Li Wen naturally noticed Taketori as well, musing that she had passed the trial and joined the Whiteblade Order so quickly.
If I’d known this was Taketori’s team, why did I bother waiting around?
“Why is it you?”
Taketori’s brain froze.
No matter how hard her overloaded mind churned, she couldn’t fathom why Li Wen was here.
She stood stunned for a moment before another, far more critical realization hit her.
“You’re a player?”
Li Wen tilted her head. “Didn’t I mention that?”
Of course, she hadn’t.
That was exactly the effect she wanted.
When dealing with players, being mistaken for a native NPC often worked in her favor.
That way, any task she entrusted to them would be seen as just another part of the game experience, and they’d eagerly rush off to complete it.
Taketori was stumped. She racked her brain, searching for any evidence that Li Wen wasn’t a player, but the truth was, there was none.
She’d simply assumed Li Wen was an NPC all on her own.
How could this be?!
Recalling her past actions, Taketori felt a wave of embarrassment so intense she wanted to crawl into a hole.
My carry! How could she just be gone like that?!
After wallowing in her internal lament for a while, her rarely used brain suddenly kicked into gear.
Wait a second. Does it really matter if my carry is an NPC or a player? As long as she’s a carry I can cling to, she’s a good carry.
Grasping this logic, Taketori’s mood flipped from despair to delight.
Li Wen, unaware of her mental rollercoaster, only saw Taketori fall silent for a moment before breaking into a goofy grin, which was utterly baffling.
“Ahem…”
Taketori, remembering there was business to attend to, gave a few exaggerated coughs.
“If you want in on this quest, I’ve got no objections. You’re more than welcome. With you here, we can probably just kick back. But my friend hasn’t arrived yet, and he’s the one who found this quest, so we’ll need to check with him… Though I’m pretty sure he’ll agree.”
Hearing this, the original group of players exchanged glances.
So she’s really some big-shot player? She wasn’t kidding about carrying us?
In truth, Taketori was thinking that since the game had only been live for a few days, a player as strong as Li Wen was likely a beta tester.
If she were an ordinary player, that’d be fine, but a beta tester… Taketori didn’t know much about them.
Without discussing the quest details with her friend, agreeing outright might lead to unnecessary conflicts or complications.
“No worries, Taketori. We welcome any capable player to join this quest.”
A new voice suddenly rang out during their discussion.
Li Wen followed the sound and saw a young man approaching slowly.
He wore a gray mage robe with a matching wizard hat, a pattern of encircling stars sewn onto the chest, marking him as a mage certified by the Mystic Society.
Noticing Li Wen’s gaze, the young man nodded at her amicably before addressing everyone.
“Greetings, all. I’m the initiator and organizer of this quest, hailing from the Highspire Tower. You can call me Li Lin.”
With that, he removed his wizard hat and gave a solemn bow.
It’s him?
Li Wen raised an eyebrow, surprised yet not entirely shocked.
She’d heard of Li Lin before and had even met him once in her past life, during her time studying rituals at Highspire Tower.
Unlike Li Wen, who was just scraping by at the tower, Li Lin was the designated successor to the tower’s master, exceptionally gifted in the field of magic.
After the Great Crossing, like Taketori, Li Lin was one of the key figures in the “Player Nation-Building” event, though his fame was less widespread compared to hers.
But Li Wen knew that among all the players involved in the nation-building event, Li Lin was indispensable.
When she joined the Strategy Group, a player once shared a humorous anecdote about beta testers.
He mentioned that after the beta ended, someone compiled a list—method unknown—of the top 100 players from the test.
He laughed, saying the list was fake and useless since every beta tester in the Strategy Group was on it.
Still, Li Wen memorized that list. If her memory served, Li Lin was ranked seventeenth.
“Hey, it’s Drama King himself,” Taketori teased, clearly unimpressed by her friend’s theatrics.
She gave his shoulder a slap. “Spill the details on this quest already.”
Li Lin didn’t take offense.
He smoothed out the wrinkles Taketori’s slap left on his mage robe, unbothered by whether the setting was appropriate, and said, “This quest is tough, but the goal is straightforward.
We need to assassinate the lord of this territory, the master of that castle—Viscount Wilson.”
At this, the other players didn’t react much.
Just an assassination quest?
Be it a lord or even a queen, as long as the reward was good enough, they’d take it on.
Li Wen, however, felt she’d made the right call joining in.
She was eager to see how someone ranked among the top beta testers would tackle this mission.
Li Lin didn’t elaborate much on the quest—no reasons for the assassination or details about the lord’s character.
He simply asked everyone to introduce themselves, preferably with their class and level.
“No need for my name; you all know it,” Taketori said, stepping up first.
“Current overall level 4, class: Bloodblade Apprentice.”
“Game name: Silent Chord. Overall level 3, class: Tracker,” the female archer said, raising her hand.
“Game name: Endless Prosperity. Overall level 4, class is…”
When it was finally Li Wen’s turn, she said calmly, “Mephist, level 5, Supplicant.”
She kept her Witch’s Attendant class under wraps for now.
“Supplicant… sounds like a priest-type class,” Li Lin remarked meaningfully.
“What about you? You haven’t shared your class or level yet,” Taketori said, giving Li Lin a physical poke in the spine.
Li Lin gave a wry smile. “No real need for that, but… fine. Li Lin, overall level 10, class: Deceiver Mage.”
“Level 10?”
Someone let out a gasp of amazement.
Not only was he the highest level among them, but he was likely among the top tier in the entire game. So far, no player above level 10 had appeared on the game forums.
Li Lin didn’t think much of it.
As a beta tester, he had a deeper understanding of the game than most.
Besides, level didn’t equal strength, and advancing through the early stages of a Path wasn’t particularly difficult.