Since this was a quest, Lixiang had made thorough preparations. In fact, the task was very simple: find the injured residents and cast a Healing Art to receive their goodwill and gratitude.
Such a simple yet rewarding quest could only have been issued by Draenei. Even before Lixiang had started, he had already been given a blue ring. This spoke volumes about the high standing Lixiang held in the hearts of the Draenei.
At the moment, Lixiang only had a single copper coin to his name, which theoretically meant he could buy nothing. However, the clerics who sold various potions still sold him a bottle of mana recovery potion—worth five copper coins—for the symbolic price of one copper coin.
Lixiang had an exceptional memory. Having already walked around Sun City once, he had impressions of where the residents lived and who looked injured.
Consequently, Lixiang's progress was extremely fast, and the effects of his Healing Art exceeded expectations. The residents immediately showered Lixiang with goodwill. One of the injured veterans even insisted on giving him a green leather armor that granted two points of defense.
As everyone knew, goodwill was a hidden attribute, and the goodwill earned varied depending on how one interacted with people. Hanging out with NPCs who had high goodwill not only unlocked better quests but also yielded rare equipment.
Lixiang completed his quests so successfully because after every Healing Art, he patiently stayed behind to chat for a bit with these so-called indigenous people. In Lixiang's view, if one was going to be a doctor, one had to be professional—checking how the patient felt, whether a follow-up visit was needed, and so on.
A few of them kindly offered some quests, but Lixiang did not accept them. These tasks were trivial things like delivering a letter or finding a lost son; completing them would yield nothing more than a few copper coins or some useless equipment.
After a thorough walk around, seeing that there were no more injured people left, Lixiang went back to find his teacher Draenei to complete the quest. As he reached the city gate, he suddenly paused.
"Of course it's her—that girl who told so many people that I'm boring, nothing more than a bookworm." The girl was tall and slender with a melon-seeded face and a head of short coffee-colored hair, giving her a very brisk and spirited look. Not only did she attend the same school as him, but her father and Lixiang's father worked in the same department, and the two families actually had a pretty decent relationship.
However, this girl named Zhang Hanliu had a personality that was a bit too flamboyant. Though her grades were good, she was involved in everything at school; she had even stepped forward to mediate a fight between boys from two different classes.
Lixiang really disliked her. He vaguely remembered his parents joking in his childhood about making the two families in-laws, a thought that had filled him with utter disdain for this bookworm.
Now, the two of them had actually run into each other at the city gate. It truly was a small world.
Zhang Hanliu and her party had just finished killing a small boss and were returning to change their equipment when she unexpectedly spotted Lixiang, who was dressed in novice Priest gear. Her eyes immediately flashed with undisguised contempt. "A grown man playing a healer class, and still Level Three at this point? Looks like you're a failure both in reality and in the game."
"Xiaoliu, who is this? Do you know him?"
"Suyan Liuyi, do you know this guy?"
Several members of the party immediately chimed in, smiles in their eyes. The lowest-leveled person among them was level ten, and one of them, a Great Swordsman, had already reached level sixteen. Naturally, they looked down upon a male character who chose the Priest class.
"What I choose is my own business. Though that tattered leather armor of yours really is ugly." Lixiang originally wanted to retort, "At least better than having no heals," but he swallowed the words before they left his tongue. After all, the other person was a girl, and Lixiang had no desire to engage in a war of words with her. He simply turned to walk another way.
The equipment on Zhang Hanliu's body was genuine green gear. Although it looked somewhat worn, it was still a rare sight at this stage of the game. To have Lixiang dismiss it as trash instantly turned her expression icy cold.
"I'm going to go teach him a lesson." A Rogue's lips curled into a faint smirk as his figure flashed, instantly rushing in front of Lixiang.
"Kid, looks like you know Suyan Liuyi. Too bad I think you're a major eyesore today. Consider yourself unlucky."
Combat was not allowed inside the city, and Lixiang was only Level Three, but this Rogue could perform insulting gestures—he could even "friendly" pat Lixiang on the face. City guards wouldn't interfere with that kind of humiliation.
Lixiang's eyes instantly turned red. He never expected this person to humiliate him like this. Meanwhile, for reasons unknown, Suyan Liuyi felt a sudden pang in her heart. "Forget it, Brother Dao, let him go." She didn't even dare to meet Lixiang's eyes.
Xiaodao withdrew his hand, but Lixiang lunged forward with a kick, grabbed onto Xiaodao tightly, and dragged him crashing straight to the ground.
Unfortunately, Lixiang's strength and other stats were merely the base ten points, and he was instantly knocked away by Xiaodao.
Both of their movements were extremely fast. Before the surrounding people could even register what had happened, they saw Lixiang sent flying backward.
"How dare you assault Lord Heartless Parting! Go to hell." Several NPCs who had been standing on the sidelines rushed forward directly, and with a single sword strike, the so-called Xiaodao was turned into a beam of white light, killed instantly. What followed next was even more astonishing:
"System Announcement: Player Gentle Blade has been listed as persona non grata in this city, hence Light Faction goodwill minus 50!~"
"System Announcement: Player Gentle Blade has been listed as persona non grata in this city, hence Light Faction goodwill minus 50!~"
"What is going on?" As soon as the system notice dropped, everyone froze. The system rarely issued public announcements; even players had to spend a hundred gold coins to issue one.
Gentle Blade himself was completely dumbfounded. His opponent was nothing more than a Level Three Priest—he had even killed Level Twelve Priests before without facing any penalties. Upon respawn, he had dropped to Level Three, and what was most terrifying was that the NPCs here completely ignored him, with the guards even beginning to drive him out.
And this wasn't even the worst of it, because everyone knew that a minus 100 in Light Faction goodwill meant not only would he be unable to accept Light Faction quests in the future, but whenever he leveled up in the wild, any healing a Priest cast on him would only be one percent of normal effectiveness.
How could things turn out like this?
Lixiang stood up, glanced at Suyan Liuyi and the people around her, and turned to walk away. Not a single one of these people would be let off—the humiliation of today would be repaid tenfold.
The person who had instantly killed Gentle Blade was none other than the veteran who had given Lixiang his equipment. Furthermore, Lixiang held two unique statuses that no one else possessed: the first was being a student to the Arch-Cardinal of Sun City, a status officially recognized by the system.
The second was that, in a very short span of time, Lixiang's friendliness with the Light Faction had already reached Level Two Revered, the highest among all players.
Sun City was the capital of the Light Faction; naturally, such a player had to be given preferential treatment, which was why Gentle Blade met such a tragic end.
Several NPCs ran over as well. These were people Lixiang had treated with Healing Art. Looking at these individuals who were supposed to be mere data, Lixiang felt a sudden warmth in his heart. These people were honest and simple: treat them well, and they would treat you well.
On the top floor of the cathedral, Draenei, clad in red robes, was deeply gratified. He hoped this setback would help his student grow a little. Such minor humiliation was nothing; there would be much greater and more difficult trials in the future.
"Draenei, if this Heartless Parting's only goal is to become a bishop, he can manage it. But his combat talent is truly abysmal. You must know that a real Priest is also extremely formidable in combat." The speaker's voice was firm and low, carrying an unquestionable tone, and beneath his purple cloak was a suit of yellow armor.
"Indeed, Teacher, but I believe Heartless Parting will not only become an outstanding Holy Priest in the future, but perhaps even a formidable Punishment Priest."
Lixiang returned to his library. It felt just like home; whenever he got hurt, he would come back here to lick his wounds.
"Got wronged?" Draenei looked at his most brilliant student with a smile and casually pulled over a chair to sit opposite Lixiang.
"A little, but it's nothing much. I believe the power of light is the strongest power, and one day I will definitely defeat those people." Lixiang held no heavy grievances and didn't complain to Draenei. This attitude made Draenei nod inwardly.
"To seek revenge, you must possess formidable strength. The people from today are nothing. You must know that among the enemies of the light, there even exist powerful and evil Black Dragons."
Lixiang was smart and instantly understood that his teacher wanted him to take the initiative to go out and grind levels. After all, in this world, the strong were revered, and up until now, he was still just at initial Level Three.
However, glancing at the rows of books inside the room, he still felt a bit reluctant to leave. These books simply could not be seen in reality; some of them could only be found in the royal libraries of Western countries—a secret Lixiang had discovered on his very first day of reading.
"Teacher, I plan to read for a few more days to enrich myself. Once I thoroughly master the knowledge and theory and lay a solid foundation, I will go out and train."
"Uh! Very well." Draenei stood up with a twitch of his eyebrow. It seemed his own insight still fell short of his teacher's, the current Pope. Even though this student of his was a man, he didn't seem very keen on combat. However, his piety toward the light and his attitude toward learning were even stronger than his own.
As he reached the door, Draenei couldn't help saying, "If you want to go out and experience the world, you can come find me. I happen to have some quests I need to assign to you."
Lixiang gave a casual grunt of assent, lowering his head to continue reading his copy of Path of Light. As for the quests his teacher mentioned, he didn't have much interest in them at all.