Volume 5: Protracted War Chapter 4 Dilemma
"Excuse me, Lord Death, are you here personally to preside over the promotion of our necromancers?" Looking around the hall where there were no other NPCs except the dead old man, I didn't dare to delay any longer as I was concerned about the purpose of coming here. I could only get straight to the point and start my promotion journey as soon as possible.
"Of course not. With such a distinguished status as mine, there are too many important things to worry about. How could I be responsible for such specific work?" The dead old man stopped laughing and shook his head to deny it.
I was immediately puzzled, and looked around the empty hall carefully. Apart from me and the old man, there was no third person present. "Then who is responsible for my promotion?"
"Oh, usually the Holy Undead Mage Robben is in charge here, but in order to commend the first Undead wizard warrior who meets the promotion conditions, successfully breaks through the blockade of the light profession NPC guards outside, and comes to the Undead Castle for promotion, I, the great commander and supreme god of death, will personally preside over the promotion ceremony for him. Now this incomparable honor falls on you. You are worthy of being the lucky one I chose at first sight. You have lived up to my expectations of you."
After a lot of detours, he was still in charge of my promotion. I was too lazy to talk to him . I still remembered the scene of the job change. The old man was very annoying. Once he got entangled with me, I would not be able to get away for a while. It was better to go straight to the point. "Hello, Lord Death. I, the Great Undead Wizard Ah Dai, now officially apply for the sixth-level job promotion task."
The old man was not displeased by my directness. Instead, he nodded with a smile, "Okay, put public interests first and personal interests second. Always keep your goal in mind. You have a future. In this case, I won't waste your time, lest you miss the opportunity to compete for the 'first place' and win glory for our dark profession." The old man straightened his face and said, "Undead wizard Ah Dai, are you sure you want to apply for the sixth-level Necromancer profession?"
"Yes, Lord Death, I am sure." Naturally, I immediately gave an affirmative answer.
"Well, the Necromancer's Level 6 professional promotion tasks are divided into five levels of difficulty: Extremely High, High, Normal, Lower, and Low. Players can freely choose a promotion task of any difficulty to complete, but they must do it within their capabilities. Once a promotion task is selected, it cannot be changed. You can only advance when you complete it. If you choose a promotion task that is too difficult and exceeds your ability, it is likely to greatly delay the time for advancement."
"Is there any difference between completing promotion tasks of different difficulty levels?"
"The effort and reward are naturally proportional. The more difficult the promotion task is, the greater the promotion reward will be after completion. However, it will generally take up more time. The gains and losses can only be grasped and chosen by you." The old man's words were suggestive, and he vaguely pointed out the dilemma I was facing.
Indeed, this is a measure to facilitate players' promotion. Players can choose to complete promotion tasks of corresponding difficulty according to their own abilities, which will not delay their personal development. However, it is undoubtedly a big problem for me at the moment, and I cannot make a decision easily, because this promotion is not only for myself, but also for the expectations of my friends in the "Resistance Alliance", so I must consider both factors.
From the perspective of the collective interests of the "Resistance Alliance", in order to further strike the Church of Light, highlight the prestige of the Dark Camp and boost morale, I should choose a relatively easy or even low-difficulty promotion task, so that I can strive to complete it in the shortest time, making it more likely that I will become "the first player in Tianxia to be promoted to the sixth-level profession". However, from the perspective of personal interests and long-term development, according to my strength, I should at least choose a high-difficulty promotion task, so that I can get more generous promotion rewards, and various basic attributes will also be increased to a greater extent, especially the mental power, which is even more important for my future development. It is not only related to the quality and quantity of the undead creatures I can summon at one time, but also determines the success rate of using the "Soul Contract" on high-level undead creatures. It can be said that it is a key factor in the strength of the undead wizard. If the growth is too small when I am promoted to the sixth-level profession, it will have a great impact on the improvement of my strength. Even if I get the "first" as I wish, I am afraid that the title of "the world's first undead wizard" may not be kept.
You know, the reason why I have such a high mental power now is that my innate wisdom attribute is the highest five stars, and each time I complete the promotion task, I complete the highest level of difficulty, which rewards more basic mental power. The reason why I can achieve today's results is that choosing a thief as my second profession was a very wise decision. The thief skills I mastered helped me a lot, but there are always advantages and disadvantages. Choosing a thief also restricts my development to a certain extent, making me more and more disadvantaged in some aspects. With the improvement of the second profession level of the necromancer, the situation gradually reversed, and my advantage in basic mental power will become smaller and smaller, because my second profession is a thief, and the promotion reward focuses on the growth of agility attributes, and the weighting of mental power attributes is not high. The second profession of most other necromancers is a magician, and each promotion will increase a lot of basic mental power. It is not very obvious at a low level, but once the second profession is promoted to level 4 or above, their advantages in basic mental power have already appeared, and some of the best among them are not much worse than me. Even if I choose a very difficult promotion task , I am afraid that after their second profession is promoted to level 5, the basic mental power of a few elites will be higher than mine. If I choose a low-difficulty promotion task, I will probably be surpassed by more peers in terms of basic mental power, which will directly affect my strength and status. As the saying goes, a single move affects the whole body, and one wrong step may lead to many wrong steps!
After thinking it over again and again, I sighed in worry and paced back and forth, but I still couldn't make up my mind, because the promotion process had already been initiated, and I was restricted from communicating with other people before it was completed. There was no way to discuss it with Long Xingtianxia and Afeng, and I was not a person with strong opinions. When I encountered such a big thing, which might be related to the "Resistance Alliance" and my own future development, I needed to make a choice on the spot. Isn't this making things difficult?
The old man leisurely climbed to the top of the stairs, sat on a luxurious dragon chair, sipping a glass of red wine that appeared from nowhere, and seemed to be observing me with interest. He had no intention of interfering with my hesitation. I tried to ask for his opinion, but he refused on the grounds that I must abide by the system rule of "not interfering with the normal behavior of players in any way". I had to decide this difficult dilemma independently.
"Can you let me know the specific content of the five promotion tasks of different difficulty levels before I make a choice?" I tried to seek a breakthrough from another angle to see if it could help me make a decision.
"No," the old man rejected my proposal without hesitation. "There are five levels of difficulty for the candidates to choose from, which is the limit of what we can do within the scope of the rules. We can provide as much help and convenience as possible for the development of each necromancer according to their actual situation, and we cannot ask for more. This is also a test of the courage and judgment of the candidates. Risks and benefits coexist, and there is no such thing as a free lunch."
There were no tricks to use. I could only keep looking for various reasons to try to convince myself to make a decision as soon as possible. I remembered that this was a method of making choices when facing difficult problems that a professor told us when I was in college. Under different alternative answers, you should list the reasons to support this choice. If even you cannot convince yourself, it means that even if this choice is not wrong, it is at least not suitable for you and is not your true inner thought.
"I choose..." I couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, and after careful consideration, I finally made a decision, "I choose the extremely difficult promotion task." The reason for making such a choice is not that I only consider my own development and ignore the interests of the "Resistance Alliance" and give up the opportunity to become the "first promoter". On the contrary, my choice is based on the overall situation and I make what I think is the most correct decision.
Yes, on the surface, if you sacrifice personal interests and choose a low-difficulty promotion task, you may be able to complete it easily and smoothly, thus replacing the highest honor of the previous few times and becoming the first player to be promoted to the sixth-level profession. However, if you look at this issue from a development perspective, you will find that the current temporary benefit is a great harm to me and the entire "Resistance Alliance". We are not striving for the false reputation of "the first person to be promoted in "Tianxia". What is more important is to have the strength to match this title as a backing. While "seeking speed", we must also "seek truth". I don't want to carry this false reputation and witness my companions or enemies surpassing me one by one. Such a result can only run counter to our original intention. I believe that Long Xingtianxia and the others should also mean this. The "spiritual pillar" of the "Resistance Alliance" will never be just a "flower shelf", but to be an "invincible war fortress". I must urge myself to constantly improve my strength and strive for greater progress. Therefore, considering various factors, I can only choose to complete the extremely difficult promotion task to be worthy of myself and my friends, and to be the greatest support to the "Resistance Alliance".
"Are you sure you want to choose the extremely difficult promotion task?" Once it came to official business, the old man was no longer laughing, but looked serious.
I took a deep breath and had to have confidence in myself. I was the "world's best necromancer". As long as the pass rate of this level of promotion mission was not zero, I would definitely be among the successful ones. "I'm sure!" I nodded in affirmative response.
"Player Ah Dai applied for the extremely difficult promotion mission for the level 6 Necromancer profession and received final approval. The promotion process has officially started. The mission content is as follows: Kill the NPC of the level 8 Light profession who is heading to the entrance of Death Canyon for a rotation."
"What? Killing a level 8 NPC?" I couldn't help but scream. These people are not ordinary strong. In the battle of the Holy City, Long Xing Tianxia and I teamed up to take advantage of his carelessness and killed a level 8 Light Phantom Knight by luck. It's too difficult to use this as a promotion task, right? Are we allowed to find other helpers?
"Don't interrupt me before I finish. If you have any questions, ask them later. Let me explain the promotion task first." The old man glared at me with dissatisfaction. "At the end of each month, the NPC troops stationed in the Death Canyon will start to change their guards one after another. Generally, they will be divided into teams of twelve people. The highest-level NPC stationed at the entrance of the canyon is the eighth-level profession. The number of people varies, ranging from two to four or five or even more. Everything is determined by the Church of Light based on its judgment of the situation. The eighth-level NPC will usually follow a team and there are three routes to enter, which have been marked. On your map, you can choose any ambush, but whether you can encounter it and when you can encounter it depends on your luck. If you miss the opportunity of NPC rotation at the end of this month, you can only wait until this time next month to act. Of course, the earlier you complete the task, the richer the promotion reward you will get in the end. After all, in the game, not only the player's strength is considered, but sometimes luck is also very important. As the saying goes, "It depends on people to make things happen", this is a test of the player's comprehensive quality. However, the promotion task can only be completed independently by the promoted person. If you ask for help from outsiders, the result will be invalid and will not be counted in the promotion assessment."
I almost fainted after hearing this. Was this an extremely difficult promotion task? Why did it feel like an "impossible promotion task" that required both strength and luck? If any of these aspects were slightly lacking, it would be impossible to complete the task. Or if you met an enemy, it would not be a match for you, or you would not be able to meet one at all. This condition was too harsh.
The old man paused, but he didn't finish his words. "I also want to tell you one more thing. Although in general, the eighth-level professional NPCs will act separately with a certain team, occasionally two people will travel together. Don't be too surprised if you encounter this situation. If you encounter this situation, it is up to you to decide whether to take action. Of course, from the requirements of the promotion task itself, as long as the promoted person kills any eighth-level professional NPC who comes to replace him, the task is completed. However, if you can kill two at once, you will get an extra promotion reward."
This is definitely bad news. An eighth-level professional NPC is difficult to deal with already, and there might be two of them at a time. No matter how much extra rewards you get, if you can't even beat one, then everything is in vain.
