Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest

Red Maple City Church, in the bishop's seat.

Luo Xiu, who had just finished preaching to the new "adventurers", had returned here and sat on the edge of his bedroom bed, browsing the [Player Forum] on the panel with interest.

This time, the content of the "preaching" to the new players was almost the same as the manuscript during the internal test, with only some minor changes, and the effect also made Luo Xiu satisfied.

Of course, this was also influenced by the fact that Luo Xiu issued a unified novice task [New Home] to the players at the end of the speech--

From the discussions of the players in the forum and chat channel, it can be known that most of the players have a considerable willingness to join the "Red Maple City Church" as the first camp, which is exactly what Luo Xiu wants to achieve.

As for the "Holy Abyss"-the players have just arrived now, although the internal test players have some discussions and speculations about this, it is still too early for the "Holy Abyss" to appear in front of the players, and Luo Xiu is ready to wait a few days to see.

At this moment, it is in the chat channel that Luo Xiu is browsing.

One of the beta testers he has been following, "Thomas the Tank Engine", is chatting with other beta testers in the group of "Red Maple City Church".

[Thomas the Tank Engine]: Who knows, family members? I just returned to my previous 'room' and found that all my belongings are preserved, and the room is quite clean. It seems that the church has someone to clean it regularly!

[Iron Pot Stewed Crocodile]: Me too, even the 'Bronze Key' that I exchanged for merits during the beta test but didn't want to use is still on the bedside table. Brother Meng, I'm going to level up!

[Thomas the Tank Engine]:?

[Shut Up]: When I typed "?", it wasn't that I had...

[Alicia]: Everyone, remember that the captain only let us rest for a while. After confirming that there is no problem with the room, we should go back to the church to gather.

[Rookie Dog]: Uh, I was sealed by the quilt. Why is the quilt in the game world so trapped? ! !

[……]: ...

The chat channel of the Red Maple City Church and the 'Holy Guard' player group is quite lively.

In chat groups like this that are limited to camps or a few players, Luo Xiu, who has both an NPC panel and a player panel, has long discovered that he can enter and peek at will, so he had a great time spying.

However, Thomas, the big crocodile and others just chatted afterwards.

After watching for a while, Luo Xiu began to think about other things.

As for this public beta test, internal test players like "Thomas the Tank Engine" should be able to stand firmly in the first echelon of players in Red Maple City and even Songyuan Territory and be promoted to the extraordinary after their special treatment and benefits.

With Thomas and others taking the lead, they will continue to operate through their own efforts.

The Red Maple City Church should be able to pull together hundreds of "double destiny" extraordinary players in a short period of time. This is the first fresh force that he will go to the Dark Principality and attack Fafnir City.

The sooner this time, the better.

In Luo Xiu's consideration, he should be ready to kill the other side after solving the upcoming invasion of the executioner - because time is indeed very tight.

Even if Luo Xiu could wait, the dying Bishop Fabion could not.

"..."

Luo Xiu's mind was surging and he thought a lot.

He took a last look at the chat group, and the unread messages showing "+1+1" were still jumping rapidly, so he closed the panel and stood up and walked out of the bedroom.

Leaving the Holy See and coming to the courtyard, "Guiding Pastor" Colen was waiting there.

With Colen's entourage, Luo Xiu walked out of the courtyard and towards the secret place.

...

Red Maple City Church, Secret Place Courtyard.

After walking out of the Bishop's Holy See, only about five minutes had passed, and Luo Xiu and Colen had arrived at the courtyard of the Secret Place.

Several low-key and simple buildings are located here. Compared with the "Preaching House" and "Holy Court", this sanctuary is indeed not very eye-catching, and its presence is also a bit weak.

But this is where most of the church's intelligence is collected and circulated. It is one of the three indispensable sanctuaries of the church. The defense level that Luo Xiu configured for the secret place is second only to the missionary place, and the operating funds allocated are also the highest among the three sanctuaries.

They came to the main entrance of a building in the courtyard of the sanctuary.

Colen took a step forward and knocked on the locked door with Luo Xiu's tacit consent, then took out the key and inserted it into the keyhole.

...

Inside the secret place.

The new priest, the "Knight of Enlightenment", Fran, was in the priest's room at this time, examining many diplomatic files.

Olga, the "chief" of the former secret place, was on the side, assisting the airborne boss, and paying attention to the many questions that Fran might ask at any time.

Just when the two were concentrating on their work, there was a light knock on the door outside the room.

Fran raised his head, and his dark golden eyes glanced at the door. Just as he was about to ask, the door was pushed open with a "creak--".

He saw his superior, the "bishop" of the Red Maple City Church, Luo Xiu Carlos, walking in with his waiter priest.

Fran and Olga hurriedly stopped their work, stood up, and gave Luo Xiu the sacrament.

Luo Xiu waved his hand, motioning them to sit down, and asked at the same time:

"What's the situation at the border?"

"Yesterday, Albert said he had found out the details of the enemy. Did the border send anyone to say anything?"

"..."

"We are just about to report this to you, Bishop."

"Priest of the Secret Office" Fran nodded slightly and answered Luo Xiu respectfully:

"This morning, the envoy from the border court did come once."

"He didn't talk to us much, only left a handwritten letter from 'Thunder General' Albert, and asked us to hand it over to you intact."

As Fran said this, he signaled Olga with his eyes.

Olga leaned down and picked up a dark red envelope from a low table in front of her, and handed it to Luo Xiu with both hands.

Luo Xiu reached out to take it, and double-checked it with his spirituality and the panel to confirm that there was no problem with the note in his hand, then he opened the seal and pulled out a small roll of paper from it.

Unrolling the paper, it was a somewhat gray paper with brief information written in black ink and vigorous fonts-

"[Red Lotus] Executioner, 'Silver Blood Dragonborn' Quilton, 30 miles away from Red Maple City;"

"[Nothingness] Executioner, 'Despair Crow' Astras, whereabouts unknown;"

"[Bitter Tea] Executioner, 'Storm Lord' Muset, Commander of the Dark Army, 60 miles away from Red Maple City;"

"[Lost] Original Sect, 'Ring Flame Bishop' Drummond, hiding in the main street, whereabouts unknown."

"..."

This is the fate, identity, extraordinary profession and name of the four "saints" from the Dark Principality and the Holy Tower Church who will threaten Red Maple City.

This is also a highly condensed information obtained by the Border Court in recent days of investigation. The most important thing is the fate and corresponding profession of these enemies-that is recorded in the intelligence files already in the church, so that preparations can be made in advance to deal with them.

Albert only wrote these in the note.

While recording these brief pieces of information, he also drew a big circle on the words "Bishop of Ring Flame" Drummond with bright red ink.

Luo Xiu knew what Albert wanted to express - he just wanted to remind himself that paying attention to the whereabouts of this "Bishop of Ring Flame" Drummond was what he should do...

Luo Xiu didn't mind, so he arranged it according to Albert's idea.

He then rolled up the paper and stuffed it back into the note. A golden firework jumped up from his fingertips and burned it from the edge of the note.

The flame became brighter and brighter, and half of the note turned into ashes, and the other half soon followed suit.

"Fran, and Olga."

While burning the letter with his fingertips, Luo Xiu said to the two clergymen in front of him:

"You go to the border in person and tell the 'Thunder General' Albert that I have received his letter and am very grateful for the information he sent. And, I will deal with the threat of 'Bishop of Ring Flame' Drummond."

"Also, regarding the incoming dark army, they are already quite close."

"Before the bloody battle that is about to break out, I will leave temporarily. At that time, 'High Priest' Anthony will take charge of the church on my behalf, and you will obey his orders."

"..."

"I will follow your instructions, Bishop."

Fran and Olga nodded solemnly and responded respectfully to Luo Xiu.

……

Apocalypse calendar year 768, February 25, evening.

On the first day of the official launch of the "open beta", Thomas had already changed into a suit belonging to the "Church Patrol". After returning to his previous residence to rest for a while, he went to the streets with other "Church Patrols" to perform patrol tasks.

Starting from around 4 pm, Thomas and other "Church Patrol" players have been patrolling for about two hours.

"By the way..."

Thomas, who was holding a small round shield and the extraordinary weapon "Mithril Straight Sword" customized during the internal beta test recovered from the room, was heading into a deep dark alley. He looked at the "Iron Pot Stewed Crocodile" beside him who had put on the Paladin armor, and said with some emotion:

"Do you feel that compared with the internal beta test, Red Maple City has become a lot quieter?"

"... Indeed." The crocodile nodded.

"I heard from another priest that the residents of Red Maple City seem to be moving to the interior of the empire every day to avoid disasters; and troops from Songyuan Territory or other important military cities are constantly sending reinforcements here. Rather than calling this a 'city', it is more appropriate to call it a 'fortress'..."

"It's just a pity." Thomas shook his head and said, "After all - a barbecue restaurant I often went to during the internal test has also closed. I feel that there are not many shops open on the street in this public test."

"After all, it is a 'fully real' immersive game, and I haven't been to many shops yet."

"Oh." The big crocodile laughed dumbly, "Why do I feel like you are checking in..."

"What do you know," Thomas replied casually.

"This is the pursuit of RPG players!"

"..."

While chatting with the big crocodile, Thomas and several other "Church Patrol" players have gone deep into the alley.

There are ten people in their team, and "Iron Pot Stewed Crocodile" is the captain of the team - because he has retained the "Bronze Key" from the internal test, and is the only one in the current ten-person team with a double destiny. The [Glorious] profession he chose to be promoted is the Paladin.

"Wait a minute."

At a certain moment when he was moving forward, the Crocodile suddenly stopped and raised his hand to signal the players behind him to hold their breath and stop.

"In front... my panel seems to have entered the battle in an instant, I don't know if it's an illusion."

"You entered the battle?" Thomas asked in a low voice.

"Enter the battle" - that is, enter the wartime state, which is a new mechanism added in the "open beta".

For players, being judged as "entering the battle" may mean being attacked, injured, or being targeted by damaging skills.

Once entering the battle, the panel will give corresponding prompts to warn players of the upcoming battle in advance.

Thomas also learned this from the forum.

And his panel has been hanging in front of him, not closed, but it has not triggered the "enter the battle" prompt.

He looked at the alert face of the "iron pot stew crocodile" in front of him, and suddenly had a premonition of a big battle in his heart.

He had already gained a lot of experience points at the beginning, and he didn't want the experience of killing above his level, so he simply raised his level to the maximum.

After obtaining the knowledge of the skill "Glorious Inscription" from the previous [Bishop's Blessing] mission, Thomas was able to embark on the fate of [Glorious] and choose the initial profession.

Among the three initial professions, "apprentice priest", "apprentice priest" and "apprentice paladin", Thomas chose the profession of "apprentice priest" in this public beta.

After completing the upgrade, Thomas allocated the newly acquired 10 free attribute points to physique, strength and divinity in a ratio of 4:3:3, and the remaining experience points were used to improve the skill level of the initial skill of the "apprentice priest" of the [Glorious] profession - [Primary Light Spear].

After the upgrade was completed and he confirmed that he was in his prime, Thomas took a step forward and stood in front of the "iron pot stewed crocodile" -

Swish!

As soon as he took this step, the background color of his panel suddenly turned red, which was a symbol of the battle state!

The content displayed on his panel also turned bright white at the same time, and the blood volume [130/130] number also began to jump at the same time, and quickly dropped by 3 points!

Just as the crocodile said, he did "enter the battle" and was hurt.

At the same time, his body felt a distinct burning sensation, as if he had stepped into a furnace after taking the previous step, and he felt a little uncomfortable.

"What's going on..."

Thomas flipped the panel, and a puzzled look appeared on his face, but he could not confirm the source of the attack through the 3 points of damage he received.

Because it was judged to be environmental damage... not precisely from a certain enemy.

The crocodile next to Thomas was also puzzled.

As a "Paladin", the crocodile has also raised the "holy sword" in his hand, emitting a bright golden light, and put a layer of "holy light protection" on all the players behind him.

[Glorious] The shield provided by the unique skill [holy light protection] of the double fate paladin can reduce the damage caused by the high temperature environment. After putting the shield on his teammates, the crocodile turned around and said:

"It feels like... there is a big treasure ahead."

"Let's go and see?"

"Let's go." Thomas was already excited and eager to move.

The other players in their patrol team also had no objection to continuing the exploration.

So, everyone, led by the crocodile, continued to walk deeper into the alley in the abnormally high temperature.

But they continued to go deeper for a short time.

It was only about thirty seconds, when Thomas and the crocodile at the head took the last step forward...

——Boom!!!!!!

A violent explosion suddenly broke out from the feet of the crocodile, Thomas, and the players behind him!

Scarlet pillars of fire shot up into the sky, and the shield of the crocodile was as thin as paper in front of it. All the players were melted into ashes by a piece of scarlet before they realized what was happening!

Thomas also "died" on the spot, and when his consciousness drifted away from his body and entered the resurrection cooling viewing perspective, he noticed that the panel had refreshed new content inside-

[Attack from the ‘Ring Flame Bishop’ Drummond, 82864 points of damage...]

Thomas: "..."

"I'm super?!"

...