The Light of Orenburg

“This is……” Kyle’s expression was one of utter astonishment.

Gina froze for two seconds when she heard the bell, then shouted excitedly, “That’s the bell of Orenburg! There’s no mistaking it—I heard it all the time when I was little!”

Then she suddenly thought of something. “That’s right! It must have been that person we saw earlier. He must have rung the bell of Orenburg!”

Gina’s brother looked incredulous. “How is that possible? The entire city is crawling with monsters. He’s all alone……”

“Brother, who else could it be? You were the one who said that no one could reclaim the city unless the deity descended.”

Gina turned around excitedly and was about to leave. “I’m going to find that ‘deity’!”

Kyle hurriedly stopped her. “Wait! We need to think this through carefully!”

Gina glanced back at him and firmly shook her head. “No. I’m going home!”

……

Meanwhile, on Liu Xuan’s side, the instant he struck the sixth gemstone, a notification announcing the completion of the campaign appeared in front of him.

[Huaxia Faction Battlefield No. 2468 has completed the campaign: Reclaiming Orenburg. Huaxia is now estimated to be 2,780% ahead of the other Blue Star humans in the race to ascend to the Overmind.]

[Warriors on Huaxia Battlefield No. 2468 will receive a 2,780% experience bonus until reaching Level 20.]

[Warriors on all Huaxia battlefields will receive a 1,390% experience bonus until reaching Level 20.]

[The low-level experience rewards obtained during the previous two phases will remain active.]

[In addition, as the first faction on Blue Star to complete the third phase, all warriors currently below Level 10 on Huaxia battlefields will gain 3 levels, up to a maximum of Level 10.]

[All warriors currently at Level 10 or above on Huaxia battlefields will gain 1 level.]

[From now on, all warriors who newly join a Huaxia battlefield will be born directly in the Novice Village, with an initial level of 5.]

There was simply too much information in this long string of announcements.

As usual, the experience bonus awarded for completing this campaign was substantial.

Liu Xuan thought that 2,780% was a fairly impressive result.

The Novice Village was such a small place, yet it had still managed to conceal something as valuable as the [Lucky Money Tree].

Now that they had crossed the river, there was an enormous stretch of land between them and Orenburg. There were bound to be plenty of secrets hidden there as well.

The most pleasant surprise was that the reward had also given everyone—or rather, every Huaxia citizen—a free increase of one to three levels.

As expected, the rewards for capturing Orenburg were extraordinarily generous.

Still, Liu Xuan felt they were somewhat lacking. Relying solely on these level rewards was still not as profitable as deliberately avoiding campaigns and farming Mutagen.

There had to be more coming later.

Sure enough, after pausing for a moment, the announcement continued to spill out more text. Perhaps the system had decided that too much information at once would be difficult for people to digest.

How considerate.

[Global Blue Star Announcement]

[The Huaxia Faction has become the first faction to complete the third-phase campaign and reclaim Orenburg.]

[In three days, the first Promotion Defense War in Blue Star’s history will begin!]

[Rules for the first Promotion Defense War are as follows:]

[First: The defending side will consist of all warriors on Huaxia Battlefield No. 2468. The attacking side will consist of the top 30,000 warriors by level from the remaining countries of Yazhou.]

[Second: The defenders will win if, within one day of the battle’s start, they prevent the flag at the center of the city from being destroyed, or eliminate all attackers. The attackers will win if, within one day, they destroy the flag at the center of the city, or eliminate all defenders.]

[Third: Anyone who dies during this battle will only be temporarily confined in a special space and will not truly die. They will be restored once the battle ends.]

[Fourth: If the defenders are defeated, Orenburg on their battlefield will be destroyed. They will then have to complete a large number of reconstruction missions, and it will take a long time before they can launch another defense war. During this period, if another faction completes the Orenburg campaign on its battlefield, it may launch a new Promotion Defense War ahead of them.]

[Fifth: If the attackers are defeated, all attacking countries will be demoted to lower civilizations and become vassals of Huaxia. The current Promotion Defense War will then end permanently, and after other Blue Star nations complete the Orenburg campaign, they will no longer be able to launch Promotion Defense Wars.]

[Sixth: From this moment onward, the citizens of all participating countries will be unable to change their nationality.]

[Both sides are advised to prepare during these three days. The defending side may strengthen the city’s defensive forces as much as possible. Warriors from the attacking nations who wish to participate in the battle are encouraged to level up as much as possible.]

[When you rank among the top 30,000, a prominent invitation to war will appear. If you later fall below the top 30,000, a prompt to withdraw will appear.]

[…]

Good grief. It seemed that this Promotion Defense War was the real main reward.

Only the first faction to complete the Orenburg campaign could launch a Promotion Defense War.

As long as they successfully defended the city, the other Blue Star nations would be unable to launch another one even after capturing Orenburg themselves.

And if Huaxia won this battle, all the other countries in Yazhou would be demoted and become Huaxia’s vassals.

Although Liu Xuan still did not know exactly what being demoted would entail, given how brutal this battlefield was, the consequences were sure to be extremely harsh.

As for the punishment for losing the defense, Liu Xuan did not even consider it.

If someone could steal the flag from him, he might as well bash his head against a wall and die.

It was true that he had no active skills and could not attack others directly.

But if he wanted to get himself attacked, that would be easy enough.

The people from the other battlefields knew nothing about Liu Xuan’s abilities. When the time came, he could simply hide among the crowd—or stand right inside one of their area-of-effect attacks—and easily take advantage of the chaos.

With 30,000 people, they would certainly be packed together tightly, right?

Then he could just set off [Corpse Explosion]……

Heh heh heh.

And if that still wasn’t enough, Liu Xuan had [Destruction Aura].

[Destruction Aura: Enemies within 20 meters of you lose 10% of their maximum armor and magic resistance every second. Each time this effect is triggered, the range of this passive increases by 5 meters. After being out of combat for 10 seconds, the range returns to normal.]

Thirty thousand of the highest-level warriors?

They would become 30,000 defenseless chickens!

If Liu Xuan simply stood on the battlefield for one minute, this aura would be able to cover the entire battlefield, leaving every enemy afflicted with several times the normal amount of vulnerability.

Liu Xuan really wanted to know whether those 30,000 people could last even one minute.

The announcement was not over yet. Immediately afterward came Liu Xuan’s personal announcement:

[Congratulations! As the first Blue Star human to complete the campaign: Reclaiming Orenburg, you will now receive your rewards.]

[Because your clear time was 2,780% below the projected time, your rewards have been multiplied by 2,780%.]

[You have received 2,780 gold coins.]

[The effect of your title, Blue Star’s Number One Warrior, has been enhanced.]

Title: Blue Star’s Number One Warrior (Unique)

Description: Proof of the strongest warrior on Blue Star. At every important milestone settlement during the first phase of the war, ownership of this title will be reassigned, and its effects will be increased or decreased according to the holder’s performance.

Effect: Upon death, you have a 49.71% chance of being resurrected. This effect can only trigger once.

Note: This probability is determined by your performance. If the title changes owners, the previous holder’s probability will not be inherited by the next.

Note 2: When a warrior obtains a title with a (unique) attribute, they may choose that title as their primary name in the public channels of the battlefield, including but not limited to system announcements, leaderboards, auction houses, and regional broadcasts.

[You have obtained the title: Light of Orenburg]

Title: Light of Orenburg (Unique)

Description: Awarded to the warrior who performed most brilliantly in the campaign to reclaim Orenburg. Now that the Empire has fallen, you are everyone’s hope, pillar, and leader.

Effect: Your party size limit is increased to 10,000 members. You may issue messages to your party in the form of “Commands.” Unlike ordinary chat messages, “Commands” are conveyed to designated members of the party in a highly conspicuous manner, and the recipients can also view them directly in their quest lists.

[Multiple titles detected. You may now freely choose to display one or more titles, regardless of whether they are displayed. Their effects remain active at all times.]