Sunny Resort

Zuo Cheng'an pointed at the screen and said the last thing Zheng Ren and Li Yueqiu wanted to hear:

"Let's do this instance. It says it's departed six times, but no one's cleared it yet. We'll get a lot out of going."

Both their hearts lurched.

Praying that it wasn't what they feared, they looked up at the screen. It read:

[2-2887 Sunny Resort]

A level-two instance! And its serial number was so new! It didn't even have a record of being cleared!!

That meant this was a truly brand-new instance, not one passed down from the Ladder Tower!

There wasn't even a single correct answer they could use as a reference!!

After an instance successfully cleared once by a player advancing their rank in the Ladder Tower entered the Instance Hall,

its information would display "Clears: 1." If the player hadn't specifically set their information to private, their name would also be recorded there for later players to admire.

That was because those first players to clear it contributed to the instance guide and pioneered the route to clearing it.

While the player was still in the Ladder Tower or at home settling their instance rewards,

the Instance Hall would also automatically announce the successful player's name once to congratulate them.

However, since high-level players could lead teams through low-level instances, this honor carried limited weight.

Generally, players called attempting an instance no one had cleared yet "pioneering."

For instances that hadn't been passed down from the Ladder Tower, anyone who cleared them was bound to receive a decent rating,

because there were hidden bonus points for things like exploring the map and unlocking storylines.

There were reportedly also exceptionally generous "first-clear rewards"!

As for why clearing an instance for the first time in the Ladder Tower didn't grant "first-clear rewards,"

hadn't it changed the level on your Personal Panel? The cap on allocating points had been unlocked.

Didn't that count as a reward?

But later arrivals had a hard time getting high ratings, because earlier players had already explored the maps and uncovered all the hidden storylines,

making it difficult to earn bonus points through those hidden categories.

After all, these weren't beginner welfare instances that went so easy on players they practically handed everything to them.

In Safe Zone 7, apart from a few famous lone wolves, basically only the three major guilds had the strength to pioneer instances.

Dawn Moon and Wavebreaker were even competing with each other to see whose guild could rack up more first clears.

The six attempts at Sunny Resort had all been made by players from the three major guilds.

Over time, the three major guilds had accumulated large quantities of unpublished instance guides, using them to attract a steady stream of new blood.

Of course, they wouldn't keep those guides to themselves forever. Only after their own members had more or less finished farming the instances

would they consider selling the instance guides they held or making them freely available.

That way, ordinary players could obtain instance guides at the lowest possible price.

It was just that, by then, with every inch of the instances already explored, getting a high rating would be extremely difficult.

Naturally, obtaining more freely allocatable points was even less possible.

As for why Zuo Cheng'an had chosen Sunny Resort, it was because there really weren't many other options.

Zuo Cheng'an had already made a long circuit of the Instance Hall.

The level-two instances that appeared either had serial numbers that were too low or required too many people.

After all that searching, Sunny Resort right in front of him was the best fit.

Its serial number was very new, people had attempted it but hadn't cleared it, the first-clear rewards were still available, and it only needed seven people to depart.

Most importantly, there was the promotional slogan on the screen:

[Ten days and nine nights! Luxury accommodations! Bonfire Party! Jungle exploration! Rare and exotic beasts! Explore a lost civilization!!!]

The slogan certainly talked a big game. As for the pictures...

Zuo Cheng'an studied the photographs sliding across the screen, some showing vast stretches of primeval jungle, others showing stone statues bearing strange symbols.

They looked pretty good?

Soon, Li Yueqiu was won over too.

Before being pulled into the game, she had already been heavily influenced by all sorts of promotional accounts and bloggers, giving her a deeply romanticized view of folk-culture tourism.

She hadn't expected that, despite never having had a chance to travel in the real world, she would get to experience it in the game.

So, after a brief struggle, she also agreed to enter this instance.

As for the "2" before the instance name,

ignorance was bliss. Having never attempted a level-two instance, she couldn't imagine how difficult it would be.

With two of their trio in agreement, Zheng Ren had no objections left and followed them into the circle of light.

However, before the three of them and their dog entered, two people were already standing inside.

Judging by their insignias, they seemed to be members of the Wavebreaker Guild.

They couldn't help frowning slightly at the sight of Zuo Cheng'an's group entering. One of them, a man with a small mustache, snapped, "Who said you could come in? Can't you see that our Wavebreaker Guild has already claimed this spot?"

Of the three major guilds, the Dawn Moon Guild was kind to a fault and had made the most instance guides freely available.

Although the Thousand Hunt Guild had the strongest members on average, it was also the strangest.

Who knew whether "social anxiety" was one of its recruitment criteria or what,

but its members were each more withdrawn than the last, and they preferred acting alone.

The Wavebreaker Guild, meanwhile, was the most overbearing.

It had unilaterally laid down quite a few rules.

One of them was that if a Wavebreaker Guild player stood inside an instance's matchmaking circle,

it meant that the Wavebreaker Guild had claimed that instance, and no one else was allowed to enter.

It was completely unreasonable, but the other two guilds simply ignored it and went wherever they pleased, while ordinary players had grown used to it.

There were so many instances anyway. They could just find another one.

Offending the Wavebreaker Guild over a single instance wasn't worth it.

But Zuo Cheng'an and his companions were complete newbies who had only just gotten their bearings in the safe zone.

They had no idea about this rule.

Of course, even if they had known, they would have ignored it.

An instance that suited them was hard to find. If they missed this chance, they might not get another.

Not long after Zuo Cheng'an's group entered the circle of light, several more Wavebreaker Guild players hurried over.

There were five of them, which would originally have filled the remaining slots perfectly, but with Zuo Cheng'an's group of three inside, there clearly weren't enough places left.

So when they arrived and saw that the instance only had two slots remaining, they froze for a moment.

They hadn't expected players outside the three major guilds to dare show the Wavebreaker Guild such disrespect.

Inside the circle, the mustached player who had questioned Zuo Cheng'an's group said impatiently,

"Just pick any two of you to come in. Getting the instance started is what matters. The sooner we go, the sooner we get back. I'm in a hurry to collect my credit."

The five outside the circle exchanged looks.

Pioneering a level-two instance would earn considerable credit.

Of course, they were all ordinary, worldly people and didn't particularly care for intangible honors.

What they valued were the points the guild would award them after they submitted a guide,

and they could even receive a share of the guide's sales!

That was something that could keep them fed for life and provide for their retirement!

After a fierce argument, a man and a woman, one tall and one short, finally entered the circle.

A Servant didn't count as a separate player, so after the two entered the circle, the screen showed that all slots were filled.

Then the seven people and one dog inside the circle vanished instantly.

[Instance: Sunny Resort]

[Serial number: 2-2887]

[Objective: Survive until the instance ends and complete at least three tourist activities]

[Time limit: Ten days and nine nights]

[Background: Sunny Village was an isolated little village on the outskirts of Ladder City. To escape poverty and prosper, the villagers decided to create a distinctive tourist resort!

As tourist activity testers, you have been invited to Sunny Village to be the first to experience its tourist activities!]

[Friendly reminder: You are professional tourist activity testers invited by the village chief. If you cannot offer substantive suggestions for improvement, the village chief may very well get angry.]

[Game start!!]