[South of Blazing Ember City, Lv34 Black Wind Mountain]
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Under the rampage of Lin Mo's world-destroying SSS-rank skills, the bandits who had always been the ones looting others experienced, for the first time in their lives, what it meant to be looted themselves.
The entire Black Wind Mountain was littered with the corpses of bandits.
At this moment, Ling Xiao suddenly said to Lin Mo with a serious expression, "Wang Junjie sent a message. He asked me where you are. How should I answer?"
Having just finished the fight, Lin Mo drank a bottle of mana potion, restoring his mana.
He said lightly to Ling Xiao, "Tell him the truth. Say I'm at Black Wind Mountain, doing a quest."
As soon as he said this, Xia Wanwan said worriedly, "Really say that? Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?"
"Same thing as always," Lin Mo said to Ling Xiao, "The more real it is, the more believable it is."
"At a time like this, once you lie, Wang Junjie will never trust you again."
How could they let Wang Junjie suspect that Ling Xiao had already switched sides?
Of course they couldn't.
Otherwise, how would Lin Mo use Ling Xiao later on to screw Wang Junjie over?
Of course, the reason Lin Mo told Ling Xiao to tell the truth was also because his quest was almost finished.
The city lord's assessment quest required killing three hundred bandits.
As of now, Lin Mo's kill count had already reached 290.
So by the time Wang Junjie got the news and brought people over, Lin Mo would have long since withdrawn.
Thus, following Lin Mo's instructions, Ling Xiao truthfully told Wang Junjie that they were at Black Wind Mountain.
"Make it even more real," Lin Mo said to Ling Xiao, "Take a screenshot and send it to him."
"Oh, right, make sure the screenshot looks cool!"
Ling Xiao, "Mm…"
As he spoke, Lin Mo turned around and continued killing bandits.
Ling Xiao activated the Divine Oracle game's screenshot function, took a picture of Lin Mo killing bandits, and sent it to Wang Junjie.
———
At the same time, in Blazing Ember City—
Wang Junjie, who was so bored he was teasing a three-year-old NPC boy to crawl under his pants, received the message and screenshot from Ling Xiao.
He was instantly overjoyed.
"Hahahaha! Rulebound, you didn't dare go do a dungeon, so you were hiding here!"
"Just wait! Daddy's coming to bring you some warmth right now!"
Saying that, Wang Junjie opened his ten-thousand-member guild chat and tagged everyone, ["A thousand people come with me to Black Wind Mountain. Anyone who comes gets a 2,000 red packet each! First come, first served."]
As soon as the message was sent, the ten-thousand-member chat exploded.
["Holy shit! Two-thousand red packets?"]
["But didn't Brother Jie say we're farming snake gall on Snake King Island? One snake gall is 500 bucks! Which one's more worth it?"]
["Don't you know you can go where Brother Jie said first, then come back to Snake King Island to farm snake gall? That way you get both!"]
["Oh right! Damn! Godfathers, give me a chance! I'm in a hurry to buy Balenciaga stockings for my girlfriend! When she wears them, I'll take pictures for you guys!"]
After sending the message in the group, Wang Junjie excitedly rushed toward Black Wind Mountain.
Little did he know that just as he left Blazing Ember City on the front foot.
Right after—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Beams of white light fell.
Lin Mo, Ning Xi, Ling Xiao and the others used Return Scrolls and returned to Blazing Ember City.
Qin Feng couldn't help but laugh, "Just thinking about Wang Junjie that idiot bringing a huge crowd all the way to Black Wind Mountain, making such a big fuss, only to not see a single person there, makes me want to laugh."
Lin Mo instructed everyone, "Wait here for me. There's another quest coming up."
After saying that, Lin Mo went straight to the City Lord's Mansion.
He found Blazing Ember City's City Lord, Roga, and turned in the quest.
[Ding! Congratulations on completing the quest City Lord's Assessment (Beginner). Rewards obtained: Experience +2,200,000! (Includes 10% bonus from the purple title Hidden Player, same below), Silver Coins +11, Reputation +11, City Lord Roga Favorability +3, Obtained Lv32 Tier-2 Blue Equipment: Watcher's Boots!]
[Ding! Congratulations on triggering Luck during the reward acquisition process. Divine Artifact Nirvana Luck +1%!]
"Killing one monster only gives 0.01%, but a single quest directly gave 1% luck?"
Lin Mo was a bit excited, "Looks like the more rewards you get, the higher the luck bonus."
At this time, City Lord Roga showed a pleased expression and said to Lin Mo, "It seems you truly possess the courage to defend Blazing Ember City."
As he spoke, Roga took a bronze-colored token from his waist and handed it to Lin Mo, "With this Beginner Command Token, within three days, one hundred soldiers of Blazing Ember City will obey your orders."
"I hope they can help you smoothly defeat the Dark Ruler, eliminate the Shadow Clan, and safeguard the safety of Blazing Ember City."
However, Lin Mo refused the Beginner Command Token in Roga's hand.
He said, "City Lord, I hope to deploy more troops."
Completing the beginner assessment quest and only being qualified to receive the Beginner Command Token was a result Lin Mo had already expected.
But for him, 'With only one hundred soldiers to fight against the ten-thousand-strong army of the Chaotic World Guild, it's far from enough.'
'Even if every NPC soldier is level 50, facing players who are currently only around level 20 on average, they could each fight a hundred, but Wang Junjie is best at human wave tactics.'
'Soldiers can't revive. Lose one and you have one less. Chaotic World's players can revive endlessly. Using ten thousand people in a human wave, swallowing up these hundred soldiers would only take an instant.'
So Lin Mo had long been prepared to continue accepting the city lord's next-level assessment to increase the number of troops he could deploy.
As Lin Mo made his request, Roga neither refused nor agreed. He said earnestly, "As City Lord, I have the authority to grant you military command. But I hope you understand that the elite forces of Blazing Ember City will not casually obey the command of a weak person."
Lin Mo nodded, "I understand."
Roga continued, "If you want to increase your level of military authority, you must continue to complete higher-difficulty assessments. Are you ready?"
As soon as his words fell, the system prompt sounded.
[Ding! Do you accept the quest City Lord's Assessment (Intermediate)?]
Lin Mo accepted the quest.
Then he opened the quest list—
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[City Lord's Assessment, Intermediate] (Normal Quest)
— Difficulty Coefficient: 1140
— Description: Recently, unrest has appeared in the east of the city. Many citizens of Blazing Ember City have disappeared in the Black Mine. It seems an evil force is stirring. Please go to the Black Mine and eliminate the Dark Predators.
— Quest Progress: 0/500
— Quest Rewards: Experience +5,000,000, Silver Coins +25, Reputation +10, City Lord Favorability +5, Random Equipment +1 (minimum Tier-2, small chance Tier-3), Random Skill Book +1 (minimum E-rank, small chance D-rank), Intermediate Command Token +1 (time-limited)
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The quest difficulty had jumped straight up by a full 230 points.
However, 'The original Beginner Command Token reward has become an Intermediate one. As long as I complete this quest, I'll be able to use the Intermediate Command Token to command over three digits' worth of troops from Blazing Ember City.'
Lin Mo was instantly a little excited.
He couldn't wait to experience what it felt like to hold military authority and command the world.
No time to lose.
"I have to finish the quest, secure military authority, before Wang Junjie clears Snake King Island. Then I'll take the first clear of the Snake King Island dungeon."
Thinking this, Lin Mo left the City Lord's Mansion.
He prepared to find Ning Xi and the others to regroup and continue carrying out the intermediate assessment quest.
———
At the same time, on the other side—
[Lv34 Black Wind Mountain]
The original one thousand people called out in the group.
When Wang Junjie arrived at Black Wind Mountain—
Good lord! The mountain and its surroundings were packed with people.
The Chaotic World Guild had brought four to five thousand people.
"Fack! Why the hell did so many people come? Don't scare Rulebound away!"
Wang Junjie rushed into Black Wind Mountain, only to find bandit corpses all over the ground, not a single person in sight.
"Shit!"
"He really ran?"
Wang Junjie messaged Ling Xiao, ["Where's Rulebound?"]
Ling Xiao: ["He just finished the quest and returned to the city."]
Wang Junjie: ["Your mother! Why didn't you tell me earlier he was here?"]
Ling Xiao: ["You didn't ask."]
["You mother—"], For a moment, Wang Junjie was left completely speechless.
Wang Junjie then ordered, ["Keep an eye on Rulebound. As soon as he leaves the city, tell me immediately."]
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