U.S. Battlefield No. 1357.
Vaughan crawled and stumbled out of the quarry, a group of equally terrified teammates trailing behind him.
They didn’t dare stop to catch their breath until they saw the timer above the quarry vanish when time ran out, and all the Gulpstone monsters disappear with it.
Tom, the captain of the healing squad, glanced at the huge number of dead warriors left inside the quarry, swallowed hard, and walked over to Vaughan with lingering fear.
“Vaughan, there’s no way we can take this place with our current strength. We couldn’t even hold off 160 Gulpstone Devourers. Even if we somehow got through that wave, the next one would have 320!”
Vaughan exploded. “I could kill 320, or even more! You’re the ones who can’t keep me healed!”
Tom was speechless at being saddled with the blame.
“You could kill them all? Fine. Could you kill them all within one minute? Your damage output simply isn’t high enough.”
Vaughan’s face instantly flushed red. He wanted to argue, but gritted his teeth and swallowed the words. He knew Tom was right.
He had nearly been swallowed by the monster horde just now. If he had been any slower, he wouldn’t have escaped—and he certainly wouldn’t have been so frightened otherwise.
“I’ll go level up two more times.”
Tom countered, “Will two levels really be enough? If you gained two more levels, would you be able to kill 500 monsters that tough within one minute?”
Because people had been dying nonstop, Tom, the captain of the healing squad, had also grown resentful of Vaughan and wanted to seize command.
Seeing Vaughan’s expression shift between anger and uncertainty, he continued, “Give it up. Your hidden class has limited potential. We need more people to raise their levels before we can take this quarry.”
Vaughan snapped, “What did you say? My potential is limited? Do you really think you can catch up to the Chinese without me? I—”
Before he could finish, the system announcement that Liu Xuan had completed the Orchid River Outpost battle appeared.
Everyone froze for a moment. Tom quickly seized the opportunity and pressed on.
“See? We’re already behind anyway. Why not listen to me and have everyone focus on leveling up?”
“Leveling up? Didn’t you see the Chinese getting ten or twenty times the experience bonus we are? Do you really think you can out-level them?”
“Then what do you suggest? Go ahead and see if you can take this quarry by yourself.”
“Tom, you bastard!”
…
Knowing that completing all 10,000 quests would require the efforts of everyone on the battlefield, and that there was no point rushing things, Liu Xuan simply returned to the starter village to grab something to eat and get some sleep.
As soon as he arrived, he discovered that a quest board had also been put up in the village. Quite a few people were already gathered around it.
They had previously been doing nothing but grinding monsters. Now they could complete the quests listed on the board and receive money and experience as rewards, which would make leveling up and saving money even faster.
So after someone shouted about it in the chat channel, almost everyone who could return to the village rushed back to accept quests.
“I knew this game was missing something. Without quest rewards, leveling is way too slow.”
“But there’s a limit to how many there are. The entire battlefield only gets 10,000 quests. That works out to two or three per person.”
“Then why are you still standing around yapping? Go do them!”
“We do need to hurry. It looks like we can’t advance the next battle phase until these quests are completed. We can’t hold the big shot back.”
“Good point. The faster we finish them, the faster the big shot can push the battle forward. Then we can keep enjoying the experience bonus.”
“Damn, an experience bonus of more than ten times over. I’ve never seen anything like that in a game.”
“Heh, even if I were using a cheat trainer, I wouldn’t dare set the multiplier that high. The game would become boring.”
“So the hardcore game has turned into a casual power trip.”
Liu Xuan shook his head with a smile and first went to find the old village chief.
The old village chief’s face was wreathed in smiles. “I never expected you to take the outpost so quickly. It looks like we’ll be able to return to the other side of the river soon.”
Liu Xuan asked curiously, “Speaking of which, what exactly is on the other side of the river?”
“Captain Finch will tell you when the time comes. By the way, brave warrior, is there something you wanted to ask me?”
What a mysterious old man!
Liu Xuan grumbled inwardly. Then he took out the Proof of the Giant Salamander Slayer and asked, “Chief, do you know what this thing is for?”
The old village chief took it and examined it carefully, stroking his beard.
“This was dropped by that monster at the bottom of the river?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ve heard a few rumors. Long ago, there was a powerful corps that belonged to no faction. Their sole purpose was to hunt the fiercest monsters on this continent. In the end, however, the entire corps was wiped out by a terrifying monster from legend. They say that anyone who wished to join the corps had to bring proof that they had slain some of the fiercest monsters.”
“If the entire corps was wiped out, what’s the point of joining it now?”
“I heard they may have served an unrecognized god. If you take that item with you, perhaps you’ll be able to make contact with that god.”
“Then do you know where their altar is?”
“That, I don’t know.”
“…”
“However, the library in the great city to the north may contain more records about them—assuming the monsters haven’t completely destroyed the city.”
Liu Xuan thought: You just want us to push north as soon as possible, don’t you?
Seeing that he couldn’t get any more information out of the old village chief, Liu Xuan said goodbye and headed toward the inn.
As soon as he entered, he saw Zhang Meng sitting in the main hall with several men who looked sharp and energetic, discussing something.
Liu Xuan assumed they were Zhang Meng’s teammates. Since none of them had noticed him, he simply went upstairs to rest.
“Comrade, that’s the situation on the battlefield.”
The man across from him nodded. “I understand. From now on, we’ll follow your instructions.”
Zhang Meng hurriedly waved his hands. “That’s not appropriate. I’m retired from the military.”
“There’s nothing inappropriate about it. Brother Zhang, you understand this game better than we do. Professionals should listen to the professionals.”
“But…”
“The mission comes first.”
“I understand.”
“The current plan from above is to maintain the battlefield’s survival rate at around eighty percent. If it falls below that, we’ll send in additional troops. Deploying too many at once could cause trouble outside. But if we deploy too few, we’re worried that the pressure will become too great once too many people inside suffer casualties.”
“Actually, with the experience bonus we have now, the pressure isn’t that bad,” Zhang Meng said with a smile.
Once their levels were high enough, many dangers simply ceased to be dangers.
Put simply, if you were afraid, you could just hunt low-level monsters. With an experience bonus of more than ten times the normal amount, even a level-five player fighting level-one monsters could level up incredibly quickly.
And if all else failed, you could just dump every point into Agility.
If you couldn’t win, couldn’t you at least run?
“Besides, there are quests on the board now, so leveling will be even faster. By the way, comrades, everyone’s top priority now is to complete the 10,000 quests listed on the board as quickly as possible. That’s the only way to unlock the third phase of the battle.”
“Understood. Those of us who have just joined the battlefield will do our best to complete the quests as well!”
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
