Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 146 Epic Quest

Under the numerous requests from the life players, the wastrel Carnivore moved from the northeastern life sector to the southwestern sector of the guild encampment, distancing himself from the life sector as much as possible. In response to this arrangement, the life players applauded in approval, whereas Carnivore did not feel pressured in the slightest.

Ye Ci thought that the issue has been settled once and for all. Little did she know that a few days later, a majority of the life players would seek her out once more to get Carnivore to relocate. This time however, it wasn’t to get Carnivore to stay as far away from them as possible. Rather, it was to invite him to move back to the life sector once again.

However, Carnivore threw a tantrum this time and refused to budge. Looking into the sky with the corner of his lips pointed at a 45 degree angle and snorted in a high pitched voice, “You guys told me to scram and I did. Now you guys want me to go back? Sorry, I refuse.”

So everyone immediately sought out Ye Ci to resolve this issue once and for all.

At the moment, Ye Ci was in a corner outside the guild’s conference room crafting her arrows. Looking up to find a whole mob of life players rushing towards her, all of whom had sorrowful and enraged expressions as though they were deeply hurt, causing Ye Ci to feel extremely puzzled.

What was this now? Were they going to start a riot? Were they going to go on strike? Or were they going to announce their independence from the guild?

“Leader.” As Ye Ci was carefully scrutinizing the numerous life players who had surrounded her, wondering what should she say, she heard Pea Cake’s sonorous voice sounding out from the first row. This guy is as rude as always, what’s wrong this time? Ye Ci felt even more uneasy now.

The corners of her mouth twitched as she looked at the numerous life players. She nonchalantly asked, “What’s the matter with you all? Are you all going for a mass shopping spree in the city?”

“Guild leader, now’s not the time for jokes.” Pea Cake widened his eyes. The expression on his face was as though it was a matter of the country’s imminent destruction. He cried aloud, “It’s already a matter of the guild’s survival!”

Survival? Ye Ci was slightly shocked: Did something happen? She never did care much about handling guild matters, could Bai Mo have hidden something from her, taking it upon himself so as to not let her worry? Feelings of unease surging at the thought, Ye Ci sprung up and asked Pea Cake sternly, “Did you say that it’s a matter of the guild’s survival?”

“That’s right...” Before Pea Cake could finish, Ye Ci immediately turned away to contact the management heads. Failing to get a response after repeatedly calling out her name, Pea Cake could only wait for her to finish.

“Little Hands, is there anything strange going on in the auction? Did the items that I asked you to sell experience a change in the prices? Did the prices spike, dip or crash?” The first people Ye Ci contacted were the lovebirds Little Icy Cold Hands and Icy Cold Little Hands. The two had talent in buying low and selling high and they were in charge of matters such as purchasing necessities and selling loot.

“Ah? There shouldn’t be. I just came out from the auction house just now. I bought a load of stuff from there, but they were all within the expected price range. Did you happen to obtain some insider information from somewhere?” Hearing Ye Ci’s queries, Little Icy Cold Hands became anxious, “I’ll go back again just to be sure.”

A few minutes later, a message from Little Icy Cold Hands debunked the speculation regarding the auction house.

After that, she contacted the diplomats, Battle Commander, Dungeon Commander and several other officers of the guild. The responses were the same: Nothing out of the ordinary. After receiving confirmation that nothing was amiss, Ye Ci let out a long sigh and eased up. The guild matters were mostly handled by Bai Mo, while she took the role of a manager who solely delegated tasks, so she couldn’t be blamed for being in a panic. At present, Bai Mo was not online for her to get to the bottom of the matter, so she had no choice but to look for the various players in charge for confirmation.

“Pea Cake, everything is normal with the guild. Where’s that crisis that you spoke of? Don’t go off believing anything you hear.” Ye Ci relaxed and her mood brightened. She did not tell Peacake off too strictly and jokingly spoke, “Maybe I’ll organize an archery contest amongst the guild’s Hunters with you as the live target.”

As Pea Cake listened to Ye Ci, he immediately raised a ruckus. “Guild Leader, this is unfair! Why did you only check with the guild’s procurement, diplomatic affairs, battle command and dungeon command when the guild’s survival was mentioned? Don’t tell me you never considered other factors?”

Ye Ci narrowed her eyes, roughly understanding what Pea Cake was referring to. However, she chose to sit down and continue crafting her arrows, saying, “Aren’t those the areas that may cause a guild to prosper or flounder? Don’t tell me there’s more?”

“The ruination of a thousand-mile dam starts with a single termite’s nest...” Able to tell that Ye Ci was indifferent to his petition, Pea Cake immediately began to speak out vehemently, as though he was going to take part in the presidential elections.

Ye Ci looked at him in silent bemusement, allowing him to continue beating around the bush.

After several minutes, some of the life players who stood behind Pea Cake couldn’t take it any longer, begging him to get to the point. Especially Cutie Lemon, who stepped up to kick Pea Cake in the ass, saying, “Hey, be specific and get to the main point. Stop wasting everyone’s time!”

Smarting from the pain, Pea Cake turned back and glanced at his comrades who had furious looks in their eyes before finally voicing their objective. It turned out that Carnivore had received the better end of the deal when he moved to the southwestern sector.

Looking back to when they were still in the same life sector, Carnivore always took unwanted, worthless equipment back to practice his socketing on. Now, while it was true that Carnivore did not bother them anymore, he went directly to look for Timely Rain instead. Thus the equipment that he received was much more numerous than that which was distributed to the life sector.

Originally, the life players thought that the unwanted equipment could either be sold for cheap or disassembled for their materials. However, this equipment now fell directly into Carnivore’s hands. It would be fine if the socketing was a success. If it failed however, then the equipment would be scrapped. Wouldn’t that be a waste?

Having experienced this for themselves, after another bout of discussion all the life players felt that they should ask Carnivore to move back once more, as that way they could at least salvage some of the equipment. However, the suggestion was met with Carnivore’s strong opposition. He was extremely satisfied after having tasted the good life, Why should he move back? In the end, a mob of life players went to look for Ye Ci with the intention of letting the instigator of the incident clean up the mess she caused.

Hearing Pea Cake’s side of the story, Ye Ci replied without looking up, “You guys should talk to Timely Rain for something as simple as this. Just ask him to pass Carnivore the unwanted and unsellable equipment.”

“But, but...those are all our hard work!” The mob of life players cried out in protest.

Ye Ci stopped what she was doing for a moment, raised her head and looked at the group of life players cooly and spoke with a smile that did not reach her eyes, “Then, what about the crafting materials that all of you use to level up your skill proficiency? Were they not due to the hard work of everyone in the guild...?”

Despite having some rough moments, it was only after Ye Ci’s attempt at reconciliation that the matter finally resolved itself. Although the life players were somewhat unsatisfied with the outcome, they were now more willing to provide Carnivore with equipment to raise his skill proficiency. Being used to practicing with good equipment, Carnivore was not used to the switch at first due to the difference in equipment quality, However, he was aware that it was not a good thing to be too wasteful.

Which was why both sides agreed to compromise.

Timely Rain only appeared after the group of life players was sent away. Brushing the tip of his nose, he spoke, “As expected of Gongzi. But why did they not agree when I first suggested that they compromise?”

Ye Ci thought for a while before making a sly grin, “The carrot and the stick.”

The two looked at each other and smirked.

Just as the guild was busily making preparations to attempt Castle Ruins, the new dungeon, Ye Ci received an unusual quest from the mayor of Red Lake City. The quest giver was not the mayor but the mysterious city lord, Sha’Gar himself.

It was just an errand quest and the details were simple. As an exemplary resident of Red Lake City as well as a close confidant to the city lord, Lord Sha’Gar hoped that Gongzi You would be able to visit his bosom friend, Black Mud City’s City Lord Mo’er in his stead.

Upon receiving this quest, Ye Ci was slightly stunned before her fingers started trembling in excitement.

It couldn’t be, one of the fabled Ten Great Mythological Grade quests in her past life appeared before her just like that? Didn’t this seem a little too effortless?

In Fate, the entire quest system was unique. Although quests had already existed at the start of the game, the developers had put in extra effort in Fate’s quest system. Aside from the common collection, exploration, training, dungeon and hidden quests, there were also battlefield quests and random quests.

Random quests were an extremely unique type of quest in Fate. The number of random quests in the game were few, even less than hidden quests. According to Fate’s classification of quests, there were usually two grades of random quests: Legendary Grade and Mythological Grade quests.

That wasn’t all. What was unique about these random quests were that they were side quests to the game’s main quest. Which meant that the completion rate of these quests, as well as the choices that the players made would more or less play a part in affecting the game’s storyline.

These settings would not only allow the players feel the effects of their actions on the game, it would even make them feel a sense of belonging to the game, as though they were a protagonist. Of course, aside from the spiritual rewards, players who received random quests would also receive an extremely rare material reward.

However, the activation conditions for random quests were extremely odd: One might be required to achieve a certain level of reputation with a territorial power or one might have to embark on an unimaginable adventure; the quest might even be hiding in an insignificant corner of a house.

In short, it was entirely left up to the player himself to go and find out.

Furthermore, the reason why Ye Ci received this quest was too simple. She was the first resident in any city whose reputation had reached Respected.