Chapter 84 - 83: Uproar on the Forum, Lord Playstyle? No, Deity Playstyle

[Time remaining until game launch: 71 hours, 11 minutes.]

[Time remaining for the second-round test qualification lottery: 17 hours, 11 minutes.]

The first thing Lince saw upon entering the Player forums was the sky-blue notification pinned at the top.

"So, they’re even giving us a countdown to the server launch now?"

Lince was slightly taken aback.

But after a moment’s thought, he realized it didn’t really matter.

He had a three-day buffer, which was more than enough time for him to get some proper rest.

The aftereffects of being a Rock Steel Giant for five hundred days during the game’s inference were quite intense.

He could use these three days to readjust to being human again.

Still, he had to admit his gains over these five hundred days were substantial.

Aside from the Eagle Kingdom becoming his personal backyard...

York had reached Tier Three and obtained the rank of Viscount.

As for his Contracted Magic Pets, the Giant-toothed Rat King was now Tier Two. The Forest Wolf had also successfully reached Tier Three, thanks to Lince having the Unihorned Demon Bear deliver her "wages" in Magic Crystals every hundred days.

All that was left was for Lince to enter the game in three days and collect his settlement rewards.

He just wondered how generous the rewards would be this time.

Lince was quite looking forward to it.

Of course, that was all for later. Right now, Lince wanted to see the summary of information compiled by the Human Alliance Countermeasures Bureau.

Unfortunately, perhaps because only about fifty minutes had passed since the Player video ended, the Human Alliance Countermeasures Bureau hadn’t posted a summary on the forums yet.

Meanwhile, two topics dominated the heated discussions on the Player forums.

One was about the Rock Steel Giant and the Eagle Kingdom, and the other was about the Eastern Border Battlefield.

Among them, a particularly eye-catching post caught Lince’s attention.

[Damn that Chief Player! I’ve become a laughingstock on all of Blue Star, and what about him? He’s already reached Tier Five!]

Curious, Lince clicked on it.

When Lince took a look, he saw—well, what do you know—it was the mount, "Brother Ma Tou."

"Hey everyone. Don’t bother guessing. That’s right, I’m that ’Legendary Mount’ who’s already trending."

"I just don’t get it. I was minding my own business, eating hotpot and singing songs, totally set to just coast until the ’grand finale.’ But then, suddenly, I was on a battlefield, and suddenly, I was dismembered. I really don’t understand!"

"I know I can’t blame the Chief Giant Dragon Player for this. After all, the Kingdom’s civil war would have broken out even without him. But what I want to say is, could you at least not advance so fast?! Give us regular Players a break!"

"You were Tier Four last round and Tier Five this round. Every real-world day that passes adds a hundred Inference Days for us! It’s killing me!"

"I died a little over four hundred days into the inference! If the Giant Dragon hadn’t reached Tier Five this time, I would have found a way to survive when I got in the game! Even if that old guy whipped me, I absolutely would not have gone to the main battlefield!"

"A battle that huge... if I had survived, even just by playing ’support,’ I could have farmed a ton of ’experience’ for the settlement. Now look at me. Not only did I miss out on the experience, I even lost my first-round qualification!"

"Damn it all! It took me so much effort to grind my way to Tier Three! As a mount, I had to bat my eyelashes at some old geezer every single day. Tell me, do you all think I had it easy?"

"Now I feel sick just thinking about that old guy. For the sake of Extraordinary Power, I really gave it my all! My life is so hard... waaaah... Now I have to start all over again with the second-round Players! It’s a good thing the game offered compensation for failed Players this time, otherwise, I don’t even know what I’d do!"

"I refuse to believe my luck can be this bad! When the game launches in three days, I’m going to choose a non-Human Race again. I want to see if I’ll randomly roll a mount again! Damn it!"

Alright, after reading the post, it all clicked for Lince.

He had been wondering how a failed Player could still be on the forums.

It turned out a version update had compensated the failed Players from this round with second-round qualifications.

Five hundred days in the game... Lince had almost forgotten about these things.

Lince felt a bit helpless regarding this Player’s complaints.

’How is that my fault?’

The settlement rewards were practically dangling right in front of him. Could he just not accept them? Who would want to stay at Tier Four when they could advance to Tier Five?

Any other Player would have done the same.

No one is nobler than anyone else.

So, Lince just treated it as entertainment and browsed the comments.

And under the post, there was indeed a group of people trying to be objective.

Anonymous: "You really can’t blame the Chief Giant Dragon Player for this. But his rapid advancement does increase the survival difficulty for everyone. Still, if you put yourself in his shoes, you wouldn’t pass up the chance to advance either, right?! So, instead of blaming others, you should think about how to improve yourself quickly in the game. You have to at least try to keep up with the Chief Player’s pace, don’t you?!"

Anonymous: "That’s easy for you to say, but how many Players are as lucky as the Giant Dragon Player? Forget everything else, just how many are there playing the Lord-style? I saw an Elf Player in the Eastern Realm war who was also a Lord-style player. But unfortunately, his Elf village only had a few dozen people, and it was deep inside the Elf Empire. He didn’t have the border environment to really make moves. When the Eastern Realm war broke out, he was only Tier Two. It was really underwhelming."

Anonymous: "From what I’ve seen, there are probably fewer than ten Lord-style Players. Most of them are concentrated in the Sea Race. It’s a pity the Sea Race’s living environment is so harsh. Two Sea Race Lord-style Players were eliminated in the last inference. After all, there are some powerful Sea Beasts in the ocean whose factions are comparable to the Demon Beast Forest. Every single one of them is strong, and huge!"

Anonymous: "Sea Race Players? Speaking of them, I noticed a whale-like Player who’s been developing quite well recently. He’s already Tier Three and his Body Type is over two hundred meters long! A Body Type like that completely crushes land-based Demon Beasts! I even think he could totally dominate any land-based Demon Beast of the same tier."

Anonymous: "What good is being big! Being only Tier Three is the problem itself. His hide isn’t tough enough, and he’s a huge target. How is he supposed to dominate same-tier opponents? You really think size alone can crush everything? He’d have to be able to get on land first! Besides, I’ve seen that guy’s video. He’s just a Middle Tier Bloodline. The Chief Player could easily wipe the floor with him."

"..."

A Sea Race Sea Beast Player?

Tier Three and over two hundred meters long?

Lince was quite surprised as he read the comments, which had gone completely off-topic.

With a Body Type that large, shouldn’t he have been born at a higher tier?

If not, then he was really just a living target.

But then he thought about real-world whales. Well, humans could kill them with harpoons, so being big didn’t necessarily mean much.

As for the number of Lord-style Players...

Lince had a rough idea. There really weren’t many Lord-style Players in True Game.

Every Player who started as a Lord was actually extremely lucky.

It was just that many of them didn’t have as good a starting location as Lince.

After all, Lince was a Demon Beast, while the Lord was a human under his Blood Covenant. This provided a lot of room to maneuver in the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

And the other Lord-style Players?

They were the Lords themselves. Elf Lord Players ruled over Elf Subjects, and Human Race Lord Players ruled over human subjects.

Therefore, if they were all on a border, they likely wouldn’t have the same opportunities to negotiate as Lince did. Any conflict would inevitably become a life-or-death struggle.

But what about Lince?

As a Rock Steel Giant, he could deal with the Demon Beasts, while Lord York could handle the human side.

This was the only way to achieve a balance and buy time to develop.

So, from this perspective, Lince’s Lord style was a variation of the standard playstyle, since he himself wasn’t the Lord.

To be more precise, Lince’s playstyle couldn’t be called Lord-style. It was ’Deity-style’.

The special effects of his Descent said it all.

Other Players didn’t have a Descent special effect at all!

In fact, some Players on the forums had already figured it out.

Lince’s playstyle wasn’t the traditional Lord-style at all, but a variation of it: the Deity-style!

Moreover, no one else in the game had been found to have Lince’s Deity-style gameplay.

He was definitely a one-of-a-kind, super-lucky individual.

His status as an ’Emperor of Luck’ from the very beginning was beyond question. In terms of gameplay, Lince had been an entire version ahead of the other Players from the start.

Lince himself was a little puzzled by this.

’So, luck is a part of strength? And as long as it’s not cheating, it’s fair game?’

Lince had come to deeply understand this point.

’Luck is such a fickle thing. I guess this is what it feels like to be a chosen one, huh?’

’But if I really am on the Deity path, why don’t I need to spread my faith? Why is my gameplay still centered on cultivating a family?’

Thinking of this, Lince fell into deep thought.

Cultivating a family, the Deity-style... what was the relationship between the two...?

After a moment, Lince’s mind suddenly jolted.

He had figured it all out in a flash.

To put it this way...

How did the Eagle Kingdom in the game come to be in the first place?

Why did their entire Kingdom only believe in the God of Truth and Knowledge?

It must be because of the intimate relationship between their ancient ancestors and that Deity...

At that moment, Lince understood everything completely!!!

’So, the core of my gameplay is to turn the Swamp Territory into a nation?’

Lince’s eyes lit up as he finally sorted out all the connections!!!

Starting from scratch to build a nation of my own?

To build a Kingdom that believes only in me? Or even an Empire?

Lince felt more clear-headed than ever before.

It wasn’t that he lacked the gameplay mechanic to spread his faith; it just wasn’t the right time!

The Rock Steel Giant had not yet become a god. It was only Tier Five.

And York was currently just a Viscount.

’It’s true what they say: the onlooker sees clearly, while the one involved is in a fog!’

’So, how many Players have figured out my unique playstyle by now? Probably quite a few, since people are already discussing it.’

’And what about the Countermeasures Bureau? Do they know?’

Lince realized the Countermeasures Bureau most likely knew.

After all, one shouldn’t underestimate the think tanks of the real-world authorities. They could definitely analyze the details from his game videos and deduce that something was different.

The fact that he could sell a single potion for the sky-high price of 1.5 billion was a sign of this!

Even the Financial Groups had likely seen what made him, the Chief Player, different.

Their gestures of goodwill were indeed calculated!

’1.5 billion?! Why do I suddenly have a feeling I sold it too cheap?!’

Lince had a sudden realization. He discovered that among his settlement rewards, at least two types of items were unique.

The first was the Mid-Efficacy Healing Potion. Potions with similar healing effects circulated on the Oakland Continent, but their effectiveness was probably less than one percent of Lince’s! Not to mention, the potions he granted could also directly prevent failure in the Blood Exchange ritual.

The second was the Alchemy Puppet. According to Olinger, the lineage for creating the kind of Alchemy Puppets Lince granted simply didn’t exist on the Oakland Continent—it was lost knowledge!

’So, whether it’s the Mid-Efficacy Healing Potion or the Alchemy Puppet, these reward items seem to be completely out of circulation in the Game World! Are they exclusive, lost-knowledge rewards for Deity-style Players?!’

’Did I get ripped off?! But 1.5 billion doesn’t seem like a loss either... so did I get ripped off or not?’

Lince was completely bewildered at this point.