Li Si took the ornate invitation trimmed with gold and lilies with a puzzled look, glanced at the investiture address, and was about to politely decline when she froze.
[Investiture Location: Soronwell Palace]
Strange, how did this deviate from the plot.
Li Si was a bit bewildered.
To show the Empire’s regard for the Sorensis Family, all investiture ceremonies for Sorensis Family mages had always been held at the imperial palace.
And the Sorensis Family, in turn, to demonstrate their loyalty to the Empire, would oversee the coming-of-age ceremonies for every imperial princess.
The two sides had always been sending their daughters to each other’s territories, yet now everything was being held in Soronwell.
Counting the days, Yi Li Sha Bai’s coming-of-age ceremony was also in three days.
Weren’t these two clashing?
Li Si glanced at her friend messages and confirmed the online invitation Yi Li Sha Bai had sent.
The invitation had arrived the moment she reached Soronwell, but Li Si had never bothered with it.
Now she looked at it again, compared it repeatedly, and sure enough, both ceremonies fell on the same day—and in the same hall, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
She had no idea how the Empire could have made such a decision, but since she didn’t want to attend either, she couldn’t be bothered to care.
“You must come.”
Mei Lin flashed an expectant smile, then it vanished in an instant.
Li Si didn’t outright refuse.
When Mei Lin said “must,” it meant her emotions were at their peak.
Hold steady for now.
She was heading to the Class Change Dungeon next anyway, and there were plenty of ways to stall until the banquets were over.
Of course, this was a big deal, so she had to make absolutely sure.
Li Si decisively made a detour to the next street over.
Yesterday, while shopping with He Zi, she had spotted a good place.
“Bunny… Bunny Girl Tavern…”
Liewata swallowed hard.
She never expected Li Si to be so bold, daring to come to an adult tavern like this.
Then she saw Lili Ya calmly follow along, and her opinion of Lili Ya went up a notch.
“So, Lili Ya, you too…”
Lili Ya gave a gentle smile and pointed at Li Si ahead.
Li Si had already grabbed the boxing gloves hanging in the hallway and headed straight for the basement.
Down in the basement, a scar-faced man was just about to step into the ring when he dropped to his knees with a thud, tears streaming down his face as he looked at the silver-haired figure across from him.
“Big sister, I went from Border Town Thief King to Soronwell Thief King, so how can I still run into you?!”
The thief king had once dominated the Border Town, but a single punch from her had ruined his reputation.
He had fled through the night to Soronwell and scraped together an adventure group here, only to be inexplicably wanted citywide within days.
Now he was hiding in the basement, hoping to earn some face in front of his underlings by fighting in underground matches, but he ran into a ghost first thing in the morning.
Seeing this, the bunny girl nearby quickly wagged her tail and handed over a thick intelligence file.
Li Si decided not to bother with the gloves.
She took the intel and left, quickly cross-referencing every piece of information against her memories to ensure the dungeon strategy would go off without a hitch.
She walked along, checking the intel as she went.
Some details she hadn’t paid much attention to before gradually became more significant.
There was a slight deviation from the original plot.
For some reason, the Life Vine team was performing very poorly.
After the Crimson Moon descended, every dungeon had a frontline assault plan, and within that plan was a strict kill ranking board.
This board determined which guilds and teams would stay or be dismissed from all participating forces.
If a team fell off the board, their guild, team, or individual would lose frontline autonomy and become subordinate to others.
According to the original plot, even at their worst, Life Vine wouldn’t be on the verge of disbanding.
But now, their ranking was looking grim.
[City of Wrath Regional Ranking]
[29]: Life Vine
[30]: Wolf Pack Adventure Group
…….
A dungeon’s frontline only had thirty seats.
This was almost no different from falling off the ranking entirely.
Looking at their kill count, if they didn’t perform well in the next floor’s assault, Life Vine would likely fall apart completely.
“Hey, isn’t that Li Si?”
Just as she stepped into the Dungeon Hall, a familiar voice suddenly called out from ahead.
Li Si looked up and saw a tall swordswoman, about five feet eleven, clad in violet armor, waving in her direction.
Li Si was a bit surprised. “Ailin.”
Ailin approached with her team, her already smiling face beaming even brighter, “I guessed you’d definitely come for your class change, but I didn’t expect to actually run into you. When I saw that silver hair, I thought I was seeing things.”
Li Si tucked away the intel she was reading.
Ailin’s leveling seemed to be going smoothly—when they parted a few days ago, she had just undergone her class change, and now she was already Level 18.
Her other teammates were still at Level 15, though.
“Whoa, Lili Ya, you’re Level 13 already? That’s so fast! And Li Si, you’re Level 16 too. You’re class changing to swordsman, right? You’re definitely going for swordsman, aren’t you!”
Li Si smiled.
Once she got familiar with someone, Ailin really was quite chatty.
She gave a slight nod and scanned the Dungeon Hall.
The entire hall was packed with people, but she quickly spotted the figure she had just parted ways with.
To ensure the safety of more adventurers, every dungeon run included two chosen teams accompanying the group.
This time, it happened to be the chosen team from the City of Wrath.
“By the way, have you heard? The new dungeon assault rules.”
Ailin grinned, about to share the hard-earned intel she’d gotten over the past couple of days, but when she saw Li Si’s expressionless face, she instantly knew Li Si already knew.
After the Crimson Moon descended, the dungeons became disturbed.
Not being able to revive raised the cost of adventuring dramatically, and the guilds, in order to attract more capable adventurers, introduced the dungeon ranking system.
The dungeon rankings used the same kill count as the frontline and were directly tied to frontline rankings.
So now the dungeons weren’t just places to farm materials and level up—they were also spots for falling guilds to farm points.
In just that short moment in the Dungeon Hall, Li Si spotted a familiar team—the same adventurer squad that had tried to shake them down for money at the dungeon entrance.
They seemed to have noticed her too, flashing weird smiles in her direction.
“You’re always so well-informed. Speaking of which, I heard this morning that a Three-Headed Goblin King appeared in the City of Wrath.”
Seeing that Li Si truly wasn’t curious, Ailin suddenly leaned in close to her face and brought up that vaguely familiar rumor.
Cough…
Li Si cleared her throat and reminded her, “It’s about to start.”
[Class Change Dungeon ‘Dark Jungle’ teleport will begin shortly]
[Entry Level Restriction: 0~25]
[Recommended Entry Level: 15~25]
[Adventurers entering must remain in the hall. Those wishing to withdraw, please leave immediately]
[Teleport will commence in five minutes. A ranking board will be generated by team or individual to accumulate data for frontline assault. We ask for your understanding. Ranking within the dungeon is based on the number and level of Magic Beasts killed. Level 10 counts as 1 point. Each 5 levels higher adds +1 point to the kill score. Kill scores sync to frontline rankings and can be used to apply for frontline participation]
[Teleport countdown——]
[5…4…3…2…1]
[Wishing all adventurers a successful assault]
A brilliant flash of light swept through the hall, and in an instant, the surroundings transformed—a pitch-black forest enclosed them on all sides.
“Ugh… that teleport feeling is disgusting. I shouldn’t have drunk this morning…”
Ailin suddenly grabbed a tree and started heaving.
Li Si took a deep breath and scanned her surroundings.
All the adventurer teams from the hall were scattered around, reacting differently—some complained about the uncomfortable teleport, some had already started exploring, and others were still staring in their direction.
Quite a few people seemed to be eyeing them, likely all familiar with that swordsman she had ignored yesterday.
Li Si paid them no mind and turned her gaze to a chosen team that remained rooted in place without moving.
There, an Elf Saintess with flowing water-blue hair seemed to be wrestling with some inner conflict, quietly gazing this way.
The moment their eyes met, she instinctively flinched.
Li Si only glanced at her once, then turned to leave.
“Um, want to come along?”
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