Chapter 5

When Qin Lang woke, he felt as if a giant boulder was pressing on his chest.

He opened his eyes. Xia Xifeng was sprawled on his chest, glaring at him. The moment he woke up, Xia Xifeng shoved his hands, still bound by the rope loops, right in front of Qin Lang’s face.

“Aren’t you going a bit too far?!” Xia Xifeng accused.

Qin Lang shoved the childhood friend who wanted to crush him to death off, saying with a hint of morning grouchiness: “That childhood hyperactivity disorder still isn’t cured? The moment you’re asleep, you start shadowboxing lying down. All these years and you haven’t reflected on it? I think you’re going to stay single your whole life.”

Xia Xifeng brought his hands together, shook off the rope loops, and muttered: “I don’t get hyperactive every time I sleep. You talk too much nonsense.”

Only then did he remember this bad habit of his. It had been so long since he’d shared a bed with anyone that he’d forgotten about it.

“But even so, tying me up is way too much. Couldn’t you just wake me up? Or give me a new blanket… Hey! Don’t pretend to be deaf!”

Xia Xifeng chased after Qin Lang yammering, but was pushed out the bathroom door by Qin Lang, who was washing up.

“Get changed. Go out, grind monsters, level up.”

Qin Lang shut the door with a heavy slam, nearly smashing Xia Xifeng’s nose, making Xia Xifeng jump in fury.

Xia Xifeng would rather Qin Lang argue with him than adopt this attitude of “Say what you want, getting a response means I lose.”

This was emotional abuse! Emotional abuse!

In the past, Xia Xifeng couldn’t be bothered with Qin Lang; he had plenty of friends to chat with.

Now, in this world, only he and Qin Lang were left. If Qin Lang wouldn’t talk to him, he’d be stifled to death.

Aaaarrrggghhh! Why did I have to transmigrate with a mute lump like Qin Lang?! I’m going to die of boredom!

Xia Xifeng clawed at his hair frantically, sighed heavily, and sheepishly went to change.

When the two left the room to grab breakfast, Xia Xifeng was still looking utterly dejected.

Leo quietly asked Xia Xifeng: “Did you and Lang have a fight?”

Xia Xifeng said dejectedly: “How could you tell? I’d actually prefer if he’d fight with me.”

Leo asked: “You were ready to argue with him, and he ignored you?”

Xia Xifeng was curious: “You can even tell that?”

Leo sighed: “My friend and I are the same way. I’ll introduce you guys later.”

The moment he saw Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang interact, he felt an intense familiarity, convinced their bond was profound.

Halflings trusted their intuition greatly.

If not for the familiar feeling Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang’s interactions gave Leo, he might not have immediately gifted the Sunflower Pendant to them.

At the very least, he would have observed them for a few more days, right?

Qin Lang heard the two muttering and pretended not to hear.

His manner of dealing with it made Leo feel even greater familiarity.

After they finished breakfast, Leo immediately took Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang to meet his good friend.

Coincidentally, Leo and that person had also grown up together. Except that person didn’t acknowledge the friendship with Leo, only finding Leo very annoying.

“Lang wants to hunt in the forest, right? He just changed class to Sorcerer, and we happen to be short a ranged fighter.” Leo polished the two great axes, products of Dwarf craftsmanship, until they gleamed.

Xia Xifeng watched the fairy-tale-prince-like Leo carrying two giant axes; the sense of dissonance filled him with an overwhelming urge to complain.

Qin Lang watched the system chat page get spammed by Xia Xifeng again and continued his futile search for a mute button.

“Perila! Don’t pretend you don’t see me!” Leo chased after him, brandishing two giant axes.

The Halfling wearing a gray robe quickened his pace to escape.

Xia Xifeng turned his head and said to Qin Lang: “Why is Leo chasing after him with axes raised? That’s terrifying.”

Qin Lang: “He’s showing off his axes.” A real Halfling was even more annoying than Xia Xifeng, the spiritual Halfling.

Leo executed a charge and cut off the short-legged Halfling Sorcerer: “Hey, why are you running away?!”

The gray-robed Halfling couldn’t stop in time and crashed into Leo.

Leo raised his axes: “Aren’t my axes beautiful?!”

The gray-robed Halfling lowered his voice: “Get lost!”

“Don’t wanna. Long time no see, how are you still so stuffy? I brought you lots of good stuff, all things you urgently need.” Even though his good friend refused to admire his great axes, Leo insisted on showing off enough, spinning in circles in front of him. “Oh right, I haven’t introduced my new friends yet. Didn’t you say you wanted to meet a God’s Favored one? Feng is a God’s Favored one!”

The gray-robed Halfling halted his steps, which had been poised to continue fleeing.

He looked back and noticed two tall people watching the spectacle, immediately blushing furiously.

The gray-robed Halfling first shot Leo a glare, then straightened his disheveled hair, smoothed the wrinkles in his robe, and gave Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang a half-bow: “Esteemed friends of the Sunflower family, greetings. I am Perila, a Sorcerer.”

Leo stored his giant axes in his backpack and slung an arm over Perila’s shoulder: “Perila is my good brother.”

“Get lost!” Perila ground his teeth, but for the sake of the rare materials Leo had brought him, he didn’t shove Leo away.

He was very curious about the God’s Favored one and still needed Leo to facilitate an introduction.

Xia Xifeng sized Perila up curiously.

Most Halflings were cheerful and outgoing, Leo being of the especially cheerful sort. Although there were also quiet and elegant Halflings, being easy to get along with was the baseline for Halflings—quiet, elegant Halflings were usually very gentle.

Perila was a special case.

His complexion was rather pale, and his eyes held a hint of cold, gloomy melancholy. He didn’t appear quiet and elegant, but rather like a reclusive, eccentric person.

Every race had individuals with peculiar personalities. Xia Xifeng was only curious and didn’t think much of it.

Though Perila appeared reclusive, he was very polite to them. When Leo annoyed him, though Perila uttered harsh words, he also resignedly let Leo continue to annoy him, as if long accustomed to it.

Xia Xifeng shot Qin Lang a glance.

Qin Lang knew Xia Xifeng was badmouthing him in his head, but he didn’t think he was much like Perila. Because when Xia Xifeng annoyed him, he could maintain silence indefinitely. Perila, however, was easily provoked into arguing by Leo.

Although Perila was a Sorcerer, he greatly enjoyed magical research, more like a Mage.

If not for his very low sensitivity to the Magical Network, he would definitely have chosen to become a Mage.

As for what kind of Sorcerer Perila was, even Leo didn’t know and wouldn’t ask.

In this world, knowing a Sorcerer’s power source meant knowing the Sorcerer’s most fatal weakness. No one would rudely inquire.

Only game players would strut around with a big XX Sorcerer title over their heads and openly display their skill list.

Though unaware of Perila’s power source, most of the spells he used were nature spells—what players called “wood-attribute and earth-attribute magic”—perfectly suited for hunting in the forest.

Perila often used magic to help Halflings farm. Thus, though he didn’t talk much, the Halflings in the valley were all quite amiable towards him, considering him very accomplished and frequently praising him.

In contrast, Leo, despite his cheerful and lively personality—a Halfling among Halflings—was, due to his overly reckless nature, more often lectured by the village elders.

Unless proselytizing was necessary, God’s Favored ones generally wouldn’t disclose which deity they received favor from either.

Naturally, Perila wouldn’t rudely pry into Xia Xifeng’s private affairs; he just wanted to observe a God’s Favored one using divine arts.

Departing from the village to hunt, they could borrow the village’s horses as mounts and reached the forest in just over half an hour.

With a squad possessing magical ranged attacks and melee tanks, not to mention the combat-incapable Xia Xifeng, even Qin Lang could only coast along.

It was like they’d hired a squad of high-level players to carry them for experience; the leveling efficiency solely depended on the efficiency of pulling monsters.

Qin Lang and Xia Xifeng quickly reached level ten.

For his first class, Qin Lang didn’t choose Assassin, which had greater combat power, but instead chose Bard, whose early-game combat power was slightly weaker.

This was Xia Xifeng’s suggestion.

They were guests in a Halfling village and town. Although Assassin wasn’t bound to evil gods, it was still a profession walking in the shadows, and its affinity with Halflings wasn’t great.

In the game, players choosing professions like Assassin that walked in darkness would have reduced efficiency when grinding reputation with good-aligned races like Halflings and Light Elves.

However, players had a secondary class, allowing them to “disguise” themselves and eliminate this Debuff.

Qin Lang could choose Bard at level ten, then choose Assassin at level twenty, prioritizing leveling Assassin skills first, and only maxing Bard after Assassin’s class skills were maxed.

Although this wasn’t the most power-gamey leveling path, now that the game had become reality, having a Bard class as a disguise was more suitable for navigating the world than operating openly as an Assassin.

Qin Lang trusted Xia Xifeng’s understanding of game lore very much and adopted Xia Xifeng’s suggestion.

Xia Xifeng picked up materials while grinding his life skills.

When Qin Lang changed class, Xia Xifeng had just submitted the day’s hide equipment order, earning a little money, enough for Qin Lang to max out his class skill points.

Qin Lang’s class change succeeded, and the system popped up a “Quest Complete” notification for the first time.

Xia Xifeng: 【Does this mean the system doesn’t issue quests for us to do, but directly grants quest rewards based on our actions? Does this mean the system doesn’t interfere with our behavior?】

Qin Lang: 【Don’t know. But that’s a good thing.】

When playing a game, players preferred clear quest guidance for a definite direction.

But in reality, neither Qin Lang nor Xia Xifeng were the type who liked being led by the nose.

The system only popped up the quest complete notification after Qin Lang chose his class, relieving the two, who had been worried about what quests the system might issue.

The first quest reward the system gave was precisely the blueprints and materials for the class set and weapon Qin Lang could equip.

Xia Xifeng stopped Leo and Perila, who had started bickering again over some inexplicable trivial matter: “After fighting so long, let’s take a break. I’ll show off my grilled meat skills. Oh, Perila, I just gathered enough materials to make a set of equipment. It might match the kind of God’s Favored skill you wanted to see.”

Perila quickly said: “Could it be that Feng can craft it right here? No need for seclusion?”

Xia Xifeng nodded: “But the equipment I can make is very limited, basically only things he can use.”

Xia Xifeng pointed at Qin Lang, his expression sour.

Besides Qin Lang’s class equipment, he could only make general equipment. Although he knew general equipment was for himself to wear, he still felt sour.

In the game he didn’t like fighting, but that didn’t mean, after transmigrating into a real fantasy world, he didn’t have dreams of being a combat hero.

Perila undid his hair tie and re-tied his silver-white low ponytail, which had gotten messy during the fight: “Is there anything I can help with?”

Xia Xifeng said: “Please help clear these shrubs here. I need to place my Workbench.”

“Okay.” Perila waved his staff, and vines grew out from the earth, covering the shrubbery before them.

After the vines completely covered the shrubs, white roses bloomed.

And then the white roses rapidly withered, the vines following suit, collapsing together with the shrubs, leaving only a ground full of broken branches and withered leaves.

Perila waved his staff again. The dirt churned and buried the broken branches and withered leaves underground.

The originally dense shrubbery had become a leveled patch of bare earth.

“Done… Hm? Feng, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Perila asked with concern.

Drenched in cold sweat at his temples, his face instantly pale, Xia Xifeng shuddered and shook his head vigorously: “No, no… No… uh, my stomach’s a bit upset. I’ll step away for a moment!”

Xia Xifeng ran behind a large tree not far away.

Leo rubbed his chin: “I told him not to eat random berries, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Perila said, exasperated: “You shouldn’t be stuffing berries into your own mouth while saying that. How come you don’t have diarrhea?”

Leo patted his stomach: “Because I’m very tough!”

To Leo’s answer, Perila responded with a roll of his eyes to express disdain.

Qin Lang moved slightly away from the two, sitting on the ground and wiping his short sword.

Xia Xifeng: 【Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!】

Xia Xifeng: 【Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!】

Xia Xifeng: 【Aaaaaaooooohhh!】

Xia Xifeng said nothing, only sending meaningless screams.

But Qin Lang knew why Xia Xifeng was screaming.

Brambles were common, white roses were common. But that kind of bramble white rose that grew at any time and withered at any time was far too familiar—it was everywhere in the “Sun Valley Ruins,” that newbie dungeon.