Of the nine people who were brought over, this pair of teen girl and boy were the youngest and also the most talented.
Young people, after all, had the characteristics of youths. They weren't calm and calculating like the others, who never even spoke up.
To reward their courage, Gu Nan was willing to teach them some life lessons.
The teenager thought for a long time and finally looked at Gu Nan. "If I can beat you one day, will you let me go?"
"If you can beat me, then it's not whether I let you go or not, but the other way around."
The youth nodded thoughtfully, then flung his sleeves fiercely without any of the earlier inexperienced air and declared like a bandit, "I, your father, will do this thing!"
"What's your name and what did you do originally?" Gu Nan looked at him.
"An Tiansheng, bandit."
...
An Tiansheng the bandit was fourteen years old, a fact that Gu Nan just learned.
But he didn't mind using child labor. As long as they could finish the tasks he assigned, he even dared to use four year olds.
At this time, the nine people were no longer in front of Gu Nan. Rather, they all remained inside a room, swiftly browsing through a pile of documents.
These were documents Gu Nan recently sorted out and contained information on player routes.
Routes were very important things. Instead of having Gu Nan get to know them one by one, it would be better to let them make their own choices first.
For the sake of secrecy, from the time they entered the room, they weren't allowed to leave until they selected the route they wanted to take.
And after choosing a route, they had to explain their own specialties, as well as the reasons for picking this route. After Gu Nan looked over their choice, only then would he direct them on the path to acquiring that class.
To Gu Nan's slight surprise, the first person to come out was not An Tiansheng, but the young girl.
"I'm Xie Yun, sir," perhaps Gu Nan's earlier words had an effect, because the young Xie Yun had a significantly better attitude, and her voice sounded crisp.
"Your chosen route is?"
"Firearms Specialist."
Gu Nan couldn't help smiling as he accepted the documents from Xie Yun. "This is not a class a normal person would choose."
Firearms Specialist was a very interesting class that could project firearms using energy. It was purely suppression through modern weaponry.
However, this also meant that this route didn't have a very high upper limit. It was useful only from around Tier 3 to Tier 6.
It could barely work in Tier 7, but any higher, and the abilities from a Firearms Specialist would be essentially useless, and the player would only be able to use their Evil God physique and their original laws in fights.
And since the people Gu Nan chose didn't have the Evil God Temple, that meant the Firearms Specialist route Xie Yun chose would at most have a combat power of low Tier 7.
Unless she changed her class later on and started all over again.
Of course, this was already a completely acceptable outcome for Xie Yun if her combat power could reach Tier 7. Not everyone wanted to head straight for Unified Dao.
"Have you ever seen a gun?" Gu Nan thought about it and asked.
"Of course." Xie Yun nodded. "I once went to a technological plane with very advanced weapon development!"
Xie Yun's eyes lit up as she talked. Gu Nan could already imagine what it was like for a young girl who grew up in a metaphysical plane to witness modern weapons for the first time in her life.
For lower level fights, modern weapons were indeed practical and cool, but they wouldn't work in slightly higher levels.
For example, with the strength of Gu Nan's current body, he could tank a nuclear explosion without any problem. Be it the heat, shockwave, or radiation, it was impossible to hurt him.
"Then let's try it," Gu Nan said as such, writing down some information and handing it to Xie Yun.
...
When the day of Shadow Cult's duel with Chamberlain arrived, all nine people that Lan Si brought over had been dispatched.
They went to their respective destinations to attempt the class change quests and acquire the class they wanted.
No one picked the Phantom Sword Saint route so far, but Gu Nan wasn't in a hurry. It would be pretty good if half of the nine successfully completed the class change.
Player routes weren't that easy to walk. Even normal players had a small chance of failing, let alone these NPCs with no game experience and average strength.
"Hey, it's time to go!" Sylvia had already gotten familiar with Gu Nan, so she didn't look polite at all. "I hope you're not defeated by a single strike from Chamberlain."
"My strength is as reliable as my card skills." Gu Nan said with a smirk, "If it goes well, you will welcome your 50th consecutive defeat this afternoon."
"You have no chivalry whatsoever! You'll never be favored by a lady," Sylvia bristled and grumbled.
The gods' dueling locations were also very special. To not affect mortals—mainly to preserve their reputations—they usually picked deserted planes to fight in.
This time was no different. Sirius and Aiden were already waiting when Gu Nan arrived.
"Your Excellency Gu Nan, I received a message just now." The extraordinarily handsome God of Thieves said, "Chamberlain might have a helper as well."
Sylvia frowned. "Is the helper he found qualified to intervene in this battle of ours?"
If any random person could intervene, then Sylvia would have way too many people to choose from and wouldn't have to rely on the annoying Gu Nan.
"Sylvia!" A slightly gruff female voice came from the horizon, immediately making Sylvia go pale.
The Valkyrie holding a golden spear instantly descended, and the spear came straight at Gu Nan.
Gu Nan didn't even raise his head and casually blocked with his hand. The golden spear struck his palm but didn't even leave a mark.
"Karina, this is a fight between our Shadow Cult and Chamberlain. Are you sure you want to interfere?" Sylvia's voice was slightly cold. If Karina intervened in this matter, then they would truly become enemies.
"I'm just here for this guy!" Karina wasn't stupid either. She pointed her spear at Gu Nan. "He beat me up once. Am I not allowed to take revenge?"
Sylvia couldn't help feeling enraged. "What's the difference between picking now of all times to seek revenge and helping Chamberlain?!"
Next to them, Aiden and Sirius had wry smiles.
They weren't like Sylvia, who had a powerful older brother. Based on their past experience with Karina, this one wouldn't listen to any attempt to reason.
Sure enough, Karina's next words were, "I don't care!"
As soon as those words fell, she didn't give Sylvia the opportunity to respond before thrusting her spear towards Gu Nan.
The golden spear shone with an astonishing radiance. Clearly, Karina already strengthened it with her own laws, quite unlike the casual jab just now.
Everyone's gazes landed on Gu Nan, wanting to see how he would respond. However… Gu Nan did not respond.
The spear pierced Gu Nan's chest unhindered, punching through his back and leaving a gruesome bloody hole.
Sylvia's eyes widened, and even Karina herself didn't expect for the opponent who once knocked her out to be so weak.
But she realized something was wrong the next second.
Gu Nan, whose chest was clearly impaled, gave a strange smile, while she was actually unable to pull her spear out. It seemed to be stuck inside her opponent.
After the spear entered the enemy's body, her laws were briefly suppressed, while Gu Nan raised one hand and grabbed the spear's shaft.
"Let me teach you all a lesson today." Gu Nan's voice remained calm as usual, making Sylvia feel slightly more at ease. "The Wrestling Goddess also has a weakness."
"What weakness!?" Karina asked before anyone else. She felt that she had already achieved the limit for her level. Her divine body was close to perfect, so it would be hard to improve on it anymore.
Her divine body was indeed perfect. Even Gu Nan had a hard time finding a way to kill her, but it was only a perfect divine body.
"Your attack is too low!" Gu Nan said rudely, "If not, why would you need to find the God of Blacksmiths just to forge this divine spear?"
As Gu Nan said this, he pointed at the golden spear that pierced his body and was currently gripped in one hand.
While Karina was still staring blankly, Gu Nan had already raised his other hand and slammed it down on the spear shaft with great force.
The divine spear, which accompanied Karina for tens of thousands of years, responded by breaking in half.