This Is Getting More and More Ridiculous

"Is he Little Black? If I go over and say hello, will he sell me as a weapon?"

"."

"Little Black, Little Black, do you know where the nearest town is? I want to find a blacksmith and have a weapon made."

"Keep heading northeast. There's a town called Rebu. Once you enter, follow the main street. When you reach a tavern, turn right, then left, and you'll see a shop with a blacksmith's banner hanging outside. Be careful on the way. Many goblins use camouflage to hide in the roadside grass and ambush passersby."

"I only asked for directions. I didn't expect Little Black to be so detailed. What's his goal? What does he want to use us for? Can some expert please analyze this for me?!"

"."

Linton could not help rubbing his brow.

These players were getting more and more ridiculous.

He was finally seeing the sheer intimidation of rumors.

Although most players were just making memes, quite a few crazed people genuinely believed he was plotting something.

Of course, while the process had changed somewhat and differed from what Linton had imagined, the objective had still been achieved.

Over the past few days, a large number of players had come to speak with him. Even when he assigned them simple manual labor with meager rewards, they completed it beyond expectations. As he lay at home collecting experience points, he finally understood just how wonderful it was to reap without sowing.

After another player came to turn in a quest, then spent the reward Linton had given him right there, Linton's gold had reached 230,000. He was one step closer to leaving the Truth Society.

His level progress bar had also finally filled its last sliver.

Your level has increased (Lv.18 → Lv.19)

You have obtained 1 basic free attribute point

Linton opened his personal status panel.

Name: Linton Crewechill

Class: Necromancer

Level: Lv.19 (0/13775)

Attributes: Strength 4, Constitution 3, Agility 4, Intelligence 20, Charisma -10, Luck 1

Evaluation: Trash!

Inventory: [Concealer (Gold)], [Various Weapons and Skill Books xN], ["Tome of Deathly Silence - Part One" Fragment (Epic): A damaged and bizarre book filled with blood and mystery. Yet there was no denying that the knowledge within was enough to fascinate every scholar. (Weapon Effect: Only equippable by summoners. All attributes of summoned creatures increase by 50%. If the summoned creature is undead, the increase becomes 100%)]

Skills: [Cage Lv.1], [Perfect Puppet Lv.1], [Summoning (Undead) Lv.2], [Dirge of the End Lv.2]

Linton added his newly acquired attribute point to Intelligence again, raising it to 22.

When he completed his class quest, Linton had received five attribute points and one skill point. He had put two points into Constitution and all the rest into Intelligence.

The reason was that Intelligence gave him the greatest boost. Nearly all his skills required high Intelligence.

As for the skill point, he had put it into his newly acquired Skill: Dirge of the End.

There was no other reason. This long-duration control skill was simply absurdly powerful.

A full three seconds of Stunned was enough to put any opponent with lower Intelligence than his in mortal danger.

However, the downside of a powerful skill was obvious. Upgrading Dirge of the End to the next level required five skill points.

Even getting one point depended on luck. Five points... Linton did not even know where he could squeeze them out from.

He did get one skill point every ten levels, but reaching level fifty would probably take at least a year and a half.

It might look like he had gone from zero experience to gaining a level in only a few days, but that was only because players had tirelessly pulled all-nighters working for him. And soon, Linton's good days would come to an end—the closed beta was about to end.

"I wonder when the next test will be. It would be great if the servers just launched into open beta right away."

With a faint sigh, Linton dragged his little stool toward the temporary home he shared with Iris.

As he passed the village general store, he thought for a moment and bought some candy and other small snacks.

Iris had played a crucial role in the battle against Wendell. Linton himself was only support, with basically zero damage output. Nearly all the damage had been dealt by Iris.

Naturally, Mr. Necromancer, who prided himself on taking care of his subordinates, would not mistreat a loyal knight.

"Iris, I'm back."

Inside the room, Iris listlessly pressed her face against the wooden table, reading with the most unhealthy posture imaginable.

Hearing Linton's voice, she answered weakly.

"Oh."

"These are for you." Linton set the paper bag full of snacks on the table, then placed his shabby little chair down as well. "Still feeling weak?"

"Mm. But it's better than before." Iris picked up a candy and tossed it into her mouth, then immediately frowned in disgust. "Low-quality stuff. Ninety percent of the taste is saccharin."

The attribute points burned by Judgment did not recover all at once after seven days. Instead, they gradually returned bit by bit over those seven days. However, because of the randomness involved, it was possible for her body to have strength while her mental state remained weak.

"You should be grateful you have anything to eat." Linton checked Iris's condition as he spoke. "You used too much force. Wendell's existence was already close to collapse. If you had handled it properly, you could have destroyed him without even using Judgment, let alone staking everything on it. After that sword strike, he probably still owed you a life."

Iris looked unconcerned. "Shouldn't you give it everything you have in battle?"

"That's true. But have you considered what state you'd be in if you unleashed yourself without regard for the consequences and still failed to defeat your opponent?"

"At worst, I'd just die again." Iris lazily glanced at him. "You'll be fine anyway. You definitely have more life-saving tricks hidden away than this book has pages."

"Who gave you that impression?" Linton did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Enough already. You just keep nagging and nagging, like some old man or old woman. I'll listen to you next time, all right? I'll use however much force you tell me to."

"Don't throw a childish tantrum."

Linton felt somewhat helpless.

The puppet girl's experiences were enough to make a melodramatic soap opera with a 2.0 rating, but her age was what it was. She was not yet at the age where she should have been mature.

Shaking his head, Linton was about to speak when the light in the room suddenly dimmed for some reason. Ordinary people might not have noticed anything wrong, but neither of the two in the middle of their conversation was ordinary. Their sharp instincts easily caught all kinds of abnormalities.

Linton picked up the parchment that had abruptly appeared on the table. After reading it for a few moments, he suddenly understood.

"I actually forgot about this."

"What?" Iris leaned over and read it too, then asked in confusion, "What does this say? I've never seen this kind of writing before."

"You never underwent the Truth Society's initiation ritual, so naturally you can't read it."

"Tch, who wants to understand it anyway? So what does it say?"

"It's a notice. It tells us that—"

"—the Truth Society's Day of Worship has arrived."