Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“You damned blasphemer…”
Pulitzer trailed off mid-sentence, and his face stiffened, revealing—
A look of “indecision”!
“Just as I expected!”
Ye Kong’s lips curled into a smile. He knew exactly what was happening.
“My reputation level with the Horticultural Church was ‘Neutral,’ but after activating the City Guard Set’s ‘Glory’ effect, whenever I talk with NPCs of Qingmu Town, my reputation will go up one level!” (P.S. Does not include the Blind Sect NPCs).
“At this moment, my reputation level is considered ‘Good’!”
As Ye Kong observed Pulitzer’s “indecision,” his icy smirk grew even more “ferocious.”
“Due to the bonus from ‘Glory’ effect, my reputation level with the Horticultural Church is now ‘Good.’ This is relevant because the spring water quest has three key activation ‘mechanisms.’ They are as follows: a player from Qingmu Town, a flask of spring water, and most importantly…
“A ‘Good’ reputation!”
Ye Kong’s eyes were like two flames as he stared at Pulitzer’s distorted expression. He secretly snickered to himself, “No matter how realistic your character is, you’re ultimately still following the NPC template. You have to follow the AI rules set by the Main AI!
“This…
“Is your ‘destiny’!”
As though he held the same thoughts as Ye Kong, Pulitzer visibly wavered for a very long time. It seemed like he was calculating whether the present conditions complied with the main rules of his AI. Finally, wearing a “hideous” expression on his face, he forced out a single word through clenched teeth—”Fine!”
As he said this, he reached out a trembling hand, and under the crowd’s watchful eyes, reluctantly grabbed the empty flask held out to him. He then turned around and filled it with the water from the spring.
He was actually filling up the flask!
As the players around them watched this scene unfold, they instantly burst into an uproar—
“My God, what is going on with that priest?”
“That lacuna, wasn’t he already ‘excommunicated’ by the Horticultural Church? So why is Pulitzer personally filling the flask for him…”
“Could it be that if the spring water quest is forfeited by the player, it’s possible to start the quest over again?”
During this time, the players were all thrown into confusion. They felt like everything they knew about the game was wrong!
It’s important to point out that these players were a group of closed beta players, so they already had half a month’s worth of experience in the game. However, Ye Kong’s actions and Pulitzer’s reactions went against everything they knew about the game!
Horticultural Priest Pulitzer’s old face was visibly twisted in reluctance, but he still acquiesced to Ye Kong’s request!
This was like if a regal, composed member of the nobility, with a foul expression on his face, grudgingly swallowed a steaming bowl of crap! And to top it all off, the whole thing was being carried out like a “public execution”!
It was truly unbelievable!
Ye Kong was the culprit behind these events. He was able to discover the key factors guiding the AI due to his own vast stores of experience and his incredible gaming instincts. These were Ye Kong’s true advantages!
As a top-class player who was now reborn into the past, Ye Kong’s gaming instincts were something that none of the players in the present could rival. Not even the “1st Test Players” had instincts as good as his!
As such, the players could only watch wide-eyed as Pulitzer bent over like a manservant and filled up the empty flask with fresh water from the spring…
“What on earth is this world coming to?!”
Alphabetkun stood rooted to the spot, stunned. In his entire gaming career, he had never seen something like this happen!
“This Swordsman is… a… amazing!”
Strollingkitty’s beautiful eyes were wide as she stared at the Swordsman in a daze. She had never seen a player force an NPC to do such a “shameful” act in front of so many people!
“What…” Bigcat looked even more stupefied than the others, and was unable to even form a single sentence!
The commotion among the players had noticeably “aggravated” Pulitzer, whose arms started to quiver in fury. Unfortunately for him, he was an NPC, and it was impossible for him to violate the ironclad AI rules set up by the system!
The dignified Horticultural Priest, Pulitzer, could only swallow his pride and bear the humiliation of filling up the flask with fresh spring water for Ye Kong!
“Mister Priest, please don’t forget to do the ‘Blessing’ step.”
These light, carefree words floated over to the priest, who became so angry that his veins bulged out of his skin. He nearly burst a blood vessel!
“Don’t you worry. The Horticultural Church will always treat its ‘devotees’ kindly!” Pulitzer hissed through gritted teeth, deliberately enunciating each word—especially the word “devotee,” which he spat out with even more vehemence.
It was a pity that problems in this world couldn’t be solved by getting angry.
Pulitzer leaned over to fish out the flask from the spring. If one looked closely, a green tree branch could be seen in the middle of the spring. This was one of the many branches of the Yggdmillennia Tree, and it was the power source of the barrier protecting Qingmu Town.
The Yggdmillennia Tree was the symbol of the Sixth Region, and it was the core of the entire region. Every single one of the human settlements in the Sixth Region would have a pool of water in the center of it, and in the center of that pool there would be a branch of the Yggdmillennia Tree!
Of course, Qingmu Town was only one of the eight walled settlements in the Starry Duchy, so it wasn’t as large as the Starry Capital, Constellation City, let alone the cities of the Lunar Empire and Four Great Federations. Hence, the branch of Yggdmillennia in Qingmu Town was very small, probably about a third of the size of the branch in Constellation City.
Despite this, it was still one of the branches of the Yggdmillennia Tree, and it protected Qingmu Town, stabilizing the entire place!
Pulitzer lifted up the flask, and the spring water inside it refracted the sunlight with a crystalline gleam—
“O great God of Horticulture, Wally, your faithful devotee comes to you now in prayer. Please allow your grace to descend upon us…”
Pulitzer began the “Blessing” of the water. The water from Qingmu Spring had to be blessed by the priest before it could finally become the “Blessed Spring Water.” Without this step, it was just a flask of ordinary spring water.
However, Pulitzer didn’t notice that, standing right behind him, Ye Kong had lowered his head, allowing the shadows cast from above to shroud his handsome features in darkness, effectively masking his expression from the others.
“As expected, Pulitzer’s level and HP are all way above average…”
Ye Kong was focused on the Priest. Because he had accepted his current quest, he could see some basic information about his target—
Horticultural Priest – Pulitzer (Level 10):
Humanoid, HP 230/230
230 points of health!
And even more frightening, the target was at level 10!
This meant that the target’s Defense was probably higher than the level five soldier’s Defense, and had to be over eight points. Even though Ye Kong had the Assassin’s Sword effect of Ignore Level Difference +10, faced with such a high Defense stat, and with only 44 points of Attack, it would be optimistic to think he could deal over 40 points of damage in an attack!
(Note: Attack and Damage were not “directly equivalent.” Since this was explained before, this will not be elaborated further.)
Besides, Pulitzer was a Devoted Shepherd, and his main strength wasn’t his HP total, but his Intelligence-type crowd-control (CC) skills and recovery skills! If he wasn’t brought down right away, Pulitzer, with his endless recovery and crowd-control, could kill any opponent of the same level by outlasting them and chipping away at their health!
Therefore, Ye Kong only had one chance!
“In my past life, Pulitzer ended up in a brawl with an assassin of the same level, and they both perished together. If I can’t kill him instantly, faced with the tools and trump cards available to a Devoted Shepherd… I have absolutely no chance of winning!
“I probably won’t even be able to take him down with me. Once he uses his ace in the hole, he’ll kill me straight away.”
Ye Kong had a grave look in his eyes, but now that things had progressed to this point, he was long past the point of no return.
A fair-skinned hand quietly gripped the hilt of the sword—
“Seems like I can only hope that my ‘predictions’ are correct.”
At the same time…
Pulitzer held the flask of water in his hands and raised it high above his head. There was a burst of light around him, which captured the attention of all the players in the residential district. Each of them looked over to the Priest, and the sound of their discussions reached its peak—
“This priest is really pulling out all the stops! I can’t believe he’s actually going to make a new Blessed Spring Water for a player…”
“Tsk tsk tsk. I never thought that old priest would be such a pushover.”
“Yeah, me too. That guy’s completely bullying him, and yet he’s still helping him with the spring water…”
During this time, the players’ many comments made their way to Pulitzer. He was hopping mad, but he wasn’t allowed to express his anger outwardly. As a result, the bright light surrounding him started to “flicker”!
“D*mn it all!” Pulitzer cursed out loud, forcibly suppressing his agitation. He was about to infuse the spring water with the light, when—
Swish!
The dark gleam of a blade, as black as ink, suddenly flashed from behind him!
The gleam of the sword resembled a savage beast, and it silenced all the players’ discussions as it came slashing toward the defenseless Pulitzer!
In that single moment, it was so silent one could hear a pin drop!