First Zone: Starting City
The Starting City, usually teeming with people, was exceptionally lively that day. Everywhere one looked, heads bobbed in a dense, moving sea. Yan, Tian Jiu, and Qing Bai found themselves swept along by this human tide, making their way toward the entrance of the event map.
“So… so many people. This game is really amazing.”
Tian Jiu clutched Yan’s sleeve, looking somewhat nervously at the dense crowds surrounding them.
“Of course. It does hold the title of ‘the hottest full-dive game,’ after all.”
Yan chuckled, looking down at her as he spoke.
“That’s why the servers are split. A single server couldn’t possibly handle this many players.”
“We should hurry. The event is about to begin.”
Qing Bai urged them on. Yan glanced at the time; it was precisely half past seven.
“Mm.”
Yan nodded, quickening his pace.
This event was set in a new map, accessible through a portal in the Starting City.
Stepping through the person-sized, purple, black-hole-like portal, the group entered the event map.
Although the event wouldn’t officially start until eight, a multitude of players had already gathered, patiently waiting.
A grim-faced Greatsword Player nearby met Yan’s assessing gaze, then glared fiercely back at him, the deliberately sculpted scar on his face appearing particularly savage.
On the other side, an Assassin Player confidently polished their dagger, the sharp glint of the blade catching Yan’s eye and sending a shiver down his spine.
“Ah… everyone looks so formidable.”
Yan remarked with a wry smile.
“What’s wrong? Lost your confidence already, Mr. Gaming Shut-in?”
Qing Bai turned, her expression playful as she looked at Yan.
“Then just watch me, this young lady, put on a show alone! Guhehehe!”
“Ow! That hurts!”
After delivering a swift hand chop to the eccentric young lady, Yan sighed helplessly, then turned to smile at Tian Jiu.
“Tian Jiu, why don’t you go with Alice to report the Priest class information? The developers will probably distribute rewards to Priests who can’t participate once the event ends.”
“Oh.”
Tian Jiu responded, then followed Alice towards a nearby NPC.
“What a difference in attitude…”
Qing Bai’s muttered complaint went unheard by Yan.
“Qing Bai, come with me to register for the event and get our scorecards.”
Yan declared, and without waiting for Qing Bai’s reply, he strode toward the registration platform beneath a large, suspended screen.
“Hey! Wait for me, young lady!”
Qing Bai shouted, chasing after Yan.
****
“Is it finally about to begin?”
The recent days of leveling had yielded impressive results: Yan had reached level 45, Qing Bai 44, and Tian Jiu 42.
Qing Bai’s Agility attribute had surpassed 500 points, allowing her to specialize in cast speed as she wished. Tian Jiu, on the other hand, had specialized in her Spirit Demon’s mana regeneration rate.
Yan fiddled with the scorecard in his hand, standing alongside Qing Bai beneath the large screen, his gaze fixed on its display.
The screen displayed five distinct maps, each featuring a colossal circular arena.
This event would be held across those five maps.
Once the event commenced, players could use the pop-up interface on their scorecards to freely choose and challenge one of these five arenas.
There were a total of five circular arenas: two with a diameter of 40 yards, two with 80 yards, and one with 150 yards.
This varied setup was designed to accommodate players of different classes; if all maps were 80 yards, even a Sharpshooter, whose typical range is 100 yards, would gain little advantage.
Alice had previously outlined the general rules of the event: essentially, it was an arena battle where the players ultimately occupying the stages would secure a top-five ranking. However, due to an overwhelming number of registered participants, the competition had been split into two sessions, morning and afternoon. The five players who ultimately held the arenas in the morning session would face off in one-on-one duels against the five players who held the arenas in the afternoon session. Only the winners of these final duels would claim a top-five spot, while the losers would contend for the top ten.
Contestants outside the top ten would be ranked by the number of arena matches they won, from highest to lowest; only by winning more rounds could they climb higher in the rankings.
Both Yan and Qing Bai were morning session participants, with the morning matches scheduled from 8:00 to 10:00. This meant that only players occupying an arena at the exact moment ten o’clock struck would qualify for advancement.
“First event, arena battle, now! Begin!”
As the NPC host’s command rang out, the event officially commenced, and only then did Yan snap back to attention.
“Is it already eight o’clock?”
Yan looked at the large screen. Five NPC arena masters simultaneously appeared on the five arenas. The two smaller arenas were guarded by an Assassin and a One-Handed Swordsman, the two medium arenas by a Lancer and a Mage, and the largest arena by a Sharpshooter.
Of course, these weren’t class restrictions for choosing an arena; if one wished, a Greatsword Player could challenge the large map. These NPCs were merely classes the system deemed relatively suitable for each map.
These NPCs were hardly formidable; any player could easily defeat them. However, one would also have to bear the consequences of becoming the first arena master after defeating an NPC.
Yan waited quietly for a minute. Still, no players had entered any of the five maps. The five NPCs remained silently on their arenas, calmly gazing forward.
‘Just as I thought…’
Yan helplessly glanced at the surrounding players, who stood ‘motionless as mountains.’
Everyone understood that defending an arena for the entire two-hour duration of the event, from start to finish, was an almost impossible feat.
The event rules stipulated that if a challenger failed to capture an arena within ten minutes, they would be deemed to have lost.
This meant that if someone stepped onto an arena to defend it from the very beginning until the event concluded at ten o’clock, they would have to continuously battle at least twelve players.
Regardless of whether one possessed such strength, the sheer stamina and perseverance required would make it an incredibly difficult task to complete.
It would be like playing an endless King of Fighters tournament against twelve strangers with wildly different styles and unknown backgrounds, with each match being sudden death, for two continuous hours. Anyone would be utterly exhausted.
Consequently, no one was willing to be the first to step forward.
No, no, there was still an exception.
“A bunch of people dawdling like this? I, this young lady, will just take down an arena myself!”
Beside Yan, Qing Bai’s face lit up with the excited expression of a battle maniac. She was practically about to use her scorecard to teleport into a map and leap onto an arena, but thankfully, Yan managed to hold her back in time.
“Hey! Are you an idiot?!”
Yan cried out helplessly, his hand pressing firmly on Qing Bai’s shoulder, not daring to loosen his grip for fear that this young lady might, with a single lapse in attention, run onto the ‘big screen.’
“Think about it yourself: if you go up now, can you last until the very end?”
Qing Bai naturally understood this. She puffed out her cheeks and let out a frustrated ‘Hmph.’
“I, this young lady, have no interest in the top five. I just don’t like waiting around. As long as I can have a blast, what does it matter if I don’t get a ranking?”
“Hey, hey, true masters will only go up to challenge halfway through the event! Those who go up now are just the ones without the confidence to hold an arena, so they’re just trying to win a few consecutive matches to rack up points and get into the top thirty!”
Yan had to try a different approach.
“You don’t want to fight these weaklings, do you? When you encounter true powerhouses, you’ll definitely have your fill of fun.”
“Hmph.”
Qing Bai grunted, seemingly having finally abandoned the idea of rushing onto an arena.
“Phew.”
Just as Yan let out a sigh of relief, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from among the crowd of players.
“Since everyone is being so humble, then I’ll gladly claim the first NPC victory point.”
A tall Sword-Shield Player stood up from the crowd, cupped his hands to the surrounding players, and said with a smile.
An Dong!?
Yan looked at the person in surprise, recognizing him as An Dong, the resistance tank he had previously added as a friend.
‘Oh, right, he’s a tank. Getting into the top five would be difficult for him. It’s probably better to secure a higher ranking by winning several consecutive matches early in the event, while the true experts are still biding their time.’
With that, An Dong’s figure transformed into a blue light, and at the same moment, his form appeared on one of the 40-yard small arenas.
He had chosen the arena guarded by a One-Handed Swordsman NPC.
Seemingly influenced by his actions, other players also grew restless. Figures of players successively appeared on another 40-yard arena and an 80-yard arena.
Well, whether the arena was guarded by an NPC or a player made little difference to Yan. Just as he was preparing to watch An Dong’s match peacefully, while waiting for time to slowly pass, Qing Bai, whom he had been holding back, finally lost her patience.
“Argh! I can’t stand it anymore! I, this young lady, am going up there to slaughter everyone right now!”
Qing Bai declared, pulling out her scorecard, about to select an arena for teleportation.
“Don’t…”
Yan didn’t have time to stop her. Her figure had already materialized on another 80-yard arena that no one else had chosen.
“Sigh…”
Yan let out a helpless sigh.
‘What a reckless and straightforward person.’
‘I truly don’t know if that’s a virtue or a flaw…’
Yan pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation, remaining quietly in place, watching Qing Bai’s battle.
Qing Bai’s opponent was a Mage NPC. Under the onslaught of Qing Bai’s excessively fast agility-mage cast speed and multi-cast spell bombardment, the level 40 Mage NPC, specialized in spell critical strikes, clearly stood no chance. She quickly secured victory. There wasn’t much to say about the battle itself, though other observing players clearly didn’t feel the same.
“What’s with that little girl? How can she cast two triple-cast spells in the time it takes the Mage NPC she’s fighting to cast just one?”
A Sleeve-Blade Assassin Player’s eyes widened as they pointed at Qing Bai on the screen, exclaiming in astonishment.
“Holy crap, it’s true! I feel like I wouldn’t stand a chance against that person.”
A male Mage Player, clad in heavy robes, followed his gaze to Qing Bai, uttering this shocked remark.
‘Hmph hmph, how could an agility mage, specialized in cast speed with overpowered companion-grade weapons like [Magic Grimoire] and companion-grade skills like [High-Speed Chanting], ever be defeated by an ordinary mage? Moreover, Qing Bai is a veteran player from the old server; her skill accuracy and combo execution are both impeccable.’
Yan thought with a strange sense of pride. Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to spill all of Qing Bai’s information; he merely mused it to himself.
Qing Bai’s battle was remarkably easy, and victory was only a matter of time. Feeling reassured, Yan no longer focused on Qing Bai’s movements, instead turning his attention to check on An Dong’s fight.
“Hey! Look at the large map! What is that person trying to do? They’ve already run to the edge of the map! Do they want to forfeit?”
Such a voice suddenly erupted from the crowd, and Yan, unable to suppress his curiosity, found his gaze drawn to the 150-yard large arena.
To his astonishment, Yan realized he also knew the player on the large map who was running towards its boundary.
“Isn’t that…”
Yan’s eyes widened.
“Lian?”