chapter 1276  differing motives

    hearing valyr agree to their sudden request, it went without saying that seventhshield and his friends immediately looked at him with smiles on their faces, thinking that they might have made a good choice this time around.

    however, those smiles were quickly frozen when they heard the words that came out of the young man''s mouth soon after, with almost all of them looking at valyr either in shock or in disbelief because of it.

    "you''re... level 10?" asked seventhshield after getting over the disbelief he felt. "are you serious?"

    "i don''t really have any reason to lie to you guys," replied valyr, his expression showing that he was already expecting such a reaction from them.

    shrugging his shoulders, he continued, "of course, if you don''t believe me, there''s an easy way to prove that i''m not lying."

    ding!

    hearing a notification sound go off in his mind, seventhshield went ahead and brought up his notification screen, highly confident that the notification had something to do with the young man in front of him.

    though, at the very moment he read through the notification he''d received, the man felt as if all of the color was removed from his face.

    [ataraxia (lvl. 10) has sent you a friend request.]

    looking at valyr a couple more times after that, seventhshield eventually let out a low sigh before sharing the notification he got from the young man with his friends.

    unsurprisingly, even they were left at a loss for words after seeing that the player they were recruiting was indeed at the level he had mentioned.

    after all, although one of the reasons why they decided to approach valyr was because of the fact that he dared to venture into the cave of beginnings alone, it was not the main reason why they had chosen to do so.

    if anything, the actual reason why they decided to take a gamble and temporarily recruit him into their party was from the aura valyr gave off when he briefly passed by their group.

    though there were many skills players could use to change the nature of their auras and fool other people, one of seventhshield''s friends had a skill that allowed them to ignore the changes brought about by these skills.

    with that, they were able to gauge whether or not a player was strong through their aura alone, considering that they now had the ability to view one''s original aura in its entirety.

    of course, it went without saying that seventhshield and his friends made full use of this skill while recruiting players for the dungeon run they were planning. in fact, they had already successfully recruited another player into their party before they even thought of approaching valyr to ask if he could join them.

    naturally, just like the player they previously recruited, the reason why they approached him was because he gave off an aura that told them he was strong.

    really strong.

    "we apologize for taking up your time," seventhshield said to valyr after some time, looking at him with a slightly apologetic smile. "although we''re looking for people who could join us in our attempt to clear the dungeon at insane, we know better not to bring someone whose level is far lower than the difficulty''s recommended level."

    ''well, it''s not like you''re not allowed to bring someone of a lower level to a dungeon made for higher-leveled players,'' thought valyr in response, continuing to look at seventhshield and his friends with a calm expression.

    "come, darklight. let''s find another player to recruit instead." oblivious to the plan darklight was cooking up in his mind, seventhshield urged the man to follow him.

    of course, considering that he would be walking away from a cash cow if he were to do that, darklight immediately declined. "why should we? we''ve already got the perfect player to recruit right in front of us, no?"

    "ataraxia?" seventhshield glanced at where darklight was pointing, only to notice that he was pointing at none other than valyr. "did you not hear he''s not yet at the recommended level for insane difficulty? he wouldn''t even be able to enter the dungeon."

    "if he were on his own, that is." darklight corrected him. "what you didn''t know is that only the leader of the party needs to be at that level in order for everyone else to enter."

    "in other words, even if all of the other people you recruit right now are at level 1, since you meet the level requirements necessary to enter the dungeon at insane difficulty, everyone would still be able to enter."

    ''as expected,'' said valyr inwardly after listening to the man''s reply. ''i had a feeling he''ll pull this card out.''

    ''even more so if it meant he could keep his eyes on me.''

    although it might seem like the information darklight shared with seventhshield was considered top secret information, valyr knew that such information wouldn''t take long to spread throughout the entire player base.

    after all, if it was truly a piece of information that only those at the highest echelon know about, even he himself would have been oblivious that such a trick would work when entering the dungeons.

    in fact, the small tidbit darklight shared with them was also the same piece of information valyr decided to withhold from the group after briefly pondering over it.

    however, now that seventhshield and the others knew about it, he was more than certain that they were going to exploit such a loophole for their own benefit, even more so if they were a part of a guild.

    such an exploit allowed one to mass produce high-leveled players by carrying low-leveled players through high-difficulty dungeons, after all.

    ''but then again, just like any other loophole, using it also has risks,'' thought the young man to himself, continuing to remain silent even after darklight''s explanation ended.

    "really?" hearing those words, seventhshield''s expression turned into that of both excitement and anticipation as he glanced at valyr.

    after all, although the young man in front of them was only at level 10, he gave off an aura that made him and his friends think that he was already around a similar level as them, perhaps even a bit higher.

    however, just as he thought of recruiting him into their group once more, his rationality fortunately took over the excitement he was currently feeling.

    "then again... although i would like nothing more than for this friend right here to be able to join our party, having him join us on an insane difficulty run would not just pose a massive risk to him, but to us as well," said seventhshield back to darklight as he let out a calming breath.

    "with that..." at those words, the man looked at valyr with a serious expression.

    "even though you know how much risk you''re taking... even though we''ll make sure to protect you as best as we can, are you still willing to join us, ataraxia?"

    "why not?" valyr slightly grinned in response, briefly glancing at darklight in the process.

    "i may be taking a massive risk by doing so..."

    "but not gonna lie... it sounds kind of fun."