In Yggdrasil, World Items were the most valuable things of all.
Among those World Items, two interested Roy the most.
One was the World Tree Seed.
The other was the World Tree Sapling.
The World Tree Seed could change anyone's race. Even the undead could use it to change races.
That meant the World Tree Seed held the secrets of every race.
Its standing had to be extraordinarily high.
Next came the World Tree Sapling.
According to the game's lore, the entire World Tree was steadily withering until it finally died.
Even if players stopped the final boss, the Nine Luminaries World Devourer, they could not change that outcome.
With every death came a new life.
One important reason Roy had decided to start playing during the final seven days was that the World Tree Sapling could only be obtained in those last seven days.
New life could only emerge at the moment the World Tree died.
With a requirement that absurd, how many players could possibly uncover it?
And in theory, growing the World Tree Sapling required watering it with the Well of Wisdom.
That was the real reason the Well of Wisdom was the reward for the final chapter of the Norse mythology quest line.
It did not seem particularly powerful, yet it was genuinely one of the top twenty items.
But triggering this quest required several different classes.
Immortal, Sorcerer, Talismanist, Miko, Onmyoji, Monk, and Taoist.
All seven classes had to be present in the party to trigger the quest.
Any ordinary player who saw that class list would immediately realize the quest was in the East.
That was because the quest to obtain the World Tree Sapling required contact with an important NPC.
That NPC was Qin Shi Huang.
Qin Shi Huang would only grant audiences to powerful characters with Eastern classes, not anyone with other classes.
If you chose [Mental Magic Caster] and tried to advance to Immortal, you needed the class-change item [Elixir].
At that point, you had two choices: complete a quest for Qin Shi Huang or buy an Elixir from another player.
In the game's early days, players all chose Qin Shi Huang.
Qin Shi Huang would then give you a quest.
"Xu Fu betrayed me, taking young boys and girls to Fusang and never returning."
"Go to Fusang on my behalf and retrieve the Elixir that rightfully belongs to me!"
Normally, players could then take a ship to Fusang to find Xu Fu.
On the way to Fusang, you would be shipwrecked and rescued by villagers, only to discover that bandits were threatening them...
In short, players had to endure something akin to eighty-one trials before they could find Xu Fu.
But Xu Fu would not give you the time of day. He sent warriors at you instead.
If you defeated the warriors, Xu Fu would become more polite and offer you two choices.
He could either teach you to concoct Elixirs so you could make one yourself, or simply give you one.
Whether you reported back to Qin Shi Huang was up to you.
Once players obtained an Elixir, they could take it themselves and successfully change their class to Immortal.
But then they could no longer enter Great Qin without becoming wanted criminals.
So some players chose the second option and handed the Elixir to Qin Shi Huang, who would tell them:
"This is the Elixir Xu Fu concocted?"
"What a useless thing. It cannot grant true immortality, merely a semblance of longevity."
"I have no need for such a thing."
"Very well. In recognition of your efforts, I shall reward you with some gold."
All the players got was some gold coins, which were bloody useless, and they still had to concoct another Elixir.
Later, players thought it over and concluded that this tedious quest did fuck all except clutter their class builds with the crafting class [Alchemist].
Whether they handed over the Elixir or swallowed it, the rewards were poor.
They might as well buy one outright.
So by the late game, no one came to Qin Shi Huang anymore. There were plenty of surplus Elixirs on the market anyway.
After all, Immortal was an unpopular class.
What they did not know was that Qin Shi Huang also had a hidden ultimate quest.
When the world had only seven days left to live, assembling those seven classes and visiting Qin Shi Huang would reveal a change in his expression.
"Players from another world, you must know that this world is about to be destroyed."
"In less than seven days, the World Tree will wither."
"When that happens, every living being will perish, except for you."
Those words from Qin Shi Huang were enough to stun everyone present.
He was the only NPC who knew the truth about the end of the world.
Even if the dialogue had been written by the game designers, it was still deeply moving.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"That is why we have come to ask Your Majesty about the true path to immortality."
At that point, Qin Shi Huang would notice the party's Taoist and say wistfully:
"Young Taoist, I still remember you."
"You once sought out Xu Fu on my behalf and brought back an Elixir."
"But that Elixir could not grant true immortality."
"Do you understand now?"
"We understand. Please instruct us, Your Majesty."
"Very well. There are seven of you here, corresponding to the mystical number seven. Perhaps there is still a chance."
"After all, Xu Fu has spent so many years concocting Elixirs. Surely he has produced a true Elixir by now, one that can let him escape the end of the world."
Qin Shi Huang would look at the seven-person party and hand them an Imperial Edict.
"Take this Imperial Edict and seek out Xu Fu again. Force him to reveal his true form."
"Once I seize the true Elixir, I will take you with me to escape the end of the world."
Incidentally, why did this quest require a Taoist when Immortal was clearly its advanced class?
Because the quest had another utterly ridiculous requirement: it needed a Taoist who had previously chosen to hand over the Elixir.
That Taoist also had to remain without the Immortal class and bring an Immortal along to trigger the quest.
The designer was definitely sick in the head.
A player would need a downright bizarre mind to think of that.
Roy genuinely felt it was understandable that players had not discovered every World Item.
What an incredible coincidence it would take to stumble onto a quest like this.
But Matsuno Hideaki had smiled and said:
"Only an encounter brought about by fate can create the perfect experience."
"If no one encounters it, then let them miss it."
"It is a World Item quest, after all."
Now that Roy had assembled the party, he had specifically chosen a Taoist to accept the quest. This Taoist had completed the quest to hand over the Elixir a long time ago.
With this Imperial Edict, Roy could represent Great Qin on an expedition to Fusang to subjugate Xu Fu.
They then entered the Fusang Instance, where Xu Fu had already become the king of Fusang.
He would lead a host of classes unique to Fusang while using special restrictive Senjutsu.
Apart from the six classes listed above, all other damage was reduced to zero.
Yes, inside the Fusang labyrinth, whether you were a Valkyrie or an Undead King, all your damage was zero.
This was where mechanics-based enemies became truly disgusting.
Xu Fu used his own advantages to reduce enemy damage to zero.
If your seven-person party brought along other teammates, they would be utterly fucking useless. You could just wait for a wipe.
Knowing the rules inside out, Roy naturally would not fall for that. He brought no fewer than ninety-nine NPCs for a righteous gang beating.
The thing about mechanics-based enemies was that once their mechanics were exposed, they actually became easy to beat.
Once the Fusang labyrinth had been smashed apart, Xu Fu would appear.
"Stop serving the First Emperor. I can give you more Elixirs."
"Different Elixirs have different effects."
"You will understand the true power of Senjutsu and Elixirs."
"Do not persist in your folly."
Under these circumstances, how could Roy and the others possibly agree?
Keep attacking!
Then, after his first health bar was depleted, Xu Fu would begin to transform.
Senjutsu: Spell-Prohibition Barrier!
Xu Fu selected his targets, and the seven classes that had dealt the most damage earlier immediately had their damage reduced to zero.
Yes, to clear the Fusang labyrinth at the start, you had to choose those seven classes.
Then, during the final battle, Xu Fu would reverse his Senjutsu and reduce the damage of those seven classes to zero.
Xu Fu's Senjutsu made him a purely mechanics-based enemy, strikingly similar in principle to the traps Roy had designed for World City.
Unfortunately for him, this game's quests were designed around ordinary guild players.
Roy had known Xu Fu's mechanics from the start, and the NPCs he brought had all sorts of classes.
He had simply let the Immortals, Miko, Monks, and the others clear the earlier battles.
Now that you've changed the mechanics, it's our turn.
Before you continue