A hidden quest would usually only be triggered after completing prerequisite tasks or meeting certain special conditions.
At that moment, this female knight had suddenly called out to John.
It was obvious that John's stats had met the conditions needed to trigger the quest.
John did not agree immediately. After a moment's consideration, he asked, "Can I know what kind of quest it is first?"
The female knight nodded. "Of course."
A trace of complexity appeared on her face.
"Recently, about ten kilometers south of the village entrance, we discovered a large underground tomb complex.
According to our investigation, there is a vast amount of treasure inside.
If we can bring that treasure back, our village's strength will increase tremendously.
However, we have already sent more than a dozen teams inside to excavate it.
Not a single one returned. Every one of them went in and never came back.
Until last time, one person finally made it back by sheer luck.
According to him, there is a ghostly curse inside the tomb complex.
Anyone cursed by it must remain in the tomb forever as part of the burial."
At that point, a hint of fear appeared on the female knight's face.
"To prevent the ghosts inside from coming out and harming the villagers, the village spent a great sum of money to hire a cleric from the main city.
That cleric was a powerful Level 10 expert and also wielded divine arts specifically effective against ghost-type creatures.
But after entering the tomb complex, even he fell there.
Right now, the entire village is in a state of panic, all worried that they will suffer retaliation from the ghosts.
You are the strongest warrior I have seen so far.
If possible, we would like to entrust you with solving the problem of that tomb complex.
If you succeed, you will be generously rewarded."
After listening to the female knight's explanation, John immediately understood.
In his previous life, he just so happened to know about this quest.
Under the original conditions, it would normally only be triggered after the player had reached a certain level and sparred with this female knight.
And the reward was indeed generous: an excellent Class Change Scroll.
In the game Apocalypse, players needed a Class Change Scroll if they wanted to advance into a different class.
The earlier one changed class, the greater the advantage!
In his previous life, John had gone through countless hardships just to obtain a Class Change Scroll.
Who would have thought that this time, he would be able to get one so easily? It was truly an unexpected delight.
"Warrior, are you willing to accept this quest?" the female knight asked again.
John readily agreed. "No problem. Leave it to me."
The moment he chose to accept the quest,
a panel immediately appeared in his vision.
[Hidden Quest]: Ghosts in the Depths of the Tomb
[Difficulty]: A-rank
[Quest Objective]: Enter the underground tomb complex and eliminate all the ghosts inside
[Quest Reward]: A-rank Random Treasure Chest ×1
[Note]: This is a special hidden quest and cannot be abandoned
…
An A-rank quest—
in his previous life, the first player to complete it had at least reached Level 20.
Yet at this moment, John had accepted it at only Level 2.
If other players were to find out, they would probably think he had gone insane.
But only John knew that, in terms of raw stats, his current self was absolutely no weaker than any Level 10 player.
A mere A-rank quest was not enough to make him afraid!
"Still, before that, I need to make some other preparations first."
After accepting the hidden quest,
John started walking away from the crowd.
The onlookers had long since come to fear him like a tiger and all took the initiative to step aside.
Under the wary and respectful gazes of the crowd, John's figure gradually disappeared at the end of the street.
The moment he was gone,
the crowd instantly exploded into heated discussion, excitedly speculating about John's identity.
"Who exactly is that guy? The twelve people at Revival Spring just now—weren't they all killed by him?"
"One person wiped out an entire squad. Damn, that's insane."
"Is the assassin class really this strong? If I'd known earlier, I would've picked assassin too!"
Within the crowd,
however, there were a few people who did not join the discussion.
They silently stared in the direction John had left, their eyes flickering.
One robed mage quietly moved away from the crowd and contacted his guild leader.
[At present, the guild system has not yet been unlocked in the game, so these are all real-world guild forces.]
"Boss, a tough one has shown up in Novice Village.
He's an assassin. It looks like he wiped out an entire squad by himself, and it even seemed to be a professional team.
And his speed is a little too abnormal. He's definitely an expert!"
His guild leader soon sent back a reply:
"Keep an eye on him. Investigate his background first. Do not approach him for now."
The mage player acknowledged the order and silently set off in pursuit in the direction John had disappeared.
It was obvious that quite a few intelligence agents from the major guilds were stationed inside Novice Village.
There were at least three players like that mage hidden among the crowd alone.
As elite players from major guilds, what they had seen just now was far more than just the values John had displayed.
As a groundbreaking game, Apocalypse had recreated details so realistically that it was almost like reality itself.
The positioning control and hand-to-hand combat techniques John had shown just now were absolutely not something a beginner could pull off.
Only a true expert could make use of such experience and skill with that degree of mastery.
What those guild intelligence operatives did not know, however,
was that in his previous life, John had already gone through countless life-and-death battles and killed more monsters than he could count.
Those abilities had been carved into his bones.
Even after being reborn, he could still use them with ease.
And with the support of the system on top of that, it would be difficult for him not to become an expert!
…
Meanwhile, after leaving Novice Village, John had no idea that he had already been targeted by the major guilds.
But even if he had known, he would not have cared much.
With the power of the Supreme Modification System, along with his plundering talent,
he alone was equivalent to an entire guild!
That was exactly why John dared to roam about so recklessly.
At that moment, however, what concerned him more was something else.
"I killed those former teammates of mine and collected 500 copper coins.
What can 500 copper coins actually buy?"
Even though John currently possessed extremely high stats, that was still a D-rank dungeon.
To be safe, he needed to make a few more preparations.
After checking all the items he currently had,
John turned his attention to those 500 copper coins.
Copper coins were the lowest-tier currency in this world.
Normally, they could only be used to buy some ordinary food or medicine.
But in the early stages, obtaining money was extremely difficult.
Even a top guild like Opportunists had needed nearly an entire hour of grinding with all members working together just to scrape together these 500 copper coins.
Five hundred copper coins seemed to be enough only to buy a slightly better piece of cloth armor.
And even then, its attributes still would not compare to the modified Novice Robe he was currently wearing.
"There's no need to buy equipment. What I have on me is already more than enough.
But 500 copper coins is just enough to buy a money pouch."
A glint flickered in John's eyes as information about the money pouch surfaced in his mind.
As one of the rare permanently bound items in Apocalypse,
a money pouch could protect a player's coins from dropping after death.
It prevented the situation where all the money one had painstakingly saved up would end up being lost in a dungeon.
And its price was extremely affordable—only 500 copper coins.
It could be purchased in any shop in a Novice Village or main city.
What John cared about most, however, was the fact that it counted as an item.
"If it's an item… then I should be able to use System Points to modify its values too, right?"