When the background NPC became himself, Luo Xiu felt that his whole being was not well.
He began to try to reconstruct the full picture of this incident from his memories of his previous life.
“NPC Luo Xiu” was not a key figure in the “god's path” world, and he wasn't even considered an interactive NPC.
Before the arrival of version 1.0, when players descended, “Luo Xiu” had already died, only living on in specialty introductions for players to commemorate, and he didn't even deserve a name in the introduction, which was quite tragic.
Luo Xiu thought for a long time but couldn't recall any plot related to “Luo Xiu” after the game's 1.0 version launched.
However, he did find a clue in the background of “Dawn Town”, where he was located.
In Luo Xiu's impression, by the time he officially got into version 1.0 of “god's path”, “Dawn Town” had already disappeared from the map.
The place name that replaced it was “Huanghun Town”.
And the scene description for Huanghun Town was as follows:
【A small town once bathed in blood by the evil cult ‘Blood of Thorns’, the ‘radiance’ has faded, leaving only the souls of the dead wailing endlessly…
The resentful gloom lingers, the desolate twilight never ends…】
From its description, as well as the corresponding geographical location in his memory, “Dawn Town” was the predecessor of “Huanghun Town”—the place in the game where necromantic monsters were constantly refreshed.
As a hardcore player, Luo Xiu clearly remembered that in a book titled “The Origin of the Huanghun Town Cataclysm” he collected in his previous life, there was a record of the initial event of “the evil cult bathing Dawn Town in blood”—
The “Blood Disciple Invasion” occurred on July 18, 767, apocalypse calendar, with two Blood Disciples infiltrating at midnight as the beginning of the nightmare.
The reason he remembered this day so clearly was because July 18 was also Luo Xiu's birthday in his previous life.
With danger looming, Luo Xiu's brows furrowed tightly.
“There's still time, it's not a big problem…”
Luo Xiu comforted himself while looking at the calendar on the windowsill; fortunately, his original body had a habit of marking, allowing Luo Xiu to see today's date at a glance.
Counting each circle until the end, Luo Xiu froze.
The marked date showed that this day was July 18, 767, apocalypse calendar!
“… …” Luo Xiu was speechless with emotion.
“Meaning… holy crap!
The evil cult… will invade tonight?!”
With the crisis imminent, Luo Xiu frowned deeply, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, beginning to think deeply.
As a god-level player in his previous life who grasped both the plot and combat intensity, “Huanghun Town” left a very deep impression on Luo Xiu.
Therefore, Luo Xiu had a general understanding of the series of invasion procedures of “Blood of Thorns” afterward.
Dawn Town was not flattened by the evil cult in one wave, but became a ruin after rounds of looting and massacres.
Initially, “Blood of Thorns” invaded Dawn Town to pursue a member of the evil cult who had defected there.
But inadvertently, “Blood of Thorns” discovered an Ancient Existence sleeping beneath Dawn Town, sealed by an Ancient Seal.
Thus, the goal of “Blood of Thorns” shifted; they prepared to offer sacrifices by harvesting souls to break the Ancient Seal of Dawn Town—
—to awaken it and enslave it!
And the two Blood Disciples dispatched by “Blood of Thorns” tonight were vanguards sent to gather intelligence.
After recalling the background of the incident, Luo Xiu began to sketch out the blueprint of his plan.
He felt that he could still save himself.
And at the beginning of formulating the plan, Luo Xiu had to go out first for necessary purchases.
… …
When leaving the Radiant Church, Luo Xiu did not wear priestly robes, but only brought a cotton scarf and a white hood.
It seemed that few people in Dawn Town recognized him, and Luo Xiu was happy to be at ease, just wandering around as if sightseeing.
The architectural style of Dawn Town was quite similar to Bohemian pastoral style, with buildings of various colors mixed like a palette, interweaving simplicity, ruggedness, and romance, giving a bright visual sense of classical and free art combined.
Looking at the vibrant scene before him, Luo Xiu found it really hard to associate it with the “Huanghun Town” that was full of broken walls and walking corpses…
And in a remote alley in Dawn Town, in an inconspicuous corner, a desolate shop seemed to shrink into the shadows.
The broken wooden sign of “Balin's Smithy” swayed in the wind, as if it would be blown away the next second.
“—Thump, thump, thump.”
Three muffled knocks sounded.
After a while, the broken wooden door creaked open, and an old man, whose face was smeared with oily black stains, sparse hair roots filled with reddish-gray dust, and wrinkles like ravines, peered out from the crack in the door.
Perhaps because his work was interrupted, the old man's expression was quite impatient, until he saw that the visitor was a customer wearing a scarf and a white hood, with only two eyes exposed; the old man's expression was surprised for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.
“…What do you want… Do you have a ‘permit’? …Cough cough.”
The old man opened the door and threw out a phrase that counted as a greeting.
This old man was the owner of this smithy, Old Balin the blacksmith.
The Nolan Empire had enacted relevant laws to restrict the widespread circulation of certain weapons and firearms on the market; to purchase certain obviously threatening weapons, one needed to present a “possession permit” issued by the official residence.
Luo Xiu naturally did not have such a thing; although relying on the “Radiant Church” could indeed grant him the qualification to purchase certain dangerous weapons, out of caution, Luo Xiu did not want to leave any clues about his identity.
Luo Xiu nodded, but did not take out any documents, only said in a deep voice:
“I know the rules, I'll pay double.”
Although he couldn't see the customer's face clearly, Old Balin could hear that it was a young man's voice.
He took a deep look at Luo Xiu, said nothing, but nodded almost imperceptibly, turning his body to the side, letting Luo Xiu into the smithy.
Upon entering the smithy, Luo Xiu felt countless dust particles rushing towards him; suppressing the urge to sneeze, Luo Xiu's eyes quickly scanned the shop.
The interior of the smithy was as messy as Old Balin's hair.
Various forged weapons were placed on the wall racks; these were Old Balin's proud works, and the various gems, magic crystals, and complex patterns flowing like liquid embedded in them allowed Luo Xiu to immediately recognize that these items were valuable.
Although ornately decorated, these weapons still fell within the category of ordinary weapons and did not reach the level of “Over Transcendent Weapons”.
But even so, Luo Xiu was very aware of his current wallet; without presenting a “permit” and having to pay double the price, he only targeted a few items he planned to buy.
After Luo Xiu purchased some weapons, potions, and materials, he placed them on the wooden table, and Old Balin wrapped them into a parcel.
“Is that all you want?”
Old Balin mumbled, holding a dry pipe, “Three nolan gold coins, restricted items are double the price, a total of five gold coins and one silver coin.”
…Luo Xiu's mouth twitched.
“These are enough.” Luo Xiu, feeling a bit pained, pulled out his white cloth-sealed wallet from his waist, took out six gold coins, and handed them to the old blacksmith: “Please keep them.”
Then, Luo Xiu obediently waited for his change.
Barlin took the gold coins, was silent for a moment, and then pushed one of them back.
“You know the rules, I'll give you a discount.”
This counts as Old Balin's charity, right…? Luo Xiu nodded and took back one nolan gold coin.
Before leaving, Luo Xiu took another look at Old Balin; he had already retreated into the inner room, continuing to tinker with the half-finished products in his hand.
Only Luo Xiu knew that this seemingly ordinary old blacksmith was actually an Over Transcendent with the Fourfold Destiny of 【Bitter Tea】.
Buying things here, there's no need to worry about being traced—Luo Xiu left no clues about his identity, and no one in Dawn Town could force a Fourfold Destiny Over Transcendent, or get any information about customers from Old Balin.
Therefore, in the so-called “gray area”, “Balin's Smithy” was very famous; even after Dawn Town was bathed in blood and became Huanghun Town, Old Balin would still forge equipment here and sell it to the adventurers who came.
In the Dawn Town cataclysm caused by “Blood of Thorns”, only Barlin survived.
… …
Dawn Town, Radiant Church.
Luo Xiu returned to his room, lay on the ground, and untied the bundle, letting its contents scatter like a sand tower.
Two short flintlocks, a black steel dagger, a copper forged ring…
And two bottles of mana potion, one bottle of health potion, several silver forged plates, two grey wolf hides…
These items were all prepared by Luo Xiu to deal with the Blood Disciples of “Blood of Thorns”.
The enemies were two Over Transcendent with the Second Fate of 【Scarlet Lotus】, which was quite dangerous for Luo Xiu, who had not yet advanced to Over Transcendent.
But with danger also came immense gain! Defeating them would yield a large amount of experience and valuable loot, which would be Luo Xiu's “first pot of gold” in his Over Transcendent career!
Since he had already decided not to sit idly by, Luo Xiu was also prepared to face these cultists directly.
Fleeing would not solve the problem at its root, and it was not Luo Xiu's style; at this time, “tactical retreat” would do more harm than good.
If the novice village was destroyed, he would also lose an important base.
Moreover, the situation had not yet deteriorated to an irreversible point; at worst, there was still Old Balin as a fallback.
As a former hardcore player, Luo Xiu's blood began to boil.
—It's just an evil cult, just dismantle them and be done with it!
A sharp glint shone in Luo Xiu's eyes.
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