Come Here, Polish My Spear

After giving it some thought, Last Dragonborn decided to accept Anvis's invitation.

So what if I become an NPC's follower? For a hidden quest, this is nothing!

System Prompt: You have become Anvis's follower.

"Very good. What's your name?"

Anvis's expression was somewhat subtle when he asked that question.

He actually remembered that ID. In his previous life, this player had been a professional mage famous for his outrageous plays, nicknamed Blue-Eyed Dragonborn. Rumor had it that he had also been White Light Esports' former captain.

He just hadn't expected his old character name to be this outrageous too.

"I..."

Faced with this perfectly normal question, the elf suddenly fell speechless. He began regretting not following the system's advice.

"Laboratory Dragonborn? Are you a slave who escaped from some Spellcaster's laboratory?"

To his surprise, the pink-haired girl suddenly frowned and blurted out his character name.

"Or do you not actually have a name?"

The noble youth before him also shook his head. His crystal-clear azure eyes looked at him with sympathy, the pity in his gaze so obvious that it inevitably irritated the elf.

To Anvis and Erica's ears, the elf had not paused at all, but had directly stated his name.

But what made the noble youth's heart tighten was that, in his eyes, the elf's lips had merely moved once, completely failing to match what he had heard! "Then from now on, your name is Rivers."

System Prompt: Anvis has renamed you [Rivers].

Anvis turned to Erica.

"I remember you have some short spears in your ring, right? Take one out and give it to me."

The girl curiously took out a short spear and handed it to Anvis. Anvis accepted it, then passed it to the elf standing before him, who was frozen in shock at the system prompt.

"Alright, now for your first task. Come here and polish my spear—

"If you polish it to my satisfaction, I'll reward you with this spear."

System Prompt: You have triggered the quest 'Polish'.

Quest Rank: E

Quest Description: Don't tell me you're going to polish it all night too.

Quest Requirement: Continuously polish the spear until Anvis is satisfied.

Reward: 1,000 Experience Points, Black Steel Spear

What kind of damn quest is this?

Last Dragonborn expressionlessly accepted the short spear, silently sending heartfelt greetings to the plot developers.

Fine. For the sake of this Fine-Grade Equipment, I'll endure...

In Mysterious Era, game items were ranked by quality, from lowest to highest: Inferior, Common, Fine, Magic, Masterwork, Heirloom, and Epic.

Their corresponding colors were: gray, white, green, blue, purple, orange, and red.

A Fine-Grade weapon was already quite good equipment during the early stages of the game.

After polishing the spear for two straight hours, Anvis finally expressed satisfaction with the elf's work and gave him the spear. Then he tossed him another quest.

Clear the Drainage Ditch

Quest Requirement: Bring back the right ears of 100 drainage ditch rats as proof of your bravery.

Quest Time Limit: Five days.

Reward: 20,000 Experience Points.

Watching the green-haired elf's retreating figure, Erica's expression was somewhat complicated. She wanted to say something, but her status made it difficult to speak.

"Curious why I did that?"

Seeing the boundless curiosity in his little maid's pink eyes, Anvis smiled mischievously. "Secret."

Ignoring Erica as her gaze turned helpless, Anvis stopped where he was and quietly analyzed the information gained from this test, his eyes profound.

He really could use all sorts of items as rewards to issue quests to Players. In essence, this was no different from recruiting other Natives; Players simply had an additional visible Panel.

The only difference was that Players could gain Experience Points from every quest, and the amount of the reward seemed related to the quest's difficulty.

Given his current circumstances, Players would be a very useful source of assistance.

The vast majority of Players belonged to the chaotic faction and put profit above all else. That happened to be his faction's advantage.

Moreover, most of these Players who had obtained closed beta access would become influential figures and trendsetters within the player community in the future.

Their actions and choices could often influence the entire player community.

All he needed to do was guide them and bind them to his chariot with benefits, making them develop a sense of factional identity.

Then, when his faction faced a crisis in the future, they would naturally fight with everything they had to protect their own interests.

Anvis made an agreement with Last Dragonborn: if the elf proved his bravery and returned here in five days, he could receive the next quest.

He had his own matters to attend to; he couldn't possibly stay here forever as a Quest NPC.

Anvis had already decided what to have Elf do next.

With the hundredfold experience buff from the Delete Archive closed beta, five days would be enough for him to reach around Level 20 and become a qualified tool, just in time to be thrown into the caravan as an Apprentice Guard.

During the early stages of the game, traveling with a caravan was practically the only way for Players to reach other towns, which happened to align perfectly with the closed beta Players' need to explore the map.

The caravan's destination this time was the Empire's Royal Capital. It would pass through cities of all sizes along the way, and there would also be a series of systematic training quests that would allow him to level up quickly. There was no way Elf would refuse.

Although Duke Carlot had placed the caravan under his name, what Anvis had received was only the caravan itself. The high-ranking family guards protecting it had merely been loaned to him by the family.

His current move to recruit Players could be fully explained as an effort to cultivate a force of his own.

Through Elf's game panel, Anvis also learned the current time in the "real world."

The first day of the closed beta happened to be three days after his transmigration—

After seeing Elf off, master and servant headed for the caravan encampment in Carlras City.

It was a broad stretch of land near the western city gate, where numerous caravans that had traveled from afar camped, rested, and replenished their supplies.

They brought rare trade goods from across the continent to Carlras, such as Partimia's silk fabrics and handmade cashmere carpets, gemstone jewelry and exquisite snuffboxes from the Desert Capital, ancient Stone Carvings and handicrafts excavated from cities in the Ancient Ruins...

These bulk goods would be sold to local merchant guilds. They were highly sought-after items beloved by the local upper class and nobility. As long as they were successfully transported to Carlras, they could be sold for outrageously high prices! At the same time, caravan members would privately sell some rare goods to earn themselves a little extra on the side.

This was an unspoken rule everyone accepted, and the caravan Leader merely turned a blind eye to it.

Every merchant who knew about this would send people to wait here, so that when a new caravan arrived, they could rush over at once to purchase the caravan members' private stock.

Those were the true first-rate goods!

Anvis had received word long ago that a caravan from the distant Kingdom Federation would arrive in Carlras City today.

As the uncrowned king of the northern frontier and a direct descendant of the Olyvendi Family, he naturally received treatment unlike that of ordinary merchants. The family's people had already cleared the area in advance so Anvis could choose the goods first.

That caravan had also received notice that an important figure was coming to select an item. Everyone hurriedly laid out all their wares, praying to the Gods and moon alike that Anvis would take a liking to their goods.

The family Envoy assigned to notify the caravan had already made an announcement: no matter what Anvis chose, the Olyvendi Family would buy it for ten times its original price! As he looked around, Anvis's gaze was drawn to an exquisite silver cage.

Inside the cage was a blue-gray Little Cat, staring at him with a pair of bright turquoise eyes. Her two round white paws restlessly gripped the cage, making her look utterly adorable.