Chapter 172: A Brand-new Campaign System Goes Live
“A hunting group formed by graduates?” Lin Qi was quite surprised when he heard this. “Can a beginner martial artist like me join?”
A hunting group is not something you can form just because you want to. You must have bone forging realm strength before the Martial Artist Association will recognize the hunting group and provide information on advanced-level and above monsters for the group to hunt.
And for martial artists who want to join these hunting groups and hunt those advanced-level and above monsters, it is not as easy as casually teaming up with other martial artists in the wilderness. You cannot just join because you feel like it.
After all, they are hunting advanced-level and above monsters. If beginner and intermediate martial artists go along, they are basically throwing their lives away and are completely unqualified to join.
As for those advanced-level and above monsters, their value is extremely high.
Unlike beginner and intermediate monsters, whose entire bodies soften after death, the hides, teeth, claws, bones, and so on of advanced-level and above monsters remain extremely tough. They are the primary materials used by the major cities to manufacture weapons and equipment.
At present, the highest alloy strength that the major cities can produce is only grade C, because it can wound lord-level monsters. According to the Association’s weapon tier classification, tier 1 weapons can harm monsters below advanced level, and tier 2 weapons can harm monsters below high lord level. So weapons and equipment forged from grade C alloy are also called tier 2 weapons.
However, the raw ore for making grade C alloy is incomparably rare. Even in the major cities, there are not many pieces of tier 2 weapons and equipment made from grade C alloy. Almost all weapons and equipment above tier 2 are made from those advanced-level and above monster materials.
Therefore, weapons and equipment above tier 2 are astronomically expensive even when purchased within major powers and cities. They cannot be bought with Bit anymore; they are traded by barter and can only be purchased with energy crystals, which are extremely important to all martial artists.
On top of that, the flesh and blood of advanced-level and above monsters offer cultivation effects that far surpass those of beginner and intermediate monsters. As long as you hunt one advanced-level and above monster, whether for a bone forging realm martial artist personally or for those major powers in the city proper, it becomes capital for strengthening themselves.
Now, with a bone forging realm martial artist inviting a beginner martial artist like him to join a hunting group, no matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible.
“As you are now, you certainly do not have the strength to participate in hunting advanced-level and above monsters, but that lord thinks highly of your potential,” Qin Mu explained. “So he is inviting you in advance. Once you enter the genius training camp and become an advanced martial artist, you can go hunt those advanced-level and above monsters together.”
“Also, as long as you join and with that lord present, those four major powers will no longer dare to openly move against you. Otherwise that lord definitely will not let them off.”
“Alright, I will join.” Lin Qi did not hesitate and directly joined the hunting group.
This time the players had wiped out the Iron Heart Gang and killed many elites of the four major powers. If the four major powers threw away their pride and abandoned the plan of a war of attrition, and instead sent everyone to attack the martial arts hall directly, he could only hide in the city proper. After all, the difference in strength between both sides was too great, something that a few hundred players could not make up for.
But with the protection of a bone forging realm big shot, if the four major powers did not dare flip the table, then he could confidently play a war of attrition against them and see who could outlast whom.
“Good, then I will reply to that lord right now.” Qin Mu looked at Lin Qi, who had agreed, and reassured him. “You made the four major powers suffer a big loss today. They will retaliate, but you do not need to worry too much. Since that lord has spoken, for the time being, tell the people in the martial arts hall not to take any transport business. If there is something urgent, quietly send out a small team.”
“I will remind them,” Lin Qi nodded.
Now that he had taken over the Iron Heart Gang’s territory, quite a few suburban gangs nearby were tempted. They wanted to seize territory, recruit more subordinates, and strengthen their own factions. Just maintaining public order in the territory already stretched his players thin so he could calmly recruit local residents for cultivation. There was no way he could send players out into the wilderness to run merchant escort missions now.
Qin Mu then took his leave from the martial arts hall, intending to personally report Lin Qi’s agreement to join at the first possible moment to that lord.
Meanwhile, in the underground area of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the players were practically boiling over.
Because not long ago, after Hall Master Lin Qi finished distributing rewards, the system issued a new announcement.
After everyone completed the hidden plot, the game manufacturer decided to launch the power struggle new gameplay.
To help Obsidian Martial Arts Hall grow more prosperous in the City of Light Chasing, players could now participate and assist Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in expanding its influence in the suburbs.
As for how to grow, it was very simple: assist in defending the Iron Heart Gang territory that Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had taken over, and also occupy the territories of the four major powers in the suburbs. The more suburban territory Obsidian Martial Arts Hall controlled, the higher its prosperity would become.
The higher the prosperity of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the greater the permissions that players could obtain. Each time a stage was completed, all players would receive rewards, and the team with the highest contribution points would gain the right to purchase a team headquarters.
Although the update content was not large, it still made all the players boil with excitement, especially on the official forum, which completely exploded.
“This game is pretty awesome! The development of the martial arts hall is actually being driven entirely by players.”
“What do you think, if we sweep through all factions in the City of Light Chasing, will the City of Light Chasing become ours?”
“Damn! If that really happens, that would be amazing. By then we players could totally roleplay as a city lord.”
“Come on! Isn’t this basically a disguised guild and war campaign system? If it develops to a certain stage, forget just being a city lord, even players founding a kingdom probably won’t be a problem, as long as the martial arts hall first becomes an empire.”
“With things developed this well already, how is this game still not in public beta?”
Players who had not entered the game yet looked at the latest update, especially the major game guilds, and their eyes went red.
High Martial Arts Descend had become a hot game.
Especially after many people watched the battle at Emerald Sky and saw the lord-level monster larger than skyscrapers, along with the magnificent, spectacular Emerald Sky itself. Every frame could be a wallpaper, and even just watching through video made people deeply immersed. It was hard to imagine what it would feel like to experience it personally.
There was also the battle in the wilderness valley. That fight was insanely thrilling, especially the power level players reached after becoming martial artists, like real-life superheroes. And that battle of over a thousand people was only the tip of the iceberg of High Martial Arts Descend. One could hardly imagine the scale of future faction wars or even city wars in High Martial Arts Descend.
Because of these two battles, even though High Martial Arts Descend had not entered public beta yet, it had already been rated by the platform as one of this year’s top ten new games.
Now High Martial Arts Descend had introduced the power struggle gameplay, even showing the prototype of a guild system. There was no way the major game guilds could sit still.
Fang Zhen: “The game manufacturer has finally opened the suburbs map. Anyone going in a group tomorrow to visit the territories of those four major powers?”
Yi Ye Fu Yun: “I just spent all my points, count me in.”
Saiwai Qiangke: “(⊙﹏⊙)b Didn’t you just get more than twenty million points?”
Yi Ye Fu Yun: “I blew them all on draws /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~”
Fang Zhen: “+1! It really is a bottomless pit Orz”
Twilight of the Gods: “My suggestion is to improve your strength first before going. Those are the four major powers of the suburbs. The rescue plot today, I think, was meant to get us players familiar with territory battles. Otherwise, how could a suburban faction be wiped out by us so easily without even a proper boss?”
Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang: “I agree too. Today’s martial artist boss was too weak, obviously not as strong as the one from the valley battle. And that boss, according to the information, was only a guard of one of the four major powers. If you rush in like this, be careful not to lose all your weapons and equipment.”
Luo Wu Shang: “I previously checked on those four major powers in the game. Each of them has intermediate-level and above martial artist-level bosses. I also suggest going only after becoming martial artists. Even if we cannot attack martial artist-level bosses, the game mode is territory control. As long as we clear out the small mobs, we can naturally take the territory. Otherwise, going in below martial artist level is just throwing yourselves away.”
Yi Ye Fu Yun: “So what do I do now? I have no points to buy energy ore. Can any of you lend me some?”
With the system’s new content update, the veteran players became active on the forum again. They had not expected the game manufacturer to play such a big move on everyone.
They had not only opened a new map but also added new gameplay, leaving players, who were already busy grinding costume attributes, feeling that this game was going to devour all their time.
Meanwhile, deep inside the maze tunnel beneath the martial arts hall.
“Fanchen, did you see the system announcement?” Lin Xinyao walked over excitedly to Lu Fanchen, who had just killed a gold-devouring unicorn rat. “This hidden plot actually unlocked the right to purchase a team headquarters. If we can get this permission, we can definitely surpass Heavenly Might quickly.”
“I saw it,” Lu Fanchen said calmly. “But my thoughts are the same as Luo Wu Shang’s: we should first advance to martial artist. Only then can we take territory and gain the most contribution.”
“Advance to martial artist?” Lin Xinyao glanced at her panel, a bit helpless. “For me to reach quasi-martial artist, even in this maze tunnel, I need two or three days. In those two or three days, Zhang Qing Wei and Zhao Hu from Heavenly Might will probably have broken through to martial artist.”
“Why don’t we also grind for some costume attributes?” suggested Li Tianxing, who was standing beside them in A6-grade battle armor. “If we can roll the effect that boosts qi and blood circulation, our speed of advancing to martial artist should increase a lot.”
“Forget it, that is too expensive,” Lu Fanchen shook his head and looked toward the tunnel not far away. “We should focus on improving ourselves and ignore the four major powers for now. This is not something a few martial artists can handle. We also need to save up points. Since the game manufacturer has opened team headquarters for purchase, the price definitely will not be cheap. In the maze tunnel, we can both level up quickly and farm gold-devouring unicorn rats for points. It is killing two birds with one stone.”
With that, Lu Fanchen led the team deeper into the maze tunnel.
As they went deeper and deeper into the maze tunnel, Lu Fanchen and the others felt the violent energy growing denser and denser. If they were not already advanced apprentices, they would have been blown apart in an instant.
After running down through the tunnel for more than twenty minutes, Lu Fanchen’s group suddenly found a gate at the end.
This gate was twenty meters tall and six meters wide. No one knew what metal it was made from. It looked like an ordinary gate, yet the sense of oppression it radiated made even the three of them feel a tremor in their hearts.
“Why is there a gate here? Wasn’t this supposed to be the gold-devouring unicorn rats’ nest?” Lin Xinyao looked at the gate in surprise.
“We probably took a wrong turn. We already went through several forks along the way,” Li Tianxing said. “But this gate doesn’t look simple. Just getting within a hundred meters of it, I feel like I’m carrying dozens of kilograms on my back.”
“Could this be level suppression?” After taking a few steps forward, Lin Xinyao felt the pressure increasing and could not help looking at the gate. “A gate is an inanimate object; it shouldn’t be able to cause this kind of qi and blood suppression. Could this be level suppression set by the game, hinting that the area ahead is high-level?”
“Very likely. But since we are already here, we should open it and take a look,” Lu Fanchen nodded and walked straight toward the gate, intending to see what kind of area lay beyond that could impose level suppression on them.
As the three of them reached the gate, they exerted all their strength to slowly push it open.
In the very next instant, their vision went black.
“Did we just die?”
Lu Fanchen stared at the interface inside the game pod, completely dumbfounded.
