Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Damn, is this game for real? We’ve only just arrived, and we’re about to go to war?”
“This is different from all those pretty and flirty trash that I used to play. Are there no leveling or other skills to learn?”
“It was stated earlier in the task rewards. The goddess’ favor, and you get to acquire skills!”
“It feels like the level of player freedom is quite high!”
“It’s a little like a storyline mission game. Perhaps due to the high level of freedom. They need to figure out some restrictions!”
“It’s good that there’s no leveling up, but I’m curious to know if we get to choose our professions? It feels like a magical genre.”
Upon seeing the mission statement released by the Summoning Pixie, more than 30 players started chatting with excitement. It appeared as if they found the game to be extraordinarily refreshing.
Even though the opening mission was somewhat hackneyed, the sensory experience was utterly realistic and made the players feel as if they were about to go through a different kind of experience.
…
After Meng Yang’s speech to all the players and issuance of the mission through the Summoning Pixie, he stepped aside and handed the leadership role to Phoenix.
In the beginning, Meng Yang wanted to lead the players for the fight himself. However, he thought about his weak combat skills and the fact that he was not a player that could be resurrected through the summoning circle. Everything would probably disappear once he died, so under these circumstances, it was better if he stayed low and acted as a commander from the backline.
“Everybody line up!”
Once the cool female marksman took over the leadership role, she looked at the disorganized players in front of her. Hence, the first command she had to issue was for everyone to line up and stand still.
However, at least half of the players present were not listening to Phoenix’s command. After looking through their mission, they began to disperse in twos and threes, getting ready to get to know the current environment and the Other World.
Buildings full of exotic characteristics beside the summoning circle and some NPCs (old and weak women and children) nearby had already attracted their attention right from the start.
Such a game that had 100% realism to it gave them a heavy dose of novelty.
As for what the NPC said, apart from the mission given, very few people cared about it!
Some of them, such as those from the scouting party and map running party who liked to be more self-reliant, had long been unable to restrain themselves. They had a strong urge to wander around after taking up the mission.
Standing amongst all the players, Li Yuncheng had been carefully observing the surroundings since entering the Other World. For a while, he had even put aside his original intention of entering the game to find his “goddess”, and was more eager to start exploring.
What girl? Nothing would be more fun than a game!
Through the background of the mission and the words from the few veteran players who had participated in the previous beta, he had already understood some of the worldview content. More specifically, according to the super high degree of freedom mentioned on the official website before this, he may need to do his exploring slowly.
Now, he was merely wondering as to what degree the realism of this game could possibly achieve.
Once he accepted the story mission named [Steel Line of Defense], Li Yuncheng slipped away from the summoning circle and began to explore this survivor camp.
First, he interacted with some of the building materials. The touch sensation was genuine. Whether it was wood or masonry, he almost felt like it was not much different from reality. Then, there were some busy NPCs around him.
He could see that these NPCs were famished, and were obviously not doing very well. He roughly understood bits and pieces of why from the description of the storyline mission.
In truth, many old and weak women and children in the stronghold were also watching these “strange people” coming out of the summoning circle with curious eyes. After all, at first, when Meng Yang said that he would summon some people from another world to come and help them, not everyone took it seriously. However, now that they were actually seeing a group of people walking out from another world, many of them were astonished.
Some of the more courageous kids would even run in front of these people, their big round eyes filled with curiosity.
“Outsider, are you really here to help us?”
Just as Li Yuncheng was tiptoeing about and was preparing to use the stairwell above the fence to take a look outside, he heard a voice next to him.
Li Yuncheng turned his head and looked around to see a seven or eight-year-old little girl looking at him. The realistic appearance almost made him feel like he was not inside a game.
He wanted to test the intelligence of these NPCs, hence Li Yuncheng replied, “Yes. I’m here to help you guys!”
“That’s great!” The little girl exclaimed with excitement. “My name is Angie. I heard the gnolls are coming, so please defeat them.”
“What if I can’t beat them?” Li Yuncheng intentionally teased this little NPC.
Her resulting response was beyond his wildest expectations. The little girl in front of him showed a devastated expression on her face and replied, “Then, we’ll die and become food for the monsters.”
‘F*ck, this game is really…’ He could barely utter the first word, and only an expression of total shock remained on his face.
Li Yuncheng sighed; he felt that the little girl in front of him was no different from what he saw in real life.
This made him want to take a good look at the map even more. He ignored the little girl next to him and quickly walked over to the stairs to climb it.
Whoosh!
At that very moment, a sharp sound was suddenly heard.
Li Yuncheng instantly felt a sharp pain in the back of his heart. Before he could adjust the pain level, his vision went black.
Afterward, a line of text appeared in front of him, which stated, “You were shot to death for not following military command. The resurrection time is 5 minutes, and NPC’s favorability has dropped by 10 points.”
At the same time, the bow in Phoenix’s hands, who was standing on the high platform, started shooting out arrows one after another.
Players who wandered off without authorization turned into green smoke and disappeared without a trace, one at a time.
Especially the two most audacious players that had entered the game—they were getting closer to Phoenix and wanted to make a move on her. The words that appeared to them in the darkness were, “You’ve offended the guardian and female marksman Phoenix, NPC favorability has dropped below freezing point and the resurrection time is 1 hour.”
A prompt appeared in front of the players’ field of vision. “During the storyline mission, all players must adhere to the commands of female marksman Phoenix. Any attacks done to the characters in the camp will result in penalization!”
“Motherf*cker, what the hell!”
“An arrow shot through the heart. I haven’t adjusted the pain level yet, that hurts like a b*tch!”
“Crap, the NPC is rebelling!”
“Damn, this game. I… I…”
Five minutes later, some players who were shot due to non-compliance were resurrected. They couldn’t help but scream and start running around, hence they were shot once more. This time around, the resurrection time had accumulated to 15 minutes.
At this moment, quite a few of them really wanted to quit the game. However, after giving it some thought, they calmed themselves down instead.
After all, an online game like this was currently the only one on the market, with nothing even remotely similar available. Moreover, the level of realism in it was genuinely admirable and indescribable.
So much so that a few minutes later, a resurrected player walked out of the summoning circle and happily yelled, “I was shot to death by the goddess, it’s such a blessing.” The masochism made one felt like tearing out their scalp.
The majority of the players glanced at Phoenix, who was standing straight with a bow, then looked at each other in dismay. Then, every one of them began to become more alert.
The experience of this game was different. The disastrous army had barely made a move on the NPCs, yet the NPC had started killing people. Was… Was this the natural order of things? Was there any law?!
Meng Yang noticed that the players no longer dared to run around, which made his heart settle down slightly. He really had no clue of what would happen once the players were brought into this Other World.
The only thing he could do was stand his ground and give them restrictions in the resurrection period. At the very least, this would constrain them momentarily; otherwise, it would have been utter chaos the entire time. Forget about trying to command the players to fight against the jackals, some of the players might even have a series of brain farts and would be tempted to lay their hands on the woman and children in the camp.
Meng Yang was very experienced in this. Previously, when he played any games with neutral settings. He would attack if possible, and it did not matter whether or not they were from the same camp. He would charge even when he was in a good mood, and would attack when he was in a bad mood.
It was the so-called player’s forte. When players passed by an area, grass would turn barren, money would fall, and no one was safe!
Favorability and prestige were also given because of this. He was very confident about a lot of the players. Even so, since it was still merely a game in the players’ eyes, he needed to pay attention to certain areas. At the very least, the people in the camp should not be casualties by the players’ hands. Otherwise, Phoenix’s bow and arrow might be aimed at him next.