"Why are there so many people?"
Marcus logged in again and was stunned when he saw that the number of players in Shell Town had increased many times over compared to before.
After first entering the Eclipse of Eternity game, players needed to reach level 3 to leave, which was equivalent to 'logging off.'
To log back in, all you had to do was close your eyes for more than ten seconds, and a prompt would pop up asking if you wanted to return to the Land of the Abandoned Gods...
Marcus was originally level 3 and ranked in the top ten in Shell Town.
But now, he had been pushed down to over twenty.
"We have to hurry."
Marcus quickly messaged his teammates, including 'Black Yefa Nali,' among others.
He found that two of them still hadn't logged in.
One of them was the middle-aged female priest.
"We need another priest..." Marcus thought, gathering the other three members together.
When he saw Lina, he was momentarily stunned because he noticed that she was wearing a necklace glowing faintly with a golden light.
Marcus and the others were all stunned, "What's this...?"
Lina smiled and then explained what had happened with 'Shadow.'
She continued, "It seems Shadow has some equipment and skills for your class. I'll contact him and see if we can buy them. Maybe he would give a discount!"
Marcus laughed and said, "Silver-tier is fine, but if it's golden-tier equipment, we probably won't be able to afford it..."
The sharp-eyed archer youth in the team looked a little envious. "That's awesome! You really became friends with the number one player, Shadow! Come on, if we can get close to him, we'll be living the good life too, haha."
Lina shot him a disdainful look. "Look at you, just relying on others, huh? Think about whether you've been working hard on leveling up and farming monsters."
The sharp-eyed archer youth rolled his eyes and didn't bother replying.
Even though they had met in the Eclipse of Eternity game, their bond had grown quite strong.
Additionally, Marcus had checked out their real-life information, so he was more familiar with them.
Once their backgrounds were confirmed, it was time to finalize the team.
Marcus spoke up, "We need to find another priest to farm monsters. Let's start with five of us. I have a colleague in the next town over. Once she has someone reach level 5, she'll teleport over and join us."
Lina asked curiously, "What about Wanda?"
Wanda was the middle-aged female priest from their team.
Marcus shook his head. "She is going to another town to find her son... so, we have to find a new priest for now."
They couldn't solo farm like Riven could.
For team-based monster farming, a tank and healer were essential.
Marcus began setting up a stall.
But instead of selling items, he wrote:
[Looking for a priest for team, must be a priest class.]
Such recruitment stalls were common, but with Lina standing behind him, the faint golden necklace around her neck immediately caught the attention of many players.
Golden-tier equipment?
Some players were skeptical. But just her looks were enough to attract a few young priests to come over and inquire.
However, once they heard that they had to provide their real-life identities and that their information would be recorded officially, all of them immediately backed out.
Just then, a long-haired girl walked over.
It was Lyra, the life priest who had just reached level 3!
Lyra greeted politely, "I'm a hidden class Life Priest. Can I join your team?"
Marcus looked at her but didn't show much emotion.
Life Priest, a hidden class—sounded good.
But he was looking for someone who could be in the team for the long haul, so he needed to confirm her real identity...
Lyra didn't hesitate and directly revealed her information.
"I'm a first-year student at Riverside University. My parents passed away, and I have one older brother... um, he's actually adopted, not a blood relative." Lyra emphasized this.
Marcus nodded. "Lyra... okay, you're in. Let's give it a try in the team."
['Lyraa' has joined the team!]
Actually, Lyra had wanted to use her real name as her in-game alias.
But since she joined late, someone had already taken it, and she didn't want to add numbers to it so she just put "Lyraa" with an extra "a" at the end.
Once she joined the team, a smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
She seemed to casually glance at the golden necklace on Lina's chest...
The global first kill of a golden-tier boss had happened in Shell Town, taken by Shadow.
So, the necklace was most likely linked to 'Shadow!'
...
Such developments were, of course, unexpected by Riven.
He had risen too quickly this time—his first kill of a golden-tier boss made his alias 'Shadow' known worldwide.
His fame had spread so far that even Lyra was tempted!
At this moment.
Riven was walking down a corridor inside the Faith Temple, moving quickly toward a spacious hall.
Inside the hall, there was nothing—except for two humanoid demonic creatures kneeling on the ground, holding something above their heads as if lifting an object.
The eerie wailing heard at the entrance was coming from these two creatures.
[Devout Follower of the Ancient Gods · The Judged (Lv10)]
[Tier: Silver]
Riven, maintaining his stealth, entered the hall.
Seeing the two kneeling followers, he immediately activated his Shadow Slash!
Stealth broken! Backstab Enhancement!
All the necessary damage bonuses were triggered!
However, there was no critical hit...
The Shadow Slash skill didn't cause critical hits, but its base attack was high.
-1058!
-1058!
...
Each of the two faithful followers had seven damage numbers appear above their heads.
However, their health bars only dropped a little over half!
After all, they were level 10 silver bosses, and their health was more than double that of the Cursedborn Riven had fought before.
Even together, their health had surpassed that of the golden-tier Golden Ghost Ship.
Originally, Riven had planned to dodge their attacks. However, the two kneeling faithful followers didn't attack him. Instead, they turned and knelt in the direction where Riven was hiding!
"These two are The Judged, and I possess the Judgment Authority."
"Could it be... they won't attack me?"
Riven was surprised by this thought.
To test his hypothesis, he deliberately revealed himself from stealth, staying at a distance from the two followers...
And indeed, the two zombie-like faithful followers didn't attack him at all!
Instead, upon seeing him, they prostrated their upper bodies to the ground!