The conspiracy against Yang Jian
After continuously devouring one green-grade and one blue-grade item, Yang Jian's talent had already undergone a significant transformation.
Talent: Devour (Blue)
Description: Devour a blue-grade equipment not higher than your level, inherit all of its attributes, and it can be stacked infinitely.
Cooling Down: Remaining Time: 59:59
Upgrade Condition: 1 / 50 (Only blue-grade equipment counts towards upgrade condition)
Current Devoured Attributes: Strength +40, Agility +65, Stamina +28, Attack +1673, Defense +1495, Ranged Attack Power +20, Inventory Slots +28, Block +580
The first Murloc Shortbow Yang Jian acquired was devoured by him as nourishment.
To be honest, bow-type weapons tend to add less attack power compared to other weapon types.
However, since it was blue-grade equipment and could contribute to the upgrade condition, the additional 5 Strength and 5 Agility were definitely not a loss.
Counting the blue-grade equipment he had, including what he wore and what was in his backpack, he only had eight pieces in total.
After some thought, he quickly sent a distress message to his human-shaped cheat.
Yang Jian: Rich lady, hungry, hungry...
Zhou Yue: Speak like a normal person!
Yang Jian: My talent is blue-grade...
Zhou Yue: Hold on for a bit. I arranged for the mail this morning, but Newbie Village and the main city are not interconnected! It can't be sent.
Yang Jian: I'm counting on you, love you!
Zhou Yue: Get lost...
With his worries resolved, Yang Jian began to formally observe his surroundings.
Currently, Yang Jian was located about one hundred kilometers south of Zhenhai City.
Looking at the map, continuing south would lead him to Iron Mine Territory, and heading east would take him to Nightshade Town.
Yang Jian didn't plan to go to those places for now, so he simply stayed put to level up.
During his journey, Yang Jian discovered a problem.
Not all NPCs were like Chen Ergou, who were transferred to enrich Zhenhai City.
Some farms and households here had memories of living on this land for generations.
He didn't know if these memories were real or if they were fabricated by the gods...
Unable to figure out the situation for now, Yang Jian stopped dwelling on it.
He accepted three or four quests at the Sardine Farm to clear out nearby boars, mountain wolves, vultures, and other monsters.
In total, he needed to clear over a hundred wild monsters.
Time to fight!
Arcane Shot!
-4875, -2168
The mountain wolf fell dead instantly, without a moment's hesitation.
Yang Jian, however, hesitated a little.
Should he abandon the quests and continue south?
Forget it, the difficulty was reduced, but the rewards weren't diminished at all.
It was a good opportunity to practice the intermediate Skinning he had just learned in the main city.
Yang Jian summoned Little Boar and Little Sea Turtle.
Don't say I don't take care of you guys, let's level up together...
After more than two hours of hard work, Yang Jian reluctantly disengaged from the joy of grinding monsters and leveling up only when the game pod prompted him to exit the game to take care of personal matters.
Checking the time, it was already three in the afternoon!
Thinking about the Blood Moon Buff in the evening, the Lord of the Blood Moon seemed like a benevolent gift-giver to players.
Of course, the struggles and schemes between gods couldn't be as simple as players perceived them.
But he currently lacked the ability to criticize or interfere with their situation.
Whatever happens, happens. He would take advantage of the situation first, then talk about leveling up.
After logging off, Yang Jian walked out of his office, intending to take a stroll.
He found that almost all the players in the studio had logged off, seemingly waiting for nightfall.
After all, it was a 50% experience boost!
Who wouldn't be tempted?
Currently, only four people across the entire server had reached level nine.
Among them, Bai Youyou had quietly climbed to fourth place on the ranking board.
She was only behind Yang Jian, who was over level ten, Zhou Yue, who was past level nine, and a foreign mage player.
The ideal situation was for both of them to reach level ten tonight and then head to Zhenhai City.
"Sigh, playing a game has turned my days and nights upside down..."
Yang Jian sat down next to Zhou Yue, who was lifting weights, watching her exercise her chest muscles.
"You can't train anymore, if you keep training, you'll really develop muscles!"
Zhou Yue gave Yang Jian a fierce glare.
"Lying in the game pod every day, my limbs are almost atrophying!"
"Alright then, help me run an errand. Scan and print several copies of this!"
Zhou Yue ungraciously took the map.
"What's so important that it requires the guild leader herself to make copies?"
She glanced at it casually... "A map of Zhenhai City? I have to say, this map is really big!"
"Over the next few days, after our people gradually arrive in Zhenhai City, arrange for some peripheral members to explore the entire Zhenhai City, not even letting go of any sewers that can be entered by people! Let's quickly get a 3D topographic map made!"
"Understood!"
Yang Jian sent Zhou Yue all the videos he had taken in Zhenhai City today!
Yang Jian would only initiate such matters; important decisions would then be arranged by Zhou Yue and her team.
With layers of oversight, things would only be done more meticulously than Yang Jian could imagine.
After exercising his body in the activity room, his physique remained the same.
Although Yang Jian had diligently trained for a better life in the years since he transmigrated, his attributes, which barely exceeded a hundred, were incomparable to those in the game world.
The simplest example, which he had just tested today, was that in salvation, Yang Jian could already run at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour while carrying a heavy load!
With 164 Agility and 94 Stamina, he could already achieve the performance of a used Alto car.
However, in reality, there was almost no difference.
He said 'almost' because the virtual game pod Yang Jian used still had some minor functions to improve physical fitness...
On the morning of July 2nd, the sun rose as usual.
As salvation gained traction online, even more people came to the company for interviews today!
There were even several retired professional gamers.
Because they started relatively late, by now, there were no game helmets circulating in the market.
This helmet was quite tricky; there were no second-hand ones available!
Once bound, even if you didn't use it, no one else could...
"Mr. Bai, everything else is fine, but isn't the ownership and usage rights of this helmet too strict?"
"What's so strict about it? We provide the game helmet, and when we can no longer cooperate, we take it back. Isn't that a very normal thing?"
"Are there no buyback clauses?"
"I'm sorry, the company is not short of money..."
It had long been rumored that the owner of Lingyun Studio was wealthy, and they were one of the big spenders who bought game items lavishly at night!
It seemed there was no room for negotiation...
The other party reluctantly signed their name on Lingyun's 'overlord' clause.
In fact, the contract Lingyun offered was quite generous.
At least the pay was very good...
But for those who weren't short on money, it was a bit hard to accept!
This game was indeed very popular.
They genuinely wanted to experience the feeling of dominating online games in their youth.
But they still had to work for others...
Well, working for others it was!
Although the conditions regarding betrayal of the studio and guild were ridiculously high, these individuals couldn't imagine how one could betray a game.
Surely no one would take the NPCs' alarmist warnings seriously, right?
No way? No way?
It was just for fun and memes!
Including the personnel hired into the studio today, Lingyun Studio now had over a hundred active employees.
So, everything is difficult at the beginning!
After getting through the first three days, didn't the manpower arrive?
Zhou Yue had also gradually transferred some miscellaneous tasks to Bai Youyou!
No other reason, Bai Youyou's attributes were simply too suitable for these things.
She possessed the talent of a chosen worker, with various team management buffs.
And the time she spent managing the team was compensated by her talent.
Bai Youyou's operations were average, and her strength was also average, but the 30% various buffs allowed her to easily keep up with the main force.
However, due to her own lack of strength, she didn't have the ability to be a main force for pioneering as a first-tier player!
She could leech achievements but couldn't be a main force...
Therefore, our General Manager Zhou went to level up with peace of mind, leaving most of the studio and guild's miscellaneous tasks to Bai Youyou!
With the rapid expansion of personnel, to ensure these people functioned as full-time players, logistics had to keep up.
After a busy period, when Bai Youyou logged back online, it was already past ten in the evening!
Which meant the Blood Moon had already risen several hours ago.
Although Xia Family's Three Daughters and Bai Xiaobai's four had logged on to level up earlier, they dared not stray too far from where Bai Youyou logged on.
After all, in Newbie Village, one could only revive in the plaza.
If they accidentally caused the vice guild leader's death, the few of them would probably be wearing tight shoes until they fit.
And because there was also Bai Xiaobai, a staunch supporter of Bai, in the team, the three Xia sisters could only grumble half-jokingly!
This was considered an elite team; currently, everyone except Bai Youyou was level eight on average.
Bai Xiaobai, who arrived the latest, was only level seven.
However, Bai Youyou, with an additional 30% experience bonus, was already nearing level nine.
It was hard to judge!
Xia Mingwei's sense of superiority when seeing others struggle was completely shattered by Bai Youyou!
Yang Jian's mood was also very complex right now.
So far, he was still the only one who had reached level ten.
And just now, Yang Jian had devoured the last blue-grade item he stripped off himself...
Now, he only had purple-grade and green-grade items left!
Yang Jian completed all the quests at Sardine Farm, looked at the cooking recipe reward given by the boss, was speechless for a moment, and then gladly accepted it!
He still had to face life with a smile...
At this moment, the world channel once again erupted into chaos.
"I just want to know, is level 10 to 11 that fast? It seems even faster than others going from level 9 to 10, right?"
"Sigh, are we really playing the same game as Tian Mu Zhenjun?"
"Of course not, you guys are playing WeChat chat, he's playing passionate leveling, how can it be the same!"
"Don't be envious, jealous, or hateful. I asked Doubao for her opinion, and she said it's because Newbie Village has a maximum monster level 10 restriction, so there's no experience bonus for fighting higher-level monsters when going from level 9 to 10..."
"So, that means Tian Mu Zhenjun went to farm higher-level monsters again, right?"
"Obviously..."
"Sigh, falling behind one step means falling behind every step!"
Watching Yang Jian's level pull further and further away from everyone else, some forces with ambitious ideas about this game began to stir.
"Guild Leader, we've received an order to intercept 'Tianmu Zhenjun' in Zhenhai City!"
In a small building in Huzhou City, the guild leader of Seventh Heaven received such a commission.
"We are a legitimate gaming guild... not an assassin organization!"
"Then... reject it?"
"Wait, why don't you understand? We are a gaming guild, and they are commissioning us to work in the game, which is reasonable! I have no reason to refuse..."
Subordinate: ...So, what were you pretending just now?
"Any news from the official channels of the Four Great Empires?"
"Not a single sound..."
"Then are the messages in this game real or fake? At least drop a hint, don't all play dead!"
At the same time, several former major guilds in Xia received orders.
After level ten, death would mean losing experience and equipment!
If you run ahead poorly, you'll have to come back and run again...