This person is a talent

"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Lan He from the Blue Brook Guild, my main character is Lan Qiao Chun Xue." Right after accepting the friend request, the other party sent a message, skipping any unnecessary "are you there" small talk and getting straight to the point with an introduction, showing a confident demeanor.

"Hello," Ye Kai replied briefly. Having been in the Glory circle for ten years, he was well aware of the Blue Brook Guild, one of the top three guilds. As for Lan Qiao Chun Xue, he wasn't too familiar with that person. He would have known more if it had been Huang Shaotian and his Blade Master Ye Yu Sheng Fan.

Lan He had no idea that the person he was preparing to deal with was a much higher-level expert than himself. After all, the name Lan Qiao Chun Xue was enough to intimidate many in the online gaming world. Confident that the other party already knew who he was, Lan He proceeded with the next step of the conversation: "What are you busy with, brother?"

"Running instances," Ye Kai replied, not stopping to chat as both Jun Mo Xiao and Zhu Yan Xia had already entered the Green Forest.

"Oh? Which instance?" Lan He asked.

"Green Forest."

Lan He was puzzled for five seconds before guessing the only possibility he could think of: "Are you helping a friend?"

"Sort of..." Ye Kai said.

"Uh, we're short one person for the Frost Forest instance on our side, would you be interested in joining, brother?" Lan He messaged.

"Oh? Why come to me?" Ye Kai asked.

Why come to you? This question made Lan He feel quite sentimental, as the answer was a long story, as long as a whole day.

Initially, when Jun Mo Xiao's team snatched two first kills in the Spider Cave instance, it left the Blue Brook Guild with nothing to show for it, which was quite embarrassing, and everyone was quite annoyed. But after deliberately inquiring about Jun Mo Xiao, the guy who made the leaderboard three times, and his team, the Blue Brook Guild discovered some unusual circumstances.

The first kills were with teammates who had previously had conflicts with him.

That spamming screamer, Yue Zhong Mian, mentioned a hidden BOSS, which coincided with the time when Jun Mo Xiao soloed the Night Cat Demon. The spam content accused Jun Mo Xiao of deliberately killing the whole team to monopolize the BOSS. How could Yue Zhong Mian, who had called out such a despicable and shameless person, end up in the same team with him again?

No one knew what had happened in the process, but at least it showed one thing: the team that snatched two first kills in the Spider Cave was not a group of friends but a wild team with internal conflicts.

Such a team managed to snatch two first kills, which indicated significant strength. And Jun Mo Xiao was clearly the focus of this team. This shameless person who killed the whole team for a hidden BOSS was accepted again by others. What was he relying on?

In addition, a meticulous Blue Brook Guild player noticed a detail. The team listings for the two first kills in the Spider Cave were not in the same order. The person listed first was definitely the team leader. The first time, Yue Zhong Mian was the team leader, but by the second time, it had changed to Jun Mo Xiao.

The position of team leader is a serious one, with the power to kick players and set the team's loot distribution. And yet, the team was willing to hand over the leadership to someone who had shamelessly stolen a BOSS. What did that imply?

All of this indicated their dependence on this person; without him, they couldn't have achieved the first kills.

This person was truly talented, and very likely a talent without guild affiliation.

A talented person with a guild wouldn't be running wild in instances; similarly, a talented person with a guild wouldn't be offline for 24 hours.

After observing, inquiring, and analyzing throughout the day, the Blue Brook Guild came to such a conclusion. As the saying goes, it's easy to find soldiers, but hard to find a general. Such a talent should be actively pursued. This led to the incident of Lan He sending 18 friend requests. The requests were sent, but not accepted or rejected, which meant they were either unseen or ignored. Lan He decided to use this method to convey his sincerity. Indeed, his approach was successful; 18 consecutive friend requests made Ye Kai, who was originally planning to ignore them, eventually accept the friend request.

However, now that the other party asked why he was being sought out, Lan He certainly wouldn't explain in such a convoluted and complex manner. He simply said that he had made the first kill leaderboard three times right after the new area opened, which clearly showed he was an expert, so he hoped to make a friend, and so on.

"To be honest, we're preparing to challenge the current record for clearing the Frost Forest, and we're missing a top expert like you, brother. If we break the record, the purple equipment will go directly to you, how about that? Our guild just wants the record," Lan He messaged without rushing to recruit him into the guild. After so long in Glory, the guilds knew of each other's famous experts, but this Jun Mo Xiao was unheard of. Lan He guessed that this person was either a high-level player from another guild just playing around in the new area or one of those who had no interest in guilds and preferred to roam the wilderness alone.

The first type was definitely not worth considering; they couldn't be recruited. As for the second type, someone who wasn't interested in guilds to begin with would surely be met with resistance if approached directly.

So Lan He decided to first invite him to run an instance together, to foster some camaraderie. As fellow experts, they would enjoy smooth cooperation and easily develop a mutual appreciation. They also needed to witness this person's strength firsthand to see if he was as worth recruiting as they had deduced. The promised purple equipment was simply a token to show their sincerity. Frost Forest would at most yield a level 25 purple equipment, better to have than not. There was no need to linger over low-level equipment. Honestly, if the other party was truly a great expert, they wouldn't care much about it either, but it was the most presentable bargaining chip for the current instance.

Ye Kai, who received the invitation, was instantly intrigued and quickly replied to Lan He: "No need for the purple equipment, if possible, I would like something else."

"What?" Lan He asked.

"Rare materials," Ye Kai said.

"Haha, brother, you're a savvy one," Lan He laughed upon seeing that the other party was indeed worldly. He didn't care about low-level purple equipment; indeed, the most valuable things at the moment were these rare materials, which would be used even in the late stages of the game, never becoming obsolete.

"72 Strong Spider Silks," Ye Kai named his price.

"No problem," Lan He agreed readily. Although Strong Spider Silk was also considered a rare material, it was infinitely farmable in the beginner's area and even regular bosses had a chance to drop it, making it one of the cheaper rare materials.

"I also want a White Witch's Mithril Pendant," Ye Kai said.

"Sure, I can give it to you right now," Lan He replied, smiling as he sent the message. The Mithril Pendant, like the sword Ye Kai had obtained from the Skeleton Warrior, was an unattributed accessory with no value, just something some girls liked to use as jewelry.

"And eight White Wolf Fangs," Ye Kai added.

"This... brother, you're asking for Strong Spider Silk, Mithril Pendants, and now Wolf Fangs, isn't that a bit much?" Lan He was somewhat displeased.