Here it came!
Just as Liao Zixuan had guessed, in the world of Fall of the Gods, once an indigenous NPC like Vivian came into contact with players, every commission would automatically be presented by the system in the form of a "quest."
But that wasn't all.
What truly caught Liao Zixuan off guard was still to come.
Just as he was about to edit the quest, another dialogue box popped up.
Reward quota assessment in progress
Vivian
Profession Rating: D, Level Rating: E, Attribute Rating: E, Potential Rating: A
Calculating. The highest reward quota currently available for release: C-rank
(C-rank quota includes: 1,500 experience points, 5 silver coins, and one random item or piece of equipment below Rare grade
Soul Contract detected. Automatically incorporating the contracted summoned beast into the assessment system. Recalculating quota.
Little Black (Summoned Beast)
Race Rating: SSS, Level Rating: C, Attribute Rating: C, Potential Rating: SSS
Calculating
Quota update complete. The highest reward quota you can currently release is: S-rank
(S-rank quota includes: 100,000 experience points, 500 gold coins, one random item or piece of equipment below Epic grade, three random Master-grade skill books for the relevant profession, and 0–10 reputation with the relevant region.
What the hell!
An S-rank quest reward quota?
1.1 million Experience Points!?
Liao Zixuan rubbed his eyes with his little wolf paws, making sure he hadn't misread the information above. There was a one followed by five zeroes—an entire 100,000 Experience Points!
This... this was utterly ridiculous!
Because what did 100,000 Experience Points represent?
It could instantly raise a player from Level 1 to Level 20, allowing their class to cross the threshold into the "second tier."
Although, looking at this level of strength in isolation, it might still be at the bottom of the extraordinary power system in the world of Fall of the Gods, there was strength in numbers! Even ants could bring down an elephant, let alone the fact that this was only the beginning of the game—or no, it hadn't even reached the beginning yet. It was still only the beta test, with quite a while to go before the official launch.
If he and Vivian made good use of this time, increased their strength, and pushed the quest reward quota evaluations even higher, turning them into SS- and SSS-rank quests...
Then, once the official launch began and tens of millions of players truly poured in...
Just thinking about it was terrifying!
As expected, getting rich still depended on exploiting the system!
After all, Vivian and Liao Zixuan, as NPCs, didn't have to pay out any of these quest rewards. The system footed the entire bill. More importantly, that absurd amount of Experience Points was only a small part of the rewards. There was still a whole pile of good stuff after it.
All he could say was...
As expected of an S-rank quest. The rewards were ridiculously generous!
Quest ratings were usually determined by an NPC's status, ability, and reputation. If it were only the young Vivian, the girl would be able to issue merely C-rank quests. But once Liao Zixuan was included as well, the Dark Flame Wolf, with its noble bloodline and limitless potential, was no joke. That was what had forcibly raised the quota rating to S-rank.
What was he supposed to do?
He suddenly felt jealous.
As NPCs, he and Vivian were like gatekeepers guarding a massive mountain of gold. They could casually take things from that mountain and give them to others, yet they could only stare blankly at it themselves.
Regarding this, Liao Zixuan had immediately experimented to see whether he could issue a quest to himself and exploit the quest rewards through a loop. Naturally, he had failed.
But...
Heh heh!
Liao Zixuan sneered inwardly. It was true that the system could monitor them as NPCs and prevent them from keeping the rewards for themselves. But surely it couldn't stop the players from voluntarily handing the system's rewards back to them after receiving them?
He had been worried about this just now. Vivian had a weak foundation—no, more accurately, the girl had no foundation at all, and she had been counting on him to subsidize her.
And as the Dark Flame Wolf, Liao Zixuan was powerful and noble, but the problem that came with that had already been made clear: he was too! Hard! To raise!
His growth cycle was far too long!
The Experience Points monsters needed to level up were already several times those required by humans of the same level. And the Dark Flame Wolf was famous among monsters for being especially demanding during its growth phase. When it came to Experience Points alone, the numbers would become astronomical the further he progressed.
Liao Zixuan's original plan had been to focus on raising the girl first, then wait until she became powerful enough to help him level up and evolve.
But now, it seemed there might be another, even more direct path?
Big Watermelon suddenly shivered. He had the feeling that the gaze of the wolf cub lying at the Witch's feet—Little Wolf—was somewhat off whenever it looked at him.
But that could wait.
After Vivian had explained what they would be doing next, Big Watermelon was filled with nothing but regret.
Only then did the two Beta Testers realize that the girl intended to gather a special herb from the deepest part of the forest. And that place was home to the king of the entire forest—the source of the name "Claw Forest"—a Magic Tyrannosaurus named Terror Claw!
They didn't know whether the Magic Tyrannosaurus or the Witch was stronger, but they knew very well that the two of them, as players, were absolute weaklings at this level of power. They wouldn't even be enough to fill the Magic Tyrannosaurus's tooth gap.
So why on earth had Vivian insisted on "requesting" their help? With a little thought, there was only one possible answer.
Bait!
She wanted them to draw Terror Claw's attention so that the girl could sneak into the Boss Lair and steal something!
Damn it!
As expected, Witches really were all rotten to the core!
How infuriating!
Big Watermelon and the Melee God of Magic were furious but didn't dare say anything. They could only etch Vivian's "deliberately disguised" innocent-looking face into their memories and secretly swear that once they had raised their player levels and reached the point where they could beat NPCs senseless, they would come back and take revenge on this dramatic Witch named Vivian!
Before they had finished making their venomous oaths, a clear "ding" suddenly rang out in their minds.
Vivian has issued you a quest: "Assist with Gathering Medicinal Herbs." Accept?
Big Watermelon and the Melee God of Magic were stunned at first, because the quest notification seemed to have appeared somewhat late. They had assumed Vivian intended to freeload off them completely and wasn't even planning to issue them a quest.
But soon, both of them curled their lips. Why? Did they even need to ask? With such a perfunctory quest name, they could tell without looking that it definitely wouldn't be higher than E-rank.
This made their resentment toward Vivian even stronger. They were doing the most dangerous, life-threatening work, yet she was still being stingy and planning to brush them off with the guise of some worthless daily quest!
She really was a Witch!
A bunch of heartless, wicked women.
"Hmm?"
They grumbled inwardly, but on the principle that even a mosquito's leg was still meat, the two players' hands were quite honest. They immediately chose to accept the quest.
But the moment they accepted it, the notification that followed left them stunned once more.
You have successfully accepted the S-rank chain quest "Assist with Gathering Medicinal Herbs."
Wait.
Assist Herb Gathering.
A chain quest.
S-rank!?
Before you continue