As an NPC, having a lot of skills is quite reasonable, right?

As the system notification ended, hundreds of white lights lit up almost simultaneously in the square in the center of Nohanville.

"Ah! This light! Ah! This water! It's so realistic!"

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! The pain system advertised by the official channels is real!"

"Hey guys! This game actually lets you take your pants off."

A player with the ID "[Naked Running is an Art]" suddenly shouted and unbuckled his belt in front of everyone.

Soon, two grim-faced church knights rushed up and knocked him unconscious with their sword sheaths, then dragged him away like a dead dog.

[System Announcement: Player "Streaking is an Art" has been detained for 24 hours for violating public order regulations.]

The entire room fell silent for a second, then erupted in an even louder gasp of amazement: "Holy crap! This NPC is incredibly intelligent!"

While many players were exploring this new and exciting world, one player named "Big Pineapple" stood out from the crowd.

In reality, he is an entertainment streamer with millions of followers, known for his over-interpretation of the plot and unorthodox gameplay. At this moment, he fiddled with the game for a while and turned on the game's built-in live streaming function.

"Guys! We're going live! We're going live!"

"This is the legendary 'Blood, Fire and Wine'! To be honest, the graphics are amazing! But..."

He opened the sparsely functional system interface to show the audience: "This game is way too hardcore! There's no auto-pathfinding, no quest exclamation marks, not even a black minimap, and no tutorial! How am I supposed to play this?"

The live stream chat was scrolling wildly:

[Hahaha, the pineapple's suffering begins!]

Stop talking nonsense and go trigger the story! This game requires players to actively seek out quests!

Big Pineapple sighed and began wandering around the plaza, trying to find someone who looked like a key NPC.

Unfortunately, he was surrounded by ordinary villagers who, while polite to a stranger like him, would only offer a few empty platitudes like "May the God of Judgment bless you."

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a man in black robes standing in the corner of the clock tower. His aloof and detached demeanor was completely out of place with the villagers around him who could only laugh foolishly.

Big Pineapple's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately sent out a probe.

【Name:? ? ? 】

【grade:???】

Moen used his mental power to shield himself from the player's attempts to detect him.

It was only after arriving in this world that Moen learned that his reconnaissance could be detected, and that its true mechanism was to use his mental perception to sense the enemy's strength.

What's even more amazing is that Moen discovered that those of higher rank couldn't detect his mental perception, such as Elwin.

He initially thought it was due to the player template, but today he discovered that he could sense and block the mental energy of these players, which left him puzzled as to why he was so special.

"Holy crap! Look, guys! It's all question marks!"

Big Pineapple's voice trembled with excitement: "This is definitely a hidden master!"

He straightened his clothes and cautiously approached, "Um, hello?"

Moen raised his head slightly but did not answer immediately. Instead, he remained silent for a full five seconds.

For those five seconds, Big Pineapple didn't dare to breathe.

Finally, Moen spoke, his voice low and deep: "Another exiled, flameless ashes?"

Big Pineapple shuddered, and the live stream chat exploded instantly:

Holy crap! That dialogue! It's got the vibe!

[No Flame of Ash? Is this a tribute to the Souls series? Or is it a unique feature of this game?]

[Pineapple, lick him! This is definitely the main plot!]

Just as Big Pineapple was about to express his loyalty, a few hot-headed players suddenly rushed over from the side.

One of the players, nicknamed "Crazy Cool Overlord," saw that Moen looked cool in his black robes and reached out to grab Moen's hood: "Hey! Dude! Where did you buy those clothes?"

A typical player from a chaotic faction, who plays the game primarily by doing whatever he wants.

Moen didn't move. He just turned his head slightly, and one hand under his black robe secretly released [Azure Foxfire], causing the surrounding temperature to drop by ten degrees.

Before the player could even touch the hood, he suddenly froze on the spot, his face turning deathly pale.

"thump."

The corpse fell to the ground, its face covered in white frost, while its soul turned into white light and went to the resurrection point.

At the same time, Big Pineapple also received a system notification:

[You were threatened by ???]

[Failed mental assessment, instilled "Fear" status, all attributes reduced by 50% for 1 minute]

Players who had initially wanted to join the fun immediately retreated several meters away, and the chat in the live stream exploded with comments:

Holy crap! That look is deadly?!

[What level is this NPC? He instantly killed that person?]

Only Big Pineapple didn't back down; instead, it became even more excited.

His eyes gleamed as he stared at Moen, inwardly roaring, "It's confirmed! This is definitely a reclusive, peerless expert! I'm sticking with this guy!"

Moen withdrew his gaze and said in a detached tone, as if he had seen through the ways of the world:

Do you want the power to survive in this hopeless world?

"Yes, but the embers of fire do not shine on the weak."

[System prompt: Accept the hidden quest "Trial of Embers"?]

[Task Difficulty: Hard]

[Quest Description: This world is decaying, the church's towers block out the stars. We need a fire to burn away the thorns of falsehood. Go to the icy pool deep in the Grey Forest and bring back 10 Icethorn Grasses to prove your resolve.]

"I'll accept it!" Big Pineapple clicked "confirm" without hesitation.

The live stream chat went crazy:

[Starting on Hard difficulty?]

The pineapple is about to suffer again.

Are we going to let Pineapple God taste the sweetness again?

……

Two hours later, in the Grey Evil Forest...

"Help! Why does this grass explode?!"

"Where's the healer? Oh, this game doesn't have a healer yet. Never mind, just die."

Big Pineapple, along with a few friends, put on a spectacular display of death by the cold pool.

Not only are there poisonous toads around those ice thorns, but the thorns themselves also cause frost damage when pulled out.

The pineapple was frozen to death three times, killed twice by a toad, and fell to its death once.

After waiting another 10 minutes for his resurrection cooldown and paying 20 copper coins, Big Pineapple gritted his teeth and said, "Since we can't beat them, we'll use the corpse-stacking strategy!"

"You guys go up and draw aggro, I'll reimburse your resurrection fee if you die! I'm going to steal some herbs!"

After a full hour of paving the way with corpses, Big Pineapple finally managed to gather 10 medicinal herbs, looking disheveled and covered in dust.

It was dusk when he returned to the clock tower in the square, and that NPC was still there, seemingly blending into the darkness.

"I...I brought it back."

Moen looked at Big Pineapple's disheveled appearance and a perfect expression appeared on his face.

That was a pie chart expression that conveyed "three parts surprise, three parts admiration, and four parts unfathomable depth."

"Oh?"

Moen took the herbs: "You actually came back alive? It seems the fire in your heart hasn't been extinguished yet."

[Task Completed]

Experience points gained: 200

[Activated Faction: Ember]

[Gained 1 point of favor with the Ember Organization]

Current Relationship: Neutral

Moen pulled out a tattered notebook from his pocket. He had bound it with parchment overnight. Although the drawing was poor, he had infused each page with a trace of magic, so it could barely be considered a skill book.

"Here you go." Moen tossed the notebook to him.

"Go, go and complete more purifications. When your flames are hot enough, you will see me again in the shadows."

After saying that, Moen turned around and disappeared into the shadows of the alley.

Big Pineapple only opened the notebook with trembling hands after seeing Moen disappear.

Congratulations on learning the skill: Heavy Chop!

[Rank: Mortal]

[Description: A strike that gathers the full power of the body; simple and unadorned, yet incredibly powerful.]

[Cost: 10 Mana]

[Cooldown: 8 seconds]

[Skill Effect]

[Heavy Strike: A full-force attack that deals 150% physical damage]

While you can increase damage by hacking at monsters normally, this is a skill!

While other players were still flailing around with random punches, he already had skill icons!

Five minutes later, a new post was pinned to the top of the game forum:

[Exclusive First Release] Encountering a Hidden NPC at the Start! The Difficult Trial is Over! Includes a Handsome Photo of the NPC!

Posted by: Big Pineapple

Content: "Brothers! I've discovered the real hidden organization, [Ember]! The mentor is ridiculously strong; his gaze can kill! The missions are insanely difficult, but the rewards are real skill books! Location: Nohanville Clock Tower. The mentor's whereabouts are unpredictable. Anyone who wants to be his lackey, come quick!"

The number of replies below instantly exceeded 1,000:

1st Floor [Sofa King]: Holy crap! Front row seat! Diablo moved this fast? The beta has only been open for a few hours!

Floor 38 [Master Wang at the Village Entrance]: ??? Comparison is the thief of joy! Why does the village chief in the newbie village only give me errand-running tasks, and the reward is just two black breads? This guy is already learning combat skills? This game is targeting me!

Floor 94 [Lord of Cinder]: Blind students, you've spotted the key point! "The Ashes of No Flame"? "Embers"? This dialogue... the production team must be fans of Miyazaki, right?

125th Floor [I'm Really Not a Simp]: OP, you've become a dog already? Have some backbone, okay? Can't you stand up like a man... Um, I wanted to ask if the Ember Organization needs a gatekeeper? Woof woof!

Post #136 [Lost Pigeon]: Looking for coordinates! Looking for coordinates! May the poster have a peaceful and prosperous life! Even if it means going to my death, I want to meet this killer with those murderous eyes!

Floor 237 [Pay-to-Win]: How do I recharge in this game? I want to buy the same black robe outfit as this NPC! It's so cool! Wearing this to stand around in the newbie village would definitely be the most eye-catching thing!

Floor 238 [Tech Enthusiast Old Ghost]: Let's analyze this. The fact that they can directly give out skill books shows this organization has a very deep foundation, or it might be a late-game organization that's opened up early. Diablo really got incredibly lucky this time. Everyone hurry to Nohanville, or you might miss out on everything!

368th floor [I love drinking water]: Damn, I thought I was set for life after spawning at the Star Pattern Academy, but all I get to do is study those scholars every day. There are rewards, but it's so boring!

539th floor [Give me back my hard-earned money]: Pineapple God, but you've died so many times and your corpses are still lying in the wild, don't you care?

540th floor [Riding a donkey while looking for a horse]: Don't you know? The corpse will turn into particles and drift away with the wind in about half an hour.

Meanwhile, on the sofa at Blackberry Manor, Moen ate the roast meat made by Green while browsing the forum. He couldn't stop smiling as he watched his newly established shell organization gain thousands of virtual fans.

He was observing the names when the players arrived, and he happened to spot "Big Pineapple," a player with some influence in the game community, so he deliberately exposed him to the player's view.

Furthermore, with the countdown to the closed beta test reaching zero today, Moen discovered that his system panel had an additional [Faction Module], which seemed to be specifically opened for these Divine Blessed Ones.

At that time, an idea about establishing his own power slowly took shape in his mind. He planned to put potions and some equipment in the organization's reputation shop to further enhance the organization's prestige.

Although he's the only one in the organization right now, there's still plenty of time. Tonight, Moen plans to bring Lily in as a mascot, and tomorrow he'll let her make an appearance. The effect will be absolutely explosive!