Chapter 58: New Patch
In the wilderness.
The tricycle cart convoy traveled along the bumpy ground, rattling and shaking, causing Mia, seated on a cart, to feel dizzy and nauseous. Every bone in her body ached from the bumpy journey.
She could endure the physical discomfort by gritting her teeth, but the mental stress was pushing her to the brink of crumbling.
Clutching her small bundle of belongings tightly, Mia tried to curl up her legs to find some comfort. Her face was pale, and goosebumps were all over her skin.
Beside her feet… were several rolled-up bundles of cloth.
Due to the limited space in the cart, these bundles weren't just pressed against Mia's legs but were also touching the legs of the other four women riding in the same cart.
As the cart jolted along, the clacking sound of bones knocking occasionally sounded.
Mia gripped her bundle of belongings tightly as she kept her attention on these seemingly casually wrapped bones, afraid to look away…
Of the other four women traveling with Mia, the youngest was already in her mid-thirties. Years of non-stop weaving had severely damaged their eyesight, and their physical strength was greatly diminished from prolonged sitting. Although the women knew that the things sharing the cart with them were unusually eerie, none of them had the energy to protest. And after a short while of bouncing up and down, they dozed off in succession.
Only Mia, who was relatively young, faced this alone.
If these were ordinary skeletal remains, Mia wouldn't be this afraid.
Those who lived a life of poverty and struggled to survive weren't startled by much. Many times, Mia had seen people starve to death in their homes, and their remains carried out and discarded. She had also seen fellow commoners sent back from the plantations with their bodies completely mangled.
The problem, however, was that these skeletal remains seemingly wrapped up casually were far from ordinary…
While she was all tensed up, one of the rolled-up bundles at the bottom of the cart suddenly expanded, causing Mia to shudder uncontrollably.
The heap of bones floated up from within the bundle along with an eerie clacking.
Mia's eyes widened in shock, and she immediately covered her mouth.
Just as she had witnessed several times before, these various human bones swiftly zipped around and assembled themselves into a complete skeleton in a matter of seconds as if manipulated by invisible hands.
The moment it was "assembled," the skeleton came alive and bent down to pick up and wear its clothing and gear. While putting on its clothes, it seemed to call out to its fellow undead nearby who were jogging lethargically along with the convoy.
Those undead keeping pace with the convoy also followed suit and joined in the rambunctious shrieking.
On the cart, Mia, who was once more completely ignored, heaved a huge sigh of relief. Still shaking, she lowered her hand and continued to clutch her little bundle while staring fixedly at the tattered sandals on her feet.
Regardless of how many times she witnessed this scene, she would still feel terrified.
But she should be safe as long as she didn't draw the attention of these undead… Mia tried to reassure herself.
After all, each new day she was alive was like a treasure. The discomfort of riding in the shabby cart, as unpleasant as it was, was still better than being stuck in a dark room weaving and enduring scoldings for just wanting a little more bread.
She hadn't touched a spinning machine for a whole week, and yet she was still receiving food.
If… if she reached the town mentioned by the black mage, she could live there like a normal family with her neighbor, Uncle Carter. She wouldn't have to endure scoldings for wanting an extra slice of bread. No matter how frightening these undead were, Mia could endure it.
"There's an update announcement on the official site!"
This was the first thing the player, Stuffed Gummy, said to her fellow players when she logged in.
These very words successfully worked up the enthusiasm of her bored teammates, and even players from other teams rushed over to ask about it.
"What did the announcement say? Is there a new patch?"
"Yes, a new patch is out! 1.05!" Tang Jia excitedly told everyone while she was wearing her gear.
"Something new called the 'Undead Merchant Association' has been introduced, which is specially designed for lifestyle class players to grind reputation. Those without reputation can trade with the Undead Merchant Association. By using materials, copper coins, and combined with the territory prestige, players can redeem equipment. There's all sorts of equipment, from basic to rare items with special effects!"
"I'll log out to take a look!" An eager player immediately rushed back to the tricycles his team was responsible for.
"Can we trade even without the Merchant Association's reputation?" others in no rush to log out asked.
"Well, yeah, that's why I came online in a hurry to tell you guys," Tang Jia said while hastily putting on leather armor and slotting in metal plates, then hopping off the tricycle cart. "Exile Town territory prestige has been renamed Taranthan prestige and is stand-alone from the reputation system. Besides having a value, it can also be used as a currency for trading with NPCs from the Undead Merchant Association. By exchanging 50 points of Taranthan territory prestige and 10 Spider Venom Sacs, you can get a steel knife for free! It's a total freebie!"
The steel chopper sold by the weapon vendor had a price of 20 copper coins.
Spider Venom Sacs were incredibly cheap and easily obtainable from the Spider Cave where any random mob dropped them. Even an impromptu party of unaffiliated players grinding together for a night could get a good number of these sacs.
An Uncommon-grade material could only be exchanged for 20 points of territory prestige.
Even though the newly introduced map Desolate Outpost, along with the farming spot, Poisonous Marshlands with tougher monsters but not as densely packed as Spider Cave, caused a stable decline in the price of high-grade materials, it still wasn't particularly cost-effective.
But… the key point was that they were currently on an escort quest!
Over two hundred players had accepted this escort quest, but not all of them could be online throughout its entirety. So, they were divided into 12 small teams, each responsible for two tricycle carts (some had been left at Desolate Outpost) and escorting a handful of civilians.
Each civilian could provide 50 points of prestige to the respective escort team. If all the civilians were successfully escorted, each team's players could accumulate two to three hundred reputation points. This was why Tang Jia had said the steel knife trade was a total freebie.
One thing to note was that the game didn't provide an NPC for repairing equipment. When players had damaged steel knives, they could only be sold back to the weapon vendor NPC at a tenth of their original price, which was a sore spot bugging players for a long time.
Unfortunately, the development team showed no intention of making any changes to this issue. Just these steel knives, which were common weapons, had caused players to lose a considerable amount of copper coins.
"Right now, it seems worth it, but after the prestige from this quest depletes, the price of high-quality materials will definitely go up. It wouldn't be as cost-effective then," an unaffiliated player in Unceasing Entropy's team made some mental calculations and voiced his thoughts.
"We can grind it ourselves!" Tang Jia raised the steel knife in her hand aggressively. "Killing a Demonized Toad might give us a dozen or so high-quality materials if we're lucky. Once we finish this quest, let's form a regular team and grind monsters in Poisonous Marshlands!"
"Wait, Tang Jia." Teammate Jia Luo leaned in. "A basic steel knife costs only 50 points of territory prestige. How much is needed for high-quality equipment?"
"1000 points," replied Tang Jia promptly.
"What the heck?! That's daylight robbery!" Not only Jia Luo, but players from their own team and other teams who gathered around were shocked. "Why is it so many times more costly?!"
"That's just how much it costs for high-quality equipment with special effects." Tang Jia shrugged. "And you'll need to contribute a whole bunch of materials for the special effects. But at least, there's a clear acquisition channel for high-quality equipment now. It's still better than relying on luck when we snatched from the NPCs, right?
"When we snatched the drops of these private mercenaries, all we got was basic equipment. Isn't that much more disappointing?"
"That's true," Yang Ying chimed in. "Our team doesn't even have a single piece of equipment with special effects. It's still worth the extra time if we can use prestige and materials to obtain them."
During the "night of rampaging," the group of unaffiliated players had managed to seize two good pieces of equipment, but the wrist guard with special effects had been bought by a wealthy solo player, leaving them with only a basic dagger that used to be Finley's.
"Give Me Medicine, who got a special-effect weapon, really made a killing by getting a special-effect weapon for just a few hundred copper coins," a player couldn't help but grumble sourly.
"But the problem is that high-quality materials will become even more scarce in the future, making it harder for solo players." Another unaffiliated player sighed.
Previously, materials could only be exchanged for reputation, and the prestige obtained from high-quality materials was mainly for the competition among the big players vying for the position of mayor. Ordinary players hadn't needed to grind territory prestige, so the prices of Uncommon-grade materials and higher didn't fluctuate much.
Now that the "Undead Merchant Association" had been launched, even ordinary players who weren't interested in competing for the mayor's position needed to use high-quality materials and territory prestige to exchange for top-tier equipment. With such a large demand-supply gap, it was near certain that prices would rise.
"That's why I said we should form a regular team just now!" Tang Jia used her signature loud voice to shout energetically. "With a regular team, we can grind monsters together, and when materials drop, we'll split them evenly among us. We can save up materials without spending a penny and exchange them for good equipment! Our team is still short of members, anyone interested in joining?"
The unaffiliated players had been waiting for this opportunity and immediately signed up enthusiastically.
"Count me in, count me in!"
"Please add me, I'm always online!"
Tang Jia wasted no time and immediately asked about the online hours of these unaffiliated players and promised to add them to the team's WeChat group once she logged out.
At the head of the convoy, Ji Tang, who was taking the lead in Unceasing Entropy's stead, turned back and looked at the enthusiastic players, smiling while shaking his head.
As someone who knew the truth about the game "OtherWorld," Ji Tang often found the players' silly antics annoying… but overall, they were quite adorable. At least in Ji Tang's eyes, they were much more endearing than some of the natives in this world.
The players viewed capturing the mercenary pursuers as a special quest set up by the system with rewards for their hard work and efforts, but when Ji Tang set up the ambush, he understood what these well-equipped but unorganized and undisciplined folks were really about.
This group wasn't there to be "mobs" for players to farm but was a private armed force with the purpose of murdering civilians.
Ji Tang had never been on a mission abroad, but some of his comrades had been in peacekeeping forces. As a Chinese soldier, Ji Tang didn't think highly of foreign private armed forces, let alone the regular armies of some nations on Earth.
It might be hard for ordinary Chinese people to understand, but the reality was that even some of the so-called civilized countries' military on Earth could remain indifferent to the deaths of people in other countries (or even their own).
From the post-World War II era until the 21st century, the widespread issue of PTSD among soldiers from multiple countries spoke volumes—there were very few disciplined armies that refrained from mistreating and killing civilians as well as prisoners of war.
If legitimate militaries were like this, then private armed forces were even worse.
Players regarded the people in this "game world" as virtual data, as NPCs, and they were on the lookout for NPCs wearing good gear, but at least, players wouldn't take pleasure in killing civilians.
When a "quest" required players to take care of these civilians, this bunch might not go as far as to be warm and kind, but they would at least do what needed to be done.
The zombie general stayed behind at Desolate Outpost, and now, Ji Tang led the team forward alone, silently contemplating all that he had seen and heard over these few days.
Now, it seems that this Lord Yang intends to increase the population of Taranthan. He is using materials, reputation, and other means to motivate players to grind monsters, all to eliminate hidden dangers?
So… Lord Yang's intention is to establish and develop the territory of Taranthan?
Other "advanced NPCs" show signs of reluctance and impatience when dealing with players. The only one who treats players normally, besides the Weapons Master, Charlie Rex, is Lord Yang.
Could these two individuals be related to that "target" on Earth? Or perhaps one of them is the "target," the one promoting the "OtherWorld" game on Earth?
What exactly is the objective of this game…
Ji Tang's head started to ache the more he thought about it. He wasn't particularly skilled at dealing with such matters.
Nevermind… Let the experts handle these questions. I should focus on doing what I can.
"Brother Tang! Brother Tang!"
A player sped over from the back of the convoy using "Basic Wind Manipulation" while shouting anxiously. "Something is wrong! It looks like an NPC in our team is about to die!"
Ji Tang nearly jumped from being startled. "What?!"
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