Priest saw Jiang Qiao's message and the first reply she sent was "Dungeoning, huh? Costs extra."
"How much." Jiang Qiao was already used to this healer's obsession with money. Though she was a miser, at least she was a highly skilled miser.
Currently, the top of the Holy leaderboard was taken by Priest's Holy, who was at level thirty-two.
Holy was a regular class change for Priests, not an advanced one. From the name, it was evident it enhanced healing and provided various strange buffs for teammates.
"Which instance are you going to? I can't let you pay for the whole team yourself. I'll go and collect from each one." Priest knew that Jiang Qiao's team was currently missing one member and it seemed like Jiang Qiao was planning to pay for the other four by himself.
"How kind of you?"
"Of course, we're friends after all." Priest replied in text.
"Do friends still need to pay to do instances together?" Jiang Qiao always assumed that this healer considered him an outsider.
"Of course, you have to pay! But I'll give you the friend's discount! Cheaper rate!" Priest added an emoji of a seal raising its flipper.
"."
Jiang Qiao didn't know how to respond, so he just sent a period back.
Priest's efficiency was top-notch. Just twenty seconds after Jiang Qiao sent her the message, she was already at the entrance of the Tower of Trial instance.
Jiang Qiao then pulled the healer into the team.
"For instance runs, it's twenty silver coins per person, guarantee pass!"
As soon as Priest joined the team, before anyone could even greet her, she announced the charge to everyone.
Zhao Mingwei and Lin Xi exchanged glances, resigned, and immediately traded twenty silver coins to Priest.
The other two in Jiang Qiao's team were the live-streaming Broadsword Swordsman and Dancing Nuclear Guild's Mo Shigui.
Broadsword Swordsman was chatting with his followers and didn't quite catch on when Priest mentioned payment.
"Why do we need to pay to join a dungeon group? You think you're..." Broadsword Swordsman looked up to see a healer in plate armor asking for money, immediately digging out a bag of twenty silver coins and respectfully handing it over. "Oh, it's Priest! Why's it so cheap this time?"
"You're lucky! The team leader is my friend, so you get a half-off!" Priest accepted the silver coins from Broadsword Swordsman and turned her gaze to Mo Shigui.
Mo Shigui of course recognized the top-ranked healer but had never teamed up with Priest before.
Dancing Nuclear Guild had healers, but none as high level as Priest. Seeing all teammates pay one by one, Mo Shigui dutifully handed over his twenty silver coins.
"Great, we can start now!" Priest collected the money and took the lead towards the first floor of the Tower of Trial.
Jiang Qiao could only humbly follow. Lin Xi, the gossip, sidled up to Broadsword Swordsman.
"Hey, brother, you seem to have fallen for that healer's tricks before?" Lin Xi whispered to Broadsword Swordsman.
"What trick? Haven't you run Gray Swamp much, have you? If you get Priest in front of the entrance, you can breeze through hard mode. Last time I got her, it cost even more." Broadsword Swordsman sounded thoroughly satisfied.
Gray Swamp was the first instance in Eagle Claw City, and Jiang Qiao had run it multiple times. Most of his gear was from Gray Swamp.
"..." Lin Xi met Priest around level ten, originally thought she was just a little healer, but now she was a true powerhouse.
"Get focused, we're entering." Zhao Mingwei reminded Lin Xi.
The Tower of Trial's first floor had a fusion of magic and sci-fi design, with smooth materials forming the floor and walls, with complex magical runes faintly glowing.
The instance's monsters primarily consisted of alchemically forged mantis-like demon puppets, about the height of a person. Their ferocious attacks could make some fragile classes question their life choices.
Fortunately, Priest was genuinely worth every coin. Her heals were plentiful and timely, and Mo Shigui, as a Gun Knight tank, was an expert. The whole fight was extraordinarily easy.
Ease meant the team could switch to chat mode during the instance.
Mo Shigui, as the leader, started the chit-chat. About twenty minutes into the instance, with a pile of mantis corpses on the ground, he asked an odd question.
"So, why did you guys start playing this game?" Mo Shigui raised his shield to block a mantis demon puppet's sharp sickles and loudly asked the group.
"Why ask that?"
Lin Xi, with his left hand, crafted a focused flamethrower and aimed at the mantis demon puppet mocked by Mo Shigui. The scorching flames engulfed its body, damage numbers of -70, -78, and -52 popping up continuously.
"Market research." Mo Shigui said.
"Research? Are you an official staff of Holy?"
Broadsword Swordsman performed a Hard Strike from the air, shattering the charred exoskeleton of the mantis. The core was pierced by his blade, and the puppet collapsed.
A pile of mantis demon puppets already lay around. Broadsword Swordsman jumped off one body and rushed to Mo Shigui.
"Brother! Do you sell activation codes? I'll pay thirty thousand!" Broadsword Swordsman was more excited than if he had found a piece of rare equipment.
"I'm not a staff member of Holy, just conducting some market research." Mo Shigui gently pushed off the hands Broadsword Swordsman placed on his shoulders.
"What's the point if you're not official?" Broadsword Swordsman was puzzled.
"If this game becomes popular, it benefits not just the game's officials but us players too. I asked friends who play Holy, and they've been completely immersed since launch. There's no advertising, story CG, I don't even know the company behind it. Yet, my friends have logged nearly a hundred hours. What do you think makes this game fun?" Mo Shigui said while pressing his shield against another mantis puppet.
Jiang Qiao didn't speak, just listened intently.
Everyone agreed with Mo Shigui that the success of Holy would benefit both the officials and the players.
The most direct proof was that Broadsword Swordsman's streams of Holy had doubled his usual viewership, and Priest must have made a fortune in Holy recently.
Currently, Holy's Gold Coin price was the highest among all VR games.
"It feels more real than Disputes? The combat system is the best I've seen. What do you call it again? Impact! Yes, the impact is awesome, and the skills are cool. Anyone played a Swordsman? Dual-wielding, Blade Draw feels amazing." Broadsword Swordsman rambled on, getting more excited, demonstrating by approaching two patrolling mantis puppets.
The sword arc of his blade glinted, leaving visible slash marks on the mantis puppets' armor with sparks flying.
"The monsters you pulled are bosses! Two of them!" Lin Xi saw two full boss health bars on his system interface, realizing the mess Broadsword Swordsman made.
"We can handle it! Maintain formation!" Mo Shigui returned to leading the team, stepping back to Zhao Mingwei and whispering, "What about you?"
"Gear, levels, experience, arena rank. Do you need more reasons to like a game?"
Zhao Mingwei charged at a distant mantis boss, his roar echoed with the release of his Charged Thought Cannon!