CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 42: NEW INTEL REWARDS

[EarlyToBed]: [Hey, Lucas, clear things up with your sister—what’s really going on with Windchaser?]

[Lucas]: [Serena, I swear, I don’t know anything!]

[EarlyToBed]: [How do you not know anything? I just messaged Windchaser, and he didn’t even reply.]

[Lucas]: [What did you say?]

[EarlyToBed]: [I just asked if he was online.]

[Lucas]: [...]

[Lucas] stared at the message on his wrist device, unsure of what to say.

Serena had a good relationship with him in real life, mainly because she knew Emma. The two of them were pretty close friends.

Back when she first met Lucas, she had the same opinion as his sister—she thought he wasn’t capable, just wasting his time and not doing anything with his life.

But ever since she started interacting with [Windchaser], she’d been messaging him more and more, and her attitude had softened.

She probably found out about Liam’s deal, and now she was curious about [Windchaser].

Lucas had never wanted to be a nobody. But Emma’s light was just too bright. No matter what he did in real life—starting a business, investing—people always just said, Oh, that’s Emma’s brother.

He joined Dawnfall Online just to pass the time, to have some fun. But everything changed the moment he met [Windchaser], added him as a friend, and bought that Purple-quality Hidden Class Intel.

If he couldn’t prove himself in real life, why not make a name for himself in Dawnfall Online?

This was his chance. He was going to stick close to [Windchaser] and do something no one expected.

Like now, for example. The girl who used to ignore him completely was now reaching out to ask about [Windchaser].

But [Lucas] remembered how Serena had just yesterday, when she heard [Windchaser] was raising the auction price and had more Purple-quality Intel, immediately made up an excuse to leave.

She’d been all over [Windchaser] yesterday, and now she was trying to reach out again. That was seriously fickle.

[Lucas] just replied: [Serena, if you have something to say, just tell me. I’ll find a way to pass it along to Windchaser.]

[EarlyToBed]: [I guess that’s the only way. I’ve got a friend in another safe zone who started a guild and wants to buy the Guild Hidden Quest Intel directly from Windchaser.]

[Lucas]: [Sure, I’ll ask him for you.]

...

In the western part of Safe Zone 9527, a vast and endless icy plain stretched out beneath a howling storm. Ethan was trudging through the snow, heading toward a massive glacier in the distance.

There weren’t many good spots around Safe Zone 9527 to kill monsters and level up, and the cave in the ice mountain had been carefully chosen by Ethan as the best option.

Yesterday, during a fight with players from the Coffin Guild, Ethan had used up his one-time-use item, [Frostheart], which left him without one of his key backup options.

His current level was 10, and until he completed the class change quest, he couldn’t gain any more experience by killing monsters.

Ethan had read through a lot of online guides when he had the time. In most safe zones, there were only a handful of class trainers, and players who reached level 10 had to go to one of them to get the class change quest. Only after finishing that quest could they continue leveling up.

Safe Zone 9527 was located in an icy region, and compared to other safe zones, it had a unique class called [Frost Hunter]. Most of the players in this zone went with that class.

The rest were all standard, common jobs—[Warrior], [Rogue], [Archer], [Scholar], and so on.

Ethan, however, had an Orange-quality [Hellblade Class Intel]. He really didn’t care about the basic classes.

But collecting all the [Hellblade Class Intel] would take time, and right now, he had no choice but to do a class change.

That was why he had come to the ice cave—to see if he could get some hidden class Intel drops by killing new monsters.

If there was no way to switch to a stronger class, he’d have to settle for something more suitable for him—like the [Warrior] class.

Besides the [Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward], Ethan also had a Blue-quality talent:

[Pain Resistance (Blue-quality):] Increases a player’s tolerance for pain, reduces the negative effects caused by pain, keeps the mind calm, and prevents pain from interfering with decision-making.

This talent was pretty well-suited for a [Warrior] class.

If there’s no suitable hidden class, I guess I’ll have to just stick with the [Warrior] for now—level up a bit, and keep collecting the other [Hellblade Class Intel] at the same time.

As he thought through his plans for the future, Ethan pressed on through the blizzard, finally reaching his destination.

Before him stood a massive glacier, and at its base was a huge cave entrance, towering close to ten meters high.

This was the Ice Cave in Safe Zone 9527.

Ethan took a quick look around, but didn’t spot any other players. Probably because the cave was a decent distance from the safe zone—traveling here took time.

He took a short break, got his bearings, then pulled out his ’[Frostblade] from the [Inventory] and grabbed a torch he’d bought from the equipment store in Safe Zone 9527.

As soon as he stepped into the cave, he didn’t get very far before encountering his first monster.

A tiny bunny-like creature, about a meter tall, with glowing red eyes and sharp, knife-like teeth, suddenly appeared in front of him.

Ethan had expected it to be tougher, but when he swung his blade, the creature collapsed instantly, turning into a pile of dead meat.

A blue glow emerged from the corpse and quickly floated into Ethan’s wrist device.

He glanced down at his [Inventory], and there it was—a new item named [Safe Zone 9527 Equipment Store Owner’s Wife Cheating Intel. Ethan blinked.

Partly because the quality was only blue, and partly because the content was... a little scandalous.

He remembered the intel he’d gotten about the equipment store owner earlier, and it all clicked.

The guy must’ve been a terrible husband, and his wife had finally had enough.

Curious, Ethan used the intel. As the data loaded, he saw a name appear—and couldn’t help but smirk, muttering under his breath:

"Grimmount? I didn’t expect you to be into other people’s wives."

The guy the store owner’s wife had cheated on him with? None other than the NPC Grimmount from the junkyard.

Ethan still had a bunch of rat teeth he’d collected back in the sewers, and hadn’t even redeemed them for rewards from Grimmount yet.

This Intel came at the perfect time—maybe he could get something useful from Grimmount after all.

He hadn’t forgotten the look on Grimmount’s face before the fight with the Coffin Guild, the way he’d seemed to hope Ethan would die.

But there was still one question nagging him: why had the monster dropped a Blue-quality Intel?

Was it because his level had increased to 10, making him way stronger than the bunny monster?

Or was it because the bunny was just too weak, even weaker than the monsters he’d killed back at Frostspire Tower?

Ethan took a deep breath. He needed to go deeper into the ice cave and find something better.

Fifteen minutes later, as another monster lay dead in front of him, Ethan sat on a chunk of icy rock and sighed quietly.

Another Blue-quality Intel.

[Safe Zone 9527 Equipment Store Owner’s Wife’s Lost Necklace Intel].

He’d just checked it out carefully, and it was clear—the monsters in this ice cave were weaker than those in other areas.

That must be why the two new monsters only dropped Blue-quality Intel.

Luckily, the monster that dropped the [Safe Zone 9527 Equipment Store Owner’s Wife’s Lost Necklace Intel] was a bit stronger than that rabbit monster.

Ethan figured, if he kept going deeper, he’d probably run into something even tougher.

An hour later, Ethan walked out of the ice cave, satisfied.

He’d thoroughly explored the entire ice cave, even though he hadn’t gotten any Hidden Class Intel that he could use.

But Ethan still came away with two Blue-quality Intel drops and three Purple-quality ones.

The Purple-quality Intel rewards all came from killing new monsters deeper inside the ice cave.

[Ice Archer Class Change Intel]

[Quality]: Purple-quality

[Requirement]: Talent Compatibility (needs a talent related to ice or cold)

[Description]: There’s a homeless guy in a quiet corner of Safe Zone 9527. If you boost his favor enough using some special method, you can unlock the class change quest for the Ice Archer.

...

[The Best Longsword in Safe Zone 9527 Intel]

[Quality]: Purple-quality

[Requirement]: None

[Description]: A longsword once of Orange-quality is hidden somewhere in the junkyard of Safe Zone 9527. It’s been lying around in the trash for years...

[Blue Ice Potion Recipe Intel]

[Quality]: Purple-quality

[Requirement]: Alchemist Class

[Description]: Somewhere near Safe Zone 9527, a powerful alchemist is buried. The recipe for the Blue Ice Potion is hidden inside. Using the Blue Ice Potion will randomly and permanently increase one to three points of your stats.