"Want to touch it?"
Si Telan cautiously touched the summoning sign. A golden phantom suddenly flashed into view above it, startling her into jumping back.
When she stopped touching the summoning sign, the golden phantom immediately disappeared.
"So you can even see what a helper looks like."
She touched the summoning sign again and carefully examined the person's appearance.
The figure looked male. Why "looked"? Because he wore full-body armor, making his face impossible to see, while his sexual characteristics were not obvious either.
The armor did not look particularly expensive. It was a common style of armor, with a Lance in his right hand and a Greatshield that looked immensely reassuring in his left.
A name appeared above his head: Ma Lei Da.
"Never heard of him." Si Telan chose to summon him. "Isn't he an adventurer?"
After a brief wait, a burst of glittering golden light flashed past, and the entirely golden Ma Lei Da made a grand entrance!
"Hey!"
The moment he appeared, he greeted her with an open gesture. He looked like a warm and cheerful person. Someone like that surely would not do something as lowly as ambushing others, right?
Of course, this Ma Lei Da was also Gong Qiying in disguise.
The inspiration for this outfit came from Dark Souls II's hostile NPC, everyone's good friend, Ma Lei Da.
After all, Gong Qiying currently looked like a Living Dead. Naturally, he could not show his real face.
"Hello, I'm Si Telan."
Si Telan circled Gong Qiying as she examined him, clicking her tongue in wonder. So summoned Helpers became golden spirits. He looked so cool.
"Are you an adventurer too? Why did you draw a summoning sign here?"
Having finally encountered something so novel, she had to get to the bottom of it.
Gong Qiying had not spoken with anyone in a long time either, and he seemed quite excited now.
"No, no, I'm not an adventurer. I'm just traveling around and training myself."
"As for summoning signs, you need an item called a Crooked Finger. If you use a Crooked Finger to draw a summoning sign on the ground, people who use Crooked Finger Summoning Potion will be able to see it."
Si Telan immediately leaned closer and pressed, "Where can I get a Crooked Finger?"
The moment she said it, she realized it was inappropriate and hurriedly added, "I can pay you for the information."
Gong Qiying shook his head and said warmly, "No payment needed. We're all struggling in the dungeon. Helping each other is just common sense."
She had truly met a good person this time.
It had been a long time since Si Telan had heard the words "helping each other" from a stranger. Adventurers these days were terrified that others would get dungeon benefits before them. It was already good enough if they did not set each other up upon meeting. Anyone willing to offer a few pointers in passing counted as a great saint.
Her favorability toward Gong Qiying rose dramatically.
Gong Qiying pointed toward the distant Fortress and said, "Leave through the Fortress's back gate and enter the Village there. Fight through a large number of enemies, and you'll find a Crooked Finger near a cliff in the Village. Not far from it is the entrance to the next area, which seems to be a massive Tree Hollow."
"Huh?" Si Telan's eyes widened. "Are you saying you've already cleared that disgusting Village?"
Gong Qiying nodded noncommittally. In Si Telan's eyes, that was the composure of the strong.
For a moment, Ma Lei Da's image and standing in her heart rose even higher.
Si Telan gazed at him fervently, as though she had found treasure. "Could I ask you to help me clear the Village? I'll prepare payment too. Just name your price!"
She had thought Gong Qiying would take the opportunity to ask for payment, but he merely shook his head. "I really don't need payment. If you want to repay me, then talk with me. I honestly haven't spoken with anyone in a long time, so I don't know much about the outside world—cough, cough—or about current news."
"Leave it to me. I read the news every day."
Before long, the golden Gong Qiying and Si Telan walked side by side through the Swamp. But upon closer inspection, one would notice that Si Telan was actually the one following him the entire time.
Within the Swamp, Gong Qiying displayed incomparable familiarity with the terrain. He often found small paths that avoided monsters, and even hidden shortcuts leading straight to bonfires. Si Telan and her companions had completely failed to discover any of those routes.
Even more skillfully, Gong Qiying seemed to know the monsters' detection ranges. He could skirt the very edge of those ranges and swagger right past them as though no one were there, leaving Si Telan full of admiration.
"You must have explored this place for a long time, right?"
"I just explored it a little more seriously, that's all."
This is what an expert is like!
Si Telan admired everyone stronger than herself. Regardless of combat strength, when it came purely to exploring dungeons, the ability Gong Qiying displayed far surpassed hers.
Si Telan knew she could never have found those cleverly concealed shortcuts. They had been hidden far too deeply.
During their time together, Gong Qiying gradually filled out his information database as well.
Previously, he had only known that there was a nearby Bede City where adventurers lived. Now, from Si Telan, he learned about the Bede Family's main members and their respective traits. For example, Ka Rong was a big idiot, Vierde was effeminate, and Sally was simply a pretty trap.
Those evaluations were rather heavily colored by personal bias.
Afterward, he gained a better understanding of this world's power rankings: Low, Middle, High, king, Saint, legendary. It was a very simple ranking system. There was no limit to the number of professions a person could learn in their lifetime. As long as they had talent and time, they could keep learning, with basically no restrictions.
Weapons, items, magic, and everything else could also be straightforwardly assigned the same power rankings. This world's rules were almost too easy to understand.
Although Si Telan found it strange that Gong Qiying would ask such obvious questions, she only found it strange. The reliability he displayed made her completely dismiss the possibility that he might be a monster.
What a joke. How could an unintelligent monster possibly learn human language?
Besides that basic knowledge, Gong Qiying also learned some information that was currently useless, such as gossip about the Adventurers' Guild Master.
Human society's top combatant seemed to be a mage named Ke Wei De. He was the royal family's magical adviser, and his strength had long reached the legendary rank. However, he had not appeared in the public eye for decades, and some people claimed he was already dead.
The place where the Elf Race gathered was called the Elven Forest. Its ruler, the Elf Queen, also possessed legendary strength, but most elves loved peace, so they quietly kept to themselves in their beautiful forest.
Dwarves all liked living in the mountains and possessed exceptional talent for forging and brewing. This fit the outside world's stereotypes of them perfectly. Gathered under the Dwarf king, they were also a force not to be underestimated.
The vast amount of information he had gained today left Gong Qiying quite satisfied—satisfied enough that he wanted to let out a belch.
In no time, they arrived at the Fortress gate.
"It opened so quickly?" The look in Si Telan's eyes had changed from respect to admiration. This was the first person she had ever seen who could speedrun the Poisonous Swamp!
"Get your weapons ready. The battle is about to begin."
Begging here, begging here—this struggling author humbly asks for monthly and recommendation votes.
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