Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
The next day, the players charged forward relentlessly, their hearts burning with hatred for the Lord of Eagle Territory, and a desire and excitement for war. Finally, they entered the territory of Winter City.
At that moment, a crisp mission notification sound echoed through all the players’ information panels:
[Attention all players: The large-scale war mission “Attack Winter City” has been activated]
[Main Mission: Kill the Lord of Eagle Territory, Xi Wei Jinshi]
[Optional Side Mission: Rescue Saintess Ruo Yi]
[Mission Time Limit: Unlimited]
[Mission Player Limit: Unlimited]
[Mission Level Requirement: Level 10 and above]
[Mission Reward 1: All players who accept the mission will receive 30,000 experience points. Players who kill enemies will gain experience from an experience pool, which will be divided among all players after the war. Experience points can also be exchanged for Memory Clearing Potions from Ye Hao (1000 experience points per bottle)]
[Mission Reward 2: Normal Grade Equipment ~ Hero Grade Equipment (Free Loot)]
[Mission Reward 3: Gold Coins (Free Loot)]
[Mission Reward 4: Special NPC Follower, Demi-human girl Loli (Note: This NPC cannot be forcibly recruited and requires Memory Clearing Potion x? The reward is unique)]
[Mission Reward 5: Special NPC Follower, Clemon Sett (Note: This NPC cannot be forcibly recruited and requires Memory Clearing Potion x50. The reward is unique)]
[Mission Reward 6: Special NPC Follower, Gudbad (Note: This NPC cannot be forcibly recruited and requires Memory Clearing Potion x1. The reward is unique)]
[Mission Reward 7: Other NPC Followers, no Memory Clearing Potion required. Players can recruit them with their personal charm. Current recruitment difficulty (Extremely Difficult)]
[Mission Reward 8: After completing the mission, all participating players will receive the title “Dethroner of the Eagle Territory”]
Honestly, this was the first time the players had seen a mission with such generous rewards. Before this, all they did was hunt, mine, chop wood, and defend city walls, earning a meager few hundred experience points at a time. Now, they were getting thirty thousand upfront, plus an experience pool to share.
Players who had gone through the Orc Empire’s Black River Territory campaign knew the game’s nature: the bulk of the rewards usually came from free loot. Rewards two through seven were typical free loot items and were incredibly luxurious.
This mission was broadcast simultaneously on all players’ panels, but only those within Winter City’s territory could accept it. This undoubtedly made a group of solo players who wanted to experience the game for themselves and hadn’t followed regret it immensely.
“Let’s farm missions, farm missions!” some players shouted excitedly.
“It looks like we’re almost at Winter City!”
“Are you blind? Although we’re still a bit far, can’t you see that massive city in the distance?”
“Holy crap! These rewards, big shots, what is this Demi-human girl Loli? Does this game even have a cultivation system?”
“Charge! I want the Old Knight! The Old Knight is the best!”
“There is a Follower System, but we’re too weak. Previously, only the Dawn Town militia or stray cats and dogs were willing to follow us. We only have one follower slot, so it’s best not to recruit carelessly.”
“Why does the Old Knight require 50 potions? And that Demi-human girl is even more outrageous, it’s a questioning mark [?]!”
Gou Fugui and Xiang Wang was a civilian player from the second test. He was a legitimate F2P player who made a living by playing games and was a dominant solo merchant in multiple games. However, this game had not yet opened its cash shop, so players could only trade amongst themselves. Everything was tradable – the trees chopped, the mines dug, even the starting burlap clothes. Everything except your real-life interactions could be freely traded. What was this? This was a godsend for hardcore players!
Gou Fugui and Xiang Wang first learned about this game in Avatar’s live stream. At that time, he believed this game was definitely going to be popular and profitable, but obtaining a test qualification was too difficult. On the first day of the second test, he made a reservation on a whim and surprisingly managed to get one of the ten thousand slots. He chose the Mage profession upon entering the game and then followed the novice-only task “Big Shots Carry Me,” furiously chopping trees, mining, and hunting magical beasts to level up with a group of veteran players.
There were still some quests in Dawn Town, but most of the NPC quests were gone. Even the latrines in Dawn Town were cleaned out by the second-test players within two hours. In less than five days, he had spent almost all his time in the game, except for eating and using the restroom. Sleep? Playing games in a gaming pod was considered sleep. True sleep was a waste of life for a hardcore player. Fortunately, his efforts paid off. He reached level fifteen on the day the main army set out.
Actually, a hardcore player like him could have leveled up faster under the guidance of the average level 20+ veteran players. However, the trees around Dawn Town were mostly cut down, and the surrounding magical beasts were all killed. In the game Cain Continent, except for running around naked under the Holy Light, the pursuit of realism had reached its extreme. Once trees were cut, they were gone. Low-level magical beasts, once killed, wouldn’t respawn. What was left were creatures that neither new nor old players could afford to offend – mid-to-high-level magical beasts. Even dozens of people weren’t enough to be a snack for them. You could also pay more people to form a group and kill them. But those mid-level magical beasts weren’t stupid. Player attacks could barely scratch their defense, and controlling them was out of the question. These beasts would flee as soon as they saw a crowd. Therefore, nobody really bothered with mid-level magical beasts. Killing them wasn’t impossible with careful planning, but the efficiency was too low, yielding little benefit for the effort. As a result, most non-hardcore and non-paying second-test players had to complete tedious quests to level up, and they learned many practical skills through these quests. For example, how to mine without getting buried, how to maintain balance while scooping dung to walk swiftly, how to chop trees without being crushed, and the five fancy ways to build walls, etc. As for the hardcore players, they had to travel further away from Dawn Town to hunt magical beasts, which took up a lot of time.
This realistic game mechanic led to an increasing polarization among players as the player population and time grew. The strong became stronger, and the weak became weaker. High-level players always obtained the first batch of resources. If you didn’t have the money to hire others or the hardened liver, you could only obediently level up slowly like a salted fish. Many new players complained endlessly about this game mechanic, crying about unnecessary competition like in the real workplace. Some players even shouted that they would quit the game. However, in reality, not a single player actually quit. “True fragrance, always with me.” Gou Fugui and Xiang Wang had no complaints about the game mechanics of Cain Continent. It was a case of “you get what you give.” Having an absolutely immersive game experience naturally meant that other aspects had to be close to reality. Moreover, salted fish players didn’t necessarily lack the fun of the game. With such a vast map, as long as you had the courage to press on, you could explore the Orc Empire and have a delightful barbecue party with those friendly Orc soldiers.
