Chapter 223: This Batch Of Newbies Is Pretty Fierce
“I spent half a month digging holes, and I finally got in.”
“This ground, these walls, the workmanship is so realistic!”
“The tech of this game is really amazing. The pain when my hand hits the wall feels exactly the same as at home. It seems those people were right, this is definitely a paradise for us fighting fanatics. The price is totally worth it. Anyone want to go outside to fight monsters later?”
“I saw online there are a lot of great foods in this city. Anyone want to go check in and take photos later?”
…
Five hundred newbie players crowded into the basement of the martial arts hall, all filled with curiosity and excitement about High Martial Arts Descend. Quite a few players were already forming small groups of three or four, discussing what to do later and where to seek thrills.
The veteran players who had just logged on looked at the packed scene and could not help sighing at how more and more people were entering the game.
Before, at most there were just over a hundred people. This time it was five hundred at once, directly doubling the number of online players. The competition in the game would now become even more intense.
“Five hundred people logging on at once… seems this time quite a few top experts from the game industry have come in.” Zhang Qing Wei looked at many familiar figures among the newbies, and a faint smile curled at the corner of her lips. “Before I never had the chance to fight these people, but now I can have a good match with them here in High Martial Arts Descend.”
At this, Zhao Hu beside her also looked at those familiar figures, his eyes full of excitement.
Because among the top experts entering High Martial Arts Descend this time, there were not only top experts from large guilds of Pilgrimage, but also many top experts from other masterpiece games.
The ones from Pilgrimage aside, in Pilgrimage they more or less had chances to fight. But the experts from those other masterpiece games were different. Apart from meeting at a few invitational tournaments, they had no chance to face each other, since they did not play the same game.
However, the broad player base outside, along with some game media, would always bring them out for rankings, and even specifically made various top player lists, doing rough rankings based on their actual records, player counts, and influence.
Experts like him and Zhang Qing Wei, and even other Saint-level existences from Heavenly Might, could not make it into the top hundred on those lists.
In Heavenly Might, the only one who could barely squeeze into the top hundred was Luo Wu Shang. As for the president, because of his age and not making a move for a long time, people felt his strength was surely not what it was at his peak, so he was excluded from the top hundred.
Now that High Martial Arts Descend could attract so many experts from other masterpiece games, although the competition would be fiercer, it also made them look forward to it, eager to compare themselves with those experts they had only heard of but never fought before.
“This is normal. After all, this game’s Test Assessment has already gained great fame in the industry, and so far no one has managed to last twenty seconds.” Lu Fanchen at the side explained, “After one expert after another tried and failed, it gradually aroused the curiosity of many top experts from other masterpiece games. From what I heard, just the number of top experts attempting to challenge the Test Assessment has exceeded fifty, and that is only what everyone knows about. The unknown ones are probably even more.”
“I’ve heard about this too.” Fang Zhen said. “Just among this year’s top hundred players on the game expert lists, several have already challenged it, but all failed. Now some game media even directly regard the Test Assessment as a ranking criterion for next year’s lists.”
“No way, just a Test Assessment and it is treated as a ranking criterion? Have these game media gone crazy?” Yi Ye Fu Yun was a bit shocked when he heard this.
The yearly top player lists were the most discussed topic among players. Many fans of ranked experts were extremely unconvinced. After all, they were not all from the same game. Why should the experts they admired rank below those from other games?
For example, the head Arang of Azure Travelers whom he admired was only ranked twenty-seventh, which he simply could not tolerate.
Although the experts ranked above Arang were all acknowledged legends, he did not feel Arang was beneath them.
“Using the Test Assessment as a ranking reference, I think it’s quite fair.” Ye Qinglu instead agreed. “That Test Assessment is only an assessment, but its virtual degree is extremely high and should be the same as inside High Martial Arts Descend. It also accurately simulates one’s physical fitness, and it purely tests technique. Using it as a reference for technical strength has high value.”
“Exactly.” Fang Zhen also explained. “Many game media and players who participated in the Test Assessment think it is very suitable as a reference. So now more and more top players from other games are eager to test themselves, and it is getting more and more popular.”
“No wonder there are so many experts among this batch of newbies.” Saiwai Qiangke looked at the many figures among the newbies who had appeared on TV and media shows, and could not help clicking his tongue.
Although he had already become a formal member of the Blue Rose Team and made quite a name for himself in the game Mecha Continent, definitely counting as a notable expert,
compared to these experts who appeared on shows from time to time, he was far behind, especially those big experts who were top tier and not inferior to Saint-level existences like Luo Wu Shang and Zhao Hu.
Now such a large group appeared before them, it was simply like an all-star game of the virtual game world. Just thinking about the future competition was terrifying.
You had to know that currently High Martial Arts Descend had only a total of one thousand players, yet the gathered celebrities exceeded one hundred. The number of experts whose fame was not less than Chen Ya and Li Ranxing likely exceeded thirty, making it several times more terrifying than the National Mecha Competition.
Yi Ye Fu Yun saw Ye Qinglu’s expression suddenly turn solemn and asked curiously, “Sis? Is there something wrong with those newbies?”
He followed Ye Qinglu’s line of sight and saw a group of more than ten muscular men, most of whom were rarely young at around twenty-five years old, and their sharp aura clearly did not resemble that of ordinary players.
The dozen or so people clustered together, but because the basement was too crowded and noisy, no one could hear what they were saying.
“Nothing.” Ye Qinglu quickly returned to her usual calm and smiled at those newbies. “I just did not expect these professionals would come to play a game.”
“Professionals?” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the muscular men in confusion.
“Yes, professional battle fanatics.” Ye Qinglu did not hide it and said directly, “If I am not mistaken, they are likely cosmic mercenaries.”
“Cosmic mercenaries?” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the muscular men in disbelief. “Why would that group come to play High Martial Arts Descend?”
In this era of Cosmic Exploration, there were many enterprises and companies developing resources on various planets. Naturally, in the vast universe, lawless people would target these precious planetary resources.
Because of these criminals, the cosmic mercenary industry, similar to security companies, slowly emerged. The cosmic mercenary profession was genuine, licking blood from the blade every day.
It was hard to imagine such a group would come to play High Martial Arts Descend.
“They are probably training recruits.” Ye Qinglu looked at those muscular men. Although they had sharp auras, they still lacked a certain bloody fierceness, so she guessed, “High Martial Arts Descend has a 100% virtual degree and can let these mercenaries experience the feeling of the battlefield to the maximum. This is something other games do not have.”
“This game really is getting more and more intense.” Looking at those muscular men, Yi Ye Fu Yun could not help feeling a bit of a headache.
It was one thing to compete with a bunch of professional players inside the game, but now there was even a group of professionals from outside the game joining to compete. This game was becoming unplayable.
And all this was more or less as Ye Qinglu had guessed. The dozen muscular men gathered together had been waiting until a lean man about Fang Zhen’s age appeared in the basement. Then they all went over to him.
“Coach, there were a total of one hundred people signed up this time, and seventeen of us got in.” A young man brimming with valor reported.
“Here, you don’t need to call me coach. Call me by my ID Dark Judgment, or call me captain.” The lean man swept his gaze over the trainees who had entered and was quite satisfied. “Seventeen out of one hundred made it in. It seems your cohort’s physical fitness is not bad, able to compete with those who study how to dig holes all day.”
“Captain, what do we do next?” a trainee asked curiously.
Their coach, Dark Judgment, was a notorious devil in the mercenary world. The graduation rate from his training program was less than ten percent.
Of course, due to his great fame, any trainee who graduated had some renown in the mercenary world, so many were willing to join his training. These one hundred people had gone through layer upon layer of assessments to barely get in.
They had not expected that after entering the devil coach’s training class, instead of some inhuman training, the first task was to enter a game. It felt like child’s play.
The Test Assessment of this High Martial Arts Descend was even stranger, having them dig holes to obtain a quota. They had never played such a brutal game.
Especially the players who wanted to play this game were simply a bunch of lunatics.
They were mercenaries who trained daily and had excellent physical fitness, yet under such circumstances, only seventeen of them were selected. They could hardly imagine that these were just game players.
It was even harder to imagine that playing a game now required such physical fitness.
“We wait for the hall master to finish speaking.” Dark Judgment could not help looking toward Lin Qi, who was coming down.
“Hall master? An NPC of this game?” The trainees all looked at Lin Qi.
As Lin Qi appeared, a surge of qi and blood like a mountain pressing down instantly filled the entire hall, directly forcing all the newbies whose physical fitness had not even reached apprentice level to the ground, unable to move at all. The veteran players who were only at apprentice level did not fare much better, merely forcing themselves to stay standing, while those who had become martial artists only felt a heavy pressure and significant restriction on their movements.
In an instant, the entire hall became extremely quiet. With no noise or chatter, everyone turned their gaze to Lin Qi.
“Welcome to the glorious Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. From today on, you are formal disciples of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.” Lin Qi spoke the NPC lines he had already prepared, enunciating each word. “However, although you have become disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, you still need to prove whether you are qualified to become disciples of Obsidian worthy of glory.”
“On the tables beside you are registers and pens. After writing down your name and age, you can go to the first floor to receive the basic martial skills and cultivation method of our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Tomorrow morning, transport vehicles will take you to Death Valley, where there is mithril ore needed by the hall. You must prove yourselves by each bringing back one ton of mithril ore within a limit of four days. Those who fail will be punished by the hall, so take this seriously.”
“In addition, the food and water you need will only be provided by the hall for one day. The rest you must purchase yourselves. There are still more than six hours before the vehicles depart in the morning. If you have no questions, you may now move freely.”
After speaking, Lin Qi ignored the players who tried to ask questions and went upstairs directly. At the same time, all players wearing smart watches received messages: apart from various resource collection tasks needed by Chiyue Town, there were escort and protection tasks only veteran players could accept.
Any player whose strength had reached advanced apprentice or higher could escort the newbies to Death Valley tomorrow morning and protect them while they mined mithril ore there, then return safely after four days. The limit was two hundred people. The reward included points and contribution, plus one hundred reputation points for Chiyue Town.
Seeing the one hundred Chiyue Town reputation points, the players’ breathing grew heavy.
After the 4 version update, among currently issued tasks, only Chiyue Town’s resource collection tasks granted reputation rewards. Other tasks such as subjugation missions gave no reputation.
As for those resource collection tasks, even if you killed a mid-level monster and brought back the entire corpse, you would not get a single point of reputation, unless you submitted ten mid-level monsters at once, which would grant five reputation points.
The value of a high-level monster was higher. Bringing back the whole body could directly grant twenty reputation points, but hunting a high-level monster was easier said than done.
Now they only needed to protect newbies in Death Valley for four days to get one hundred reputation points directly. This was an extremely generous reward, and this task was clearly a one-time limited-time mission. No one knew when it would appear again.
While players were frantically signing up, Fang Zhen in the martial arts hall was dumbfounded.
He had only logged on, yet his mithril ore had been confiscated. That was what he had fought for…
“Brother Zhen, why haven’t you signed up yet? There are only two hundred spots. If you don’t, they’ll be gone.” Twilight of the Gods looked at the unresponsive Fang Zhen in confusion.
Fang Zhen came back to his senses and hurried to sign up. Now that his mithril ore had been taken, if he did not earn some back, he would lose even more.
Early the next morning.
After a night of studying, the five hundred newbies boarded five large transport vehicles one after another, and the two hundred veteran players went along as well, heading straight for Death Valley.
Such a commotion drew a lot of attention. Many were curious what Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was suddenly planning, to cause such a huge movement with several hundred people leaving the city, including the hall master himself.
On the mountain road outside the City of Light Chasing.
“This task is such a time sink. Looks like we can only practice martial skills for these four days.” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the scenery outside the vehicle window and felt it was a pity.
If not for this task, they would definitely be drinking Two-Horned Leopard blood now to quickly level up. But for the sake of reputation and gaining resurrection permissions at the resurrection point earlier, they had no choice but to spend four days in Death Valley.
Ye Qinglu beside him did not mind. She was even somewhat pleased. Her Thousand Sword Diagram required quite some time to work on. Four days should be enough for her to master the Giant Sword Formation. By then, her strength might not be inferior to Luo Wu Shang’s.
In the last large transport vehicle of the convoy.
“Captain, I feel we are being tailed, and there are quite a few of them.” A lean male trainee glanced at the forest outside the window and quietly reported to Dark Judgment.
“Not bad, you were the first to notice.” Dark Judgment, who had been cultivating with his eyes closed, nodded. Then he asked, “So what do you think we should do next?”
“I think we can tail them in return, find their base, and then wipe them out in one go.” The lean man said.
“Seems there are still outstanding people in your cohort.” Dark Judgment said with satisfaction. “In that case, I have a task for you. Go now and track down the base of those following us, then come back and report to me.”
“Yes!” The seventeen trainees immediately slipped quietly off the vehicle without another word to track those who were tailing them.
Only after the seventeen trainees had left did Dark Judgment’s lips curl slightly.
“Never thought that in doing a task, there would actually be such a hidden plot. It seems bringing these trainees in was really the right move.” Watching the trainees heading off to track, Dark Judgment’s evaluation of High Martial Arts Descend increased. He felt it was indeed very suitable for training these mercenaries.
Escort and annihilation!
This was exactly the specialty of cosmic mercenaries. Usually, before becoming full-fledged cosmic mercenaries, they rarely had such actual combat opportunities. But now, in the freely explorable High Martial Arts Descend, such opportunities were everywhere.
On the other side, a squad of winged tribe men and women who had been tailing them looked in the direction of the moving convoy and then summoned someone.
“You go back and inform Lord Mans that this convoy from Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is heading toward Death Valley.” The leader of the winged tribe ordered. “Go quickly and return quickly. We will leave markings along the way.”
“Yes!”
The winged tribe man, whose strength was only beginner apprentice, nodded and headed straight for the headquarters of the White Feather Gang.
Only when this winged tribe man had run five to six hundred meters away did a squad of trainee mercenary players pop their heads out.
“They finally sent someone to report back.”
“Let’s go, follow him!”
With that, the mercenary trainees used Leopard Shadow Steps and silently followed behind the winged tribe man.
