Preparation

The square in front of the Holy Candlemas Church was still packed today, but unlike before, there were far fewer players among the crowd—most had likely realized the church's storyline wasn't easy to trigger, and waiting further was just a waste of time.

In contrast, the faithful had become the main force of the crowd. Today was the church's Worship Day, and they had all come to pray to Radiance. Radiance's sacred number was seven, so the church had designated the seventh day of the week as the day of worship.

Yet among these worshippers, one group stood out as clearly out of place.

"Brother Zhu, are you sure that NPC said the church entrance, and not somewhere else?"

"Yeah, there are way too many people here."

"Didn't they say noon? It's almost afternoon now."

"Come on, am I the kind of person who doesn't even read the quest description?"

The Bamboo Princess was furious and was about to teach them all a lesson.

"Sorry, I was held up by something."

A calm voice rang out. The Bamboo Princess turned and saw that exciting figure.

She still hid herself under that oversized cloak. It was high noon, with the sun blazing directly overhead, yet the Bamboo Princess couldn't make out her face beneath the hood—it was as if an invisible layer of shadow constantly blurred her features.

If she tried to force a clear look, the Bamboo Princess even felt a sense of dread, as if darkness was about to engulf her.

*

After completing the last ritual yesterday, Li Wen had spent the entire night meditating to recover her mana.

She had only just fully replenished it moments ago. Since she wasn't a mage class, her recovery speed was naturally much slower.

Li Wen swept her gaze over them—five people in total, three men and two women. One of the women, who was quite tall, was the female player she'd met yesterday. The rest looked like ordinary adventurers in their gear, and their class levels probably weren't anything impressive.

But that didn't matter. Li Wen wanted cannon fodder, not teammates.

"To ensure the next operation goes smoothly, you'll follow my orders completely. Any questions?"

Everyone else looked at the tall woman, clearly the leader of this group.

"No problem, but there's one thing we need to settle first."

Li Wen nodded in agreement.

"We're not working for free. At least tell us the reward first."

Players weren't easy to fool, and Li Wen knew that well.

"That depends on you. If you follow my orders properly, the reward won't be small. But if you only cause trouble, then there's nothing to discuss."

In other words, the reward was based on quest completion!

The Bamboo Princess loved that kind of system. Rewards based on completion meant they weren't fixed—lower floor, but higher ceiling. If she performed well enough, she could easily get rewards beyond the current stage. At least that was how it worked in the games she used to play.

But it also meant the quest's difficulty might be absurdly high. Still, who was the Bamboo Princess? Players only feared insufficient rewards, not hard quests. As long as the reward was good enough, she'd even go slay a dragon!

"Pleasure doing business!"

Without even asking the specifics of the quest, the Bamboo Princess directly extended her right hand.

"I'm the Bamboo Princess. These are my companions..."

"Pleasure doing business. Just call me Mephisto." Li Wen shook her hand in return, but no one noticed the surprise on her face.

The name "Bamboo Princess"—if it wasn't a coincidence, then it was quite the stroke of luck.

Li Wen didn't know the Bamboo Princess personally, but in her past life, she had heard that name plenty of times.

After the collective Great Transmigration of players in her previous life, three legendary, irreplaceable events circulated among the player community. One of them was the famous "Nation Founding" event.

In the early days after the transmigration, after the initial period of great chaos, everyone was panicked and terrified. On top of that, the natives had long harbored grudges against these unkillable "cockroaches," and in many of their minds, most players were probably no different from Purgatory Demons.

As a result, the nations and factions of the Order Faction generally refused to have much to do with players. Most players, after transmigrating, couldn't even find a peaceful place to stay.

That was when the lone-wolf players, who were far ahead in levels and hadn't joined any faction, stepped up. After Arthur's fall, they occupied parts of the kingdom with astonishing speed, and in the final decisive battle against Dark Dawn's Shadow Legion, they won fame with a single victory, beginning the establishment of a player nation.

And among the list of those high-level players, the name Bamboo Princess ranked prominently.

Li Wen's strongest impression of her was that, during that decisive battle—what people later called the Nation Founding War—the Bamboo Princess single-handedly held back thirty percent of the Shadow Legion's forces, nearly crippling them.

Back then, Li Wen couldn't even imagine such a feat. She figured her past self couldn't even beat a Shadow Legion grunt.

With that impression in mind, Li Wen took a few extra looks at the Bamboo Princess but didn't see anything extraordinary about her.

Of course, judging by appearance was unwise. Li Wen quickly adjusted her mindset.

"Let's go. To the West District." Li Wen walked ahead.

"The West District? If we're leaving town, shouldn't we head north?" The game had only been open for two days, and the Bamboo Princess had done nothing but familiarize herself with the map. If anyone among the players knew Ake Town and its surroundings best, it was her, the Bamboo Princess.

Li Wen stopped at that, turning to look the Bamboo Princess and her companions up and down. They were just new players starting out—low-level, and not even a single solid piece of equipment on them. Either they were wearing their starting gear or something they'd scrounged up from who knows where. The quality was obviously below gray.

"We're getting you equipped first. I don't expect you to do much, but if you all die right away, that'll be troublesome for me. Don't worry, I'll cover the cost. If you die too fast, consider this your payment."

The Bamboo Princess's eyes lit up. Even the baseline reward was a full set of gear per person? This quest was insane!

"Fine, fine, fine! Whatever you say, I'm with you!"

As for the girl's mention of "die right away" or "die too fast," she automatically ignored it.

Come on, what player was afraid of dying?

Take naturally took the lead, familiar with the terrain as she was, she also knew where the ironware and tailor shops were cheaper, having truly figured out Ake Town.

Along the way, Li Wen also learned about each of their five companions' classes and levels. The three men were a level 2 Guard and two level 2 Warriors, while the other girl was a level 1 Hunter—all common classes.

As for Take, that one hadn't even gone to learn a trade yet, still at level 0 with no class, practically wearing "I have sky-high demands" on her face.

This was the right call. The level cap for common classes was ten, and the game was extremely strict about class changes. If a player later wanted to switch to a Path, they could only force the transition under the penalty of Dual Class, but that left them one class short compared to a proper Dual Class—a truly wasteful choice.

Countless players, eager to seize the initiative, had chosen common classes early on, only to sigh in regret when they discovered the difficulty of changing classes, either deleting their accounts to start over or stubbornly enduring the penalties to force a Dual Class rather than waste their effort.

At this point, Li Wen recalled Take from her past life. She had heard that Take's class was the Blood-Shattering Berserker of the Conquest Path, known as the merciless battlefield meat grinder.

She could only say it was fitting for a player who could rank at the top—she had at least some understanding of the game.