One Against A Thousand

Although the assassins lied, which made Shi Feng furious, he had to calm down in the face of the current unknown situation.

Even members of a studio have selfish motives; they would certainly hide key items they discovered to quietly grow stronger and make a fortune in silence.

Such people are common in studios, whether they are peripheral or core members. Every so often, a few exceptionally strong individuals emerge, and their status rises sharply. Shi Feng himself was one such person; otherwise, he would not have gone from a core member to a team leader.

"Coming to the Lost Land, they told outsiders they only saw a Mithril Treasure Chest and nothing else. They must have hidden something more important than the chest. Is it this hidden quest?" Shi Feng pulled up the system quest interface.

The Lost Land's hidden quest, "Past Glory."

Other than the name, there was no quest content; he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

"A region-triggered quest?" With ten years of experience in God's Domain, Shi Feng saw the key to this hidden quest at a glance.

In God's Domain, there are some very special quests that can only be triggered upon reaching certain areas. Furthermore, these quests have no content, requiring players to search for it themselves. Once the quest is completed, even if the next player comes here, it will not trigger again. It can be called a very unique, one-time quest.

It is also a very dangerous type of quest.

Searching for a way to complete a quest in an unknown area means facing the monsters of that unknown area. The areas where such special quests are located usually have monsters several levels higher than the surrounding regions, making it impossible for ordinary players to complete them.

In his previous life, the quest was triggered in this level 5 monster zone, and it took six assassins over level 20 to complete it.

"Whatever, I can't get out anyway, so I might as well explore. At worst, I'll just die and return to the city." Once Shi Feng made up his mind, he strode forward.

Walking through the thick fog, a few blurry figures soon appeared before Shi Feng.

This was a city, a city abandoned for many years. Dilapidated houses were everywhere. Judging by the size of the city and the magnificence of its architecture, one could tell it was once extremely prosperous, even more so than White River City.

However, this "prosperous" city now lacked even a single soul.

Shi Feng quietly entered the city, searching for quest clues while observing the surroundings.

In a city that could accommodate millions, searching for clues was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Shi Feng ran through dozens of streets and entered hundreds of houses, spending several hours, yet he still found no clues. God's Domain had just begun, and this was the time to widen the gap, yet Shi Feng had wasted several hours. Many players were already level 1, while Shi Feng remained stuck at level 2 with 34% experience.

Shi Feng hesitated between continuing to search for clues or ending his life to respawn back in the city.

"I'll search for one more hour; if I find nothing, I'll return to the city." Shi Feng set a time limit for himself. Although such quests were valuable, he didn't have that much time to waste. He had plenty of other quests to do and didn't need to exhaust himself here.

Time slipped away bit by bit.

Shi Feng arrived at the central high tower of the city. This place was once the holy land for magic-based classes and the best place to learn magic, but now it was in ruins, and even the magic crystals on the tower were shattered.

He walked up the tower and stood on the observation deck. The scenery of the city was laid out before him. If not for the pressing time, Shi Feng would certainly have enjoyed the view for a while.

He scanned his surroundings but found nothing special.

Just as Shi Feng was about to leave:

"Young adventurer, welcome to the Sky City."

An old man with a white beard suddenly appeared. His voice was filled with the vicissitudes of time and wisdom, startling Shi Feng. He initially thought a monster had appeared, but upon seeing the yellow marker, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Sky City?

Thinking of this very famous city in God's Domain, Shi Feng was shocked.

Sky City was once renowned across the God's Domain Continent. The city was home to countless legendary classes and was even guarded by the demigod-level Sword Saint, Ulutia, making even the gods wary. Unfortunately, it fell and vanished during the Third God War, becoming a regret of God's Domain.

"Respected elder, is there anything I can help you with?" Shi Feng asked with a formulaic smile.

"Help?" The white-bearded old man shook his head and laughed. "No, I do not need help. I believe you wish to become stronger, and I can help you with that. But are you willing to accept my trial?"

"Of course, I am willing to accept the trial." Shi Feng felt relieved. The clue for the "Past Glory" quest was here, so he wouldn't have to die to return to the city and lose levels and skill proficiency.

The old man nodded in satisfaction and said sternly, "I offer you three choices. The first is normal difficulty; upon passing, you will receive an Iron-grade treasure chest. The second is hard difficulty, which grants a Mithril-grade treasure chest, and depending on your completion, you may receive additional rewards. The third is hell difficulty; the reward is an Adamantite-grade treasure chest, and depending on your completion, you may receive additional rewards."

"Young adventurer, which one do you choose?"

The three choices were increasingly difficult, but the temptation was also staggering. The six assassins over level 10 chose hard difficulty and received a Mithril chest, but they chose to hide the additional rewards, implying that the extra rewards were even better than the Mithril chest.

Shi Feng thought for a moment. As a reborn individual, he should have some guts and be brave enough to challenge himself.

"Respected elder, I choose hell difficulty." Shi Feng was confident he could handle this difficulty. If he could pass, it would play a vital role in his future development.

"Hahaha, this young man is truly full of drive. I admire you, but don't regret your choice." After laughing heartily, the old man vanished without a trace.

System: Accepted quest "Past Glory". Face 1,000 monsters of the same level; killing 500 counts as a pass. Time limit: 4 hours. Failure penalty: All attributes permanently reduced by 10 points.

Attributes are the foundation of a class. If all attributes were reduced by 10 points, this account would be practically ruined.

"This penalty is too harsh." Shi Feng looked at the countless ghost warriors emerging beneath the tower, his scalp tingling.

The countdown had begun, with 5 seconds left until the monsters attacked.

Ghost Warrior, normal monster, level 2, HP 230.

Dealing with one was easy, but facing a sea of ghost warriors made even Shi Feng nervous.

Charging down directly would be suicide; he would definitely be surrounded and killed. The only way was to fight one-on-one.

With his rich combat experience, Shi Feng quickly ran down the stairs and stood in the narrow stairwell.

This staircase could accommodate at most two monsters at a time, making it the best kill point. As long as he held the stairs, he could pass.

Once the 5 seconds were up, all the ghost warriors went berserk, charging into the tower and attacking Shi Feng recklessly. However, the stairs were narrow, with one blocking the other, allowing Shi Feng to easily face two ghost warriors at a time. He was able to dodge all of their attacks.

Wind Thunder Flash!

Slash!

Three bolts of lightning flashed, and within a 2x10 yard range, all the Ghost Warriors erupted with high damage numbers, instantly draining over 60 HP from them, which, combined with the 33 damage from the Slash, proved devastating.

The first Ghost Warrior's HP was cut in half, while the dozens behind it lost a quarter of their health.

Previously, when facing high-level monsters with high defense, the effects of Wind Thunder Flash and Slash had been heavily suppressed. Now, facing monsters of the same level, the overwhelming area-of-effect damage of Wind Thunder Flash was finally on full display.

The damage amplification effect following Wind Thunder Flash allowed Shi Feng to finish off the first Ghost Warrior in just five strikes.

To accelerate the killing speed, Shi Feng activated Gravity Liberation, causing his attack speed to soar once more.

With the damage amplification effect, he could take one down in less than three seconds.

It was a pity that killing the Ghost Warriors yielded no experience points, but the skill proficiency was guaranteed to increase by 1 point per kill.

Watching the Ghost Warriors fall one by one as his skill proficiency steadily climbed, Shi Feng was overjoyed.

The NPC likely never imagined that a Level 2 Swordsman would possess such a powerful area-of-effect skill, making him completely unfazed by swarms of enemies and easily able to dodge attacks even when outnumbered two to one.

If it were any other player, they would likely fail the quest, but he could complete it perfectly.

Two hours passed, and the skill proficiency for Wind Thunder Flash rose to 300 points, reaching Level 2. Its damage increased from 130% to 135%, and its cooldown was reduced from 30 seconds to 28 seconds.

Slash also improved to 426/600, just a little short of reaching Level 3.

The upgrade of Wind Thunder Flash to Level 2 allowed Shi Feng to increase his grinding speed even further. Ghost Warriors fell in batches, and with only about 20 left, he still had an hour and a half remaining.

After unleashing another Wind Thunder Flash, the final 20-plus Ghost Warriors collapsed.

"Well done, young man. Here is your reward." The old man appeared once again, looking at Shi Feng with a chuckle as he produced an Adamantine Treasure Chest and a pitch-black longsword.

System: Quest "Past Glory" completed. Received rewards: one Adamantine Treasure Chest, one class-specific magic weapon, and the title "One Against A Thousand."

The title "One Against A Thousand" granted all allies within a 30-yard radius a 10% increase to all attributes when equipped, while the player themselves gained an additional +5 Strength and +5 Stamina.

"The reward has been given; you may leave now." With a gentle wave of the old man's hand, the scene shifted.

Shi Feng's vision blurred, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the plaza of Red Leaf Town.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The system communicator rang incessantly; the person requesting the call was none other than Heizi.

"Brother Feng, you finally answered! Why couldn't I reach you before? I've fallen a level behind everyone else; what should I do now?" Heizi sounded extremely anxious, yet out of his trust in Shi Feng, he spoke patiently.

He had spent over seven hours just traveling, and now the streets were filled with Level 1 players while he was still Level 0. How could he possibly close such a gap? No one wanted to group with him; the minimum requirement for others was Level 1, and for a Level 0 newbie, they were told to get lost.

"My apologies, I was busy with a quest. Come to the Central Plaza; I'll take you to level up," Shi Feng said apologetically.

The quest had taken over five hours, and more than eight hours had passed since God's Domain opened. Many players had already reached Level 1, and professional players were likely not far from Level 2.

As a reincarnator, taking Heizi to level up would be easy. It wouldn't take long before Heizi could catch up to the professional players.