Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

This badge is a one-time use item. After use, you will gain the coordinates of Tooth Spike City and access to the teleportation array.

The mission requires 5 people, and Wu Zhan naturally wouldn't let this opportunity pass him by.

After all, having more people means more benefits and greater safety.

Now that the teleportation array in Toothpick City is open to them, Wu Zhan decided to return to Azure Town and bring two more people over.

Besides, I also need to clean out the odds and ends in my backpack.

The three hurriedly returned to the small town of Azure.

After exiting the teleportation array, Wu Zhan led Liu Nian and Sun Yao to his residence in the town, a sturdy-looking stone hut, which was also the headquarters of Wu Zhan's newly established "Newcomer Guild".

"Let's keep these items in my guild warehouse for now!" Wu Zhan said, then seemed to remember something, "Oh right, I haven't invited you to join the guild yet!"

Liu Nian accepted Wu Zhan's invitation and immediately chose to accept.

The number of new members is not large; including Liu Nian, who just joined, there are only 36 people in total.

The highest level player among them is Wang Mu, who is level 55.

之后50级的有3个，40~50级之间的有11个，其余都是30级以下的。

The lowest level was that of the guild leader, Wu Zhan, who was only level 13 at the time.

However, no one questioned Wu Zhan's status. The reason why Wu Zhan's level was low was because he had personally rescued every single person in the guild. He himself didn't know how many times he had died trying to save these people.

"Boss, another new guy?"

"Haha, I saw this morning that the boss's level had been reset to zero again, so I knew he was off rescuing newbies again..."

"Take it easy, boss! We can save people if necessary!"

Wu Zhan also posted a message: "This is our new brother Liu Nian, everyone welcome him~ From now on, we're all family!"

Liu Nian also posted a message: "Hello everyone!"

This was followed by a chorus of welcomes: "Brothers, welcome to the club!"

Wu Zhan said to Liu Nian, "Most of the people here are like you, having survived a single death. So don't underestimate us just because we're few in number; we're a team with immense potential!"

Liu Nian nodded; indeed, he himself felt the same way.

Without the Heart of Steel talent and his current skill set, how could he possibly possess his current combat power?

Once he loses these, he'll probably just be an ordinary player.

Liu Nian also noticed that all these people had Chinese names, so they were very likely Chinese as well.

Perhaps Wu Zhan was utterly disappointed with those "not of our kind," which is why there wasn't a single foreigner in the newly established guild.

They put all the equipment they didn't need into the guild warehouse.

These items can be exchanged for guild contribution points, sold directly at the lowest price, or auctioned off based on bidding from other players.

However, since the other members of the guild are all of higher rank than them, they probably wouldn't be interested in these guys.

But it doesn't matter, we can just consider it as enriching the guild's equipment inventory, since we'll always recruit new members in the future anyway.

Wu Zhan looked at the locations of the members in the guild, and then picked two players who weren't very busy at the moment, based on their levels.

Seeing that it was almost time, he, Liu Nian, and Sun Yao returned to the teleportation array.

A moment later, a male and a female player also arrived at the teleportation array.

The woman was agile and wore dark leather armor. Two daggers with a green glow were at her waist. Her eyes were sharp as an eagle's, and she moved so quietly that she barely made a sound.

Her name is Zhao Xinchun, her level is LV.22, and she is an assassin.

The man wore a strange robe sewn with various feathers and bone ornaments, and held a bone staff wrapped with vines in his hand, with a calm look in his eyes.

His name is Chen Suan, level 25, and he is a witch doctor.

Like Liu Nian, these two were newcomers whom Wu Zhan risked his life to save and whom he considered to have great potential.

Like Liu Nian, they trusted Wu Zhan and were grateful for his rescue.

"President, is this the brother who just joined?" Zhao Xinchun's gaze fell on Liu Nian, with a hint of inquiry.

"Liu Nian, our new teammate, is an extremely strong melee fighter!" Wu Zhan introduced.

Zhao Xinchun's expression changed slightly.

If someone can be described as "extremely strong" in the context of martial arts, then that person must be quite something.

Currently, within the guild, only Wang Mu, the highest-ranking member, and Yun Xiangrong, known as the number one lightning mage in Azure City, can be described as "very strong" in Wu Zhan's eyes.

Chen Suan nodded to Liu Nian, which was considered a greeting.

He was also very curious about what was so special about this level 16 newcomer that made Wu Zhan so fond of him.

After exchanging pleasantries, Wu Zhan quickly explained the mission details.

Both of them were delighted to hear that there was an epic mount as a reward.

Mounts are still a rarity in Azure Town, let alone epic mounts.

Just as they were about to set off, Zhao Xinchun seemed to remember something and lowered his voice to say to Wu Zhan, "President, I've heard some rumors that the Azure Council... seems to be planning something big."

"What big move?" Wu Zhan frowned.

"It's about a newly discovered level 55 raid instance—'Wailing Cataclysm.'" Zhao Xinchun's tone was somewhat solemn. "It's said that the first clear reward is a level 55 legendary set item and an S-rank job change scroll. Currently, at least four races are simultaneously trying to clear it: the Orcs, the Lizardmen, the Eagleborn, and us humans from Blue Star."

She paused, a hint of resentment on her face: "But the other three races don't even take us seriously. They said that we humans aren't even worthy of stepping on their backs, so the first leader will definitely be one of them."

"The Azure Council is enraged and is secretly assembling its top teams, prepared to seize this first passage at all costs."

This news caused Wu Zhan's expression to change slightly.

Legendary equipment is, of course, extremely important to humans on Earth.

As far as he knew, only a few high-ranking members of the Azure Council had a legendary piece of equipment, but they were all individual pieces, not complete sets.

What's more, there's also an S-grade job change certificate.

No wonder they're so enthusiastic about it.

but……

Wu Zhan shook his head with a cold laugh: "Secret gathering? Even you know about this, do you think there are any secrets left? Besides, those three races don't care about human secrets at all. After all, the difference in level and strength is there. I think the Azure Council is going to suffer another big setback this time."

Zhao Xinchun's expression was strange. Indeed, he already knew about this news... so how could it be a secret?

However, if the council finds out about Wu Zhan's words, it will likely cause them to be dissatisfied again.

Wu Zhan composed himself: "Let's ignore them for now and focus on the task at hand—improving our own strength!"

Without further delay, Liu Nian handed the two badges to Zhao Xinchun and Chen Suan, instructing them to activate the teleportation array in Toothpick City.

The five then returned to Toothpick City via a teleportation array.

Speaking of which, after Toothpick City opened, Wu Zhan checked the location of it from Azure Town using a map.

It's not actually that far, just north of the small town of Azure, but you have to cross a river and traverse a section of the ratmen's territory.

If they were to travel by ground, their level and strength alone would definitely not be enough; they would need at least a level 50 or higher player to lead the charge.

After a short wait, the ready-made High Tinker Mekkatorque arrived with two level 22 gnome guards to join them, and the group embarked on their journey to Prince City of the Heart of the Gear.

"Human warriors, I must tell you in advance that we will encounter three terrible enemies along the way: cave-dwelling predator crabs, fungus lurkers, and mushroom people!" Mekkatorque briefly explained the enemies they were about to face before setting off.