Danger Level: Middle
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Players had an ‘examine’ function that allowed them to learn an NPC’s name and information. However, the amount of information obtained differed based on their level difference.
“The weapons store sells guns, bullets, and other weapons, the marketplace is where people sell food and water, and the amphitheater is where you will find mounts to rent. If you wish to leave, there is a train station several kilometers north of here. If you wish to learn a craft, the blacksmith’s or the tailor’s are good choices…”
Xander’s explanation filled in the new players on their situation. There were only a few sub-classes and one combat class – [Novice Hunter] – available in this village, and they cost money to learn.
Frenzied Sword opened up the map to find it mostly shrouded in fog. Before he explored the planet, he would have to first earn money.
“Is it possible to take on hunting quests straight away?”
Frenzied Sword recognized the man, SliceYouUp, as the guild leader of the guild ‘Kill-all’. His IGN was telling of his personality.
Upon hearing his question, Xander burst out into laughter.
“You weaklings think that you stand a chance against wild beasts? See those mountains over there? If you are not afraid to die then by all means try, but it looks to me like none of you are even strong enough to even take on a Silver Hyena.”
The players looked towards where the old man pointed to see a range of forested mountains in the distance. Some of the mountains stood so tall that the clouds seemed to encircle them like huge, coiling pythons, creating an extremely scenic view that stole the breaths of the players. The graphics were incredibly life-like. Galaxy was clearly ahead of the competition.
Refusing to believe the old man, SliceYouUp took his party to purchase some basic equipment with the starting money of $100 and headed for the mountains.
It did not take long for them to return.
SliceYouUp, in particular, was shaken up quite badly. The first beast that he had encountered was a gorilla larger than an adult man. As soon as he raised his dagger, the gorilla threw its excrement at him, the force of which blew up his head. And it only got better. He respawned in the middle of a stampede.
‘Why the hell would that freaking monkey know how to throw its excrement‽ Must everything be so realistic‽’
For some reason, the foul smell still lingered around even after respawning. The developers were definitely trolling when they decided to add in this smell.
“WTF, aren’t those monsters too strong?”
“They didn’t even stand a chance!”
“He only managed to do 1 damage!!”
“Damn it, I dropped the knife I just bought!”
The amount of experience lost upon death depended on the character level. The respawn time also increased with each death. For the first death, respawning only took 10 seconds, but it would take a minute for the second, five for the third, and half an hour for the fourth, increasing up to a whopping six days.
Death was very costly in the Galaxy. Each character could also only die up to 10 times every day (6 days in-game). Reaching this limit would result in a character lock until the next day. It was an anti-addiction system that proved to be more effective than the ‘exhaustion system’ of certain mobile games.
The Kill-all party’s sad state immediately deterred the other players from thinking of hunting monsters. They quickly dispersed to find work to do.
As Xander watched over the buzz, he stroked his beard with a smile.
“The reward is so low! I only got $50!”
“Leveling is so slow! It took me half an hour of quests just to earn enough experience to level up!”
“Everything feels so real!”
“I hit myself to test, and blood actually came out! Amazing!”
“Something is wrong with you dude.”
The start was not as easy as the players had expected; everyone was at least put on a level playing field. Furthermore, there was an extremely high degree of freedom for them to choose what they wanted to do. As the players went about their quests, many started to find themselves enjoying the game. Quests were tiring yet felt so fulfilling.
‘Today is a blessed day!’
…
“Are you a pro gamer, too?”
Frenzied Sword recognized the trio walking towards him. They were also famous pros: Twinkle Fried Rice, a genius lauded for his mechanical skills, Sleepy Winter, a super veteran of e-sports, and Rainy Kim, a female idol gamer with tens of millions of fans.
In the face of these big gods of the gaming world, Frenzied Sword felt as though he had shrunk a few feet.
“Is something the matter?”
Sleepy Winter laughed, replying, “I was wondering – did you notice that the map sold in this town costs $3000?”
Chapter 56 - Encounter
Translator: MJ_ Editor: Millman97
There were three groups of beta testers. The first group were casual gamers who won their spots from the lottery system, while the second group were professional gamers or prolific personalities for whom a certain number of spots were reserved for. As for the third group of beta testers, they bought their accounts from resellers.
The casual gamer would only be interested in checking out the game, but the latter two shared the same reason for playing the beta: to get a head start.
“This beta test will only last for twelve days in terms of game time. It’s quite obvious that doing the beginner quests here is a waste of time, but you should have noticed that we are not forced to do them at all. What we should do is to take advantage of our head start and start exploring this world! We can be the first to discover all of this planet’s secrets and treasures.”
Frenzied Sword nodded slowly.
As time was indeed limited, to dawdle around in a beginner zone did seem like a waste of precious time. Questing here would certainly give them a level advantage over the newer players, but that would be all.
In contrast, exploring seemed like a more promising – and definitely more fun – option!
“But why would you tell me all this?” he asked.
Sleepy Winter laughed.
“Those big guilds will definitely realize this soon enough. The problem is that they have the advantage in numbers, so they will easily be able to buy the map. What do you say to joining our party? It will definitely make things easier.”
Frenzied Sword accepted the invitation without hesitation.
“How are we splitting the cost?” asked Twinkle Fried Rice.
“Since I suggested it, I’ll contribute more,” replied Sleepy Winter.
“I don’t like to owe people, so I’ll contribute a thousand,” added Rainy Kim coldly. “My part’s settled.”
She immediately turned around and left to earn money from quests.
Sleepy Winter rubbed his nose bitterly.
‘We’ve known each other for a few years already, why won’t you give me a chance…’
…
With the money they earned from questing, the four of them were able to procure the map the following day. Obtaining it cleared some of the fog on their maps, and it also provided basic information on the planet’s current situation. They learnt of the Six Nations, the Germinal Organization, and the Revolutionary Army, amongst other factions.
“According to this, the two biggest powers are the Six Nations and the Germinal Organization. The Six Nations seem to have quite a number of training schools and academies. It’ll probably be easier to learn a main class there. Let’s see… seems like Stardragon isn’t a bad choice.”
Big Horn Mountain was situated in Stardragon, and the public train station was not too far away.
Sleepy Winter nodded.
“We don’t have much time. It’ll take about 3 days for us to reach the capital.”
Frenzied Sword groaned
inwardly. He was starting to regret having joined the party. However, he knew that it was too late for him to chicken out.
…
The journey could not be skipped, so the party had to sit through the entire 3 days. There were some quests available on the train, but overall, it was not a pleasant trip at all. They did, however, have the forums to stifle their boredom. On the forums, players were posting about their experiences on the different starting zones.
It provided them with much amusement – except for Frenzied Sword, who could not stop worrying about the passing time.
After three days, the train arrived at the Western Capital.
Upon arriving at the great metal fences, each of them received a system message, alerting them of a new explored location.
“So, discovering places gives experience too, huh?”
“This is amazing,” gasped Twinkle Fried Rice as he looked around.
Everything was extremely realistic – down to the way that people were casting him strange looks.
The group proceeded to the security checkpoint where they were scanned for weapons.
After passing the check, the guard gave them each a temporary ID card, and they received a system message notifying them that they had unlocked reputation with Stardragon.
_____________________
Stardragon
Reputation: 0
Current Relationship: Neutral (Temporary Citizen)
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“Shall we continue as a group or go our own ways?” asked Sleepy Winter.
“I’ll follow you,” replied Twinkle Fried Rice immediately with a grin. The two of them were from the same gaming club.
Rainy Kim also decided to join them as some company was better than none.
“No bullying me,” she said flatly.
Sleepy Winter laughed. Unintentional or not, this girl said the cutest things. They exchanged a few more lines before Sleepy Winter finally turned to Frenzied Sword and asked, “What about you?”
Frenzied Sword was furious at being so blatantly overlooked, but he understood that there was no point in forcing himself to tag along.
“No- no need.” He waved his hand and stammered, “I prefer playing alone.”
“Alright then, good luck!”
As Frenzied Sword watched the trio of gods depart, he mumbled to himself, “Sooner or later, I’ll become popular too!”
The Western Capital was obviously a first-class city. Here, there would definitely be plenty of opportunities for him to surpass them and become number one!
Renewed with ambition, Frenzied Sword began to head off in another direction.
Suddenly, he noticed a masked man watching him.
Something about the way the man was looking at him seemed odd. As Frenzied Sword felt a chill run down his spine, he instinctively used the examine function.
_____________________
Name: Han Xiao (?)
Level: ?
Stats: ?
???
Danger Level: Fatal
Chapter 57 - Quest Reward Settings
Translator: MJ_ Editor: Millman97
“Fatal danger‽”
Frenzied Sword gulped. Even the armored security guard just now only had a ‘high’ danger level. This was his most dangerous encounter yet. Who exactly was this guy whose information was full of question marks‽
“Shouldn’t it be safe in the city? Will today be the first time that I die?”
Suddenly, the man spoke.
“Examining someone you just met? That’s not very polite.”
Frenzied Sword gave a start.
According to the official information, an NPC would know if it had been examined if it was over 30 levels higher than the player using the function.
Han Xiao chuckled to himself. He had simply predicted Frenzied Sword’s course of action.
After learning of the beta test, Han Xiao had taken note of all the nearby starting zones on his map. The closest one was none other than Big Horn Mountain Village. It was only three days away, but Han Xiao did not want to leave the Western Capital as Germinal was actively looking for him.
While keeping track of the influx of posts on the forums, Han Xiao came across a thread created by a player called Sleepy Winter. It was a post about the benefits of exploration.
Han Xiao knew who Sleepy Winter was – a legendary pro gamer who was quite active in public forums. He liked to discuss strategies and create guides. He was a good man, handsome (beside the point), and naturally had a huge fan base. In the Chinese server, he had ranked consistently amongst the top 30. Han Xiao himself had only ever peaked at 47th, and during a period of time, he even fell out of the top 100. That lesson that he had learnt then was to stay away from girls (if you want to succeed).
Once, he had shared his thoughts regarding this with the 28-year-old owner of the convenience store below his apartment building who he was on friendly terms with. The bachelor had laughed him off.
“Cool story bro,” he said, “but I’d rather have a girl.”
To which Han Xiao had replied, “But which girl would have you?”
That was the day that Han Xiao lost his special discount at that store.
The rankings were not based purely on combat. In Galaxy, there were all kinds of competitions apart from fighting – from treasure hunts to monster killing, and even races! As Han Xiao had taken on a number of revenge assignments from other players, his combat ability was quite polished. Unfortunately, he had lacked in other areas – such as trash talking. He never forgot to practice it though.
After reading the thread, Han Xiao had guessed that there would probably be a few players who would make it to the Western Capital. As such, over the past few days, he had spent some time keeping an eye out for any at the city entrance. He was able to spot the party of four easily as their names were – to Han Xiao’s surprise – clearly displayed over their heads. Furthermore, three of their names were those of famous people.
Han Xiao was not sure if the reason he could see their names was that he, too, had an interface.
Nevertheless, it was a good thing. Just like how players could see the names of NPCs, Han Xiao could recognize them on sight.
The reason that he had decided to make direct contact with a player was to test out his NPC functions.
“Brave adventurer, do you have time to help me?”
A standard line for a quest-giver.
Frenzied Sword’s eyes widened.
‘To think that I’d get the chance to interact with a high-level NPC this soon! This place is the best!’
He replied, as calmly as he could, “I am willing to help.”
“I need a loaf of bread. Can you find one?”
A confirmation window popped up as soon as Han Xiao asked the question.
_____________________
Do you wish to issue a quest to Frenzied Sword?
Y/N
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‘It really works!
‘Hold on, why are there automated prompts for an NPC function? Maybe I can automate my own actions too?’
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. Now was not the time to worry about those questions.
“Yes.”
A window appeared, along with some messages.
_____________________
Please set the requirements and rewards for the mission. The amount of experience that you can hand out is limited based on your level, rank, influence, and myth.
Note: You can choose to give objects that you possess ownership of as rewards: money, items, experience, skills, etc.
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The window was split into two sections. On the left side was a drop-down menu that allowed Han Xiao to select the quest type. There were a ton of quest types to choose from.
/>
On the right side was for inputting the rewards. There were two lines: “Maximum Reward”, and “Daily Reward Limit”.
The Maximum Reward was currently set to 11,600 experience points. It also seemed to be provided by the system, meaning that Han Xiao would not have need to fork any out of his own pocket.
Daily Reward Limit referred to the amount of experience reward that Han Xiao could issue out in a day. Currently, it was fixed at five times the Maximum Reward (5 x 11600 = 58,000).
_____________________
Maximum Reward: 11600 exp
Level: 24 (7200 exp)
Rank: E (300 exp)
Faction(s):
Germinal – Hated (1000 exp)
Division 13 – Neutral (400 exp)
Myth Level: 0
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As Han Xiao tested the settings out, he discovered a limitation – if the current Maximum Reward did not meet the minimum amount required for a quest, he would not be able to issue it – a Rank A quest such as destroying the Germinal Organization would require a Rank A reward.
Han Xiao’s maximum reward of 11,600 meant that he could only issue E-rank quests. D-rank quests required a reward of at least 30,000 exp. The reward criteria also seemed to differ among the different quest types. No further messages popped up to explain this, so it seemed like Han Xiao would have to figure it out on his own through trial and error.
Han Xiao tried to issue himself a quest, but it failed.
“If only I could have some of that sweet experience…”
Although he now had the ability to hand out experience like water, he himself was only earning about 20,000 to 30,000 exp a day. Of course, there was no way that he would help someone else.
“Seems like I could use this to my advantage though…” Han Xiao’s eyes began to twinkle. It was possible to use this function to manipulate players into doing his bidding. After all, players would do any quest if the reward was high enough.
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 31