Chapter 1 The System's Tasks

The tasks released by the system on a daily, fixed basis far outnumbered those posted by players seeking help. To make a name for themselves, mercenary groups basically relied on grinding. They repeatedly did these system tasks every day, aiming for a high completion rate and a high degree of completion to climb the rankings. When players needed help, they would naturally come knocking.

But as system-released tasks, especially repeatable ones, they were inevitably tedious and boring. No matter how novel a task was, after doing it dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times, no one could find any joy in it anymore. It required perseverance to stick with it.

Han Jia公子 was extremely impatient with tedious things, so the mercenary group under his leadership directly ignored this path. Han Jia公子's goal was to build popularity through trade relationships with players.

This first step of development went smoothly. The Wolong Mountain Cave's boss, Sotu, quest was quite difficult at the time, and the Young Master Elite Group, which completed it, was talked about for a while in the Mercenary Guild and tavern. Later, Rebirth Amethyst came to them through this route.

However, the Smiling Task Mercenary Group handled the mission discreetly. Although the mission was completed extremely well, this time it did not add any points.

After that, there were no more noteworthy tasks to show off. After all, high-difficulty tasks also required good luck to receive; secondly, not everyone was willing or able to spend money to hire people to help complete tasks.

As a result, the development of the Young Master Elite Group stagnated. Han Jia公子 didn't know if he had lost interest at this point. Without any business actively coming to him, he didn't actively develop business either. While other mercenary leaders were studying and selecting various tasks at the Mercenary Guild every day, he was basically drinking in Little Lei's Tavern. As a result, the Young Master Elite Group eventually became one of countless inconspicuous small mercenary groups.

Today, with all six members gathered, when Han Jia公子 suddenly announced, "The time has come for the mercenary group to make a name for itself!" everyone thought he had a high fever.

Then, Brother You explained in a deep voice, "The system's first event is about to begin: the Mercenary Group Competition and the Guild Competition."

To expand their influence, or rather, to revitalize the game, game companies often hold special events during festivals or anniversaries. The game's online player record is often created on these kinds of days. What attracts players even more is that during these events, the official channels release some rare and good items as rewards, which is the main reason why players value these events.

Parallel World's slogan this time was to celebrate its official launch. The game company had already been promoting this event since the end of the closed beta. Everyone had heard about it, but the content of the event had always been kept secret. As for delaying it for more than a month, it was nothing more than to lengthen the promotion period, and also to give players who entered the game after the closed beta time to level up.

Because the experience required to level up was not cheap, the levels of the players were still relatively close. Two players who were both level 40, after reporting their experience points, you would find that the difference between these two guys sometimes required three days and nights to make up. Unfortunately, this difference was not reflected in strength at all, only for personal yy (daydreaming).

The event had not yet been officially announced, but Brother You had received some inside information and immediately notified Han Jia公子 to gather people when he saw that it involved mercenary groups and guilds. Basically, all players would try to participate in these events, regardless of the final result. And experts like them were naturally full of ambition.

"If we win this event, everyone will become famous!" Han Jia公子 gave a motivational speech. He felt it was inappropriate as soon as he finished speaking, because besides him, who had just changed his ID in this game, Jian Gui, Brother You, Yu Tian Shen Ming, and Zhan Wu Shang had long been famous just by their names. And Gu Fei, the name 27149 was enough to shock people. That was a name comparable to the current Five Little Strongs. The legendary behind-the-scenes hidden Boss was like that.

Sure enough, the five people were indifferent to Han Jia公子's statement that "everyone will become famous."

Han Jia公子 cleared his throat and made another speech, "What I mean is, we must participate in the event. Since we received the news in advance, everyone should prepare. Those who haven't changed jobs, have you studied it enough? Qianli, can you reach level 40 in the next few days?"

"I don't think so," Gu Fei said. His experience was still a long way from 40!

"Who has changed jobs?" Han Jia公子 asked.

The four shook their heads. These experts were all very shrewd. Anyway, whether or not they changed jobs didn't affect daily leveling. Before they had thoroughly researched the two directions, no one made a rash choice. Everyone was waiting for the official channels to reveal more information.

"Do what you think is best!" Han Jia公子 waved his hand. From any point of view, he was someone who hated trouble and didn't bother to say too much. In the end, he said, "This time, our main opponents are other mercenary groups. Brother You will organize the information of other major mercenary groups in Cloudend City in the next two days, and then we'll study it."

Everyone nodded.

"That's all," Han Jia公子 spread his hands.

"I'm going to do quests!" Yu Tian Shen Ming was the first to get up. As for these words, he said it to Gu Fei in an inquiring tone.

"Go ahead, Yu Tian Tong Xue," Gu Fei approved.

Then the five people got up one after another and left. Only Han Jia公子 went out of the private room door, shouted "Wine" to Little Lei, and then turned around and sat down.

Outside the tavern, Zhan Wu Shang and Jian Gui went their separate ways. At this time, Gu Fei received a message from Rebirth Amethyst, asking him to attend a meeting. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. Gu Fei hadn't been there for a long time, and he vaguely remembered which door Rebirth Amethyst was in.

As he walked, he found that Brother You was going the same way. As they walked and chatted, Gu Fei suddenly remembered something and asked Brother You for advice, "Do you know Piao Liu?"

"Of course," Brother You said, "He's also an old player, a mage expert."

"Really? Then who is stronger, him or Yu Tian?" Gu Fei asked.

"People have been arguing about this question ever since they became famous, and there's no conclusion," Brother You said.

"Then don't you all say that Yu Tian is the number one mage expert?" Gu Fei asked strangely.

"Nonsense, Yu Tian is sitting next to us. If Piao Liu was sitting there, we would immediately say that Piao Liu is the number one mage expert," Brother You said.

Gu Fei smiled wryly. These guys were really hypocritical. In the end, he asked again, "Then who do you think is stronger?" Brother You's own level was not top-notch, but his theoretical knowledge was definitely outstanding, so commenting was his strength.

"Well..." Brother You hesitated for a moment and then said, "Don't tell Yu Tian!"

Gu Fei smiled, "Alright, I already know the answer."

Brother You also smiled, "It's not that Yu Tian is really not good. But you've seen it too, Yu Tian is more flamboyant. Everyone knows how much he's worth. If this kid discovers any tricks or techniques, he will immediately announce them for others to learn, and then pretend to be a god on the side. Piao Liu is the introverted type. He's usually very low-key, and you'll only know how powerful he is when he makes a move. And unlike Yu Tian, who likes to share resources, I guess he would definitely hide any secrets he discovered. So, Yu Tian's strength is clear at a glance, but Piao Liu is still hiding it. Judging from this kind of scheming, I think Yu Tian might not be as good as him."

"Yeah, I think so too," Gu Fei nodded in agreement. Piao Liu basically tried his best to hide his 'Luo Yi Hong Yan' skill.

"Do you know Piao Liu?" Brother You was quite surprised. The five of them knew that although Gu Fei was powerful, he was a newbie in online games.

Gu Fei nodded, "I've known him for less than two days. He's also in Cloudend City now."

"What's he doing here?" Brother You asked in surprise.

"I don't know," Gu Fei said.

Brother You kept muttering to himself.

Gu Fei asked again, "Do you know all the people they're talking about now, the Five Heroes, the Five Little Strongs, and so on?"

Brother You smiled and said, "The five guys on the total list who are level 41? I don't know the brawler named Bai Shi Jing Lun. I don't know if he changed his ID. The archer named Shui Shen and the warrior named Jian Nan You are famous professional players. As for the thief named Xi Yao Wu, this person is a woman, known as the most powerful RMB (real money) player in history. I haven't met this woman, but I heard that her skills are also very good. But that's for sure. She spends all the time others spend making money and doing business on leveling up and practicing her skills. It would be strange if she wasn't good. But, I think if Jian Gui hadn't been ambushed and lost a level last time, one of the Five Little Strongs should have been him."

"What a pity," Gu Fei also felt sorry for Jian Gui. The hard work Jian Gui put into the game was definitely unimaginable for ordinary people. His enthusiasm for the game was comparable to Gu Fei's for kung fu. In comparison, Han Jia公子 was much more casual. He didn't know how these two got together.

Little Lei's Tavern was not far from Rebirth Amethyst. What was rare was that Brother You was actually going in the same direction as Gu Fei. After the two of them said a few words, the sign of Rebirth Amethyst was already in sight. Gu Fei pointed and said, "I'm here."

"Oh," Brother You patted him, smiled ambiguously, and continued walking forward.

Gu Fei pushed the door open and took a breath of cold air.

He hadn't been here for a long time. Rebirth Amethyst's office hadn't gotten bigger, but there were a lot more people. Gu Fei glanced at the corner where he used to hang out, but it was already occupied.

For a moment, he was helpless and stood at the door in a daze. However, many new faces showed surprised expressions after seeing Gu Fei. Since they joined Rebirth Amethyst, they had never seen a man in this room.

Just as he was feeling awkward, a woman suddenly came out of the crowd and shouted at Gu Fei, "Hey, Qianli!"

Gu Fei took a look and saw that it was Little Rain. She had changed in the month he hadn't seen her. The bulky armor that covered 99% of her body was gone, replaced by a close-fitting soft armor that was currently the most popular among female warriors. This kind of armor seemed fragile, but it was still in the category of heavy armor. It was just that the game company had succumbed to the female players' love of beauty and had to make an appearance modification. Looking at June's Rain's outfit, the color was mainly red and black, and there was no brilliant light, but it set off her heroic appearance. At this time, she wasn't wearing a helmet, and her long hair fluttered as she walked towards Gu Fei. This was the legendary combination of strength and gentleness.

"Long time no see!" June's Rain casually patted Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was still putting on a smile! As soon as he received this slap, he secretly cried "Not good!" This Little Rain was still so brainless, and she didn't know how to control her strength...

Staggering a few steps to the side, Gu Fei's heart was already bleeding. He was actually slapped away by a girl! This was too outrageous. But this was also out of helplessness. As the characters in the game continued to add points, the players' strength, speed, and other attributes in the game had begun to clearly surpass normal humans. People like Little Rain, who were full-strength types, were now like Popeye after eating spinach. It was as easy as crushing a can to crush Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was about to stabilize his steps when someone put a hand on him and helped him up. He looked back and saw that it was Liu Xia.

"Are you okay?" Liu Xia smiled.

"I'm okay!" Gu Fei was depressed, and then asked, "Are you okay?"

Liu Xia knew what he was referring to and nodded.

On the side where Gu Fei was slapped away, someone was already calling out in a blaming tone, "Little Rain!"

June's Rain covered her mouth and exclaimed, "Oh no, I forgot again!" Saying that, she quickly came to look at Gu Fei.

"Don't mind, she's already slapped away several people today," said July, who Gu Fei hadn't seen for more than a month.

"Mind what? Little Rain and I are buddies!" Gu Fei said.

"Haha, that's right!" Little Rain said and came to pat his shoulder again. Gu Fei wouldn't be careless this time. He tilted his shoulder to the side, and Little Rain's slap missed.

"I'd better be careful!" Gu Fei wiped his sweat.

A healing spell floated onto Gu Fei, and Gu Fei knew who it was without looking. Sure enough, Luo Luo's voice sounded beside him, "Don't you dislike my healing spell this time, right?" A full-strength warrior's attack power was not simple even without a weapon. Gu Fei's health definitely decreased after receiving this slap.

Gu Fei was speechless. These girls were really overwhelming.

"Let me introduce everyone first," July clapped her hands. "This person is our guild's Qianli Yizui."

The girls who didn't know Gu Fei had already asked the old members about his identity. However, since July was officially introducing him, everyone still had to make some reactions, clapping, screaming, and whistling. This guy who never appeared was jokingly called the "Mysterious Man" by the girls. Now that he had appeared in person, he was warmly teased, and the atmosphere was lively.

At this time, Gu Fei's professional qualities were reflected.

Imagine that in physical education class, boys and girls were bound to be separated. A physical education teacher could be said to be the only teaching profession that needed to face a group of girls alone. Gu Fei had experience in this kind of situation. He immediately nodded very casually to the girls, "Hello, classmates."

"Hahaha..." The girls followed Gu Fei's joke, laughing and echoing, "Hello, teacher."

This made them even more immersed in the role. Gu Fei smiled again and nodded to everyone, and the awkwardness disappeared without being attacked. Luo Luo, who was on the side, was shocked. This guy was usually uncomfortable with being touched by her healing spell, but he was so calm in such a big scene.

July glanced at everyone and said with a smile, "Almost everyone's here. Let me say something. The official event is about to start. The content is the Mercenary Competition and the Guild Competition. I heard the rewards are quite generous. Our guild isn't big, but it doesn't hurt to participate. The two competitions can be registered repeatedly. Our guild doesn't have a mercenary group. If we want to participate in the Mercenary Competition again, we can form another one."

The girls listened quietly, only Little Rain had already boiled over, holding her fist and excitedly saying to Gu Fei, "Quest, quest!"

No wonder he suddenly came back. He was here for the event. Times were changing, but this girl was still so obsessed with quests. Gu Fei smiled and took two steps back. That slap was painful enough. If she suddenly punched him, wouldn't he be smashed into a colander?

July's speech continued, "Everyone should level up as much as possible these days. The event probably still needs a few days."

It seemed that July also had some connections. She could actually receive the news that Brother You could receive.

"Then, who wants to participate in the Mercenary Competition? Come and sign up. Let's form a mercenary group," July said.

Competition was essentially a pk competition. Not too many girls were interested in pk. It would be enough to participate in the guild as a unit to experience the excitement. Participating in another mercenary competition... The girls' enthusiasm was significantly low. Except for Lie Lie, who was the first to jump out and declare herself the leader, the others were hesitating.

"Qianli, are you participating?" July asked by name.

"I have a mercenary group," Gu Fei said.

"Oh!" July didn't say anything. This phenomenon was very common. Not all guilds had their own mercenary groups. Rebirth Amethyst didn't have one, so it was naturally excusable for guild members to join other mercenary groups.

Lie Lie shouted for a long time and finally pulled some girls into the group. Gu Fei smiled dismissively, thinking that with these girls' naive skills, encountering Jian Gui and his gang of old hands, there seemed to be no chance of winning except with seduction techniques.

Thinking like this, Gu Fei suddenly realized that if they met the Young Master Elite Group, they would immediately lose Yu Tian Shen Ming and Zhan Wu Shang as combat forces.

As for the other three guys. Uh, although they didn't seem as aggressive as Yu Tian Shen Ming and Zhan Wu Shang on the surface, who knew what was in their hearts?

Gu Fei only remembered that Jian Gui seemed quite excited when he first met Xi Xiaotian.

While he was thinking wildly, Gu Fei received another message. He opened it and saw that it was Coward Savior. He was shouting, "Master, I finally found you."

"Where are you?" Gu Fei asked.

The two agreed to meet. Gu Fei saw that the girls in the room were also starting to leave, so he greeted a few familiar people and left.

He agreed to meet Coward Savior at the fountain in the center of the city.

When Gu Fei arrived, Coward Savior had been waiting for a long time. As soon as he saw Gu Fei, he immediately struck a praying mantis fist stance, swaying his body and yelling "hee-yah, hee-yah."

Gu Fei went up and hooked out a foot at his lower body. Coward Savior took a half step back, his stance unchanged, and actually dodged this hook.

"You've been practicing well!" Gu Fei praised. The half step Coward Savior had just taken was in complete accordance with the Seven Star Step. Of course, Gu Fei's hook was just a casual test. Otherwise, wouldn't it mean that Coward Savior's one month of practice was equal to his twenty years? Coward Savior should be taking the lead role then.

Coward Savior, who had been praised by Gu Fei, was even more smug and continued to strike his stance non-stop.

"Alright, alright, stop it!" Gu Fei said. The praying mantis fist's style was very unique and easily attracted onlookers, especially in such a bustling area in the center of the city.

"How's Moonlit Night City?" Gu Fei asked Coward Savior.

Coward Savior shook his head repeatedly. "It's still the same. Everyone thought that life would be better after they defeated Qian Chen. But now, their Ten Guild Alliance has more people than Qian Chen, and they're still bullying people."

"Ten Guild Alliance? Which guild?" Gu Fei asked.

"Oh, it's an alliance of ten guilds. Because no guild's level is high enough to accommodate so many people, they can't merge yet," Coward Savior said.

Gu Fei sucked in a breath of cold air. At least before, it was just one Qian Chen guild that was doing evil. Now that there was a Ten Guild Alliance, Moonlit Night City was really not a peaceful place.

"There are a lot fewer players in Moonlit Night City now," Coward Savior said. "They've all run to other main cities."

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Continue to lengthen the chapter, this time six thousand words, haha~~ Continue to summon monthly tickets, now is welcome to vote at the end of the month... In addition, I also want to summon recommendation tickets, and want to hit the recommendation list, do you think this idea is brilliant?