After accepting the quest, I strode to the outskirts of the village, finding many people already killing monsters, but their chosen leveling targets were the villagers' free-range chickens. Their attack power was low, but proportionally, the experience gained was also pitifully low.
Shaking my head, I continued deeper into the forest outside the village. After a few steps, I saw a pack of wild dogs roaming in groups.
Drawing the broken sword from my back, I picked the nearest wild dog and struck!
"6!"
A crimson number erupted above the wild dog's head. It seemed I had landed a critical hit this time. Otherwise, with my maximum attack of 3, it would be strange to deal such damage!
Indeed, subsequent attacks hovered between 2 and 3. Fortunately, wild dogs were only level 2 monsters, and with each dog having 30 health, I found it relatively easy to defeat them.
"Clang!"
The first wild dog fell. I quickly ran over and rummaged through its corpse, finding three copper coins and a piece of fur: Dog Fur: Quest Item!
It seemed this was the dog fur that Guardsman Hark needed. The rest of the task became much simpler. After killing each dog, I would sit down and rest for a while. Resting restored health, albeit slowly, but it saved money. I estimated that no one could afford potions for leveling at this point.
Soon, I had collected twenty pieces of dog fur. Wild dogs no longer dropped quest items after that, and I had already leveled up to 2. My attack power increased slightly, and my health also rose from the original 60 to 80. It seemed that health increased quite a bit with each level. After leveling up, I received 5 points and immediately, without hesitation, put them all into Strength. In the early game, it was impossible to be carried by others; everything had to be done by myself. How could I manage without high Strength?
As I got further and further from the village, more players started coming here to kill wild dogs. However, I noticed that most of them weren't collecting dog fur. It seemed that very few people knew about this quest, as the Guardsman just walked around the village entrance without "Quest" written on his face.
I immediately ran back to the village and turned in the quest. Only then did I realize that the Guardsman was quite generous, giving 80 copper coins for killing twenty wolves. Money was extremely important at this stage. Professions only started at level 10, and who knew how much money would be needed then? Maybe none, or maybe one gold coin! (1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 10,000 copper coins)
Having learned from the previous experience, I quickly walked around the village, talking to NPCs whenever I had a chance. As expected, I received a quest!
Quest: Bloody Counterattack.
Quest Content: Help the Village Chief eliminate the wolf pack in Wild Wolf Valley to the east of the village. Bring the Village Chief 50 wolf teeth! Be extremely careful; it's best to find more companions before going, as the wild wolves there are quite ferocious. Many of the strongest young men in the village have already died by the wild wolves' teeth!
This quest was quite difficult because, as indicated in the quest, the wild wolves' levels were not low, and the Village Chief also advised forming a party to complete it. Hmm, I'll set this aside for now; other quests can be done.
Quest: Gather tomato Fruits.
Quest Content: A Hua in the village has planted many tomatoes on the hillside, but recently, wild wolves have frequently appeared outside the village. Please collect 10 tomatoes for A Hua.
Quest: Village Defense.
Quest Content: Kill the ferocious wild dogs outside the village and bring 20 wild dog teeth to Guardsman Hark!
...Collecting fruits and killing wild dogs shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, killing wild dogs isn't slow for leveling. Leveling up while doing quests is a good option. The previous quest still gave 200 experience. You should know that killing a level 1 monster only gives 10 experience. Turning in a quest makes leveling twice as fast as others~
Looking at the players enthusiastically leveling in the distance, I didn't want to disturb their good mood (mainly because they were clearly a group, and I didn't want to lose face if I got PK'd for stealing monsters). So, I directly circled half the village and entered the forest from the east. In the distance, I could still see where A Hua planted the tomatoes!
After killing a dozen wild dogs in a row, none of them dropped wild dog teeth. I was immediately a bit depressed. Was the quest messing with me?
I walked deeper into the forest, and only then did I realize that the wild dogs I had been killing were still level 1, while the ones in front of me were level 3 monsters: Ferocious Wild Dogs!
Speechless, I rushed over with my broken sword and struck a blow!
"3!"
The crimson number reminded me that the defense of these level 3 wild dogs was much higher than that of level 1 ones. With my current level 2 attack, I usually dealt more than five damage per hit to level 1 monsters.
A level 3 wild dog had 50 health, so I would need to strike 17 times to defeat one. Its biting frequency was also quite high. Although it only dealt 2 damage per hit, by the time I finished off one wild dog, my own health had dropped to its limit.
Experience + 30!
I squatted down and rummaged through the wild dog's corpse. Besides 14 copper coins and a tooth, I also found a tattered piece of armor. I picked it up and checked its attributes:
Wild Dog Leather Armor (White Equipment)
Defense: +5
It was much better than the novice clothes I was wearing; at least the defense increased significantly. I immediately put it on. It was leather armor, which I could still use after becoming a Thief. On second thought, if I was still wearing this when I took my profession at level 10, I would be too miserable.
With 3 points more defense, I could basically defeat two wild dogs before sitting down to rest. Also, not every wild dog dropped teeth. When I had killed nearly 100 wild dogs, I finally collected 20 wild dog teeth!
I have to say, the drop rate in moons constant was not very high. When I had killed over 100 wild dogs and reached level 3, I hadn't gotten any other equipment besides a leg guard, and that leg guard was still cloth armor—Wild Dog Shorts, Defense +1, with the same attributes as novice leg guards. Plus, it was a very uniquely styled pair of shorts. I wonder what kind of expression Xu Lin would have if I gave her such a piece of equipment?
At level 3, both my attack and defense had been slightly strengthened. It was time for me to challenge higher-level monsters!
At this point, my 7-9 attack could deal 8 damage to level 3 wild dogs. I could take down a level 3 monster in less than ten strikes. My leveling speed was definitely incomparable to those noobs killing chickens at the village entrance.
I continued towards the hillside behind the forest. The path was eerily quiet; I couldn't even see the shadow of a single wild dog!