The Jade Seal of Founding and the Strange Appearance of a Time Loop
After arriving at Wolf Snake Island, Kongkong quickly made contact with some people in East Wolf Village, following the information given by the mastermind.
Inside a cellar in a villager's courtyard.
After setting up a concealment formation, the group began their discussion.
A high-level solo player named "Gou in Skyfall" excitedly said, "We've already built up momentum in the event channel."
"The Game System has been updated, and the Safe Zone in East Wolf Village has been expanded."
"Now that Boss Kongkong has arrived, it can be said that everything is in place—the right time, the right place, and the right people."
"Yes, with Kongkong Kong Kong here, everything will be alright." The others agreed.
For everyone, it was perfectly normal to elect Kongkong, a former member of the family.
Don't be fooled by the bunch of people mocking Empty 2086 in the event channel.
But when it comes down to the actual implementation, when it comes to selecting leaders, getting down to business, and taking things seriously instead of just talking, people will subconsciously choose well-known and influential figures like Empty 2086.
Naturally, they wanted to choose a Powerful figure like Gao Linzhi, who was also more influential and had a better reputation among the laymen.
Unfortunately, the other party was too lazy to get involved in these troubles, so they had no choice but to settle for second best.
Just like many popular uprisings in history, when it comes to electing a leader, they will often elect someone with local prestige, even if that person is actually the one who oppressed them.
This is the benefit that fame, power, and influence bring.
And so, Empty 2086 was quickly chosen as the first king.
The dynasty was called "Great Yu Kingdom".
"We hope that Boss Kongkong can lead us to fight against the imperial court, the company, and the powerful families, and carve out a new future for us ordinary people!"
Empty 2086 said with a serious expression, "Since you all think so highly of me, I can only reluctantly do my best to seek the legitimate rights for our independent group."
"I hope everyone can work together to make the pie bigger and reclaim the resources that rightfully belong to us."
"We can no longer allow powerful families and corporations to hunt us down and steal our talents and our right to play!"
"Well said!" Everyone cheered.
They quickly announced the news on the event channel.
Meanwhile, they then paid to rent a villager's courtyard in East Wolf Village for a long period of time, using it as their mobile court.
They have people, fame, and money.
With the covert support of many people, this independent court was established very quickly.
"Hello everyone, from today onwards, our own organization for casual players, the Great Yu Kingdom, is officially established!" "Gou in Skyfall" announced in the event channel.
"Great! I support it!"
"I don't know what the architecture is?"
"The structure consists of one king, four dukes, eight ministers, and twelve generals."
"The territory now includes 35 new Safe Zone: districts 3078, 3069, 3054, 768, 752, and so on."
"The imperial court's offices will be located in the 3081 East Wolf Village Safe Zone."
"But where will your court get its funds, food, and energy? Aren't you afraid of being blocked by major offline companies?"
"The funds, food, and energy will indeed come from offline sources. Offline, we will establish companies to expel the oddballs, thereby achieving a strategic balance with those large companies," Gou in Skyfall explained.
"We will use online resources to expel the aliens in exchange for offline supplies."
"Isn't this too reliant on offline methods?"
"Yes, do you have any fixed asset income offline?"
"Not for now, but after operating for a period of time, we will purchase some offline assets, including farmland, oil fields, battery factories, fertilizer plants, garment factories, and other essential material production systems," Gou in Skyfall continued to explain.
In fact, they are backed by five major companies. Although they are called Sanren Dynasty, they are actually controlled by a powerful family.
Therefore, they cannot lack offline resources.
Of course, on the surface, they still need to complete these transactions through commercial trade.
Even the wealthiest of the five major companies would not directly allocate supplies.
Because if a dynasty cannot generate its own revenue, no one can support it.
"Where does your ability to generate revenue come from?" someone asked the crucial question again. "You can't expect us casual players to pay taxes directly, can you?"
"Yes, it's already tough enough for independent individuals. It's fine for them to band together for mutual support, but they shouldn't have to pay taxes on top of that."
"Gou in Skyfall" quickly replied, "This dynasty will never increase taxes. We generate revenue for the imperial court by organizing players to fight bosses, collect materials, hone their skills, and craft high-level jade talismans, healing potions, and other mysterious items, which we then sell offline."
"Our revenue-generating capabilities are reflected in providing protection for Rogue Players, offering strategy guides, and providing comprehensive services..."
The group of people listened with great interest.
Gao Linzhi, seeing this, nodded in agreement.
These people, after all, have studied modern economics and understand normal economic theories.
They understand how to run an organization.
Besides, there must be other people supporting him behind the scenes.
"We must prove that we are better than those companies." King Kongkong got busy as soon as he took office.
"The first thing is to provide excellent service to new players."
"According to statistics, hundreds of new player qualifications are added every day."
"We want to help new casual players level up directly."
"For casual players, monsters below level 5 can be directly leveled up to level 5."
"Now, each level grants one Free Attribute Points. With these five Free Attribute Points, newbies can do a lot offline. As long as safety is ensured, even just carrying large bags can make them rich overnight."
"That's right. In that case, our imperial court is much better than those companies and families, and it will definitely attract a large number of independent people to join us."
Level 5 benefits are already quite substantial.
You need 500 experience points and to defeat 100 to 200 small monsters.
This requires someone to guide you until the nest produces eggs.
There are high requirements for the number of island nests.
And so, with the announcement of the welfare measures, one newcomer after another chose the Safe Zone of the Great Yu Kingdom as their birthplace.
They first went to the corresponding city, and then launched the game using Game Poster.
With the invasion of the supernatural and the release of the Skyfall Game, the newcomers today are no longer the same as those of Gao Linzhi back then.
They learned a lot from the internet, including which islands to spawn on and which cities to log in to after receiving the Game Poster.
Soon, a large number of new players joined the territory of the Great Yu Dynasty.
And at this time...
The time has truly come.
The Game System has been updated again.
"After updating the game to include the alliance gameplay, a nation-building gameplay mode has been added."
"A nation needs Jade Seal of Founding."
"The Jade Seal of Founding requires you to reach VIP level 12 to purchase, and one can be purchased every six months."
"After the nation is established, every citizen will receive a buff."
"There will be free gold rewards, combat power boosting buffs, and skill upgrades every day."
Gao Linzhi looked at it and realized, "Isn't this what was prepared for me?"
We're about to reap another huge profit.
He immediately opened the game's in-game store.
Sure enough, I saw a unique item that was flashing red.
"The Jade Seal of Founding"
"Function: Nation-building."
"Additional effect: Gather the will of the masses to resist all evil."
"The more Chinese people there are, the higher the satisfaction level and the higher the resistance to the supernatural."
"Power level: Initial, capacity 50,000 people."
"Intermediate level, capacity 100,000 people."
"High-end, capacity for 200,000 people."
"Expert Level, 400,000 people, and so on."
It's always *2.
Although the population may seem small, a kingdom with hundreds of thousands of players is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of extraordinary beings, making it powerful enough.
Seeing this Gao Linzhi want to establish a country.
Moreover, only he could purchase this Jade Seal of Founding; he wouldn't easily give it up to someone else.
The countries built by others are only in name.
The country he built, however, had systematic support.
At this very moment.
The Fourth Prince.
By this time, they had already heard that the players' faction had been established.
"Haha, that's great!"
"These players will be completely divided from now on!" The Fourth Prince was overjoyed upon hearing this.
"Yes, congratulations, Your Highness! In this way, the players will be scattered and fight among themselves, thus losing their real threat to the court," Player 1 quickly congratulated.
They have seen history.
Historically, there was once a "Heavenly Kingdom" that initially flourished, defeating the imperial court time and again, and eventually occupying the important tax-paying areas of the court, including the Jiangnan region.
As a result, due to the dual leadership structure, conflicts arose between them.
Internal strife led to the loss of elite troops, ultimately causing the previously favorable situation to collapse completely.
The Fourth Prince was clearly aware of this as well.
He understood that a major rift would soon emerge between the players.
At this point, Player One suggested, "Your Highness, the imperial court should suspend its attacks on the players now."
"In this way, once the external threat eases, the players will find themselves attacking each other."
"It's like in our Three Kingdoms period. After Yuan Shao died, Cao Cao deliberately didn't attack immediately. Instead, he waited for his three sons to fight amongst themselves, and finally spent several years pacifying the vast northern lands."
"If they don't face external pressure, they will resort to infighting and fighting for internal interests."
The Fourth Prince nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, he realized something.
"No wonder Father Emperor ignored the players; did they foresee this day all along?"
The three players nodded in unison, saying, "Perhaps."
However, while they were talking, they subconsciously forgot one thing.
That is, the seemingly divided players actually have a unified leader: the Game System.
Yes, they forgot about the existence of the Game System.
Because in their eyes, the Game System is still seen as an inanimate object, a tool to assist players.
They didn't realize that the Game System itself had its own objectives.
It may lack self-awareness and high intelligence, but it does have a goal.
Like an AI that plays Go, although it doesn't understand human relationships, it has its own solutions in the field of Go.
After the game was updated, everyone immediately realized they needed to buy the Jade Seal of Founding.
But naturally, they had nowhere to buy it.
"Damn it, there's nowhere to spend money to upgrade to VIP status!"
"Can a Canxue player buy this?"
"He just has Pay-to-Win Talent, which requires VIP level 12, but we can't even see VIP level."
"Yes."
Soon, someone came to inquire about Gao Linzhi.
Gao Linzhi said calmly, "Of course I can buy it, but the price is very high."
"We need a thousand tons of gold."
In fact, it only takes one million Skyfall Stone, which is 100,000 gold, 100,000 grams, or 100 kilograms.
But in his words, of course, more details would be added.
Otherwise, how could it justify the scarcity of only one available every 180 days?
"A thousand tons? That's way too expensive!"
"Hehe, that's how the game is set up."
Anyway, no one will be able to see it.
Gao Linzhi naturally didn't care.
"Could you make it cheaper?" the man pleaded.
"Cheap? Do you expect me to subsidize it?" Gao Linzhi didn't want 10,000 tons because he considered that someone could offer 1,000 tons, but he really couldn't afford 10,000 tons.
If the five companies joined forces, they could produce a thousand tons.
"Alright then, let's pool our money."
Just as these people were collecting gold, a main quest appeared.
"System Announcement: Ding! A player has discovered a strange and unusual object in 3462 Zone."
"This anomaly possesses a unique ability: time looping."
"Breaking this strange ability will reward you with a Jade Seal of Founding."
Good heavens, Gao Linzhi was speechless.
This must be the work of the telecom operator.
I don't want to earn gold for nothing.
However, it's clear they can't just give away such expensive game items to players for free.
Breaking a time loop is obviously very difficult.
"A territory for our forces will also be given to us as a gift."
"A Safe Zone can be designated, with an area of up to 50 square kilometers."
50 square kilometers—that's already a City-State.
Moreover, with modern technology, it is possible to achieve food self-sufficiency for millions of people.
50 square kilometers is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of acres of land.
In physical locations, this land area is less than that of a large city.
However, it is now incredibly precious.
Because this is Safe Zone.
In this strange era, the word "safety" is priceless.
It can't be bought with any amount of money.
The event channel immediately erupted in discussion.
"Haha, another strange thing has appeared! Everyone, hurry up and go!"
"Since I get three revival chances every day, I might as well use them!"
"That's right."
In no time, almost everyone accepted the task.
Except for a very few individuals with paranoia, they dared not accept them.
Everyone, including Gao Linzhi, accepted the mission.
Gao Linzhi followed the game's instructions to the mission location.
3462 Zone is an island shaped like Pearl Chain.
A whole string of islands, all sorts of different kinds.
The total area is only about 100 square kilometers.
This time cycle, in a sense, is Immortality.
How could Gao Linzhi not come?
However, after searching all the islands, the group found nothing strange.
"What's so strange about this?"
"I didn't see it!"
"I didn't see it either."
"The game quest location is displayed here; the system definitely won't make a mistake."
Everyone started talking.
And at this time...
A Company Executive Players decided to send out a large number of cannon fodder to test the waters.
The game states that it takes place in "3462 Zone," but it doesn't specify that it's only on land.
For safety reasons, none of them have ever gone into the sea.
But as everyone knows, strange things are most abundant in the sea.