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“Your strength is undeniable. I won’t stop you anymore,” the young guard nodded. “But… you need to watch out for striped snakes.”

“Striped snakes?”

“Yes, striped snakes were originally harmless water snakes. However, like the wild boar and other animals, they’ve been infected by some unknown force. While their attacks aren’t venomous, they can cause people to go berserk.”

“Got it,” Zane acknowledged.

…

Zane checked the time—10:00 AM. Still too early for lunch, so they could keep working on the quest.

“Striped snakes, huh… this could be troublesome,” Endless Sea said, frowning.

“What’s wrong? Are you familiar with striped snakes?” Zane asked.

“You could say that. I caught plenty of them when I was a kid. Striped snakes are naturally cautious—they won’t attack unless they’re absolutely sure of their advantage. We’ll need to avoid areas near water because striped snakes can dive underwater. Plus, their attack speed is definitely faster than the wild boar’s, making them extremely hard to dodge.”

He paused before adding, “What I’m more worried about is what happens if four or five striped snakes show up at once.”

“Well, no matter what, we’ve got to try,” Zane replied.

“Fair point. Let’s go,” Endless Sea agreed.

…

“Zane, what level are you now?” Shiu’s voice came through from the other side.
“Level 6,” Zane replied casually.
“Only level 6? You won’t believe it—I just hit… wait a second, you’re already level 6?!” Shiu sounded utterly shocked.

“Yeah, level 6. Why?” Zane asked. Starry was already level 7, so 6 was nothing special.
“…What have you been doing to level up so fast?!” Shiu finally blurted after a few seconds of stunned silence.

“Killing monsters, obviously. What else would I be doing?”
“Don’t give me that! My quest progress is way ahead of yours, but you’re already a level ahead of me?!” Shiu sounded incredulous.
“That’s because I told you—I’m a seasoned gamer. The truth is often too hard for people to accept,” Zane said, smugly.

“If you keep that up, forget about borrowing money from me!”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry! It’s because I had a high-level player helping me grind,” Zane admitted honestly.

“A high-level player? What’s their name?”
“Her ID is Stardust. I don’t know much else about her.”
“Never heard of her. I’ll check her out when I have lunch. Speaking of which, what are you planning to eat for lunch?”
“Instant noodles, of course! Who has time to go out to eat?”
“Got it.”

…

Zane hadn’t expected Shiu to still be level 5. He’d arrived at the slime territory much earlier.

Then again, it made sense. If Shiu spent time figuring out the slime’s attack patterns, he probably lost a level or two. Without any decent gear, his damage to slimes would’ve been pretty limited. Level 5 didn’t seem so surprising after all.

“You know, could you two stop using private chat? The party chat’s been dead silent, and it’s creeping me out,” Endless Sea complained.

Private chat? Zane quickly understood what was happening. Since he was controlling both characters, he didn’t need to talk to himself, which meant the party chat was entirely one-sided with Endless Sea doing all the talking. The gloomy environment wasn’t helping his mood either.

“Brother, you’re mistaken. Stardust and I are so in sync that we don’t even need to use private chat,” Zane said with a completely straight face.

“…” Endless Sea resisted the urge to strangle them. Are they really feeding me this much lovey-dovey energy right in my face? How is a single guy supposed to survive this?!

Just as Endless Sea was about to say something else, a sudden cry rang out.

“Watch out!” A green arrow shot out from the bushes, heading straight for Endless Sea.

Starry took three swift steps forward, thrusting her sword in a precise line that pierced the snake’s abdomen.

Hearing the warning, Endless Sea quickly turned around, but he was still a step too late. The snake struck his arm with a solid hit.

Seeing that the situation was not in its favor, the striped snake tried to retreat. However, Zane, arriving slightly late, stomped down on its tail. “Hmph, trying to run?”

In the next instant, Zane was thrown to the ground by a sudden surge of force, and the snake’s tail smacked him hard as it whipped away.

“…” Zane awkwardly stood up, dusting himself off.

Thankfully, the encounter wasn’t without gain. Starry had already examined the snake’s stats panel:

“That’s deadly. One hit took off 98 HP. My total health isn’t even 300—three hits, and I’m done for,” Endless Sea said, still shaken.

“I’ll scout ahead,” Starry offered without hesitation.

“…Alright.” This wasn’t the time to argue. Endless Sea could clearly see that Starry was the only one capable of responding swiftly enough to incoming attacks.

A faint rustling of grass came from the side.

Just as Endless Sea was about to warn her, Starry raised the Autumn Moon Sword and swept it horizontally to her right—a perfect prediction! The snake crashed into the blade.

It died instantly, dropping a venomous fang and a few copper coins.

Though Endless Sea had witnessed this level of skill multiple times by now, he still couldn’t help but gape in awe. The precision, the reflexes—this kind of performance was probably on par with national-level athletes.

“What are you standing there for? Let’s go!” Zane called out.

“Oh, right! Coming!” Endless Sea snapped out of his daze.

…

As they continued, more striped snakes appeared. Starry led the way, clearing the path. Not a single snake managed to land an attack; they all fell, one after another, becoming nothing more than lifeless corpses beneath her blade. Copper coins and fangs steadily piled up.

“Hey, bro, how’d you manage to win over a girl like her? She’s insane!” Endless Sea asked, clearly amazed.

Win over myself? Zane thought to himself. While Starry was undeniably stunning, she was, at the end of the day, just another version of himself. He shook his head and replied, “She’s probably the closest person to me.”

“What?! That means… Brother Zane, no, Big Brother-in-Law! I—” Endless Sea started excitedly.

“Shut it,” Zane said coolly, cutting him off.

The striped snakes gave a generous amount of experience. As level 8 monsters, they weren’t to be taken lightly. After slaying 30 of them, both Zane and Endless Sea reached level 7, while Starry’s experience hit 97% at level 7, just shy of another level-up.

It seemed that the striped snakes in this area had been completely cleared out.

Before the next spawn cycle, the group finally spotted herbs of various shapes and sizes scattered around the area.

Some grew low to the ground, while others clung to crevices in the rocky terrain.

Now, their task was clear: collect as many herbs as possible. After all, the rewards they would receive depended on the amount they gathered.

…

“Miss Cassandra, these are the herbs we collected.” The three of them dumped out all the herbs they had gathered in one go, forming a towering green mound.

“My goodness… this much? Did you completely strip the area bare?” Cassandra exclaimed in shock.

“You’re the one who told us to collect as much as possible…” Zane replied with a hint of exasperation.

“Regardless, you’ve done an enormous favor for the entire village! Here is your reward, please accept it.”

With a flash of golden light, Starry reached level 8, while the other two gained about half a level of experience.

Radiant Iron Sword? With that thought, Zane checked out the weapon’s attributes:

Amazing! Zane finally had a proper weapon he could use for dealing damage. Plus, it was a level 7 weapon that he could equip right away.

He immediately swapped out his worn iron sword for the new one, boosting his attack power to 31-33. Even if the wild boar reappeared, he wouldn’t have to worry about being unable to deal damage anymore.

Looking over Starry’s rewards, she had also received an additional piece of gear:

Both movement speed and dexterity were crucial stats for Starry. She immediately equipped the Shoes of Speed, which transformed into a pair of sandals adorning her feet, revealing smooth, pale skin.

“Sea, did you get any equipment?”

“What equipment? All I got were experience points and coins.”

“Starry and I both got a piece of gear each. Look.” Zane shared the gear attributes with him.

“What the hell? Am I the only one who didn’t get anything?” Endless Sea complained. Turning to Cassandra, he said, “Miss, are you sure you didn’t forget something?”

“Hm, now that you mention it… Oh right, I need to get these herbs sorted out immediately. You three, get out of here and stop disrupting my work!”

Bang! The door slammed shut in their faces.

“Come on! This is blatant favoritism! I’m filing a complaint!” Endless Sea yelled.

Unfortunately, no one paid him any attention.

“Fine! Whatever, I’ve got the Fractured Hammer anyway. I wouldn’t even care for your stuff!” he said, trying to save face.

“So, what should we do next…” Endless Sea started to ask.

Before he could finish, the sound of commotion came from behind them.

“Boss, they’re over here!” Zane immediately recognized the voice—it was Rainflower Jack.

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