The Coming Selection

At Shasha's words, Lin Maoxian replied solemnly, "Don't worry, Shasha. To put it in gaming terms, you're the healer of the team, so everyone will make protecting you a priority. As long as you stay alive, we'll all have a much better chance of surviving."

Eel added, "The captain's right, Shasha. I'll buff you when the time comes. If you run into danger, just run. The rest of us will come save you."

Tiger nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Don't worry, Shasha. You'll definitely be one of the first people everyone protects."

Hearing their reassurances, Shasha smiled happily. "Then I'd like to thank you all in advance! But, Brother Tiger, Eel, the captain, and I have all shared our attributes. You haven't told us yours yet. Why don't you share them with everyone?"

Tiger said irritably, "Wasn't I just about to? You interrupted me, and now you're blaming me for it. As for my attributes, my strength and stamina are both at 15, the highest of the group, and my agility has reached 10. I just don't have any skills like Eel and Shasha. I put all my Source Points into my character's attributes."

Lin Maoxian nodded. The three of them had been fairly open about their attributes, even if they hadn't gone into detail. That was good enough; he knew their exact stats, and how much they chose to leave out was their business. "Now that everyone has some idea of each other's attributes, let's talk about our main quests and see if they're the same. We don't want to find out later that they're hard to complete."

Tiger shook his head. "There's no need. We already asked when we gathered earlier. Everyone has the same quest: hold out for seven days during the Yellow Turban siege. We can't leave the battlefield during the first five days, but if things go badly in the last two, we can still run."

Eel nodded. "Tiger's right. But this world's quest is much harder than the last one. The previous quest was easy to complete, but this time we have to fight on a battlefield. Who knows if we'll survive?"

"Exactly. This quest is way too hard," Shasha chimed in.

Lin Maoxian considered it. His own quest was to hold out for seven days during the siege, which meant he had to last two days longer than they did. So, according to the space's calculations, the difficulty of the final two days was equal to that of the first five. That meant he couldn't hide his strength early on. He'd have to kill more Yellow Turban Soldiers and ease the pressure of those last two days.

As he thought it over, he told them, "This quest really is much harder than the last world's. I won't hide anything from you: on the way to Pingyang County, I killed a Yellow Turban Army Squad Leader. His attributes were quite high, mostly above 10, with several over 15. He also had Centurions guarding him. They're stronger than Squad Leaders, so if you run into one, don't fight him head-on."

Eel looked surprised. "So the captain's already killed a Yellow Turban Soldier Squad Leader? No wonder you're so confident about becoming a Squad Leader. But aren't those attributes ridiculously high? If I ran into one, all I could do is run."

Shasha turned to Eel. "You've got it easy. If I ran into a Squad Leader alone, I doubt I'd even get a chance to escape. I'd definitely be killed."

Tiger's expression grew grave. "Yeah. I'm confident I could hold my own against a Squad Leader, but winning wouldn't be easy. And there are Centurion guards, not to mention Centurions themselves. If I ran into one, I might not make it out alive."

Seeing their spirits sink, Lin Maoxian knew he couldn't let things go on like this. He had to give them a boost before they lost all morale without even fighting. "Don't be so pessimistic. I doubt there'll be many Centurions in this siege. Our own Centurions can deal with them. We only have to handle the Squad Leaders and the Yellow Turban Soldiers below them. Don't make the quest seem so impossible. Keep your spirits up, all right?"

Shasha pouted. "Captain, you're the one to blame. You're the one who told us how strong those guards and Centurions are. Of course we're worried."

"I only told you so you'd be careful. On a battlefield, what matters isn't how many enemies you kill, but how long you stay alive." Lin Maoxian glanced at Shasha with some amusement. He'd only meant to warn them, yet somehow she was blaming him.

Just then, Eel asked, "Captain, there's still a long time until sunset. Should we go recruit people from the other military tents?"

Lin Maoxian shook his head. "What's the point of recruiting people now? Once I win the tournament and they see what I can do, skilled people will come to join us on their own. Then I can take my time choosing. If we go now, hardly anyone will be willing to join. It'd just be a waste of time."

Tiger agreed. "The captain's right. If I hadn't seen his strength, I wouldn't have agreed to join so readily either. Better to wait and choose carefully later than waste time now. But there's still plenty of time. Are we all just going to sit here?"

"Of course not. But first, I need to tell you about the kid who came here with me. He's from this world, and I promised to keep him alive as best I could and help him live well. So when he's around, don't mention the space in front of him, or you might get punished." Lin Maoxian explained Xiao Zhang's situation to them so no one would let it slip and incur the space's punishment.

"He's a native of this world? I thought he was your lackey," Eel said in surprise, then asked curiously, "Captain, if he's not one of the space's people, why protect him? Did you take on some kind of quest?"

"Quests aren't that easy to get. He used to be a Yellow Turban Soldier, and he was useful to me at the time, so I spared his life and promised to do my best to keep him alive and help him live well. I keep my word. I just don't want to break my promise." Lin Maoxian explained, though whether they believed him was their business.

Before anyone could ask anything else, Lin Maoxian continued, "Speaking of quests, I took the Valiant Combat side quest. Did any of you take it?"

"I didn't. It's too dangerous." "I didn't take it either. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold out that long." Eel and Shasha shook their heads at the same time.

Tiger, however, nodded. "I took it. It's just twelve hours, right? It didn't seem too difficult, so I accepted."

"Not too difficult? Tiger, if you take that quest, you have to fight for those twelve hours on top of the usual battles. You'll also have to hold out for the last two days. If Pingyang City falls and you try to run, you'll fail the quest and lose a huge number of Source Points." Hearing Tiger say it wasn't too difficult, Eel immediately protested.

Lin Maoxian smiled at Eel's words. "Every Adventurer has different attributes. It's only natural that Tiger feels confident. Besides, even if you don't take this quest, you might end up fighting for just as long. The only difference is that you'll have the option to run during the last two days. But if you do, you won't get much of a reward when you return to the space. I suggest you and Shasha go to the Centurion and accept the quest. Of course, that's only my advice. You can decide for yourselves."

After hearing Lin Maoxian's words, Eel and Shasha fell silent as they weighed the pros and cons, considering whether the reward was worth the risk.

After a while, Eel shook his head. "Captain, I've thought it over, and I still don't want to take the quest. The reward is good, but I'm afraid Pingyang City might fall, and then I'd lose a huge number of Source Points. If I don't take it, I'm confident I can escape if the city falls."

Lin Maoxian didn't say anything. He'd seen Eel's attributes. His skill could temporarily increase another Adventurer's agility by only 3 points, but if he used it on himself, he could gain 6. That would push his agility past 20, so he'd have no trouble escaping.

"Fine. If you don't want to take it, I won't push you. Everyone has their own priorities." Lin Maoxian replied to Eel, then turned to Shasha. "What about you? Are you going to take the quest?"

Shasha bit her lip, then answered firmly, "No, Captain. I still want to take this quest. If I don't take it now, and the quests get even harder in the future, I'll have even less chance of completing them. So I want to try to earn more Source Points this time."

Looking at the plain-looking woman before him, Lin Maoxian felt a measure of respect for her. She had both foresight and the decisiveness to make a choice, which put her well ahead of Eel, sitting beside her. "Don't worry, Shasha. Now that you're all with me, I won't let you suffer. Even if you fail this quest, I'll find a way to make up your losses. Don't worry."

"Make them up? Captain, are you going to give us Source Points?" Shasha asked in surprise.

Lin Maoxian rolled his eyes at her. "How could I? I'll lose Source Points if I fail the quest too. I just found a good place where we can make up the losses later." He meant the valley. He didn't know what was inside, but he was certain they'd find a great deal there.