Unfortunately, after Darian asked for quite a while, he realized the village chief was merely an ordinary Vanaheim person.
Although Vanaheim might look primitive, it was still a developed civilization within the Nine Realms. The village chief simply knew a bit more than the others; he wasn't some villager capable of sharing controlled nuclear fusion technology.
Darian asked in passing why these people were fighting in the first place.
The Dwarves and Trolls were understandable; both races hailed from Nidavellir and were mortal enemies, so fighting upon meeting was perfectly normal.
But the Elves and the Frost Giants—one from Alfheim and the other from Jotunheim—usually had nothing to do with each other, so why did they suddenly start fighting?
As it turned out, the village chief explained that both races were originally just onlookers.
It was mainly because those Elves were famously obsessed with looks; upon seeing the Frost Giants' rough, bluish appearance, they mocked them for being too ugly, which angered the Frost Giants, and then the two groups started fighting.
Darian: "... This damn era of judging by appearances."
The village chief frowned, his face full of worry.
"But letting them continue to cause such a ruckus isn't a solution. If these outsiders keep staying in Vanaheim, they'll bring us big trouble sooner or later."
[NPC Thomas has issued a new quest to you]
[Quest: Expel Outsiders]
[Objective: Send the outsiders who arrived here through space rifts back to their original realms]
[Rewards: EXP + 1000, Vanaheim Faction Favorability + 10, Random Equipment * 1, Random Item * 1]
No sooner had the system notification finished than a deafening roar erupted in the distance, shaking the forest and causing leaves to rain down.
Dust surged instantly through the woods, accompanied by the continuous cracking sounds of splintering wood as one large tree after another toppled over.
Before long, a colossal beast came charging over.
The beast was at least three or four stories tall, its entire body covered in light blue frost armor. It had short, thick limbs and dragged a long, spike-covered tail behind it, looking both hideous and ferocious.
This was a Frost Beast, the exclusive war beast of the Frost Giants, which had also broken through from Jotunheim via a space rift.
As soon as the Frost Beast charged into the battlefield, it first plowed through several large trees, knocking the archer Elves crouching in them down to the ground with force.
It then continued its rampage, sending the nearby fighting Dwarves and Trolls flying in all directions before raising its head to let out a roar, as if declaring itself the overlord of this battlefield.
"Well done!"
The leading Frost Giant beamed with pride and laughed heartily.
After its rampage had cleared out the surrounding races, the Frost Beast was clearly not satisfied. It turned its massive head, its beastly eyes locking onto the Vanaheim people at the edge of the battlefield.
It snorted two puffs of white mist from its nostrils, dug its four feet into the ground, and with a tremor, charged toward them.
The village chief's expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Oh no! Everyone, get out of the way!"
The Vanaheim villagers scattered in terror, but Darian remained standing where he was, watching the Frost Beast charge straight toward him.
Just as the Frost Beast was about to collide with him, a black tentacle suddenly shot out from behind Darian.
Bang!
With a dull, heavy thud, the Frost Beast was sent flying, crashing into several massive trees that would take several grown men to encircle.
The trees snapped in half at the waist. The Frost Beast, which had been so arrogant just a moment ago, slammed heavily into the ground, twitched twice, and went still.
Darian stepped forward and said, "Thor, the eldest prince of Asgard, is a good brother of mine. Everyone, show him some respect and stop fighting."
Seeing the Frost Beast defeated in a single blow, the Frost Giants had initially been startled, but the moment they heard Darian invoke Thor's name, a wave of rage surged to their heads, and their eyes turned red.
Right now, the two brothers Thor and Loki were undoubtedly the ones the entire Frost Giant race hated the most.
Not only had these two brothers broken into Jotunheim and caused chaos, but they had also schemed to kill the Frost Giant King, Laufey, and even used the Bifrost Bridge—a star-destroying strategic weapon—to blast apart nearly half of their homeland.
And the cause of all this was actually just the two brothers' family conflict.
The Frost Giants could be said to hate these two brothers to the marrow.
It would have been better if Darian hadn't mentioned Thor; bringing him up was like adding fuel to the fire.
"To think he's Thor's brother! Don't let him go! Get him!"
The leading Frost Giant bellowed in rage.
The other Frost Giants immediately condensed sharp ice spears in their hands and charged straight toward Darian.
"Thor keeps saying he's a celebrity in the Nine Realms, but this reputation is completely useless."
Darian muttered, flipping his right hand to reveal several playing cards held between his fingers.
With a flick of his wrist, the playing cards were sent flying.
The speed of the playing cards was terrifying.
Everyone only saw a blur as the playing cards slammed into the bodies of the leading Frost Giants, causing them to howl in agony on the spot.
[Skill: Throwing (Any object you throw receives a massive boost to accuracy, range, damage, etc. Even a thin sheet of paper can become a lethal weapon in your hands.)]
These playing cards were crafted from special materials. Combined with Darian's own terrifying strength and the bonus from the Throwing skill, piercing through the skin and flesh of these Frost Giants was as easy as poking through a piece of paper.
The next second, scarlet magic runes instantly lit up on the surface of the playing cards.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Following several deafening explosions, the playing cards embedded in the Frost Giants' bodies detonated instantly. A mist of blood sprayed everywhere, and several Frost Giants collapsed to the ground, screaming.
Darian didn't stop. He rapidly flicked more playing cards from his hand, the explosions echoing incessantly among the Frost Giants as one tall figure after another fell.
"Die!"
Yet, one Frost Giant still managed to charge up to Darian, thrusting his ice spear through the air.
Darian tilted his head and sidestepped, easily dodging the lethal blow. He seized the opportunity to grab the opponent's arm, his five fingers suddenly exerting force as they dug directly into the flesh, locking the entire arm in a vice-like grip.
Ignoring the Frost Giant's agonizing screams, Darian pivoted with power from his waist and abdomen, Throwing the two-meter-tall Frost Giant like a shot put, violently knocking over the several other Frost Giants charging up from behind.
Since the Frost Giant counted as an object, it also benefited from the Throwing skill's bonus. This blow was incredibly powerful.
They flew dozens of meters, carving a series of deep craters into the ground. When they finally stopped, their limbs were twisted, and countless bones inside them had likely shattered—it was a gruesome sight.
Gulp!
The other races watching from the sidelines saw this scene and all gulped in unison.
It was a good thing they hadn't made a move; otherwise, they would have ended up just like these Frost Giants.
After dealing with the group of Frost Giants, Darian turned his gaze toward their leader.
"Do you have a grudge against Thor?"
The Frost Giant stiffened, shaking his head desperately. "Not anymore!"
In the face of death, a mere grudge over a destroyed star wasn't worth mentioning.
Darian was amused by how quickly the giant changed his tune.
"Fine. Take your clansmen and go back to where you came from."
"O-okay."
The Frost Giant leader, acting as if he'd just been granted amnesty, beckoned to the Frost Giants who could still move. They hoisted their fallen clansmen onto their shoulders, dragged the Frost Beast along, and scrambled toward the space rift leading to Jotunheim.
Once they had completely disappeared, Darian turned his head to look at the remaining races.
"Are you still going to keep fighting?"
Upon hearing this, everyone waved their hands repeatedly.
"No, no, it's getting too late. I need to go back for dinner."
"It's about to rain where I am, and I haven't brought the laundry in yet. I have to go."
"My grandma is about to give birth to my dad, so I have to go home and check on that."
Even the Dwarves and Trolls set aside their personal grievances, all looking quite amicable.
There was no helping it; Darian was just too persuasive.
As the saying goes, reason is for speaking, but force is for making others listen to what you have to say.
Once all the outsiders had slipped into the space rifts to their respective realms, the system's voice rang out again.
[Quest "Expel Outsiders" completed]
[Rewards Obtained: 1000 EXP, Vanaheim Faction Favorability + 10, Equipment "Best Sword in the Village", Item "Stamina Needle"]
[Equipment: "Best Sword in the Village" (As long as you don't leave the novice village, it's the best weapon.)]
[Item: "Stamina Needle" (One shot, and you can run up to the 100th floor in one breath without breaking a sweat.)]
The rewards weren't very generous, but then again, such a quest was truly too simple for Darian at this stage.
He was just about to dust himself off and leave when his arm was suddenly grabbed.
He looked back to see the village chief, his eyes red.
"Benefactor! You've saved our village again! I truly have no way to repay you, but you must accept our village's ancestral thousand-year salted fish!"
Darian's mouth twitched. "That's really not necessary..."
The village chief added, "I also have an unmarried granddaughter at home. It's perfect to introduce you two; she's the most beautiful girl in the entire village."
Darian's expression shifted slightly, and he pondered for two seconds with a conflicted look.
"Fine. It's hard to refuse such hospitality. But don't get the wrong idea; I'm only interested in your thousand-year salted fish."
Half an hour later, Darian regretted it.
Ignoring the villagers' enthusiastic attempts to make him stay, he took a bag of Universe coins and the thousand-year salted fish, then bolted out of the village without looking back.
"Damn it, that illiterate village chief really screwed me over; he doesn't even know how to use quantifiers."
"Was that supposed to be 'a piece'? It was clearly 'a cartload'!"
Darian cursed under his breath.
In truth, he couldn't entirely blame the village chief; it was just that Darian didn't understand the local customs of Vanaheim.
Feeling like he'd been deceived, Darian grew angrier the more he thought about it, so he roasted that thousand-year salted fish right on the spot.
Just as he finished roasting it and took a bite, a system notification suddenly popped up.
[Roasted Thousand-Year Salted Fish: A mysterious species from ancient times. Consuming it permanently increases Strength by one point.]
[Strength: 102 → 103]
Darian: "?"
This was the first time he had seen food that could permanently increase attributes.
So, the most valuable part of this quest wasn't the system rewards, but this thousand-year salted fish?
Darian quickly took two more bites, but this time, the system didn't react.
It seemed only the first bite increased attributes; any more was just for the taste.
What exactly was the origin of this thousand-year salted fish?
Darian couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought.
But having just escaped from the village, it wouldn't be good to go back and ask. He would just have to wait until he had another chance to ask the village chief later.
He didn't continue eating it but instead put the rest into his game inventory, saving it for later—perhaps giving it to someone else might increase their attributes, too.
After obtaining this thousand-year salted fish, Darian's gloomy mood instantly improved.
That was just how he was; his moods came and went quickly.
Darian took out his flying broomstick and set off again.
This time the journey was smooth, and he soon arrived at the hiding spot for the ravager ships.
The disguise at the cave entrance was intact and didn't look like anyone had touched it, which was good news.
However, when he walked deep into the mountains, his face fell instantly.
The number of ravager ships had decreased.
It wasn't an illusion; a large section where the ravager ships had been neatly lined up was now empty, and that empty space was particularly glaring.
Darian narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing in them.
"Which corpse dares to steal from me?"
When he approached the clearing, he noticed something was wrong.
Small pebbles around him were floating in mid-air, some even flickering in and out of existence, just like a bug in a game.
Darian was no stranger to this scene; not long ago, when he had sent those outsiders back to their realms, the area around the space rift had looked just like this, violating the laws of physics.
He picked up a stone and threw it toward the clearing.
The next moment, the stone vanished in mid-air.
Obviously, a space rift existed here as well.
Those missing ravager ships hadn't been stolen; they had been swallowed by this space rift, and he had no idea where they had been teleported to.
Darian's mouth twitched.
Talk about bad luck; of all places, a space rift had to open exactly where he was hiding the ravager ships.
"So, the question is: where does this space rift lead to?"
Darian stroked his chin, pondering.
If a few races with distinct features, like the Frost Giants, crawled out of the rift, he would be able to recognize them at a glance.
The problem was that it was empty right now, and he couldn't tell anything.
But this space rift had swallowed over a dozen ravager ships, and they contained quite a few resources. Losing them would be genuinely painful.
As the saying goes, Darian was a man who wouldn't waste even a single grain of rice.
If he just gave up like this, he'd probably be miserable to death.
However, for the sake of caution, Darian didn't step into the space rift immediately. Instead, he took out a small smart device and threw it into the rift to probe the situation inside first.
Yet, he waited for a long time without seeing the small smart device return.
Darian wasn't ready to give up; he threw in a few more small smart devices, but they still didn't return.
"I don't believe this."
Darian waved his hand and summoned an Ultron Robot.
He pointed at the space rift before him. "Go in and check the situation. If anything seems wrong, retreat immediately. Do not hesitate."
The Ultron Robot nodded, dived into the space rift, and its figure vanished from sight.
Time ticked by.
There was still no movement from the other side of the space rift.
Darian was truly shocked now.
What on earth was going on on the other side of this space rift that even the Ultron Robot couldn't return?
Given the Ultron Robot's strength, not to mention taking on Hulk or Thor, it was more than capable of handling average Superheroes.
Yet, after being thrown into this space rift, it hadn't even caused a ripple.