Messenger of Calamity

Chapter 6: Conflict

Wu Wanliu looked at the shield soldier and said, “Go out and call Ruokou in. You’ll split the reward with him. Any problem with that?”

The shield soldier nodded. “No problem.”

The shield soldier retraced his steps, and before long, a new shield soldier entered.

Only then did Yan Qing understand why Wu Wanliu had selected a batch of reserves — when a warrior couldn’t hold on any longer, they could be replaced immediately.

During this break, Yan Qing pretended to wander, letting ‘Yan San’ skim the edges of the servant corpses to collect all the loot.

Besides food materials, he also obtained 500 Spirit Jades.

Yan Qing was quite excited — if he could gather 9000 Spirit Jades in the next few days, even if the theft mission failed four days later, he could still pay the fine and pass!

Perhaps because many warriors were injured, the team's morale was a bit low.

Wu Wanliu realized things couldn’t go on like this, so he took the initiative to talk to ‘Yan San’.

“At the city gate yesterday, you clearly stabbed me but it had no effect. Do you know why?”

Yan San: “Why?”

Wu Wanliu: “Because I have this mask — Token: Ghostly Mask.”

Wu Wanliu took off the mask and held it above his head.

This mask, which looked like it was made of iron, suddenly emitted a pitch-black aura, drawing everyone's attention.

The game also popped up information:

“Ghostly Mask”

“Grade: First Rank”

“Equip Conditions: 5 Vitality, 5 Spirit (If these conditions aren’t met, its full potential can’t be unleashed)”

“Effect - Ghostly Protection: The moment you are attacked, summon a ghost to shield you from harm. Each point of Spirit can offset 25 damage. Each activation consumes at least 1 point of Spirit, up to a maximum of 4 points.”

“Effect - Ghostly Possession: While continuously wearing the Ghostly Mask, your Vitality will gradually increase and your sense of pain will gradually dull, but your appearance and physique will slowly become ghostlike.”

“Evaluation: If you want to survive, you’ve got to give something up.”

Wu Wanliu shouted, “As long as you are strong enough to become a Messenger and have sufficient merit, any of you can exchange for this Ghostly Mask and become a Ghostly Knight far beyond ordinary people. From then on, no mortal's bow or crossbow will ever harm you again!”

“And if you want to increase your strength, there is no better method than real combat, bloody battles, intense fights! Besides the Secret Realm, where else can you fight without worries? Nowhere!”

“I, too, once followed General Duan into the Secret Realm to fight, barely surviving death and honing the Guandao technique to its peak before I could change class into a Martial Messenger. If you all undergo enough trials and refine your skills to perfection, you too can become Messengers!”

Wu Wanliu's speech significantly boosted the morale of the crowd.

However, as Yan Qing listened to Wu Wanliu’s words like “refine your skills to perfection” and “Martial Messenger,” a thought popped into his mind —

Could it be that all those capable of class change in this world are muscle-heads who rely on brute force?

Although Yan Qing hadn’t played 《The Messenger》, he knew that one of the game's key features, which helped it rise to the top of MMORPGs, was the class change every ten levels.

The system would offer players three class options every ten levels based on their combat style, weapon choices, and quest history.

Without a doubt, hardcore players would plan each class change meticulously to maximize benefits, while casual players who avoided high-difficulty dungeons could still enjoy new gameplay every ten levels.

Typically, players would class change as soon as they reached level ten, but the system never forced anyone to do so.

To attract new users, 《The Messenger》 didn’t charge before the first class change on new accounts.

Only after class changing would a subscription be required.

If a player never changed class, they could keep playing for free, squeezing every drop out of 《The Messenger》.

But there was one exception.

If a player refined a specific skill to its peak — such as level 10 Basic Spearmanship, level 10 Basic Swordsmanship, level 10 Basic Calligraphy, or level 10 Basic Instruments — and their character level was ≥10, the system would then force them into a “Hidden Class”: either Martial Messenger or Literary Messenger.

At that moment, freeloading players would mistakenly think they had unlocked a hidden class and eagerly subscribe to continue playing...

Only to quickly discover: Huh? Why does this hidden class... not seem very powerful?

Simple — it was all part of 《The Messenger》's new player scheme.

Martial Messenger and Literary Messenger were indeed hidden classes.

Any unclassed player who maxed out a basic skill would automatically switch to one of them.

But these two hidden classes were only so-so in strength and not worth deliberately pursuing.

However, class change was a player-only feature, and clearly, people in this world didn’t get to “choose a class at level 10.”

So Yan Qing easily reached a conclusion: in this world, to undergo their first class change, people likely had to max out a basic skill — relying purely on brute force.

Taking advantage of the high morale, Wu Wanliu immediately led them to continue advancing.

They reached the courtyard garden of the mansion and saw no one, but Wu Wanliu walked straight behind the rockery and opened a hidden trapdoor — a passage to the underground suddenly appeared.

Although he hadn’t played this dungeon, Yan Qing guessed that this tunnel was likely revealed only after finding clues in other rooms.

Wu Wanliu and his group, however, had clearly studied this dungeon thoroughly and naturally took the correct route directly.

Following the tunnel downward, they entered a martial training hall.

Weapon racks were filled with white-steel sabers and spears, and eight fully armored household servants were sparring inside.

Above their heads were the words “Elite Household Servant.”

As soon as Wu Wanliu stepped into the training hall, they rushed forward and triggered combat.

At that moment, Wu Wanliu pulled ‘Yan San’ to his side and said, “You and I will block the stairway. Retreat and you die! Survive, and you become a Hundred-Ward Rider!”

Eight servants could never be held off by five warriors alone.

But if they used the terrain advantage of the stairway, only two people were needed to block the servants, while the archers behind could shoot from above — a perfect tactic.

The problem was: who would block the stairway?

Even the ordinary household servants from earlier were hard to deal with.

Now these “Elite Household Servants” looked and sounded much stronger.

And the stairway had almost no space to dodge, forcing a head-on clash!

Wu Wanliu, as a Martial Messenger with a protective token, naturally wasn’t afraid.

But the other Hundred-Ward Riders were only mortal bodies — even if they won against these damage-trading elites, they'd be left heavily injured.

At that moment, Yan Qing finally understood why Wu Wanliu had treated ‘Yan San’ so well, even recruiting him into the Hundred-Ward Camp without any vetting.

Even if ‘Yan San’ had high vitality and strong combat power, it still seemed overly indulgent…

Turned out it was to use him as filler at this stairway!

It was predictable that the highest casualty spot in this dungeon would be right here.

And those injured would inevitably be Hundred-Ward elites — otherwise, they couldn’t stop the Elite Servants.

So when Wu Wanliu saw ‘Yan San’ had the combat power of a Hundred-Ward Rider during their stroll, he must have been thrilled — what a quality line-filler among ordinary people!

Even now, Wu Wanliu hadn’t stopped dangling the carrot, hoping ‘Yan San’ would fight to the death.

Fortunately, I’m using a side account, so it doesn’t matter if I die, and...

If ‘Yan San’ really survives this dungeon, who gets to call the shots might be a different story.

But after just one round of fighting, Yan Qing felt something was wrong.

The Elite Servant lost 10% of their HP, while ‘Yan San’ lost 7%.

Although the archers in the back were present, they prioritized attacking the unengaged enemies in the rear, leaving ‘Yan San’ to face the enemy alone.

It seemed he had a health advantage, but the issue was that as soon as one Elite Servant died, another would take its place.

Unless the archer team could kill all six remaining servants before ‘Yan San’ killed one — but from the current damage output, that didn’t seem likely.

This can’t go on… but retreating wasn’t an option either, since the shield soldiers were already blocking the way… shield soldiers?

A thought struck Yan Qing — he threw away his spear, turned around, and punched the shield soldier behind him!

“Bastard!”

“You dare—”

Just when Wu Wanliu and the others thought ‘Yan San’ had betrayed them, ‘Yan San’ picked up the fallen warrior’s saber and shield.

During that time, he was slashed twice by the Elite Servant, but once he held the saber and shield to the front line, his HP immediately stabilized.

“You’ve comprehended ‘Basic Saber Technique’, current level: 1.”

“You’ve comprehended ‘Basic Shield Technique’, current level: 1.”

“You’ve comprehended...”

His saber and shield techniques kept leveling up.

The Elite Servants, who could initially chip away 3% of his HP, later couldn’t even break through his shield defense.

When all eight Elite Servants had fallen, ‘Yan San’ had both his saber and shield techniques at level 5, and his level had increased twice to level 9 — just one step away from class change!

However, ‘Yan San’ attacking his comrades had clearly stirred resentment.

People had held back during the fight, but now that it was over, the warrior whose shield and saber had been taken stormed over, raising his fist to punch ‘Yan San’: “Your mother was a slave—”

Yan Qing perfectly dodged, triggering a slow-motion state, then knocked him down again with two punches, even learning a new skill.

“You’ve comprehended ‘Basic Fist Technique’, current level: 1.”

Seeing ‘Yan San’ dare to fight back, someone in the archer team drew their bow and aimed at him.

But ‘Yan San’ swept his gaze across the room without a trace of fear, picked up the long spear, and sneered at the fallen warrior: “If I had died just now, would it have been your turn to hold the line? Didn’t I save your life by holding out? And now you repay me with betrayal?”

The warrior’s eyes bulged with rage, looking like he wanted to lunge and bite, but Yan Qing wasn’t afraid at all — he wasn’t physically there.

“I held off the enemies, and now you’re aiming bows at me?”

‘Yan San’ pulled out a meat bun and ate it, sneering again: “Fine, fine. So this is the Hundred-Ward Riders. If you’ve got guts, wait until I finish this bun and let’s see who dies here!”