Chapter 16: A Gift for First Meetings

For a first meeting: three flawless Magic Crystals, ten level-20 monster souls, one purple-quality item, and one drop from a level-30 boss.

Quite a generous haul.

After pocketing everything, Xia Er looked slowly around at the crowd before him and spoke: "Good. I can feel your remorse."

"But it isn't enough."

"Here is a list. If you can gather the items on it and deliver them to me, I will tell you something of great importance."

[Undead Archmage — Xia Er has issued a quest.]

[Accept?]

Every player who saw the notification accepted without a moment's hesitation.

Just as expected.

The post on the forum hadn't been lying — it must have been an insider who couldn't stand watching any longer and decided to drop a hint.

The prerequisites were a little demanding, sure, but that was fine. This was clearly a very important side quest.

No pain, no gain!

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in a residential complex.

Li Shen had just woken up. After putting a cup of instant noodles on to cook, he immediately launched the game.

Oracle, start!

Ever since he'd discovered that the Undead Archmage had side quests to offer, Li Shen felt like he finally had something to look forward to every time he logged in.

Yesterday's seven hours of misery were already in the past. What awaited him now was the next quest — one that promised to be even more soul-crushing...

[Uriel's Grudge!]

This was a boss drop from the [Deep Rift] dungeon. The boss was level 35, brutally powerful, and the dungeon mechanics were notoriously sadistic.

Countless elite parties had wiped out in there repeatedly, earning it a fearsome reputation.

He was only level twenty-six. Solo-running it was, quite obviously, not a rational idea.

"Guess I'll have to call for backup..."

Having made up his mind, Li Shen opened the chat window and reached out to the party that had been wiped in the Undead Territory last time.

Just as he was about to send a message, a notification suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Fengxue Liushuang: [Li Shen, do you have any Pure Blood on you?]

Li Shen hesitated for a moment, then replied: [I've got a few bottles. What's up?]

Fengxue Liushuang: [Hook me up, buddy. I need it for a side quest.]

Li Shen: [Sure, I'm over by the starter village. Come find me.]

Li Shen didn't hesitate to help. He'd been carrying a quiet sense of guilt ever since he'd dragged his friends into the Undead Territory and gotten the whole party wiped, costing everyone a lot. This felt like a good chance to make it up to them.

Before long, Fengxue Liushuang had made his way over.

"Buddy, you're a lifesaver. I've been grinding for that Pure Blood all day and I'm still a bit short. Give me three bottles."

Li Shen nodded, then grew a little curious: "Which side quest needs blood? Is it related to the Blood Clan?"

Fengxue Liushuang shook his head. "Nothing to do with the Blood Clan. Actually, this side quest has a bit of a connection to the two of us."

Li Shen caught something off in those words: "What do you mean?"

Fengxue Liushuang said: "The Undead Territory, man. Haven't you seen the post on the Oracle Forum? It's been blowing up."

"I was wondering why a level-thirty boss wiped our whole party back then — turns out the guy is a hidden side-quest NPC. You just have to take off your gear before going in, and it triggers a dialogue cutscene."

Li Shen: ???

What forum post?

Sensing something was very wrong, Li Shen hurriedly pulled up the Oracle Forum. He didn't even need to search — right there on the front page was the post from that [Anonymous User].

Fuck!

After reading through the contents, Li Shen had to admit: his composure was cracking.

This was something he had painstakingly figured out on his own. He'd even gone out of his way to use random strangers when farming quest materials, just so no one would catch on. And now you're telling him...

The devs got flamed so hard they snapped and posted an anonymous hint?

"Stop reading," Fengxue Liushuang said, growing impatient. "What about the Pure Blood? I need to turn in the quest. Tons of people are rushing this side quest right now."

Hearing the urging, Li Shen paused for a moment. "Buddy, I looked wrong — what I have in my storage is Impure Blood. I sold the Pure Blood a while back."

Fengxue Liushuang: ...

Are you messing with me?

Li Shen coughed a couple of times to perform awkwardness. "Sorry, genuinely misread it."

To be honest, Li Shen was lying — but he had no choice.

If his friend had been asking for any other side quest, he wouldn't have thought twice about handing over every bottle of Pure Blood in his storage. But the moment the words "Undead Territory" left Fengxue Liushuang's mouth, everything changed.

They were now competitors.

As the player who had discovered this secret first, Li Shen naturally had no intention of handing the quest rewards over to someone else.

Sorry, buddy. You'll just have to suffer a little.

Fengxue Liushuang didn't push it: "Alright, if you come across any blood, let me know first."

With that, he left the starter village and went back to farming, leaving Li Shen standing alone, lost in thought.

The plan had hit a snag.

With the developers' intervention, what had once been his exclusive side quest was now fully exposed to every player in the game. The number of competitors had multiplied beyond counting, and there were bound to be players far stronger than him among them.

He hesitated.

Under these circumstances, was it still worth the effort to keep grinding through the quests the Undead Archmage had assigned?

As he wavered, Li Shen's gaze gradually hardened with resolve.

Even though the difficulty had spiked dramatically, he wasn't willing to give up this chance to turn his fortunes around.

From what his friend had said, the new wave of competitors was still stuck on the very first prerequisite quest — while he had already finished it.

The advantage is mine!

Damn it! Time to grind!

Calling his beta-test party for help was clearly out of the question now. The way he saw it, the only solution was cold, hard cash.

Li Shen decided to spend money and hire someone to clear the [Deep Rift] dungeon quickly, putting distance between himself and the other competitors.

No sooner said than done. Without any hesitation, Li Shen tapped into the player network he'd built up during the beta period and paid a hefty sum to hire a party that had two job-advanced players in its ranks.

One hour later, inside the [Deep Rift] dungeon.

A notification popped up before Li Shen's eyes.

[Dungeon boss Uriel has been slain.]

"Buddy, the materials are yours. Sending you the card number now."

"Got it."

He had to admit — the level of professionalism these hired players showed was a clear step above his old beta-test party. A dungeon that had tormented countless players was cleared in just one hour, with zero casualties.

But man, it wasn't cheap.

After paying up and securing the quest materials, Li Shen let out a long, slow breath.

Judging by the tone the Undead Archmage had used when the last quest was completed, finishing this one should finally let him step into the actual "side-quest storyline."

As long as he kept grinding hard enough, there was no reason he couldn't stand out from the crowd!

At the same time, Li Shen was genuinely curious.

After the stealth update the studio had pushed following the beta test, just what kind of content had they added to this boss?