Without surprise, the vultures were massacred in their sleep.

However, Liam was not the only one gaining points. With the disappearance of the world's will, students were completing quests one after another.

For two years, Liam undertook about twenty 4-star quests. He had over 280 000 points and was ranked 5th.

At that time, his main body looked at the quest board with a frustrated expression.

He worked very hard. The second place had only 310 000 points. He was sure he could catch up as long as he performed well.

The problem was the first place, which had suddenly jumped from 320 000 points to 435 000 points overnight, taking a considerable lead.

There was only one reason for such a gain: the first rank completed a 5-star quest.

5-star quests were much more challenging than 4-star quests. There was at least one advanced or pinnacle level rank 3 to deal with, and almost all were in groups, with at least four other ranks 3 and around fifty ranks 2.

Of course, this was the general case. For example, there was a quest that required bringing back a magical herb, but it was protected by a pair of pinnacle level rank 3 azure falcons.

Even if there weren't as many creatures to kill, it wasn't necessarily easier…

After extensive research and deep deliberation, Liam found a quest he thought being able to complete without losing too many believers.

5-star Quest | Ruins | 135,000 points: Go to the ruins of Vinaya city. Before the war, it was one of the two largest Valyr cities. However, the Valyr kingdom fell, leaving only desolate ruins filled with monsters and beats. Get rid of the three major monster groups of the city: cave spiders, frogmen, and golden mole-rats (total: 8 rank 3s including 2 advanced, and about a hundred rank 2 monsters. Deadly monsters and rank 1 monsters number in the thousands.)

...                             

Due to his previous quest, Liam's army was on the other continent, about 900 km from the city.

As three-forth of the journey involved crossing the ocean, it only took a week to cover nearly half of the plane.

He was now traveling only with the nagas; novarians were too slow and far too weak for what they were about to face.

Between successive battles and new births, there were now 105 nagas, of which 78 could fight.

Aside from 8 pregnant females, there were 19 young nagas who were still too weak to join the battle.

In total, there were 67 rank 2s, 4 beginner rank 3s, and Sylvera, at the pinnacle of rank 3.

Except for Nevra, all the original nagas still alive were at least beginner ranks 2.

Unfortunately, Liam knew absolutely nothing about the mage system and could only bring her back to the divine realm, asking her to develop the tribe's agriculture and breeding.

Moreover, the portal was still in the same place, guarded by a rank 3 naga. Occasionally, Nevra took the opportunity to leave the divine realm and seek advice from the villagers.

...

Vinaya city was a coastal city bordered by the ocean.

One side faced the sea, while a chain of small mountains extended behind the city.

Liam wasted no time and led the nagas through the ocean, finally reaching what must have been a docking pier.

The pier was three or four meters high.

With a powerful tail movement, they jumped out of the water and landed on firm ground.

They quickly ascended along the pier and entered the city.

The city was quite huge for a lower realm; it could probably accommodate around 100 000 people.

The streets were wide, and most buildings had two or three floors.

Strangely, most of the buildings were not damaged, but nature had taken over: weeds and creeping plants invaded the remains of an almost extinct civilization.

Fortunately, the nagas could move anywhere.

Since his real body was flying over the realm, he had already spotted the lair of the frogmen and spiders.

As for the golden mole-rats, even though he didn’t found them yet, he still had a little idea about it.

Liam decided to deal first with the weakest threat: the frogmen.

They were the least numerous and the weakest: there were about 300 frogmen, but only one advanced rank 3 and one beginner rank 3, as well as about twenty ranks 2.

With their current strength, the nagas could bulldoze through this group directly, and that's exactly what they planned to do.

Liam led the nagas along the sea, approaching the outskirts of the city.

The closer they got to the edge of the city, the more it looked like a battlefield.

After crossing a last intersection, they reached the base of the city walls, or what left of it.

Most of the wall collapsed, but the few sections still standing reached almost thirty meters height for about twelve meters in thickness.

On the hundreds of meters around the remains of the wall, almost every building collapsed, and not many were left in a good state.

Sylvera contemplated the huge damages and breaches in the wall.

"No warrior could even cross these walls. It would take at least a great warrior to jump over. Even I would take some time to destroy a part of the wall!" he thought.

Liam saw Sylvera's thoughtful look and reassured him.

"Don't worry at all. These kinds of damages are done by a rank 4 powerhouse. It won't take long for you to reach that level."

Liam continued to advance and passed the wall, reaching a small river that served as a moat for the city.

Without hesitation, he dived into the water and swam against the current.

A few moments later, the river widened, giving way to a small island a few hundred meters long.

As witnessed by the remains of bridges, this island used to be the main entrance to the city.

One bridge connected the island from the outside, while another linked the island and the city gate.

However, it was during the time of the city's greatness. Now the bridges had collapsed and the island was only the resting place of a tribe of monsters.

Talking about that, there was a major difference between intelligent races, monster races and beasts.

Intelligent races, like nagas, humans, elves, and many others, were races capable of living in communities and developing a real society. This involved creating tools, cities, customs, practicing breeding and agriculture...

Beasts were evolved animals. Thanks evolution they eventually acquired wisdom and could even take a humanoid form at some point. At that time, they would form a real community, not very different from humans, dwarves, or any intelligent race.

Monster races were just a bit smarter than the random animal. They were barely in the tribal era, had no sense of community, and would not hesitate to eat each other if necessary.

Even after many evolutions, they remained barbaric and often unable to produce anything; they survived through pillaging.

Among them were goblins, novarians, kobolds...

It was only through Liam's constant effort that novarians could barely start to classify as an intelligent race.

As their rank continued to increase, they would become smarter and could finally become a truly intelligent race.

The growth environment had also an enormous influence on these monster races; it was not uncommon for them to evolve into intelligent races, and this happened in many worlds, although the probability was low.

That was also why the gods still used these races. If they were truly useless, they wouldn't even consider using them.

On the other hand, even if the current lifestyle of the nagas was similar to that of a monster race, it wouldn't last long.

Even humans started by living in caves, and nagas weren't that stupid either.

Now that the nagas had visited several cities and villages during their journey, there would surely be a big change once the exam was over.

In fact, it had already begun. The pregnant females had already visited some small towns and wanted to build something similar.

Since the novarians had nothing to do, the nagas had them pass through the portal and start excavating large stone blocks.

Liam fully supported the operation and had even taught them how to reinforce the galleries with tree trunks.

The mountain quickly turned into a giant anthill...

As for the frogmen, they were full-fledged monsters...

Anyway, Liam didn't care what kind of creatures they were. Since it was his quest, they had to die.

Silently, the nagas landed on the island, blending quietly into the bushes.

As night fell, the frogmen's hunting teams returned to the tribe, preparing to eat fresh raw meat.

Sylvera and Liam let them eat quietly, waiting for digestion to make them drowsy.

Their camp was really messy.

The strongest slept in shabby huts, while the weakest could only lie on the ground.

There wasn't even a single person responsible for standing guard.

Neither the spiders nor the mole-rats could come here because they couldn't swim, while other species wouldn't even dare to set foot on the island, feeling the aura of the frogmen's king.

They had long felt invulnerable on the island, and that would lead to their downfall.

In the pitch-dark night, the nagas finally emerged from the canopy and slowly approached the camp.

Their serpentine bodies undulated on the ground, making no noise.

Sylvera finally reached a rank 1 frogman sleeping in a star shape, croaking in his sleep. He didn't even draw his weapon and directly snapped his neck with an iron grip.

The other nagas did the same, fearing that the smell of blood would awaken the frogmen.

Even so, the senses of rank 3 existences were extremely sharp. While less than a hundred frogmen were still alive, their king woke up.

Seeing his tribe half-slaughtered, he roared in rage, waking up those who were still sleeping.

He picked up a huge rusty sword and rushed screaming toward the nagas.

At that time, the nagas didn't even try to hide anymore and released their aura.

The eyes of the frogmen king widened, and he came to a halt, rushing to turn around. The other frogmen panicked too and scattered.

But the nagas didn't intend to let them go.

Sylvera took his lance and coiled his tail like a spring. In one swift motion, he leaped toward the fleeing man, leaving a large hole in the ground where he had been.

The frogman felt a tingling in his neck, and his instinct told him to dodge but he was too slow.

Sylvera nailed his head to the ground with his lance, making the island shake and leaving huge spider web-like cracks.

The other rank 3 frogman was directly surrounded by 3 rank 3 nagas and didn't last long before being beheaded.

As for other frogmen, it was literally a bloodbath.

It had been so one-sided that the island was almost undamaged.

In the void, Liam looked at his quest report and saw it progress at 1/3.

"Well, it's time to get serious."

Since he didn't found the rats yet, the next target would be the spiders.

Their base camp was a few kilometers away, leaning against the mountain.

However, that was all he could see from above.

He saw the spiders coming and going, but he didn't yet know what the inside of the mountain looked like.

Using his spiritual sense during a quest was forbidden, and humans hadn't yet developed X-ray vision.

Even so, it was still better than nothing. At least he knew where to start.

Liam and Sylvera let the nagas rest and decided to attack the next day.

...

While the nagas rested, there was some movement on the other side of the city.

Only a part of the city had been affected by the war. There, most of the buildings were still standing, and the city wall stood tall in the sky.

Suddenly, a hooded figure emerged from the forest and flew up to the city wall.

He held a half-torn map and compared it with the city's structure.

Although everything seemed to match, the figure didn't look happy but rather worried.

"I hope all of this is true... Come on old man, you better hold on ‘til I get back!"