secret dice.

Chapter 782 Beginner Village

After glancing at the dice panel, Luo Jun felt relieved.

The four abilities of [Immortality], [Ultimate Skill], [Insight], and [Soul Stealing] are still there, and when he tried it, he could still turn Ultimate Skill on and off at will.

Indeed, Luo Jun's abilities were limited because he lacked Qi, but when he saw that only Qi Armament and Soaring Moon were available in his skill bar, he was still a little worried. Could it be that the abilities on the dice panel were unusable? After all, when he came to this world, he could sense that the laws of the world seemed to have done something to him.

But now it seems that the world simply hasn't detected the existence of the dice. Come to think of it, not only are there these four additional abilities, but strictly speaking, the Heavenly Dice itself is a powerful skill, which also isn't listed in the skill bar.

As for the five abilities before him, Luo Jun hesitated for a moment before finally choosing the Eye of Insight.

Seeing the ratio of health to mana is essentially seeing the blue and red bars. It's like when you're playing a game, you hit a monster and don't know how much health it has left. With this ability, you can see clearly that if the health bar drops by half after one hit, you know that two hits will finish off the opponent.

Luo Jun felt that this ability was quite useful when facing a completely unfamiliar world.

As for the others, such as healing, attack, defense, and speed boost, Luo Jun felt they were somewhat useless.

Although he didn't know exactly how much health and damage 100 points represented, judging from the two steps he had just taken, 10 points of movement speed was indeed very slow. Luo Jun estimated that 1 point was about one meter per second.

Ten meters per second is basically the upper limit of movement speed for ordinary people. Once they use it, combined with their original speed, they can easily surpass sprint champions. But for cultivators, it's really nothing.

From this, Luo Jun could roughly deduce that 100 points of health were roughly equivalent to the health of an ordinary person. Compared to his health bar, which had turned into a question mark, it shouldn't have much of an effect, and even if used to attack others, the effect should not be significant.

Although these abilities will be improved later, Luo Jun felt that the Eye of Insight was still more useful.

Having selected the newbie benefits, Luo Jun pushed open the wooden door. A ray of bright sunlight shone down, revealing a peaceful and serene little mountain village.

The rows of houses, mostly like the place where I was born, were low, dilapidated thatched huts. Only on the distant hillside could I see a two-story brick and stone building with a bell on the roof, which was the most impressive building in the mountain village.

Looking around, you can see many villagers, most of them dressed simply, working in the fields in the distance. There are also some elderly people and children playing and enjoying the cool air in the village. It looks quite heartwarming.

"You're awake?" Just then, a clear female voice reached Luo Jun's ears. He turned his head and saw a girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old carrying a basket of potatoes passing by his house.

The girl was clearly Western, with bright eyes and white teeth, and a few freckles on her face. Her brown hair was tied up on both sides, making her look playful and cute. Although she wasn't particularly beautiful, she had a friendly, girl-next-door vibe.

"Excuse me, where is this place?" Luo Jun was still confused about the situation; gathering information was the priority.

"Honestly, still half asleep?" The girl put down the potatoes, put her hands on her hips, and said in a reproachful tone, "Ever since your aunt and uncle passed away, you've been sleeping until noon every day, just loafing around. If you keep going like this, you'll become a useless person! My mom even cares about you and sent me to bring you potatoes... If you ask me, I shouldn't have bothered with you and made you realize how hard life is! Sigh, you were so smart and capable when you were little, how did you become like this..."

Hearing the girl's familiar tone, Luo Jun couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. What kind of childhood sweetheart persona is this?
It seems that everyone who enters this world will have an identity that fits the local background at their starting point. However, Luo Jun guesses that those who came in before probably won't be foolish enough to stay in this newbie village forever.

"I..." Luo Jun didn't know how to explain to this girl who had an NPC-like aura, so he could only ask, "I'm a little confused. What's the name of this village? Is there a map of the nearby towns or anything? Also, have any villagers left before to go on adventures?"

"Adventure?!" Upon hearing these two words, a look of panic flashed across the girl's face, then she sighed, "You've said that again. You've always said you wanted to become an adventurer, leave the village and all that... I knew this little mountain village couldn't support your dreams..."

"Did this trigger a keyword?" Luo Jun thought to himself. Then he heard the girl say, "We've lived here for generations and know nothing about the outside world. If you want to know about the outside world, go find the village chief."

As she spoke, she pointed to the only two-story building in the distance.

Just then, a pop-up window suddenly appeared in Luo Jun's view:
"Accept the mission and visit the village chief."

There are still tasks?
Luo Jun was speechless. He said goodbye to the girl and went to the village chief's residence.

Before he even got close, he saw an old man with a cane standing in front of the small building, with a big exclamation mark above his head.

Even this is included? It's such a perfect recreation!

"The village chief, is that right?"

Luo Jun greeted the village chief, and the exclamation mark above his head immediately disappeared.

"Oh, it's you... Sigh, we all felt sorry about that accident. Your parents are very good people. Here, take this as a small token of my appreciation."

As he spoke, the village chief took out three small medicine bottles—one red, one blue, and one white—and handed them to Luo Jun. Luo Jun took them and immediately recognized the contents.

Micro-life potion: Restores 3 health points per second for 10 seconds after drinking.

Minor Mana Potion: Restores 3 mana points per second for 10 seconds after consumption.

Minor Stamina Potion: Immediately restores 10 stamina points upon consumption.

These are all basic potions, huh? It seems that stamina recovers more easily than mana and health; otherwise, potions of the same level wouldn't have such a difference—the other two restore slowly, while this one restores instantly. But it looks like the total amount is a bit low.

"Thank you, Village Chief." Having received the reward immediately upon completing the quest, Luo Jun grinned and summoned the armory, storing the three vials of potion inside. He then opened the Battle Body interface, checked the red, blue, and white bars, and found that there were indeed branch descriptions.

Health regenerates 0.15% per minute, mana regenerates 0.2% per minute, and stamina regenerates 3% per minute.
In other words, health can be fully restored in a dozen hours at most, mana takes eight or nine hours to deplete, and stamina only requires half an hour of rest. Compared to the real world, this recovery speed seems quite fast, but in battle, enemies won't give you tens of minutes or even hours to slowly recover, so potions are still very necessary.

After putting away the medicine, Luo Jun noticed that the exclamation mark above the village chief's head had turned into a question mark.

Another mission?
Luo Jun spoke to the village chief again: "Is there anything I can do for you?"

The village chief sighed, "Ah, I knew this little mountain village couldn't keep you here..."

"Huh?" Luo Jun was completely bewildered. He did intend to leave, but he hadn't said anything yet.

"We have lived here for generations, and very few people have been able to leave because the mountain village is surrounded by dangerous monster forests, inhabited by dangerous monsters. No one has ever been able to cross the forest alive. Even if someone is lucky enough to cross the monster forest, the end of the forest is a mountain range that surrounds the village, which is beyond human capability to cross."

Hearing the somewhat familiar description, Luo Jun couldn't help but complain, "With so many magical beasts, haven't they all rushed in and devoured everyone in the village in all these years?"

"That's all thanks to the magic circle left behind by the ancient sage that protected our village!"

To Luo Jun's surprise, the village chief actually responded to his question. It seems that the NPCs are more intelligent than he had imagined.

"If you want to leave the village, you can only use the teleportation array on the south side of the village, which can directly teleport you to the beautiful and bustling Harbor. But unfortunately, due to energy depletion, this teleportation array was abandoned ten years ago."

"If you want to leave, you'll need to recharge the teleportation array. As far as I know, there's a monster in the Monster Forest called the Crystal Spider. They have a huge crystal growing on their stomachs that can provide energy for the teleportation array. I estimate that restarting the array will require about ten energy crystals. You just need to find..."

Before the village chief could finish speaking, Luo Jun had already taken to the air and flown out of the mountain village.

Are you kidding me? Leaving such a lousy village requires a quest? This mere monster jungle and mountain range? With his Skywalking Moon Technique, he could fly out of there in a minute.
As the village chief was right, there was an endless forest outside the village, and in the distance, one could see high mountains appearing and disappearing in the clouds.

To increase his speed, Luo Jun activated the Sky-Stepping Moon technique, and after flying for over a hundred kilometers, he finally crossed the mountain range!

Behind the mountains, the same jungle stretched out again. Luo Jun flew forward for another hundred kilometers before finally spotting a small village nestled in the jungle.

Luo Jun landed in front of the largest building in the center of the village. Before he could even stand still, he heard a familiar voice.

"Have you collected all the crystals?"

"What?" Luo Jun was stunned. Upon closer inspection, he realized that this was the newbie village where he had been "born". The village chief was still standing in front of the door, but the question mark above his head was gone. In Luo Jun's own task list, there was a new task: collecting energy crystals.

"I'm back again?" Luo Jun frowned, refusing to believe it, and took to the air once more. This time, he headed in a different direction, and after passing through jungles, crossing mountains, and then crossing jungles again, he saw the familiar starting village again...

Is it a loop? Can't leave until the task is completed?

Luo Jun was unwilling to compromise. This time, he soared upwards for two reasons. First, he wanted to see if he could leave the beginner village from the air. Second, he also wanted to see what it would be like below once he climbed high enough. Could it really be a series of grids made up of mountains, containing forests and villages?
However, as he continued to climb, the originally blue sky began to show textures, becoming clearer and clearer, and more and more familiar. In the end, he discovered that it was still the newbie village!
Looking down, the direction my feet were pointing towards had turned into blue sky. If I felt it carefully, I realized that the forces of gravity had somehow reversed.

A fully-fledged circular space? Very clever. I reckon even if Luo Jun digs a hole in the ground, he'll still have to crawl back up from underground in the beginner village in the end.

Looks like I absolutely have to complete this beginner village quest...

Luo Jun abandoned his idea of ​​slaughtering the village and eventually returned to the village chief.

"Where can I find crystal spiders? Can you give me some hints?" This jungle stretches for hundreds of kilometers. Even if Luo Jun is a saint, finding specific prey is still very troublesome.

“Crystal spiders like to stay in dark and damp places. They usually dig a burrow to live in. You can also try going to caves or valleys. You might find some there.” The village chief handed Luo Jun a picture of a crystal spider and suggested, “Also, you can ask other people in the village. Maybe they need your help too. You can help them out, and everyone will be grateful.”

Luo Jun had no interest in the side quests, so he left the village and headed deep into the jungle.

The trees in this jungle were so tall and dense that the ground was completely invisible, and it was difficult to spot the burrows dug by the spiders from high above. Luo Jun could only search for caves and valleys by following the terrain. After killing countless unknown monsters, he finally found the Crystal Spider in a cave.

It looked exactly like the one in the village chief's portrait, but it was much larger than Luo Jun had imagined. Excluding the long legs, the torso was the size of a small calf. The crystal that was cut out of its belly was the size of a mineral water bottle. If it weren't for the inventory, it would be really inconvenient to carry around.

With the experience of the first one, the rest were not so difficult. Finally, in the middle of the night, Luo Jun collected all the energy crystals.

Looking at the stack of 10 energy crystals in his backpack, Luo Jun sighed, "This world really is like a game... I guess it will be named 'Game' after we get out."

Back at the village chief's house, it was the middle of the night, so the old man obviously wouldn't be waiting for him at the door. But Luo Jun couldn't wait until daytime, so he climbed in through the window and dragged the old man out of bed.

"You're too rude!" The old man with an exclamation mark above his head complained impatiently, but as a beginner's guide NPC, he still helped Luo Jun complete the quest: "Thank you for the crystal, but there's some bad news. The only scholar in our town who knows how to operate the teleportation array is sick and can't activate it. To cure him, we need a special medicine made with a special formula..."

Then, Luo Jun's task list added a task to collect herbs, which listed more than a dozen kinds of medicinal materials that needed to be found in order to cure the scholar.

"Calm down, calm down...that's just how games are..." Luo Jun suppressed the urge to curse, and ignoring the darkness, plunged back into the great forest...

(End of this chapter)