Virtual Realm: My Venom Can Slay Gods

On the way back to the village, Ethan Carter unequipped all his gear, putting on the beginner's cloth armor and wielding the wooden sword again. He didn't know how many items other players had managed to loot so far, but he was sure they couldn't have as much as he did. After all, he had been efficiently grinding high-level monsters. It was best to keep a low profile—getting surrounded by curious onlookers wasn't something he wanted.

As he passed through the goat area, he noticed countless players grouped in teams of three to five, grinding the goats. As expected, nearly everyone was still wearing beginner's cloth armor and wielding wooden swords. Only a rare few had additional gear equipped. This confirmed Ethan's suspicion: Oracle's drop rate was absurdly low. He was glad he had removed his better gear before returning. Otherwise, he would've attracted too much attention. Without stopping, he quickly walked out of the goat area.

Shortly after Ethan left, a woman wearing a white veil furrowed her brow as she watched him leave.

"Miss, is something wrong with that person?" Uncle Liu asked, following her gaze. However, by then, Ethan was already out of sight.

"It's nothing," the veiled woman said, shaking her head. Something about that player had seemed unusual, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe she was just overthinking it, she thought, reassuring herself.

Ethan soon arrived back at the village. Most of the players had already gone out to grind monsters, leaving the village nearly empty.

"Let's see if there are any quests available," Ethan muttered to himself as he walked toward the white-haired elder standing at the village entrance. That had to be the village chief.

"Village Chief, hello. Is there anything I can help with?" Ethan asked politely.

"Adventurer, your current strength is too low to assist me. Why don't you head to the north side of the village and see if Granny Liu needs any help?" the Village Chief replied.

"Well, guess I'm not high enough level yet," Ethan thought before heading north. Soon, he spotted an old granny sitting on a chair basking in the sun. He quickly approached her.

"Granny Liu, hello. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Oh, hello, adventurer. Yes, there is something you can do. Recently, the rabbits outside the village have been breeding out of control and have eaten all my carrots. Could you go and deal with those pesky rabbits for me?" Granny Liu asked.

"Ding! Granny Liu has issued a quest. Quest details: Go to the grasslands and kill rabbits, then collect 10 rabbit pelts and return them to Granny Liu. Quest reward: 10 EXP, 10 copper coins. Do you accept?"

"Seriously? That's it?" Ethan thought, disappointed. "I could spend this time grinding wolves and gain way more." Without hesitation, he declined the quest and quickly ran off, ignoring Granny Liu's slightly hurt expression.

"This game's quest rewards are so stingy! Or maybe that's just because this is a low-level quest," Ethan muttered as he wandered around the novice village. Suddenly, he spotted a farmer sitting by his door, sighing heavily. Judging by his demeanor, there was definitely a quest to be had here.

"Hello, sir. Is there anything you need help with?" Ethan asked, putting on his most respectful tone.

"Adventurer, you've come at the right time. I've been having trouble lately. Wild Boars have been appearing in the forest, trampling my crops. Could you go and get rid of them for me?" the farmer asked.

"Ding! The Farmer has issued a quest. Quest details: Go to the forest and kill Wild Boars, then collect 50 Boar Tusks and return them to the farmer. Quest reward: 500 EXP, 200 copper coins. Do you accept?"

"Hah, perfect!" Ethan grinned as he looked at the 100+ boar tusks in his inventory. Without hesitation, he accepted the quest and was just about to submit it when he suddenly stopped. "Wait a second! If I submit this, I'll level up immediately, and I won't be able to grind talents anymore!" Quickly withdrawing the tusks he was about to hand over, Ethan cursed internally, "Damn, this tricky old geezer almost screwed me over!"

"Whatever, the quest doesn't have a time limit. I'll submit it later after I'm done grinding talents. Experience points aren't the priority—those copper coins are what really matter."

Having made up his mind, Ethan turned toward the potion shop. There was no point looking for more quests right now. Improving his talent was the top priority.

Upon arriving at the potion shop, Ethan checked the goods on display. The price for a small red potion was listed as 20 copper coins each.

"What the hell? That's daylight robbery!" Ethan muttered, his face darkening. He had thought that the cheapest potions would cost one or two copper coins at most. With his current total of over 200 copper coins, he had expected to buy over a hundred potions. But now, he could only afford ten bottles.

"Such a rip-off!" Ethan grumbled before reluctantly purchasing 10 small red potions. Looking at the 16 copper coins left in his inventory, he felt a sharp pain in his heart. Those coins had taken him hours to gather, one by one.

Next, Ethan headed to the general store to sell off the extra 81 boar tusks in his inventory. Since the quest only required 50 tusks, and he couldn't complete the quest multiple times unless it was a chain quest, selling the extras was his only option. This netted him 81 copper coins, which he promptly used to buy another 4 red potions. With his stock of 14 potions, Ethan finally set out toward the village outskirts.

As he walked, Ethan opened the chat channel. Truth be told, he had been playing for several hours now, constantly grinding monsters, and he hadn't checked the chat once. He felt a bit out of touch with the world and figured it was time to see what everyone else was talking about. Currently, only the local channel and private chat were available. Upon opening the local channel, he found it buzzing with activity.

"Looking for teammates to grind goats. Must be level 1 or above, preferably full Strength or full Stamina build."

"Need two DPS with full Strength build for goat grinding."

"Anyone willing to carry me through goat grinding? I just hit level 1."

"Damn it, I got killed again! Luckily, i don't lose levels before level 10. Otherwise, I'd be back to grinding rabbits. These goats hit way too hard."

Reading through the chat, Ethan rubbed his nose and thought, "Goats? Just a few slashes and they're down." He had completely forgotten how he had cursed at the goats when he first saw their stats.

"Some groups of level 2 players tried grinding level 3 monsters, but they came back pretty quickly. Are level 3 monsters really that terrifying?"

"They sure are! I checked out the Green Snakes myself. That poison is disgusting. Without potions, you can't grind them at all, and the shop charges ridiculous prices for potions. That's why those top players probably gave up on grinding snakes."

At that moment, Jeremy and his team, who had just returned from the bamboo forest, didn't look too happy.

"Let's go back to grinding goats. Forget the snakes. Once we level up and get some gear, we'll head straight for the level 4 crabs. No point wasting time on the snakes," Jeremy said.

"Yeah, grinding snakes isn't worth it. It's too potion-intensive," Southwind agreed.

"Still, this means we'll fall even further behind that guy," Harold said with a sigh.

"Our talents are all late-game focused. We don't have any early-game advantages, so there's no need to compete with him right now. His talent may be strong in the early stages, but that might not hold true later. With our skills, surpassing him later won't be difficult," Jeremy said confidently.

Ethan soon arrived back at the wolf plains. Looking at the 16 red potions in his inventory, he felt a surge of confidence. After a few minutes of careful maneuvering, he managed to lure a single wolf out and engaged it directly.