The future update

"Then let me help you. The fleeting clouds sect has some reliable information about the upcoming update!" said Bright Sun.

In the end, the great question she had to ask Li Wei turned out to be trivial. She simply asked how he was faring at the sect to which the latter responded that everything was fine. With the conversation initiated, the two talked for a few minutes and the conversation drifted towards what they would do in the future.

"Isn't that confidential information?" asked Li Wei. He did not know how the conversation ended up there and was naturally curious about the future, but this information was technically supposed to be unknown to the players. Many speculations made by the players were already flooding the forums, but no one could confirm any of them.

It was clear that for Bright Sun to have some insider's information, some shady business had taken place. He did not want to bring trouble to her or to himself.

"Don't worry about that. You are a member of the sect after all, so you have the right to know. Besides, you won't snitch on me, right?"

Seeing Li Wei nod, Bright Sun continued:

"First of all, the update will happen when the first player in the world will reach level 20. This is predicted to happen in about two weeks which will also coincide with the settling of the record of the Time Attacks. It ..."

"Wait wait! What is happening to the Time attacks?" interrupted Li Wei.

"Oh, it's true that you don't know. The records of the different Time Attacks are only available for a short period of time to be broken. In the case of the level 15 Time Attacks, the record would be literally set in stone in two weeks. This is so that players who lose their levels in the future do not come back to set new records with the higher-level skills. Also, once the records are set, rewards are given according to the ranking obtained. Players can still attempt to break the record later, but they won't receive any rewards then," explained Bright Sun.

Li Wei was intrigued, it was a crucial information that he was not aware of. He also never found such information on the forum. He always found it weird that no rewards were attached to the Time Attacks and he finally understood why. "This is so complicated! Then what are the rewards?"

"You are just interested in those... The top three of each leaderboard will be rewarded; that is the top three of each city, the top three of each server and the top three of the world. However, these rewards are not cumulative and so, the top team of the world only get the top prize; it would be too absurd if they could get 3 levels so easily!" calmly said Bright Sun.

"As for the rewards, the top three of each city will gain 1 level, the top three of each server will get 1 level and a piece of equipment and lastly, the top three of the world will obtain 1 level, one piece of equipment and 1 special skill! Although they are not cumulative, that is only for a specific time Attack. If a player is ranked 1st in all three Time Attacks, he would get 3 levels, 3 pieces of equipment and 3 special skills!"

Hearing that, Li Wei let out a "wow" as a light shone in his eyes. He never took those Time Attack seriously and only thought that the Fleeting Clouds Sect was using them to train its members. But now, he could not help but change his thoughts about them. "Maybe I should try to solo them like the guy who holds the world record," said Li Wei to himself.

"The rewards are impressive but at the same time, the competition is fierce! Don't look down upon the current records, all of them will be broken in the next two weeks," said Bright Sun as she saw Li Wei's expression.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Although we looked like we went all out for these records, we never expected to set a firm record. In fact, we won't be the one to set the record but instead, a special group of players that are specially trained, one from each family. The Fleeting Clouds Sect, just like all other guilds, have a group of elites that are training secretly. In our guild, one person from each family is slowly training and mastering their respective techniques. They don't often go hunting monsters like us but spend most of their time at the Training Center. This way, they do not level up too quickly and will still be at level 15 when it's time for the record. Their advantage would be the large variety of skills they would obtain from the different training techniques! Just like for our guild, the Stone Defenders also have such a group of players which is composed of soldiers of the Special Forces. As for the Gem Family, I don't know what they are hiding."

"The sect is much more complicated than it looks. There are people like us that levels up quickly so that the guild can obtain more resources and compete with others. But at the same time, some members of the guild need to level up more slowly to take advantage of the system! But anyway, we are diverting the conversation away from the update!" said Bright Sun. She did not mind sharing more information about that with Li Wei, but time was short and could not spend hours explaining all the hidden details of the sect.

Li Wei was naturally puzzled when he heard that, leaving him pensive. He always thought that he had seen the best players of the sect and now, he was learning that the true elites did not even appear yet. More importantly, the fact that rewards were available for the records also rang a bell in his mind, but he decided to stay quiet and listen to what Bright Sun had to say. He would later digest the information and come up with a plan.

He quickly nodded and moved his hand in front of his mouth as if he was zipping it. The blonde priest smiled as she continued her explanation.

"As I was saying, the next update will have a huge impact on everyone, but I will summarise the interesting parts! The update will open up new regions and allow us to have contact with other races! The capital will become accessible and the price to teleport to other cities will also decrease allowing everyone to explore the empire. As for the races, we will be able to meet the elves, dwarves, orcs, and mermaids, if we go to their respective territories."

"But what you are really interested in is probably the changes to the fighting system! At level 20, warriors will have the option to branch out into several paths, just to name a few: Berserker, Great Warrior, Pugilist... Each one has their own advantage, but I don't know too much about that since I did not bother to look for that information," said Bright Sun displaying an embarrassed expression for a second.

She quickly got herself together and continued, "Furthermore, all physical classes; warriors, rangers, rogues, and paladin will get something called weapon mastery. The players who specialize in a specific weapon can improve their masteries and obtain some rewards. The magic counterpart is called elemental affinity. Spells that can be learned above level 20 all belong to a specific element and specializing in one will also bring some advantages."

"In fact, you should have noticed how all the skills we have access to right now are pretty normal. All the physical moves are nothing special and can be performed normally. It is just that using the skill makes the move cost some mana and deals some bonus damage. As for magic, our magic is classified as classless right now. If you look at the names, you will notice that they all contain "Mana"..."

Bright Sun continued explaining for a few minutes. She looked like a teacher giving private tuitions. As for Li Wei, he stayed silent all the time. He did not want to interrupt or miss any possible useful information. The update was enormous; many things were going to change and the most notable was the increase in the harshness of the death penalty! Instead of losing just one level, players would now lose two levels and the chance of dropping items from their inventories also doubled.

"Why are you saying all of this to me?" asked Li Wei when he saw that Bright Sun had finished her explanation. Although he was grateful for all of that, he was still curious about her motives. In the end, there was no such thing as a free meal.

The latter smiled, "This is just repaying my debt and thanking you for what you did. Although the offer we made in exchange for the improved version of the gliding steps is worth its price. It does not take outside things into consideration. For example, you would have obtained fame and respect by the members of the Cai Family and possibly discounts on some items. These are things that cannot really be quantized and so, I am telling you all that to make up for it"

"You did not need to... The techniques I've got are already more than enough," said Li Wei.

The blonde priest smiled and leaned back in her sofa before asking: "This is my own choice. But let me ask you one question. Why do you want to get stronger? You are different from us who fight for the family. You are free and can do anything so why are you trying to play at a competitive level?"

Li Wei was stunned by the question. He thought for a moment but was not able to get an exact answer. He realized that he really did not have any goal in playing the game. He was just playing for the sake of playing! Maybe it was just a temporary interest since he could finally play a game as much as he wanted?

After a few seconds, he was still doubtful but decisively answered:

"I guess it's for freedom! I want to be able to explore this world and simply have a good time. This world will probably be my home for the next decades. I want to be strong enough to go anywhere and protect myself against both the monsters and the players. Also… Although it's just a game that is just there to make us pass time productively, if I start to slack off now, then how would I be when it will be time to return to the surface?"

"It is good that you have such goals. Just keep in mind that compared to what you think, this game might have more serious implications than it looks..."

...

After exchanging a few more words, Li Wei promptly left the room and went to shower. He was given a lot of information and needed some time to digest them. He was very grateful to Bright Sun for this, especially for the Fortune Cookies which in total, gave him 20000 exp. This was worth a couple of days of work and filled his exp bar by half.

Inside the room, Bright Sun quickly took out a bottle of water from her inventory. She had been talking non-stop for a few minutes and naturally became thirsty as a result. She was still drinking when she heard the door quietly open.

This was a private room and could not be opened by anyone without her permission from the outside. Then, that meant that it could only be one person.

"Ah Cai Die! You took so long! How can you leave me behind like that?" shouted a cheerful voice from the entrance. At the same time, a silhouette dashed towards Bright Sun and playfully hugged her from behind.

"Mom!" shouted Bright Sun in the middle of two coughs. The sudden hug from her mother took her by surprise while she was drinking. She did not spill anything but had to quickly swallow cold water resulting in her coughing.

If Li Wei was here, he would immediately recognize the woman as the blonde one that was sitting at Bright Sun's table when he arrived at the inn. It turned out to be Bright Sun's mother who recently left the Beginner's Town. Her IGN was Petite Lavande and although she just arrived, thanks to Bright Sun's Fortune Cookies, she was already level 12.

Petite Lavande spent a lot of time at the Beginner's Town. In fact, a few days ago, besides the couple that chose to stay there to live a normal carefree life, she was the only player at her Beginner's Town who did not leave for the open world yet. It was not that she was slow to level up but rather, she stumbled onto a unique quest. She desperately tried to complete it but, in the end, she failed and had to leave the Beginner's Town empty-handed. It was a huge blow to her morale, but her consolation prize was to be able to join her children again.

"What took so long? Don't tell me you were doing bad stuff behind my back," teased Bright Sun's mother. The mother-daughter relationship was a very friendly one, they sounded more like friends and often teased each other. Since her father was always busy, Bright Sun's mother naturally stepped up and took care of her two children.

"I was just thanking him for helping me get rid of the arranged marriage and I took the opportunity to tell him about the future update," explained Bright Sun as she tried to free herself from her mother's embrace.

"You told him about the update? Oh... Could it be that you are interested in him?" playfully asked Petite Lavande.

"Mom! He is just a friend, nothing more."

"Sure sure! This is also what I said when I met your father! He looked like a country bumpkin when he came to France, not knowing anything and dressed in his martial clothes. But that was the precise reason why I was attracted! He was completely different from those men that were courting me at the time!"

"He is the same, different from all those young masters trying to get your hand! And he also made an impression on you since he helped you! But anyway, how can you hope to seduce someone if you dress up so poorly, look! You've got some great assets from me, but you hide them completely," teased Petite Lavande.

"Mom!!!"