Chapter 274:

Words : 2121 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

“Ah, the usually reliable Meow King made a rare mistake, causing us to miss out on a big treasure chest. I think this dungeon probably only has one final boss, Kenport Gnawbone, but he’s very cunning and uses various methods to reduce our rewards. Even a small mistake will let the rewards slip away. This mode is too sneaky! It seems that if we want to get all the rewards, the requirements for team cooperation are indeed very high.” While Onboard Joy Stick and Meow King’s team were anxiously worrying about their responsibilities, the rhythm on Silver Moon Pride’s team was somewhat leisurely. Fatal Orchid Huahua still had the mood to discuss dungeon strategies with Lumina beside her. The slender-waisted, long-legged shield bearer held her kite shield vigilantly as she looked around, saying: “No wonder it’s marked as a ‘timed dungeon’. I guess the development team might be making an attempt, and they might modify it later.” The girls, leading a group of administrative players, traversed through the dangerous gnoll camp. Under the protection of elite guards, they advanced towards the rendezvous point agreed upon with the Blood Rat Gang and that mysterious character codenamed “Pangolin”. They too were attacked by the crazy gnoll barbarians, but they didn’t find it difficult to deal with. The pressure was all on the other two teams, and the girls’ team was currently the T1 team in the game, so they were handling it with ease. But unlike the calm girls, the administrative players accompanying them were very excited. They rarely had such thrilling monster-fighting experiences, let alone participating in such a large-scale team activity. Although their specialties were quite different from most players, they too had a desire to become DPS. For example, “Old Chen, don’t rush so fast!” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman and Bricklayer were now tightly holding their mentor’s arms, preventing Old Chen from rushing up to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the gnolls. This was obviously to protect their old man. But the problem was, even the old man had a heart for battle! Although he was aging in the real world, his stamina in the game was no worse than the youngsters. “Let go! Both of you, let go! My swordsmanship is just about to level up.” Construction Site Old Man Professor Chen scolded his two apprentices with an unhappy face: “When I was young, I was also in the militia and organized training, much better than you two now. Besides, you don’t really die in the game, what are you afraid of?” “I’m afraid the development team will call me again. Last time your sudden disconnection almost scared them to death.” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman complained. But seeing his old Chen’s eager look, he sighed and gave Bricklayer a look to release the old professor. Then he took out the gargoyle heart ornament he got from opening a treasure chest after the last dungeon run, poured out the prepared stone materials from his special spirit bag, and quickly fused them into a completely black, cool-looking battle-type gargoyle. “You! Protect my mentor! When his life is in danger, fly him away from here.” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman pushed up his decorative glasses and gave orders to his gargoyle, then handed the battle gargoyle’s control stick to Old Chen, seemingly not intending to take it back. It’s natural for students to show filial piety to their mentor, and with Old Chen’s “battle frenzy”, the troubles he might encounter in the future are probably numerous. With this thing to protect him, both he and Bricklayer could be more at ease. This high-level alchemical creation had some intelligence and could understand Heaven’s Chosen Grayman’s commands. It flapped its sturdy stone wings and flexed its stone claws, standing guard beside Professor Chen. RἈ????ŎᛒЕṥ The old professor curiously reached out to touch this stone life, then turned back with a strange expression and said to Heaven’s Chosen Grayman: “The sturdiness of your summon’s body depends on what kind of stone material you used for it, right? Why use ordinary granite? Can’t you find diamond in Transia? If not, corundum or topaz would do. With this, you dare call yourself a designer? How did you pass your undergraduate geology course?” “Enemy attack!” Little Ashina, who was scouting ahead by flapping her wings in the air, suddenly shouted, and the crowd immediately became alert. Heaven’s Chosen Grayman grabbed the large-caliber masterwork dwarf hunting rifle gifted to him by his beautiful assistant and fired a shot at the gnoll pouncing towards him. Amidst the echoing low gunshot, he retreated to reload under the cover of two shield-bearing guards, while complaining to his old man: “Damn, professor, at a time like this, can you not point out my mistakes? This thing needs stones with spirit affinity, it can’t be explained in just a few words. You step back! Don’t get hurt.” “That’s right, that’s right, old man, quickly come over to our side, don’t cause trouble for them. By the way, your Intelligence is at max 8, right? Why don’t you switch to Spirit Mage?” Life Is Pretty Good beside them reached out to pull the old man back. This Trickster swung his cool soul-reaping scythe, casually throwing several curse-type and damage-amplifying area spells on the surrounding monsters pouncing towards them. The Trickster’s combat style rarely confronts directly; they are more adept at using evil spirit energy to weaken and toy with enemies. Old Huo had obviously grasped the essence of this profession. After casting spells and gaining proficiency, he didn’t continue fighting but retreated behind everyone, leaving those gnolls for other brothers to deal with. Faced with Life Is Pretty Good’s confusion, Old Chen squinted and said: “I always feel that this spirit energy thing is not very scientific. Compared to this mystical power, I think holding a gun gives me more sense of security. I’m not like you young people who easily accept new things. I’m old and don’t want to mess with the worldview I’ve built over decades.” “Isn’t it a waste of your max Intelligence then?” Life Is Pretty Good felt a bit regretful. Compared to this professor, his Intelligence was only 7, and he felt somewhat outdone. “Intelligence is just an attribute. It doesn’t only represent the manipulation of spirit energy, but also learning ability. It’s quite complex when you delve into it. I specifically asked Lady Tris about it. She clearly told me that high Intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean you’re suitable to be a Spirit Mage. But if your Intelligence is below 5, you definitely can’t be one.” Dump Truck Iaido, holding a large-caliber dwarf trench gun, came over and replied, while examining the soul-reaping scythe in Life Is Pretty Good’s hand. He explained: “This attribute only represents that you can perceive spirit energy, but perceiving and manipulating are two different things. You understand, right?” “I do, I just think it’s a pity. After all, in our real world, there aren’t these clearly existing supernatural things. Since we’re playing a game, why not try something that doesn’t exist in reality at all? “So, if we choose to refuse to help this gnoll here, does that mean the entire subsequent storyline related to it will be directly cut off?” Bricklayer said: “Damn, it feels like losing 5 million out of thin air.” “Yeah, new storylines, new forces, and new reputation, maybe even new rewards.” The dump truck brother, leaning on his hunting rifle, said: “I don’t know what everyone thinks, but I feel we shouldn’t miss out on these. Transia should also have some gnolls to interact with, they were also born on this land, and according to Lord Murphy, they are also part of this land. What do you think?” “Hey! You officials aren’t really planning to kill Hog, are you?” Little Ashina was a bit anxious, she argued: “All you can get from killing it here is a few pieces of shabby leather armor, but if you keep it alive and continue to nurture it! After it has a clan, it can give us more quests, more money, more equipment. Who would kill an NPC that gives them quests? Hog is very smart, and we were the first to raise it. I don’t care, if you don’t want to do this quest, I can compensate you. But I must keep this gnoll!” “Don’t be so anxious, we’re just discussing, aren’t we?” The shovel brother pacified Little Ashina, and then said to the others in the private chat: “Little Ashina is right, even if we want to slaughter a pig, we should wait until it’s fat enough. This Hog obviously has no oil now, I suggest we keep it and finish this Hidden Quest first, what do you say?” “I’m worried about the plot aspect.” The mature and steady Old Chen has been in the game for quite some time, and due to his frequent chats with Professor Malcolm, he knows more about the history of this land than others. He said: “Gnolls don’t have a good reputation in Transia, and I heard from Professor Malcolm about a disaster called ‘Black Disaster’ that was related to these gnolls. It was a terrifying continent-wide calamity. Do you know what this means? If we’re going to keep this gnoll and help it establish a force, we might very well end up standing in opposition to other factions on the continent. What I mean is, it’s easy for things to go wrong if we’re not careful. Lord Murphy and Lady Tris might not care, but convincing the Witch Hunters and Blood Pact Knights won’t be so easy.” “Professor Chen is right, this aspect must be considered.” Life Is Pretty Good nodded, but then he changed his tone and said: “However, we are players, everyone! We are now nominally Blood Servants of the Blood Vulture Clan, and Transia is the last remaining ruins of a recently dismembered country. Not exaggerating, whether we have this gnoll or not, our relationship with other forces on the continent might not necessarily be that good. If we give up this opportunity to cultivate our own force for those ‘friends’ we haven’t even met yet, it seems a bit too much of a pity. More importantly, if we look at it purely from a gameplay perspective, I think being enemies with the whole world isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In a situation where we can’t distinguish who is a friend and who is an enemy, treating them all as enemies might be a simple, crude, but effective solution. If they’re willing to treat us as friends, they’ll pretend not to see a mere gnoll clan vassal. If they don’t treat us as friends, even without Hog and its clan, they can still declare war! What do you think?” This speech made other little players nod in agreement, and Honorary Knight Typal, who had been silent all along, stepped forward. Leaning on his sword and shield, he said in a tone that mimicked NPCs perfectly: “I have seen the noblest of foreign races, and I have witnessed the most despicable of humans.” “Hey, don’t repeat old Frey’s words! Just say your opinion directly.” “Ahem, my meaning is, it’s called ‘Hog’, right? Perhaps it’s a hint from fate, wanting us to cultivate a ‘King of the Forest Clearing’ with our own hands. My meaning is, we Torrent Knights are willing to give this foreign race a chance!” Although Typal didn’t express any valuable opinions, after he finished speaking, other administrative players strangely reached a consensus. They accepted this quest, which also made Little Ashina, who had been a bit worried, let out a sigh of relief. She gave Hog a wink, and the cunning and clever gnoll immediately came forward, bowing and scraping, saying: “That brute Kenport, in order to control the gnolls of Transia, has arranged all the clan chiefs of every large and small clan in this land in his own guard. Those chieftains are the mainstay of the gnolls in this land, so.” “So, you mean you want us to rescue them?” The Grayman asked curiously. Hog shook his head and said in a low voice: “No, I want to ask you to kill them all! Only those with leaders are wolf packs, those in chaos can only be called dogs running away with their tails between their legs. Lord Murphy wants to tame them, and the Crimson Citadel doesn’t need dangerous wolves. What you want is a pack of dogs, so you need to eliminate those ‘wolf kings’!”

Chapter 274:

Comments (0)