Anlon United Kingdom.
Principality of Yaco, main city is Lau.
In a large and spacious apartment, the top leaders of the Miracle Guild were having a heated discussion in the living room. The vice president, Lightning Pine Cone, was frowning as he reported the situation to the president in the main seat:
"The situation is a bit bad, President. After the team of 'Stir-fried Legs' was captured and taken to the Imperial Undead Prison last time, 'Crazy Fan' and his team were also captured. Moreover, this time their identities were discovered directly at the border checkpoint and they were arrested on the spot..."
"In addition to these two teams, there are many members who have infiltrated the border cities of the empire and have been intensively attacked... A small number of them have been killed too many times and have entered the resurrection cooling period, and most of them have been targeted and arrested."
Another guild leader said in a deep voice.
The president, Fanchen Hongmeng, was a little annoyed and rubbed his cheeks gently with his palms. After a long silence, he said:
"Is this an official action of the Empire?"
"I guess so..."
The vice president was a little hesitant.
The president raised his head with dissatisfaction on his face.
"What's the meaning?"
"Well... the specific situation is a bit complicated, because those who participated in the pursuit and capture are all players from the Empire camp, and they are all well-known high-level players on the leaderboard, including 'Polaris', 'Dongyang' and 'Chenxi'."
The vice president said quickly.
"That 'North Star' at the top of the list?!"
The president seemed a little surprised, then leaned back on the sofa, pressing his temples.
"Yingling Pavilion, Shen'ai, and Chuxi... There are two of the three major guilds, and there are some first-class guilds. I know that these people all belong to an extraordinary force called "Circus."
"Yes, President... The leader of the circus, the NPC named Jack, is also a high-ranking member of the Seven Orthodox Churches of the Empire, and is also a member of the Imperial Inquisition. It is precisely because of his orders that thousands of high-level players were attracted to hunt down and capture our people... With the cooperation of the Imperial military and the church, our people have nowhere to hide."
The vice president explained.
The president sighed and slapped the table with his hand.
Peng!
Everyone present was silent and the atmosphere was very solemn.
“Not only are they dead, but so many people were also arrested. These were all elite players that the guild had worked so hard to train… Half of them had already been promoted to Extraordinary players, and the rest were accounts in their twenties. Now they’re all ruined!”
The president scolded.
He was breathing heavily, feeling that the loss was too great, and he didn't know how to explain to the consortium behind him.
"President... What should we do now? The follow-up team is ready. Should we continue to send them out?"
A senior executive asked cautiously.
The president glared at him.
"Don't you think the loss is big enough? The Empire's move is so big, it's serious. Sending more people over is a waste! Cancel everything! And let those members who are still active at the Empire's border find a way to come back as soon as possible. We will stop the loss as much as possible..."
"Yes, President, I understand."
The senior executive responded quickly.
Everyone present was somewhat dejected, because they knew that this time not only would they lose many members’ accounts, but also the “Royal NPC network” that the team had worked so hard to build would be destroyed.
In the last version, the guild leader met the prince of the Principality of Yaco by accident, and spent a lot of resources of the guild to improve his favorability. Now, he finally triggered the large-scale serial task of "Raiding the Border", but now it seems that he can only give up...
"President, should we remind the two guilds, Rock of Bliss and White Horse, that they are also involved in some related tasks..."
The vice president said softly.
"Need not."
The president waved his hand decisively, then revealed a vicious expression.
"We had finally received this mission, but they intervened and got some benefits... We can't let this happen to our family."
He looked up and warned the senior executives.
"Although we suffered heavy losses in this mission, the subsequent war between the two countries is the highlight! The United Kingdom of Anlong only has three first-class guilds. We must take this opportunity to make up for the losses. If possible, it is best to get them out!"
"Yes, President..."
*
*
*
Vulture City in the desert.
Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard in a block near the north.
Boom!
An explosion occurred in an abandoned warehouse, flames and thick smoke shot up into the sky, and countless pieces of stone and rubble flew everywhere.
"Run! Don't let them catch you!"
A player covered in dust and dirt shouted at the top of his lungs. He rushed out of the ruins and turned to flee to the north.
There is a drainage ditch over there. As long as you enter the sewer that has been arranged in advance, you can escape from Vulture City, and then find a way to leave the border and return to the base camp of the United Kingdom of Anlong.
There were several other players who acted in the same way as him, while the rest fled in different places, seemingly having a plan for retreat.
However, when the player ran into an alley, a long shadow suddenly spread out from the shadows of several trash cans and directly wrapped around his feet.
This directly caused him to fall and cry out in pain.
The next second, an arm emerged from the shadow, with a dagger in the palm. After a few "swish" sounds, the sharp blade pierced the player's lower back, thigh and calf.
Blood flowed out and the player screamed in pain.
At the same time, he also heard the screams of his companions, who seemed to have suffered the same fate as him.
Looking up, they saw a man wearing a black bowler hat slowly standing up from the shadows on the ground and walking towards them with the light behind him.
When I sent a probe to check, I saw a plain horizontal line with only the dangerous name "Morey, the circus staff" shining brightly.
"What kind of bad luck is this?! I ran into Jack's red-named elite!"
The player suddenly felt like crying but had no tears.
He turned to look at his companions. Several of them had also lost their ability to move and collapsed to the ground with expressions of frustration on their faces.
Everyone knows that the reason why the other party doesn't kill them immediately is that they want to capture them alive and put them in the Undead Prison... If that happens, the account that they have worked so hard to play for a certain version will be directly declared scrapped!
But they did not dare to commit suicide on the spot, because the resurrection point had already been surrounded by players and troops of the Empire. Once they were resurrected, they would be arrested on the spot.
From the very beginning, the opponent was well prepared, using intensive strafing and bombing to put them into a combat state, unable to log off and escape... Everything was like an airtight net that was going to catch all of them, the players of the United Kingdom of Anlong.
Several players were filled with strong reluctance and struggled to use their hands to slowly crawl on the ground, trying to stay away from the approaching red-named NPC.
Snap, snap…
The heels of their leather shoes hit the ground, making a crisp sound, like the sound of a bell of despair ringing in their ears.
The strong desire to survive urged several players to crawl harder and escape to the alley ahead.
But then, several players suddenly discovered that the footsteps behind them disappeared.
“?!”
When they looked back, they found that the red-named elite NPC had inexplicably disappeared.
"Huh?! Where did he go?!"
"No… I don't know."
A few people were somewhat happy. Although they didn't know what had happened, it seemed that they had escaped by luck.
"Don't worry about it, just leave the alley and hide in the sewer ahead!"
Someone shouted quickly.
So several players struggled to crawl, leaving behind several long trails of blood.
But when they arrived at the entrance of the alley, they found that an Empire player happened to pass by. Several pairs of eyes met each other instantly, and people on both sides were stunned.
"Hmm? It's like this again... there are four this time?"
Polaris murmured in surprise.
He acted decisively, took out the rope he carried with him, tied up the four Miracle Guild players on the ground, and then took out the walkie-talkie to notify the nearby imperial army to come.
"Brother, don't be like this, let us go... I'll give you credit points to buy our lives, how about that?"
The players of Miracle Guild struggled and begged for mercy.
But the North Star remained indifferent.
He indifferently tied several people to the guardrail on one side, and then silently waited for the official personnel to arrive.
But I became more and more confused.
When hunting enemy players these two days, there are always some "surprise" unexpected situations, like now, which makes it easy to catch people.
At first he thought it was a coincidence, but after it happened so many times, Polaris became suspicious.
"Is there someone helping me secretly...?"
He couldn't help but think.
"Who could it be? Probably not a player... But which NPC would help me for no reason..."
Polaris suddenly realized something, and a figure flashed through his mind.
teacher!
He thought back to when Jack cast him a meaningful look in the carriage, and at that moment he understood.
"The teacher wanted me to get first place in the task, so he probably sent some circus officials to help me in secret!"
Polaris didn't know why, but suddenly felt like her elders were biased against her.
This feeling was very subtle, but also made him quite touched.
Even though he knew it was just a game and Teacher Jack was just a virtual character, Polaris felt indescribably moved.
"I can't let him down..."
Polaris took a deep breath, looked down at the hostile player who was still begging for mercy and trying to "bribe" him with real credits, his eyes becoming more determined.
"I will definitely become the first mid-sequence transcendent player in the new version!"
*
*
*
The old warehouse area looked like a ruin, and the smoke and dust surrounding it had not yet completely dispersed.
Uniformed imperial troops moved around in it, searching for or escorting bound undead strangers.
In a spacious open space, Flo Yin was standing quietly, with some imperial officers and clergy of the Moon Church standing behind him.
Polaris, Dongyang, Chenxi and others, as well as hundreds of circus players, gathered in front of Flo Yin.
Everyone looked at the captured players around them, with different expressions, but most of them looked gloating.
"How dare you... You actually came here to cause trouble before the war. This is not the way to seek excitement. Now it's fine, just shut it down to version 9.0."
The Dragon King taunted in a low voice.
Dongyang and others couldn't help but shake their heads, while several female players started laughing.
"Thank you for your hard work. In these operations, we have killed tens of thousands of undead foreigner thugs and arrested thousands of people... Although we have not completely wiped out the enemy undead that have infiltrated the border, the effect is obvious at present."
Flo Yin was wearing an exquisite black and purple dress and a small slanted-brim hat with a purple chrysanthemum on the brim. She looked like a noble lady.
Her ethereal voice came from under the black gauze, and the surroundings became a little quiet.
"I have just received a message from Master Jack. The war may gradually unfold in the next two days. Your mission has come to an end for the time being..."
Next second.
All players received a prompt box indicating that the task was completed, and everyone had a look of joy on their face.
Although everyone gets different rewards for their battle performance, the experience points accumulated during this period can help you level up a few levels.
Among them, Polaris was slightly stunned, and Dongyang Chenxi and others around him looked at him, their expectant eyes focused on him.
"How's it going, Brother Beizi? Did you get first place?"
The Dragon King asked cautiously with a servile look on his face.
The others were also very curious.
This time, after receiving the "extra task" from the teacher, Polaris did not keep it to himself, but told his companions. It was not only because the offline gathering made their relationship closer, but also because Polaris knew clearly that he could not get first place by himself.
So he needs the help of these partners.
Fortunately, Dongyang and others did not disappoint him. Although they expressed envy and jealousy verbally, they still deliberately gave him "kills" in action and sent the players they captured to Polaris, wanting to help him.
This is not a bad thing, because Dongyang and others also know that once Polaris can complete this "extra task" and obtain the extraordinary knowledge of Sequence 7, then...
The first mid-sequence extraordinary player in the entire server will be born from their team!
This would not only be beneficial to the team's subsequent actions, but would also indirectly increase their own popularity. Of course, the most important thing was that they all regarded Polaris as a friend they could make close friends with.
Polaris took a deep breath, nodded heavily to his companions around him, and smiled:
“Got it!”
He looked at the panel displaying "Merits: Killed 741 hostile players, captured 340 hostile players, ranked 01", and felt infinite joy and touched in his heart.
Polaris had a lot to say to his teammates and his NPC teacher Jack, but in the end he only said this solemnly:
"Thank you."
Dongyang patted his shoulder, smiled and shook his head.
The Dragon King, Nanai Tutu and others showed expressions of worship.
"Brother Beizi, hurry up and claim your rewards. We'll be relying on you to protect us after we advance to the middle sequence!"
"What's so great about that? It's just a promotion earlier..."
Gnoll-Headed Dog made a sarcastic remark, but was "mercilessly slapped" by his good friend Forgotten Wuji.
Polaris glanced at them, smiled, and accepted the reward.
A deck of playing cards suddenly appeared in his hand. Everyone looked at him in surprise and confusion... Because in their cognition, extraordinary knowledge was recorded in books or papers.
"Is this a deck of cards?"
The centaur was surprised.
"It should be..."
The North Star is also a little confusing, so I turned it over to check.
Each of the playing cards was engraved with words that shone with a faint blue light, like exquisite patterns, turning ordinary playing cards into works of art.
What they didn't know was that this was extraordinary knowledge that Chen Lun copied using his new secondary profession of engraver. In order to enhance the fit of the sequence knowledge, he chose playing cards as the carrier and medium for engraving.
However, because the engraver's level was still LV1, it took a lot of effort.
As his eyes swept across the glowing words on the playing cards, Polaris felt a torrent of knowledge pouring into his mind. Not long after, a prompt popped up on the panel again -
You have discovered the extraordinary knowledge of "Destiny Sequence Seven - Magician"!
The promotion conditions have been met, triggering the promotion task!