Chapter Twelve: Opening the Door
With Yuhua Zhangsan’s shout, four more players with the prefix “Yuhua” joined.
It was indeed the previous Yuhua team of five.
“Yuhua’s people? What are you here for?” Endless Sea asked.
“Endless Sea? I know you, the first thirty solo player of Liuli Bihuanhua,” Yuhua Xuanlong said.
Liuli Bihuanhua was the predecessor of Dream of the Mists. Although the immersive experience of the game was far inferior to that of Dream of the Mists, it was exceptionally popular a few years ago. Unfortunately, it gradually declined afterwards.
“Oh? I never expected someone like me to be recognized one day,” Endless Sea said nonchalantly, but inside he was extremely pleased; finally, someone had recognized him! That feeling was unusually comforting, effortlessly letting teammates discover that he was actually a big shot. This both kept him humble and allowed him to earn the admiration and worship of his teammates.
However, he noticed that Zane and Starry still had expressionless faces.
Yuhua Xuanlong shook his head, “I don’t want to conflict with you. I came to find those two.”
“What did they do to bring so many people with you?”
After hesitating for a moment, Yuhua Xuanlong spoke up, “Here’s the thing: I saw those two struggling to farm slimes, and we happened to lack damage output, so we teamed up. Who would have thought that in the end, they actually used the half-health AOE mechanism of the slimes to wipe out all of our people!”
He clenched his fists, looking very angry. “I don’t care about losing a level, but my brothers trusted me to farm monsters together. I need to give them an explanation!”
Zane couldn’t be bothered to refute him and just watched his performance.
“Bro, is that for real?” Endless Sea sent a private message.
“What do you think?” Zane replied.
“I mean, you guys 2v5 wiped them out?”
“Not exactly… we didn’t kill the last two.”
“Impressive, bro! Yuhua is famous for picking on the weak, but who would have thought that five people couldn’t even take you two down!” Endless Sea marveled.
“…”
…
“What now, are we going to fight? I haven’t PKed since the server opened, I’m itching for it.” Looking at the silence, Endless Sea asked again.
“Brother Hai, you don’t need to get involved in this.”
“What are you afraid of? Yuhua is just a trash guild; they wouldn’t dare do anything to me,” Endless Sea laughed.
In reality, while Yuhua was a guild known for picking on the weak, it was still an established guild that had developed over many years, with a core membership that could rank among the top thousand in the domestic server.
Don’t underestimate the top thousand; the number of players on the domestic server is significantly higher than that in foreign servers. On the first day, the player count reached over ten million, and with the subsequent release of game helmets, the player base would only continue to grow.
Endless Sea clearly was not someone who feared trouble, becoming especially excited in the face of such matters.
Still, no one spoke.
Unable to contain himself, he said, “Hurry up, let’s finish this so I can go farm monsters! Let’s do this: you five, Starry beauty can take two, I’ll take two, and Brother Fengchen… never mind, can you handle three people, Starry beauty?”
Zane felt speechless; although he was weaker than Starry, it was still fine for him to take on one!
Yuhua Xuanlong frowned tightly, “Are you determined to involve yourself in this matter?”
“Yes, so what?” Endless Sea replied arrogantly.
“… We’re leaving!” Yuhua Xuanlong said, turning to leave.
As a result, the five people decisively left, leaving the three of them looking confused.
“What? After such a long prelude, they just leave?” Endless Sea was stunned.
“Probably think they don’t stand a chance. They feel that they could win a 5v2,” Zane analyzed, although he thought that Starry could just handle a 1v5 situation.
“Not worth it.”
Just then, Brother Shiu called him to eat.
“Brother Hai, we’re logging off to eat, how about you?”
“I can just solve it with instant noodles; it won’t take long.”
“Like-minded people! We’re planning to eat instant noodles too.”
“What!? You’re letting such beautiful ladies eat instant noodles? I’m really at a loss for words; please let other guys have her!” Endless Sea lamented.
“If I can eat her, why can’t she eat? Alright, hurry up and finish so we can continue leveling!” Zane said, logging off as Starry’s figure also disappeared.
…
Two bowls of instant noodles were already set on the table.
“Achen, I checked the ID Falling Star and found it belongs to a clothing set from some warm region; there’s no such person,” Brother Shiu flipped through his phone and said.
“Maybe it’s a little account of a big shot,” Zane replied casually.
“Now the early stage time is extremely important; how could a big shot be willing to carry you, this experience baby? Achen, you didn’t… sell yourself, did you!?” Brother Shiu suddenly realized.
“Sell your head! I’m here based on real skill.”
“Tsk tsk tsk,” Brother Shiu looked heartbroken, as if he were looking at a fallen girl.
“…”
“Enough of that; I’m already level 6. What about you?”
“I’m halfway to level 7; I should hit level 10 this afternoon if all goes well.” Zane thought about it, realizing that the cave exploration mission would probably take place that afternoon.
“… How come I can’t find a big shot to help! Farming alone is so slow.”
“Why don’t you team up with others?”
“Team up my ass! You don’t know how many times I almost got killed by teammates; I’ve told them so many times about the half-health AOE trigger, but they just won’t listen. If I hadn’t reacted quickly, I probably wouldn’t even be level 4 by now!”
“… Is it really that bad? Don’t worry; once you hit level 10, I’ll have the big shot carry you!”
“Can he still carry me? You really must have made some shady transactions,” Brother Shiu said meaningfully.
“Eat your noodles, stop talking so much.”
“By the way, you guys aren’t farming experience at the North Gate, are you?” Brother Shiu asked.
“How did you know?”
“I could tell! Just look at the forum,” Brother Shiu handed his phone over.
There was an eye-catching title: “Beginner Village North Gate Unpassable?”
Below it was a series of confirming videos, and… a method to get through the North Gate.
The plots of each beginner village are parallel; the system selects the beginner village of the first player to reach level 10 as the final connecting plot.
So, even if an NPC deducts goodwill, as long as you don’t inherit your own beginner village’s plot, it will revert to the initial state. This setting has been exploited by those with intention.
In the video, a player whispered something to the young man at the gate, who hurriedly left.
Then, over twenty players came; they all had the prefix “Temple,” indicating that such a large number of players in the same beginner village must be a large guild.
They threw over ten slime secretions outside the gate. The ground was covered in indescribable liquid.
Then, a player at the forefront threw a stone, waking the mutated wild boar outside.
The wild boar, furious, charged over but slipped on the slime, crashing into the side of the door.
Since the door wasn’t fully closed, the players inside took advantage of the gaps and thrust their weapons out at the wild boar.
-5
-6
-7
-6
-8
…
As players continuously dealt damage, the wild boar’s health rapidly decreased. Every time it tried to stand up, it fell over again due to the slime.
Back and forth, only 100 health remained.
It’s about to go berserk, Zane thought.
Indeed, the wild boar grew in size, its attributes skyrocketed, and all damage became -1 in mandatory health deduction.
Moreover, the wild boar was shaking crazily, repeatedly crashing into the gate.
At this moment, the gate, which had already been like a candle in the wind, suddenly collapsed.
The North Gate opened!
The video cut off at this point.
Zane was utterly astonished; this was too impressive! Using items and positioning, they had beaten the wild boar into submission. Moreover, they made use of its destructive power to smash down the gate, meaning every player in that village could now venture into the northern caves! The secrets there would no longer be a threat under the tactic of overwhelming numbers.
…
Logging back in, Fengchen Yanhua and Falling Star appeared simultaneously in the previous location.
“You’re here, what are we doing this afternoon?” Endless Sea seemed to have stuck around. He had also noticed that he couldn’t get good quests, seeing what other players took on, like teaching rabbits and relaying messages, the rewards were completely unappealing, and he had no desire to do them.
“No time, let’s hurry to the North Gate!” Zane said urgently.
