The Big Horn Mountain Settlement is one of the starting points for new players on Planet Aquamarine.
In a flash, Frenzied Sword found himself in a plaza, his feet on yellow earth, the rough, pungent air filling his nostrils with an uncanny realism. He could even feel the warmth of the sunlight. He looked down and rubbed his arm; the muscles felt almost exactly like reality, leaving him in awe.
This is a small square, surrounded by hundreds of players who are curiously sizing each other up, each displaying their player nickname above their head.
Many wooden and stone camps were built around the area, and NPCs dressed in simple animal skin clothing appeared in twos and threes in the distance, pointing and talking in this direction, seemingly discussing in hushed tones.
Following the tutorial when creating a new character, Frenzied Sword brought up the panel to check his level 1 character attributes. Just like the official website information, he was given a standard three-piece beginner set at the start: a cloth robe, pants, and boots that would never drop, which had no attributes other than covering his body.
He noticed a guy next to him trying to pull down his pants, but after a lot of effort, he was disappointed and said, "Can't ***, bad review!"
What the heck? What censored word did you say?! What are you trying to do?!
Frenzied Sword looked terrified and quietly moved away from that guy.
Frenzied Sword was an unknown professional gamer who had only recently entered the professional scene and was still a green newbie. Hearing that the International Game Alliance had begun preparing for a professional league even before the release of "Galaxy," he paid close attention to it. When the highly anticipated closed beta opened, Frenzied Sword asked the club's higher-ups to get him a precious closed beta slot.
Being one step ahead of others during the pioneering period allows you to stay ahead in every step, brimming with Frenzied Sword and determination.
The players in the square were buzzing with discussion.
"So realistic."
What should we do now?
"Any hints?"
At this moment, an elderly white man with white hair and beard, exuding an imposing aura and resembling Golden-Haired Lion King, stepped forward and loudly proclaimed:
"You outsiders, if you want to eat your fill, find me a job. Our settlement doesn't welcome idlers. Hmm, the crops in the fields need to be harvested, and the tailor shop and weapons shop to the south need skilled workers. A shipment of goods just arrived at the entrance of the settlement and needs to be loaded and unloaded. In short, as long as you're diligent, you won't starve."
Players noticed two boxes next to the health bar, representing hunger and thirst. Once both dropped to zero, the [Hunger] and [Thirst] debuffs would appear, weakening attributes and causing health to drop continuously until death.
Frenzied Sword sent a Detection to the old man.
Based on your level, you receive the following information.
[Sandrew - Village Chief of the Big Horn Mountain Settlement]
[grade:?]
[property:?]
[You can think of him as the village chief of the beginner village.]
[Danger Level: Medium]
Players have a Detection function that allows them to see the names and information of NPCs, but if the level difference is too large, some information will be missing.
The color of an NPC's name on the. com website indicates their faction: green for friendly, yellow for neutral, and red for hostile. The danger level represents the difference in strength between the player and the target. Currently, all players are level 1 beginners and cannot see Sandrew's specific attributes.
"The weapon shop sells firearms, ammunition, and melee weapons. There are many people selling food and water in the market. The animal farm to the west offers packhorses for rent. If you want to leave, there's a public transit train station a few kilometers north. If you want to learn various life skills, the blacksmith shop and tailor shop are good choices..."
Based on Sandrew's description, the group roughly understood the situation: the settlement only offered a few secondary professions and one combat profession, namely, a [Junior Hunter], all of which required paying someone to train them.
The players' map is currently shrouded in fog of war, completely dark. More information about planetary backgrounds, maps, and power dynamics needs to be explored to illuminate the map panel. There are many elements to explore, and the Frenzied Sword has a feel similar to "The Maiden Scrolls 21".
Ultimately, all initial actions require money.
So, you have to do daily tasks to earn money at the beginning?
"I wonder if I can directly do monster-hunting quests?"
A guild leader asked, Frenzied Sword recognized him. The Kill the World Guild, "Chop into Eighteen Pieces," could be guessed from his name, and he was probably from Yue Province in Huaxia.
Unexpectedly, Sandrew muttered a couple of things about what "hunting monsters" meant, then burst into laughter, "With your small bodies, hunting wild beasts is just asking for trouble. See that mountain range? If you're not afraid of death, go hunting in the mountains. I'll give you rewards based on what you catch, but as far as I can tell, you can't even beat the weakest grey-backed hyena."
As everyone looked into the distance, they saw lush forests and towering mountains that seemed to pierce the sky. Clouds swirled around the peaks like giant, coiled pythons. The magnificent scenery captivated many players; the details were so realistic, a stark contrast to the textures and scenery of other virtual reality games.
Chop into Eighteen Pieces, refusing to believe in bad luck, led a few guild elders and used the 100 Aquamarine Dollar that beginners start with to buy crude melee weapons, and immediately headed towards the mountains.
Not long after, the group returned dejectedly.
Chop into Eighteen Pieces's face was extremely pale. The beast he encountered was a gorilla larger than a man. The moment he raised his knife, the gorilla hurled a dung at him, smashing his head open. He then revived nearby. A million comical beasts ran through his mind.
Why do monkeys attack by throwing poop?! It's so relatable!
I could still faintly smell the scent of fate at the tip of my nose, but my stomach churned Chop into Eighteen Pieces, feeling like I was going to vomit.
I don't object to realistic details, but adding a smell to poop is definitely a perverse hobby of the developers!
"Damn, those jungle monsters are way too strong!"
I died before I could even see clearly!
"It only takes 1 point of health to kill you after one hit!"
"Holy crap, I just bought a [crude stone knife] and it's fallen!"
Death deducts experience points, the amount depending on your total level. Resurrection time accumulates over time. The first time you die, resurrection takes only ten seconds, the second time takes one minute, the third time takes five minutes, the fourth time takes half an hour, and so on. The resurrection time resets every six days in the game.
The death penalty isn't light; players can only die a maximum of ten times in six days. Once that limit is reached, they're forcibly logged out and can only log back in the next day in real life. It's said to be the latest anti-addiction measure, more effective than the fatigue system in * Sky Island and the Maiden *. Students who have exhausted their daily death limit will have no choice but to log off and study. After Galaxy introduced this feature, the Yang family's decades-old internet addiction treatment technology was the first to give it a bad review, probably because their business was affected...
The players immediately abandoned their monster-hunting ideas and focused on running errands to earn money. Hundreds of players ran around enthusiastically, completing tasks and contributing to the socialist construction of Big Horn Mountain.
Sandrew stroked his beard with a look of satisfaction. "These outsiders are quite diligent; they're worth training."
"The reward is too small, only fifty yuan!"
"Leveling up is so slow! I spent half an hour doing quests and only managed to accumulate enough experience to level up."
"The controls feel so realistic!"
"You can even lose health by hitting yourself? That's awesome!"
Are you stupid?
The game is challenging yet not overly cruel to players, offering a high degree of freedom while also providing optional beginner targets. It's incredibly fun, making players grit their teeth while enjoying it immensely. This bittersweet feeling immediately made many players mentally conjure up all sorts of poses for the game developer's wife.
Today, we are all Lao Wang!
"Are you a professional gamer too?"
When Frenzied Sword heard someone call him, he turned around and saw three players walking over together. Frenzied Sword recognized these three as super popular players in the professional scene: the genius player "Frenzied Sword Fried Rice", the super expert "Long Sky" who had been competing in various virtual game professional leagues for ten years, and the e-sports beauty "Jiang Yuluo" who had tens of millions of fans. The one speaking at this moment was Long Sky.
Facing these industry giants, Frenzied Sword felt instantly inferior and awkwardly asked, "Is there something you need?"
Long Sky smiled and said, "I don't know if you've noticed, but the maps sold at the market cost three thousand Aquamarine Dollar. The rewards for newbie quests are too low, so basically no one buys maps."