The danger level made Dandao Dantart freeze in place. A chill ran down his spine.
The most dangerous person he had encountered so far was a caravan bodyguard on a previous trip. Back then, the danger rating had only been blue, accompanied by the message: "He can defeat you without any effort."
But now, this Sankta not far ahead—who had just finished a conversation—was marked blood red.
That message? "You have no hope of survival."
Dantart's body trembled like a sieve, but soon, a spark of excitement flared within him. This was still the outskirts of a Novice Village, and yet he had encountered what seemed like a final-boss-level character. Could this be the start of a real adventure?
With that thought, his curiosity quickly overwhelmed any lingering fear. After all, even if he was discovered and things went south, the worst outcome would be a five-minute cooldown period. Besides, the death penalty refreshed once per day—no real loss.
With that mindset, Dantart began tailing the Sankta figure in secret.
---
Felix had already noticed the player.
Or rather, the moment he spotted a wide-eyed country bumpkin with a strange ID floating over his head in the crowd, he instantly knew it was one of the internal test players.
He had traveled to this little town and waited for days specifically for this—to encounter players who had finally managed to leave the Novice Village and were either looking to team up or start taking the game more seriously. His interactions with players would begin from here.
As for why he didn't go straight to Yellow Sand Village, which was teeming with internal test players?
Simple. Felix had no interest in seeking out a crowd of broke noobs. That wasn't how he wanted to "warmly welcome" the players.
---
A forum post had caught his eye earlier—one with a very familiar ID.
It was from Tiantang Zhuimeng, also known as Dream Chaser, a top-tier professional player in his past life. Before Ark, he had played a game called Sword Hero, where he quickly rose to prominence thanks to both his impressive krypton gold spending and his elite gameplay. He was a decent guy with real talent—and a massive fanbase to boot.
In his past life, Dream Chaser had competed in the first season of Ark's World Championship but was eliminated early due to poor team coordination. After switching teams in the second season, he reached new heights—finishing as the runner-up in the Donghuang District, only falling short in the final championship match.
By then, he was firmly ranked in the top 20 of the Donghuang combat power rankings—a true legend in the making.
---
The professional league of Ark wasn't limited to just 1v1 duels or team battles. Far from it.
There were field races, mission competitions, limited-time exploration events, battle royale-style survival matches, land acquisition and flag capture games, mass-kill deathmatches, hidden challenge events, and many others. Single and team combat were merely two pieces of the vast gameplay puzzle.
---
One of Dream Chaser's recent posts had summarized the experiences of beta testers exploring the open world. He discussed the relationship between Ore Disease and Originium, warning future players to think twice before intentionally infecting themselves—it could even prevent entry into some villages.
He also shared bits of lore he'd uncovered from talking to NPCs. Although information about the world's countries and cities was still fragmented and hard to piece together quickly, he decided to upload everything to the forum for now.
Most impressively, he published a full map he had purchased.
Seeing this, Felix couldn't help but admire him once again. That's Dream Chaser for you, he thought. Saving so many players 1,500 LMD in one go.
According to the map, Felix was currently located in the rural area surrounding Kazimierz. Since Dream Chaser had chosen the Kuranta race, it wasn't surprising that he was also born in this region.
After reading the post, Felix quickly formulated a plan to head toward the area surrounding Kazimierz. With the help of the map uploaded by Dream Chaser, new players in that region would avoid countless detours. It would also give Felix the perfect opportunity to leave a lasting impression on them.
---
Bouquet in hand, Felix entered the town's modest church. As he passed the mournful residents of Moshan Town, he walked with quiet reverence and stood before a mural, his expression solemn as he began to pray.
Birth, aging, sickness, and death—all were part of the natural order in this land of suffering.
Today marked the funeral of a middle-aged man. Because of his Sankta race, Felix had automatically triggered a prayer quest upon entering the premises.
Following the slow procession, Felix moved with the crowd toward the church's backyard. Once there, he crossed himself with deliberate grace, then knelt and gently scattered the bouquet in front of the grave.
The deceased man's family approached, eyes red with unshed tears. One by one, they followed suit, scattering petals as they whispered final farewells.
In this world, the Holy City of Laterano was seen as the only place untouched by corruption—a beacon of hope. Though this was Siracusa, many in the Iberian region still placed their faith in Laterano's teachings. Even in a remote village like Moshan, its influence endured.
As the mourners began to disperse, Felix slowly lifted his gaze from the mural, only to catch sight of Dandao Dantart standing near the entrance, half-hidden, curiously watching the ceremony.
Their eyes met.
Dantart flinched under the unexpected gaze. For a moment, he looked like a deer caught in headlights, unsure whether to approach or flee.
"Adventurer, do you have a moment?" Felix asked calmly.
Adventurer? The title rang in Dantart's ears.
He glanced down at his outfit—standard issue novice gear. Aside from the crude iron axe strapped to his back, there wasn't much to distinguish him from any other passerby. Still, being called an adventurer stirred something inside him.
His face flushed slightly. Then excitement replaced his hesitation.
Wait a minute—this is exactly how NPCs issue quests in games! Could this be it? My first real interaction outside the Novice Village?
And not just with anyone—but with a Sankta. A rare and powerful race! His danger level was blood red, yet he wasn't hostile. This had to be an incredible opportunity.
Dantart stepped forward eagerly and gave a respectful bow.
"I'm free, I'm free! Respected Father, what do you need?"
"I would like a fresh bouquet of Lenore flowers. Can you find some for me?"
Before Felix could even finish his sentence, a notification appeared in front of his eyes.
[Do you want to issue a quest to "Dandao Dantart"?]
So I really can issue quests? Just like a real NPC...
The realization was surreal. This feature was borderline absurd. If this system allowed him to assign a quest like "go sniff a famous NPC's feet," he had no doubt some player out there would try it just to see what happens.
He selected Yes.
A second prompt popped up.
[Please set the quest requirements and rewards. Rewards may include: experience, currency, items, skills, etc. Experience amounts are based on your level, traits, talents, skills, class, and reputation.]
The quest requirements referred to any number of tasks he could assign to players—fetch quests, faction errands, revenge missions, exploration objectives, prize draws, competitive challenges, duels with characters, and more.
Felix took a closer look at the system and realized that aside from experience, he could offer players almost anything in his possession as a quest reward. Skills, for instance—just like when Teacher Farma had taught him the basics of shooting—could also be passed on to players, provided he knew them himself.
As for the experience quota, he was relieved to find that assigning experience didn't deduct from his own accumulated experience. That would have been a massive loss. Instead, the system provided two separate values:
Maximum Reward Experience: This defined the highest amount of experience Felix could assign to any single quest. Currently, that value stood at 15,000. In other words, he could offer up to 15,000 experience points for a quest—and if he set that as the reward for a simple flower-fetching task, Dandao Dantart would probably faint from excitement.
Daily Reward Experience Cap: This represented the total experience he could distribute to all players within a single day. For now, it was set at 75,000 experience points, allowing him to assign multiple quests within that limit.
He experimented a little and found that this experience wasn't something he could use for himself. It was intangible, unclaimable—usable only through the quest system, and solely for the benefit of players.
Furthermore, the difficulty of the task determined the amount of experience required. Out of curiosity, Felix attempted to post an SSS-rank mission: destroy the Sarkaz Royal Court.
He couldn't even begin to fund it. The required experience was astronomically higher than what he had access to—his available points couldn't even cover a fraction.
At present, the 15,000 experience points he had were more than enough for a simple E-rank quest. In comparison, a D-rank quest would require a guaranteed reward of 25,000 experience points, and that was just the baseline. The requirements varied further depending on the nature of the mission.
As Felix progressed, he would unlock the ability to allocate more experience, thereby giving players more incentive to follow his directives. In a sense, he could control the players—attracting them, hiring them, even commanding them through the lure of better rewards.
From the players' perspective, the Fourth Impact was nothing more than a group of opportunistic mercenaries. As long as the payout was right, they would eagerly rally behind Felix. Players wouldn't waste time on unprofitable quests, after all. That meant leveling up wasn't just about personal strength anymore—it was also a means to raise his experience cap, allowing him to issue more appealing missions and build influence.
Today he could run a Sarkaz faction quest, tomorrow he could switch to Laterano—it all worked.
Only powerful, influential NPCs could issue high-reward missions. That's why the NPCs back in the Novice Village—who were mostly just average folks—could only give out low-level E-rank tasks with meager rewards.
With this in mind, Felix decided to give Dandao Dantart a basic errand quest.
---
Dandao Dantart stared at the quest prompt, scratching his head.
That's it?
A high-tier NPC like this, with a race rarity glowing red, had given him a mission this simple? And the reward? Ten LMD. That was even less than what the Novice Village NPCs offered!
But just as disappointment started to settle in, a realization struck him.
He suddenly looked at Felix in a different light—as if he were a mysterious old beggar sitting at the side of the road, asking him to fetch a meal. And when the task was complete, the old beggar would casually teach him a forbidden martial art like the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, then vanish without a trace.
This was clearly the beginning of a quest chain… Even if it wasn't, it wouldn't hurt to leave a good impression on the NPC.
Players had gradually discovered the favorability system while completing tasks. The more quests they took on from a specific NPC, the more their favorability would increase over time.
So, if he could show his face around this high-level NPC more often—get him to remember his name—wouldn't that make future rewards more generous?
With that thought in mind, Dandao Dantart didn't hesitate for a second. He bolted.
Before long, he came rushing back to Felix, a bouquet of flowers in hand. Not just one flower, but an entire bunch. The quantity and quality of the bouquet far exceeded the task requirements. He presented the bouquet of Lenore flowers with a sincere and polite tone:
"This is my respect. I hope that person… may they rest in peace."
Ever since MMORPG players were allowed to freely express themselves, some had started showing subtle personality traits—even shyness or excessive enthusiasm. After all, many of them were homebodies in real life. When confronted with a "living" NPC like Felix, their natural introversion kicked in.
Felix accepted the bouquet, his expression faintly puzzled.
Do players normally go above and beyond like this?
He double-checked the quest—there was no bonus for collecting more than what was requested. The task wasn't even a collection mission in the first place. Yet still, the extra effort had been made.
The moment he accepted the bouquet, the system automatically marked the quest as complete. Seeing this function work properly, Felix gave a small nod of approval.
Then something else happened—next to Dandao Dantart's name, a character portrait icon appeared. Curious, Felix clicked on it and discovered a semicircular dial with a pointer positioned dead center.
On the right was a green segment, maxing out at +100. On the left, a red segment that went down to -100.
He instantly understood: this was the NPC favorability meter.
Wait a minute… does this favorability system include a marriage option? If so, that would be wild.
From what he remembered about players' past behavior, once favorability was high enough, NPCs could be invited to join a party and even fight alongside them. Some players even strolled around towns with their favorite NPCs, calling it a "date." If it got any higher…
Would marriage be next?
Felix experimented by nudging the pointer slightly to the right. Favorability with Dandao Dantart was now at +1.
He studied the result—no visible change.
It seemed, for now, that favorability was just a number to him. There was no risk of becoming emotionally attached to a player due to this feature. Especially considering... well, female players were one thing, but if a male player—
Still, this feature…
Could it be used to build player loyalty?
It could give players the illusion that they were slowly "winning over" Felix. They might go out of their way to please him, just to increase their favorability.
"If you want it, then you'll have to take it—but you already knew that."
Drum beats in the background, heavy with intent. —Felix
Felix rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
In his previous life, he had once tried relentlessly to raise the favorability of a certain white-haired, riddle-speaking cat girl. Every day, without fail, he completed her quests. But her heart was like iron—once her favorability reached 20, it refused to budge an inch further.
Still, it always seemed like the next quest would finally push it higher. That illusion kept him going, day after day, pouring time and effort into her missions. He even ended up making several significant contributions to Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals because of it.
And yet—up until the moment he crossed into this world—he had never managed to conquer the cold-faced cat girl of Rhodes Island.
Kal'tsit… Kal'tsit! Your heart is as wooden as a fence post!
Meanwhile, Dandao Dantart noticed the change in his favorability and was both shocked and overjoyed.
Just days ago, while doing a quest for an NPC—a female villager with a mere five-point appearance in his eyes—he had managed to raise her favorability to 10. Thanks to some light conversation while working on the task, he'd even received two extra LMD when the quest ended.
Favorability! Time to grind it up!
Sure, a score of 1 was still considered cold and neutral, but Dandao Dantart could already see the glimmer of hope ahead. His expression grew more enthusiastic, and he tried his best to appear humble and respectful.
If only this NPC were a woman… then maybe… Ahem, wait—wrong train of thought.
This whole "adventure" left him feeling a bit like a sycophant, but he didn't care. If it meant pleasing this high-level NPC, he was more than willing to play the part.
Felix, still deep in contemplation, took a few steps forward. Recalling the mannerisms of Andoain, he put on a gentle, approachable smile. He suddenly remembered: he had the function to sell items to players. It might be worth giving it a try.
"Thank you, adventurer. To traverse this land of suffering, you'll need better equipment and supplies."