At 6 am, Ying Long brushed her teeth, climbed into bed, pulled the curtains, and fell into a deep sleep.

Around 10 am, she woke up once, drank some water, and went back to sleep. She didn’t get up until 12:30 pm, feeling unsatisfied with her sleep. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she changed her clothes and went downstairs.

First, she went to the cafeteria and packed a lunch. She ordered two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, a bowl of rice, a black rice cake, a meat bun, and a vegetable bun, totaling 15 yuan. This was her lunch and dinner for the day. On her way back, she stopped by the supermarket to buy some snacks: chocolate bars, cola, instant coffee, and instant noodles.

The whole process took forty minutes, solving her food problem and giving herself some fresh air.

At 1:15 pm, she turned on her computer and logged into the game.

A large number of unread private messages flooded her inbox.

Some asked for first-clear raid strategies, some invited her to run a 22-man dungeon, and some asked if she wanted to be a couple in the game. She mostly ignored them.

She started by completing her sect missions, gaining experience and reputation, and then doing daily quests. Currently, players only had three daily quests: sect missions, doing odd jobs in the sect’s residence, and daily quests in Xishi City, which involved repairing arrow towers, buying arrows, sweeping streets, etc., rewarding experience, chivalry reputation, and 100 copper coins. Afterward, she went to the courier office to take on money-making tasks, mostly running errands, collecting herbs, and hunting, which also yielded some money.

After finishing her dailies, she went to the silver shop. The jewelry there had excellent attributes, but the prices were in gold, making them unaffordable for most players.

Ying Long bypassed various NPCs and went directly upstairs to find the craftsman in the corner.

【Craftsman】: I am just an ordinary craftsman. If you need my help, you need to pay some remuneration.

Do you agree to pay 1 silver for help?

【Yes】

A payment window popped up. She selected yesterday’s 【Beautiful Pearl Clam】 and gave it to the craftsman.

Yesterday’s discussion with her teammates was correct; this item could be sold, given to the village chief to trigger a follow-up plot, and it could also be opened.

In her previous life, even when Ying Long reached levels 50-60, she still farmed this low-level dungeon. Jellyfish had a chance to drop 【Pearl Clams】, which could be opened by the craftsman. With good luck, one could obtain a 【Pearl】, a crucial material for crafting jewelry, with a stable price of 2-5 gold.

【Beautiful Pearl Clam】 should be a first-clear reward, and she felt it should yield something better.

1 silver was a bit expensive, but money depreciates, so it didn’t matter.

【Craftsman】 loading…

7-8 seconds later, the clam shell opened, and two items appeared in her inventory.

A note: 【Water Monster’s Clue】, which needed to be given to the village chief to complete a quest.

A large pearl.

【Rare Pearl】: An extremely rare pearl, invaluable, it must have many uses.

She had guessed right.

Ying Long was pondering how to use the pearl when a message from Tie Ma Qiu Feng arrived.

【Private Message】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Did you guys clear the 22-man dungeon yesterday? Are you running it again today? We want to try clearing it and need a support healer. The price is negotiable.

Almost simultaneously, Wan Ren Di also sent a message.

【Private Message】Wan Ren Di: Running the 22-man dungeon again? Your gear is far behind. You should farm some more today.

Ying Long wasn’t surprised at all.

Her performance yesterday was undeniably outstanding. Without her, Wan Ren Di’s team might not have achieved the first clear. It was normal for them to want her again today.

However, she didn’t want to be tied to a specific team. Being in a fixed team was troublesome. She preferred to cast a wide net in the game – a “fish pond” strategy.

She replied to Tie Ma Qiu Feng: 【Add me to the group】

Then she replied to Wan Ren Di: 【I’ve already made plans with other friends】

Tie Ma Qiu Feng quickly sent a group invitation and asked directly: 【How much?】

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: It’s free. I was going to farm anyway ^_^

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Then you get first pick of the healer’s gear.

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: Thank you.

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: I read in the guide that the first boss is physical damage, and the second is magic damage. How did you guys get past them?

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: We had two healers. I dodged, it was very difficult, so it’s best to have one tank that can handle physical damage and one that can handle magic damage.

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Would a Daoist work?

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: What build?

The recommended builds for Daoist disciples are to increase intelligence or agility. The former focuses on magic, the latter on control. Due to their attribute, Daoists naturally have high magic defense and evasion. Either attacks miss, or they are defended by their strong defenses, plus a series of control skills. Their survivability is very strong, and they can tank well.

But, if he’s talking about Bei Ya… this guy seems to have added strength and agility, a DPS build similar to a swordsman, but his agility and Yuan Qi are also high, making him quite overpowered.

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Strength and agility…

Ying Long: I knew it, that’s a pure newbie build in the early game.

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: We can try.

【Tie Ma Qiu Feng】invited 【Bei Ya】to join the team.

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: We’re going to run the dungeon. We’ll use voice chat later, don’t leave. [Pig Head]

【Team】Bei Ya: Oh

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Healer girl, are you okay with just one healer?

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: Two is safer.

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Okay, I’ll call another one.

Seeing that the dungeon wouldn’t start anytime soon, Ying Long switched to the forum.

It was bustling. There were two hot posts. One was titled 《The Pantheon First Clears the 22-Man Dungeon, Welcome to Join Us》. She clicked on it and saw it was posted by Wan Ren Mi, showing screenshots of the system announcement from the previous night, stating that their guild, 【Pantheon】, was an experienced and powerful guild from another game, now in 《Kyushu》, welcoming everyone to join.

It was a fairly ordinary recruitment post. The first few replies were all praises, such as “666,” “So amazing,” “I just left the newbie village, and the boss already cleared the dungeon.”

However, after 10 replies, a discordant note appeared.

11L: Qin Yun

No strategy after the first clear? Don’t want to? Afraid people will see who deserves the credit?

Linking to a separate 22-man dungeon strategy post, revealing the true level of Pantheon.

A bunch of onlookers joined the fray.

15L: Jianghu Bu Jian

The poster’s name is Wan Ren Mi. Is he the clumsy healer in the video?

18L: Eating melon

Oh, I see why Pantheon hasn’t made any noise in 《Dao Jian》 lately. Did they get too domineering and couldn’t get along, so they came here? Tsk tsk, Boss Wan has guts. They just left when they were told to leave. They chose the kingdom over the beauty.

Ying Long wasn’t in Junlin Tianxia in her previous life, so she didn’t pay attention to the gossip here. This was her first time seeing it, so she quickly scrolled down.

The story goes like this:

Pantheon was one of the top guilds in the previous game, 《Dao Jian》. Wan Ren Mi was originally the brother’s wife, but she ended up with the guild leader, Wan Ren Di. It was said that they met at a guild gathering, exchanged glances, and ended up sleeping together. After the brother found out, he angrily left and formed a new guild to confront them. Boss Wan, knowing he was in the wrong, handed over the guild and left with his new girlfriend and some brothers to clear a new game.

How exciting.

Online games are more fun with gossip.

She ate her lunch while reading the gossip and then checked the second hot post.

This post was a playthrough video recorded from the perspective of “Gongzi Lihen,” with key moments and almost no commentary. However, as the first clear team, this post was still the hottest on the forum, with over 300 replies and over 10,000 views.

【The healer’s positioning is amazing, how did they do that at the end?】

【Damn, that jellyfish is hard to fight, what class can tank it?】

【Pharmacist Linglong’s gear is all white, just like mine, and they still passed??】

【Got it, the key to clearing is to find a badass healer】

【Wan Ren Mi’s operation isn’t bad either, the healing awareness is still good】

【I didn’t say she’s bad, but Pantheon’s whitewashing is so fast? It just means they aren’t as amazing as they claim】

【Exactly, that Linglong didn’t write a strategy, but they’re showing off. I can’t stand it】

…

Ying Long chuckled.

In this post, there weren’t many passersby. Most of the people stirring up trouble were from other guilds trying to muddy the waters.

Guild conflicts started the next day, it’s so lively.

She closed the forum and returned to the game.

Tie Ma Qiu Feng was also asking questions in the team chat.

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: I knew that Wan Ren Di’s name sounded familiar. It’s really the dog from Pantheon!

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Healer girl, be careful. Wan Ren Di is a bad person, a scumbag who stole his brother’s wife.

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: You know them?

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: [Pig Head] Rivals from the other game.

【Team】Bei Ya: ?

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: You noob don’t understand.

【Team】Bei Ya: …

【Team】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Healer, come to YY? 1234567, Jiangshan Ru Hua guild, it’s more convenient to use voice chat for dungeons.

【Team】Pharmacist Linglong: Just a moment.

Ying Long downloaded YY voice chat, registered an account, entered the channel, and found herself in a large guild’s channel, a sea of blue guild tags. It was currently in karaoke mode, with a girl singing an old song on the microphone.

“Night out~ Qinghu Yao~ Wrapped in white waist~ Charming smile——”

Pupil earthquake.JPG

She hadn’t heard this song in years! My god!!

Ying Long was about to relive the old song when Tie Ma Qiu Feng interrupted her, dragging her into a locked sub-channel.

A young man’s voice came from her headset: “Hello, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she said.