At the foot of a certain mountain in the Trial Land.
A territory nestled against the mountain, with buildings arrayed like teeth on a comb. Villagers moved back and forth like constantly operating machines, carrying large amounts of resources with torches in the darkness, their expressions numb.
What was even more striking was the strange, lifelike dragon head statue at the center of the territory, emitting a faint orange glow.
Whenever a villager was exhausted and on the verge of collapsing, the dragon head statue would release a swirling mist that, after encircling them a few times, would restore their stamina, allowing them to return to work.
At this moment, inside the Lord's Hall next to the dragon head statue, a tall, handsome young man in a black robe with gold trim tightly gripped an orange crystal, his brows furrowed, seemingly waiting for something.
He casually opened the chat interface.
At this moment, a ten-person chat group was discussing intensely.
"@Xia Jie, Your Highness, is there any news? What exactly is Lin Yi's background?"
"Within the Great Xia Empire, there are only one or two Lin families with some strength, but I've never heard of anyone named Lin Yi... Yet, just a few days after the trial began, he managed to acquire tens of thousands of catties of fierce beast meat! This Newcomer King Trial..."
"I've thought long and hard about it. If he can convert the rare troops granted by the upgrade reward and form two combat teams, perhaps he really can do it!"
"Do you even know what you're saying? Two combat teams? Damn it, converting one rare troop takes at least a dozen hours. In three days, at most six! Even if he has the strength to solo fierce beasts, he couldn't possibly have such abundant stamina for large-scale hunting."
"Then how did he do it? Even those commoner lords who accidentally activated legendary traits in previous trials haven't shown such exaggerated performance."
"Seventh Prince still needs this trial's top spot to stabilize external criticism. With Lin Yi suddenly appearing, how will the subsequent plan proceed?"
"In my opinion, we need to contact him as soon as possible. If we can win him over, that's best. Otherwise... we'll nip him in the bud before his territory's military develops."
"Indeed! I just completed a hidden quest and obtained a Borrowed Blade Scroll!"
"Holy cow! You actually have such a good item? Doesn't that mean as long as we find the exact location of Lin Yi's territory, we can make nearby alien forces attack him?"
"Kid, your luck isn't bad! You even got a legendary item. However, if possible, it's better to save it for a later climax. Using it like this in the early stage is too wasteful."
"........"
Soon.
The orange crystal in Xia Jie's hand began to tremble.
The group chat interface seemed to be blurred by mist, and a message not belonging to any group member suddenly appeared!
...
"Seventh Prince, your humble servant has investigated according to the information you provided. Lin Yi's identity and background are ordinary, with nothing special, and his ancestors have never shown traits above epic level."
"To hunt over a hundred level nine fierce beasts on the fifth day of the trial... aside from high-level civilizations, Blue Star lords are almost incapable of doing so."
"Unless..."
"He happened to be in the right place at the right time and stumbled upon a group of fierce beasts that died accidentally for some reason."
"Your Royal Highness need not worry about his identity or background."
"However, this child had an extremely smooth start and has accumulated a lot of prestige and resources, so Your Highness still needs to be careful!"
"Finally, if Your Highness cannot contact this child, you can also contact a student named Long Tao. Investigations show he is a close friend of Lin Yi and must have his private contact."
...
The anomalous message slowly faded, and the chat channel returned to normal.
Almost instantly, the members of the powerful families in the group began their intense discussion again!
"Holy cow! That's right! How could I forget this? What if he just got lucky and found that meat?"
"The trial environment just changed, and Lin Yi, by chance, found a batch of fierce beast carcasses from a mutual defeat. This is very reasonable."
"I knew it, the truth is simple, we just thought too complicated! It looks like that Lin Yi is just an ordinary commoner lord. Let's find an opportunity to win him over. If we ask him to help His Highness obtain the Newcomer King title, he shouldn't refuse."
"Yes, we need to have someone monitor his private chat settings. Once they open, we must contact him immediately."
"........"
The group was abuzz with various opinions.
Xia Jie's brows indeed twitched slightly. He glanced at the member list, "@Long Tao, why aren't you speaking? It shouldn't be that coincidental, right?"
At this moment, Long Tao, who was far away, saw the @ notification and his old face immediately darkened.
He seemed to already see the big patron he had just latched onto gradually drifting away...
..........
The next day.
Sunlight from outside the window streamed through a gap, falling on Lin Yi's profile.
He opened his eyes.
He lowered his gaze.
The beautiful woman, who had fought all night and was completely undressed, lay on his well-defined chest.
Her skin, as white as jade and slightly flushed, pressed tightly against him.
Especially the substantial softness and delicate tactile sensation made him unable to help but sigh inwardly.
"This is only the sixth day after crossing over."
"I feel like I've experienced more things than in my 'previous life' over more than ten years combined."
"It can't be a dream, can it?"
Thinking of this, Lin Yi couldn't help but pinch his own thigh.
"Ying~"
A soft, sweet sound came from the beauty in his arms.
"Lord..."
Wang Qiu'er opened her flushed beautiful eyes, biting her red lips as she said, "It hurts..."
"Oh oh... Sorry, sorry, I pinched the wrong place!"
Lin Yi's forehead was covered in black lines.
Good heavens.
From the feel just now, not only did he not pinch his own thigh, but he seemed to have misplaced his hand.
"I was a bit heavy-handed. How about... I blow on it for you?" Lin Yi asked tentatively.
"No... no need!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Qiu'er's beautiful oval face immediately turned crimson, and she buried her face in Lin Yi's chest, her breathing rapid.
"Cough cough..."
Lin Yi, his face unblushing and his heart unpounding, patted her shoulder and said, "Alright, I was just teasing you!"
As he spoke, a thought flashed through his mind, and he changed the subject, "By the way, you, your father, and Qianqian all seem to have hidden talents. What exactly are they?"
It had been almost a week since he recruited the Wang family.
Those three mysterious hidden talents had yet to activate, making his heart itch with curiosity.
"This..."
Wang Qiu'er thought for a moment and said seriously, "I heard from Father that hidden talents only trigger and activate under specific conditions. As for what those are, your servant does not know."
"Oh~"
Lin Yi nodded.
It's not that they won't appear, just that the time isn't right yet.
"It's getting late, time to get up!"
The fierce beast meat he ate last night was indeed potent.
After a night of intense activity, he not only felt no fatigue but even had boundless energy he wanted to unleash.
The rumors in the channel about a bowl of fierce beast soup being worth ten catties of meat were not exaggerated.
"Mm~ Your servant will help you dress!"
Hearing this, Wang Qiu'er did not delay, immediately flipping over to find Lin Yi's clothes scattered throughout the room.
Her figure, like a snowflake, was yet another beautiful sight.