Li Wei stared at his interface, wondering which quest to take. As long as he took part in one of the four options, then his relationship at Verdan Town would not be affected.
Out of the four emergency quests, the easiest one was definitely "Save the warehouses". All he needed to do was to carry at least one bucket of water and his participation would be registered.
The hardest was "Find the arsonists". Unless they brought back any clues, even if they were searching for them, their contribution would not be registered.
As for the last two emergency quests, "Defend Verdan Town" was also a relatively safe quest. It was particularly popular among rangers, mages, and priests who could safely use their skills from afar while the NPC guards would take the hit.
Due to Li Wei's high fatigue level, he was reluctant to take a hard quest and decided to simply participate in "Save the warehouses". He took the direction of the warehouses in the eastern part of the town, not caring about properly closing the gates of the graveyard behind him.
The streets were already very lively. Many players hurriedly left their inn despite their high fatigue level and went to the quest location. Clearly, many still wore sleepy expressions.
Twenty minutes elapsed before Li Wei finally caught sight of the burning warehouses. The wooden buildings were completely covered in flames. It left Li Wei to wonder what would be the use of one bucket of water.
However, as he approached the well, he saw a long line of players waiting for their large buckets to be filled. 'Looks like this quest is quite popular. I should have expected it...'
He quickly located the NPC he needed to report to if he wanted to take this quest. The clear red exclamation mark was very visible.
However, to his surprise, when Li Wei spoke to the NPC, the response he obtained was:
"Thank you for helping us. Unfortunately, we have more than enough people to help us with the water. We are not even pulling out water fast enough for everyone. If you wish, you can help us in saving the precious supplies."
Li Wei disappointedly declined the offer. After witnessing the warehouses engulfed in flames, he was not crazy enough to risk his life trying to save a few supplies. Even from this distance, he could feel the heat and wanted nothing to do with them.
'How unlucky... I was too late... I suppose I should go to the barracks then. "Find the arsonists" is definitely out of the picture," said Li Wei to himself.
Around him, the other players received similar replies from the NPC and soon the crowd moved toward the barracks.
'Now... Out of the two quests, which one should I choose? D*mn... My fatigue just went up to 56.'
Neither of the two quests particularly attracted Li Wei's attention. He knew he did not really want to get involve and was only participating to avoid hurting his relationship with the citizens.
'According to the description of the quests, the main target of the flying demons should be the castle of the Earl. It should be safer to take "Escort the royals". This way, I should be far from the actual battle,' thought Li Wei.
Along the way, he pondered upon which quest to choose. He absolutely did not want to die as he was carrying a lot of loot. Unfortunately, the bank and the Warrior Association were both busy in dealing with the incidents. He did not have the chance to safely deposit all the loot he obtained.
At the barracks, the guards were quickly rearranging themselves, absorbing the crowd of players into their ranks and getting ready for the battle. Several NPCs had a red exclamation mark above their head.
"I would like to join the escort team of the Royals," said Li Wei.
"The escort team? Sure. Go to this tent," said the NPC guard while pointing at the largest tent of the camp.
"Boom!"
A loud explosion was heard coming from the town wall. The battle had long begun but it was only now that they were getting serious.
'I need to get as far from the battlefield as possible.'
Inside the tent, Li Wei saw several players loudly discussing among themselves. They were nervous about the incoming quest. There were only about sixty players in the tent. "Escort the Royals" was the least popular option.
"Escort the Royals" required the players to leave Verdan Town to go to a nearby town. For all the players who decided to settle at Verdan Town, it would be a waste of time to have to do the return trip. Only players like Li Wei who were not attached to the town would actually take this quest.
Li Wei spoke to another NPC with the red exclamation mark. "I would like to join the escort team of the Royals."
"Wait here. We will wait for ten more minutes before departing. Join this team, you will be escorting the seventh princess," answered the guard.
[System prompt: Quest "Escort the Royals" changed into "Escort the Seventh Princess". New success condition: The princess must reach Boroughton alive.]
Li Wei nodded and joined his teammates. A few minutes went by as a few more players entered the tent. In the end, eighty-one players chose this quest.
A tall well-built man entered the tent followed by the four Royals and their guards. As Li Wei's gaze landed on the princess, he could not help but recall the few comments made by the players about her. Only one word could describe her; she was a stunner. Even as she has just woken up and did not apply any makeup, her face was flawless.
"Adventurers, we will be leaving the town very soon. Unfortunately, most of the army brought by the prince and the princess is currently engaged in a fight with the flying demons. We will separate into four groups and each one will head in a different direction. Please follow your group. Your task will be to get rid of all the small threats. We are aware of your limits; if strong foes appear, we will deal with them but we would like to conserve as much energy as possible."
Time was of the essence. After a brief explanation of their task, all the guards immediately left the tent. Li Wei swiftly followed behind the princess without a word. There were twenty players in his team but none of them were members of the Golden Mansion or large guilds like Exodia.
"According to the map, Boroughton is three hours away if we ride our horses," commented a player.
Li Wei frowned. "Looks like the night is going to be long. How I hope I had a few Fatigue Recovery Potions at hand."
"Boom! Boom!" When they reached the stables, two loud explosions occurred, one near the battlefield with the flying demons, the other, right in the middle of the Earl's castle.
The guards frowned. "Let's go! Quick!"
Li Wei jumped on a horse provided by the guards and quickly followed behind his group. They left the town using the side gate and entered the Verdan Woods.
In the distance, Li Wei could see the flying creatures viciously attacking the town walls. To his horror, the flying demons were all above level 20. While the soldiers brought by the prince and princess were all level 30 and could deal with the demons, none of the players stood a chance.
"Luckily, I did not pick this one... Or else, as a warrior, I would have been forced to fight at the front," murmured Li Wei.
"Shriek!!!"
A sharp cry sounded as a few flying demons separate from their crowd and chase the four escaping groups.
'D*mn... Looks like I spoke too quickly.'
The twenty players were nervous. None of them could face the flying demons. Aside from the players, there were thirty NPC soldiers protecting the princess and her maids.
The leading captain shouted something and ten soldiers detached from the group and turned to face the incoming flying demons.
'This is not going to be a simple quest,' thought Li Wei. And as soon as this thought crossed his mind, he noticed several golden eyes hungrily staring at the group.
"It is your turn, adventurers. Deal with those beasts!" shouted the captain.
Li Wei drew his Dark Runic Swords. He pulled on the lead line of his horse, commanding it to charge at the wild beasts. Meanwhile, the princess and the soldiers continued to move deeper into the woods. It would be extremely impractical to always stop to deal with all the threats they encountered. As a result, whenever enemies would appear, a small part of the formation would separate from the group to deal with them.
Li Wei formed part of the first group to deal with the beasts. He did not know how to fight while riding a horse. He jumped off his ride while charging at the nearest enemy. It was a level 16 Enraged Red Fox.
'A red fox? Weren't they supposed to stay in the Mirage Forest?' thought Li Wei. In the corner of his eyes, he saw another player charging at a nearby level 17 Enraged Silver Wolf.
The battle has officially begun.
...
[System prompt: You have slain an Enraged Red Fox. You have gained 1190 exp]
'Reminds me of night hunting. Just taking down one enemy gives so much experience,' thought Li Wei as he pulled his sword from the dead body of the fox.
"Collect!"
He looked at his comrades, finishing the rest of the beasts. All the players were quite strong. They acknowledged each other as they quickly jumped back on their horses.
Li Wei drank a Health Potion. He furrowed his brows as he looked at his fatigue level. It was already at 64%. His intelligence and wisdom were both decreased by one.
"Let's quickly go meet the main group!" shouted one of the players. The small team departed, rushing in the direction the main team left.
A few minutes later, Li Wei's group came across another battlefield. The other team of players was engaged in a battle with another pack of beasts.
Li Wei's group did not stop. They needed to quickly get back to the princess. Furthermore, it would be impolite and seen as kill stealing if they were to attack the beasts.
They continued forward and came across a clearing full of corpses of beasts. 'Looks like we were too slow. The NPCs had to actually take action and they were much faster than us. It is to be expected since they are at least ten levels above us.'
Soon, Li Wei's group caught up with the princess' group and as they encountered another pack of beasts, they once again charged at them. The pattern repeated itself.
...
A whole hour has passed since they left Verdan Town. Unfortunately, they did not travel very far. Three players have already fallen. Not because they were weak but rather because they neglected their horses. While they were busy fighting the beasts, a few sneaky wolves attacked the horses behind their back. Without a ride, those players were left behind to not slow down the group.
Li Wei's group rode as quickly as they could to catch up with the princess' group. But as they reached a clearing, they suddenly heard the sound of a battle.
Several soldiers of the group were engaged in fights, not with beasts, but with demons! A few flying demons managed to catch up and a few other demons also appeared from the forest to ambush them.
"D*mn, dirty demons! Taste my sword!" shouted a young soldier as he sliced the horn of a demon.
The soldiers sensed the group's arrival. "You continue ahead. Meet up with the princess and protect her."
Li Wei was at the back of the group. He waited for the player at the front to depart but to his surprise, the player did not move toward the path the princess' group took. Instead, the player charged at a nearby demon.
He was not suicidal in charging at a level 24 Flying Demon. The Flying Demon just happened to be at a critical health level. After fighting with a soldier for a while, the Flying Demon's HP was low. So low, that a single sword strike from the player took the life of the demon.
The player received the stares of both the players and the NPCs but he did not care. Killing that Flying Demon brought him so much exp that he leveled up.
'Lucky guy,' swore Li Wei in his heart.
He was not the only one unhappy at the situation. All the other players started to eye the demons who all turned out to be at a relatively low health level. Because of a single player's actions, the whole group decided to stay in the clearing, monitoring the demon's HP.
They all wanted to land the killing blow to obtain all the exp. While killing a beast would give them about 1250 exp, the Flying demons would give 5000 exp! It was four times the amount of exp and they did not even need to fight; they just needed to land the final attack.
Even Li Wei was no exception. He sneakily moved his hand to his waist, grabbing a few throwing needles.