The Vermilion Bird’s Trial

Within Vermilion Bird City’s teleportation array, a flash of light heralded the arrival of Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue.

Lin Shenyue regained her senses, her gaze sweeping over the magnificent architecture around her with a touch of surprise.

While the game’s theme was Western fantasy, it had, at its core, been designed and produced by Chinese creators. Thus, alongside the grand, Western-style ecclesiastical ancient buildings, there were also resplendent Chinese palace-style structures.

Each edifice towered majestically. Though the streets were not bustling at the moment, a single glance conveyed an overwhelming sense of grandeur and power.

As Lin Shenyue marveled, she heard Ye Jue speak in a calm tone. “Vermilion Bird City is one of humanity’s four major cities, spanning nearly 100,000 kilometers—seven times the size of our capital, B-City.”

“Vermilion Bird City lies in the southern human territories, Azure Dragon City in the east, White Tiger City in the west, and Black Tortoise City in the north. These four are the primary first-tier cities for humanity.”

“Beneath them are sixteen second-tier cities and sixty-four third-tier cities. Although the four major cities boast the largest human populations, many choose to avoid their inherent conflicts by settling in smaller towns.”

Lin Shenyue’s doubts deepened. The game company had offered no detailed information about the main cities, only vaguely mentioning that they were divided into three tiers, leaving players to explore on their own.

Lost in thought, Lin Shenyue failed to notice Ye Jue’s momentary hesitation. Ultimately, he steered the conversation elsewhere. “Let’s go. After leaving the新手村 [TL Note: Newbie Village], we need to bind to a new resurrection point. That’s our top priority.”

Lin Shenyue nodded, silently following behind Ye Jue. Upon reaching level ten, she had directly acquired two skills: Holy Light Protection and Purify.

Holy Light Protection: Casts a shield on an ally or self, capable of absorbing 300% of incoming magic damage. The shield dissipates upon breaking or after five seconds. Cooldown: 40 seconds. Cast Time: 1 second. Mana Cost: 50.

Purify: Casts on an ally or self, removing all negative status effects from the target, excluding special debilitating effects. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Cast Time: Instant. Mana Cost: 30.

Both skills were purely supportive, leaving Lin Shenyue with no offensive capabilities whatsoever.

Lin Shenyue followed Ye Jue to Vermilion Bird City’s Resurrection Hall. Unlike the simple resurrection point in the新手村 [TL Note: Newbie Village], Vermilion Bird City’s was a grand palace, housing a high priest dedicated to assisting those who chose to resurrect there.

Ye Jue stepped forward. “I wish to bind my resurrection point.”

The high priest glanced at him, responding mechanically, “Do you wish to bind to Vermilion Bird City’s resurrection point? Once bound, it cannot be changed.”

“Confirm.”

“Binding successful.”

After binding his point, Ye Jue gestured for Lin Shenyue to approach. As she stepped forward, the high priest, upon seeing her, bypassed the usual formalities.

Instead, he stated directly, “You carry the aura of the Lady Vermilion Bird. She once instructed me that if any human bearing her aura arrived, I was to detain them temporarily and notify her immediately. She would arrive at once.”

Lin Shenyue was momentarily stunned. ‘Could it be because of the Four Divine Beasts bloodline my father gave me?’ she wondered. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded. “Very well, I’ll wait here.”

She then turned to Ye Jue. “I’ll wait here for a bit. You go on and do what you need to do.”

Ye Jue considered this, then nodded in agreement. “Alright. Private message me once you’re done here, and I’ll come find you.”

After watching Ye Jue depart, Lin Shenyue, with nothing to do, asked, “Do you know why Lady Vermilion Bird is looking for me?”

Though the high priest seemed disinclined to engage with Lin Shenyue, her connection to the Vermilion Bird’s aura compelled him to answer patiently. “Lady Vermilion Bird did not tell me; she merely instructed me to watch for such a person.”

Realizing she wouldn’t glean any more information from him, Lin Shenyue silently explored the hall. It was adorned with numerous ornaments, all unfamiliar to her. They appeared opulent, but Lin Shenyue found them unappealing.

Just as Lin Shenyue was patiently observing, a figure rushed in. Upon seeing Lin Shenyue, her eyes lit up with joy.

Though Lin Feimu had handed power over to Nuwa, Nuwa had not altered the memories of the Four Divine Beasts. Thus, they still remembered Lin Shenyue. In their memories, Lin Shenyue’s father had departed after entrusting this world to Nuwa.

The Vermilion Bird pounced on Lin Shenyue. “Little Yue’er, you’re finally here!”

Lin Shenyue’s mouth twitched involuntarily as the Vermilion Bird lunged at her. She hadn’t expected the Vermilion Bird’s personality to be so whimsical; she wondered who had designed her.

Looking at the Vermilion Bird clinging to her, Lin Shenyue said helplessly, “What did you need me for?”

Upon hearing this, the Vermilion Bird adopted an expression of sudden realization. “I almost forgot!” Seeing Lin Shenyue’s nearly crumbling facade, she chuckled apologetically before growing serious. “Because you possess the bloodline of us Four Divine Beasts, you can learn all your skills through bloodline inheritance.”

“However, no human job instructor can administer the job advancement trial required for your class change.”

Lin Shenyue looked slightly puzzled. “Does that mean you’re here to test me?”

The Vermilion Bird nodded. “Precisely. We Four Divine Beasts are your job instructors. We discussed amongst ourselves, wondering which of us you would seek out first, and then we would appear to give you your job trial.”

Lin Shenyue bit her finger. “So, shall we begin now?”

The Vermilion Bird mused for a moment before replying, “Let’s begin now. You must be careful with this trial. As a wielder of the Four Divine Beasts’ bloodline, the trial I give you will be of the highest difficulty. If you fail, though I won’t reclaim your bloodline, you will forfeit all rewards. In that case, you’ll lose all your advantages later on.”

Lin Shenyue felt a surge of nervousness. “Is the trial very difficult?”

The Vermilion Bird said calmly, “As the initial awakening of the Four Divine Beasts’ bloodline, you only possess the ability to protect your allies. Therefore, your trial will be related to that aspect.” With a wave of her hand, Lin Shenyue vanished from the hall.

Seeing Lin Shenyue disappear, the high priest asked, “Do you think she can pass? This trial is not simple, you know. After all, as the highest difficulty trial, even we natives find it incredibly challenging to complete.”

The Vermilion Bird pondered, then said softly, “It’s up to fate. After all, as the daughter of our creators, she must possess some capability.”

The high priest nodded. “I hope she can pass. That would break the curse of no one successfully completing the trial for nearly a century.”

The Vermilion Bird nodded in silent agreement.

Lin Shenyue was transported to a strange place—a complex jungle. The moment she saw the terrain, she was bewildered. She realized her biggest challenge wasn’t the mission itself, but first locating the mission objective.

She checked her quest log, which had now updated.

[Quest: Find Knight Frangondo and offer him assistance.]

Lin Shenyue’s mouth twitched slightly. Indeed, she had to find someone. Fortunately, the system wasn’t entirely unfair; it at least pointed her in a direction. Otherwise, she wouldn’t know how long it would take to find him on her own.

As Lin Shenyue entered her trial, Ye Jue successfully changed his class to a Shield Warrior and also entered his own trial. However, unlike Lin Shenyue, who was immediately given the highest difficulty, he could choose the difficulty of his class challenge.

The class challenge had five difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, Abyss, and Hell.

Ye Jue, brimming with confidence, directly selected Hell difficulty. This level comprehensively tested a player’s strategy, calculation abilities, technical skill, reaction time, and overall performance, requiring near-perfect execution to complete.

However, Ye Jue had been reborn and possessed ample experience and techniques from his past life. He was confident he could complete a task of this difficulty.

Ye Jue also found himself in a forest. Having experienced this once before in his previous life, he confidently chose a direction and ventured deeper into the woods.