Li Wei entered the Warrior Association. He stepped into a large hall; on one side, was a large notice board, which displayed quests or allowed players to post their own. On the other side, was a reception desk. Li Wei looked around and directly walked toward the counter where a young woman in uniform was yawning, looking bored.
"Hello, I have just arrived in town and would like to register at the Warrior Association," said Li Wei while smiling at the receptionist.
"Welcome, sir! Of course. Can you please present your identity crystal."
"Here it is," said Li Wei while taking out his identity crystal.
The receptionist swiftly took it and scanned it onto her interface. She then smiled and returned the crystal. It was as simple as that.
"Here you go. Congratulations on joining the Warrior Association. This is only a branch of the Warrior Association, but we offer many services. Let me give you a quick introduction."
"For instance, the first floor is dedicated to warriors below level 20. This is where you can take in quests and submit them when you complete them. You will obtain contribution points for successfully completing your quests. This floor is also a meeting point for many warriors where you will have the opportunity to meet many other warriors and befriend them."
"The second floor is dedicated for level 20 to level 40 warriors. More advanced quests are available there together with other facilities. Warriors not meeting the qualifications are not allowed on this floor. The third floor is as you've guessed, for warriors above level 40."
"Besides these, our secondary building is accessible by all and provides several services. There, you can find our training area, while there is also a training center just outside, we can offer personalized teaching as we have many retired warriors that dedicate themselves to raising the next generation of warriors. We do believe that training under the supervision of an experienced instructor is more beneficial and will help you grow faster."
"There is also our trading area, there, you can exchange contribution points for items or skills, at the same time, you can sell your loots there or set up our own booth...."
...
"You are already officially registered. You may select any quests from the board behind you, please choose an appropriate one for your level, " said the receptionist.
It was a generic introduction typically directed towards people who never played games, but Li Wei still silently listened. 'A bit too long for my taste. It feels like those never-ending introduction…'
He then turned around and looked at the board. Many of the quests available were about escorting people outside the town. At the same time, many were about collecting resources in the surroundings.
Li Wei browsed through the available quests and settled onto one:
[System prompt: You have accepted the quest: "Giant Worms Extermination"]
[Information]
Kill 10 Giant Worms that are ravaging the fields. (Repeatable)
Reward: 10 contribution points, 500 exp
Completion: 0/10
This was the quest Li Wei chose. The farmers needed to plant their seeds, but these worms were preventing them from doing so. He just needed to kill some and bring back their hides as proof.
...
Despite having obtained a quest, Li Wei did not leave but instead went to the Trading area. He wanted to have a look at the different items available. More specifically, he wanted to look at the skills he would acquire in the future.
The building was mostly empty. Most players were now hunting and would only come back to trade at the end of the day. Li Wei was greeted by the person in charge and a screen lit up in front of him. Many items were displayed in front of Li Wei, but he quickly dismissed them to look at the skills.
There were hundreds of them. Li Wei was excited upon seeing that list but quickly, his excitement died down when he saw the prices. The cheapest skills cost 2000 contribution points, and these were just the basic ones. The more advanced ones were priced in millions.
Feeling dejected, Li Wei turned off the screen and left the Warrior Association; it was time for him to go to the fields for his quest.
As it was still rather early, Li Wei decided to not go to the residential district to find his lodging yet. He wanted to maximize his time farming and so, he went to a stall and bought some sandwiches for his lunch before leaving the city.
Leaving the city was easy. The guards did not stop Li Wei since he did not look suspicious. He left via the Southern gate towards the field infested by the Giant Worms.
...
Li Wei once again enjoyed the nice weather. He walked without haste towards the field infested by the worms. The quiet fields and the calm breeze were very relaxing.
Upon arriving, he was surprised to find that not many players were there and those that were, were mostly solo players. He thought that since more than 8000 players reached Algate City before him, they would all be crazily farming in these areas but that was not the case.
Most of the players who have already reached the cities came from large families or some sort of organization and most of them were all currently farming at the dungeon, which was more dangerous but at the same time, more rewarding. Another portion of the players took escort missions to try to be the first to settle in the smaller towns and build their influence there.
Li Wei entered the field but did not find any free worm around him. The ones he saw were all engaged in battle with the players. The Giant Worms were huge; they had a similar appearance to the worms commonly found in gardens, but they were much larger their skin was grey giving them a disgusting look. They had tiny red eyes and sharp mandibles near their mouths.
Li Wei slowly walked while observing the other players; most of them were melee classes swinging their weapons at the Giant Worms. The Giant Worms were swinging their body left and right, trying to bite the players. They looked like giant plants since their lower body was still buried in the ground, but just the part of their body above the ground was as tall as a regular human.
Suddenly, Li Wei felt that something was wrong. He felt the ground tremble slightly as if something was moving under him. He quickly reacted and rolled to the side, and just one second later, a Giant Worm emerged from the spot Li Wei was just standing, like a geyser. Above its head was "Giant Worm Level 10".
'Wow that was close. I should be careful. It looks like the Giant Worms are monsters that enjoy sneak attacking,' thought Li Wei.
The Giant Worm turned towards Li Wei and roared while moving its mandibles. The latter quickly reacted, drawing his 2 swords. He charged at the Giant Worm and activated his skill.
[Cleave]
Li Wei dodged the Giant Worm's bite and aim the side of the creature. "-19".
'Only 19 damage? looks like it has a thick skin, a level 10 creature is really stronger,' thought Li Wei. He quickly followed up by swinging his other sword.
The Giant Worm also turned his head towards Li Wei and attacked again, but the latter dodged by moving to the side. The battle continued. Li Wei was basically going around the Giant Worm, avoiding the bites while swinging his swords whenever he could.
Li Wei felt at ease against the Giant Worm. His moves might look funny to the spectators but his method was definitely working. He found it easy to dodge the bites, but it was different for the other players. Not every warrior invested heavily in dexterity and most rogues used daggers which had a shorter range making it more dangerous to attack.
He continued to slowly deplete its HP bar without taking a single hit. Eventually, when three quarters of its HP were depleted, the Giant Worm roared and went back underground.
"What? He can just escape like that... F***, all this work for nothing," exclaimed Li Wei.
But at this precise moment when Li Wei lowered his guard, the Giant Worm emerged from under his feet, sending him in the air. Surprised, Li Wei could not react in time. He tried to swing his swords in mid-air, but the Giant Worm twisted its body, avoiding the blade. It then viciously bit Li Wei's leg and threw him on the ground.
"-25"
[System prompt: You have been afflicted by the Giant Worm's poison. Strength -1 for 1 minute]
'Crap'
Li Wei quickly stood back up and got himself together. The Giant Worm was threateningly looking at him, swinging his body as if taunting Li Wei.
The latter once again grabbed his sword and charged at it. Dodging the bite, Li Wei jumped and made a vertical strike with his sword. Using his other sword, he pushed back the mandibles that were moving in his direction and used his skill.
[Cleave]. The sword rapidly landed on the Giant Worm, ending its life.
"Tough Bastard. Collect"
He placed his hand on the now lifeless body of the Giant Worm to collect the loot. He then quickly looked at what he obtained: two new items, [Giant Worm's hide] and [Giant Worm's mandibles] were added to his inventory.
Li Wei let out a faint smile. The battle was not as hard as he expected but just as he was letting his guard down, Li Wei felt the ground once again trembled under his feet. This was different from the previous hunting places. As long as Li Wei remained in the field, Giant Worms would regularly attack him. They saw him as a threat invading their territory.
This time, not one Giant Worm appeared, but two. Li Wei jumped to one side, avoiding the first one, but he was inevitably bitten by the second one.
[Strengthen]
Focusing, Li Wei activated his skills, [Blade Draw] the air blade flew towards the first Giant Worm dealing 15 damage. He completely ignored the other Giant Worm and focused on the damaged one. Using his swords, Li Wei tried to imitate the Red Bandit Leader, continuously going around the Giant Worm while slowly cutting down its HP bar.
"-14","-15". The Giant Worm had 150 HP which took Li Wei a considerable amount of time to deplete. Especially considering that the second worm did not stay idle. It went underground and reappeared behind Li Wei launching its body to bite him.
However, Li Wei jumped as soon as he felt danger behind him and landed right on top of the Giant Worm's head. Using it as a support, he jumped even higher and swung his blades in an X towards the dying Giant Worm.
Left with only one enemy, Li Wei used the same strategy, moving around and slowly depleting its health.
....
A few hours later,
"Fioufff that was tiring", Li Wei walked out of the field and went under the shade of a giant tree. Li Wei was exhausted, but his harvest had been quite good. It was at least better than the others; he successfully killed 21 Giant Worms while the others killed an average of 15.
Many players were also already lying under the tree. It was considered a safe zone in this area; the Giant Worms would not leave the field. As they all took out their lunch, the atmosphere relaxed, and many started talking to each other.
Even Li Wei was approached by his neighbor, Solitary Eagle.
"Hey Seven, that's a strange name you have there? Was it a lack of inspiration?" said Solitary Eagle.
Li Wei just smiled and answered, "Right back at you, aren't you too friendly for someone solitary?"
"Ahhh, it is just my usual ID when I play games. I used to be rather antisocial, spending all my time playing games, but it is the first time I play something like New Earth. What about you?"
"I've played some games but a full dive like New Earth is a first!" answered Li Wei
"I don't know if we are lucky or not to all be able to play this game! If the circumstances were different, maybe people would find the game enjoyable," commented Solitary Eagle.
"Yeah, but at the same time, I believe that not many people would be able to afford this. In one way or another, we can treat this as a sort of holiday for all of us."
....
Their conversation continued. The two got quite friendly after a few minutes and when they finished their respective lunch, they decided to team up to kill the Giant Worms.
As a team, they naturally started killing the Giant Worms at a faster rate, but their number also increased, they often faced two at a time, sometimes even three. Fortunately, Solitary Eagle who was also a warrior and was very skilled. He was not as fast as Li Wei, but he had more HP and his hits dealt more damage.
Solitary Eagle used a shield and a mace, he would often attract the attention of the Giant Worm, while Li Wei would go around and stab it from behind. He attacked much more slowly, but the mace would crash the Giant Worm's head onto the ground dealing at least 30 damage.
...
"Good work! It's already 5, let's head back," said Solitary Eagle when he saw the sun at the horizon.
"Huh? Isn't it only 5? The night cycle begins in 1 hour and it only takes 20 minutes to walk back to the city. Why do you want to leave now?" asked Li Wei.
"Oh yeah, it is your first time here. I forgot. From 5 to 6, a mutated Giant Worm will appear as a boss monster in this field. The big guilds will naturally gather and fight for this boss. It is the weakest one available right now, it is only level 12. We solo players cannot really contest it, and we don't want to be caught in the skirmishes of the guilds," answered Solitary Eagle.
"Ohhh a boss? That sounds really interesting!" said Li Wei while nodding to Solitary Eagle showing that he agreed on returning.
"I am myself considering joining a guild. What about you?" asked Solitary Eagle.
"Yeah, but I don't know which one is good, what do you think of the 3 main ones?"
"They are all good, but it depends on what you want. I heard that the Gem Family has the most resources at its disposition, but if you want to have access to them, you will need to make great contributions. The Fleeting clouds sect has the least resources of the three, but I heard that many martial artists are members of that guild and if you join them, you will have the opportunity to learn one of their techniques. As for the Stone Defenders, they are basically the army, very disciplined but offers decent rewards. They focus on equality, but I've heard that their training is very rough, especially since most of them come from the military!"
"Martial artists and the army you say?" said Li Wei, upon hearing the explanation of Solitary Eagle.
"These are just what I've heard. Don't take my words for granted."
The two left the fields and went back under the giant tree for some rest before heading back to the city.
In the distance, Li Wei could already see large groups of players gathering just outside the boundaries of the fields.
At the same time, a loud roar followed by several echoes were heard from the field. The ground started shaking and a large hole was formed in the middle of the field.
Seeing that, the players from the different guilds all grabbed their weapons, looking at each other.
"It looks like we will get to witness something fun," commented Solitary Eagle.