Ashen Dragon

Chapter 69 Internal Testing (Part 3)

Facing the never-ending noise from the players, Mezulash stepped forward and raised his bloody Great Sword.

"Silence!"

But the players seemed to rebel even more, becoming even noisier, with all kinds of cheeky remarks emerging one after another.

"I'm hyped, hubby."

"No male waifu, let me at it."

"Why is a red-skinned NPC so arrogant? Sooner or later, we'll take you down."

"That gear looks awesome, is it available in the store?"

"He's so cocky, I love it."

Mezulash felt his scalp tingle but he had to force himself to keep speaking.

"Warriors from unknown spaces, I am the steward of Barto City under the command of the Red Dragon, a Tiefling Warrior. You can call me Mezulash. By my master's order, I have come to welcome you."

"However, neither Barto City nor the entire Ashen Nest welcomes idlers. You need to prove your value to me."

"As you can see, Barto City is newly built, everything is waiting for development. I hope you can contribute your strength..."

Mezulash tried to be as stirring as possible, but most players were not paying attention except for those extremely into the story.

"That gear looks kinda nice, feels like at least a mini-boss level."

Mantou instinctively pulled up his panel and threw out a scout.

[Loading data...]

[Loading complete!]

[Based on your own strength, you can observe the following information.]

[Oathbreaker Sword, Mezulash]

Faction: [Ashen Nest - Barto City]

Basic Ability: ???

Challenge Level: ???

Favorability: -5 (Mild Dislike)

"According to official data, information only fails to show when the Challenge Level difference is five levels apart from the player's level. Is this Newbie Village NPC that strong?"

"Wait, why did favorability turn negative?"

He looked up, only to see the Tiefling eyeing him with a glimmer of danger in his eyes, clearly aware of his spying.

"Damn, can scouting even be detected?"

Dejectedly, Mantou put away his panel and stood at attention, obediently listening to him speak.

Mezulash swept his gaze over the crowd with a warning look, then continued, "You can accept tasks. Barto City will give you corresponding rewards."

"Everyone, please wait a moment."

His tone suddenly paused.

"Captain, we found it," Damacus reported coming forward.

Several strong Tiefling Guards carried a new corpse full of arrows out of the cave and placed it next to the original one—the same "Swashbuckler."

Only this time, he didn't even have time to say his lines before dying.

Mezulash already knew from Cassius that players would revive, and he also knew that player revivals were limited.

In "Erezer," players could only revive once every ten minutes, each time with an experience penalty based on their current level, and they only had three revival opportunities per day. After the third death, they could only hang out on the forum.

"Damn, is this NPC that smart?"

"Camping at the respawn point!"

"The AI from the developers is just messing with our minds."

"Good, Rogue Beast has messed with many people's minds. He previously brought the final boss to our main city and got it destroyed in another game. He deserves to be messed with so hard his will breaks."

"Instant fan conversion."

"Seeing a player getting camped at the gate makes me furious; seeing it's Rogue Beast, I'm overjoyed."

"I guess there are still good NPCs in the world..."

Finally, Mezulash's face showed a chillingly kind smile.

"Everyone, please be silent."

"This is just a small warning."

This time, as soon as he spoke, the players suddenly fell silent, like a group of primary school students caught by the class teacher.

After all, no one wanted to be camped at the gate without even having a chance to develop. Next to the arrow-pierced corpse of "Swashbuckler," Mezulash's words carried extra weight.

Mezulash started introducing various information according to the instructions of the Red Dragon.

"The Blacksmith sells weapons and armor, the market has food and water for sale, the tavern sells drinks and you can stay on the second floor. You can accept quests from the bulletin board in the square and collect rewards at the Adventurers' Guild in Barto City..."

According to Mezulash's description, the players roughly understood the situation in Barto City.

And after the tasks were released, corresponding task data appeared on the players' panels, including building city walls, constructing houses, going out hunting, and hunting hostile monsters.

The system allocated experience based on the difficulty and consumption of tasks, while Faction Contribution Points were managed by Kai Xu, the faction leader.

But most of these tasks were life-oriented, commonly known as "brick-moving," with fewer opportunities for the familiar monster-hunting and leveling up—after all, Stormy Ridge was almost contracted by Ashen Nest, leaving only the monsters in the mountains and forests to find.

"So many tasks..."

"This task [Hunt Savage Boars] rewards a set of standard City Guard Army equipment. Watch me get a perfect start."

"This is real body data, you probably can't even beat a chicken."

"You can't beat a chicken."

"Why are there brick-moving tasks..."

Having just entered the game, the players were very interested in these diverse tasks, to the point that they even ignored "Swashbuckler" being carried up again.

Three corpses lined up neatly in a row.

As if silently telling the fate of this troublemaker.

Although Barto City had begun to take shape with some city elements, it had only developed for five years, with sparse population and thin foundation, and the buildings were still very simplistic.

And the most crucial problem was the lack of labor force. The assistance from Ashen Nest somewhat alleviated this issue, but it was not an immediate solution.

With the addition of hundreds of players, the various aspects of Barto City could rapidly develop, especially since they had a workforce unafraid of death and tireless.

The players had thus begun their exploration.

"Damn, why is there an Ogre in this tavern! Can't they see it?"

"No, bro, don't hit me. I'm a good human!" Stay tuned for updates on empire

"That big-nosed Goblin is part of the patrol team? I thought it was a monster."

"The Wyvern understands human language."

"Ogres, Goblins, Wyverns and that... uh, Tiefling. I feel like our Newbie Village doesn't seem like a proper faction."

"The dragon statue in the center of the square looks pretty cool. He seems to be our boss."

"Wait, aren't we born in the boss's lair?"

"..."

Standing high, Mezulash quietly watched these "Starfallen" taking on tasks everywhere, lost in thought.

Their appearance had brought much chaos to Barto City, but also a vitality full of infinite possibilities. Although Mezulash often found them hard to deal with, he clearly recognized this.

"I begin to understand the master's words, 'Lure with benefits, coerce with threats'."

This Tiefling Holy Warrior thought.

...