I've Become the King of Villains in the Game

Emerald Town.

Under the scorching sun.

The ruins to the west had been cleared, and at this moment, a group of people were diligently working on construction.

The recruited men were covered in dust, shouting as they carried and transported stone blocks together, while the women cooked a large pot of vegetable mushroom soup on the side.

Polaris wiped the sweat from his forehead, finding his hands caked in black dirt.

He sighed quietly.

"This won't do. Just being treated as low-level laborers doing simple and repetitive physical work..."

Su Keying walked over, handing him a bowl of vegetable soup.

Polaris thanked her and felt a bit more spirited after taking a sip of the soup.

After completing their tasks on the rural farm and earning a few dozen Copper Kros, they had rushed to Emerald Town. As the farmer had mentioned, the Red Apple Church was indeed rebuilding their church, so they promptly signed up to participate.

But contrary to their expectations, they didn't even meet the steward monk, just two church guardians who were here to direct them.

Thus, their plan to join the church and obtain supernatural knowledge fell through.

"It's never that simple after all."

Polaris drank the soup to the last drop, returned the bowl to Su Keying, and remarked with a sigh.

"It's not entirely fruitless... You unlocked the 'Worker' sub-occupation, and I unlocked the 'Cook' sub-occupation,"

Su Keying said, offering comfort.

"Those people still at the farm probably have their occupation fields blank on their panels."

Polaris thought of the other players and couldn't help but sneer.

Before they left, they saw players who couldn't bear it any longer attacking the NPC on the farm, though for unknown reasons.

Perhaps they wanted to kill the farmer to seize the farm's resources and wealth, or maybe they were simply testing the game mechanics... or they even considered that NPC as a monster to farm for experience to level up.

However, all players who acted were killed by the farmer with a single strike from a pitchfork.

Even though he was just an ordinary NPC from a "Novice Village," dealing with these new players who had just entered the game was quite easy. What was more laughable, after resurrecting, those few guys were chased and killed again by the farmer's dog, and that dog even stood guard at the "Resurrection Point" outside the farm.

Having used up their three daily resurrection chances, those players had wasted their day.

The precious closed beta time was frittered away, and if they continued to court death the next day, using up all ten weekly resurrection opportunities, they could pretty much consider their participation in this closed beta a bust.

"Do you know how this church got destroyed, Polaris?"

Su Keying suddenly asked.

Polaris snapped back to reality, surprised.

"Wasn't it because of an accidental fire...?"

That's what he had heard from the workers when he arrived, but he quickly realized Su Keying wouldn't be asking if that was the case.

"What did you find out?"

Polaris suddenly felt that partnering with this woman wasn't such a bad thing.

Su Keying indeed knew something, and she giggled.

"I just learned from a lady that, a month ago, the Red Apple Church was attacked. All the clergy and guardians here were killed, and the church was burned down by that person."

Polaris was taken aback when he heard this.

As an experienced gamer in the online gaming world, he always prepared well before diving into a new game.

Even though the information released before the official start of "Era of Mystery" was limited, he had captured some through various channels. Among other things, he knew that the entire Sun Continent had factions for the Seven True Gods, and that each represented a path to a Supernatural Sequence and was a significant force holding supernatural powers.

The audacity of someone attacking the church so brutally meant they were no ordinary thug!

"Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt."

A man's voice came through, and Polaris and Su Keying turned to look.

They saw three men approaching, clad in the same burlap robes as themselves, with their game IDs displayed above their heads—clearly, they were three players.

"I'm an executive of the 'Hall of Valor' guild, Horseman... These two are members of the 'God's Love' guild, Doghead Gold and Forget No Taboo."

The leading man, "Horseman," extended his hand with a smile.

"Are you interested in cooperation? We could start by exchanging information."

Polaris and Su Keying exchanged a glance and nodded.

He shook hands with Horseman and asked,

"What kind of cooperation?"

"Let's talk somewhere else, it's too hot here."

The Horseman pointed helplessly to the sun above and tugged at his soaked placket.

"Fine."

Polaris replied curtly.

He turned around and applied to quit his job as a church guardian, and ended up getting only one-tenth of his wages, a mere few Copper Kros, along with a bout of scolding.

But he did not care.

The group found a shady spot to rest, and the Horseman sat down before speaking first:

"There are few people in the internal test; you two managed to arrive here ahead of the main force, so I'm sure you're wise enough to understand the importance of gaining an early advantage... Our collaboration would definitely yield better results than going at it alone."

The others nodded, showing agreement with his statement.

The Horseman continued:

"To show my sincerity, let me share some internal information from our guild... Remote towns like this usually have an official Supernatural organization, a Shelter, and one or two other Church factions.

Although they are the most direct channels to obtain Supernatural Knowledge, the difficulty is extremely high."

Polaris hummed in acknowledgment, mentioning the futile effort he and Su Keying had made at the Red Apple Church today.

"You can't do it like this..."

The Horseman shook his head.

"The three of us never planned to go there from the start; the difficulty is too high, the cycle too long, and since the Empire offers opportunities in every town, there's no need to stubbornly stick it out here..."

Doghead Gold and Forget No Taboo both chuckled lightly.

"We took a wolf hunting quest at that farm. Lucky for us, we even unlocked the battle Sub Occupation of 'Wolf Hunter'..."

Su Keying pursed her lips in annoyance, finding these two guys truly obnoxious, wondering what they were showing off for here.

She promptly shared some of the information she knew as well.

The Horseman's eyes lit up after hearing her.

"The person you're talking about, is he still in Emerald Town? Someone capable of taking down a church branch single-handedly must be a Transcendent... If we can start with him, our chances of obtaining Supernatural Knowledge would be greatly improved."

"He should have left already; I saw the wanted poster the Red Apple Church posted..."

Su Keying took out a piece of paper she had collected.

It depicted a young man with black curly hair and an indistinct face, the name Jack written below him, and his suspected identity as a member of the History and Ritual Association marked, along with a bounty of 100 Gold Pounds.

If Chen Lun saw this wanted poster, he would certainly be surprised.

Because the Red Apple Church had even employed the Divination Faction's Supernatural power to learn his alias, and the cost must not have been small.

This showed just how deep the Red Apple Church's hatred for him ran.

"Such a pity..."

Learning that the tough character wasn't in town, the Horseman shook his head regretfully.

He immediately suggested:

"We need to make the most of the precious time of the internal test and not waste effort here. It's better to explore the surrounding map and find a big city first, so we can get ahead of others when the official test starts..."

"But we're out of money; the cost of a long journey would be considerable."

Polaris frowned as he spoke.

The Horseman smiled, pointing out the disadvantage of lone wolves: the lack of crucial information.

"There's usually a train station near small towns; we can take that to the nearest city. The price isn't expensive, just a few dozen Copper Kros will do."

"Let's think about it."

Polaris said.

The Horseman nodded, and Polaris stepped aside to whisper a few words with Su Keying.

In a little while, the two came back.

"All right, we agree to this plan, what do we need to do?"

"Good..."

The Horseman nodded in satisfaction.

"It's a bit of a distance from here to the train station, and we don't have enough money to hire a carriage and guard, so we have to walk... There are likely to be robbers and wild monsters like thieves along the way, higher in level and very dangerous.

So, we not only need to gather enough fare in the shortest time but also come up with a way to get a set of gear to protect ourselves on the road."

Polaris and Su Keying nodded.

"Okay, we'll act separately and set off before tomorrow!"