For a game like " World of Disorder," which is approaching 500,000 players, this is undoubtedly a classic immersive MMORPG.
But for Ed, World of Disorder was more like a real-time strategy (RTS) game.
As the sole player of this hyper-realistic strategy game, Ed felt that this period should be categorized as "garbage time" in another genre of strategy games.
Just like in one game a complete encirclement of troops, another game introduces a key unit, another game breaks through the enemy's defenses, and yet another game launches its first nuclear missile...
In short, although the situation hasn't reached the point where we can directly AFK (away from the keyboard, meaning to leave the game running), all recent plans are progressing steadily and positively.
The Wilderness of Chaos is being "greened" by Willow's research and the players' "exploration," and this unclaimed land is being slowly devoured by the Second Holy See.
The Swarm successfully benefited from the expansion of the green belt. Countless Worker Bee were spreading the seeds of various Aberration plants every moment. The Swarm Will, Kara, was very satisfied with this and wished she could soak Ed entirely in honey.
The Eternal Domain has been quite quiet lately. The Twin Kings are either digesting a quarter of the Hall or brewing something bad, but it hasn't come to a head yet.
The new Grand Foundry Master of the Graycast Corridor is quite anthropomorphic, and his series of new decrees have been widely praised. The trade routes with the Second Holy See have also revitalized the Graycast Corridor.
Perhaps realizing that the friction with the Eternal Domain might escalate, the Machine Spirit Great Labyrinth City transferred Luke Aoziben, one of the candidates for the Grand Foundry Master, from the Eastern Front to the Northern Front, specifically to defend against the possible southward advance of the Twin Kings.
Two groups of mercenaries and conscripts have been dispatched to the battlefield at the border between the Starlight Empire and the Skeleton Alliance. Although no large army has yet gathered there, it has already become a meat grinder for vanguards and scouts, with a large number of people (and skeletons) dying there every day.
As for the Theocracy, the news coming back so far is quite strange—there's no information.
Xilǐ'er's delegation had made a long detour and returned to Valhalla. The number of people had swelled from one when they left to a full fifteen. Among them were not only envoys and deputy envoys, knights and squires, but also a whole host of self-appointed positions such as painters, musicians, ceremonial officers, and guards.
Watching the several Soul Returner solemnly declare themselves to be the mission's guards, yet unable to withstand even a casual poke from the chief envoy Xilǐ'er, Ed struggled to suppress the urge to smile.
Xilǐ'er, who had already traveled to all the provincial capitals except for the Holy City, brought back only one piece of news. " The Holy City is playing dead."
This made Ed suspect that the old man Sailesi was plotting something, but by then it was already late July, and according to the plan, he was about to set off to complete the last... uh, no, to complete the last major task of this phase.
If he can control the entire Theocracy, then whether it's diluting the ever-growing player base to prevent the server from physically exploding, giving those Soul Returner are clearly regular soldiers in the real world something to do, or any other malicious plans, he will have fertile ground to carry them out.
But just then, two guests who had almost been ignored by Ed suddenly appeared in Valhalla...
[A rookie team encounters danger deep within the Klaf City, but is fortunately rescued by a mysterious NPC and manages to escape...]
[A novice rider suffers from motion sickness while riding Soldier Bee and falls from Supreme, only to be completely unharmed after crashing into quicksand?]
The nomadic tribe that had attacked the Soul Returner caravan twice was mysteriously wiped out overnight. Thanks to the kind people who intervened. Anyone with information about the benefactor can contact the Bright Prospects Chamber of Commerce; a generous reward will be given upon verification!
[A mysterious mechanic has appeared in Satellite City 43. After upgrading the mechanical arm, the mechanic's strength is significantly increased. Note: It's very expensive.]
What on earth is all this?
The Soul Returner [ Epic-Level Giant ], sitting in a folding chair, curled his lip and muttered:
"They post about all sorts of trivial things. If you don't have anything to do, you don't have to. There's no need to force yourself to do something."
He muttered something under his breath, then glanced at the calm water again, afraid that the noise he had just made might have scared the fish away.
In the next instant, the fish float made by hollowing out and drying tree branches suddenly began to rise and fall on the water's surface.
The professional angler [ Epic-Level Giant ], who was browsing posts with his left eye and keeping watch with his right, instantly tensed up from his relaxed state, grabbed the fishing rod in front of him, and gave it a sharp jerk.
The struggle between the two caused the fishing rod to bend at an extreme angle in an instant. The angler himself jumped up from his folding chair and began to continuously reel in and let out the line, exhausting the fish's strength.
As a professional angler, [ Epic-Level Giant ]'s attitude towards the game can be summarized in one sentence:
Fishing is everything; everything is for fishing.
In order to fish, he traveled to most of the rivers within the Second Holy See's territory.
To prepare for fishing, he allocated most of his basic attribute points to Strength and Constitution.
In order to fish, he made Plant Compatibility his main focus, just so he could Alienation a fishing rod that was tough enough.
And all of this was for--
Fish up the guy who bit off his leg!
As time went by, the Claw Fish's figure became increasingly blurry, but its size grew larger and larger, showing a tendency to develop into a mental demon.
The fishing line slackened again, and the float began to slide in the opposite direction. [ Epic-Level Giant ] could feel that the thing underwater was gradually losing strength after its pulling.
So he began to slowly tighten the fishing line, pulling the big guy little by little from the deep water until he could scoop it up in one go.
Finally, through his tireless efforts, a slightly agitated dark figure emerged from the slightly murky water.
Judging from its species, it should be a common Claw Fish, and its size seems to be about the length of an adult's leg.
Unfortunately, it still can't compare to the guy who bit off half his life.
[ Epic-Level Giant ] He thought to himself, but his grip remained firm.
After much effort, he finally managed to pull the fish into a position where he could easily scoop it up. However, as the shadow grew larger, he was astonished to discover that the fish was much bigger than he had expected.
Looking down at the landing net beside him, [ the Epic-Level Giant ] couldn't help but curse himself inwardly:
Although it was a low probability event, the preparation was indeed insufficient—the landing net was too small, barely big enough to hold the fish. What if we accidentally let the big one escape?
Moreover, because the fish was much bigger than he had imagined, he was gradually becoming exhausted. If he were to use one hand to grab the landing net, he might be dragged into the water along with the fishing rod.