Gods would not have given birth to Liao Zixuan; the Fall of the Gods would have been an eternal night (Part One)

Ah... achoo!

The Wolf Cub lying in the softest fur at the nape of the Great Silver Wolf sneezed.

Looks like someone must be thinking about me!

But I'm not saying who!

Actually, Liao Zixuan was starting to miss someone, too.

Naturally, that someone was Vivian.

Although the Great Silver Wolf's fur was of excellent quality, Liao Zixuan still found it uncomfortable to lie on. For some inexplicable reason, he was now missing the young girl's utterly ordinary embrace.

It had been a little bony, but he had grown attached to it. Don't underestimate it—after switching to something soft, he really couldn't get used to it!

It really did fit that old saying.

Gold and silver nests are no match for your own airport!

Since he found it uncomfortable, Liao Zixuan left the Great Silver Wolf's back. Who could have expected that the moment the silver wolf saw the Wolf Cub about to leave, she would immediately whine a few times, like a concubine abandoned by the emperor.

Her wolf eyes were filled with grievance, wearing an expression that clearly said, "Where did I go wrong, Your Majesty?"

Tsk.

No, how could a nameless extra like you have so much screen time?

Liao Zixuan ruthlessly kicked the Great Silver Wolf with his little wolf leg, telling her to behave. He looked exactly like a man who put his pants on and left.

Yet the Great Silver Wolf didn't grow sad after being kicked. Instead, she let out another satisfied howl, her eyes filled with delight. She even got into position, eagerly waiting for Liao Zixuan's next kick.

Liao Zixuan: "..."

Fine, you're amazing. You win!

Ignoring the ambitious Great Silver Wolf, Liao Zixuan continued with his "Witch cultivation" plan.

So far, the entire plan could be said to be going quite smoothly.

What did Vivian need most if he wanted her to escape the fate of being a Cannon Fodder NPC?

The answer was influence.

This influence could be divided into two parts. The first was her renown among the natives of the "Fall of the Gods," and the second was her renown among the players.

Originally, Liao Zixuan had planned to let Vivian develop first and then amaze everyone when the game entered open beta. But plans never kept up with change. When meat was delivered right to his mouth, of course he had to eat it.

This "Demon Tide Incoming" was the perfect opportunity to expand her "influence"!

To put it bluntly, heroes emerged only in chaotic times.

The fastest way to become famous was definitely through a disaster or crisis. As luck would have it, the premature appearance of the "Abyssal Fall" had created the perfect conditions for Liao Zixuan and the young girl.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Liao Zixuan had deliberately sent Vivian alone to Huodian City to report the news and request reinforcements.

He didn't care how many troops Huodian City would send, or whether they would take the matter seriously. His true goal was to let the young girl broaden her horizons. Ideally, she would also show her face before Huodian City's important figures and become familiar to them.

Liao Zixuan was still quite confident in Vivian here. To be clear, this "Vivian" referred to the one with the Second Personality.

The Wolf Cub could guess with his adorable little toes what would happen when a village girl entered the city: sneers, all kinds of difficulties, being tricked, being cheated, and so on.

Liao Zixuan believed Vivian would encounter several of those classic scenarios.

By then, with the Second Personality's explosive temper, making a name for herself in Huodian City shouldn't be difficult. What he was worried about now was that she might become too well-known.

After all, Huodian City still had several genuine main-story NPCs. Those were all cheat-like existences themselves, so it would be best not to provoke them too severely.

For example, the future leader of the Treasure Thieves Guild, Chris; the future Blood Countess of House Sisl; Harvey, the Knight Order's supreme commander; and, most incredibly of all, a certain Flame Domain savior whose name began with "Da"—a genuine Child of the Version NPC.

No, he should look on the bright side, too. Vivian's main personality was kind and gentle. Perhaps she could even bring some of those people over?

Just like in those common novels: once the protagonist unleashed his kingly aura, all sorts of future big shots would instantly become his underlings!

All right, Liao Zixuan knew he was dreaming.

But that wasn't necessarily true.

It remained uncertain who was really dreaming! Those people might be powerful, but only for one version. His own young girl, on the other hand, was destined to become the legendary Witch whose name would resound throughout the entire "Fall of the Gods"!

For now, she was merely in the process of transforming from an ugly duckling into a swan. Forget the future—even now, if any toad wanted to eat his not-yet-mature swan, Liao Zixuan would beat every single one he saw!

The cabbage he had raised was not for anyone else to trample!

Of course, protecting the cabbage required strength. Although his potential ceiling was extremely high, he had yet to grow up and was still in his weak childhood stage.

He was currently level 16. He was four levels away from level 20, the threshold for entering the growth stage. Those four levels were simple, but not simple; difficult, but not difficult.

That was because monsters and humans followed different leveling paths. As a Dark Flame Wolf, for example, each level might require more than ten times the Experience Points Vivian needed.

In return, the stronger a monster's bloodline, the more easily it could skip levels.

In other words, once Liao Zixuan reached level 20 and entered the growth stage, his level would rise directly to level 30. Then he would enter the next set of ten levels, from the growth stage to the mature stage.

So, what did a level 30 Dark Flame Wolf represent in the early-game 1.0 version?

The answer could be summed up in two words.

Running rampant.

He would be invincible beneath the Transcendent level. Above that, as long as they were below the fifth rank, he could go fifty-fifty with them.

Perhaps someone would be confused at this point. If level 30 was only the equivalent of the third rank, what gave him the right to be so powerful?

The answer was talent specialties.

Earlier, Luo Chen had already used "Intermediate Detection" to glimpse a corner of Liao Zixuan's status panel. He had countless bonuses and resistances, and that was only Liao Zixuan during his Wolf Cub stage.

The farther he progressed, the more terrifying the effects of those bonuses became. Take the simplest Advanced Tenacious Life, for example. Its effect was plain and straightforward: maximum health +300%, recovery speed +1,000–2,000%.

It was crude and unreasonable.

Before the fight even began, he would already have three times the health of others at the same tier! His recovery speed was even more frightening. Basically, if you couldn't kill him today, he would be alive and bouncing around tomorrow.

And that was merely the most unremarkable of Liao Zixuan's countless talent specialties.

Actually, many games had settings like this.

BOSSes, for example, were practically all massive health sponges. Their attributes overwhelmed players and lesser monsters of the same level by who knew how many times. If players made even the slightest positioning mistake, a BOSS could slap them to death. If they failed to dodge a single skill, the entire party could be wiped out. And if you accidentally left the BOSS battle's range...

Hey! You did all that for nothing—I'm back at full health!

Liao Zixuan was only four levels away from becoming such a shameless monster. At least, that was how things stood in version 1.0.

As for why he said it wasn't too difficult despite needing ten times the leveling experience...

Wasn't that what their adorable and hardworking players were for?

Indeed, the growth path of proper BOSSes was arduous on the human side. They had to endure all kinds of hardships. The monster side had it a little easier: they could simply find a remote mountain forest and sleep. Usually, though, the unit of measurement was years.

Their common trait was that it took time—an extremely long time.

But Liao Zixuan was different. The only thing he needed to consider was how to fleece the sheep more efficiently.

Not only the players, but also the game system.

After the Wolf Cub's clever little brain turned things over for a moment, the creation Liao Zixuan named the "Experience Ecosystem" came into being.

First, because the players were currently only in the closed beta, they had too few ways to obtain Experience Points, and their strength couldn't grow. As a smart farmer, he first had to fertilize the fields.

So where would the fertilizer come from?

Naturally, from Vivian NPC's quest reward quota!

Liao Zixuan's first step was to continue issuing quests, granting players large amounts of Experience Points through quests to increase their strength.

In other words, fertilizing the fields.

The troublesome part was that, because he was still in his childhood stage, the only person he could communicate with was Vivian. Thus, whenever the young girl wasn't nearby, he couldn't issue quests on his own.

But such a minor problem obviously couldn't stump Liao Zixuan.

He couldn't issue quests to new players, but weren't there still the two young ladies' dogs—er, loyal followers—from before?

Ding

Quest status updated

Current stage: Four

Quest name: The Witch Wants More Manpower

Quest description: After the Witch civil war in the Claw Nest, who could have expected that while the mantis stalked the cicada, the oriole would be behind? A new evil force known as the "Abyssal Fall" launched a surprise attack at the final moment and stole Miss Vivian's fruits of victory. To resist them, the Witch needs you to bring her more strength.

Overall quest objective: Share this quest with 100 players and have them join

Current quest status: 2/100

Initial reward in prize pool: 52,000 Experience Points; the prize pool increases by 1,000 Experience Points for every additional player

Individual quest objective: Invite one player (one time only)

Current quest status: 0/1

Quest reward: 10,000 Experience Points

(Note 1: This is a prize-pool quest. Invited players may continue inviting others as inviters. Once the required number is reached, everyone may share the Experience Points in the prize pool.)

(Note 2: New goods have been added to Vivian's shop. Communicating with the Witch's Summoned Beast may trigger additional hidden content for this quest.)