Sun Village's Chief — Submit dwarf-eared rabbits (0/9) Hint: Only players that are lower than level 10 and have more than 18 points of Luck will be able to encounter a dwarf-eared rabbit."

As her gaze fell onto the last few words of the hint, Shen Jingbin suddenly felt the urge to face the heavens and laugh.

After entering the game world, each player's starting attributes would be based on the condition of their bodies and the race they chose. However, their total stats wouldn't differ by much. For example, when players enter the game for the first time, they'd only have 2 or 3 points in special attributes such as Luck. Or, if they had a little more, they might have 5 to 6 points instead.

However, someone like her who had 25 points of Luck would definitely be a one of a kind prodigy.

Although special attributes could be accumulated further down the road, hidden quests were practically the only ones that gave them out as a reward. On top of that, most players would immediately rush towards the capital city to enter a sect once they reached level 15. Even if they came back at a higher level, no one would take the trouble to climb a mountain and catch rabbits like she did.

Moreover, even if someone did manage to accumulate enough Luck, anyone who was senseless enough to return to the novice village and climb the mountain would find themselves unable to catch one. After all, the level restriction preventing players that were above level 9 from catching a dwarf-eared rabbit were in place.

Therefore, this quest was practically tailor-made for her.

1. Bamboo strips were used in place of paper during the period of ancient China ↩