Nine Provinces

Biodata

Background / History

Following the world’s gamification, Nine Provinces was isolated from other regions physically and informationally; players could browse foreign regional forums but could not post or reply there. 129

Its dungeon ecosystem was initially unusually dependent on Lu Xiu. During the Vanguard Passage event, the system’s constructor-influence rankings showed Lu Xiu as Nine Provinces’ highest-influence Constructor, while Prison Rock displayed a more evenly layered constructor ecosystem. 118

Lu Xiu’s dungeons became a catalyst for local builders and players. Nine Provinces Constructors began adapting and combining ideas after studying a Prison Rock dungeon framework, while players developed a culture of discussing mechanics, combat systems, and dungeon design rather than merely copying existing instances. 136 137 This growth contributed to the system declaring a qualitative leap in Nine Provinces’ folk-dungeon ecosystem and closing system dungeons thirty days early. 159

Earlier History

Nine Provinces has a strong historical martial tradition. Its territory is approximately three times the size of Lu Xiu’s former homeland, with one-third acquired through conquest. 321

According to Rosalind’s account, Nine Provinces nearly collapsed during internal strife three centuries earlier, at one point retaining only a single foothold from which to recover. A century before the present, the Long Tiger Clan and Gray Wolf Clan provoked it and suffered consequences that shook the foundations of their rule. 322

Post-Gamification Reconstruction

The effort to contain monsters at the front lines created a two-year power vacuum within Nine Provinces. Major guilds expanded by recruiting High Sequence players, while fraudulent Construction Clubs gathered Architects. When order was rebuilt, these organizations remained entrenched and came into conflict with the government. 303 324

Early frontline recruitment was conducted without adequate screening, producing a mixed force. Yan Fushou later regarded both his own decisions and the Coordination Bureau’s handling of Jian Ning—particularly after the loss of her Chosen skill—as contributing factors in her estrangement. 219

Nine Provinces was the only region in its world to win the Iron and Blood arena. Its regional rating reached Level I, while defeats and Forced Plunder elsewhere caused the World Comprehensive Rating to fall from V to VII. Local celebrations consequently gave way to concern that Nine Provinces had become the world’s sole stronghold and a conspicuous target in possible future world-level conflicts. 269

Governance and Defense

• Coordination Bureau — The detected governing institution of Nine Provinces. It organizes the Strategy Group, manages intelligence and diplomacy, and represents the region in system-recognized negotiations. 256 257
• Strategy Group — A core-player force used for dungeon exploration, cross-region battles, and receiving foreign delegations. 191 267
• Frontline forces — Soldiers and Patrollers defend against real-world monsters, particularly around Jade Capital, a major coastal city and frontline position. 282 292
• Civilian dungeon ecosystem — Public and folk dungeons are treated as strategic infrastructure: they train players, distribute skills and equipment, and can be deployed to support the front lines. 159 187 314
• Foreign Affairs Department — Conducts international negotiations and communication, including distributing warnings and basic intelligence about King-class Monsters to other countries. 327 367 369

Prison Rock’s visiting players were struck by Nine Provinces’ maintained public order, supply abundance, and defensive lines that protected ordinary people from monster incursions. 267

Government and Independent Players

The government’s restored authority did not eliminate independent guild power. Foreign intelligence described major guilds and other unruly civilian groups as persistent sources of unrest, although repeated government suppression had produced good results. Not all elite players belonged to the Strategy Group: many guild leaders and their members operated independently during the Dark Souls group battle. 247 324

During the Profession Contest War’s opening, a hooded stranger approached Li Zhong, claimed that the Coordination Bureau was preparing to suppress the major guilds, and proposed cooperation against the government. The claim formed part of the stranger’s recruitment attempt rather than a confirmed public policy announcement. 334

Lu Xiu’s position is exceptional. Even high-ranking domestic officials ordinarily required multiple levels of approval to meet her. During the reception of Franca and Red Tide’s delegations, officials openly acknowledged the Witch Forest and Bonfire network as her private property rather than state assets. This surprised the visitors, who could not determine whether it reflected her individual power, a political accommodation, or still greater reserves beyond what they had witnessed. 267 322 323

Geography and Transport

• Chen Capital — Nine Provinces’ core city during the Cross-Realm Arena and the destination of the Franca and Red Tide delegations’ Bonfire transport. 182 323
• Jade Capital — A coastal frontline city where Lu Xiu placed the Monster Hunter entrance and manifested Astera as a real-world crafting base. 282 298 303
• Western frontier — Formerly included a Gobi Desert beside the National Border Barrier. The relocated Witch Forest replaced this desert with an immense primeval forest, blocking previously planned foreign crossing routes. 320 322
• Sea City — The location of the King-class Monster crisis and Lu Xiu’s deployment of Dark Souls environments into the monster Assimilation Zone. 369

Gamification disabled modern weapons and rendered precision electronic equipment largely unusable. Aircraft dependent on avionics, radar, and automated systems could no longer operate, while simpler fuel-powered vehicles remained more practical. These limitations made conventional long-distance travel slow and increased the strategic importance of Lu Xiu’s Lordvessel and Bonfires. 291

The Franca and Red Tide delegations experienced this advantage directly when a Bonfire transported their entire party from the Witch Forest to Chen Capital. The National Border Barriers themselves remained an obstacle: the delegations had spent hours squeezing through them before their reception. 322 323

Dungeon Ecosystem

Lu Xiu’s Influence

Lu Xiu’s instances gave Nine Provinces players an extensive pool of practical skills and experience. Players cited repeated clears of Resident Evil, Sekiro, Outlast, and Witch as the source of their ammunition discipline, deflection training, survival instincts, and unconventional combat abilities. 190

During the Iron and Blood arena, these skills made Nine Provinces players exceptionally difficult to defeat: wounded fighters could trigger skills such as Ordinary Person’s Courage and Survival Instinct, while other rewards enabled counterattacks, defense-breaking, or continued resistance after apparent defeat. 224

This influence also extended to player-led instruction. Du Shu of Tingqiao published demonstrations and analysis of elite-enemy and boss techniques from Sifu, and other players later recognized his expertise when fighting alongside him. During the Dark Souls speedrun, the Coordination Bureau compiled walkthroughs while ordinary players openly shared routes, hidden mechanics, and discoveries obtained through repeated deaths. 153 189 211 212

The practical effects were particularly pronounced among mid- and low-tier players, for whom Lu Xiu’s skill and item rewards were major combat advantages rather than supplementary benefits. When Nine Provinces players began attacking Prison Rock’s instances, their experience with Sekiro, Titanfall, and Outlast made many unfamiliar enemies appear slow, predictable, or full of openings. 197

Lu Xiu and Jian Li were described by Chu Huai as the Twin Stars of the Nine Provinces: its genius Architect and strongest Chosen Player. Their coordination remained effective despite their relatively infrequent joint battles. 311

Strategic Civilian Instances

• Arena defense maps — Defenders could draw scenarios from the Nine Provinces civilian-dungeon pool. Familiarity with Sekiro gave local players a major home-field advantage over Prison Rock. 182 184 186
• Dark Souls — Nine Provinces won the first-clear speedrun against Prison Rock, with 36 clears to Prison Rock’s 21; the victory transferred fifty districts of Obsidian City to Nine Provinces. 224
• Monster Hunter — Lu Xiu used Architect pre-placement to establish an offline entrance in Jade Capital. The dungeon supplied monster materials, equipment, and access to Astera’s crafting facilities. 281 282 298
• Left 4 Dead — Designed as a multiplayer survival-shooter dungeon for frontline training. Its entrance was placed at the border and initially restricted to frontline soldiers, later limited to Nine Provinces players. 310 314
• Witch Forest — An anomalous dungeon area that expanded toward Chen Capital. Lu Xiu arranged for its relocation to a remote border zone, where it became a living forest barrier along the Border Barrier. 319 320
• Bloodborne — A Class Contest Instance based on Yharnam, its beast plague, and Hunters. Its release was opened to qualifying players across Vast Firmament while countries were confronting their respective King-class Monsters. 358 369

Astera’s arrival transformed Jade Capital into a destination for High Sequence players seeking equipment forged from real-world monster materials. Within three days, the defense zones became crowded and competitive as newcomers sought frontline positions. Other Constructors also recognized that Lu Xiu’s Placement Function could manifest much more than a dungeon entrance and considered asking her to teach them. 303

Lu Xiu kept Left 4 Dead closed to foreign players because its rewards were especially powerful in large-scale military operations. She considered the uncertainty of how other countries might use those skills, while Nine Provinces had treated her as one of its own. 314

During the Sea City crisis, the military deployment of an elite squad wearing complete Monster Hunter armor sets demonstrated that Nine Provinces’ dungeon-derived equipment capacity extended beyond weapons. Lu Xiu also projected Dark Souls environments, including a towering Anor Londo, into the Assimilation Zone. 361 369

Profession Development

The profession system linked civilian-instance development directly to regional advancement. Yan Fushou viewed the unfamiliar-opponent bonuses and monster damage associated with the new profession opportunities as benefits to both future arena battles and frontline defense. 326

Chu Huai’s advancement to Hundred-Battle Soldier slightly increased the chance for all Nine Provinces players to obtain that profession’s first advancement certificate from main-stage monsters. After Chu Huai and Li Zhong completed their changes, the system detected three profession holders in the region and initiated the Profession Contest War. 334

Under this event, newly constructed Nine Provinces Versus Instances rated S or higher received reward bonuses. Victorious players could obtain Profession Certificates, while victors who already possessed a profession were guaranteed their own profession’s second advancement certificate. The profession awarded depended on the dungeon’s type and quality and the intensity of the fighting. 334

Despite these gains, Lu Xiu recognized that Nine Provinces remained far behind some otherworldly regions in accumulated progression. Its players were only beginning to acquire first-advancement certificates while players elsewhere had reportedly reached tenth advancements or inscribed their names on advancement certificates. 348

Bloodborne Participation

Nine Provinces players’ experience remained visible in Bloodborne. One player, pursued by a powerful axe-wielding elite, connected the dungeon’s introductory guidance and Quicksilver Bullet drops to the need for a gun parry when conventional movement, blocking, and damage trading failed. 372

During the battle against Rom, Wei Yidong, Cheng Xiu, and other Nine Provinces players continued coordinated attacks despite constant complaints. Their focus, execution, and experience exceeded those of players from other regions, allowing them to identify openings in the boss’s attacks and exploit them while avoiding spiders and falling icicles. 378

Iron and Blood Conflict

Vanguard Passage

The Vanguard Passage opened a cross-boundary hunt between Nine Provinces and Prison Rock. Prison Rock sent twenty top players to Maple Leaf Avenue, prompting Nine Provinces players—including Jian Li, Wei Yidong, and Lu Xiu—to defend the region. 118 120

The event also exposed faction-transfer mechanics. Queenie defected from Prison Rock to Nine Provinces, while Strategy Group member Zhang Chongshan defected in the opposite direction. 126 127

Nine Provinces’ selected vanguard consisted of ten Strategy Group members and ten other players. Prison Rock prioritized Lu Xiu after seeing her overwhelming regional influence: her score was 28,000 compared with the Construction Club’s 400. 118

Queenie’s transfer granted her permanent Nine Provinces player status, a twenty-four-hour shield against damage from her new faction, and a thirty-day prohibition on inflicting substantial damage on its players. Zhang Chongshan’s opposite transfer exposed information about Nine Provinces’ elite skills and civilian instances to Prison Rock. 126

Nine Provinces and Franca were the only victors in this special event. Foreign observers particularly noted that the Coordination Bureau had both protected its own Architect and sent players to kill Prison Rock’s core Architect. 129

City Confrontation War

The Iron and Blood version opened a thirty-day Cross-Realm Arena between Nine Provinces and Prison Rock. Chen Capital became Nine Provinces’ core city, with the system generating combat zones throughout it. Defeated players risked losing skills, equipment, items, and Survival Points, while lost territory could be occupied and plundered. 182

Nine Provinces dominated early arena rankings largely through familiarity with its own dungeon scenarios. Yan Fushou described Lu Xiu’s dungeons as having turned the expected cross-world confrontation into an opportunity for Nine Provinces players to gain Survival Points and skills. 187

Lu Xiu later initiated repeated recapture battles despite being only Sequence 2, defeating high-Sequence Prison Rock guardians and reclaiming nine areas in succession. 191 194 These victories granted Nine Provinces players a cumulative 9% bonus to all attributes and helped sustain a wider counteroffensive. 197

Prison Rock responded by concentrating its strongest Chosen Players on recapture battles. The Coordination Bureau initially committed only a small number of elite defenders while keeping most of its strongest players in regular arena attacks. By the eleventh day, Prison Rock had erased Lu Xiu’s attribute bonus and gained a 5% bonus of its own, but Nine Provinces had occupied more than half of Obsidian City. Both sides then entered a prolonged struggle over territories and the associated attribute bonuses. 198

Dark Souls Group Battle

In the first-echelon group battle, Nine Provinces’ core players fought through Dark Souls maps and lit core bonfires before Prison Rock. 243 Lu Xiu’s Mythic-tier Lord of Cinder domain granted nearby Nine Provinces players defense-ignoring flame attacks, a full-health revival, and immunity to several forms of interference. 248

Prison Rock attempted to turn Darkeater Midir into a mutual-destruction trap, drawing more than three hundred Nine Provinces players into its arena and restraining them with a gravity field. Lu Xiu’s domain dispelled the restraint and enabled the players struck by Midir’s Abyss Laser to rise again, turning the ensuing melee decisively in Nine Provinces’ favor. 247 248

Nine Provinces ultimately won the first-echelon group battle and seized ten additional districts of Obsidian City. Lu Xiu was named its star player. 252

Settlement with Prison Rock

After the arena, Nine Provinces players voted on how to settle the occupied Prison Rock territories. Representative Negotiation Mode won with 67% of the vote, automatically granting the Coordination Bureau negotiating authority. 256 257

The system required the signature of the battle-merit leader for any agreement to take effect; as the number-one player, Lu Xiu held effective veto authority. 256 She declined to use this position for personal benefit and instead proposed that Prison Rock’s Survival Points be redistributed to help all Nine Provinces players meet future dungeon costs. 257

The final agreement required Prison Rock to surrender half of its total Survival Points for equal distribution among Nine Provinces players and guaranteed every Nine Provinces player one randomly selected A-rank skill from Prison Rock’s player skill pools. 269

The system also provided a three-day ceasefire for negotiations and reciprocal visits. Visiting players were protected from hostile-faction damage but likewise prohibited from harming their hosts. Nine Provinces players could request the expulsion of Prison Rock visitors who provoked or threatened them. 256 267

Foreign Relations

• Prison Rock — Enemy faction during the Vanguard Passage and Iron and Blood arena; later entered a truce, exchange period, and compensation negotiations after Nine Provinces’ victory. 118 256 269
• Franca — One of the two regions that won the Hunt and Watch special event alongside Nine Provinces. Cross-region contact became possible through the multiplayer-dungeon update. 128 255 Rosalind subsequently led its delegation to Nine Provinces, and Franca’s king later sent her to serve as Lu Xiu’s guard to protect royal interests. Lu Xiu limited the proposed force of ten thousand warriors to one thousand elites. 322 334
• Red Tide, Franca, and Canaan — These regions planned delegations to Nine Provinces after observing its dungeon rewards, crafting capacity, and frontline strength. 303 319 The Franca and Red Tide delegations, led by Rosalind and Ulysses, reached the western frontier and were received by Zhang Qian before traveling to Chen Capital through a Bonfire. 322 323
• Old Sea — Its players were blacklisted from entering Monster Hunter, leading their leadership to seek information on Lu Xiu through system multiplayer matchmaking instead. 292

Trade and Diplomatic Limits

Astera’s potential for mass-producing powerful equipment accelerated foreign efforts to establish relations. Rosalind considered exchanging military assistance for weapons and anticipated that Nine Provinces might eventually become an arms exporter, but these were foreign expectations rather than agreed arrangements. 303

During the first round of negotiations, Nine Provinces welcomed conventional trade, offered to buy material rewards obtained by foreign players in Monster Hunter, and remained open to discussing other cooperation. It firmly refused access to Astera-produced weapons, however, and avoided committing to Rosalind’s proposed Information Alliance or a deeper alliance. 327

The government’s courteous but inflexible approach reinforced the visitors’ recognition that access to Nine Provinces’ strongest dungeon-derived assets was not assured. Its explicit recognition of Lu Xiu’s private ownership also complicated assumptions that those assets could simply be negotiated for through the state. 323 327

King-Class Monster Crisis

Sea City Threat

Nine Provinces’ King-class Monster took the form of a mountain of flesh incorporating writhing tissue, wrecked steel warships, and whale skeletons. It produced King’s Scions whose physical bodies were assembled from frontline monster corpses and whose intangible bodies consisted of shadows. These entities inflicted wide-area mental contamination. 369

The threat was qualitatively different from those reported in Franca and Red Tide. Franca faced an agile, concealed assassin-type King, while Red Tide faced one that produced powerful physical scions. Lu Xiu judged Nine Provinces’ King the hardest to confront because ordinary soldiers could not even look directly at its scions safely, leaving them unable to fight through conventional self-sacrifice. 369

Dungeon Deployment and International Warning

Lu Xiu led an elite squad equipped with complete Monster Hunter armor sets into Sea City’s Assimilation Zone. Witnesses subsequently observed Dark Souls environments appearing in reality, including a vast ancient royal city, a setting sun, and an eclipse. Anor Londo’s manifestation nearly divided the Assimilation Zone in two. 361 369

Lu Xiu identified her accumulated mental power and ability to deploy the Dark Souls instance as crucial advantages against this particular threat. She considered whether the King’s exceptional difficulty might be related to Nine Provinces’ leading regional rating, but this remained speculation. 369

At Lu Xiu’s request, Yan Fushou arranged for the Foreign Affairs Department to warn other countries. Lu Xiu nevertheless emphasized that they would have to handle their own Kings: the Lordvessel supported only a limited number of Bonfires, she lacked unrestricted teleportation, and her own energy was finite. 367

Major Arcs

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