The Difference Between Both Sides

It is January 29th, Alliance Year 1104. Exactly one week has passed since Li Li summoned the third batch of players.

The players were divided into two groups from the start: one group went to Crystal Seal Village, while the other remained active within Iron Wall City.

Different choices naturally led to different gameplay experiences.

Li Li, sitting in his office chair, slid over to the window. After glancing at the scenery of the forest outside the city, he closed his eyes and shifted his perspective to the eyes of the players outside the city, wanting to see how far along these guys had progressed.

Boundless Swamp.

Three light spears shot up into the sky, precisely hitting the swaying stamen of a sunflower. In an instant, 80% of its health was depleted, causing the giant monster to crash to the ground.

A Minotaur, standing two meters tall, seized the opportunity and charged forward. A heavy axe strike severed the sunflower's roots, clearing its last sliver of health.

The elite squad led by "Humorous Old Man" was clearing the monsters in the swamp with extreme efficiency.

These players' levels were still around Lv30.

Yet, they were facing the same monsters as before. Previously, they had almost "lost a player" due to a Minotaur's mistake, but now it only took them 10 seconds to instantly defeat this Silver Rank monster.

After upgrading their skill points, their light spears, which originally had only a "300%" damage bonus, had now become "2400%".

Coupled with their enchanted equipment, the base damage had been significantly increased.

With the Alliance still existing in the Second Playthrough, players had lost their low-level monster grinding spots, but they had truly experienced the convenience brought by industrialization in terms of equipment, items, and logistics.

When the game first launched in the First Playthrough, if one wanted a full set of enchanted equipment, they could only hope for it to drop from Elite Monsters.

Or, they would have to wait until later to find a Blacksmith player to buy it from, with the specific effects depending on luck.

Now, by simply hopping between a few merchant guilds and selling a few materials, one could obtain a decent set of equipment.

With their current gear, they had been efficiently grinding in the Boundless Swamp for three days. Moreover, they had returned to their outpost to resupply before logging off last night.

This time, they weren't just here to deal with these small fries.

They had previously scouted the three wild Bosses in Boundless Swamp, and those were their targets for today's raid.

After picking up the sunflower seeds dropped by the sunflower, "Pure Love War God" returned to the team and confirmed with the three big shots who were criting with spears in the team:

"All the nearby small monsters are cleared. Can we start the Boss?"

"Let's stick to the plan we made earlier. Everyone drink the Anti-Numbing Potion first." "Amulet Owl" took a bottle of potion from his backpack and drank it. "Right, remember to keep an eye on the Boss's health. Don't let anyone snatch it at the last moment."

Upon hearing this, "Level 8 Great Gale" couldn't help but retort: "It would be better if you two turned off your livestreams. Everyone knows our combat plan."

As an Elemental Lifeform, he wasn't afraid of the paralysis effect from the Boss's spikes at all.

However, the price was that Elemental Lifeforms couldn't use magic potions and could only use consumables like scrolls and hidden weapons.

"Everyone, keep it up. Let's try not to make any more rookie mistakes," "Humorous Old Man" encouraged them before engaging the Boss. "Let's aim to clear this place out today."

Seeing that the four players were progressing steadily, Li Li withdrew his gaze and looked towards another monster stronghold on a different path.

Ancient Vine Spirit Temple.

Dozens of Treants formed a root net, entangling the Serpent Sirens outside the temple.

When their life force was drained to the last sliver, the Treants' vines threw them out.

The players who had been waiting nearby immediately raised their shotguns and emptied their magazines with "bang bang bang" sounds. Then, they picked up the Serpent Sirens' drops, yawning out of boredom as they waited for the next experience points to be delivered to their mouths.

This was a grinding spot occupied by the guild "Golden Wind."

Other players who wanted to come here had to figure out how to break through the root wall set up by the Treant NPCs.

However, new players who joined "Golden Wind" could enter and exit freely, forming teams to grind Experience Points here.

"Golden Wind," as the guild leader, was not grinding monsters here. He had already reached Silver Rank and was wandering around Iron Wall City, chatting and laughing with the NPCs.

Under the "real world" gameplay, "Golden Wind" knew that simply grinding monsters wouldn't be enough.

Especially for someone like him who was a server-opening player.

The Experience Points accumulated by those honest grinding server-opening players so far were not even comparable to the rewards "Lost a Leg" gained from killing a World Boss.

"Amulet Owl's" "Ember" also indicated that it was not for sale.

Therefore, "Golden Wind" was currently negotiating with the major powers in the city on behalf of the players.

He was attempting to unite the various factions, using the excuse of saving the Alliance, which would be destroyed in half a year, to integrate the powers of the various factions, divide the immense value created by the players, and find an opportunity for Li Li to extract "Ember" for him through a quest.

Once again, he withdrew his gaze. Li Li then turned his attention to the progress of other monster strongholds.

It seemed that the stronghold in Boundless Swamp, which consisted purely of players, was the only one of its kind.

Other players either joined a certain faction, allowing them to dispatch Gold Rank powerhouses to assist in clearing monsters.

Or, they hired freelance Mercenaries, offering monster drops as payment, and let them kill monsters to gain experience themselves.

But, how should I put it...

At the same rank, the strength of the natives was far inferior to that of the players.

On one hand, natives only had one life, and after getting injured, they needed rest, so their combat style was more cautious, unlike players who could revive infinitely.

On the other hand, if people in this world wanted to improve their "skill levels," they could only do so through practice and enlightenment.

Players, however, could directly max them out by spending Experience Points.

The same Magic Missile would deal two to three times more damage from a Player than from a native.

Not to mention, these natives, who never held back, still had to consciously control their strength, figuring out how to hold back just enough to leave a sliver of health.

This meant that even with Gold Rank powerhouses leading the monster-slaying, the Players still couldn't match the efficiency of the 'Amulet Owl's' elite Silver Rank squad.

Li Li pulled his gaze back from the Players outside the city and made a mental calculation.

At the current rate, it would take at most another 3 days to clear the road from Iron Wall City to the new outpost.

Once that was done, he could have the academy lay down Magic Conductor Cables along the path, establishing a Teleportation Gate between the city and the outpost.

With current magic levels, constructing a Teleportation Gate connecting two locations required laying Magic Conductor Cables between the gates.

The Magic Power contained within the Magic Conductor Cables would naturally attract surrounding monsters.

Li Li planned to announce on the forum after the Teleportation Gate was built, letting Players know they'd need to clear out all monsters along the route before the map's teleportation function could be unlocked.

Once the Teleportation Gate was established, he could expand the outpost, developing it from its current state into a prosperous small town.

Li Li planned to find some non-believers to station there permanently. He wanted to see the minimum number of non-believers required to activate the "Imperial Truth" effect and construct a "pocket-sized" God Banning Barrier.

Having confirmed the progress outside the city, Li Li pushed off the wall with force, his office chair sliding him to the window on the other side of the room.

He looked out at the steel metropolis, once again focusing his attention on the Players within the city.