Chapter 118

▪️Second Beta-Test Player

Meng Zhihan is a beta-tester from the second batch.

As an ordinary person who neither grinds or spends real money nor even is a hardcore gamer, it wasn't until three days ago that she only accumulated enough experience and contribution points to finally switch to a job which is a level 11 druid.

Actually, her pace have been much faster.

According to the first beta-testers, back when there were still many small mobs within the inner area, almost everyone teamed up to farm ponits gaining exp rather exponentially.

It was quite a refreshing experience.

But unfortunately, the low-level monsters in the inner area of the Elf Town that could be used for practice have now been wiped out.

They either turned into experience points or fertilizer for plants.

Unlike other games, "Elf Kingdom" completely simulates reality and thus, the creatures form their own ecosystem. Once you kill them, then they will be forever gone.

And what's left now are just the mid-tier bosses mobs that newbies couldn't afford to engage.

Unless you have the money and could hire players from the "First Legion" guild to give you a 'bus ride' to aid you into killing high level mobs at the expense of a ridiculous price, then your only other option is to grind exp slowly.

Therefore, most second beta-players who neither can grind for long hours nor spend real money can only choose to slowly level up by doing menial tasks...

However surprisingly by doing these tasks, quite a few people have noticed that the life skills expertise that they have learned in the game could also be performed back in reality.

Like chopping trees or building walls, and barbecuing...etc.

Overall, with the increase in players population and the passage of time, the trend of polarization is becoming more and more noticeable.

The strong becomes stronger, and the weak becomes weaker.

Although there are many ways to become stronger, undoubtedly, the best resources are still always obtained by the strong first.

Without money nor luck, newcomers can only rely on mind numbing slow grinding to level up.

As a result, this have also been criticized by some players, and a group of people are complaining about it on the forums.

Everyone believes that simulating real life so realistically is a good thing, but if it is too lifelike then what is the difference of it from reality?

Reality is already so cruel, so how come they must also experience its bitterness here in a fantasy world as well?

Games likes these are a way for one to escape their realities and one downside of being too 'realistic' is that it even simulates the unfairness of the real world which can be quite disheartening.

As such there are also many people clamoring to withdraw from the game because of these factors.

However...there wasn't a single person proven that withdrew in the end.

Meng Zhihan is very open-minded about this matters.

In her opinion, choosing something means losing something else instead.

Since the main feature of "Elf Kingdom" is its most realistic recreation of reality, then these unfair mechanisms may be intentionally put there by the developers...

Being able to create such a masterpiece, the devs must have considered it more than the average complainers.

Moreover, even if the game system is bizarre, with the game's unique realistic senses, intelligent NPCs, and mind-boggling thought acceleration, everyone can still enjoy it happily even if they are not really a gamer.

There are still many netizens online who are waiting eagerly for the open beta after all.

The reason why she chose the Druid profession is that Meng Zhihan particularly liked the "Cleric" profession whenever she's playing games in the past.

The "Cleric" profession has always been a popular support profession that's always been in demand in any online games.

And if you have a good build, a solid foundation, and right equipments, then you will undoubtedly be welcomed by various guilds.

Therefore, she had already decided to make her character stats to be a pure healing type of Druid build.

Actually, if possible, she would have liked to choose the Priest profession.

Even now, there are still videos secretly recorded by players when the Saint Miss performs group healing on the official website.

That special effect...is so stunning and awesome!

Of course, the special effects of the Goddess are even more powerful, but can anyone even compare to the Goddess?

Unfortunately, perhaps due to it still being a beta version of the game, the Priest profession is still not open to players, thus she can only settle for the Druid class.

This is her first time participating in the main questline.

Before, although she had always hoped to participate in the legendary main quest, she was sadly limited by her low level and couldn't accept the quest.

But this time, she finally had the opportunity!

For this reason, she decided to spend the hard-earned 2,000 contribution points she had saved to exchange for a new skill!

'Um... I already have a healing skill, so let's exchange for an escape skill this time.'

Going by her previous online game experience, Meng Zhihan made a decision.

However, just before she's about to allocate points towards the skill, Meng Zhihan received a reminder from her guild leader Li Mu:

"Meng you already have two healing skills. If you want to gain more experience and contribution points this time around, then I suggest you go for a single-target control skill instead."

"Control skill?"

Meng Zhihan was slightly stunned, and then replied uncertainly:

"But... I heard some experienced players say that the control magic used on those mobs with high levels will be easily broken off by them..."

Li Mu remained silent for a moment before responding:

"It's true that controlling only a single mob won't matter much. But if there are other players who can do the same thing as well then we can use all these single-target casts like a collective skill to crowd control mobs altogether."

After hearing Li Mu's words, Meng Zhihan suddenly realized:

"Oh! Right, there are other players who can aggro as well!"

But soon, she was stunned:

"Wait... control them all together? Is that really possible...?"

Li Mu sent a nodding emoji and said:

"The tanks at the front will do all the hard work in protecting you guys. The atk skills of low Iron-rank should theoretically still be able to cause some stun dmg to the mobs for a few sec, but some may miss and counter instead which makes our strat less effective hence its that time where you support class would be needed."

"You see, if we use the suicide rush just as we plan, then our tanks will become easy targets but alas, this is the most efficient way to kill the enemies at the moment. Besides, we can somewhat exploit the game's resurrection feature, plus the guilds will also provide contribution points for suicide rushers in exchange for perfect resurrection chances."

Meng Zhihan: ...

Oh yeah she remembered now that the contribution store can also be used to exchange perfect resurrection times with CP.

Now that the number of perfect resurrection obtained through completing tasks are becoming less and less, many players are gradually choosing to exchange them with CP instead. 1000 contribution points can be exchanged for one if she remembered it right.

It's quite expensive, but defeating a mid tier mob is worth at least 1200 contribution points, and the more higher level the mob you defeated, larger your CP gains would be.

So, even though there is only a difference of 200 CP, it's still a small profit to exchange one life for another.

Not to mention, you can also get experience points!

However, not everyone can get this reward of contribution points.

After the second beta-testers entered the game, all rewards have been allocated according to the amount of contribution instead.

Therefore, 1200 contribution points will be allocated according to contribution of the player.

Generally speaking, if calculated this way, players who are sacrificed will be at a clear disadvantage even if they have a higher contribution score.

But it can be mitigated by joing guilds.

The perfect resurrection of sacrificed players will not be provided by themselves, but will given by the guild's instead.

This is also a method that players have discovered in the continuous exploration process of the game mechanics.

"So, when the time comes, just cast a CC skill whenever a player handles some mobs conveniently for you to control. In addition, the spoken code for charging is 'Urrrah', and the code for sacrificing is 'Fire at me', so don't cast it at the wrong target."

Li Mu sternly reminded.

Meng Zhihan: ...

Caverock Tribe.

After collecting the treasures left by the black dragon inside the castle, even the well-traveled Night wanderer couldn't help but sigh that the Dragon's accumulated wealth.

Although it was apparently only a young dragon, the wealth it had accumulated was already equivalent to an annual income of a typical average sized human town.

The chief priest of the Orc tribe, was also extremely happy.

Even if the expenses for buying magic materials from human smuggling convoys were deducted, the remaining wealth was still enough for the tribe to make a small fortune.

Just when he was about to bask in this great windfall, an Orc guard suddenly stumbled in from outside.

He looked at him with panicked eyes with his voice filled with fear:

"C-Chief Priest! It's...it's not good!"

"That black dragon...has come back!"

Gaming Terminology

Mobs - Enemy monsters

CC - Crowd Control

Rez - Resurrection/Respawn

Bus Ride - Term for higher lvl players aiding newbies and carry them to gain exp fast.

Tanks - A character that draws attackers away from other players.

Nihil Note : The image above is not an official art but was instead done by me. I ws thinking of adding some from time to time or perhaps even set it up as a gift for the tips i get at kofi or something.