Chapter Forty-Nine: The Elite Class’s Mad Scheme

"Not bad. At this rate, after a few more big operations, I'll have enough money to buy attribute points."

"However, today's battle exposed a problem: regular monsters are easy to deal with, but overly powerful bosses are difficult to handle."

It wasn't exactly an exposure; the problem had always existed, but today it felt especially helpless.

"I still need to find a team."

Chu Cheng pinched his chin and sent a message to Zhang Chunlei:

"I'm planning to switch locations to continue grinding reputation, and maybe take down some bosses. Are you interested in joining me?"

Zhang Chunlei replied swiftly:

"But I already made plans yesterday to team up with Wang Weilong."

"I see."

"Do you want to join us? The more people, the stronger we are."

"Is it appropriate?"

"Of course it is."

"You'd better ask him first."

"Alright, I'll check and get back to you soon."

After closing the communication, Chu Cheng massaged his brow, intending to rent a room and rest. Just as he reached the inn, he received a message:

"So fast!"

But upon opening it, he found it wasn't from Zhang Chunlei, but from a stranger's number. The message, however, shocked him:

"I'm Sun Yu from Class One. Our entire class, together with elite members from six other classes, totaling over a hundred people, are preparing to undertake a major operation. We cordially invite you to join us, Chu Cheng."

???

That message immediately piqued Chu Cheng's interest, and he quickly replied:

"What kind of major operation?"

"We're planning to unite and attack the Orcs' Blackstone Fortress before the first major plot event."

???

Chu Cheng was extremely surprised:

"You want to attack Blackstone Fortress? Are you crazy... How confident are you?"

"You think we're insane?"

The other side was blunt and explained:

"We're quite confident. For this entrance exam, we've been preparing for a long time. We've assembled a batch of summoning scrolls and items, capable of summoning over a hundred summoned creatures of various levels to serve as cannon fodder. With plenty of support items, the chances of success are high."

"Of course, if you join us, Chu Cheng, your talents will further increase our chances."

Without waiting for Chu Cheng's reply, the other side continued:

"Your talents give you an unparalleled advantage in clearing regular monsters, greatly easing our burden. As long as you join us, we're willing to pay you a labor fee of ten gold coins."

"Hmm..."

Chu Cheng scratched his head, rapidly weighing the invitation in his mind.

He was quite interested, but when he thought about what they intended and the information on Blackstone Fortress, it was like a bucket of cold water poured over him.

Blackstone Fortress wasn't the Orcs' headquarters, but a southern stronghold, equivalent to humanity's northern outpost, only much larger in scale.

Inside, at least five hundred orc soldiers, all level fifteen or above, were stationed. There was an elite guard squad, all level twenty or higher, using elite templates.

The commander was an orc warlord at level forty-five, of terrifying template.

Within Blackstone Fortress was also a boss above level forty, albeit only an elite template.

On top of that, there were five terrifying template captains, all over level thirty, and more than a dozen elite template mini-bosses at similar levels.

On the quest board, there was a mission to destroy Blackstone Fortress, positioned at the very top of both the quest and reputation lists. The Cross Fort gave an outrageously generous reward for destroying it.

If one could destroy this orc outpost fortress, they'd earn fifty points, three permissions, twenty-five hundred reputation, and a direct reward of twenty gold coins.

Boss kill rewards were extra.

The rewards were extravagant—exceedingly so.

But...

Rewards always scale with risk. With such great rewards, the risks were equally outrageous.

Not to mention the many bosses in the fortress—there were five as strong as the centaur chieftain, and two even stronger.

For Chu Cheng, the greatest threat wasn't these bosses, but the fortress itself.

This was a military stronghold, after all. Besides the numerous guards, it was equipped with many war machines.

Ballistae, catapults, rolling logs, boiling oil—everything you could imagine.

Don't ask where the orcs got all these war machines; they just have them.

Storming a fortress armed to the teeth was wholly different from attacking a centaur camp with only wooden fences.

True, he could leap directly onto the wall with Thunderstrike, no need to climb ladders.

But while he could jump up, few could follow. There wouldn't be any backup for a while, and he'd have to endure attacks from a horde of regular soldiers mixed with bosses. Chu Cheng didn't think he could withstand that.

And if he charged so boldly, he'd easily attract the attention of the orc officers atop the wall. Any terrifying template captain joined by several level thirty elite officers could pose a huge threat to him.

Trapped in the midst of enemies, even his Blade Storm's damage reduction might not save him.

So...

"Sorry, the risk is too high. I'm not interested."

Sun Yu immediately replied:

"If you feel the rewards are insufficient, I can decide to add ten points on top of the ten gold coins. Also, I know you're grinding reputation; I can promise to give you all the reputation from this mission if it succeeds."

"Twenty-five hundred reputation—enough to bring you close to Revered."

...

Chu Cheng still shook his head:

"I can sense your sincerity, but the risk is just too high."

"In addition, I can still..."

"Sorry, I really don't want to take part in such a high-risk operation. Please find someone else!"

Chu Cheng directly cut off Sun Yu's persuasion and closed the communication.

"What, he refused?"

On the second floor of the central castle at the outpost, several Class One members looked at Sun Yu. He shook his head:

"No."

"He said the risk was too great and didn't want to participate."

"He's that timid?"

Sun Yu spread his hands:

"I didn't expect someone with the tank talent to be so cowardly."

The others exchanged glances. Pan Yue, seated below, asked:

"You didn't tell him all our offers?"

Sun Yu shook his head:

"Of course I did, but he still wasn't interested."

"Hmm..."

"Should we sweeten the deal? Allow him to pick any one rare-grade item?"

"I'll ask."

...

"Damn, he really is a coward."

"Forget him. With someone that timid, he won't accomplish anything, and he's not a threat to us. Find another batch of people—invite the strongest from the other classes and tell them I have a superlative spell scroll."

"Weren't you planning to use it for the first major plot event?"

"We'll see. If I don't say so, they won't have the guts to come."

"Alright!"

At the inn, just as Chu Cheng returned to his room, he received Zhang Chunlei's reply:

"I'm going to tackle something else recently; I won't have time for now."

A thought flashed through Chu Cheng's mind, and he casually asked:

"Did Class One invite you to attack Blackstone Fortress?"

Zhang Chunlei was surprised:

"They invited you? If you were to join, your talents would be perfect for this..."

"They did, but I declined."

The conversation abruptly ended.