The Court's Trick, Disguised as a System!

This day.

On the beach on the east side of Wolf Snake Island.

Several Rogue Players are diligently catching swordfish.

They used a special kind of fishing net.

In the past, this kind of work was mainly done by villagers, because players were afraid of dying.

Now, the competition is too fierce, and it's basically impossible to find any work in the village.

Puppets have replaced most of the repetitive mechanical tasks.

Even manual labor is hopeless.

Fortunately, thanks to the Age of Grand Voyage, the area within 20 miles of the island is now relatively safe.

They have to take some risks to catch swordfish.

Because catching these kinds of things is relatively safe.

Swordfish are very strong, but they cannot go ashore. Once out of the water, their strength is reduced by 99%.

This means that people can work within the Safe Zone.

Of course, it must be done in groups of several people.

Someone was carrying a steel shield.

In this way, whenever a swordfish attacks, the person holding the shield can defend themselves in time.

Therefore, although there is some risk involved, it is much safer than dealing with venomous snakes or fox spirits.

If all else fails, we can quickly row a boat ashore.

The group was working enthusiastically.

"Once I've finished this batch, I'm going home to get married."

"Ridiculous. If you've already become a player, why would you want to get married? Wouldn't that be a waste of being a player?"

"Shouldn't players get married?"

"Of course, we are players, but we are pursuing immortality. How can we let marriage tie our hands?"

The group was chatting idly when one of the lone figures suddenly pointed into the distance and said:

"How amazing! There's a big ship in the distance!"

The others also looked up.

"Yes, it doesn't look like a village boat. Villages usually don't send boats out to sea."

"Take a look quickly."

Everyone immediately looked up and gazed into the distance, one after another.

The players were quite resilient; they quickly spotted a large yellow flag hanging above, which was clearly shaped like a husky's head...

"Wow, this art style is a bit weird."

"It looks like a player's ship, doesn't it?"

"Only gamers would draw images like this."

"Damn, that's impressive. Players can actually sail such a huge ship, and it looks like they sailed from afar. Do they have the same methods to counter strange entities as that big shot?"

Before long, the large ship approached.

And at this time...

A notification suddenly flashed before the players' eyes:

"Ding! Congratulations to the player for successfully activating the side quest, 'Serve the Imperial Court'."

"The task consists of three parts: First, submit 20 Revival Stone."

"Second, hand over 50 precious jade talismans."

"Third, eliminate a hidden danger that poses a huge threat to the imperial court."

"Quest Reward: Unlocks Imperial Court Reputation; once reputation reaches Friendly, you can join the Imperial Court."

Upon hearing this, everyone was overjoyed, but then they were also shocked.

"What kind of ridiculous task is this? It's way too difficult!"

"Yes, 20 Revival Stone. Does he know how much that costs?"

"Too greedy!"

"That's outrageous, damn it!"

"But this is the imperial court's power; being able to join the imperial court..."

The players were immediately caught in a dilemma.

In fact, if they had simply engaged more with the imperial court and acted with the mindset of local natives, they could have bought a minor official position in the Imperial Study for a maximum of 50 taels of silver with a little help from someone else.

Of course, this isn't officially registered; it gives you the opportunity to make money, but you won't have an official position.

To get on the official register of the imperial court, you'd have to spend another 500 taels of silver and find a powerful backer.

One link leads to another.

The entire imperial court was established using this method.

In short, this was the imperial court's method: if there weren't enough radish pits to sell, they would sell the ones around the radish pits.

"Hahaha, this set of illusions developed by the Imperial Preceptor is indeed effective. Those fools are indeed tempted." The high-ranking official on the ship was laughing triumphantly.

That's right, what the players just saw was all an illusion they had carefully designed.

These people can also be considered elites of the Sky Wolf Dynasty.

They're not stupid.

Among them are some very talented individuals, but due to the limitations of the overall environment, they do lack some natural pioneering spirit.

However, they are very adept at using cunning tricks and manipulating people's hearts.

The suppression from top to bottom has inherent drawbacks in these natural sciences.

Now they're using these human schemes on the players, and it's working well.

They had actually discovered long ago that there was a person, or rather a mysterious organization, controlling the players.

They used illusion magic to simulate this organization.

It's essentially the "system concept" in the player's mind.

This is not an isolated incident.

Unbeknownst to players, aside from some core functions, the auxiliary functions of the entire Skyfall Game, such as the shop function, are also implemented through "illusion magic".

It's hard to say whether the two sides are using the same illusion technique.

They have so many similarities, so who copied whom?

In short, it's a matter of "you in me, and me in you."

At this moment, after hearing the "system" notification, the players thought for a moment and finally made a decision.

This task is clearly beyond my ability to complete.

However, they can sell them for money.

Intelligence is very valuable.

So they quickly rowed their small boat and headed towards the interior of Wolf Snake Island.

Before long, they arrived at East Wolf Village.

After showing their access tokens, they entered the village and arrived at the external relations office of the Four Village Trading Company.

They quickly found an officer and then reported to him:

"We have a major lead, a lead that sparks an important mission."

"We can sell you the quest clue."

Upon hearing this, the officer immediately became very interested.

He knew these players; they couldn't possibly be lying.

After all, one verification is all it takes.

And since they are Rogue Players, protected by the village, they wouldn't joke about something like this.

"If it really is an important lead, then we can sign a purchase contract."

"But you need to describe the specific tasks, the rewards, and the task process, providing only basic details so we can make a judgment."

"That's fine."

Several players had great faith in the Four Village Trading Company.

The other party wouldn't lie to me about this.

They quickly recounted their findings.

Of course, the main thing is to be able to join the imperial court; they won't go into the specifics or any further details.

"Join the imperial court?"

"Okay. We'll buy this quest clue. How much do you want?"

Several players exclaimed excitedly, "This news is worth at least 20 kilograms of gold, isn't it?"

"That's too expensive. I can only give you 50 taels at most."

"Fine, we don't want the gold. Just give us a chance to work for your trading company."

"That's fine, it's just a matter of assigning a few people." The officer immediately assigned them positions.

The four players then stayed, completely satisfied.

What they valued wasn't the things themselves, but the shelter they received.

With this identity, they no longer need to worry about offline companies and families; the other party won't dare to cheat them.

As for joining the imperial court, that's a joke.

They're not stupid.

They don't have that capability.

If they had 20 Revival Stone, they would have retired long ago; why would they still be fighting to the death in the game?

A Revival Stone has already been sold for an astronomical price.

We now need over 100 kilograms of gold.

This is because there are now many more ways to exchange Revival Stone within events.

You can redeem it with points; otherwise, it will be even more expensive.

For example, the points earned in this event can also be used to redeem Revival Stone.

However, because this event was quite difficult overall, the price for exchanging Revival Stone has been reduced again this time.

It's safe to say that the game is clearly designed to preserve the strongest accounts as much as possible.

As for those weak accounts that can't afford to exchange for Revival Stone, they are obviously those with poor development.

Then eliminate them quickly and hand over the game qualification to someone else.

You could say you're bad at the game because of bad luck, or because you're just confused and don't have a proper strategy for developing your character.

Therefore, this number is not strong enough.

If it's not high enough, then it won't make it onto the list.

The simplest examples are activities like the Grand Voyage.

For example, to resist a monster siege, your character needs to be very strong.

The same applies to the Grand Voyage.

The Game Character needs to be very strong in some aspect.

After purchasing the mission information, the Four Village Trading Company immediately sent someone to verify it.

Of course, the corresponding contract performance will also proceed after verification.

They wouldn't be so foolish as to pay in advance only to have the seller run away.

Soon, the group went to the eastern beach as the players had instructed.

Sure enough, they saw a large ship anchored on the shore.

The people on the ship did not rush ashore in large numbers.

Clearly, that high-ranking official was quite shrewd.

He knew how skilled these players were, and he knew they weren't ordinary people.

It's fair to say that these players, if they say they're going to rebel, really will.

They wouldn't really care about his status as a member of the imperial court.

These players are not people that can be easily manipulated by ordinary people.

Because these players have a way out.

Unlike the villagers, who could be exploited to the point of death, the villagers were able to endure hardship as long as they could survive, or at least ensure the survival of their descendants.

But the players, if they make one mistake, will come after him and kill him, so he has to be extremely careful.

So, while he was in the cabin, he quickly ordered his men to build a small dock on the shore for mooring.

Then a mast was erected on the dock.

A large flag was hanging above it.

The banner bore the inscription. "Liu, Special Envoy and Chief Clerk of Hanzhou Prefecture, Tianlang Dynasty."

It turned out he was actually a registrar of a prefecture.

In the TV series, he was just a nameless extra.

In reality, however, he was undoubtedly a high-ranking official.

It's at least equivalent to a certain level of donkey-like equipment.

This Liu Sima is very cautious.

As the chief clerk of a prefecture, Steward Liu actually held a very important position.

This Sky Wolf Dynasty can be described as a true "feudal" era, similar to a dual monarchy.

It is similar to the Han Dynasty that Gao Linzhi once knew.

The emperor was at the top, and the local officials were the various prefects.

The governor himself also established his own government and recruited his own private staff.

Why is this happening?

The main reason is the long distance between the island and Capital Island, making transportation inconvenient.

This necessitates granting local officials considerable authority in order to handle local affairs promptly.

In this environment, there is a natural advantage to separatism.

If the imperial court were to appoint each direct supervisor, the cost would be too high.

To put it simply, out of ten people sent out, seven would die on the way.

We can only wait for the strange phenomenon to subside, which would be too passive.

If any fluctuations occur, it's possible that we won't be able to send anyone out for over a decade.

Should the area still be treated?

Therefore, the imperial court would inevitably send a prefect to guard the area, and the prefect would bring a small amount of core military force supported by the imperial court, and recruit manpower from local powerful clans.

This is the same as in the Han Dynasty.

People like the chief clerk and the military advisor were recruited from local powerful families in exchange for their support and cooperation.

This is all similar to the Three Kingdoms period.

These people naturally pledged loyalty to the prefect who bestowed benefits and official positions upon them.

Instead of pledging allegiance to a distant emperor.

Because they rarely saw the emperor; they only saw the prefect.

This is what is known as a dual monarchy, where everyone only recognizes the monarch in front of them.

Although there is a monarch above me, the monarch of the monarch is not my monarch.

Or rather, the minister's minister is not my minister.

As a trusted advisor to the prefect, he was on the ship, waiting for things to escalate.

Sure enough, a group of players arrived just half a day later.

This registrar has already noticed that the nearby roads have all been repaired.

Moreover, they are all paved with the finest bluestone.

It can be described as extremely extravagant.

It has clearly been renovated; it's very smooth and walks very quickly.

This would be very convenient for pulling horse-drawn carriages.

He didn't know that, as everyone knows, paving roads with stone slabs is definitely not as good as asphalt.

Asphalt is a better paving material.

It's simply because asphalt isn't produced here.

Asphalt is quite tough and can withstand rolling.

Moreover, those stone slabs are too hard and can easily be crushed by heavy objects.

It is not like asphalt.

Asphalt is actually a liquid.

It appears to be a solid, but it is actually a liquid; it just takes a very, very long time for it to flow.

And so, the two sides began their first informal contact.

A clerk from the trading company walked up to the temporary dock and immediately heard a system notification.

"Ding! Congratulations, player, you have successfully encountered a third-party force: the Imperial Court."

"Now issuing reputation-related quests for the imperial court."

"Once you reach the required reputation level, you will be able to obtain Sirius Treasury Note from the imperial court, which can be used to exchange for Rare Tier items."

Upon seeing this, the clerk was speechless.

What reputation quests and Treasury Note? Aren't they just freeloading players' labor?

He works in a trading company; doesn't he understand these things?

The so-called "Treasury Note" is essentially using the credit of economic entities to borrow labor and materials from others, which are then gradually repaid over a long period of time.

The imperial court has truly mastered this so-called prestige system.

It's like the imperial court using its own reputation to print tons of scrap paper, and then exchanging that for the players' labor and treasures.

Not long after, he sent someone to probe the specifics of the mission.

He noticed a new notification: You have triggered a certain task.

These tasks are all for building a temporary dock and a temporary base.

It's like getting free labor from players to help the imperial court build an invasion base on this island.

He immediately realized the gravity of the matter and quickly reported it to the trading company.

The news quickly reached Gao Linzhi.

He has always attached great importance to this matter.

So he went there incognito to investigate.

Sure enough, the same prompt appeared in his ear.

However, Gao Linzhi's mental strength is high enough.

It has now reached 587 points.

He could tell at a glance that it was an illusion.

He immediately understood; wasn't this the same method used in the Sacrifice Event earlier in the game?

It's just that other players can't see through it, but he can.