Preparation

The square outside the Holy Candlemas Church was as packed as ever today. However, compared to before, there were far fewer players among the crowd. They had probably realized that the church's storyline was not something that could be triggered easily, and waiting any longer would be pointless.

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

Among these believers, however, one group was 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."

"Wasn't it supposed to be noon? It's practically afternoon already."

"Bullshit. Do I look like the kind of person who doesn't even read the quest description?"

Take flew into a rage and was just about to teach everyone a lesson.

"Sorry, something held me up."

A calm voice came from nearby. Take turned around and saw the figure that made everyone's hearts race.

She was still hidden beneath that oversized cloak. Though it was broad daylight and the sun shone directly overhead, Take could not make out the face beneath her hood. It was as though an invisible shadow had always blurred her features.

If Take insisted on trying to see clearly, she even felt a heart-pounding terror, as if darkness would swallow her whole.

*

After completing the final ritual yesterday, Li Wen had spent the entire night recovering her mana through meditation.

It had only just fully recovered. After all, she was not a mage class, so her recovery speed was naturally much slower.

Li Wen swept her gaze over them. There were five in total, three men and two women. One of the taller women was the female player she had met yesterday. The rest were dressed like ordinary adventurers, and their class levels were unlikely to be impressive.

But that did not matter. What Li Wen wanted was Cannon Fodder, not teammates.

"To make sure the next operation goes smoothly, you'll need to follow my commands the entire time. Any objections?"

The others all turned to look at the tall woman. She appeared to be the leader of the group.

"No problem, but there's something we need to make clear first."

Li Wen nodded in agreement.

"We're not here to work for free. At the very least, you need to settle the reward first."

Players were never easy to fool, and Li Wen knew that perfectly well.

"That depends on you. If you follow my commands properly, the reward will naturally be generous. But if all you do is cause trouble, then there's nothing more to discuss."

So the rewards would be based on quest completion, huh!

Take loved that kind of arrangement. Rewards based on completion meant they were not fixed. Compared to fixed rewards, the lower limit might be lower, but the upper limit was also higher. If they performed well enough, they could easily receive rewards beyond their current stage. At least, that was how the games she had played before worked.

But that also meant the quest difficulty might be ridiculously high. Still, who was Take? Players only feared that quest rewards were not good enough; they never worried that quests were too difficult. As long as the rewards were worthwhile, even slaying a dragon would be no problem!

"Pleasure working with you!"

Take did not even ask what the quest was about before extending her right hand.

"I'm Take, and these are my companions..."

"Pleasure working with you. Just call me Mephisto." Li Wen reached out and shook her hand as well, though no one noticed her surprise.

The name "Take"—unless it was merely a coincidence—was quite something.

Li Wen did not know Take, but she had heard that name often enough in her previous life.

After the players collectively underwent the Great Transmigration in her previous life, three irreplaceable legendary events spread among the player community. One of them was the famous Nation Founding incident.

After the players who had transmigrated in the early days survived the initial period of chaos, everyone had been anxious and terrified. Furthermore, the natives had long resented these unkillable "cockroaches." In their eyes, most players probably did not rank much higher than Purgatory Demons.

As a result, nations and forces of the Order Faction were generally unwilling to have much contact with players. After transmigrating, most players did not even have a safe place to stay.

At that time, those lone-wolf players whose levels far surpassed everyone else's, and who had not joined any faction, stepped forward. After Arthur was destroyed, they occupied part of the kingdom's territory with astonishing efficiency. In the end, they became famous in a single battle against Dark Dawn's Shadow Legion, and a nation belonging to the players began to take shape.

Among the names of those high-level players, Take stood prominently near the top.

Li Wen's strongest impression of her was that, during that decisive battle—the Nation Founding War, as people called it at the time—Take had single-handedly held back thirty percent of the Shadow Legion's forces. She had nearly beaten the Shadow Legion into ruin.

Li Wen would never have dared to imagine such a thing back then. She figured that, at the time, she probably could not even defeat a Shadow Legion grunt.

Because of that impression, Li Wen took a few extra looks at Take, but she could not see anything particularly extraordinary about her.

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

"Let's go. To the West District." Li Wen took the lead.

"The West District? Don't we need to go north to leave town?" The game had only been open for two days, but Take had done nothing except familiarize herself with the map. If anyone among the players knew Ake Town and its surrounding areas best, it could only be her, the great Bamboo Princess.

Li Wen stopped at that. She turned and looked Take and her companions up and down. They were, after all, new players who had only just started. Their low levels were one thing, but they did not even have a single decent piece of equipment. What they wore was either starter gear or something scavenged from who knew where. There was no need to inspect it to know it was gray-grade or worse.

"First, we'll get you some equipment. I'm not expecting you to be of much use, but if you all die immediately, that'll be difficult for me too. Don't worry, I'll pay. If you die too quickly, consider this your reward."

Take's eyes lit up. Even the minimum guarantee was a full set of equipment for each person? This quest was incredible!

"Sure, sure, anything goes. We'll listen to you!"

As for the girl's mention of "all dying immediately" and "dying too quickly," Take automatically ignored it.

Come on, what player was afraid of dying?

Take voluntarily led the way. Besides knowing the terrain, she also knew which blacksmiths and tailors had lower prices. She truly had Ake Town figured out.

Along the way, Li Wen also learned the five of their respective classes and levels. The three men consisted of a level 2 Guard and two level 2 Warriors. The other girl was a level 1 Hunter. They were all ordinary classes.

As for Take, she had not gone to learn any profession yet. She was still a level 0 Classless, practically wearing "My standards are sky-high" on her face.

That was the right choice. The level cap for ordinary classes was only ten, and the game was extremely strict about changing classes. If players wanted to switch to a Path later, they could only force it while suffering the penalties of Dual Class. Yet that would still leave them one class short of a normal Dual Class, making it an utterly disadvantageous choice.

So many players had chosen ordinary classes early in order to seize the initiative. Once they discovered how difficult class advancement was, they either sighed and deleted their accounts to start over, or refused to waste their previous effort and forcibly took on Dual Class despite all the penalties.

At that point, Li Wen thought of Take from her previous life again. She had heard that Take's class was the Blood-Shattering Berserker of the Conquest Path, known as the ruthless battlefield meat grinder.

As expected of a player who could stand at the very top. She had at least some understanding of the game.