Chapter 20: The End of the Beginner Phase, Outrageous Rankings
[The 7-day beginner period is over, "Lord Era" has finished updating; the update is as follows:]
[1: Remove all scattered resources, treasure boxes, and other materials]
[2: Remove the rule that monsters only stay in one place without moving]
[3: Difficulty of instances and monsters increases]
[4: Increase the chance of encountering native inhabitants]
[Please note: The Talent Lord leaderboard and weekly activities have commenced]
Qin Muye looked at the brief update and his Mage Tower Territory that now lacked a layer of protection, making him understand the real struggle had just begun.
Either they adapt or die, so the remaining 23 days are called the Adaptation Period.
Firstly, the first point meant that basic resources, scattered resources, and various treasures could no longer be obtained by picking them up, which made the situation more difficult for all the Talent Lords, left with no choice but to rely on resource buildings or their own collection or struggles.
As for the second point, although the monsters no longer stupidly stay in one spot and are able to roam around, combined with the end of the beginner period, it is very easy to be attacked by these monsters.
During the Adaptation Period, monsters won't proactively attack Lord Territories, but that doesn't mean they won't attack Lords who are out hunting and collecting. This further solidified Qin Muye's idea of not venturing out unless absolutely necessary.
This is related to the third point, and in Qin Muye's eyes, the biggest crisis should be the fourth point. It meant that the Lords would soon have deeper interactions with the natives of the Magic Continent. This was an opportunity, but also a huge danger.
People can be good or bad, who knows what type of person the first native they meet will be?
As for the rest, it came as a surprise -- the leaderboard and the weekly activities, where game and reality intertwined, giving Qin Muye a sense of surrealism.
He then opened the Lord leaderboard to see what the situation was like.
[Lord opening the leaderboard for the first time, please enter your Lord code]
"Pretty user-friendly, huh?" couldn't help but chuckle Qin Muye. After some thought, he directly entered *** three characters.
Yes, it was three censored asterisks.
[1st Place: True Dragon Emperor, Territory: Holy Dragon Nest, Overall Strength: 2nd-tier Champion]
[2nd Place: Exorcist, Territory: Sin Temple, Overall Strength: 2nd-tier Champion]
[3rd Place: Wang Junzi, Territory: Netherworld Shrine, Overall Strength: 2nd-tier Champion]
[...]
[267th Place: ***, Territory: Mage Tower, Overall Strength: 1st-tier Elite]
[...]
[561st Place: Wang Sangou, Territory: Small Village (Damaged), Overall Strength: 0-tier]
"Damn, this is a bit too explosive..."
Qin Muye looked at the top three names on the Lord leaderboard. Was this a level of strength a normal person could achieve?
The top 100 were all beginning at 2nd tier, and from 100 to 200 the rank turned into 1st-tier Champions, while by the time it reached Qin Muye, it was just 1st-tier Elite, and past the 400th rank, it dropped to 0-tier.
The most ridiculous part was their territories; each one was more grandiose than the last, his little Mage Tower didn't stand a chance.
"However, out of these 1000 people, only 561 remain. Even with the 7 days of beginner protection, there still was nearly a 50% death rate."
If it weren't for Qin Muye taking a different path, he would either be one of the 439 dead lords or be ranked at the very bottom now.
Before coming to "Lord Era," he had already time-traveled once, to an ancient world, where he had become a scholar, eyeing a life of wealth with multiple wives and concubines, only to be struck by a meteorite and end up here.
From the looks of these names, it wasn't just him; it seemed like all the ancient people from his entire world had been pulled here; otherwise, they wouldn't bear such archaically styled names.
"Who would have thought that I, a proud transmigrator, would be utterly outclassed by a bunch of ancients? One really shouldn't underestimate the people of the world," he mused.
Although he had a hero, Demon Blood, those lords ahead of him had initial troop types that were much stronger than his Spirit Monsters.
With the early advantage and decent abilities, they could definitely rise quickly.
What's more crucial is Talent. Qin Muye's Talent provided absolutely no direct boost to his territory, combat, or management, so naturally, he lagged behind every step of the way.
The ancients weren't fools; in terms of abilities, they were no worse than modern people.
After closing the leaderboard, Qin Muye felt his pressure mounting.
Then, he naturally opened the weekly activities and felt even colder after reading them.
[This Week's Activity: Monster Siege]
[Every day at 12 PM, wild monsters will appear to attack the city. Killing these wild monsters will yield rich rewards and Points. Time remaining for today's siege: 11:56]
[Please Note: The strength of the wild monsters will increase with each wave of attack. The stronger the monsters, the richer the rewards.]
[Points: Can be used to exchange for Resources, Building blueprints, Treasures, Reclassification Certificates, and more at the Points shop.]
[This Monster Siege event will feature a speed kill competition, calculating the average speed from seven attempts.]
[1st Place: 100,000 of 3 types of Basic Resources, 10,000 of 4 types of Special Resources, 1 Advanced Treasure, 1 Rare Building Blueprint]
[2nd Place: 100,000 of 3 types of Basic Resources, 10,000 of 4 types of Special Resources, 1 Advanced Treasure]
[3rd Place: 100,000 of 3 types of Basic Resources, 10,000 of 4 types of Special Resources, 1 Intermediate Treasure]
[4th to 10th Places: 100,000 of 3 types of Basic Resources, 10,000 of 4 types of Special Resources]
"Well, might as well check the shop instead, forget about the Treasures and Building blueprints," Qin Muye knew that these things were beyond his reach; the people ahead were just too outrageous. All the Resources he had didn't even total up to the rewards they offered. Of course, for those lords who wanted to compete in the rankings, Resources weren't the main point; the main focus was the Treasures and Building blueprints.
As for Qin Muye, the shop was his immediate reality, not the rewards connected to the rankings.
Opening the shop, what caught his eye first were Building blueprints, and he quickly found what he needed.
[Building Blueprint·Crystal Field: 1000 Points]
[Building Blueprint·Gem House: 1000 Points]
[Building Blueprint·Sulfur Field: 1000 Points]
These three were the production buildings for Special Resources. There were also other urgently needed Building blueprints like the Market and Blacksmith, but those weren't as expensive as the Special Resources, only costing 500 Points.
Beyond these, there were even more extravagant Building blueprints that were out of reach for Qin Muye; he planned on securing the basic buildings first.
As for Treasures, Troops, and other items, he had also browsed them. If he managed to secure the three Special Resource production buildings and some essential ordinary buildings, he would then purchase a Reclassification Certificate to quickly bring forth a new hero from the Magic Energy Spirit Monster.
"Just not sure how Points are calculated, and then there's the Monster Siege at noon today. Hope I can hold out," he thought.