He was clearly Zone 5's strongest player, yet at this moment, he was instead being attacked by the very players of his own Zone.
What bitter irony.
But the overwhelming majority of Zone 5's people did not care in the slightest about how they appeared.
They only wanted to use this method to find a morally righteous outlet for their own weakness and jealousy of the strong.
The World Channel was still in chaos.
[Dennis] (Zone 5): "John may be at fault, but that Lord-Class Player from Zone 4 deserves to die too.
Zone 4 players, get the hell out here. What gives you the right to screw us over?
As far as I remember, we never tried to stop you from creating your new order, did we?"
The players of Zone 4 belonged to the Order Faction.
They believed in tearing down the old order completely and establishing a new one in its place.
The moment Dennis started cursing them out, the Zone 4 players who had been lurking silently immediately jumped into the fray.
[Airs] (Zone 4): "Heh. You are all nothing more than products of the old order.
If you survive tomorrow's monster tide, then naturally you'll have the资格 to join our new order.
If not, then you deserve to be eliminated as remnants of the old order."
[Jace] (Zone 4): "We used the Acceleration Token to make Zone 5's ecosystem more balanced.
This monster tide will just happen to eliminate a batch of players who can't keep up with the pace.
When that happens, the resources can naturally be distributed to stronger players.
Isn't that exactly the kind of thing your Zone 5 likes best?"
[X] (Zone 5): "Go fuck yourself! Then why don't you use it on your own Zone?
You cut our development time down to one day—people like you and John should both be wiped out together!"
[Jace] (Zone 4): "What's with your attitude? We're obviously doing this for your own good."
The players from the two Zones argued more and more fiercely in the World Channel.
From time to time, players from the other three Zones would also jump in to stir the pot.
It was a scene of thriving chaos, with everyone adding fuel to the fire.
But from beginning to end,
the Zone 4 Lord-Class Player who had truly used the Acceleration Token never appeared.
He was probably afraid of becoming everyone's target.
As for John, the one being cursed the most viciously, he also said nothing.
Looking at the endless stream of insults in the chat window, he let out a cold laugh.
"They really are exactly the same as the people I remember."
John had long since seen through the selfish, self-serving nature of Zone 5's players.
So the fact that they had turned around and started cursing him came as no surprise at all.
Let them curse if they wanted. He did not care about the opinions of a bunch of clowns.
What truly mattered to John was the item: Acceleration Token.
"Acceleration Token... the exclusive S-rank item of a Lord-Class Player!"
John's gaze deepened in thought.
Lord Class was one of the special classes in Apocalypse.
Its rarity could not be described even with the phrase one in ten thousand.
To become this class, a player had to possess extraordinary luck in order to trigger the hidden special Class Change quest.
And to this day, not a single Lord-Class Player had ever revealed the contents of that quest.
At least in John's memories from his previous life, the number of players who had successfully changed into this class did not exceed the number of fingers on both hands!
How long had the server even been open?
And yet a Lord-Class Player had already appeared—and in Zone 4, no less.
The traits of a Lord-Class Player were extremely unusual.
This class itself was not particularly strong in combat. In fact, even certain priest classes could easily crush a Lord-Class Player in a direct fight.
But if a Lord-Class Player established a guild or a kingdom, then the situation would be completely reversed.
The Lord Class possessed an exclusive talent capable of drastically boosting the combat power of all subordinate units.
Any player who joined the Lord's guild or kingdom would receive enhancements to attack, defense, and other attributes.
A truly capable lord could often turn a bunch of third-rate players into a first-rate guild.
In a way, it could be described as one man becoming an army.
As for the S-rank item Acceleration Token—
even among the exclusive items of a Lord-Class Player, it was considered extremely rare.
A lord could use an Acceleration Token to greatly reduce the cooldown or countdown of any event.
However—
based on John's understanding of the Lord Class,
even if one possessed an Acceleration Token, it should only be usable within one's own Zone.
So how had this Lord-Class Player from Zone 4 managed to use it across Zones?
That practically violated the rules of Apocalypse itself!
John's brows furrowed tightly, then quickly relaxed again.
No matter what—
this Lord-Class Player from Zone 4 was quite interesting.
At a stage when the game had only just begun, and everyone else was still slowly grinding monsters and leveling up,
the Lord-Class Player had already seen through the underlying rules of Apocalypse.
He had even taken advantage of them, using the innate strengths of his class and an Acceleration Token to strike first.
As a result, Zone 5 had been directly plunged into the shadow of the coming monster tide.
"What a ruthless move. What a beautiful move."
Even though the other side was an enemy, John could not help but praise him inwardly.
Just as he was thinking about how to deal with tomorrow's monster tide,
a lightning-like thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Wait!
John shot to his feet, his expression turning grim.
"Damn it—I almost forgot about that!"
There was no time to curse himself for his carelessness.
John immediately activated Instant Move, and his figure vanished from where he stood.
...
Half an hour later,
John returned to Novice Village.
The moment he entered the village, he was greeted by crowds of villagers bearing flowers and surrounding him from all sides.
"Great hero, thank you for bringing us peace and safety!"
"Oh, my poor Ina can finally rest in peace."
"Hero, word of your feat in single-handedly clearing the entire underground catacomb has already spread to the main city!"
"..."
Thanks to his high Reputation, John was continuously given all sorts of gifts along the way.
Blacksmith's bracers, a ring from the shopkeeper...
By the time he found the female knight captain of the village guard, quite a few extra items had already been added to his inventory.
He had even received more than a hundred silver coins on top of that.
All that could be said was that in this world, kind-hearted NPCs really were rewarded in the end.
"Hero, you've returned."
At that moment, the female knight's golden hair fell over her shoulders, and her spirited eyes shimmered with a vivid brilliance as she looked at John.
She was strikingly beautiful.
John did not waste words and immediately chose to turn in the quest.
In an instant,
a reward notification popped up.
[Congratulations! You have completed an A-rank Hidden Quest!]
[Rewards obtained: gold coin ×100, Novice Village Reputation +∞, EXP +50000!]
John had already obtained the true quest reward—the Class Change Scroll.
Among these rewards, the only one of real value was the uncapped Reputation in Novice Village.
But that was precisely what he needed most right now.
John looked at the female knight and asked, "How many people in the village are capable of fighting right now?"
The female knight froze for a moment. "Including me, there should be seventy."
Seventy combat-class NPCs.
John gave a slight nod. That number should be enough.
In a tone that allowed no refusal, he ordered, "Now gather all of them. Have them assemble at the village entrance and wait for me."
This—
was John's true reason for rushing all the way back.
He needed a force of his own.
And the combat NPCs of Novice Village were, without a doubt, the best candidates.