Winter is Coming

A few days later…

tong!!!! tong!!!!

The bell in the central square rang as loudly as possible over and over again.

"Close the doors!!!! Winter is coming!!!! The creatures are coming!!!! It's time to hide!!!!" An NPC walked through the streets of Ashton Village shouting at the other residents.

Quickly, the other NPCs erect barricades to protect the village before running frantically towards their homes, only the players are left in the village's empty streets or outside.

"Why did the NPCs do this? We can't even leave the city" A newbie who doesn't know anything asked curiously.

"According to information published by other players who chose Ashton Village as their starting point, this scene is like a creature invasion event, where several hordes attack the village while players have to fight to protect the place. During this time, it is not possible to take quests here."

"Are the creatures strong?"

"Very strong. At least level 200. This raid event is not for the newbies, although Ashton Village is for the newbies."

"So why did they create an event like this here? It's crazy"

"Only the developers know why. The interval between one invasion and another is six months, so it's always a good idea to remember before starting the game there. And the duration is three months"

"Three months??!!! You gotta be kidding me!! I don't have this time to lose. How do I get out of here?"

"Just run towards the nearest city to escape the invasion. There is still at least a day before the creatures arrive. This is how long players have to escape."

"How do you know so much?"

"This is written on the official forums, just do a little research and you will find what I am saying"

…

Older players and newbies talk frantically about what to do in this situation.

Winter Is Coming is a big event in Ashton Village, but only the strong can actually participate, the weak would just die and lose levels.

Lin Yun searched for information as quickly as possible on the official forums and tutorials about the events and discovered that players can take up a quest in the main city of the Blood Race, Blood Iron Fortress.

The quest is basically to form a small army to deal with the invasion of creatures in Ashton Village.

The rulers would not send their soldiers, so they recruited players to do such work.

Soon, Ashton Village would be surrounded by high-level players.

Newbies wouldn't even have the chance to participate, so they could only run away or towards the nearest small town, Streamside.

In total, the village only had a handful of players, the amount is so small that it can be counted on one hand.

The main reason there are almost no players is because of the proximity of Winter Is Coming, and the lack of quests with NPCs. This drives away players who want to get quick rewards.

Thus, most people choose to leave so as not to do nothing for the next month and waste a lot of time without leveling up.

Lin Yun is one of those who chose to leave, but instead of going west, where Streamside is, the direction he was going is south, more precisely the Desolate Savanna, a dangerous place inhabited by creatures of varying levels, from the weakest even the strongest able to deal with the strongest of players.

The decision to go to this place is to train his reflexes and improve skills while leveling up. It is possible to do the same by going to the nearest city and surrounding area, but these places would always have a lot of players and problems.

Thus, he preferred a place with fewer players to avoid certain problematic situations.

The further a player is from a big city, the fewer players there would be, or it is not a famous place to level up.

The Desolate Savanna is halfway between two big cities, Midfair and Desert Stone City.

Crossing the forest with casual steps, neither fast nor slow, Lin Yun followed a strange path going from one side to the other in search of creatures to defeat.

The level rises slowly due to the low levels of the creatures on this side of the forest, until he leaves, the XP gained will be so low that it may take a day or two to go up just one level.

Lin Yun didn't even care about not leveling up quickly, currently, the most important thing is to improve combat skills, something that takes time to improve.

When this is at an acceptable level, he will start hunting to level up, without caring much about the quest.

During the day, the young man hunted the forest creatures to get the drops. When the Hunger points reached single digits, he stopped to cook the meats obtained from the animals and in the river a few days ago.

Thus, another passive skill was received, Cooking, but it is always something roasted because it only had a fire and no seasoning.

Cooking(Passive)(Beginner I Level 2: 51%)

…

A few days later…

"Lin Yun, are you still in this place? Didn't you come out of this forest?" One of his friends asked curiously in their group chat.

It was very strange not to leave after the beginning of Winter Is Coming, low-level players had already left the place a long time ago to head towards the city.

"I've already left Ashton Village, but the forest is so big that it will take me a day to cross it."

"This forest is really big, but aren't there stronger creatures to defeat? Your leveling is as slow as a turtle's steps. The time it took you to reach level 17, I'm already almost level 50. Among the four of us, only you are below level 20."

"And it still says you haven't even chosen a class yet. What are you doing?"

"I'm training my character. I don't have the luxury of buying good equipment, so I have to compensate by improving the character's stats."

"The best way to improve is by leveling up and challenging the most difficult dungeons to get loot. About the rest, it's just the rest, it doesn't matter."

"Lin Yun, I won't question your character evolution method but don't regret it. In a month, registration for the Martial Arts Tournament will begin, where the champion will receive great rewards, it is one of the biggest events in the game. Where the new dark horses will emerge. And it's a great chance to show off your skills in front of the big guilds. Lin Yun, you are someone who needs money, so don't waste this chance. The next one will only appear in six months."

"I know what I am doing."

"As has already been decided, I will not continue speaking. But you need to remember about the money you need."

The group talked for a while longer before stopping, as they were busy and couldn't always talk, sometimes someone left a message and another responded sometime later.