14: Mysterious Hidden Quests in the Beginner Village

"Guess my class talent?" The look of amusement on Shameless Cao Thief's face grew stronger.

When players obtain their class, they learn their own class talent; this class talent is known only to the player themselves, and no one else can find out.

Since obtaining his class, Shameless Cao Thief had never mentioned his class talent to anyone else.

He could conclude that it was impossible for anyone in universe ol to know his class talent.

"Young man, even though you've awakened the Clown Class, you can't actually act like a clown!"

"How dare you casually spout nonsense like guessing class talents?"

Lin Du stared intently into Shameless Cao Thief's eyes. "You don't dare to bet with me?"

The taunt worked successfully!

Shameless Cao Thief snorted coldly and said, "Since you want to bet, I'll bet with you! If you win, I can consider trading with you, but what if you lose?"

Lin Du looked down at himself, penniless and broke; he was truly so poor right now that he couldn't even pull out a wager.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Du reached out and pointed to the dead Black Rock Leader not far away, saying, "It is the boss of a hidden quest. If I lose, how about I tell you a hidden quest in the Novice Village?"

"A Novice Village hidden quest?" Shameless Cao Thief frowned and looked at the Black Rock Leader. "Did you kill it?"

Lin Du nodded. "What else?"

Shameless Cao Thief was surprised.

Just now during the battle, he had noticed the dead Black Rock Leader on the ground. Shameless Cao Thief had assumed it was the masterpiece of some passing high-level player; he didn't expect it to be Lin Du's handiwork.

"An 8th-level Clown Class killing a 10th-level Black Rock Leader, interesting!"

"Since that's the case, I'll play along with you!"

Seeing Shameless Cao Thief agree, Lin Du secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as Shameless Cao Thief was willing to bet, Lin Du naturally couldn't lose!

Lin Du knew Shameless Cao Thief's class all too well; it was one of the classes he had personally designed back then.

"Your class is the Black Halberd Dragon Knight, ranked 88th among the 999 Sequence Class. Am I right?"

"Continue," Shameless Cao Thief said expressionlessly.

Lin Du smiled. "The Black Halberd Dragon Knight's Strength talent is S-rank, Magic talent is F-rank, Defense talent is A-rank, Speed talent is S-rank, and the overall rating is S-rank..."

With every talent rating Lin Du mentioned, Shameless Cao Thief's expression changed a little more.

When Lin Du stated the final overall rating was S-rank, Shameless Cao Thief was completely stunned.

Even his wife didn't know his class talent ratings, yet today, they were all guessed correctly by a player who had awakened the Clown Class?

This was simply too outrageous!!

"How do you know it in such detail?" Shameless Cao Thief's tone was full of disbelief.

Lin Du reached out and pointed mysteriously toward the sky. "I came from there; there is nothing in universe ol that I do not know."

Shameless Cao Thief's face darkened.

Lin Du said seriously, "Alright, since I guessed it right, shouldn't we proceed with the trade?"

Shameless Cao Thief didn't renege on the bet; he leaped down from the dragon's back and came to Lin Du's side.

Shameless Cao Thief had a faint sense of anticipation for the upcoming trade. From the dead Black Rock Leader on the ground to Lin Du guessing his class talent ratings just now, Shameless Cao Thief was already somewhat willing to believe that Lin Du knew the whereabouts of the class-exclusive A-rank Halberd Technique...

"What do you want to trade with me?" Shameless Cao Thief went straight to the point.

Lin Du held up five fingers to Shameless Cao Thief. "I want 50 years of 'lifespan value'!"

Upon hearing this, Shameless Cao Thief shook his head decisively. "Not to mention the authenticity of your information, even if your information is true, 50 years of 'lifespan value' is still a bit too much."

"You are only selling me a piece of information; I will still need to spend a huge sum of money to purchase the Halberd Technique myself later. Your price is unreasonable!"

Shameless Cao Thief thought for a moment and also held up five fingers.

"5 years of 'lifespan value', no more than that!"

Shameless Cao Thief wasn't short on money, really not short on money at all, but he didn't want to just throw away 50 years of 'lifespan value' for nothing. Bargaining was a necessary part of the trading process.

Shameless Cao Thief rejecting the price of 50 years of 'lifespan value' was actually within Lin Du's expectations.

Lin Du held up three more fingers. "30 years of 'lifespan value', no less."

Shameless Cao Thief still shook his head in refusal. "6 years of 'lifespan value' is my bottom line!"

Lin Du smiled. "You are wealthy and powerful; do you really care about these peanuts? You should be very clear about the value of a class-exclusive A-rank Halberd Technique. If I sold it to you for 6 years of 'lifespan value', would you even dare to accept it?"

The corner of Shameless Cao Thief's eye twitched.

"Night Ember, I've remembered your name. If you dare to sell me fake information, don't even think about surviving in universe ol in the future."

"Let's each take a step back, 15 years of 'lifespan value', no more!"

"Deal!!" Lin Du reached out his hand readily.

As Shameless Cao Thief shook hands with Lin Du, he always had the feeling that he had been taken for a ride.

Was the price a bit too high?

Fortunately, Shameless Cao Thief was not short on money. As long as the information was true, 15 years of 'lifespan value' was not worth mentioning to him...

Shameless Cao Thief transferred the 15 years of 'lifespan value' to Lin Du, and Lin Du also told Shameless Cao Thief the location of the hidden NPC; both of them obtained what they wanted.

In Lin Du's original plan, if this piece of information could sell for 9 years of 'lifespan value', it would have been quite good; 15 years of 'lifespan value' was an unexpected bonus...

After the trade was completed, Shameless Cao Thief did not rush to leave; his gaze fell on the Black Rock Leader on the ground.

"Kid, are you interested in sharing this hidden quest?"

"As long as the rewards for this hidden quest are high enough, 'lifespan value' is not a problem!" Shameless Cao Thief tempted him.

Lin Du smiled; he had guessed that Shameless Cao Thief would be interested in the Black Rock Leader.

Since the other party came from a major faction, they must value reputation and things that other factions hadn't developed yet.

If the faction Shameless Cao Thief belonged to obtained the unique hidden quest of the Novice Village, then the prestige of his faction would surely see a significant increase.

Lin Du had already finished using the hidden quests of Old Mrs. Liu and the blacksmith, so selling them to Shameless Cao Thief was not a bad choice.

"I'll tell you in advance, this hidden quest of mine is not just a single hidden quest, but two interconnected hidden quests."

"If you want to obtain these two hidden quests, I'm afraid it will cost you quite a bit!"

Lin Du rubbed his fingers together; the meaning he wanted to express was very clear.

I'm going to rip you off, handle it yourself!

Shameless Cao Thief laughed freely. "Hahaha, I already said just now, 'lifespan value' is not a problem."

"But before that, I need to understand what the rewards from these two hidden quests actually are; I need to evaluate their price!"

As for the hidden quests Lin Du had customized for himself, their effects and rewards naturally went without saying.

Lin Du glanced at the system time and then said to Shameless Cao Thief, "Exactly two hours have passed since I entered the game."

"In these two hours, I haven't done any system novice quests, only those two hidden quests."

"I haven't gone back to turn in the second hidden quest yet. After turning it in, my level should reach level 10!"

Whoosh—

After Lin Du finished speaking, Shameless Cao Thief stood there dumbfounded.

"You can reach level 10 by just doing two hidden quests? And in just two hours? You kid aren't lying to me, are you!"

"How could there be such a big loophole in universe ol for you to exploit!!"

For an ordinary novice player to level up from level 1 to level 10, it would take at least 24 hours, and even for fast ones, it would take around 20 hours.

Shameless Cao Thief had never heard of anyone being able to reach level 10 in two hours; for universe ol, this was absolutely subversive.

Would the rules of universe ol really allow such an exaggerated thing to appear?

Shameless Cao Thief felt it was a bit surreal!

Lin Du saw through Shameless Cao Thief's thoughts.

"Since you don't believe it, then forget it. There will always be someone who believes it; these two hidden quests will be left for the next fated person!"

Now that the 9 years of 'lifespan value' needed to save his life were already in hand, it didn't matter whether these two hidden quests in the Novice Village were sold sooner or later; hidden quests of this level would never lack buyers.

Lin Du turned and walked away without looking back.

Seeing Lin Du about to leave, Shameless Cao Thief couldn't sit still.

His appetite had already been successfully whetted by Lin Du; how could he let Lin Du leave at this time?

Shameless Cao Thief flashed in front of Lin Du. If this kind of insane hidden quest fell into the hands of other factions, he would inevitably face a scolding from his boss after returning.

"Wait before you go, let's talk more!"

"The news about these two hidden quests is simply too explosive; I wonder if you can reveal some details about them?"

Shameless Cao Thief appeared carefree, but in reality, he was very meticulous.

He didn't disbelieve what Lin Du said, but he didn't fully believe it either; he still needed to understand some details to distinguish the truth from falsehood.

These two hidden quests had a major impact; if they were exposed later, they would inevitably set off a monstrous wave.

By then, no novice players would go to do those previous novice quests, and everyone would swarm to accept these two hidden quests; it was normal for Shameless Cao Thief to be a bit vigilant.

Lin Du thought for a moment and said, "I can tell you that one of these two quests is related to the blacksmith in the Novice Village, but other than me, the blacksmith will not issue quests to anyone!"

Upon hearing the name of the Novice Village blacksmith, a "just as I thought" expression appeared on Shameless Cao Thief's face.

universe ol had developed for so many years, and the Novice Village had long been thoroughly explored by players. The blacksmith was one of the most mysterious NPCs in the Novice Village, and no player had ever been able to accept a quest issued by the blacksmith.

When Lin Du mentioned the hidden quest, Shameless Cao Thief had guessed it might be related to the blacksmith; he didn't expect his guess to be spot on.

Shameless Cao Thief took a deep breath. "Little brother, let's talk about the price."

"As long as the price you ask for isn't outrageous, I will definitely satisfy you!"