Vol. 1 Chapter 15 – A Huge Secret

【Ding… Old Wang the Blacksmith has asked you to comfort his wife. Task type: Hidden, no time limit. Task reward: Old Wang the Blacksmith’s gratitude. Will you accept?】

When Ye Tian Xie heard the words 『hidden task』 in the system prompt, his heart skipped a beat—he had triggered a hidden task!

Without hesitation, Ye Tian Xie accepted the task. Hidden tasks were rare and often came with significant rewards that far exceeded those of regular quests. Triggering one at the novice stage was even more unlikely, yet he had done so with apparent ease.

The reason? His charm stat, which had already reached 20 points. The hidden task had a triggering requirement of at least 10 charms and 30 favorability with Old Wang. Such conditions were difficult to meet, especially for players who didn’t prioritise charm. In fact, very few would sacrifice valuable attribute points to increase charm the way Ye Tianxie did. The difficulty of triggering hidden tasks was now clear.

Ye Tian Xie hadn’t allocated all his fixed attribute points to charm on a whim. Whether in previous games like 《Qingtian》 or 《Shenmi》, he had always maxed out charm whenever he had the option. While luck was primarily used to increase drop rates, Ye Tianxie didn’t rely on luck—he could simply kill other players and steal their loot. If someone had gear he wanted, there was little chance they could escape him. On top of that, the rewards from hidden tasks triggered by high charm often yielded equipment superior to anything that could be looted from monsters. As for insight, which provided an experience bonus, it was a huge draw for most players since levelling up was crucial in any game. However, Ye Tian Xie saw insight as unnecessary. Even with a full insight build, the experience boost in Destiny only amounted to a 3% increase. Ye Tian Xie was confident that his levelling speed was at least 30% faster than the average player due to his efficiency, so the bonus didn’t appeal to him at all.

However, his bold approach to allocating fixed attribute points was likely unique to him. Any other player neglecting luck without the ability to steal from others would end up starving in the game, relying on handouts just to get by.

The door to a small room inside the blacksmith’s shop, one that no other player had ever entered, opened before Ye Tian Xie. In the dim light, he saw a frail figure with dishevelled hair sitting on a worn-out chair. Old Wang glanced at her, sighed, and said, “Please, take care of her, young man.”

With that, Old Wang closed the door from the outside. Once Ye Tian Xie stepped out of the room, the task would be complete—whether it ended in success, failure, or abandonment.

The woman sitting in the chair stared blankly ahead, completely unaware of Ye Tian Xie’s presence. She displayed the same vacant expression as someone suffering from a mental breakdown in the real world. Ye Tian Xie quickly surveyed the room, thinking carefully, before approaching the despondent woman.

This type of persuasion task wasn’t new to Ye Tian Xie. In his virtual gaming history, he had encountered similar missions, which were often more challenging than defeating a boss. They typically left no room for error—if the first attempt failed, the person being persuaded would instinctively reject any further attempts.

Just as Ye Tian Xie was about to speak, a large apple core fell from the sky. Guo Guo patted her little belly, her face full of satisfaction: “Oh la la, I’m so full. This thing called an apple is really delicious. Eh? Where is this place?”

Ye Tian Xie stared speechlessly at the apple core on the ground, almost completely stripped of any flesh. He was certain that no one in the world could eat an apple so cleanly without damaging the core. Moreover… for an average person, eating an apple was nothing unusual, but given Guo Guo’s small size…Ye Tian Xie looked up and, as expected, noticed that Guo Guo’s stomach under her dress had slightly bulged. Having eaten her fill, Guo Guo sat astride his shoulders, lazily reclining against his neck in a most comfortable and relaxed manner.

“To thank Master for giving me such delicious food, the cutest and most well-behaved loli, Guo Guo, can tell Master a little secret, okay?” Guo Guo stretched and yawned, her eyes already closed, looking drowsy from being so full. Her words instantly caught Ye Tian Xie’s attention, and he asked, “What secret?”

“Oh! It’s about that strange lady! If you want to convince her, it’s actually really simple. You just need to make her believe that her child isn’t dead yet… Hmm! I feel a little sleepy now, Guo Guo is going to sleep, goodbye, Master.”

With these vague words, Guo Guo gave Ye Tianxie no time to ask more questions before suddenly transforming into a ball of white light, covering the 『Mark of Destiny』 on his chest, and disappearing.

Guo Guo’s cryptic hint and her obvious fear of being questioned only added another layer of mystery in Ye Tian Xie’s mind. He pondered over Guo Guo’s clue repeatedly, then organised his thoughts before finally speaking…

There was only one blacksmith shop in the entire novice village. In the world of Destiny, where the drop rates were absurdly low, most players could only rush to the blacksmith shop with the gold they’d painstakingly saved to buy some basic equipment or accept tasks. At that moment, Old Wang the blacksmith seemed rather distracted while dealing with the many players, his gaze frequently drifting towards the tightly shut door of his house.

An entire hour had passed.

Finally, a creak was heard as the door, which had been closed for an hour, opened. Ye Tian Xie stepped out with a calm expression, exhaling deeply. Seeing this, Old Wang hurried over and asked, “Young man, did you manage to…”

Before he could finish, his eyes suddenly became intense, because he saw his wife, who hadn’t left the room for a whole month, following behind Ye Tian Xie. Even her previously clouded and disordered eyes had regained their clarity, looking as bright as they once were. The woman spoke clearly to him, “I’m fine now…”

Old Wang was overwhelmed with gratitude, and could only express his thanks in the most sincere voice, “Thank you, young man, I will never forget what you did for me.”

【Ding… you have completed the task of persuading Old Wang’s wife and gained 20 favour points with him.】

Leaving the blacksmith shop, Ye Tian Xie headed straight towards Wolf Valley in the northern part of the novice village without stopping. As expected, hidden tasks were not so easy to complete. After nearly an hour of persuasion, when the woman finally responded, Ye Tian Xie realised that persuasion was just the beginning of this hidden task. In the end, the woman raised her dishevelled head and stared at him with piercing eyes, “Young man, if you can bring back my son Xiao Ming, even if it’s just his body, I will tell you a… tremendous secret!”

Her expression, voice, and gaze at that time left Ye Tian Xie feeling inexplicably disturbed, as though cold winds were rushing through every part of his body. He instinctively felt that this woman was far more complicated than she appeared on the surface.

A tremendous secret… what kind of secret could be called tremendous?