The Beginner Competition Begins

Li Ran knew very well that plenty of elite players must want to add Xin Jiu as a friend.

Perhaps she had no friend slots left, but he still wanted to try. If she happened to have a free slot, Xiaoqing would have one more safeguard.

Xiaoqing looked as though she was about to cry.

Xin Jiu sighed.

"Tell me your IDs."

Li Ran and Xiaoqing excitedly gave Xin Jiu their IDs. After she entered them, their avatars appeared on her friend list.

She also spotted a familiar ID among her friend requests.

Hash Brown Heavy Dependence?

Wasn't he seventh on the leaderboard? Why was he adding her?

Xin Jiu accepted without a second thought, because she didn't want her friend list to contain only two players, especially when those two players had matching couple avatars.

Besides Hash Brown Heavy Dependence, she accepted every player from the Nine Provinces.

After they added each other, Li Ran offered to treat Xin Jiu to a meal.

Xin Jiu declined.

"We don't have many points left, but we can still afford to treat you to a deluxe set meal," Li Ran said with a smile.

"I eat here for free."

Li Ran and Xiaoqing: "???"

Did the top-ranked player get such good treatment?

Hash Brown Heavy Dependence was eating baked seafood rice.

An orange soda sat beside him.

He opened the soda and had just put in a straw and taken a couple of sips when system notifications popped up before his eyes.

[Player Xin Jiu has accepted your friend request.]

[Enjoy your first chat!]

Ao Lin-yes, that was Hash Brown Heavy Dependence-sprayed a mouthful of soda straight out.

She had actually accepted now?

He wanted to send a cute kitty sticker, but paused after thinking it over, then opened his chat with Heartless Dao Dabao instead.

[The top-ranked player added me!]

[Heartless Dao Dabao: Oh, so?]

[Then did she accept your friend request?]

[Heartless Dao Dabao: I didn't add her.]

[Then hurry up and add her! Otherwise, you won't be able to contact her once the instance starts!]

Heartless Dao Dabao stopped replying.

Ao Lin scratched his hair irritably.

How could a grown man be such a tsundere?

While Xin Jiu was having dinner, the white bear came to see her again.

"Inspector, while I was organizing the information on players entering the second floor tomorrow, I noticed that you carry a military bayonet. Would you like to upgrade it?"

"One of our service area employees comes from a family of blacksmiths. Their skills are quite good."

Xin Jiu was more than willing.

The military bayonet had killed so many goblins that it had grown somewhat dull.

Besides, the game's instances had been shuffled, and she had no idea which floor the greatsword would appear on. Being able to upgrade the military bayonet now was the best possible option.

She followed the white bear to a small building.

Clang, clang, clang-the sound of hammering iron came from inside.

Xiongxiong the blacksmith was brown and wore a black leather apron, with a large iron hammer in hand and a furnace blazing beside him.

The white bear had notified it in advance.

So after taking Xin Jiu's military bayonet, it tossed the weapon into the furnace to heat.

Xin Jiu noticed a glass bottle beside the forging table, filled with a dark green liquid.

Half an hour later, Xiongxiong the blacksmith removed the bayonet from the furnace and set it on the forging table, then poured a tenth of the green liquid over it and began hammering.

After this process had been repeated twice, the white bear said, "It looks like this will take quite a while longer. Why don't you head back and rest? We guarantee we'll have it upgraded before the instance opens."

Xin Jiu returned to her room.

She leaned against the headboard and opened the Nine Provinces channel, where the conversation was in full swing.

Since a new instance would open tomorrow morning, their remaining points would become useless, so everyone chose to spend them all tonight.

[Six hundred points for a healing potion. D-rank is fine!]

[Who still wants points now? But if you can trade a C-rank item, I could give you a bottle.]

[I happen to be six hundred points short of buying an item from the shop, but I don't have a healing potion. Would you take two stalks of bleeding-stopping herbs?]

[What damn use are herbs!]

[Then let those points rot in your hands.]

Xin Jiu watched for a while, found it boring, and closed the channel interface to rest.

At seven the next morning.

The white bear gently knocked on her door.

Along with breakfast, it delivered a wooden box. Xin Jiu opened it.

[Upgraded military bayonet (A-rank)]

[Description: Poison has been added to the blade. Anyone cut by the military bayonet will lose 1% of their maximum HP per minute for half an hour.]

[Tip: As expected of Xiongxiong the blacksmith. Fantastic!]

Xin Jiu was very satisfied.

The white bear also handed her a white bottle.

"This powder conceals human scent when sprinkled on your body or the ground. Each application lasts eight hours. I hope it helps."

Xin Jiu took it. "Thank you."

The white bear smiled. "We should be thanking you."

Without taxes to pay, every employee's wages could at least triple. That way, when they faced picky NPCs vacationing from other floors in the future, they wouldn't feel so resentful.

After breakfast, Xin Jiu was led by Xiongxiong to the place where the instance would open.

The players had all gathered there.

At a glance, it was a dense sea of people.

When the time came, the instance opened right on schedule.

Every player's vision went black.

When they opened their eyes again, they were in a forest that stretched beyond sight.

The sky was blue, the trees were green, and the leaves rustled whenever the wind blew.

The livestream opened.

While the players were in the service area, the waiting viewers had felt as though several ants were gnawing at their hearts. It had been unbearably agonizing.

Now that the livestream had finally opened, they immediately flooded in.

[After more than a day of waiting, finally!!]

[Jiujiu, my darling daughter, I'm here!]

[Did Jiujiu change clothes?]

Xin Jiu had indeed changed into an outfit she had bought in the service area.

It was still a red jacket, with a black cropped tank top, black cargo pants, and black combat boots.

[Jiu'er still loves red so much.]

[What instance is this? It looks huge!]

[Beginner competition: Forest Labyrinth]

[Mission requirements: Escape the labyrinth within thirty days. Players who fail to escape will die.]

[Hint: The labyrinth spans three thousand li and contains countless branching paths, dead ends, and hidden routes.]

[NPCs exist within the labyrinth. Killing NPCs awards points, items, and skill cards. The points awarded vary according to the NPC's strength.]

[Players may form teams or act alone. Escape within ten days for 50,000 points, within twenty days for 30,000 points, or within thirty days for 10,000 points.]

[Current players in instance: 3000/3000]

Xin Jiu: "..." They called this a beginner competition?

Sure enough, the players erupted.

"Three thousand li? We'd have to walk fifty kilometers a day in a straight line to get out?!"

"Provided you don't encounter any NPCs or take any wrong turns. Then that pace will guarantee you make it out before the last day."

The livestream viewers were also engaged in heated discussion.

[I remember it wasn't this difficult during the open beta?]

[The game designers have no shame!]

[Jiujiu said back then that you can't clear it just by walking. You have to kill NPCs and get skill cards, like speed boots or flight cards.]

[What if some luck emperor makes it out just by walking?]

[It's three thousand li. Do you know which direction the exit will spawn in?]

[Head the wrong way and you're done for.]

The players began inviting others to form teams.