An unusual request?

The players exchanged glances, their eyes filled with a hint of confusion.

Under different circumstances, avoiding extra trouble would be preferable. However, within the script task, engaging in additional exploration might complete some side quests, obtaining critical items—non-essential for completion, but significantly reducing the difficulty.

"I can't make decisions for my teammates, but since it's your request, Mayor..."

Hoenhem nodded and said, "Go ahead."

"It's like this,"

The Mayor coughed, his eyes flickered as he spoke, "According to the ancient texts left by the ancestors, after each hero team completes numerous trials, they can fulfill a wish.

For instance, resurrecting a treasured person who has died;

Saving an empire about to collapse;

Obtaining powerful ancient technological blueprints;

This wish opportunity is extremely precious but not without limitations—when resurrecting a deceased person, the time since their death must not be too long, and their body should be brought to the Holy Mountain Temple before completely decaying;

Additionally, the wishing mechanism cannot be too complex—for example, saving an impending collapsing empire will not suddenly make its rulers diligent and strategic; rather, it will simply unleash boundless power to eliminate surrounding enemies.

Wishes like [Changing the World], or [Making the Sun Rise from the West], cannot be fulfilled."

"Oh?"

Hoenhem furrowed his brows, exchanged glances with his teammates.

The players did not possess the same intense reverence for the so-called Holy Mountain as the local inhabitants of this world,

with arrogance and confidence, considering all transcendent elements could be deciphered, and any script locals merely stepping stones for their growth.

Though the crowd did not share the disdain for everything in the scripted world like certain extreme groups, they viewed the wishing mechanism of the Holy Mountain more as a [Holy Grail]-like object of high mysterious degree,

with caution overriding desire.

The Mayor, immersed in his speech, did not notice the opponents' indifferent emotions, continued speaking to himself: "Moreover, our village summarizes some patterns based on the hero teams coming down from the mountain.

For instance, the more difficult the completed trials, the higher the completion rate,

the broader the scope for wishes, and the more perfect the fulfillment.

For example, the same wish for longevity, some may live two hundred years and die of old age, while others are transformed into elves or other immortal species, living four or five hundred years.

Furthermore, if stubbornly insisting on high difficulty wishes beyond one's trial completion level, or showing disrespect to the Holy Mountain during the wishing process, the wish may turn into a curse.

As changing the wish for eternal life into becoming an immortal stone, or making someone wishing to destroy the world into a madman—in their mind and perception, the world is already destroyed, achieving the wish in some sense."

The Mayor paused, covering his mouth to cough violently: "Cough, cough, cough,

actually, these contents are things I, as a Holy Mountain Protector, should not reveal to the hero lords,

to some extent, my current actions seriously violate the ancestral instruction of non-interference in the hero team's free development.

When I die, I may face ancestors with shame..."

Tut...

Hoenhem's mouth muscles twitched, the underlying meaning of his words naturally hinted that revealing such valuable information hoped for some corresponding compensation.

However, the Mayor's words indeed held some value,

Hoenhem nodded and said, "Whatever request you have, Mayor, feel free to say it. We will certainly try to fulfill it as much as possible without affecting the mission completion."

The current stage's task goal is [Kill the Magical Beast, complete the Guardian Clan Mayor's commission, obtain the key to the Sacred Mountain],

The task's time limit is 18 hours.

It's unclear if the [completion of the Mayor's commission] only refers to killing the Magical Beast to retrieve the gemstone or also includes the ongoing conversation.

If it's the latter... hope the completion time doesn't exceed ten hours, or else the players will surely use some unconventional means.

Upon hearing this, the Mayor was delighted, speaking solemnly: "I wish to ask boldly, have the hero lords decided what kind of wish to make after entering the Sacred Mountain and completing the trials?"

Wish?

The players exchanged glances without much enthusiasm.

Hoenhem coughed and slowly said: "We haven't fully decided yet. Perhaps when we complete the trials and face the wishing opportunity, we can make a decision. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

After all, we come from small places and haven't seen real wish cases."

"Is that so..."

The Mayor rubbed his hands, inhaled deeply, suddenly pleaded: "Then, could the hero lords wish to save our Guardian Village?"

"Hmm?"

Hoenhem was stunned, "What?"

"Save our village."

The Mayor's facial muscles pumped, displaying an extremely sincere, bitter expression, "Our village has been plagued by the aging disease for decades, declining from nearly ten thousand at its peak to less than a thousand now.

No one, regardless of background, gender, or health condition, can live past thirty, even those in their early twenties become skin-and-bone like me, prematurely aged, and die young.

If this continues, within three generations, the village will inevitably decline and go extinct.

We implore the hero lords to save us..."

Saying this, the Mayor unexpectedly threw down his cane, descended from the sofa, and knelt loudly before the players, kowtowing.

"This..."

Hoenhem furrowed his brows, if under different circumstances, he wouldn't mind lending a hand, casually assisting,

but concerning a wish opportunity,

If the wishing mechanism is fraudulent and the mana is limited, that's fine,

but if the wish limit is extremely high and can really help the players...

he really doesn't have that much goodwill to give.

Moreover, there are teammates besides him, even if he agrees, the team might not reach a consensus.

"Village Chief, please get up first."

Hoenhem reached out, pretending to assist, but actually released several Mage's Hands to support the old village chief's limbs gently, helping him up to avoid breaking the old man's bones and triggering some punishment mechanism (this village being the Guardian of the Sacred Mountain might be within the Thunder Prohibition's protective range).

The village chief apparently hasn't seen melodramatic TV shows; his skin isn't thick enough to say, "I won't get up unless you agree," so he stood up obediently and was gently pressed back into the sofa by the Mage's Hand.

"It's like this,"

David took the opportunity to join the conversation, tactfully refusing: "We would love to help you, but our team members come from different places.

Some want to save their country,

some want to win back their lost lovers,

some want to retrieve ancient technology,

Everyone has different ambitions and goals..."

The Village Chief said: "I can offer very generous compensation."

"...But, I believe that the pursuit of justice and kindness is engraved deep in the hearts of every member of our team. Petitioning for the people is an unshirkable duty."

David maintained his composure and added the latter half, smiling as he said, "Please continue, I'm listening."

The attitude shifted so smoothly and naturally, without a hitch, worthy of being someone from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Teammates gave him approving looks, though the village chief didn't notice and continued: "Uh... For a long time, our village has been the guardian of the Sacred Mountain, responsible for receiving hero teams from around the world who come to pay homage.

Before the war didn't sweep across the outside world, our village briefly became the global hub,

countless heroes with their own legendary adventures in various places, poured their passion and hopes into the trial journey of the Sacred Mountain, and also brought inventions and technologies from all over the world to our village."

The Village Chief pointed to the spacious room where furniture and decorations of differing design styles were placed, and slowly said: "Although our village hasn't deliberately collected, over long years, there are always some heroes who couldn't pass the trial and died along the way,

or completed the trials, wished to leave afterwards,

and left behind items within the Sacred Mountain's range (of course, some heroes directly gifted things they no longer needed to us).

We've kept those items well,

unless the technology was lacking, maintenance and care were poor, then we had to store them in the warehouse."

Hoenhem nodded, as players had seen optical camouflage generation equipment comparable to, or even slightly surpassing, real-world technological levels on the way here, along with many mechas, weapons, and armor of unknown functions.

Even if most of these things were rusted and scrapped, taking them back to the real world would definitely have more or less research and analytical value.

If all could be moved back, it might turn out to be more precious than the final checkout reward.

"If all you brave heroes agree to make a wish to heal our village's aging and diseases after passing the trial, I can violate the ancestral teachings, and gift a large inventory of items to the brave heroes, allowing them to choose freely."

The Village Chief said solemnly: "The wars outside should be getting worse and more widespread, and haven't ended yet, right?

Every time a war occurs, there are island nations that are annihilated and destroyed, with technologies largely lost.

Therefore, our village's warehouse might turn out to be the best-preserved place for knowledge and technology, ensuring you won't suffer any losses."

"Well..."

Hoenhem frowned, glanced at Li Ang, who nodded and activated the Group Sympathy, creating a mental communication network.

Li Ang: [Ok, the network is ready. Does anyone want to say something?]

Amber: [Wow, it's a whole world's worth of technological fortune. From the Village Chief's previous account, it seems as if "those who fall through" stuff would drop down from the sky, similar to the Portal World, causing vastly different technology trees to sprout up and be fairly developed on each island nation, right? If it were the Portal World, wouldn't major organizations back in the Mortal Realm be scrambling for these, causing a bloodbath?]

Hoenhem: [It might not sound nice, but that's indeed the case. Whether it's the Bell Tower or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, I believe they would be willing to pay a fortune for this. But...]

Ding Zhensi: [But what?]

Hoenhem: [You need to have the life to enjoy it and have the life to take it. Do you remember what the Village Chief mentioned? This world might have "those who fall through" accidentally falling from the sky, who aspire, like heroes, to reach the Sacred Mountain for trials and ultimately wish to leave. That "leave" is very ambiguous; if leaving means getting teleported out of this world, back to the Mortal Realm - what do we do then?]

David: [You mean...]

Hoenhem: [Right, I believe the final stipulation for exit may very well be that once we pass the trial, we must wish to leave this script world. This means that if we agree to the Village Chief's request now, it might prevent us from completing our objective when wishing."]

Amber: [But can't we just not keep our word? We could pretend to agree now, but not fulfill it later, and run away instead.]

Hoenhem: [The other party has certainly thought of this too. If I'm guessing correctly, the Village Chief might be about to present a contract infused with mystical concepts, compelling fulfillment. This fortune won't be easy to acquire, the System won't give wealth away so easily."]

Amber: [Ugh... that's troublesome... maybe we should sign it now, and go up the mountain to investigate first. If it doesn't work out, we could use a Script Exit Coupon to bypass the task objective and quit the script task? Uh... wait, forget what I said. If we claim all wealth, a Script Exit Coupon would be worth it, but if it's divided among six of us, it's not."]

David: [Exactly. Even though divided wealth is nice, it's not as valuable compared to the opportunity equivalent to a life-saving Script Exit Coupon. According to the data we collected, once the Portal World is fully launched, subsequent tasks will likely get increasingly challenging, and even the first-tier players who far exceed the original script's task difficulty mechanism can't guarantee their own life safety. Furthermore, none of us here is particularly lacking money, right? Neither does the shop have any epic-level gear appearing frequently...]

[I lack it.]

Li Ang's calm voice rang out in the mental network link,

Everyone's eyes shifted towards him, only to see Li Ang leaning against the room wall, absent-mindedly stroking his Dragon Head Mask's beard,

Clearing his throat, he said slowly, "Village Chief, despite my current appearance, I'm actually a highly trained, clinically experienced professional physician.

Specializes in curing rebellion and various difficult diseases,

Like, to prevent a patient from cutting their wrist in suicide, perform amputation first;

Perform acrobatic flips and tricks during surgery to bring patients back to life;

Lol playing every day cures myocardial infarction without needing treatment;

To cure persecutory delusion, carry out real persecution against the patient;

If you don't mind, I can diagnose the villagers and see if I can cure the village's premature aging symptoms directly without relying on the wishing mechanism."