In the depths of a quiet, secluded primeval forest, several figures suddenly appeared.
With their arrival, a distant cave collapsed outright. A pillar of light shot straight into the sky, and the terrifying pressure froze the very air. A deafening roar echoed through the entire forest for what felt like an eternity.
Only then did everyone realize just how fearsome a level 100 Tier 3 NPC truly was.
And the fact that
Yan Qiu, Feng Si, Ming Qiang, and the others couldn't help but feel a pang of regret in their hearts.
There had been an opportunity to build a closer relationship with an expert like Shi Feng. He might have even offered them some guidance. But they had turned it down.
"Use your Return
A Tier 1 teleportation scroll was great for escaping, but the one chasing them was a level 100 Tier 3 NPC. There was no way it would just let them go.
At Shi Feng's warning, everyone pulled out their Return Scrolls and began reading them.
Seconds ticked by, and tension gripped everyone's hearts. If a Tier 3 NPC caught up to them, there would be no escape.
Fortunately, the Tier 1 scroll teleported them a great distance. Even though Gerard emerged from the cave, he didn't spot them immediately. By the time the Return Scrolls finished channeling, Gerard still hadn't found where Shi Feng and the others were.
"That was way too close. I thought I was a goner," Qing Zhu said, patting her chest. Even though she was already back in the city, fear still lingered in her heart.
A level 100 Tier 3 NPC — that kind of power was practically invincible against current players.
This was the first time she had seen a monster that could simply crush a player's attack energy in its hand. The gap between them was beyond imagination.
But at least the mission was complete.
However, barely had Qing Zhu finished speaking when the system notification sound chimed in everyone's ears.
System: You have been marked by Gerard. If the giant egg is not hatched within three days, Gerard will detect your presence whenever you appear on any outdoor map. If you are killed by Gerard, the death penalty will be doubled, and you will suffer three days of Weakness.
"Why is there another mission?" Siyu Qingxuan looked at the system notification and furrowed her brows.
The previous mission had been to obtain the giant egg. Now that it was finally done, here came another one — and the penalty for failure was severe.
If they failed, it meant constantly facing a level 100 Tier 3 NPC hunting them down in the wild. But taking down a level 100 Tier 3 NPC was simply not something current players could do. They would effectively be locked out of outdoor leveling.
Yan Qiu and the others were also stunned. They had helped someone else with a mission, and now they were caught in the crossfire?
This was the first time any of them had encountered a mission like this.
They had seen Gerard's power with their own eyes. If they ran into him in the wild, they were as good as dead.
"Does the egg have any information about hatching conditions?" Shi Feng asked, having grown used to things like this, and turned to Yan Qiu.
"Let me check." Yan Qiu quickly opened the giant egg's data panel. "It says hatching the giant egg requires a massive amount of life energy. You need to kill great lords above level 40."
"How many?" Shi Feng asked.
"Twenty!" Yan Qiu said helplessly.
"Twenty? You've got to be kidding me! Those are great lords!" Qing Zhu cried out in despair.
Feng Si and Ming Qiang also wore deep frowns.
A level 40 great lord was no joke. It typically required a hundred-man raid where every member was level 40, decked out in top-tier equipment, and not a single mistake could be made during the fight. Only then would there be a chance of clearing one.
Even assembling such a team, taking down a single great lord would generally take the better part of a day, and who knew how many people would have to sacrifice their lives along the way.