Blood and Fire Festival! The Deception Begins!

[Game Title: Blood and Fire Festival]

[Clearance Conditions: Obtain the "Medal of Valor"]

[Player Count in this Game: 20]

[You will be participating in the "Rank Advancement Trial" in this Game. A special quest will be loaded for you now.]

[Rank Advancement Mission 1: Weave a scam, requiring at least 50 NPCs or Player to be affected by the scam and take corresponding actions, while gaining "Belief" equivalent to 50 people.]

[Rank Advancement Mission 2: Achieve the "Clearance Conditions" of this Instance through "Fraud," that is, obtain the final "Medal of Valor" not through combat or looting, but through a method that conforms to the definition of "Fraud."]

[Complete both tasks to unlock the "Personal Trial Instance," and complete the "Personal Trial Instance" to advance your Tier Advancement.]

[Completion of this task is not mandatory.]

Lin Yu opened his eyes.

The strong stench of blood filled my nostrils, which ironically complemented the blood-written words before me.

He stood at the entrance to a damp, dense forest. The ground was wet, black mud, and the towering trees, which looked like hard wood, were stacked one on top of another, forming a dark, imposing array like soldiers in battle.

Before Lin Yu stood an altar made of white bones that resembled a human skull, but were larger and had sharper teeth.

Beside the altar stood a muscular man, over two meters tall, dressed in animal skin clothing. His face and bare arms were haphazardly smeared with bright red blood, staining his originally dark skin with streaks of crimson.

He looked down at Lin Yu and said in a low voice, "Are you here to participate in the 'Glory Festival'...? Judging from your appearance, you seem to be Human Race."

Lin Yu nodded in agreement. "Yes."

The burly man nodded. "I understand, you're a bit late! Hurry up!"

He patted the skull altar.

"Put your hand in!"

Lin Yu glanced at the altar that exuded a strange aura, and then put his hand into the mouth of the skull.

"Snap!"

The skull's mouth closed, and its sharp, hard teeth pierced Lin Yu's hand skin.

Blood gushed out and flowed into the skeleton's mouth, causing it to loosen its teeth.

"Get your hand away!"

The burly man reminded him, and Lin Yu quickly pulled his hand away.

After he withdrew his hand, fierce flames erupted beneath the altar.

His blood flowed into the flames, eventually coalescing into a blood-red, Rule crystal.

The flames gradually died down, and the burly man picked up the crystal, blew on it, and hissed and gasped as it burned.

"Ouch, it's really hot... Here you go, this is your 'token'!"

Number 385!

Lin Yu took the crystal, looked at the number "385" inside, and fell into deep thought.

This token is way too wild! It's not only Rule, but it's even a bit prickly!

Although I knew the entire Black Marsh world was savage and insane, this was just too savage.

The burly man spoke again.

"If you continue walking forward for about a hundred meters, you will encounter a 'barrier'."

"At sunset and moonrise today, after your token flashes, the barrier will briefly lower for a few minutes. Hurry up and get through it."

"When the barrier rises again, the 'Glory Festival' will begin once more—and the Festival will end ten days later when the barrier falls again."

"Did you understand?"

The burly man asked slowly and deliberately, and Lin Yu nodded.

"Understood."

After the strong man's explanation and analysis, and combined with the blood-written words he had seen earlier, Lin Yu had completely figured out the purpose of this [Instance].

Just as Shen Bingmiao said, this is a very simple and straightforward Instance, with almost no hidden information or conditions, only the purest fighting and confrontation.

The information regarding the Clearance Conditions and the "Glory Festival" matches Shen Bingmiao's information perfectly.

"Thank you, President. To bet all of them correctly is truly unbeatable."

Lin Yu silently praised Shen Bingmiao in his heart.

Having made prior preparations, he was now full of confidence—passing the level was definitely not a problem.

However, the two task conditions for "Tier Advancement" are still somewhat tricky.

The second condition was relatively easy to solve; Lin Yu immediately thought of many solutions—scamming someone else's "Medal of Valor," or using Counterfeit and other things to forge "trophies" to obtain the "Medal of Valor," or even fabricating another condition that could make obtaining the "Medal of Valor" "Make It Real"...

However, the first task condition...

"Not only do I have to talk to and Deception these guys who look like simple-minded but physically strong people, but I also have to deceive fifty of them? This is really a headache!"

Lin Yu sighed, feeling a throbbing headache.

Even though I was prepared to face the enemy head-on, both missions forced me to engage in dialogue and Fraud with those brutes in activities where we were about to fight each other.

"As expected, there are no easy 'Tier Advancement' quests."

After a moment of internal reflection, Lin Yu looked at the burly man again.

No matter how difficult the "Tier Advancement" might be, he was still determined to do it.

So... let's take it one step at a time.

At least the burly man in front of him was clearly willing to communicate with him—such opportunities were rare.

So, after Lin Yu received the "token," he spoke to the other party again.

"Hey, I have another question... How many entrances like this are there?"

Upon hearing Lin Yu's question, the burly man looked puzzled, as if to say, "How come you don't know this either?" but he still answered Lin Yu's question anyway.

"Twelve? What's wrong?"

"Thank you."

Lin Yu said with a smile.

Since there are twelve entrances, it's normal for each of the twenty Player to have their own entrance.

"If we assume there Player at every entrance, then at least eight people will be with other people... In the most extreme case, there would be pairs of people at each of the eight entrances, or nine people crammed into one entrance..."

"I wonder how many of these people came in as a team. Although the Map is large, encountering team Player will still put you at a disadvantage."

"Even Player who aren't in a team will likely form natural alliances once they're grouped together... At least for me, I would temporarily ally with the people around me."

"Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that it's a case of 'Order' and 'Marauders' coming together and have already started fighting..."

"I just hope that 'Twenty' doesn't have any 'teammates' around her."

After obtaining further intelligence based on the burly man's words, Lin Yu quickly completed his analysis and assessment of the situation.

However, his conversation with the other party was not simply to extract information.

"So, you came to the Glory Festival, but you don't know how many entrances there are?"

"Yes, because it's been too long since I've been here," Lin Yu said calmly when he heard the other person speak again. "Let me correct you, friend, I'm not some kind of 'human'."

"The last time I attended the Glory Festival here, there was no such thing as an 'entrance' or not."

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, the burly man's face showed a surprised expression.

"Who... who exactly are you? You're not Human Race, are you Spirit Race?"

"Wait, your tone sounds so weathered... Could you be a spirit?!"

Lin Yu shook his head.

"Wrong... I am 'Rakshasa'."