Task Competitors

After finishing her conversation with Captain Ent and successfully triggering the quest, Theresa walked out of the tent and carefully observed the expressions of the other NPCs.

"Hello, I'm an adventurer from Forest City. Is there anything you need help with?"

"Oh, what a cute little one... What?! You're from Forest City? Get out! Get the hell out!"

"Hello, I'm an adventurer from Forest City..."

"You're from the Carron Empire? Damn it, I'll kill you!"

"Hello, I'm an adventurer from Forest City..."

"Squeak, squeak—"

A flurry of squawking chickens and smashed eggs followed.

Half a day later, Theresa had familiarized herself with every NPC. Even if they did not want to know her, Theresa forcibly went up and spoke with them.

She did not even spare the rat holes in the camp. She smoked the rats out, caught one, and questioned it several times before releasing it after confirming that it could not speak.

Theresa was certain she had missed nothing, but after all that talking, she had gained absolutely nothing.

Whoever was operating behind the scenes was skilled at manipulating emotions. By now, the survivors in the camp were filled with hatred for the Carron Empire. Almost all of them believed the disaster had been caused by the Carron Empire, and that hatred extended even to her, an adventurer.

She was clearly just an innocent adventurer. Even if the Carron royal family had done it, what did that have to do with her?

That was the brilliance of the person behind it all. Once everyone's emotions had been stirred up, the truth often no longer mattered.

Hating the house because of the crow on its roof.

Helpless, Theresa could only check the game forums to see if she could find any inspiration.

The forums were much livelier than before, and the number of logged-in players had reached three million.

In other words, at least three million people were currently playing Meta World in the China region.

After skimming through the posts, she found that most were asking about material sources, quest guides, monster weaknesses, party requests, and lucky-player flexes.

A moment later.

Theresa noticed a highly popular post that had been reposted from a foreign forum.

"Reposted from Twitter: A Mysterious Expedition in the Elf Empire, Live Coverage of a Special Quest"

Theresa's attention was instantly drawn to the post. She had a feeling that this special quest was related to Christmas Moon of the Elf Empire.

The poster had uploaded it in a mixture of text and images.

The first pinned image was an aerial shot taken from high above. It showed a vast, magnificent, and solemn city. A tremendously massive tree trunk also appeared in the picture, occupying a full third of the image.

Theresa knew this was Bannory, the royal capital of the Dawn Elf Empire.

The giant tree in the image was the sacred tree of the Elf race. Ordinary elves and other races lived in buildings constructed on the ground, while only noble elves or those who had made tremendous contributions to the Elf race could enter the city in the trees.

The game had only been open for about a month, and someone had already reached the elven royal capital...

With her doubts in mind, Theresa continued reading.

However, the moment she saw the player's name, everything became clear.

Ellie

In her previous life, this player had borne the title of Dawn Saintess.

Reading carefully, Theresa learned that there were currently three known players who had received the Saintess Candidate quest, and Ellie was only one of them. Right now, she was carrying out the prerequisite quest for the Saintess quest: Restoring the Glory of Falas Port!

The post's latest update stated that she had already arrived at Falas Port and was preparing to rebuild the ruined port.

One of the Saintess Candidates...

Theresa had not expected this to be a competitive quest between players. Besides those three players, she was the fourth person to receive it.

As the first special quest to appear in the world, it had attracted a great deal of attention. Aside from major guilds, some real-world gaming clubs were also following Ellie and the other two players.

North Asia T1: I believe the rewards for this special quest, especially the final reward, may be astonishing. I'm concerned about the game's balance.

North America C9: Oh, I think the title of Saintess suits Irina perfectly. She is so beautiful and holy. We sincerely hope Irina can become the Empress of our club!

→ British GG replied: Your Irina is too mature. I think she should become a Succubus instead. Saintess doesn't suit her, haha.

→ North America C9 replied: Heh, your Ellie isn't much better either.

Island Nation SG: Our Little Ai, another Saintess Candidate, is the ultimate winner among the Saintess Candidates. Little Ai will win!

These were all comments from foreign websites. To show the popularity of Meta World overseas, the poster had translated updates from several well-known clubs.

Quite a few players in the comments below were also joining in the excitement.

"Damn it, why do Britain, Island Nation, and the USA all have players who received this quest, while we in China don't?"

"There are only three million players in our China region. How could that compare to foreign countries...?"

"Can't be helped. Meta World may be free to play, but the price of the equipment is right there."

"The officials don't support people playing this game either. Didn't you notice that a liability agreement popped up when you logged into the equipment? If something goes wrong, responsibility falls on the individual. I'm afraid fewer and fewer people in China will play this game in the future."

"I'm so jealous. Why have I never received a mission like this? I'd trade ten years of my life for a special mission!"

When Theresa saw the comments about her, she almost coughed up blood.

If these people found out that the player in the China region who had received the Saintess Candidate quest was a thirty-five-year-old adult man, what kind of expressions would they make?

They would probably be so shocked they could not speak. At any rate, they would not be like the other three players, pampered by the clubs in their respective regions...

As for the other comments...

To be honest, after the game descended into reality in her previous life, the China region's strength really had not amounted to much.

But Theresa could not think of any way to change that...

If only avatar abilities could be used in reality already. Then she could use her avatar to inform those in power that this game was anything but simple.

Theresa closed the forum and looked around.

These NPCs seemingly did not yet know that another Saintess Candidate had arrived at Falas Port. Most of them still looked listless and numb, as though every rustle in the wind made them fear the enemy had arrived.

Remembering that the other Candidate Saintess's mission was to Rebuild Falas Port, Theresa immediately had an idea. She secretly took pictures of these NPCs' appearances, made records, and planned to investigate them after she returned.

The other party was a qualified hider. Even if Theresa found someone suspicious, without real and useful evidence, it would probably be difficult to deal with him in one go.

Then Theresa ran beyond the camp's perimeter and said to the empty forest, "Captain Ent, I can sense that the other Candidate Saintess has arrived at Falas Port and has begun the reconstruction effort. We can go back now."

Captain Ent suddenly appeared behind her, surprise on his face. "So they came to rebuild the port?"

"You knew?"

"Yes. The scouts reported that a group of unfamiliar elves had arrived at Falas Port. I wasn't sure whether they were enemies, so I didn't dare reveal myself."

Theresa was somewhat taken aback. Was this captain suspecting there was a traitor among his own people?