Big Fish

"Have you made contact?"

"The call wouldn't go through, and their stream is off. I guess they went to sleep."

"I can't believe it. They finally got a slot, and on the first day, they're sleeping instead of grinding."

"They're all over 30 years old. They have families to take care of and don't have that much time for games. It's understandable."

"Get outta here. I know that guy. He's a hardcore virgin; he doesn't have a family."

"..."

Aperria walked in the middle of the group, silently listening to the Chosen Ones' conversation.

Having grown up in a small village, she didn't understand terms like "stream," but she could guess their general meaning. She knew these people from another world had their own ways of communicating.

If even they couldn't contact their abducted companion, could it be that something had really happened?

Aperria couldn't help but worry.

Her Lord had told her that whether they were abducted or left willingly, it was best not to waste time looking for the straggling Chosen Ones.

Because she possessed the power to "level up," the Chosen Ones would naturally gather around her.

But these Chosen Ones were the hope for saving the village. Without violating her Lord's will, Aperria still wanted to bring as many Chosen Ones back to the village as possible.

Besides the Shadowfolk guide walking at the front, a total of 32 Chosen Ones were accompanying her on the journey back to the village. Now, three were unconscious, two had been abducted, leaving only 27 active.

And it had only been a little over 30 hours since they left Iron Wall City.

The fog around them grew thicker. After venturing deep into the Misty Forest, the unpredictable Chosen Ones seemed to grasp the danger level here and had all become considerably more obedient.

The group wound their way through the forest, where visibility was less than 20 meters. Finally, before it got completely dark, they found a campsite for a temporary rest.

According to the Shadowfolk guide, because of the large number of people in the group, even if this wasn't a "monster spawn point," monsters would be drawn to the area after nightfall.

Therefore, strong individuals needed to be assigned to guard duty.

Fortunately, tonight's guard duty was handled by two other Knights, so Aperria could get a good night's sleep.

That Silver Rank Shadowfolk Chosen One was at least more reliable than the others.

Although she couldn't see anything special about him, this guy seemed to have some reputation among this chaotic group of Chosen Ones.

The group lit a bonfire and set up a simple temporary camp around it.

The dangers of the wilderness were unpredictable. Even with trusted teammates on guard duty, Aperria, who was extremely tired, didn't take off her armor. She leaned against the roots of a large tree, preparing for a short rest.

The Chosen Ones who were preparing to rest also found suitable hidden spots to avoid being affected after they "logged off."

However, some Chosen Ones still approached Aperria, who was almost asleep, and after saying a few superficial pleasantries, asked her to help them level up.

It wasn't that these Players couldn't see that Saintess was very tired. It was just that in this game, once you died, your stored experience points would be cleared. Stored experience was a pure burden, and using it all up before logging off was the thought of a normal person.

Li Li had instructed Aperria that if she encountered any Chosen Ones she particularly disliked, she should arrange for them to clean toilets for two or three days before considering whether to help them level up.

However, when it came to the leveling requests of other Chosen Ones, she should cooperate with them as much as possible.

With the help of the Beast-Ear Race member, the two quickly helped these Chosen Ones complete their upgrades.

Just as Aperria thought she could finally rest, a bird's head with a look of horror in its eyes was thrown in front of her.

What kind of bird is this?

Aperria's extremely exhausted brain was so sluggish it could barely think.

Aer, who was beside her, instinctively lunged forward and threw a punch at the front.

"BOOM!!!"

The full-power strike from a Legendary Rank Transcendence instantly caused a sonic boom, sweeping a large fan-shaped area of the forest into bare earth.

The next moment, the area that had been blasted into a large pit reverted to its original state without warning.

Restored?

When?

Aperria's brain completely crashed.

"Don't move around, little girl. If you do that, I'll have to count all over again." A strange, elderly voice came from all directions.

Aperria then realized that Aer was suspended in mid-air, as if entangled by a spiderweb, at some point.

"31 people from another world, 6 Gold Knights, 1 Legendary woman."

"Why are two people from another world missing?"

"Oh, right, here they are."

As the old man's voice fell, the two previously abducted Chosen Ones were thrown into the camp from an unknown direction.

Aperria wanted to draw her sword, but after fumbling several times, she couldn't touch the hilt.

She seemed to have completely lost her bearings, unable to distinguish up from down or left from right. She meant to draw the holy sword at her waist, but her hand reached up to grab something, her helpless movements perhaps looking somewhat comical to an observer.

But Aperria knew that she was about to lay down her life for her Lord's cause today.

As her Lord's Saintess, not only was she unable to harm her Lord's enemies in the end, but she didn't even know what the opponent looked like.

This was my own dereliction of duty; I deserved this fate.

Aperria felt no fear of the approaching death. Instead, her heart was filled with guilt towards her Lord.

The players who hadn't logged off yet also noticed the abnormality in the surrounding space.

For this group of veteran players, who had all reached level 200 long ago, this feeling of being completely lost was all too familiar!

Wasn't this the profession in the arena that was specifically designed to annoy people?

"Holy crap! An Illusion Domain Walker! I could tolerate someone using that thing to annoy me in the arena, but why are NPCs playing 'wheelchair' classes too!"

"Huh? A fifth-tier profession?"

"Damn it, those two who logged off got sent back!"

The players' unrestrained complaints made the old man hiding in the shadows sigh with emotion:

"As expected of people from another world, from the future. If we let them grow, they might become unpredictable calamities. We must eliminate them here."

"Indeed."

Taking advantage of the old man's self-talk, a punk with a mohawk placed his hand on his shoulder.

Not far away, another middle-aged man in military uniform snapped his fingers.

Instantly, everything in the camp seemed to freeze, fixed at that very moment.

"Damn it, an Hourglass Guard! A prerequisite profession for Time Palace Knights, another 'wheelchair'!"

"I know why the Alliance was wiped out. Turns out the NPCs were playing too many 'wheelchair' classes, and even the Boss couldn't stand it anymore."

These were the complaints the players wanted to voice after being frozen.

But because their time had been stopped, all these words were stuck in their throats.

The old man looked silently at the hand on his shoulder, then turned to the middle-aged man in uniform who had frozen time, saying:

"General, today is your daughter's birthday. At this time, you should be in your mansion in New Hope City, giving a speech to guests including myself."

As he spoke, the old man looked at the mohawk-sporting man who had his arm around him.

"And you, the police have arrested so many members of the Mad Tyrant Dominate Shoot Shoot Gang. As the gang leader, why aren't you holding down the fort, but running around in the middle of nowhere?"

"You might not believe me," the mohawk guy said, picking his nose with the hand on the old man's neck, acting all nonchalant. "A really, really creepy-looking teddy bear has been shouting in my dreams, telling me to follow that idiot and that I'd catch a big fish."

He wiped his booger on the old man's collar and looked around curiously.

"Hey man, can you help me look? Where's the big fish?"

The previous setting for Lv120-Lv150 was "Mythic Rank," which was ambiguous. It has now been changed to "Hero Rank."