Chương 140: First Quest

Meno was still grinning at the notifications like he had won the lottery when black smoke started leaking out of the throne-room floor. It came through the cracks between the stones first, then thickened until the entire chamber was ankle-deep in it. More smoke slipped beneath the doors and flowed out into Northspire, spreading through the city in long dark streams. Meno briefly wondered whether Solar had finally decided to intervene directly, but nothing attacked him and no punishment notification appeared.

Whatever this was, it was not going to be small. [4: 59]"No time to waste. Let's go over this carefully." Meno opened the first notification again.

"These things are getting so long it's like I'm reading quest text." [Regicide] You have slain Boronar the Third, King of Northspire. The rulers, Royal forces, and Archmages of Westmarket, Eastveil, and Southreach have learned from his death. Their levels have increased to 80.

"Cool. It gets harder to repeat." Meno nodded.

"Kind of unfair, but makes sense. Once everyone hits 70, the city NPCs would be a joke." Then he reached the part that actually mattered. Unless you select [Mercy], Red Bastion faction bonuses are disabled, its Faction Quartermaster becomes inaccessible, and Red Bastion players may select Eastveil or Southreach as a temporary refuge. Choose the fate of Northspire.

NO WAY THE FACTION BONUS IS GONE red bastion economy just exploded PICK MERCY PBG never seen BrineSaint this angry calm down do not touch anything Moon said 5mill from Silverwake for Mercy KESTREL IS ACTUALLY MALDING BRINESAINT LOOKS PISSED LMAO every RB guild begging right now"There it is." Meno laughed.

"Goodbye, Red Bastion double bounty gold and vendor price inflation. Welcome to the poverty faction." That was exactly what he had wanted.

"I recommend all Red Bastion players enjoy questing in Eastveil in the meantime." message deleted KESTREL SAYS CLICK MERCY RIGHT NOW message deleted BrineSaint did NOT laugh at that one stormhold chat in emergency meeting message deleted RED BASTION REFUGEES ARC PBG YOU ARE NOT SURVIVING TODAY"They're mad? Good." Meno glanced at his current Excrino's Favor IV.

"Next time somebody blows up my ship, I'll use this Excrino buff to make them permanently logged out. Two-hour vacation per death. They can catch up on sleep." The timer kept ticking, so he opened the first choice. [Mercy] Spare the city. Northspire remains Red Bastion territory, and the Crown Prince will ascend as King. Red Bastion will discharge your active Global Bounty, your Karma will be reset to 0, and all Negative Karma rewards will be lost. Northspire, Eastveil and Southreach return to Neutral.

A 30-day Truce is established with Northspire. Attacking the city, its ruler, or its Royal forces before the Truce expires will result in devastating penalties.

"Mercy isn't as bad as I thought." Meno reread the bounty discharge. Five million gold no longer hanging over his head had obvious value.

"Purging negative Karma is both good and bad. I keep the Reputation and dodge the bounty, but I lose all the Excrino stuff." Reaching -90, 100 Karma had been easy during a city siege because elite NPCs and Regicide gave huge penalties. Trying to reach the same number through normal PvP would be miserable. Regular player kills were only worth -10 Karma, so anyone chasing Excrino access would have to farm people forever or start targeting important NPCs.

"That access has to be worth something. Still not picking this. It makes everything I just did pointless." Next. [Conquer] Claim Northspire for the Grave Crown. You have 24 hours to appoint an eligible Grave Crown NPC as King. Until a ruler is appointed, Northspire cannot be reclaimed. If no King is chosen before the deadline, Grave Crown will appoint a Regent. Once crowned, Red Bastion may attempt to reclaim Northspire by slaying the new King.

While Northspire remains under Grave Crown control, Grave Crown faction bonuses are doubled and Grave Crown Faction Quartermaster prices are reduced by 50%. You become the King's Hand and may command Northspire's Grave Crown forces during sieges. CONQUER CONQUER CONQUER double Grave Crown gold steal??? 50% VENDOR PRICES HOLY message deleted MAKE MARCEL KING KING'S HAND PBG LMAO this is the sane choice"Yeah, Conquer is tempting." Meno could not complain about doubled Grave Crown bonuses.

Half-price Faction Quartermaster gear was also disgusting. The problem was everything else.

"I could make Marcel King just so people delete him." That alone almost made the choice worthwhile.

"But there's zero chance Grave Crown holds Northspire. Red Bastion only needs one organized top tier raid to take the city back. We have PvP people, sure, but most of them are way too low level." Karmabeast really needed to wake up and stop messing around somewhere off the leaderboard.

"So this is basically a one-day timeout where I pick a King, every top Red Bastion player shows up, and Grave Crown gets deleted. And it doesn't even make me King. I have no desire to manage NPCs as the King's Hand." One option remained, and the timer had already dropped below 3 minutes. Meno opened it. [Raze] Doom Northspire. Northspire becomes a Red Bastion Raid ruled by a raid-boss incarnation of your character, with your current Level, Class, and equipped gear locked in at the moment this choice is made.

The raid grants no rewards. Northspire cannot be reclaimed or reconstructed until the raid boss is defeated. Once defeated, Red Bastion must collectively contribute 100, 000, 000g to reconstruct the city. The fallen Colossus becomes a permanent Devout Shrine of Excrino that cannot be destroyed by normal means. Purpose: Unknown. Chat completely stopped pretending Mercy was the only interesting option. DO NOT PICK THAT FALSE HERO RAID BOSS???? one hundo mill gold LMAOOOO no rewards???

THIS IS THE EVIL OPTION false hero is unkillable dead monster to devout shrine?! PURPOSE UNKNOWN IS NEVER GOOD Meno started laughing before he finished reading.

"This one is hilarious." A 100, 000, 000g reconstruction cost looked ridiculous, but Red Bastion had a massive player population. Split across enough people, it was not impossible, assuming anyone felt like paying after already clearing a rewardless raid. The raid itself was the spicy part.

"Putting False Hero in there as the boss is disgusting. If it scales to raid-boss HP, Reactor means if you can't kill it inside 3 seconds of its self-stun, it just heals to full and gets stronger." Then there was Drowned Pilgrim's Vitality paired with False Furnace.

"Below 20%, it starts stacking Absorption while the ring holds Engulf around 10%. So if the raid boss AI understands the build at all, you need enough damage to break the shield, kill the real HP, and somehow stop Reactor resets." Meno smiled wider.

"Might actually be unkillable. Love it." DO NOT CLICK THAT THING WILL HAVE RAID HP NO REWARDS AND INFINITE HEALING LOL message deleted RED BASTION IS FINISHED message deleted RAZE RAZE RAZE RAZE RAZE SHUT UP IDIOTS The Colossus becoming a permanent Excrino shrine was stranger.

"No clue what Devout Shrine of Excrino means. Purpose Unknown either means the AI hasn't decided yet, or it's hiding something catastrophically bad until somebody figures out how to trigger it." That was scary enough to make the option better. UNKNOWN PURPOSE = WORLD ENDING DO IT FOR SCIENCE EXCRINO CULT CAPITAL THE COLLOSSUS WAS THE REAL PLAN please stop unlocking gods Meno compared the choices again while the timer continued counting down.

"Mercy is off the table. Conquer maybe buys a day. Raze is the gamble. If the raid boss is tuned too easy, it's worse than Conquer. If it's tuned properly, Red Bastion might stay locked until the top players can build a real Level 80 raid with enough burst to beat the HP setup." That was clearly not what the Red Bastion players flooding his chat wanted to hear.

WE WILL PAY YOU message deleted message deleted THIS ISNT FUNNY ANYMORE RAZE = ACCOUNT REPORT message deleted Meno checked the viewer count and found more than 14 million watching, which meant Red Bastion had apparently invaded the stream to beg. Perfect.

"Why not? I thought you guys liked raiding." Meno hovered over Raze.

"Free content. Try to enjoy." Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. He selected it. The timer vanished, black smoke flooded upward around the throne, and red light split through the stone. [GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT] Northspire has been razed by PrayerBeadGod. The Red Bastion capital has fallen. Northspire has been sealed and converted into a 20-Player Red Bastion Faction Raid. Recommended Level: 70. The transformation started immediately.

Black smoke thinned into the walls instead of hanging in the air, corrupting the pale stone until Northspire's red-and-white stone became almost black. Veins of dark red light spread through the towers, roads, and palace like something underneath the city had started growing into it. For a few seconds, every wall became transparent, letting Meno watch Northspire evacuate around him.

NPCs poured through the gates in huge lines while surviving players vanished one after another, forcibly removed as the city converted into the raid instance. Shops emptied, guard posts went dark, and the royal district distorted around the throne room. The chamber expanded. The ceiling pulled upward while the throne behind Meno grew until it was almost ten times its old size. Then something started materializing on it. Meno. Or a version of him.

The raid boss was at least five times his height and looked exactly like False Hero otherwise: pants, jewelry, no armor, bare feet planted against the enormous throne. The boss opened its eyes and looked directly at Meno with a vicious expression Meno was fairly sure he had never made in his life. He would have to check the bathroom mirror once he logged out, because seeing a clearly evil raid-boss version of himself was a first.

"Okay. That's weird." The next notification hit with the force of a sledgehammer. Solar had apparently decided the fun was over. [Challenge Class Rescinded] False Hero Titan has been confined to the Northspire Raid. False Hero is no longer available as a player class. Swing Master Infernal restored. Bound equipment removed. Sealed equipment returned. Level 70 Class Augmentation: Available. Challenge Class system permanently retired. Meno's replacement gear vanished from his body and inventory instantly.

Drowned Pilgrim's Vitality returned to his inventory because it had never been Bound, while the sealed equipment came back piece by piece: Dreamchain around his feet, Vervenzal's Pursuit over his head, and Vervenzal's Verdict in his hand. Swing Master Infernal opened across his interface. Meno looked down at himself and grinned. He was back.

"Come on. I was still having fun." Chat was split between celebrating Swing Master's return and laughing at Solar deleting the entire Challenge Class system after one person used it. SOLAR TOOK ITS CLASS BACK LMAO false hero funeral challenge system gone already lol RAID BOSS GETS TO KEEP IT THOUGH SWING MASTER IS BACK Meno opened the class panel and checked everything. Cleave Infernal. Pull Infernal. Pump Infernal I. Break Infernal V. Madness Infernal. Control Infernal. Cannon Infernal. False Wings. Splitwing.

Everything looked normal until he counted the list again. Nine. Then he counted False Hero from memory. Engulf. False Blink. Pyronucleosis. Jet Lag. Reactor. Desync. Sticky Titan. Seven.

"Wait just a second." Chat sensed danger.

"I was scammed!" Meno held both class lists in his head like checking them harder might change the result.

"Evolved classes have nine actives and passives combined, but False Hero only had seven! I was an idiot and forgot to count False Wings and Splitwing because they hadn't changed when I picked Infernal." He pointed accusingly at absolutely nothing.

"What the hell?" HE JUST NOTICED WAS MISSING TWO SKILLS LMAO AI tried to scam him and backfired srsly he didn't know this? bro farmed the dung for like 20h straight ASK FOR COMPENSATION"So it gives me a defective class, lets me suffer through it, then takes it back with some random excuse." Meno was getting genuinely offended now.

"Not cool. I was playing bugged content. I want compensation." Solar answered. [Bug Finder Credit Awarded] You may redeem this credit for one shirt in the official Veyrath merchandise store. Chat disintegrated. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ONE SHIRT COMPENSATION APPROVED support ticket closed BUG BOUNTY = MERCH PLEASE WEAR IT ON STREAM THE AI HATES YOU"Very funny! I already had one of these credits…" Apparently Solar considered the case closed.

The raid around Meno faded, dropping him outside Northspire in front of hundreds of angry players. Meno remembered the five million bounty at exactly the same moment they realized PrayerBeadGod had materialized directly in front of them. Swing Master brain came back instantly. He activated Pump Infernal, gained 66 Chain, and dumped all 66 into Madness Infernal to store 1 Detonation. Release followed immediately, erupting across the packed crowd before anyone could organize. Black fire swallowed the area.

Meno summoned the Gravecycle inside combat for the first time and was already accelerating away before the smoke cleared behind him. HE JUST NUKED THE CROWD SWING MASTER WELCOME BACK combat mount is actually sick full speed escape bye losers THEY WAITED OUTSIDE FOR HIM message deleted DUDE IS NEVER PAYING THAT BOUNTY Kill notifications flooded his vision, but the Karma summary made counting unnecessary. [-1140 Karma | +1140 Reputation (Grave Crown Bonus)] 114 players.

"Sorry about that. Take the two hours to make an angry forum post." He opened the map while the Gravecycle tore away from Northspire. Resurrection Shrine markers now dotted Veyran thanks to Excrino's Favor IV, and the Audience prompt had been very clear about what he needed next. Ten paths back from death. Meno wanted distance from Northspire first.

The gold bounty was funny while nobody could catch him, but going negative gold because a guild with functioning brain cells locked him down would be a massive self-own, and the 24-hour jail sentence was even worse. When logged-out time only progressed at only half speed. His phone-link started ringing. Thorn. Meno considered ignoring it. Stormhold was Red Bastion too, which meant Thorn was definitely pissed. Still, refusing the call would be lame. Meno accepted.

"Hey." Thorn sounded strangely calm. Too calm.

"WHY THE F— DIDN'T YOU PICK CONQUER? YOU F— ASSHOLE! RAZE?! REALLY?! YOU JUST F— THE ENTIRE FACTION FOR WEEKS." THORN CORTISOL SPIKE BEEP BEEP BEEP STORMHOLD RISING INTO POVERTY WAITED ONE SECOND rare Thorn restraint Thankfully, the profanity filter worked. Meno ran a family-friendly stream after all.

"What do you mean? Conquer was a guaranteed full day lockout. This way you can just go kill the boss."

"Kill the boss?" Thorn's voice went dangerously quiet.

"He says kill the boss. Right. Which one, exactly? The one that can stun itself and heal back to full HP? Or the one that starts stacking infinite Absorption below 20%?" Meno kept the Gravecycle at full speed.

"I'm a little confused here," Thorn continued.

"Which version of this unkillable bastard are you talking about?"

"It's not that bad. Just crowd-control it when Engulf burns it low." Meno thought about raid bosses for half a second.

"Never mind, it probably has immunity to that. You could stack classes that pierce Absorption. Or maybe some cooldown dispels it."

"Funny. Real f— funny. Now I have to move the entire guild over to Southreach, and we're already halfway through the dungeon spam. We've thrown away who knows how many Sunring Concord boss trophies. And if we swap, all that Reputation we farmed? Gone. Zero. Wiped out." Thorn sounded ready to destroy another office.

"This isn't some little screw-up. You set us back hard."

"Why are you blaming me? Kestrel had my ship blown up."

"SHUT UP. THAT WAS 100K GOLD. NOTHING."

"It may be nothing to you, but I'm poor." THE POOR MAN WITH A FIVE MILLION BOUNTY 100K STARTED A FACTION WAR your masterwork items are over million each alrdy BTW KESTREL OWES RED BASTION 100 MILLION NOW guy says poor with over two million banked THORN IS GOING TO BREAK ANOTHER DESK Thorn hung up, probably for his own health. Meno found the whole thing funny. Did Thorn seriously expect him to ignore Kestrel just because Stormhold happened to be farming the same faction bonuses for gold? Ridiculous.

Thorn hung up around the time Veilbloom Woods came into view, leaving Meno in the Level 10–20 zone outside Eastveil. He followed the nearest shrine marker through the trees until he found a small clearing with several inscribed stones arranged beneath an old tree. This was also the first good chance to test Excrino's Favor IV properly. Combat mounts were enabled now, and taking damage would no longer dismount him. Meno kept the Gravecycle moving.

As he approached the shrine, he activated Pump Infernal, spent the Chain on Madness Infernal, and used Release while blasting past without slowing. The stored Detonation erased the shrine behind him. [-1000 Karma (Shrine) | +1000 Reputation (Grave Crown Bonus)]"Nice. Worked." He looked over his shoulder while the destroyed stones collapsed into dark fragments.

"These things don't have much HP. Maybe because this is a low-level zone, but who knows. It is a bit broken, but needing -66, 666 Karma before you can even start keeps everyone from deleting shrines for fun." That requirement alone kept the world from becoming permanently shrine-free. VEIL COURT DID NOTHING TO YOU Excrino quest speedrun someone stop this guy ppl want to actually level why target noob shrines cmon man SHRINE DRIVEBY LMAO WAR CRIMES ON A MOTORCYCLE"Calm down.

Eastveil and Veil Court are all about questing. Nobody dies during quests, so these guys don't need it anymore." The shrine would return in two hours anyway. Meno kept the Gravecycle at full speed and went from marker to marker. Veilbloom Woods only had three Resurrection Shrines, spread far enough apart that most of the route was travel rather than destruction, but all disappeared.

From there, the markers pulled him south into Level 30–40 Dawnwatch Ruins for three more, then east into Level 20–30 Sunscar Canyon for another three. By the time he reached Serpent's Wake Coast on Veyran's southern shore, Meno had destroyed nine shrines and added another 9, 000 negative Karma to the already catastrophic total. The tenth marker sat near the coastline. Meno slowed before reaching it, lined up the Detonation, and erased the shrine from a safer distance.

The final stones collapsed, and the ground where they had stood turned black as a portal opened in the middle of the ruined shrine.

"That looks safe." He dismissed the Gravecycle into its Mountstone and approached on foot.

"There is a high chance this is total bait, but I'm obviously entering." He stepped through, and the world changed. Meno stood ankle-deep in an endless black pond beneath a cold white moon. The water stretched in every direction with no shore, no stars, and no structures except one impossible shape dominating the sky. A colossal hand reached down from the darkness overhead, its fist closed around a long rope with something hanging from the end.

A giant man dangled by the throat above the water, at least three times Meno's height. His bald head hung forward, and a beard reached almost to his stomach. Rough leather covered parts of his body, stitched together from mismatched sheets that looked disturbingly like skin. Hundreds of weapons pierced him: swords through the chest, spears through the stomach, broken blades jutting from his shoulders, arms, legs, and back. Moonlight reflected from all of them while his limp feet hovered inches above the black pond.

[Excrino | The Hanged God | Level???] Chat slowed for maybe half a second before exploding. POOR GUY ALREADY EXECUTED bro has 400 swords in him TURN AROUND watch out for quests horror content unlocked 100% mythic loot"Well, looks like I was too late. Dude looks very dead." The corpse reacted. One huge hand reached upward, closed around the rope, and tore it away from his throat. Excrino dropped into the pond, and the impact sent a dark wave rolling outward around his legs.

Then his completely black eyes, each with a tiny red pupil at the center, settled on Meno. For the first time since entering, Meno seriously considered turning around and leaving. Excrino started walking toward him. Every step moved the water without splashing, and the weapons buried in his body shifted with a low metallic scrape. Up close, he was enormous. The god stopped several steps away.

"PrayerBeadGod." Then Excrino gave a low laugh.

"Named yourself early." His black eyes moved over Meno.

"Blood. Kings. Shrines." The rope overhead creaked where it still hung from the massive hand.

"Took you long enough." Excrino looked down at Meno's wrists.

"Shackles." A faint smile appeared.

"Hate those." His gaze returned to Meno.

"Break them." Meno nodded slowly.

"Cool intro. By the way, I'm not doing any quests." A notification appeared. [Quest Completed: Excrino's Bargain] Reach -100, 000 Karma. Current: -101, 240 Karma. Excrino regarded him with satisfaction.

"Done." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA QUEST COMPLETED AGAINST HIS WILL actually his first ever quest right? QUESTBEADGOD EXCRINO DOES NOT CARE ABOUT CONSENT QUESTING ARC CONFIRMED Meno stared at the notification in betrayal.

"I regret all my decisions. You can't autocomplete a quest I never accepted. This is just wrong. Extremely evil." He pointed at Excrino.

"This was my first one too." Excrino's faint smile did not move.

"First body. Acceptance." His black eyes shifted to the weapons piercing his own torso.

"Thousands more. Payment." One giant hand closed around the dagger buried directly through his heart. Excrino pulled it free, raised the blood-dark blade to his mouth, and bit through it like brittle glass.

"Now. See what you bought." A new window appeared. [Swing Master Tyrant] You have earned a Special Class Evolution. Only 3 players may hold Tyrant simultaneously. Tyrant cannot be overwritten except by a more powerful Class Evolution. Accepting will permanently replace Swing Master Infernal. All upgrades invested into [Pump Infernal I] and [Break Infernal V] will be lost. Your pending Level 70 Class Augmentation will be automatically applied to Swing Master Tyrant.

Warning: Declining this evolution will cause Excrino to become hostile. [Accept / Decline]"Only three?" Neither Infernal nor Titan had come with that kind of limit. Meno read the evolution warning again, then looked up at the giant god covered in weapons standing directly in front of him.

"This might be above Titan."