Johnnie had no idea that he had already caught the attention of Wecheat.
At the moment, he was happily reviewing his system rewards.
The system had granted him a green-quality ring, a green belt dropped by the Goblin Chief, a skill book, and a few white and gray-quality items dropped by other goblins, including two white items and seven gray ones.
[Rose Ring: Level 1 Green Gear; Usable by Mages; Magic Damage +5, Spirit +3, Critical Strike +1]
[Dominance Belt: Level 1 Green Gear; Usable by All Classes; Health +100, Inventory +10 Slots]
[Wolf Fang Blade: Level 1 White Gear; Usable by Warriors and Knights; Physical Damage +2, Strength +1]
[Iron Bow: Level 1 White Gear; Usable by Archers; Physical Damage +3, Attack Speed +1]
[Power Strike: Level 1 Warrior Skill Book; Usable by Warriors; Charge for 2 seconds to deal 150% Physical Damage to the target]
Several of these items were quite powerful, especially the green Rose Ring and the white Iron Bow, both of which added a hidden attribute of +1.
Unfortunately, he couldn't use these two items, though the Rose Ring could be given to Crysic.
The Dominance Belt and the Wolf Fang Blade were usable by him. The belt directly added 10 extra slots to his inventory, which was something he desperately needed.
The Power Strike skill book was dropped by the boss Goblin Chief, and was a powerful skill for early-stage Warriors. However, Johnnie had no interest in it.
The skill's charge time was too long, and any skilled player could easily dodge or interrupt the cast.
That being said, this skill book would easily fetch tens of millions in the early game.
As for the white items, their attributes were average, and he couldn't be bothered to check them.
He swapped out a few of his gray-quality items, replacing them with higher-tier white and green items, boosting his stats significantly.
His current health had reached 450 points, physical damage was 31, and his physical defense was 11.
He was now level 1, stage 2 (33/200), with stats comparable to a level 2 early-stage Warrior player.
"Wow, my inventory is full." After picking up a few gray-quality items, his backpack was completely packed.
He quickly decided to sort them out.
Opening the friends tab, he saw that only two friends were online: Cox and Crysic.
He sent a private message to Cox.
Johnnie: "Where are you? Come to the edge of the Goblin Elite Forest and help me sort through some gear."
Cox: "Got it, I'll be there soon."
He received a reply quickly.
Johnnie then opened the private message to Crysic.
Johnnie: "What level are you?"
Meanwhile, in a beginner's village, a four-person squad was struggling to drag a goblin along.
All four of them were rare beauties, but their class composition was quite unusual: three mages and one priest.
Crysic was among them.
Just then, her private message inbox lit up. It was Johnnie.
Her eyes brightened, and she quickly said, "Let me exit the fight for a moment and reply to this message."
"Crysic, don't! This guy is about to die!" one of the sexy mage players called out, waving her staff and preparing a fireball spell.
"Crysic, handle this ugly creature first!" the cute, somewhat clueless priestess also hurriedly spoke, holding her staff, eyes focused on her teammates' health, ready to cast a healing spell at any moment.
The girls worked together, finally slaying the goblin and letting out a collective sigh of relief.
Crysic quickly replied to the private message: "Johnnie, I'm still level 1, and my experience is just past halfway."
She sent a frustrated expression.
Johnnie: "That slow?"
Crysic: "Our team is too weak. Three mages and one priest can't handle the goblin's damage."
What kind of team composition is that?
Johnnie read her message, feeling speechless.
A newbie team must have a knight or at least two warrior players. Mages are fragile—once a goblin gets close, they're as good as dead.
Mages deal high damage, but they rely on spells, and with a five-second cooldown on Fireball in the early stages, their attack speed is too slow. One mage is enough for a team, but Crysic's team has three mages.
Johnnie: "A newbie team needs a knight, and at least one physical class."
Crysic: "But we're all really close friends, and it's hard to break up the group."
She had also looked up guides and knew the proper team configurations, but the four of them were all newbies. They had come together when they first started the game, and they got along well. They didn't want to change their team.
They had tried teaming up with a knight before, but their coordination was so bad that the knight got killed immediately. He yelled at them and blacklisted them.
The four of them were discouraged and stopped trying to team up with other players, instead focusing on working together to kill monsters.
Johnnie was speechless. He replied, "I'll give you a few pieces of equipment. It should help you get through the newbie period."
He used the remote trade function and sent her the green Rose Ring, a white staff, and a white robe—powerful gear for a mage.
[Ding, would you like to deduct 30 silver coins to give these items to player Crysic?]
A system prompt popped up—remote trade and item giving both required a fee of 10 silver coins per item.
"Yes." He confirmed without hesitation.
Crysic: "??!!"
Crysic sent a series of shocked and surprised expressions.
Crysic: "Two white items, one green item. Johnnie, how did you get these?"
She looked at the three pieces of equipment in her inventory, feeling like they were too hot to handle.
One of the white items was worth a million, and the green item—no one had ever gotten one before—was worth at least ten million.
This wasn't real life. Killing and looting was common in the game, and their team had once had a player try to steal their almost-dead goblin kills.
If these powerful items were exposed, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Crysic: "Johnnie, this is too expensive, I can't accept this."
Johnnie: "Take them, just level up. I'll need your help later."
He ended the private message conversation.
"Crysic, your boyfriend?" The sexy mage girl leaned in and teased her.
Crysic's face turned slightly red, and she quickly replied, "No, he's my boss."
The hot mage raised an eyebrow and said, "Your boss is calling you this late. He's probably one of those workaholics, making you work overtime, right?"
"No, my boss is really nice." Crysic denied, happily equipping the new gear. Her confidence soared as she said, "Let's go, I'll lead the way and help you level up."
"Hey, Crysic, your robe is so beautiful," the cute, naive priestess said as she gazed at the flowing, elegant white robe Crysic was wearing, her face full of envy. "I should've chosen mage too. Priest gear is so ugly."
"There are definitely pretty outfits for priests too. We'll keep an eye out for them for you," the other girls comforted her.
They didn't really care whether the gear was powerful or not—as long as it looked good, they were happy.
With the gear Johnnie had given her, Crysic's damage had doubled, and killing goblins became an easy task.
Boom! Boom!
Three Fireballs effortlessly killed a goblin.
The girls stared at the goblin's corpse for a while before they realized what had happened.
"Wow, Crysic, you're so strong!" they exclaimed, crowding around her with faces full of admiration.
Crysic was just as surprised. She hadn't expected these three pieces of gear to be so powerful.
Thankfully, she hadn't revealed the stats of the gear and only mentioned that they were strong gray-quality items.
She got along well with the girls, but they had only known each other for a few days, and she couldn't fully trust them yet. She knew better than to show off her wealth.
…
In the Goblin Elite Forest, Cox's team quickly arrived.
"Johnnie, I heard that the Prince Guild is planning to deal with you. They posted a bounty in the newbie village and are recruiting players," he said as soon as he saw Johnnie, quickly warning him.
The Prince Guild was quite powerful and had some influence in the newbie village, even having a reputation that surpassed that of the AsSky Guild.
"Is that so?" Johnnie scoffed. He didn't take Wecheat seriously at all.
This guy had tried to steal his boss kill and ended up getting killed himself, dropping a few pieces of gear in the process. It was no wonder he was angry.
Should he help this guy out?
Johnnie's eyes flashed as he formed a plan in his mind.
Originally, he hadn't planned on having Liu Daniu help him with the white gear, but he figured this guy could be trusted.
He casually pulled out the equipment from his bag.
Clang!
The equipment piled up like a small mountain—all gray-quality items.
Cox and his team stood frozen in place.
They had expected that Johnnie would ask them to handle maybe three or four pieces of equipment, but there were over fifty items in front of them.
"Johnnie, bro, did... did you raid the newbie village?" Cox stuttered. It was the only explanation he could think of.
The rest of the team was equally dumbfounded, staring at the pile of equipment.
The newly joined warrior player swallowed hard, greed gleaming in his eyes.
Some experienced players and large guilds had tested the game, and they knew the drop rate was extremely low—around one in ten thousand.
To gather so many pieces of equipment would require hunting down hundreds of thousands of monsters. The game had only been live for three days, and no one could have accomplished this.
Johnnie didn't offer an explanation. He simply said, "It's still 90 silver per item."
"By the way, how wealthy is that Wecheat guy?" He was already planning to scam the guy.