Song of Blood and Fire

The young man on the rooftop opposite had spent the entire night frowning in thought, while Cheng Shi slept soundly.

When he opened his eyes the next morning, a matchmaking notification for the trial appeared before him.

Special Trial (Song of Blood and Fire War) has begun

Matching teammates (1/6)

Trial Objective: Grit your teeth through the ordeal of blood and fire (Time limit: 24 hours)

Seeing the word "war" in the game's description, Cheng Shi felt his forehead throb.

This was going to be a hard battle.

Although War was the god of the Civilization Path, His trials were anything but civilized.

Almost every one involved fighting with real blades and guns. There was no need even to understand the various clues provided by the trial. As long as they killed every enemy around them, they could clear it.

The problem was that surviving for twenty-four hours was an immense test of endurance and mental strength.

The enemies would give them no chance to catch their breath, nor would they slow their assault just because they wanted to rest.

Under these circumstances, the stronger his teammates were, the greater their advantage would naturally be.

"Please, match me with a few more warriors. One freeloader like me is enough. Please, please."

Match successful (6/6), entering trial

The blood-red notification flashed by, and the scene before Cheng Shi's eyes slowly warped. Then his entire body vanished from where he stood.

The sky was gloomy, and smoke filled the air.

Cheng Shi opened his eyes to find himself standing atop a field of ruins. He looked around, but there was nothing except broken walls and shattered remains.

This had clearly once been a small town. Now, the merciless war had wiped it off the map.

A few seconds later, several beams of light descended around him, followed by a series of startled cries.

His teammates for this trial had arrived.

Cheng Shi immediately looked them over. Among the three men and two women, only one was carrying a greatsword. The rest, like him, had no visible weapons.

"Hiss—"

Cheng Shi drew a quiet breath and thought, Don't tell me this is another freeloader lobby?

There were only six classes in Faith Game: warrior, Mage, Priest, Assassin, Hunter, and Singer.

In theory, classes had no hierarchy. There were only incompetent players, never incompetent classes.

In practice, however, because trials had different biases, classes were still divided into tiers in different trials.

In today's War trial, for instance, warrior, Mage, and Priest were definitely stronger than Assassin, Hunter, and Singer.

The six people who had been matched together sized one another up. When the burly man carrying the greatsword saw that no one else had a weapon, his expression grew somewhat irritated, and he spoke:

"Same old rules. Don't waste time. State your Path and class, then your score. I'll go first. Chen Chong, Civilization, warrior, Ladder 1647."

Chen Chong, Civilization, warrior, Ladder 1647.

Each Path had two or three gods. The reason they reported only their Paths and not the names of their gods was to avoid being matched with players of opposing faiths.

Although everyone in a trial was bound by a common destiny and ought to help one another, when players of opposing faiths were matched together, some gods might issue additional divine decrees. Their followers might then do something underhanded before the mission was completed.

That was a lesson written in blood.

In the six months since the game had begun, countless people had died because of this. Players could never be too careful.

Still, at the beginning of a trial, they had to cooperate when cooperation was needed.

"Song Yawen, Life, Assassin, Ladder 1636. Brother, are you an Order Knight? I think I've seen this sword in the hands of another Order Warrior. It should be a Shieldsword, right?"

The second to speak was a tall, slender young man with glasses and sportswear. After speaking, he carefully examined the greatsword in Chen Chong's hand, as if comparing it with the weapon in his memory.

Song Yawen, Life, Assassin, Ladder 1636.

Since he had been recognized, Chen Chong did not hide it. He nodded.

After he admitted it, the expressions of the others relaxed noticeably.

Followers of Order were among the few strangers in this game who could be trusted.

They followed the will of Order, respected rules, and restrained themselves. They were the most popular comrades-in-arms in the entire game, almost without exception.

Moreover, a warrior who believed in Order could become a top-tier presence in a War trial.

Reliable and useful.

"Xia Wan, Life, Hunter, Ladder 1519."

For some reason, the order of introductions had become clockwise. The heroic-looking beauty to Song Yawen's left, dressed in an army-green short-sleeved shirt, introduced herself in an extremely indifferent tone.

She was tall but not slender, with firm, well-defined muscles. Even through her clothes, one could sense the power in her body.

Xia Wan, Life, Hunter, Ladder 1519.

Hearing that he had a comrade from the same Path, Song Yawen grinned and nodded to her.

To Xia Wan's left stood another woman. She was rather petite, with long black hair cascading like a waterfall.

She wore a black high-collared shirt that covered her from head to toe, leaving only her face exposed.

"Nangong, Sinking, Priest, Ladder 1396."

Nangong, Sinking, Priest, Ladder 1396.

The moment the word "Sinking" left her lips, the expressions of the two Life followers in front of her darkened.

Life and Sinking were opposing Paths.

Song Yawen looked at Nangong suspiciously, his gaze far from friendly.

Xia Wan remained motionless, her expression still cold. Only the eyes slanting toward Nangong held a trace of scrutiny.

Nangong felt terrible as well. The first two people were both followers of her opposing Path, and she still had to survive this trial for an entire day. At this point, she could only pray that the gods they worshipped were not opposed to her own.

Opposing Paths would cause unease. If their faiths were opposed as well, someone might end up dead.

Next came Cheng Shi's turn. He looked at Nangong to his right, and a meaningful smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"Cheng Shi, Life, Priest, Ladder 1501."

"?"

"Cheng Shi."

The moment he finished speaking, the people present wore various expressions of joy and worry.

The two who were happy were naturally the ones from the Life Path. The only one who was worried was Nangong, whose face became exceptionally ugly.

As an orthodox godly Path, Life at least ensured that its gods' followers held fundamentally upright values. Regardless of their private morality, they could generally be considered "good people" on the surface.

But the gods of Sinking each had their own kind of "wickedness."

Seeing that the atmosphere was off, Order Warrior Chen Chong frowned and reminded them:

"Path differences can only be dealt with later. Twenty-four hours is a long time. Let's survive first, then worry about the rest."

Song Yawen saw that his side had more people and naturally only smiled. Xia Wan kept her usual cold expression, Cheng Shi happily watched the show, and Nangong lowered her head in thought.

Only the player to Cheng Shi's left, who was dressed like Doctor Strange, cast a strange glance at him. His expression was difficult to read.

"Cao Sansui, Existence, Mage, Ladder 1906."

Cao Sansui, Existence, Mage, Ladder 1906.

"How much???"

The moment that score was revealed, everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

The others all felt that they had found themselves a powerful ally. Only Cheng Shi clicked his tongue, his face twisting as if constipated.

"Tsk, Existence..."

Chen Chong's expression improved considerably. He raised his brows and asked with a smile:

"Memory Traveler or Time Walker?"

"Memory Traveler" was a Mage who followed Memory, while "Time Walker" was a Mage who followed Time. Chen Chong was asking which god he followed.

After all, none of the six people present belonged to his opposing Path. He could openly reveal his identity so everyone could understand him and cooperate more effectively.

There were only two gods in the Existence Path.

Cao Sansui was clearly not his real name, but names were merely codenames, and no one paid them much attention.

He did not answer immediately. After hesitating for a moment, he glanced at Cheng Shi several times. Only after finding nothing unusual did he sigh and say:

"Time slips through cracks; I am the wind."

That was the prayer of a follower of Time.

Cao Sansui was a Time Walker.

This combination of class and faith was also a top-tier existence throughout the entire game. (Note: T0 means the highest priority and can generally be understood as the most powerful class.)

Just as its name suggested, a Time Walker could control time.

When he heard that Cao Sansui was a Time Walker, the smile on Chen Chong's face widened. Cheng Shi also broke into a grin.

This time, his smile was genuine.

"Brother Cao, you're awesome!"

Song Yawen looked nothing like an Assassin who valued keeping a low profile. He kept giving thumbs-up, and if they had been more familiar, he might even have gone over to hug Cao Sansui.

"With Brother Chen leading and Brother Cao holding the fort, we're set, comrades!"

His gaze swept across everyone one by one, skipping only Nangong.

The smile on Nangong's face was somewhat awkward, but there was nothing she could do. Her situation was indeed terrible.

Seeing the team about to isolate one person right from the start, Cheng Shi shook his head inwardly.

Losing a fighter for no reason because of differing Paths was the most irrational choice, especially at the beginning of a trial.

After pondering for a moment, he suddenly spoke to ease the tension between his teammates:

"A dual-Priest setup is extremely suitable for a War trial. My intuition tells me Nangong isn't our enemy."

Everyone looked at him in surprise. Even Nangong stared at this competitor from an opposing Path and class in disbelief.

He was actually speaking up for her?

"You..."

Cheng Shi tilted his head and revealed a brilliant smile.

"Let me introduce myself again. Cheng Shi, Priest of Birth."

"???"

"What the hell? You're a man, and you believe in Child-Seeking Guanyin??"