The next day, Lin Er woke up early.

He had slept especially soundly last night. After getting up first thing in the morning, he could not help opening the window and taking a breath of the fresh morning air.

After packing up the items he carried with him, he went downstairs to the first floor of the tavern, ate a bit of breakfast, then headed straight for the Adventurers’ Guild.

Lin Er’s original intention was to go earlier so no one would compete with him for bounties.

But as soon as he reached the Adventurers’ Guild hall, loud voices from a crowd came from inside.

Looking closely, many adventurers were already waiting in advance. It seemed there were quite a few people who had the same idea as him.

Lin Er felt a strange sense of familiarity at this scene, like during school holidays in his previous life when he went to look for suitable day-labor jobs, it had been the same kind of situation.

Fortunately, the line at Ellie’s counter was not long. Before long, it was his turn.

Lin Er said, “Miss Ellie, are there any bounties suitable for me today? I need two.”

Ellie showed an apologetic look and answered, “Sorry, Lord Lin Er. Today there’s only one bounty.”

As she finished speaking, she handed over a bounty sheet.

Lin Er looked closely. It turned out a bear had appeared in a certain woodland and had injured people. He needed to hunt it down. The pay was 1 Workshop Coin.

[You are about to accept a side quest in the sect: Help the villagers eliminate the bear demon near the village. Reward: 1 inferior bear demon inner core.]

This task’s reward was a bit more generous than before. Compared to the three previous tasks, it also carried a certain degree of danger.

Lin Er was no longer the powerless college student from day one.

After reaching Qi Refining Level 1, he had spent the last two days traveling and had gained a concrete understanding of his own speed.

If it came to running speed, even ordinary horses could not catch up to him.

Although he still had no combat experience, he had a flying sword he could use to attack. Even if he could not win, he could always run away.

It was time to see some blood.

And Lin Er also wanted revenge for being chased by that black bear on his first day here.

After a brief consideration, he accepted the task.

At this moment, Ellie added, “Lord Lin Er, if you want to raise your badge, after you complete this task, I can vouch for you.”

Lin Er looked at Ellie in surprise and said, “You mean, as long as I complete this task, I can be promoted to a bronze badge?”

Ellie nodded and answered, “This bounty is a bit harder. If you can complete it, that also proves your strength to the guild.”

That was pretty good. It meant he could do one less task.

Lin Er thanked Ellie again.

He then said goodbye and left the Adventurers’ Guild.

This time, he needed to hunt a bear. It would be best to have a ranged weapon to assist.

The safest method was to injure it with a bow first, then use the flying sword to finish it.

Lin Er still remembered Flora’s last strike. She had killed the black bear with a single arrow, looking sharp and heroic.

He did not know archery and he did not have the time or energy to practice now.

But Lin Er had heard that crossbows were very easy to learn. As long as you could aim, even an old farmer could pick it up quickly.

On the way, he stopped by an equipment shop to ask around.

The cheapest one-handed crossbow, not including bolts, was 5 Workshop Coins.

He could not afford it.

Lin Er was increasingly aware that he was pitifully poor.

Other adventurers at least had a full set of gear. He was just carrying a bamboo sword and going in.

That was how cultivators were, poor as dirt.

Lin Er calmed himself, picked up the bounty sheet and checked the destination he needed to go to—Oakwood Woodland.

‘This looks like it’s near the village I went to yesterday.’

What a coincidence. He would not need to waste effort searching.

Lin Er put down the bounty sheet, familiar with the route now and quickly arrived at the village he had visited last time.

He did not expect to see someone familiar the moment he entered the village: Burns.

Burns walked up to him. When he saw Lin Er, he looked a little surprised.

“Kid, why are you here?”

Lin Er answered, “Uncle Burns, I was sent by the Adventurers’ Guild to eliminate the bear trouble.”

Burns understood at once. There really had been bear trouble near the village. This bear was also very cunning. Every trap the village hunters set had been destroyed by it.

The villagers had no way to deal with it, so they reported it. He did not expect that right after reporting, the Adventurers’ Guild would send someone so quickly.

Burns nodded, then looked over Lin Er’s equipment again, his gaze finally landing on the Clearheart Bamboo Sword in Lin Er’s hand.

“That’s a bamboo sword? Kid, you’re planning to kill a bear with that?!”

Burns had just finished doing bamboo business, so he was fairly familiar with the properties of bamboo as a material.

When Lin Er confirmed it, Burns showed an unbelievable expression.

“Kid, don’t ever underestimate a bear. Bear hide is thick and bear flesh is tough. A weapon made from this kind of bamboo will be very hard to hurt it. Be careful you don’t throw your life away for nothing.”

Some villagers nearby also heard the conversation between Lin Er and Burns and echoed along,

“Kid, if you’re killing a bear, use a crossbow and a long spear. Isn’t that better than a bamboo sword?”

Burns still wanted to persuade him further.

Just then, children screamed inside the village and a villager shouted loudly, “There’s a bear outside the village!”

Hearing the news, the women immediately picked up the children and carried them inside, while the men grabbed all kinds of weapons.

Before, they could not catch this cunning bear and were afraid of being alone outside and running into it, so everyone had been on edge.

Now, in broad daylight with so many people, the villagers were naturally not afraid. They gathered in a group, brimming with momentum and headed out of the village.

Hearing this, Lin Er hurried after them as well. He still was not sure what the task’s criteria for completion were.

Last time, when he encountered the black bear, although Flora had done the main killing blow, he had still contributed.

If the villagers killed the bear themselves and the system judged the task as failed, he would have nothing but tears.

* * *

As soon as they reached the fields outside the village, a hundred meters away, Lin Er saw several hunters at the front, standing at the very front of the crowd.

In the distance stood a brown bear, covered in dark brown fur, nothing special about it.

But its body was massive, at least three hundred kilograms, like heavy infantry on land. Right now, it had pinned down a goat with its paw.

The brown bear directly began devouring the goat’s liver in huge bites, its mouth full of blood, while the pinned goat let out wails from time to time.

The hunters aimed at the brown bear and fired arrows one after another.

With several whooshing sounds, multiple arrows hit the brown bear.

In the next second, the hunters all went dumb.

They saw the brown bear shake its neck and all the arrows on its body fell off. It had wounds, but they were shallow.

The brown bear was enraged. It opened its bloody maw and roared loudly, deafening.

The bear abandoned its meal. Not only was it not afraid of the villagers’ numbers, it actually ran toward them.

Its movements were very clumsy, looking a bit goofy.

But the blood at the corner of its mouth made it feel even more terrifying.

Burns, true to his experience, was the first to react and shouted in alarm,

“Not good. This bear has probably reached First Tier.”

The villagers in front still had not realized the danger. Working together, they raised their long spears. The spearheads were sharp and formed a dense defense, all pointed at the brown bear.

The brown bear briefly slowed its steps and let out a low growl.

In the next moment, an earth-and-stone armor actually formed over its body, solid and heavy.

The brown bear advanced unhurriedly toward the spear formation. Facing the villagers’ thrusts, it directly used its head to ram.

The hard earthen armor protected it, making it difficult to injure for the moment.

The brown bear tore and bit. Its strength and bite force were astonishing and the villagers could not withstand it at all.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten spearheads were either bitten off or knocked aside.

The villagers were not professional soldiers. Before, they had thought the bear was not very strong, so they had been fairly united.

Now that they realized the bear was not an ordinary wild beast and was hard to deal with, some wanted to push forward while others wanted to retreat. Chaos broke out and the crude spear formation they had put together was gradually broken through.

In that moment, only one thought remained in every villager’s mind.

‘It’s over.’