“…Each battle region’s three great early-stage System Quests will differ according to the character of that region, but they carry equal difficulty and challenge. The three System Quests correspond respectively to the opening of that region’s Mercenary System, Alliance-Guild System, and Pet System. The first players in the world to complete a quest and open the corresponding system will receive an additional reward, and will be inscribed forever in the Chronicle of the World of Fate. Their battle region will receive the corresponding Battle Region Honor. Battle Region Honor Value determines a region’s placement on the World of Fate Battle Region Honor Ranking.”
The System prompt paused briefly here, and across every battle region of the World of Fate a boiling roar of discussion went up.
The Mercenary System, the Guild System, the Pet System… nearly every player had been longing for the day they opened. And yet the World of Fate hadn’t simply opened them — it had handed the right to open them to the players of each battle region, letting players decide the timing with their own strength.
With the Mercenary System, a player’s journey through the game would be far richer and their progress far quicker. With the Guild System open, those alliances of power could finally be founded and grow; for people with sufficient strength and real ambition, its opening was something they dreamed of. As for the Pet System… once it opened, players could obtain pets by various means, and having a pet meant not only a companion but a substantial rise in overall strength, with both combat power and leveling speed accelerating considerably. For Summoners especially — who held the privilege of leading two pets into battle — the Pet System’s opening would send their strength soaring.
And beyond all of that, the Battle Region Honor Ranking set the blood of nearly every player in the world boiling.
What did the Battle Region Honor Ranking mean? It meant a contest between the strength of every nation’s players; it meant a contest of national honor! National honor was more important and more sacred than anything else in the world — and this was a competition any player from any country was qualified to enter, which made the Honor Ranking even more closely watched than the Olympic medal table. Nations that climbed high on it would be looked up to by players across the world, and nations with no name on it… could only fade into the shadows.
Since the World of Fate opened, the national borders between battle regions had stayed closed, but competition between the regions had, in this moment, been thunderously declared. Boiling blood drove players with real strength to want to throw everything else aside and finish those three System Quests as fast as they could. The first nation to complete one would be inscribed forever in the Chronicle of the World of Fate — an honor almost impossible to obtain in the real world. And here, whoever was first to complete any one of the three would have his name noted and remembered by the several billion players across the world.
The System prompt did not stop for any of it; through the players’ boiling clamor it went on explaining the process and objectives of the three System Quests in detail:
“Ding… The Huaxia battle region’s three great System Quests are: ‘Relic of the Mercenary King,’ ‘Bones of the War God,’ and ‘Sorrow of the Frost Snow Wolf.'”
“‘Relic of the Mercenary King’: A hundred years ago, the King of Mercenaries, whose name shook the Lost Continent, was commissioned by the Emperor of the Lost City to lead his Heaven Soul mercenary corps against the Rakshasa Ghost King, one of the Eight Demon Kings. In that brutal battle they held back the Rakshasa Ghost King’s advance on the Lost City with a fearlessness that scorned death, but in the end, at the very moment the Twelve Sages arrived, every one of them fell beneath his hand. Yet the name of the Mercenary King was engraved in the memory of all the people of the Lost Continent. The Mercenary King and the members of his Heaven Soul corps were buried together in a single tomb, and that tomb was named the Heaven Soul Graveyard. Quest content: reach the Heaven Soul Graveyard and bring back the Mercenary King’s relic. On completion, the Huaxia battle region’s Mercenary System opens. Players may freely apply to found mercenary corps. Mercenary corps may accept mercenary quests of the corresponding level, and receive greater experience bonuses when hunting monsters. The first player to complete the Mercenary System quest will receive an unknown additional reward, and their battle region will receive 100 Battle Region Honor Value.”
“‘Bones of the War God’: Ninety years ago, the Lost Continent still lay in the shadow of the Eight Demon Kings’ terror and had not fully recovered, and the Dongying Continent to the east seized the moment to invade, intending to lay hands on the Lost Continent. At that uncrossable line of defense on the eastern land, Zhan Wugui, the supreme commander guarding the east, led twenty thousand brave men and halted the charge of Dongying’s hundred thousand troops like a miracle descended from heaven. After seven days and seven nights of hell, Zhan Wugui and all twenty thousand of his soldiers fell in battle — but they had killed a full ninety thousand Dongying troops, and that vast fighting strength and battle spirit sent the Dongying army trembling home, never daring to set foot in the Lost Continent’s east again in the ninety years since. The land where they fought became a stretch of Ten Thousand Bone Ruins from the countless bones heaped upon it, and Zhan Wugui became, deservedly, the War God in the hearts of the Lost Continent’s people. Quest content: travel to the Ten Thousand Bone Ruins, find and bring back the bones of the War God Zhan Wugui. On completion, the Huaxia battle region’s Alliance-Guild System opens, and players with Renown above 200 may apply to found guild alliances. The first player to complete the Alliance-Guild System quest will receive an unknown additional reward, and their battle region will receive 150 Battle Region Honor Value.”
“‘Sorrow of the Frost Snow Wolf’: In the snow-covered north there is a forgotten place, the Ice-Severed Wolf Den. At the deepest point of the Ice-Severed Wolf Den, a powerful Immortal Spirit Beast stands guard — the Frost Snow Wolf. It is said that for some unknown reason it has held a single posture, keeping watch there for a full hundred years. Quest content: travel to the deepest point of the Ice-Severed Wolf Den, and find and fulfill the Frost Snow Wolf’s long-cherished wish. On completion, that battle region’s Pet System opens. Players may learn Capture from any life-profession instructor; using Capture gives a certain probability of capturing a dying monster to become one’s own pet, and killing monsters gives a certain probability of yielding precious pet eggs from which pets may be hatched. The Pet Ranking will open at the same time. The first player to complete the Pet System quest will receive an unknown additional reward, and their battle region will receive 200 Battle Region Honor Value.”
“Ding… All three of the World of Fate’s early-stage System Quests carry extreme challenge. Players are advised to make thorough preparations before entering a quest map. They may be completed solo or in a party, with a party cap of 12. ‘Relic of the Mercenary King’: recommended level 20 or above, recommended party of 12. ‘Bones of the War God’: recommended level 20 or above, recommended party of 12. ‘Sorrow of the Frost Snow Wolf’: recommended level 25 or above, recommended party of 12.”
“The three quest maps may be entered a maximum of eight times per day; past eight entries the map closes for that day. Each player may enter a quest map only once every three days. Once a quest is completed the map closes permanently and, in theory, will never open again. All three of the Huaxia battle region’s quest maps can be reached via the top-tier teleporter Monk Wuhua at Wuhua Temple, north of the City of Stars.”
The long System Announcement was read out three times in full, and almost no player stopped listening after the first pass; they listened carefully through all three, afraid of missing a single detail. These System Quests were no longer merely quests — what they touched was tied to the overall interests of a battle region, and even to national honor.
“Looks like there’s something to do.” Ye Tianxie looked up at the sky, an unreadable smile surfacing on his face.
“Yo! What an exquisite design. That Battle Region Honor Ranking will become the leaderboard every player watches most closely, and these three System Quests will whip up a frenzy like a howling storm… Oh! How I long to accomplish all of it beautifully with the bow in my hands — but with Second Brother here, the bow in my hands is a star beside the sun, stripped of even its last glimmer.” Murong Qiushui lifted his head, gazing soulfully at Ye Tianxie. “Second Brother, I know you won’t stay silent.”
Zuo Pojun thought about it, then said, “This isn’t only a contest for honor on a world scale; it bears on the contest of strength between the major battle regions. Whichever region gets its Mercenary, Alliance and Pet systems open first will see its overall development speed and average level accelerate, putting it some way ahead of the regions that don’t have those systems yet… And competition at that level plainly means one thing: none of these three quests is simple! Even the one that sounds easiest, ‘Relic of the Mercenary King,’ recommends waiting until level 20 — which at minimum says that only a twelve-player party at level 20 or above has even a sliver of hope of clearing it, and before twenty you needn’t dream of getting through the door. If the quests were too easy, the competition would be meaningless.”
Having said all that, Zuo Pojun nodded in approval… of himself, that is. He felt that what he had just said was so damn correct. Then he looked up again. “Second Brother, right now the one with the best hope of putting our Huaxia region onto the world Honor Ranking first is you… If you pull it off, I think my old man will be even more grateful to you.”
Ye Tianxie smiled. “Pojun, don’t underestimate other players, and underestimate foreign players even less. Genuine powerhouses are rarely willing to show their heads too early; this world is always full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. And besides…” He paused. “This game world is entirely unlike any game world before it. It’s starting to give me a feeling that I can’t quite rein it in… Heh! Come on, let’s go do the quest together. At the very least we can test how hard these things are.”
Zuo Pojun and Murong Qiushui exchanged a look and again shook their heads at the same time. Zuo Pojun said, “Uh… ahem, Second Brother, you go on ahead. Fourth Brother and I already agreed to go help Big Sister first.”
“Hey!” Su Feifei pouted slightly. “Fine, you won’t come leveling — but why won’t you even come along for a quest this important? One more person is always one more measure of strength and hope.”
Murong Qiushui said nothing. Zuo Pojun started to speak and stopped, stole a glance at Ye Tianxie, and instead of saying it aloud sent it to Su Feifei by whisper. “Young Mistress Su — when coming along stops meaning we’re nothing but a burden to Second Brother, then wherever he goes, we’ll be willing to follow behind him.”
Zuo Pojun’s voice sounded beside Su Feifei’s ear, and it left her suddenly frozen where she stood.
(End of Chapter 168)