Ashen Dragon

"Warrior, step up quickly, this ferocious wild boar is almost out of health!"

Someone shouted.

Mantou gripped his Standard Iron Sword, eyes fixed on the wild boar in front of him.

The wild boar was foul and fierce, towering in stature and weighing several hundred kilograms.

Its body was covered with tough and sharp bristles, and two long tusks protruded from its head, emitting a foul odor. However, the beast appeared drowsy and sluggish at this moment, its body riddled with scars, seemingly on the verge of death.

To Mantou, it looked like a big, walking chunk of experience and money.

"Whatever, let's do it!"

Mantou gritted his teeth and stepped forward, thrusting his sword into the boar's side.

The Iron Sword pierced through the tough bristles, plunging deep into the flesh, causing blood to spray from the wound.

"Hit!"

The players cheered loudly.

Suddenly, the boar's drowsy, sleepy eyes turned blood-red, it exhaled a foul, stinking breath, and the muscles under its thick layer of fat bulged out, releasing an unimaginably powerful force.

"Oh crap, don't tell me this thing has a second phase..."

Mantou awkwardly pulled out the blood-stained Iron Sword, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, feeling like he was about to lose his first life.

The wild boar glared at Mantou with fierce eyes, its sturdy hooves scraping the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

"Grrr—ah—"

The ferocious boar let out a low growl and charged straight at Mantou, causing the ground to tremble under the players' feet.

Mantou, though not one of the top players, was a seasoned professional in immersive gaming. Seeing the terrifying charge, he instinctively rolled to the side.

Dust flew up from the ground as Mantou narrowly dodged the charge.

The wild boar crashed into a rock behind him, even creating spider-web-like cracks on the rock wall.

"So, 'ferocious' means it goes berserk when nearly dead."

"That kind of destructive power could definitely one-shot me."

Mantou couldn't help but complain, but the boar's next charge was already coming with a cloud of dust, and Mantou was cornered with nowhere to hide.

"Looks like I'll be giving up my first life, huh?"

Mantou skillfully opened his panel and adjusted his pain perception to the minimum.

"Sanctuary Spell!"

A clear female voice rang out.

A thin layer of light appeared around Mantou. Although the boar had charged right up to him—Mantou could even hear its heavy breathing and smell its foul odor—it couldn't attack him and crashed into the adjacent rock wall again.

This time the charge was so powerful that the boar's long, thick tusks became embedded in the cliff wall, leaving it unable to pull them out for the time being.

"Whoosh—"

An arrow shot from the side, piercing the wild boar's heart directly.

It struggled a few times before finally losing its life.

"I've always said, Archer Warriors are the future."

A male voice rang out.

Mantou turned and saw three players approaching together.

He recognized these three; they were famous professional players in the full-immersion gaming circle.

There was the hardcore strategy expert "Xin Dog," the highly popular female professional player with over a million fans "Summer Night Autumn Rain," and "Natural War Maniac," a top player known for dominating virtual game competitions for ten years and capable of defeating all opponents.

Their current roles were warrior, priest, and barbarian—a very complementary team of three.

In their presence, Mantou felt somewhat insignificant. Though he also considered himself a professional player and had tens of thousands of followers, he couldn't compare to these renowned figures.

He said somewhat awkwardly, "Thanks, what do you need me for?"

Summer Night Autumn Rain said, "We've watched your videos; they're good."

"You overpraise me." Experience new stories on empire

Mantou sheepishly scratched his head.

But Xin Dog was straightforward, "Mantou, when you last logged off, you had four Gold Coins, right?"

"Uh, yeah, just got lucky."

Four Gold Coins didn't sound like much, but it was real gold.

The value was equivalent to 100 silver coins or 400 copper coins. A "Liver Emperor" player, taking up a full slate of tasks and working day and night, would need nearly ten days to accumulate that amount. Mantou had merely stumbled upon it in a mine, where miners had secretly stashed some Gold Coins.

Natural War Maniac asked, "Interested in joining us on a quest? We need that money."

Mantou was bewildered, "Why not approach those big guilds? They would probably be very willing to take you in, and this amount of money shouldn't be a problem for them."

Though the game was still in its beta phase, wealthy players had already organized small guilds like the "Sword Pavilion," "Gold Club," and "Royalty." Some of these small groups had nearly fifty members, many of whom would later form the core of big guilds.

Speaking of guilds, Natural War Maniac got irritated and swore, "Those bastards are shameless. They station people at the mission board all day, snatching up all the good-paying quests and leaving us scattered individuals with brick-laying and wall-repairing tasks for contribution points."

Xin Dog nodded in agreement, "Guilds? Not even a dog would join them."

He liked to use the word "dog" in his speech, which was one reason his haters called him "Xin Dog." The other major reason was that he was perpetually single.

Mantou pondered for a moment and said,

"Why do you need these Gold Coins? Let me think about it."

Summer Night Autumn Rain showed Mantou a piece of item information.

[Mysterious Invitation]

Usable by: 4 people

"This invitation burns eternally, never extinguishing. It can take you to unknown realms, where danger or opportunity might await you."

Item price: 10 Gold Coins

"This is a new item in the exchange, and it seems to have a limited stock. The guilds haven't noticed it yet. We've managed to gather six Gold Coins, so we came to find you." Summer Night Autumn Rain explained.

"Geez, what kind of invitation costs this much? This could buy several sets of equipment," Mantou couldn't help but complain.

Xin Dog said bluntly, "This is the difference between you and top professional players. Ten Gold Coins might seem important early on, but in the mid to late game, it's not much at all."

"If you buy equipment, you'll just get a bunch of scrap iron. But if you buy mission items like this, you can gain an early advantage and keep winning."

Summer Night Autumn Rain tried to smooth things over, "Say less, please."

Xin Dog, still expressionless, said, "If he doesn't agree, it just shows he lacks the vision. We can find someone else."

Mantou awkwardly smiled. He finally realized why this strategy genius was unmatched in all aspects yet remained single.

But as he thought over Xin Dog's words, they made some sense, and he agreed cheerfully.

"Alright, I'll join you, but my share is bigger, and you'll need to give me more permissions in the subsequent missions."

"No problem."

Natural War Maniac grinned and readily agreed.