Imminent Conflict!

Upon spotting the transmigration system's prompt, Su Chen instantly snapped back to reality.

Su Chen did not actually think that the transmigration system would point out the quests that would reward the Map Fragments.

Su Chen's emotions fluctuated for a moment before he forcefully calmed himself down. His cold personality basically dictated that he was not one to be perturbed by emotions.

He then left the trading alley and walked toward the southwest direction where the quest board was located.

...

[ Fengwu Town ] mercenary office.

The mercenary office was not far from the trading alley, and thus, Su Chen had reached the location rather quickly.

Despite offering quests as well, the quests offered at the mercenary office were different from those that were offered from quest pavilions. The quests from the pavilion were usually related to Fengwu Town's plotline, or it would be class quests.

In contrast, the quests offered by the mercenary office had only one purpose, which was to make money.

Upon arrival, Su Chen noticed that there were already a number of level 10-25 players present.

This was a usual phenomenon as players who usually accepted mercenary quest were those who needed money desperately, be it to maintain a livelihood, or to deal with bills.

After all, veteran players had many other ways of making money, whether it was via signing up with a game studio or a game company.

Hell, they could even offer boosting services to low level noobs but had tons of money. In short, they had near limitless avenues to make bank.

However, these benefits were not shared by the low-level players. As such, they had no other choice but to take up mercenary quests.

Hence, Su Chen, who wanted to avoid drawing any attention to himself and to avoid stirring up any trouble, unequipped four out of his six slots of green rank equipment before entering the office.

The reason behind his actions was very simple. After all, if someone who was equipping almost 100,000 Gold Coins' worth of gear were to pick up low reward mercenary quests, he would very well arouse the suspicion of the other players.

Although he was not afraid that someone else would try and snatch his quest because of it, he decided to err on caution in case someone were to spread some false rumors and cause an endless stream of trouble for him.

Thus, Su Chen decided to hide most of the equipment he was wearing.

However, he did not expect that even after going through the trouble to hide his gear, he would still attract the attention of countless players the moment he stepped in.

This was because that compared to the players around him who were only equipped with white rank equipment, two pieces of green rank equipment was already considered to be an anomaly.

At the same time, there was also another reason for their attention. Su Chen was tall and slender. With his thin figure, he looked like a walking clothes hanger. Adding his ink-colored magic robe to the mix, he looked like a spitting image of the western magicians from his past life.1

Moreover, with his long hair that extended past his ears and his cold, apathetic, but handsome face, Su Chen gave off somewhat of a divine presence, making those around him feel as if they should not be existing in the same dimension.

In terms of appearance and temperament, it was a definitely a huge blow to the other players.

Although the female players around him were not so infatuated to the point where they would drool for him, it was still enough to make them steal several glances at him.

In contrast to the females, the male players were more interested in the two pieces of green rank equipment he had on him.

Sure, Su Chen might only be level 13, but the two pieces of green rank equipment he had on him would still be a powerful boon to him in battle, allowing him to take on quests that were beyond his level.

Su Chen ignored the gazes of the people around him. He walked straight to the hiring board and browsed through the listings one by one. He even pretended to be deep in thought and shook his head from time to time.

If one did not know better, they would have thought that Su Chen was complaining that the rewards were too low, or that the quests were too hard.

However, in truth, the moment Su Chen's gaze fell on the hiring board, a golden line of text filled his vision once more. The transmigration system had helped him to pick out the quest that would reward him with the Map Fragment.

[ Mercenary Quest: Escort the Xue Feng Mercenary Group to the rear section of the Thousand Snakes Lair and work together with the other mercenaries to defeat any monsters or Bosses along the way. ]

[ Quest Reward: 400 Gold Coins, reimbursement for all MP and HP potions consumed while escorting the group, as well as a recommendation letter for the "Demon Worshipping Court". ]

After browsing the quest board for some time, the attention that Su Chen had attracted gradually went away.

Following the address listed in the quest details, Su Chen then headed to the meeting area to meet up with Xue Feng, the individual who issued the quest.

"Hmm, are you here to accept my quest, little one?"

Upon his arrival at the exclusive meeting area, Su Chen was greeted by the burly level 21 [ Heavy Swordsman ], Xue Feng who was stroking his beard.

At Xue Feng's sides stood two young men who looked similar to one another.

"Yes."

Su Chen immediately nodded, indicating his intention to join.

"Alright, I'll take you in then. I'm sure you've already read the contents of the quest, right?"

Xue Feng's personality was also very straightforward, so he immediately agreed.

"Wait, Brother Feng, you can't be serious, right? Don't you want to put a little more thought to it? After all, this anonymous little one is only level 13."

"Do keep in mind that we need to face and kill a boss halfway through our journey."

The taller one among the twins spoke out in an attempt to make Xue Feng reconsider.

"Don't worry. Can't you see the two pieces of green-ranked equipment he has on?"

"At the very least, those two pieces of equipment will give him the combat strength of a level 15 player, which barely meets our recruiting criteria. That's good enough methinks."

Xue Feng, was a ballsy man who liked to take bets. Moreover, he was also one who trusted his own sense of judgment.

The waves of calmness that was rolling off of Su Chen made him made him feel inexplicably at ease.

After patting the twin's shoulder, Xue Feng made the decision to keep Su Chen on board.

At the same time, he looked at Su Chen with a smile, and introduced, "Little one, this here is Mu Long, a level-17 [ Assassin ] ."

"And the other one's Mu Lin, a level-18 [ Crossbowman ]. If you can't already tell, they're a pair of twins. What is your surname, little one?"

Xue Feng knew that Su Chen must have had his own reasons to remain anonymous. As such, he requested Su Chen to give his surname instead.

"My surname is Su."

"Alright, little Su, I hereby declare that you'll join us in the upcoming mission,"

"We need eight men for this particular quest. Please wait a little longer…"

Xue Feng was just about to invite Su Chen to join the quest via the system interface when suddenly, a booming voice interrupted him.

"Brother Xue!"

"Let's continue working together."

A Level 20 [ Long Swordsman ] with the ID of Zhou Pengtai had entered Xue Feng's exclusive meeting area.

"I have a total of four people on my side. That makes us exactly eight people. Let's set off immediately!"

Zhou Pengtai said to Xue Feng with a smile.

Hearing this, Xue Feng, who was originally wearing a smile, turned sour upon noticing Zhou Pengtai's men.

"Working together has indeed been a pleasant experience previously, but …"

Xue Feng changed the topic. "Among the people that you've brought along this time, there seems to be one individual whose class and level are not up to par."

Behind Zhou Pengtai, stood a level 15 Bowman, a level 15 Double Shield Warrior, and a level 14 Ice Mage.

As soon as he finished speaking.

Zhou Pengtai frowned for a moment. "Is that so? Are you referring to the Ice Mage? Level 14 should be good enough, no? This kid is actually pretty strong."

However, Xue Feng shook his head firmly. "No can do, Brother Zhou. I've looked at our lineup. We have more than enough damage. What we need is a Heavy Shield Warrior who can hold the front lines."

Seeing that Xue Feng was adamant about his decision, Zhou Pengtai, who had been paid to pick up the three newbies, started to think of ways to get Xue Feng to agree.

His eyes darted around the room, and before long, he had noticed Su Chen.

"Hmm, what's this I see? Brother Xue, look at this runt. He's only level 13. If you really want to talk about abiding standards, this kid here is obviously the least qualified. Just kick him out, problem solved. Are you really going to doubt my judgment?"

Zhou Pengtai proposed to kick Su Chen out of the team.

"Brother, can you stop fooling around? We're talking about combat prowess here. Don't tell me that you aren't aware of the importance of equipment despite being level 20!?"

"Plus, in terms of formation, it would be better for us to add a level 10 Heavy Shield Warrior than another Mage, even if they might be level 20!"

Xue Feng firmly refused once again.

Zhou Pengtai's expression turned sour, as this meant that he would a portion of his earnings for failing to get one of the players on board. In fact, it might even result in him losing the Ice Mage as a client permanently.

"Heh, fine. I just can't fathom why someone with two pieces of green rank equipment would want to take part in a quest that would only reward 400 Gold Coins. How interesting."

"Forget it, forget it."

Zhou Pengtai's tone became sarcastic.

Upon hearing those words, Su Chen's gaze immediately fell on Zhou Pengtai. His gaze was as calm as water, but his tone was as cold as ice.

"And why does my business concern you?"

The atmosphere instantly stiffened.