Chapter 163 War Preparations
It is now 7 o'clock in the evening Earth time, which is the peak online time for all online games.
Whether you are a casual gamer or a hardcore gamer, most of them are online during this period of time.
The second batch of players who have been in the game for almost a month, excluding RMB players, heavy liver emperors and super casual players, the average potential value of this second batch of players has reached the level of 70~90. Most of them have completed the job transfer and have one or two excellent equipment with special effects. In other words, this group of players can already brush the spider nest relatively safely.
Of the three major monster spawning locations currently open in the game, the mining area is only suitable for a single player or a group of two or three friends and family. If there are more people in the group, the monster spawning efficiency and benefits will decrease - whether it is the sandworm desert or the slime monster river beach in the mining area, the monsters are quite scattered.
The poisonous fog swamp in Desolate Stronghold has too high requirements for the team - a sharp locomotive that pulls monsters, a well-equipped knight that can resist monsters, and a nurse with equipment that has mana recovery effects (increases spirit recovery speed). Without any of them, a team cannot be started.
In comparison, the spider's nest that all new players disliked when they first came in actually became very appealing.
Apart from other things, the biggest advantage of the spider's nest is that the monster density is high enough. Not to mention forming a whole team, it is enough to pull a large group down to clear the monsters.
In addition, the strength of a single monster is not very high, and warriors with armor can resist monsters without knights, and even well-equipped walkers can hold monsters. The spider monster has a short health bar, and the player's side suffers less combat damage during the monster-killing process. If there is no nurse in the team or the nurse is too small, the worst case scenario is that you can just fight for a while and rest for a while, and you can still play...
As soon as Yang Ying came online, the friend list that had just been opened recently started flashing.
It was almost two months after the server was launched before the most basic social functions in online games, such as friend lists and private chat channels, were provided. While players were enjoying the functions, they could not help but go to the forum to greet all the planners of "Another World" in an eloquent, elegant and easy-going manner, and they went further and put forward requests that seemed reasonable in any way, such as warehouse systems, backpack space, and consignment shops - and then, as expected, they were ignored by the lousy planners.
Yang Qiu was very indifferent to this point. The matrix anchor points were more than enough now, and the matrix framework could indeed accommodate more "functions", but he didn't have time to build a mage tower - without the mage tower, the main control center of the magic matrix, the more functions there were, the greater the burden on him as a human core, so it was better to save trouble.
In short... although only the friend list and private chat channel are open, the players' gaming experience has also improved a lot. At least they don't have to log off the line to send WeChat and make phone calls every time they contact friends and relatives.
Yang Ying clicked on the flashing friend chat box and found, not surprisingly, that the person looking for her was Tang Jia: "Sister Ying, what are your plans for tonight? Poison fog or spiders?"
Yang Ying replied as he walked to Life Lane : "Spider, materials are selling well recently, and the efficiency of farming materials in the spider nest is higher than that of poison mist."
"Okay, then I'll tell Qingyue and Jialuo, what time do we meet?"
Yang Ying checked the game time. It was now 1pm in the game. He replied to Tang Jia, "I have to go fix my equipment. Meet at the tunnel entrance at 1:30 in the game."
Players' blank equipment - fish scale armor, steel knife, etc. - cannot be repaired. If they are broken, they can only be sold to NPCs at a low price for recycling.
Fine-grade equipment can be repaired, and the blacksmith shop in Life Lane has a refurbishment service... Of course, it's expensive.
Fortunately, the good equipment in this game is very sturdy and not easy to break (the equipment with enchantments is really difficult to destroy with the power of the undead), otherwise the players will definitely rebel.
As players obtain more and more sophisticated equipment (captured, purchased by the Undead Chamber of Commerce, and circulated among players), the blacksmith shop's business has become very busy from the quiet initial opening of the server. The blacksmith NPC, who used to be so idle that he would visit the armor shop next door every day, can hardly leave the blacksmith shop during working hours, which has caused this NPC to become increasingly irritable - although he doesn't refuse to "take orders", he has no good face at all towards players.
When Yang Ying entered the blacksmith shop, he heard the bearded NPC angrily yelling at the players who had queued up, "Sorenson's wild boar can't possibly destroy a long sword with the attribute of 'sturdy' twice in three days! Are you digging a goblin cave with a weapon that you should take good care of?"
The player who was scolded was stunned. He rudely ignored the blacksmith's anger and turned to his companion and said, "What's going on in this game? NPCs still remember people? I've only been here twice and they remember me?"
The bearded NPC yelled, "The weapon you used was once my friend's saber. Of course I remember you, you bastard!"
"Hey, I clearly charged the old player 2,000 yuan?" The player was even more confused.
The veteran player at the back couldn't help but laugh, and waved his hand at the confused new RMB player in front, saying, "The weapon you bought might have been stolen from the NPC in our Exile Town when we were doing the mission to stop the rebellion. Don't worry about it, as long as you pay, the NPC will repair your equipment no matter how unhappy he is."
The old player's words hurt the bearded blacksmith, and he angrily picked up the hammer and hit the slightly curled edge of the knife.
The new player who came to repair the long sword was amazed: "Holy crap... can the equipment in this game be traced back to its historical origins? Can the equipment used be recognized by NPCs?"
"Yes." The old player spoke again, "You know there's an orange cat, the Krypton King, who once received a dagger used by Pansy, the weapon of the Treasure Master of the Walker Guild. The orange cat boss ran to the Walker construction site with Pansy's dagger, and Pansy stared at him so hard that he couldn't stand it anymore, so he sold the dagger..."
"Damn, there is such a thing?!"
Yang Ying walked to the end of the queue and watched the startled reactions of the new players together with the old players in the queue.
The devilish details of this game cannot be fully described verbally. Old players will be surprised occasionally, let alone new players.
While the group of players were chatting happily, Yang Qiu led Wagner in.
Yang Ying suddenly saw Yang Qiu passing by and screamed out like : "What the hell, Old Yang?"
Yang Qiu turned a deaf ear, looked straight ahead, and calmly ignored his own sister...
My sister is such a dedicated semi-professional gamer that she uses up all the 12 hours of online time every Earth Day. Yang Qiu can see his sister having fun just by looking at the matrix. It is quite difficult for him to maintain the excitement of seeing his loved ones.
Even when his elder sister personally called him "Old Yang Jinben" and greeted his whole family in a gentle and easy-going manner on the forum, Yang Qiu was calm as a bastard - Lord Yang and the dog planner were criticized, what did it have to do with him, the Earthling Yang Qiu!
Yang Ying didn't pay much attention to the elusive Old Yang. She didn't play the magic system, so she couldn't take the tasks sent by Old Yang anyway. She looked back and saw Wagner.
"Hey, this isn't—" Yang Ying pointed at Wagner, and after a pause he realized where he had seen this NPC before, "The pretty boy's henchman?"
Wagner, who had been following Yang Qiu without looking away, slipped.
"The NPC from the Lakeside Village quest?" The player in front of Yang Ying also recognized Wagner, and his eyes lit up. "Isn't this NPC in Westram? Why is he here in Exile Town? Could it be that he has another combat quest?"
The term "combat mission"... New players may not feel anything about it, but to veteran players, it is a blatant opportunity to make a fortune.
Several veteran players in the team, including Yang Ying, immediately left the team and rushed forward enthusiastically, surrounding Wagner:
"Hello Wagner Pete, can I help you?"
"Your undead friend is willing to help you!"
"Do you need your undead friend to serve you?"
"Hey Wagner, we are old acquaintances. I was once trampled to death by your horse. Do you remember? It was on the road outside Westham--"
Wagner extended his large hand like a palm-leaf fan expressionlessly, pinched the head of the undead who was trying to get close to him by rubbing salt into his wounds, pushed him aside, and used his other arm to push away the other two guys who were blocking his way. He squeezed out of the encirclement of the undead by brute force, and strode after Yang Qiu who was walking towards the back hall of the blacksmith shop.
Wagner left like the wind, and could hear the chattering of the undead behind him:
"Are you stupid? Don't NPCs have any dignity? Why are you bringing up what happened when we captured them?"
"What a fool! If it were Hal, you would have been kicked off the line by now, believe it or not!"
Wagner silently swallowed the blood that was rising in his throat.
He was wrong... He didn't need to feel despair about the countless "new undead" that were everywhere in this strange town. These undead were at least relatively friendly and would not point at him and say sad things like "he's a follower" or "taken as a prisoner."
Instead, it was those dead souls who already existed and knew him who were the source of all the suffering—not only did they call him a follower, they also offended Brother Lowell!
Yang Qiu, who had seen countless players' strange behaviors in the Matrix, did not take the mental attack on Wagner seriously at all. After entering the back hall of the blacksmith shop, he signaled Wagner to check the reserve supplies in the back hall personally.
Given that the players' limited combat capabilities after job changes are only slightly better than those of ordinary farmers, their messy discipline and organization, and their unrestrained nature of jumping back and forth between chaos and order, if they want to make these natural disasters play a combat role, all they can count on is the mass-produced enchanted equipment that Yang Qiu has worked hard to make over countless nights... and the battle spoils obtained by the players themselves.
Enchanted equipment has special properties. Equipment with the property of solidity must be burned with the flame of fire magic ore to temporarily reduce the solidity property before it can be repaired. Equipment with the property of sharpness (armor-breaking) needs to be soaked in a solution of water magic ore powder to suppress the property.
As for the equipment characteristics (special effects) that depend on luck, such as the probability of bleeding after hitting, the probability of poisoning, the probability of critical hit, and the probability of critical hit, they belong to the curse enchantment among the enchantments. During the repair process, magic powder made of magic materials such as large-leaf vine, magic poison sac, and magic residue is needed to protect the curse enchantment characteristics from being damaged by the forging during repair.
In other words... to ensure the players' combat effectiveness, we must ensure the magic materials necessary to repair sophisticated equipment.
The city defense army also has specialized enchanting spellcasters and craftsmen who can repair enchanted equipment. Wagner took a quick look at the reserves of this unprepossessing blacksmith shop and felt a vague sense of pain... The reserves of elemental magic ore were normal, about the same as the city defense army, but the magic powder materials were at least ten times more than the city defense army's military reserves - more than enough to lead the undead army to fight three territory wars!
Yang Qiu remained calm about this... Players have to hand in a large amount of magic powder materials such as large-leaf vines, monster poison sacs, and magic residues every day, and he has plenty of them on hand.
"The undead don't need military supplies, and these repair supplies are enough... But, Yang, are you sure you're only sending the undead to fight?" Wagner closed the magic ore box, turned around, and said as calmly as possible, "In the honor battle with the Knights of the Inquisition of the Church of the Blazing Sun, only the undead will fight for Westram. It's not good for Charlie Rex's reputation outside."
"Of course I know you're not someone who cares about what others think...but I think you'd also think Charlie Rex needs a good reputation."
Yang Qiu smiled and nodded.
Even the image problem of their poster boy has been taken into consideration. Wagner Pitt, the indigenous tool man, is really cost-effective.
