Extremely Dangerous Lister

At the gate to Jiangling Prefecture's inner city.

A man in gray cloth armor, with a rusty greatsword on his back, was handing a silver coin to the gate guard with a pained expression.

Both the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty and the Kingdom of Lucian were later civilizations that had emerged from the Alchemy Civilization of the First Era.

Although their societies had developed in different directions, they still had quite a few things in common.

Even the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty's coinage was made using techniques passed down from the earliest Alchemy Civilization, with coins made of gold, silver, and copper.

The so-called Eastern setting applied only to its society. Like the Kingdom of Lucian, it had retained a few skills from the Age of Alchemy, such as alchemical firearms.

"What a lousy inner city! It costs this much just to get in!"

The man with the greatsword on his back began cursing as soon as he entered the inner city.

After all, he had only managed to save up the silver coin for the entrance fee after killing monsters for a long time.

"It's all that bastard Love of a Lifetime's fault! He has no martial virtue!"

"I already let him kill me once, but he still camped my exit! Now I have to come try out the quest system first."

"Just you wait until the official open beta! If you haven't changed your name by then, I'll pick a combat class and kill you!"

That was right. The man was Chen Shanqiang, the "War God of Jiangling Prefecture."

After entering the game for the closed beta, he had wanted to pick a healer class that others would be more likely to cater to.

Since it was a closed beta, he had imagined that a healer would be in greater demand for parties, and that he could observe more of the game from behind everyone else.

But once he actually entered the game, he was dumbfounded. There were only three hundred slots in total.

Most players who liked grinding levels went solo, or teamed up with just a tank.

Healers slowed down fights this early in the game. After all, they weren't fighting a boss.

As a healer, Chen Shanqiang was suddenly left out in the cold, and in the end, he could only carry a greatsword and kill monsters himself.

Fortunately, it was early in the game, and everyone was relying on basic stats and normal attacks. He just leveled a little more slowly.

Who could have guessed he would run into Love of a Lifetime in the wild, the man he had traded insults with in public chat? A level-seven swordsman beating up a level-four healer with a greatsword on his back was nothing short of a massacre.

Even that wasn't enough. Since it was a closed beta and the data would be wiped anyway, Love of a Lifetime had gotten genuinely angry over their exchange in public chat.

He camped outside the outer city gate, effectively confining Chen Shanqiang's gameplay to the city.

It did, however, lead to him luckily picking up a few quests, including a side quest to search for someone that Assistant Commander Li had widely circulated and posted at the outer city's notice board.

He had come to the inner city today to see whether he could pick up some new quests and find out how the NPCs there differed.

"Damn it! I hope that Chen Xinhe guy in public chat wasn't lying to me."

Still grumbling in annoyance, he followed the minimap to the Evergreen Inn.

As the premier inn in the inner city, it occupied a vast area, and its entrance was equally imposing.

"Nice place, at least~!"

"Guest, are you staying the night or stopping for a meal?"

As soon as Chen Shanqiang entered, an inn attendant came up to greet him warmly. Although Chen Shanqiang was dressed rather... shabbily, the attendant of a major establishment still had that much professionalism.

"I'm looking for someone."

"Count Merrick, the envoy from the Kingdom of Lucian, is staying here, right?"

Chen Shanqiang himself was somewhat uncertain. Would a foreign envoy, a count, really see him?

But Chen Xinhe in public chat had sounded quite convincing.

He had said that anyone could take Count Merrick's hidden quest simply by going to see him.

"Guest, may I announce you?"

Before long, the attendant had led Chen Shanqiang upstairs to the number one premium room.

Chen Shanqiang took a deep breath and entered the room.

A man in silver leather armor sat at the tea table. He had black hair, black eyes, sword-like brows, and starry eyes, and he was slowly getting to his feet.

He calmly looked Chen Shanqiang over.

The two looked at each other, and with perfect unspoken understanding, both used the system to scan the other's information.

[Target NPC found: Lister Merick]

[Scouting relative strength... Scouting complete...]

[Level: Lv???]

[Health: ???]

[Stamina: ???]

[Attributes: Strength ???, Stamina ???, Intelligence ???, Agility ???]

[Skills: ???]

[Overall evaluation: ???]

[Note: Extremely dangerous!!!]

The string of question marks delighted Chen Shanqiang rather than alarming him.

Unhurriedly, he took a screenshot and posted it in public chat, making sure to tag Chen Xinhe.

"Brother~! You're a real pal! He really is a damn hidden boss!"

"Holy shit! Extremely dangerous! What level does someone have to be for that?"

"At least level 20, right? No, wait! I ran into a level-19 NPC in the outer city, and the warning just said, 'Strength gap too great. Recommend keeping your distance.' This NPC really is a hidden super boss!"

"Hey, War God, brother, is it because you're too weak? Otherwise, surely you could see at least one of his attributes?"

A flurry of discussion began filling the game's public chat.

Lister had closed Chen Shanqiang's information after a quick glance. There really was no need to look.

A level-four healer-there wasn't much to say about him.

Now he smiled at Chen Shanqiang, who was standing in a daze before him, while he too opened the game's public chat to watch.

Sure enough, when a player viewed his information directly, it showed Lister Merick.

But if he sent a message in public chat, it automatically changed to Chen Xinhe, saving him the trouble.

"War God of Jiangling Prefecture (Chen Shanqiang)..."

Lister spoke up, intending to interrupt him and stop him from reading public chat, but he was a little taken aback as soon as the words left his mouth.

He realized he had instinctively called the man by his real name, but what he had actually said aloud was "War God of Jiangling Prefecture." Was this the system's supposed correction for NPCs?

"Ah~? Oh...!"

"Greetings, esteemed Count Merrick! Is there anything I can help you with?"

Chen Shanqiang finally came to his senses.

He hurriedly greeted Lister with an enthusiastic expression and asked about a quest.

"Hello, War God of Jiangling Prefecture. I am an envoy from the Kingdom of Lucian, here to conduct diplomatic relations with Great Chu."

"I recently arrived in Jiangling Prefecture and intend to stay for a while."

"I hear that Assistant Commander Li is an imperial guard to the emperor of the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty. I hope someone can help me gather information about him, his interests, and his recent activities..."

[Congratulations, you have obtained the side quest "Search for Information by the Lucian Envoy": Count Merrick, an envoy of the Kingdom of Lucian, wishes to befriend Li Fu, the Brocade Guard assistant commander and close attendant of the emperor, in advance to better conduct diplomatic activities. He therefore needs you to gather information about Assistant Commander Li.]

[Time limit: None.]

[Quest reward: 1 gold coin.]

[Accept quest?]

Chen Shanqiang cupped his hands and bowed to Lister. Although the gesture was painful to look at, his meaning was clear enough.

"Count Merrick, I'll be sure to gather information about Assistant Commander Li's interests for you!"

Seeing this, Lister said nothing more and nodded for him to leave.

This was his first time issuing a quest, and Lister had now worked out the process.

He only needed to provide the general quest information and decide on a reward. The system would handle the rest.

As usual, Chen Shanqiang posted the quest in public chat.

"Brothers, this quest is a huge profit!"

"The entrance fee is one silver coin, and the quest reward is one gold coin. That's a hundredfold return!"

"Did I beat you stupid? You think you can dig up information on Assistant Commander Li?" - "Love of a Lifetime" Qi Lü.

"You're the stupid one! If I hadn't picked a healer class, you think you could beat me?"

"I'm only level four anyway. I can just keep watch at Assistant Commander Li's residence. Even if I die, it's no big deal—I'll just respawn a few more times."