John weighed the ten gold coins in his hand and joked, "You don't worry I'll run away with the money?"
"No, I believe in you." Aurora said, looking innocent.
She said that, but she instinctively asked John to add her as a friend.
John smiled and accepted her friend request.
Honestly, he had planned to run away with the money, but seeing her innocent and cute face, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He was just too kind.
"Come on, I'll take you up a level." John invited Aurora to join his party and walked deeper into the wild.
"John, aren't we going to kill goblins?" Aurora hurried after him, asking curiously.
He said coldly, "Goblins are too weak. Killing them is too slow."
Aurora was surprised, and she held back the words on her lips. She was only level 1 now. But John was already level 5. Killing goblins no longer gave experience, so they were too low level.
Soon, the two of them arrived at the territory of a level 5 stone golem. The rocks were rough and broken, and large stone monsters wandered around. These creatures were much stronger than goblins.
John avoided the wandering stone golems and didn't stop.
"John, these stone golems are also too weak?" Aurora followed closely behind him, watching the golems around them nervously.
John shook his head. "Their level is still too low."
He checked the cooldown of his skills, then cast HP Regeneration and Physical Damage Amplification on himself.
Aurora noticed that he kept casting support skills on himself. She was confused. These skills didn't last long and the effects were weak. She didn't understand why John kept using them.
Soon, the two of them passed through the territory of stone golems and corrupted treants, and arrived at the werewolf area.
Werewolves were the strongest monsters in the beginner village. They were level 10, and they attacked players on their own. Even a level 10 player wouldn't dare to take a new player to fight them. They preferred to kill stone golems and corrupted treants instead.
Countless werewolves roamed around. Besides John and Aurora, there were no other players in sight.
"HOWL!"
A howl echoed from the outside, and one of the werewolves was drawn in. It held a steel knife, eyes full of violence, and rushed forward.
"Stay behind me." John told her, and took out his sword. He wasn't afraid at all, and charged at the werewolf.
Aurora nodded obediently. She was nervous. She thought John was taking a big risk. Fighting a werewolf alone? Even a level 10 player couldn't do that. And John was only level 5.
It was over. She might have to go back to the beginner village for free.
She sighed in her heart, but still waved her staff and cast a buff on John.
[Ding, you received Life Blessing. Max HP +10, lasts 1 minute]
Suddenly, John got a system message. He looked back at Aurora in confusion.
"John, be careful!"
Aurora shouted nervously. At that moment, the werewolf was right in front of John.
-45
John felt a sharp pain in his chest. He lost more than 40 HP.
It's over!
Aurora closed her eyes, accepting her fate.
"This werewolf's damage is lower than I expected." John realized, and swung his sword. He struck twice in one second.
-201
-203
The terrifying damage number flashed.
"Howl!" The werewolf cried out in pain, becoming even more violent, and charged at John again.
*Plop!*
Before it could react, another slash came, and its remaining 100 HP were gone.
[Killed a level 10 werewolf with a level-up, EXP +75]
The message appeared. John gained 75 EXP, and that was just half of the total since he was in a party.
To level up from 5, he needed 2000 EXP. Killing 27 werewolves would be enough.
"Wow, John, I leveled up!" Aurora's happy voice came from behind. She hadn't expected John to actually beat the werewolf, and he did it so easily.
She was level 1, and by killing a level 10 werewolf, she got 100 EXP even after splitting the experience.
"What skill did you just use?" John asked, curious.
Life-up skills weren't part of the priest class.
"I'm a Life Priest. That was Life Blessing." Aurora didn't hide it, and said.
"Life Priest?" John had heard of the class before. He was surprised. "Are you from the Aurelia family?"
"Yeah. My name is Aurora Aurelia." Aurora nodded, no secrets.
No wonder that little girl handed over ten gold coins without blinking.
The Aurelia family controlled a huge city, not because they were strong, but because of their influence.
All core members of the Aurelia family were hidden class Life Priests. Though they were support classes, they were much stronger than regular priests.
It was said that the previous head of the family changed the outcome of a battle alone. Whether it was a team or an army, having a strong Life Priest could reduce casualties by at least 30%.
John looked at Aurora and asked, "Aurora, you're a Life Priest. If you showed your class, someone would probably level you up for free, right?"
"I don't like those guys. They all seem to have something in mind for me. And I don't want to rely on my family either." the little girl said seriously, tilting her head.
John couldn't help but smile. "Then you don't mind if I have something in mind for you?"
"John isn't like that." Aurora said, then added, "My sister said I'm good at reading people. I probably have an unawakened Mind Reading talent."
Mind Reading talent?
John was confused. He had never heard of that talent.
Talents were secret for players. Many had them, but they never talked about them. Just like his Divine Gift talent.
John asked again, "I heard Life Priests can boost the four basic stats?"
"Yeah. But you need to reach Stage 4 or higher to learn it." Aurora didn't hide it. It wasn't a secret.
John asked eagerly, "Can I become a Life Priest?"
He had the Divine Gift talent. The support effects were permanent, but only worked when he used them himself.
Priests only had healing and damage boost skills. They didn't have skills to increase the four basic stats.
Although power could grow infinitely, some special gear and secret area requirements needed certain basic stats to be high enough.
If he became a Life Priest, his power would get a terrifying boost.
Aurora glanced at him secretly, her face slightly red, and whispered, "You can, but the condition is quite strict. You have to marry a woman from the Aurelia family…"
John was stunned. That condition was really strict. No wonder most strong Life Priests came from the Aurelia family.
He looked at Aurora, who was still blushing. Though she wasn't fully grown yet, she was definitely a beauty, way better than Anna, who was just a flashy, makeup-heavy girl.
Marrying this girl wouldn't be bad.
John shook his head, pushing the unrealistic thought away.
Getting close to the Aurelia family was hard. At least with his current status, he had no chance of asking for Aurora's hand.
"Does the Aurelia City where your family is located far away from here?" John asked, confused.
Most players in the beginner village came from the same real-world area. Aurelia City was more than a thousand kilometers away from Karlove. It definitely wasn't in the same region.
Aurora said, "John, our family's graduation test is different from the academy. It requires real combat. That's why I came to the Buffer Zone outside Aurelia City."
"Real combat? You're just a new player, but you went to the Buffer Zone?" John was shocked. He knew the Buffer Zone was dangerous. Even Karlove sometimes had monster invasions, and each time, there were serious casualties.
"It's not as dangerous as you think. I have someone protecting me." Aurora smiled and explained.
That made sense.
John understood. These noble families' trials were just a formality. They wouldn't actually send their kids into real battle.
"Let's go. Keep leveling up." he said, not wanting to think about it anymore. He entered the werewolf area and kept killing them.
Aurora didn't just sit back. As soon as her skills were ready, she cast the life-up and healing skills on John.
Though the skills didn't help much, she enjoyed doing it, at least feeling like she was part of the fight.
"John, why is your damage so high? Are you really just a priest?"
"John, am I imagining it? I feel like your damage just got higher."
"John, I leveled up again! This speed is amazing!"
…
Aurora kept shouting in surprise. She had already reached level 3.
John was speechless. This girl was a chatterbox. He suspected no one had ever taken her on a quest before, or else they had kicked her out.