The Water Buffalo Boss, being the first-kill boss, dropped an exceptionally generous haul—two blue gear pieces, three green gear pieces, and a sea of copper coins… mostly because over four hundred copper coins spilled across the ground, making the loot pile look enormous.
When they saw the Water Buffalo Boss felled by Mysterious, Melodic Moon and Dreaming Alice hurried over, staring blankly at the scattered items on the ground.
"Uh… Nameless One, you take everything," Melodic Moon finally spoke after a pause, her voice tinged with apology. "You practically soloed this boss from start to finish. We barely contributed. So… all this should be yours."
"…" Mysterious simply watched the red-haired girl before him. After speaking, she subconsciously lowered her head—whether to gaze at the loot or something else, he couldn’t tell.
"…" Dreaming Alice stayed silent too. Truthfully, as Melodic Moon said, they’d been useless. Even without them, Mysterious could’ve likely soloed this boss.
Mysterious scratched his head, a troubled expression flickering across his face. He wasn’t good at handling moments like this. He hated the heavy atmosphere.
They’d just downed a boss—they should’ve been ecstatic. Yet these two… especially Melodic Moon radiated zero joy. Instead, a suffocating weight hung around them. To an outsider, they might’ve looked like a party wiped right before the final 1% HP.
After a moment’s thought, Mysterious understood why.
Before meeting him, they’d been the only party hunting level-6 monsters in this zone—a fact that gave them pride and a sense of superiority. They’d believed themselves far stronger than average players. Without that confidence, they wouldn’t have challenged the Water Buffalo Boss even with a level-6+ player like Mysterious around.
But reality bit hard. Though the lowest-tier boss, the Water Buffalo was still far beyond their level-5 capabilities. It wasn’t just about losing—it was watching this "unbeatable" boss get effortlessly dismantled by a stranger. Mysterious hadn’t even lost a single HP.
The gap between them as players was so stark, it was hard to swallow.
Facing truth was important, but crushing their confidence wasn’t the goal.
Mysterious walked straight to Melodic Moon, crouched down, and looked up at her.
"…What?" Startled, Melodic Moon instinctively stepped back.
"You fought well." Mysterious gave her a thumbs-up. "Your movements were sharp. Your attacks precise. You did great."
"…Are you just comforting me?" Melodic Moon frowned, skeptical.
"No. It’s fact." His face remained unreadable. "If you hadn’t kept targeting the boss’s wounds, I wouldn’t have finished it so fast. So—good fight."
"I think… without us slowing you down, you’d have been even faster," she murmured, lips pressed tight.
"Without you, I wouldn’t have known this monster was here." His tone stayed flat.
"Pfft—" Melodic Moon suddenly burst out laughing, her eyes crinkling shut. "You’re terrible at comforting people."
"…I’m not comforting you."
"Alright, alright. I get it." Her demeanor shifted instantly, back to the cheerful girl who’d first invited him to party. "Thank you."
"…" Mysterious averted his gaze and stood up.
"Can I become as strong as you?" Melodic Moon asked.
"…" A pause. "Keep at it."
At his reply, Melodic Moon’s tone turned brisk: "Let’s loot this before it despawns. That’d be a waste."
After gathering everything, she held the gear out to Mysterious. "Take it all."
"We agreed: half each." He shook his head.
"Then you pick first." Seeing his indifference to gear, she didn’t push further.
The Red-Eyed Water Buffalo Boss had dropped five items: two blues (a shield and a belt) and three greens (a staff, leather armor, and a hammer).
Mysterious only took the blue belt. The rest held no value for him. The staff was useless for his physical class; he preferred swords over hammers; the shield clashed with his agile fighting style; and the leather armor was redundant—he already wore green leather armor on his torso.
"Take this too!" Frowning at his single pick, Melodic Moon thrust the green leather armor at him.
"No need. Mine’s also green." He waved it off.
"This one has better stats. Take it. Give me your old piece." She held out her other hand.
His current armor, dropped by a regular Red-Eyed Water Buffalo, was indeed inferior to the boss-grade piece.
In the end, Mysterious couldn’t refuse. They swapped armor—and Melodic Moon slipped four silver coins into his inventory.
With gear divided, Melodic Moon and Dreaming Alice planned to return to BeginnerVillage to rest and sort their loot. Mysterious headed off to complete his quests.
Before parting, Melodic Moon hesitated, then opened the party interface and sent him a friend request.
Mysterious had disabled friend requests after the hidden quest chaos at the blacksmith’s—too many strangers spamming him. But the setting only blocked outsiders; party members and guildmates could still send requests.
Since they’d fought together, he accepted.
…
After leaving the party, Mysterious followed the river upstream.
He soon left the plains and entered a forest zone. Monsters shifted from Red-Eyed Water Buffaloes to new threats: level-7 Agitated Juvenile Crimson Foxes and level-8 Agitated Thickhide Boars—precisely the targets from his village quests.
Since these were his objectives, he didn’t let a single monster slip by.
Forests were tricky terrain for players—limited visibility, restricted movement. But this was still BeginnerVillage. The environment stayed manageable, nothing like a real-world rainforest.
For Mysterious, it posed zero challenge.
Forest monsters had slightly lower HP and defense to balance the complex terrain. With no special skills, they fell easier than the water buffaloes despite decent attack and speed.
Mysterious wandered and slaughtered. The last sliver of daylight faded, giving way to EndlessHorizon’s second night.
Darkness didn’t slow him. Though monsters gained minor night-time stat boosts, they still met the same fate—cut down by his Novice Sword.
In less than a quarter of the night, he’d completed all his quests. He’d planned to return to the village… then remembered Saya’s words.
The quest’s origin.
First, animals near the village had grown unnaturally aggressive, disrupting daily life. His initial task: check if distant creatures were similarly affected—hence the 30 Water Buffalo kill order.
Then Saya had asked him to investigate the water source—the reason he was here now.
Logically, killing 50 required monsters should’ve completed the quest. The aggressive creatures here proved the issue existed. Reporting back should suffice.
But Saya had hinted at "possible water contamination." Yet the quest never mentioned investigating the river itself—the very one he’d followed here.
If Saya brought it up, the river likely held clues. He’d follow it upstream.
Besides, NPCs would be asleep by now. With over two hours until dawn, he had time to investigate. Even if he found nothing—or couldn’t skip quest steps—it was better than idling.
Just as he turned to move, rustling echoed through the night forest. Leaves trembled as something large pushed through the undergrowth. The quiet night amplified the sound. Mysterious’s sharp hearing pinpointed it instantly—the creature was far bigger than foxes or boars… and closing in.
At this hour, a large forest-dweller had an 80% chance of being a boss. And bosses were never ignored.
Gripping his Novice Sword, Mysterious advanced toward the sound.
Before he could spot the source, a faint white glow pierced through the dense foliage ahead—emanating from the creature itself.
Whether it hadn’t noticed him or simply didn’t care, the beast ignored his presence, continuing its slow advance. Mysterious pressed forward too.
They met moments later.
Before him stood a lizard over five meters long, its body armored in thick, earthy-yellow scales. The white glow came from a spherical object clutched in its jaws.
Deep wounds marred its back and left flank—shattered scales oozing blood, as if raked by massive claws. Its tail was severed halfway.
As Mysterious studied the giant lizard, it studied him back. Unlike other monsters, it didn’t attack.
Since the lizard showed no aggression, Mysterious held his blade.
Human and lizard stood frozen, locked in a silent standoff.
