Snatching the Person

"Sister is so cool! Love it, love it!"

"What's going on? Wasn't the NPC at the server opening that weakling guy?"

"This girl's voice is so familiar, sounds like the Duel Sister from that conference video."

"Missy is always wearing heavy armor and steel boots. As a Knight, her physical activity must be immense. I can't even imagine how good she smells."

"Smells great, no need for extra salt."

"I guess she means there are two quest lines at the start. Near Crystal Seal Village, there's a low-level monster grinding spot, good for steady progress. Iron Wall City has more high-level NPCs. If you're confident in your strength, you might get rich overnight."

"What kind of skill is this Flame Sword? Is there a corresponding profession in the first playthrough?"

The fifty-one players were all talking at once, each with their own focus. Some were still chatting with their viewers, and the whole scene remained chaotic.

As a "newcomer" who had only arrived at Iron Wall City the night before, Aperria, aside from 'Lost a Leg', was first seen by the other players at yesterday evening's meeting.

At that time, she was like a bristling hedgehog. Whenever she felt someone had offended Li Li, she would interrupt, sternly reprimand, and issue no less than three duel invitations to the blasphemers.

It was precisely because of her presence that others, after a few attempts, gave up on the unproductive negotiation tactic of belittling their opponents.

However, Aperria was wearing full armor back then, and her helmet was securely on her head, making it difficult for the few players who recognized her voice to confirm their judgment.

Suddenly, Aperria froze slightly, a ferocious expression appearing on her beautiful face.

The voices of the 51 people were a jumbled mess, but for Lv72 Aperria, it wasn't difficult to hear everyone clearly.

She looked towards the half-elf who kept talking about how nourishing and delicious her steel boots were, swung her long sword, and the flames gathered in a circle on the ground abruptly converged on a single point, piercing the human behind the half-elf, turning him into a man of fire.

"Ah! Fuck, fuck, fuck!!! The default pain sensitivity in this game is at least 20%!"

The ignited player wailed in agony, and in a short while, he was burned to ashes.

The players present immediately fell silent, tacitly closing their mouths.

This was the first player death, and they were actually killed by an NPC.

What did that guy do?

Players who were farther away only heard someone constantly making outrageous comments about foot odor in that direction, and they thought he had angered the NPC because of it.

But the half-elf who was closest knew that the unlucky person who was burned to ashes had, from beginning to end, only asked in confusion why the "weakling guy" wasn't there.

"Your words have profaned the divine. May you find salvation in the flames, and may the Lord forgive my methods," Aperria said softly.

The next moment, players who were paying attention to the notification interface discovered that the favorability of [Unsealing Saintess Aperria] had dropped directly from the base Friendly (+30) to Indifferent (+10).

This NPC was the Saintess responsible for upgrading and job-changing them, the players!

Upon realizing this, the players' eyes immediately changed, and they all cursed the player who was burned to death in their hearts.

Although the players had nicknamed Li Li "weakling guy" behind his back, no one had ever called him that to his face.

After all, he was the core NPC responsible for allocating stats. His favorability was definitely the most important in the game. If his favorability was high, he might give an 80% discount on the experience required for leveling up, or if his favorability was low, he might even refuse to let players level up directly.

This was the most critical issue in the game!

Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Aperria, who had completely lost favor with the chosen ones, spoke the lines Li Li had arranged for her.

They were roughly about "killing monsters to gain experience," "permanent account ban for doing bad things," and "protecting your body before logging off."

Then, she asked the players again whether they intended to leave with her or continue staying here.

Finally, Aperria led 32 new players out of the hall.

She, along with the Knights guarding the entrance, who had just been tricked by the Transcendence Merchant Guild into signing indentured servitude contracts, and 'Lost a Leg', who intended to lie low, set off towards Crystal Seal Village.

After these people left, Li Li came into the hall to receive the players who chose to stay.

[Outpost, Part Three]

[Quest Deadline: Before January 30th, Alliance Year 1104.]

[Quest Progress: 13%]

[Quest Objective: Establish an outpost for expeditions in the Endemic Plague Village of Broken Sword Valley.]

[Quest Hint: With the assistance of the Transcendence Merchant Guild, an endless stream of supplies is being transported to the outpost. However, monsters along the way are still rampant, and the workers in the city are unwilling to go to the dangerous wilderness. You, being weak, have decided to go to the outpost to assist in its construction.]

[Quest Reward: Large amount of experience points, a small chance to obtain the "Outpost Property Purchase Qualification Certificate."]

This was the main quest Li Li issued to the players who stayed.

At the same time, based on the actual situation, he also issued side quests such as "Transport Supplies," "Timber Felling," and "Guide."

The experience reward for each quest ranged from 100 to 3000 points. Completing about ten quests would earn enough experience to level up to the Brass rank and become a Transcendence with some combat power.

These players were all combat experts carefully selected by Li Li. Once they reached level 10, had some attack skills, and obtained decent equipment, they could jointly defeat 30+ Silver monsters.

Not to mention, there were several veteran players waiting outside to pick up their friends for leveling.

After Aperria left with a large crowd, the guild's representative received the news and managed to catch the second wave of players.

The guild thoughtfully provided enchanted weapons for new players to purchase with a mortgage.

However, a city guard officer who had been waiting there all along stated that as long as players joined the army, they could obtain the most useful "firearms" in the early stages. Furthermore, he would dispatch troops to assist players in clearing pollution, as well as provide subsequent promotions and benefits.

"Faction system?" someone wondered.

In the first playthrough, there wasn't anything like this. Most people had no concept of NPC faction strength, so they had no idea which faction to join.

Quite a few players simply went AFK and headed online to post for help.

Meanwhile, "Golden Wind," clad in flashy enchanted gear, led a group of treants and invited players to join their player "guild."

He told the hesitant players that under the simulation of the "real world," NPC factions and player factions were no different, and their advantage was the assistance of treants, as well as "Golden Wind's" intelligence advantage from the first playthrough.

Li Li had learned about the "Golden Wind" guild on the forums.

In the first playthrough, these guys had created a super-large guild, monopolizing the output of sub-professions, rare materials, advancement methods for hidden classes, and so on. They could even influence the outcomes of professional matches.

These people had turned the game into a business, causing much resentment among solo players.

But it had to be said, achieving this level meant they were truly powerful.

As Li Li had stated, he didn't interfere with these factions poaching players.

After signing the contract with the merchant guild, he actually no longer needed players to do the grunt work for infrastructure. The efficiency of these amateurs wasn't going to be high anyway.

The reason he was giving players those quests was mainly to find an excuse to distribute experience points.