I Became the Blacksmith NPC

Beijing.

Big Dumb Duck had already logged off. After establishing the guild, he drew up a list — some members would stay in the Starter Village to keep farming for Guild Establishment Permits, while the rest would follow him out first. Farming the permits was naturally for the money; he couldn't keep funding the guild out of his own pocket forever, and while those things were still worth something, he had to recoup his losses.

He knew about Divine Twilight, but he hadn't expected them to have that many people.

"Looks like I'll still need to keep recruiting once we're outside, and level up the guild at the same time." He'd originally assumed the other side had two thousand or so at most, which hadn't bothered him much. After all, the few hundred people he'd brought in at the start were scattered across various Starter Villages, and he'd picked up more from other villages over time — all together, they just barely topped two thousand.

"If Night's Gentle Chill hadn't stirred up trouble, I could've recruited a lot more people in Starter Village No. 0113."

The two of them had briefly allied over the free players situation, but Big Dumb Duck knew perfectly well that was only temporary. In his eyes, Night's Gentle Chill was full of schemes — for all he knew, they were already preparing to hand his location over to Divine Twilight right now.

"This is getting complicated." The other side had more people and higher levels. His only hope right now was that the Starter Village exit would be far from Divine Twilight's territory, giving him enough time to recruit. As for location information — even if Night's Gentle Chill didn't leak it, someone else in the Starter Village would. Who'd be dumb enough to leave money on the table?

First time playing a game and it's already this exhausting. Big Dumb Duck scratched his head, feeling troubled.

"Yiyang, you logged off?"

Apparently hearing movement from his son's room, Qin Hongru pushed the door open. He found his son locked in a battle with his own hair.

"Yeah, done for the night." Qin Yiyang didn't turn around, replying offhandedly.

"Doesn't look like the game went too well?" Qin Hongru sat down on the sofa with a teacup in hand, smiling. It was the first time he'd seen his son like this.

"It was going pretty well before, actually — I already established the first guild in the Huaxia region, but..."

Before Qin Yiyang could finish, Qin Hongru's eyes went wide. "That's impressive."

From that angle alone, it really was. Qin Yiyang nodded, and at the same time found himself curious why his father had suddenly taken such an interest in his gaming. But since it was a rare chance for father and son to talk about games, Qin Yiyang went ahead and recounted everything that had happened in Hunt Heaven from start to finish.

"So you're saying you currently have one of those Permits in your hands?" Qin Hongru's eyes went wide.

"Just the one for now. Other teams are still clearing the dungeon — there should be a few more in a while. Once we sell all of them, after deducting what I put in, I should still come out ahead." Qin Yiyang said with a satisfied grin.

"Don't sell it yet — let me make a call." Qin Hongru immediately stood up and walked out of the room.

Don't sell it? Qin Yiyang was baffled. Do you have any idea what that one permit is worth? Has our family really gotten to the point where a few million in cash doesn't even register? What is this old man up to?

A few minutes later, Qin Hongru returned.

"Hold onto that thing for now. Oh, what's your game ID?"

"Big... Big Dumb Duck..." He'd picked the name on a whim, and saying it out loud in front of his father was a little awkward.

"What a name to pick... Anyway, someone will contact you in the game. When they do, sell the item to them."

"Who is it?" Seeing his father being so mysterious, Qin Yiyang asked carefully.

"Never mind who. Just hand the item over when the time comes." Qin Hongru clearly had no intention of revealing the other party's identity.

"How much are they paying?"

"Doesn't matter how much. Even if they give you one yuan, you hand it over. If you need money, I'll give it to you. And don't worry about that 'Divine Twilight' business either — someone will be reaching out to them."

Qin Hongru said his piece and walked off on his own, apparently with something urgent to attend to.

Divine Twilight? Qin Yiyang was momentarily stunned. The guild is called Divine Twilight, not "Divine Dazzle"! But since when did his old man have connections like that — able to sort out things even inside a game?

Shanghai.

Ye Ling and four others were discussing their plans for after leaving the Starter Village.

"Alright, here's the plan — we leave five teams behind to keep running the Void Space. I've already talked to the five Bear brothers; tomorrow each of them takes a team to hunt wild monsters, gather resources, and pick up quests, working out the fastest leveling route as quickly as possible. The five of us will lead the rest to the nearest city, figure out how to apply for guild territory, and look into life-skill classes." Ye Ling spoke while typing notes on his computer, then looked up at the others.

"I'll take a few people to check out the life-skill classes." Qin Ying was scrolling through videos on her phone; she raised her hand at that.

"Sure. What about you, Datou?" Ye Ling turned to the man beside him — Heart and Soul. They'd all grown up together and called each other by nicknames.

"I'll go recruiting. If there's only one city near the Starter Village exit, we'll probably run into Big Dumb Duck in town. With Divine Twilight having so many people, he'll be desperate to recruit too — I'll go stir up some trouble for him." Heart and Soul said with a grin. "But should we tip off Left-Hand Blade about his location?"

"No need. Free players will pass the word along on their own — no reason for us to bother." Ye Ling had no interest in that particular "reward."

"By the way, did the person who wanted to buy the Guild Establishment Permit get back to us?" Eagle, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

Ye Ling nodded. "They did. The offer is three million."

"Three million? I thought the market price wasn't that high."

"They said they want to form an alliance with us. They probably have their own agenda." Ye Ling glanced at the four of them, saw no one had anything to add, and wrapped up: "Alright, that's it for now. Everyone meet at the Starter Village teleportation array on time tomorrow."

That night.

Some were looking forward to the world beyond the Starter Village.

Some were honing their spear techniques beneath the moonlight.

And some were training their fist arts in a Secret Realm.

"Disciple, your talent is remarkable. You've mastered all of my techniques in just a few short hours — I have nothing left to teach you."

"Thank you, Master!" Lonely as a Song's face flushed red. As a player, learning skills was relatively simple — the master demonstrated once, and all he had to do was click confirm.

"Alright. Before we part ways, your master has a gift for you. There's still some fine wine I've been saving in the cellar — fill up a whole backpack and take it with you."

"Are you serious, Master?!"

The fist technique Chen Sanpiao had taught Lonely as a Song was called Waning Moon Drinks the River. Damage would multiply after drinking wine — but only if the wine was good.

"Fill it up without hesitation! Your master still has a little something to his name."

"Yes, Master!"

And so, after that night, Starter Village No. 0113 gained one more eccentric old man — one who stopped everyone he met to ask if they'd seen a Bastard by the name of Lonely as a Song. But that's a story for another time.

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