Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye

Water City, Northern Territory Morning Star Division, 3rd Floor Conference Room.

Luca pushed open the door and found that the bright conference room was already filled with people.

A quick glance around revealed several familiar faces from before.

Of course, there were also many missing.

Most of them had perished in the mouths of monsters while rescuing people from various cities.

The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy, thick with a sense of death energy. Many people had a somber expression, and the air felt oppressively tense. No one spoke, and the silence seemed to hang in the air like a funeral parlor.

Quagmire and Melania were already there. When they saw Luca, Quagmire raised an eyebrow at him, his unkempt beard giving him a rough appearance. Yet, his eyes couldn’t hide the exhaustion he was feeling.

The others were similarly worn out; it seemed that they had all been working tirelessly over the past few days.

"Luca, come sit here." Drumph, who was sitting at the head of the table, gestured for him to join. Luca didn’t hesitate and walked over, sitting in the seat next to him.

No one in the room spoke up this time. Those who had objections had already been removed earlier, and those sitting here had already been thoroughly convinced by Luca’s efforts during the Sunshine Tower crisis.

"Alright, it looks like everyone’s here. Let’s get started," Drumph said, his tone serious. He then added, "The game has arrived, and the apocalypse is unfolding. Right now, countries around the world are in peril. As Morning Star, we, as an official organization, have a responsibility to save the people from the flames of disaster."

"I know that asking you to risk your lives may seem unreasonable, but this world is unreasonable, so I urge all of you to keep pushing forward."

"Whether it’s for humanity, for Summer Country, or for your own families, I hope you all can hold on."

The room fell silent for a moment. A faint light flickered in the darkened eyes of the gathered people. By simply standing here, they were expressing their resolve.

Drumph then began to discuss the main topic of the meeting: "The reason I’ve called all of you here today is that the situation in various cities has started to improve. We need to change our previous strategy and focus on clearing the Northern Territory of monsters as quickly as possible."

"The cities that have stabilized, such as Celephais and Water City, and their respective Morning Star teams, need to head to other cities for reinforcements as soon as possible."

"Another matter is that we’ve received new information regarding the nodes, which is also directly related to how you will strengthen yourselves in the future."

The meeting room, which had previously felt heavy and dull, immediately perked up when the new information about the nodes was announced. Even Drumph, who had been dozing off in the corner, suddenly snapped his eyes open upon hearing the news.

They had already known about the importance of the nodes, and the sudden closure of the Eternal World had been a constant source of frustration, especially since it had taken away one of their fast paths to leveling up.

Now, with Drumph saying there was new information, everyone in the room, except for Luca, seemed highly interested.

Drumph wasn’t surprised by their reaction. After taking a sip of tea, he calmly said, "You all should already be familiar with the basic properties of the nodes. They are the connections between the Abyssal Demon Realm, the real world, and the Eternal World. The reason for the sudden activation of the nodes is still unclear."

"However, after our people entered, they discovered that these nodes now lead to a very special space—one that’s neither the Eternal Continent nor the Abyssal Demon Realm, but an unknown space."

"An unknown space?" Many people in the room perked up at this.

Drumph continued, "We don’t yet know the exact cause of this space’s formation, but we found that each node actually leads to something akin to a game dungeon."

"There are plenty of monsters in these spaces, and their levels are relatively balanced. Also, after clearing these dungeons, players can receive various rewards."

Quagmire looked surprised and asked, "Isn’t this just like the Secret Realms in the Eternal World?"

Drumph shook his head. "It’s different. These dungeons can be run repeatedly. The monsters respawn after a period of time. Compared to the Secret Realms of the Eternal World, it’s more like a game dungeon."

Upon hearing this, a look of realization spread across everyone’s faces. Soon, excitement took hold of them as they understood: this meant they could grind these dungeons repeatedly to level up by farming monsters.

At this moment, they also understood why Drumph had gone to such lengths to call them back. With these nodes, they would have the means to counterbalance the monsters.

Given enough time, they might actually be able to withstand this apocalypse and stabilize human society once again.

The entire room erupted in excitement. The earlier gloom was lifted, and the appearance of these node dungeons represented not just a tangible way to increase their strength, but also a symbol of possibility—a beacon of hope!

Coarmy’s face was flushed with excitement, but he quickly noticed that beside him, Luca remained calm and composed, even leisurely sipping his tea. @@novelbin@@

"Why aren’t you excited?" he asked, puzzled.

Luca paused mid-motion, raising his eyes to meet Coarmy’s gaze.

"How do you know I’m not excited?" Luca replied, his voice calm.

Coarmy furrowed his brows. "You’re not even trembling. Aren’t you excited?"

Luca glanced at Coarmy’s hands, which were shaking like he had Parkinson’s disease, and said, "You don’t have a wife, do you? I do."

Coarmy looked utterly confused, unable to make the connection between shaking hands and having a wife.

At that moment, Drumph cleared his throat and said, "Alright, I know everyone’s time is limited, so we’ll wrap up today’s meeting here. Afterward, I’ll have people take you to different cities."

The people in the conference room stood up, and Luca was about to leave when Drumph called out to him. "Luca, wait a moment, and Quagmire’s team too—stay behind."

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Luca and Quagmire exchanged looks. They understood that Drumph probably had additional plans for them, so they sat back down.

"Fuzzsir, didn’t you hear me?" Drumph said as he was about to shift his gaze, only to spot a shady figure slipping into the crowd. His white eyebrows immediately shot up in surprise.

"Ah... you’ve got the wrong person. I’m not Fuzzsir," the person said, feigning ignorance. However, Quagmire quickly stepped forward, grabbing him by the collar and yanking him back.

"You stay here and don’t go anywhere," Quagmire said, tossing Fuzzsir into a seat before pulling out his Starseeker and pointing it at Fuzzsir’s neck, his tone menacing.

Fuzzsir immediately started wailing. "Damn capitalists! It’s after hours! You’re exploiting me! I’m going to report you to the labor bureau!"

Even though Drumph had long known about Fuzzsir’s eccentric personality, he was still so enraged that his chest heaved with frustration. He could hardly suppress the urge to kick the guy out. Fuzzsir truly dared to say anything.

As for Luca and the others, they had grown used to Fuzzsir’s unstable mental state. Although he could be dependable when it mattered, they mostly treated him like a mentally unstable person during other times.

"Not to waste time, what’s this new task you want to give us?" Luca asked, getting straight to the point.

Drumph took a sip of tea, calming himself down before replying, "You won’t be joining the other teams. I’ve arranged a new task for you. The southern front of Leaf City in the Northern Territory was overrun by a monster horde, and more than half of the city’s population has yet to evacuate. I need you to go there for support."

Pffft! Quagmire, who had just taken a sip of tea, spat it all over Fuzzsir’s face.

He pointed at himself, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Are you serious? You want us to go to Leaf City? Isn’t that just sending us to our deaths?"

Fuzzsir wiped the tea off his face, his expression immediately turning into one of grievance. He began to wail loudly.

It wasn’t hard to understand why Quagmire was so upset. Leaf City could be considered the first city to fall in the Northern Territory. It had the highest concentration of monsters in the entire region. What use would it be for just a few of them to go there? It was almost a suicide mission.

Donlow patted Fuzzsir’s back to comfort him, then turned his puzzled gaze toward Drumph, asking, "There are too many monsters in Leaf City. With just the few of us, we probably won’t be able to make much of a difference, right?"

Drumph sighed deeply. "I know it’s a tough task to save an entire city, but we can’t just stand by and watch half the population of Leaf City die at the hands of monsters. You just need to focus on your safety. Whatever people you can rescue, do your best to bring them back."

Hearing this, the group felt more reassured. As long as they weren’t being sent on a suicide mission, they could handle it.

"Alright, we’ll head over and take a look. But just so we’re clear—if we can’t save anyone, don’t blame us," Quagmire said, finally putting his mind at ease.

Drumph didn’t expect them to actually rescue everyone. His goal was simply to save as many people as possible.

Luca hadn’t said anything until they were outside the conference room. It was only then that he turned to Coarmy and asked, "How many monsters do you think are in Leaf City?"

Luca had heard of Leaf City from his previous life. It had been one of the first cities to fall, just like Celephais. However, Celephais had already been cleared, which made Leaf City stand out even more now.

"About 120,000 monsters, and there are seven nodes. Here’s the map," Coarmy replied, handing Luca a hastily drawn map.

"…That’s not too bad," Luca said, after glancing at the map. He relaxed slightly.

Most of the monsters in Leaf City were concentrated around the outer parts of the city. Unlike Celephais, where the monsters were all gathered in the city center, this made the cleanup process much easier. Perhaps there was still a chance of clearing them all out.

Luca tucked the map away, and he and Quagmire followed the others out of the division. Outside, a car was already waiting for them.

The group firmly opposed Quagmire driving, and they unanimously nominated Luca as the temporary driver. Quagmire was completely against it, but Donlow forcibly dragged him out of the driver’s seat.

Once everyone was inside the car, the engine roared to life. Luca slammed his foot on the gas pedal, and with that, they set off on the road to Leaf City.