Two Oddballs

The two young players soon made their way to Merman Coast.

By now, they could be considered battle-hardened veterans. Against these pitiful Fishmen, it was downright "persecution."

One hacked wildly with a blade while the other moved like a ghost. The unlucky Mudflat Mermen fell at the waist like stalks of chives...

"Not bad."

Seeing this, Rogue, who was killing monsters elsewhere, could not help but smile.

His "Inspirational Action" had clearly been highly effective. The candle wax within the Spirit Candle was steadily climbing.

"Hmm... it's about time to summon a few more players."

Rogue decided that once this batch of chives had been harvested, he would head back and bring in some fresh blood.

As time passed, the other players gradually came online as well.

It had to be said that Jianghu Legend's current level of realism and immersion was unmatched among all virtual reality games.

If not for its small player base and limited slots, it probably would have caused quite a stir already.

Even so, most players who had tried the game and found it suited their tastes no longer wanted to play anything else...

Brother Mangzi, who had arrived first, quickly spotted Li Miao and Yuanfang persecuting Fishmen.

Soon after, Guagua and Brother Yu arrived as well.

"Hey, why did you suddenly decide to start killing Fishmen today?"

While the two waited for the monster groups to respawn, Brother Mangzi asked curiously.

"To complete a specific task for the Candle Keepers."

"The Candle Keepers have a favorability system. At the moment, the only way to raise it seems to be farming more monsters. I suggest you all kill as many monsters as possible too."

Li Miao gave everyone a brief explanation.

Upon hearing that, everyone suddenly understood. So they were persecuting Fishmen in order to kill Poison Mist Birds more efficiently.

"If our favorability with the Candle Keepers gets high enough, wouldn't we be able to accept more specific tasks with generous rewards?"

Brother Mangzi's eyes lit up.

Guagua suddenly raised a question. "Do you think giving gifts to the Candle Keepers could raise their favorability?"

Everyone froze when they heard that.

Hiss... that made sense!

As the saying went, Jianghu was not just about fighting and killing. Jianghu was about connections and social graces...

Yuanfang began considering the feasibility. "...It might work. It's worth trying, but we should give them more gifts and try different kinds as well. The Candle Keepers may have particular preferences."

Everyone silently took note of that.

Then Li Miao took the opportunity to ask whether anyone wanted to join them. He and Yuanfang could forgo the final blows so the others could stack favorability.

Brother Mangzi and Guagua naturally agreed without hesitation.

There was no need to say more about Guagua—she was someone they absolutely had to win over. With her around, even the drop rate for Bone Forks would increase somewhat.

"I won't be farming Fishmen. I'm going to farm Sandworms."

Brother Yu did not choose to join them.

Since they were farming monsters, Sandworms were naturally the best choice.

The Sandworm King could drop Meat Bait!

Everyone understood the mind of this fishing addict, so no one thought he was being unsociable.

Very soon, the group of young players began persecuting monsters.

The roars of Fishmen rang endlessly across the shore...

"Holy shit... this sense of touch, this realism, this flexible body..."

"This game is absolutely insane!"

"Isn't this way more fun than that garbage Jianghu Legend? It lags me into a PowerPoint presentation, and the female characters have breasts like rocks too. Bleh!"

"I hope the game's details are polished. If there are bugs, I'll just treat them as game features!"

"I can even accept this game having no girls!"

Inside Reef Cave, the two newly joined players shouted excitedly, astonished by the game's advanced technology.

Their IDs were "I Do Push-Ups with Niuniu" and "Time to Eat Mushrooms."

After they finished speaking, their gazes immediately met. Their pupils shrank in unison, and they both leaned back tactically before crying out.

"Oh, fuck!" "What the hell is that?!"

...The reason they reacted that way was because both of their character designs were bizarre.

One was as short as a goblin, but had arms longer than his knees. The other had a perfectly normal build, but his face looked like a clay sculpture that had been punched in the face.

The goblin-like one was I Do Push-Ups with Niuniu, while the clay-sculpture-looking one was naturally Mushroom.

...All that could be said was that it was fortunate Rogue had not allowed these players to color their characters. Otherwise, this game might have turned into a Calabash Brothers party.

"Hahahaha, bro, your character looks like the child of a goblin and a gorilla after they got drunk!"

When Mushroom saw the ID above his head, he immediately understood and could not help laughing.

Niuniu rolled his eyes. "You don't get it. This is a look I carefully designed. It'll definitely have a big use later."

"Besides... you're one to talk. Your face looks like Thanos treated your nose as an Infinity Stone and snapped it in."

The two had barely entered the game before they started mocking each other, and both could not help laughing after they finished.

Then, as though they had known each other at first sight, the two began chatting familiarly.

"Your ID is way too hilarious, hahaha..."

"Hey, bro, let me tell you, you have no idea how badly that damn Jianghu Legend screwed me over. The ads were everywhere, and once I entered the game, it was no different from eating shit..."

"Exactly. I was playing a dungeon, and the knife model couldn't even move properly. Every two steps, a top-up ad popped up..."

Seeing the two getting more and more engrossed in their conversation with no sign of stopping, Rogue, inside the Spirit Candle, could no longer sit still.

He checked their talents.

I Do Push-Ups with Niuniu's talent was called [Sneaky], while Time to Eat Mushrooms' talent was called [Poison Resistance].

[Sneaky: The sound of your movements is reduced. Agility +1.]

[Poison Resistance: You are naturally highly resistant to poison. Poison immunity is slightly increased. Constitution +1.]

It was Rogue's first time encountering a four-character talent, but its strength was not excessively overpowered. It fell within the normal range.

Both of these guys had decent talents.

But...

"They're still talking!"

These two oddballs... at least look at the quest prompt I gave you!

Rogue's forehead twitched with black lines.

He had originally planned to let them find the old players themselves so he could slack off a little, but he had not expected these two to start chatting the moment they came out, without stopping at all.

So he hurriedly revealed himself, spoke in a deep voice, temporarily restricted their permissions, and went through the motions.

Just then, Battle Thrill—Brother Mangzi—ran in to recover health.

Rogue's eyes immediately brightened. With a serious expression, he nodded at him and assigned a task with a candle wax reward.

"...Then, Battle Thrill, I'll leave this task to you."

"No problem!" Brother Mangzi immediately patted his chest in assurance. Wasn't it just guiding two newbies? Easy!

After letting them choose their starting weapons, Rogue swiftly returned to the Spirit Candle.

He felt as though these two players had used his Spirit Candle to mold two monsters...

Hopefully, they would be useful. Otherwise, Rogue really would have to replace them.

A new book sets sail! Please bookmark, recommend, and vote with monthly tickets!