Players from Luoxia Village could choose from many county towns, half of which belonged to Jizhou and half to Yunzhou. Jizhou was the province where Baidi City was located, incredibly prosperous, but not necessarily rich in monster resources. Yunzhou, though harsh and cold, was closer to the northern border. Northern race cultivators from ancient mountains who would invade human territory were bound to pass through the vast Yunzhou first. Therefore, settling in Yunzhou carried greater risk but, likewise, greater opportunity.
"How is it, have you picked a county town yet?" Ding Chi asked.
"Hold on."
Lin Zhao scanned the map, pointed a finger at a red dot on the large map, and said, "This one. Yunshang County, the county town closest to Fusu Great Wall that we can choose."
Zhang Jun blinked. "What's Fusu Great Wall?"
"You'll know later."
Ding Chi narrowed his eyes, looking at the large map, and chuckled, "Yunshang County. It's strategically located, good indeed, but it's too far from our Luoxia Village. Even taking the post station carriage would take quite some time."
"It's fine, once we establish ourselves in the city, it'll be done once and for all."
"Alright, then Yunshang County!"
"Wait, let me learn some Swordsman skills before we go..."
"Damn, you haven't learned them yet!?"
Ding Chi and Zhang Jun's jaws nearly hit the floor. What had Lin Zhao experienced in the game? It was beyond their imagination.
...
West of the新手村 (newbie village), within the training grounds, Lin Zhao approached an NPC profession trainer marked as "First Realm Sword Cultivator." Upon conversing with him, the learnable skills for a trainee Swordsman unfurled one by one:
[Heavy Slash]: Deals up to 130% of attack to the target. Requires level 10 to learn, costs 5 copper coins.
[Gale Force]: Increases own attack speed by up to 20% for 5 seconds. Requires level 10 to learn, costs 5 copper coins.
[Sword Qi Impact]: Attacks the target with a sword qi and then charges in to get close, dealing two instances of damage and stunning for 1.5 seconds. Requires level 20 to learn, costs 1 silver coin.
[Draw Sword Slash]: At the moment of completing the sword-drawing action, dashes forward 3 yards, dealing up to 70% damage in a 10-yard fan-shaped area. Requires level 20 to learn, costs 1 silver coin.
...
Heavy Slash for damage, Gale Force for attack speed, Sword Qi Impact was a skill similar to a Knight's charge, capable of instantly reaching the target and causing a short stun. Draw Sword Slash was an AoE plus short-range dash skill. While Lin Zhao wasn't a natural gaming prodigy, he was by no means a novice. The characteristics of these skills were clear at a glance.
He learned them all in one go, then exited the newbie village and boarded the carriage to Yunshang County with Ding Chi and Zhang Jun.
The carriage rental fee was 1 gold per person.
"So expensive..."
Ding Chi frowned. "No wonder many people who are already level 20 are still out earning money. It's because of this carriage..."
Lin Zhao nodded with a smile. "Everything is expensive. Each resource can correspond to real-world material resources. But it's fine for us, we should be among the first batch of players to leave the newbie village."
"That's right! Leaving the newbie village before 12 o'clock, that's good enough!"
Zhang Jun yawned. "When are we sleeping?"
"Already tired?"
Ding Chi chuckled. "Lin Zhao has been online for 12 hours straight and isn't tired. What are you complaining about..."
Zhang Jun rolled his eyes.
Lin Zhao glanced at the time and said, "Once we arrive at Yunshang County and bind our player status to the county town, we'll play for another hour outside the city before logging off. Even though it's the first day, there's no need to push ourselves too hard. We need to pace ourselves."
"Okay!"
Ding Chi and Zhang Jun nodded in unison.
...
About half an hour later, the carriage sped along the official road. Ahead, a county town of imposing majesty loomed.
Yunshang County, a county town not too far from Shanhai Pass. The entire county town was built with thick, massive stones. Soldiers guarding the city walls were as numerous as trees, their swords glinting coldly. The war banners of the Great Shang Dynasty fluttered in the wind. After a hundred years of recovery, Yunzhou seemed to have regained some vitality.
Lin Zhao couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion. He remembered how fifty-three thousand Yunzhou cavalry had marched out of the pass, only to be almost annihilated outside Guxiao Pass. It was so tragic that in such a vast Yunzhou, every household lacked men. Now, this harsh and resilient province had finally recovered a little vitality, which was quite comforting.
The carriage drove straight into Yunshang County and stopped at the East Gate Square. Lin Zhao and the others were refreshed and landed on the square. It wasn't just them; many players from all over the Huaxia server had also chosen Yunshang County. The light of player arrivals flickered incessantly, and the place was exceptionally bustling.
After speaking with a guard and confirming Yunshang County as their current player main city, Lin Zhao, Ding Chi, and Zhang Jun walked out of the city side by side, heading straight for the leveling spot outside the city. Regardless of whether they leveled today, it was important to get familiar with the map first.
Upon exiting the city, Lin Zhao opened the large map.
The territory of Yunshang County was incomparable to that of the newbie village. The entire Yunzhou had sixteen county towns, and Yunshang County was one of them. Yunzhou was vast, so Yunshang County's territory was naturally not small.
As a result, after Lin Zhao, Ding Chi, and Zhang Jun explored the map, they didn't actually kill many monsters. Seeing that time was running out, they confirmed the map for tomorrow's leveling and logged off to rest.
Late at night, Lin Zhao was famished.
The studio cooked instant noodles in the microwave. Ding Chi and Zhang Jun each had a bowl. Lin Zhao, however, had two bowls, even adding three eggs. After slurping them down, he was exhausted. He went back to his room, showered, and went to sleep.
...
The next morning.
A pale white VTOL aircraft, painted with the insignia of the Xu Group, slowly landed on the rooftop of Su City Gate. The moment the cabin door opened, a pair of snowy legs stepped down the stairs. This woman, wearing a pretty little skirt, was Xu Yan. She had arrived in Su City early in the morning and was having breakfast with her friend Shen Xingchen.
Ning City was not far from Su City, and traveling by plane was even faster, taking only about ten minutes to arrive, so it was hardly a waste of time.
In the coffee shop, the two beautiful women ordered quite a bit of food.
"Ayan, how was the exploration yesterday?" Shen Xingchen asked with a smile.
"It can only be described as satisfactory."
Leng Yan smiled faintly and said, "Before 12 o'clock, over 200 people from our Shengtian Guild left the newbie village for the county towns. The exploration team for this morning has already been deployed. I'll just go back and direct it later. What about you? How is Xinghe's exploration progress? Your tier is higher, it should be much better than Shengtian, right?"
"Not much better."
Shen Xingchen's lips curled up. "Yesterday, before 12 o'clock, over 500 people from Xinghe left the newbie village. Of course, most of them were Su Xinghe's direct subordinates. Those people are too driven."
"Over 500 people..."
Leng Yan's delicate brows furrowed. "Xinghe is indeed Xinghe. Just based on this exploration data, they've already surpassed us Shengtian by more than ten streets."
"It's not that exaggerated."
Shen Xingchen took a sip of coffee and chuckled. "Actually, there were some setbacks. I wasn't born in Luoxia Village... I'll tell you something a bit embarrassing. Although I planned a lot, I didn't manage to defeat any of the three golden bosses in Luoxia Village. I just slunk away to the county town like that."
"Ah?!"
Leng Yan's delicate mouth parted slightly, surprised. "No... impossible? Did your Xinghe collide with any guilds in the newbie village?"
"Precisely not. No heavyweight guild collided with us in the newbie village." Shen Xingchen pursed her red lips, helpless. "It seems we encountered a super expert who beat the Bosses before us."
"Who was it?"
"That person hid their ID. We only know it's a two-character ID, and nothing else."
Shen Xingchen's gaze was full of longing. "Even their ID on the leaderboard was hidden. But I noticed this person. Before leaving the newbie village, they had already reached level 21. After that, I don't know which county town they went to. The country server has too many county towns, and checking them one by one is too much work. Plus, there are too many people with two-character IDs, so it's hard to say."
"It doesn't matter."
Leng Yan said leisurely, "Every era has one or two outstanding individuals, but in the end, what matters is the top-ranked guilds. In the face of a massive team, the strength of one person becomes insignificant."
"Yes, indeed."
...
Morning.
After getting up, washing up, and eating egg noodles with green garlic leaves, Lin Zhao, Ding Chi, and Zhang Jun, the three brothers, logged in and officially began their careers as the "Grassland Three Musketeers."
They repaired their equipment, bought potions, and after leaving the county town, headed straight for the map chosen yesterday.
Fire Snake Forest, a map where monsters of level 22-28 spawned, and currently one of the mainstream maps for top-tier players. Lin Zhao, being the highest level, was the first to step into the forest. After only a few steps, they heard a "hissing" sound. A fiery red snake in the forest had spotted their presence and slithered over to attack!
Lin Zhao quickly drew his Fang Tooth Sword, preparing to engage. At this moment, he no longer had the 20x attack and defense buff, so he had to learn to fight with his normal stats. As his sword pointed, the fire snake's attributes appeared before his eyes:
[Fire Snake] (Silver-tier monster)
Level: 23
Attack: 115-220
Defense: 60
Health: 800
Skills: [Bite] [Poison]
Description: A type of snake living on the outskirts of county towns, often biting people.
...
"High attack!"
Ding Chi smiled slightly. "A Zhao has the highest defense, you tank it. I and Da Jun will support the attack."
"Okay!"
Lin Zhao's sword light flashed. When he was still 10 yards away from the fire snake, he directly activated Sword Qi Impact. A wisp of sword qi landed on the fire snake, and then with a "hiss," he turned into an afterimage and broke through the wind, heavily colliding with the fire snake, dealing two instances of damage. The moment it was stunned, he immediately activated Gale Force, greatly increasing his attack speed. At the same time, he unleashed a three-hit combo of normal attack + Heavy Slash + normal attack!
"298!"
"402!" Da Feng Novel Network
"314!"
In just an instant, the fire snake let out a miserable shriek and died, dropping a few copper coins.
...
"Killed it instantly!?"
Ding Chi and Zhang Jun were dumbfounded.