The players had chosen to retreat because they believed the White Ape horde was too powerful to fight, and that resisting would be futile.
But when a dying White Ape appeared, they changed their minds.
Jiang Ming's roar in the regional chat channel sent players rushing toward the area where the dying White Ape was.
"Brothers, help me get the White Ape Soul, and I'll send every brother in the Alliance a ten-thousand-yuan cash gift!"
"All members, coordinates 322.458. Target: dying White Ape. Charge!"
"I'm claiming the White Ape Soul. I hope everyone will do me a favor!"
"Who the hell are you? Do your grandpa a favor and get lost! Quit blocking me from making money!"
"I've read the signs, and I'm destined to get the White Ape Soul..."
The crowd surged toward the area where the dying White Ape lay.
The invaders, who had been utterly routed, suddenly became united. The White Ape King couldn't make sense of it.
It charged forward, following the players for a while, until it spotted its dying kinsman, protected by three members of the tribe.
The enraged White Ape King immediately threw back its head and roared.
In an instant, a large number of its kinsmen answered the call and turned toward them.
Realizing that the invaders were going after its dying kinsman, the White Ape King leaped in front of the wounded ape in a fury. With a sweep of its hand, it smacked a great many players and their subordinate units to death, whereupon they dissolved into mist.
But this time, the players seemed to have forgotten their fear. They kept rushing forward, throwing themselves at the ape like madmen.
The dying White Ape could perish at any moment. Whoever landed the final hit would reap an enormous reward.
And death only meant a three-hour cooldown.
For the players, the choice was a no-brainer.
"Stop shoving! Let me touch it once—just once!"
"Brothers, don't lose your heads! We need to stick together. I'll go touch it first while you draw its fire!"
"Respecting the old and caring for the young is one of our nation's finest traditions. I'm seventy years old, so I'll go first!"
"Ladies first. I'm a woman!"
"I'm pregnant! Can you let me go first?"
"I'm blind in real life. Have pity on me and let me through!"
"Enough already! I'm a law enforcement officer who keeps the peace in real life. By your logic, shouldn't everyone listen to me now?"
Breaking through the White Ape King's defenses would be extremely difficult.
But there were so many players, swarming in from every direction. There were bound to be gaps in its attacks for them to exploit.
Yet the players who touched the dying White Ape and claimed the death reward would all die shortly afterward.
Some were killed by the White Apes, but others even died at the hands of their own side.
The voice channel was an even greater mess.
"The Heaven-Equal Alliance got to the dying White Ape! I'd rather feed it to a dog than let them have it. Kill the guy in white!"
"The Short Blade Alliance got to the White Ape! Grab your shovels, brothers! Beat up that punk with the eccentric hairstyle!"
"Our Alliance has to be the one to get the White Ape. Kill anyone who touches it!"
Many players had barely touched the dying White Ape and begun to celebrate before other players beat them to death on the spot with hoes.
They had agreed to put their grudges aside for the time being and unite against an outside threat today.
But by now, the Alliances had long forgotten their promises before the battle. None of them wanted a rival faction to get the White Ape Soul.
The White Ape King was dumbfounded by the scene.
As it fought, it suddenly realized that the invaders were killing one another—and doing so with extreme cruelty, as if they had a blood feud with its tribe.
What confused the White Ape King even more was that whenever an invader touched its wounded kinsman, the player's face lit up with joy. Some even burst out laughing.
Over the past few days, the White Ape King had always thought that although these outsiders were foolish, they still had some intelligence.
But now, it reconsidered its earlier opinion.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo!" The calls of its kinsmen drew the White Ape King's attention.
It turned around and saw one of its kinsmen calling to it. The ape pointed at the outsiders fighting among themselves, then pointed at its own head. (Translation: These outsiders seem to have something wrong with their heads!)
Seeing this, the White Ape King nodded, then gave a thumbs-up to show that its kinsman was right and that it agreed.
The melee lasted two hours.
One second before the dying White Ape breathed its last, a lucky unaffiliated player managed to touch it.
Along with the White Ape Soul, he received a reward of 720 Soul Power.
A large number of players immediately made offers in the regional voice channel, hoping to buy the White Ape Soul and Soul Power points from him.
But the unaffiliated player was clearly not short on money. He turned them down without hesitation, then walked toward the White Ape King's iron fist with a beaming smile, to the envy of the other players.
With the dying White Ape gone, there was no point in continuing the fight.
The players recalled all their units that were still alive and scattered in every direction.
After leading its kinsmen in a pursuit, the White Ape King clearly had no desire to keep fighting either. It let out an angry roar, then led its tribe south.
The first encounter with the native forces ended in a one-sided defeat for the players.
The imagined scene of them beating the native forces to a pulp never came to pass. This battle made the players see the gap between themselves and the natives clearly.
Afterward, players flooded the discussion board with their takes on the battle.
Some skilled players even reviewed the fight, using their own perspectives to explain in detail the shortcomings their side had shown during the battle.
While players debated the battle, Tang Yu, who had been behind the scenes, made a decision.
The battle had shown him how disorganized the players were.
In combat, they were like loose sand, without any coordination or cohesion.
After thinking it over carefully, Tang Yu felt that the underlying cause might be that the players lacked a shared factional background.
That was something he hadn't considered when creating the game.
Only now did he realize how important faction backgrounds were.
In other games, every new character had their own background. It might seem useless, but once players learned more about the game, they felt a sense of belonging to their faction.
For example, the Horde and the Alliance in Warcraft had successfully drawn players into their world. Even players unfamiliar with the game knew the slogans "For the Horde!" and "For the Alliance!"
The same went for Hongmoon in Blade & Soul and the Eight Wildernesses disciples in Moonlight Blade, among others...
These faction backgrounds gave players a common sense of belonging even as they competed with one another. The more they learned about the game, the stronger that feeling became.
After figuring out the cause, Tang Yu decided to create a factional background for the players as well.
At the same time, to deepen their sense of belonging, he decided to build a main city for the players on Dragon Scale Island in the future.
That way, the players would have a home in the Boundless Realm too.
However, his stock of Divine Power had run out, so Tang Yu decided to wait a few days before carrying out his plan to build the players' main city.
Before you continue