*Cough cough*
Arthur used some mana to cough loud enough for all 99 players to hear.
And that worked. All players stopped what they were doing and turned to Arthur with curiosity.
These players had already watched the game trailer several times, so when they saw Arthur they quickly identified that this NPC was the same one they had seen.
Knowing that he was probably an important NPC in the game's history, all the players were quiet as they looked at Arthur with expectant eyes.
"Hello, you may have heard about me from somewhere, but to ease the process I will introduce myself." Arthur said, still using his own mana so that everyone could hear.
"Look, it looks like this NPC knows he appeared in the game's promo trailer." The players spoke to each other in a low voice so Arthur wouldn't hear, but they didn't know that because of the large amount of mana circulating in Arthur's body, his senses were much better than the senses of ordinary people and he could hear everything they did. they were saying clearly.
But pretending not to have heard anything, Arthur continued to talk. "I am Arthur, the master of this sect. As you can see, this place has been destroyed for over a hundred years..." He said while pointing to the destroyed buildings. "I wasn't the founder of this sect, much less was alive when it was destroyed, but I know why it happened. Can any of you guess that?"
The players were confused, they thought that the NPC was just going to tell the story of the world for them to become familiar with, but they didn't expect him to ask them a question and expected them to answer.
'This artificial intelligence is very good!' It was the thought of many of the disciples.
"Was it because they offended someone they shouldn't?" A player yelled, but Arthur just shook his head.
"Was it because they had a fight with each other?" Another player yelled, but got the same answer from Arthur.
"Maybe it was because…" A player was about to say his estimate, until a thick, confident voice came.
"It was because they were weak!"
The players were surprised by this voice and turned to see who it was. Instead of a pretty and delicate face like most of the other disciples, this man actually had a bald head with several scars on the body. And since he hadn't fought any monsters since he joined, either those scars were already from his original body, or he deliberately added it to his avatar in this game.
Sensing the man's response made sense, the players looked to Arthur to see what he would say.
Arthur was smiling at that man's response. "Yes, it was because they were weak! That's exactly what happens to the weak in this world, they are destroyed. If our sect is weak, that will be the result that awaits us in the future."
The players were a little surprised at how Arthur said it. After all, they were used to playing games where the player could always win as long as they used enough money, so they still thought that as long as there was someone rich playing the game, nothing would happen.
"If you think you're the children of fate, blessed by a goddess, or anything like that, you're completely wrong. You're normal people, and no special treatment will be given to people who don't live up to expectations, or that they think they have a deep or rich history. I myself am a nobleman of this country and yet I am subject to the same mortal rules of this world, meaning the only thing that will guarantee them survival in this world is their own effort." Arthur said even more cold words to the players.
This made them a little more apprehensive, as the situation here actually looked different than they had imagined it would.
Until the bald player screamed. "It doesn't matter, to break this rule you just have to be stronger than the people who dictate it!"
Players were shocked by what the bald man had said, it was as if he was challenging the creators of this game. But contrary to what they imagined, Arthur, rather than being annoyed, actually smiled wider at the man's response.
"Yes! That's the spirit! If you're tired of living a mediocre life and being subjected to other people, just be more powerful than them and make your own rules! As long as you dedicate yourself to staying strong or contributing to the Sect, you will have a guaranteed seat here!" Arthur gave a scream that startled the players.
But after hearing what Arthur said, these players, instead of being scared, they actually got excited.
What Arthur said was true, they were tired of their mediocre life on Earth, that's why they like to play video games, as in that place they can be influential and powerful. They can write an epic story and be hailed as the best at something. That was why they played Elder Worlds, and that's exactly what Arthur wanted to encourage in them!
"Yes!" A player yelled.
"We just have to get strong?! That's a piece of cake!" Another player yelled.
"I'll..."
As the players cheered excitedly, Tony was shocked. If he hadn't constantly thought this was a game because of the shock he felt at the thought of dying, he would definitely think this was really another world! Everything was very real, even the NPC looked a lot like a real person.
Mainly the words that the NPC said that fit him perfectly. Because of an illness his mother had, the entire family got into debt to pay for medical expenses, to the point where he usually works morning, noon, and night to help with the family's bills. If today wasn't Sunday he would be working that hour too, just so he could help the family.
Because of this debt, he couldn't even go to college, so he was always ridiculed by the people he knew, both his high school "friends" and his co-workers who just saw him as an inferior person despite doing the same job.
It irritated Tony deeply, and being able to be someone special in this game sparked a flame in Tony's chest that he thought had gone out many years ago.
'If only I can be someone special here, I'll dedicate myself to it! Whenever I leave work I will dedicate 200% to playing Elder Worlds, so that I can feel fulfilled here!
The players were excited as they discussed what they could do in this world, until Arthur interrupted them.
"This is not an ordinary world, in this world there are spells and abilities, even the most powerful knights depend on mana to stay strong, making mana the basis of this world! Each of you has been selected as a possible disciple because you have already awakened the mana from you. The only thing you need to do to feel this is sit down and concentrate on your own chest. There you will feel a foreign energy. This energy is mana!" Arthur explained while patiently explaining the method for feeling Mana the first time.
Within minutes a young man with blond hair shouted excitedly. "I got it!"
"Me too!"
"Me as well!"
So soon all the disciples were able to feel their own mana, allowing Arthur to continue the explanation. "In the human body, the more mana circulates through your body, the stronger your muscles become. The difference between the strength of people with mana and people without mana is very big, look." Arthur said before jumping off the abandoned building.
Players were shocked. Arthur had jumped from a height of more than 10 meters, but he landed on the ground as if nothing had happened and this was just a step.
"This is basic for people with mana, you still have very little mana to do something like this without getting hurt, but in a few days it will become something possible for you." Arthur explained. "Right now you should be feeling your own muscles getting stronger as you unlock your own mana. Watch these changes." Arthur explained.
It took less than 15 minutes for Arthur to explain the basics of mana to these players, before he decided to let these players finally start playing.
"Very well, enough explanations." Arthur said in a mana enriched voice. "Now, to be really accepted into the Divine Sect, you must first complete a task. There are several monsters around our sect, their strength ranges from Low Mortal Core, to Low Elementary Core. Each disciple must get 100 points! Low monsters Mortal Core is worth 1 point, Mid Mortal Core is worth 2 Points, High Mortal Core is worth 4 Points, Peak Mortal Core is worth 8 Points, and Elementary Core is worth 80. If you don't complete the quest in 3 days you will lose the right to be one disciple of the Divine Sect." Arthur explained in a serious tone. "Groups can be formed, the points earned will be divided automatically between the people who help to kill the monster. Keep in mind that everyone's goal is the same, and there are enough spots for everyone, so it's important that you don't see each other as competitors, but as companions." Arthur said before walking away.
As Arthur left, he commanded the System to issue a mission to the players.
[Ding, Sect mission!]
[Users must accumulate 100 points within 72 hours. If the required points are not accumulated, the user will lose the right to continue playing Elder Worlds and the seat will be transferred to another random person.]
[Points collected: 0/100 ]
Players were shocked to see this quest. Where have you ever seen a game that sent you a mission that could ban you from the game?! What kind of game developer would stop people from playing their games?! Maybe the company that made this game doesn't like money?
Initially players thought about just running off to kill the monsters, but after seeing how serious the consequences of not being able to complete the mission were, they started to think in a more collective way and teamed up to figure out a method to complete it.
"Well, considering we have 72 hours to complete the mission, and we need 100 points, if we're only going to be in the game for 12 hours, that means we would need at least 3 points per hour to complete the mission ahead of time. run out, which could be 3 Low Mortal Core monsters, or even a single High Mortal Core monster per hour..." A player spoke his thoughts aloud.
"Well I guess we're just in the tutorial game, so the tutorial monsters must be weak right?" A player asked with a confident expression.
This made the other players think he was really right, after all, the places known as "Rookie Villages" were always known for having weak monsters and easy for players to kill, so this game really can be different.
"Maybe the Master was just exaggerating to see if we would have the courage to meet this challenge. You know what? I'm now going to kill a monster by myself, just follow me and you'll see that these monsters are nothing!" The player said proudly as he turned and started to leave the destroyed sect.
Initially players intended to discuss for longer about what to do to kill so many monsters in the most efficient way, after all, the game wouldn't give 3 days of deadline if it was easy to complete. But seeing how confident that player came out, the 98 people faced each other and decided to follow that person to see how he would fare against the monsters of this place.
Trying to keep the steps light so as not to attract too much attention these players watched the solo player and saw that he had found a small green goblin all by himself.
"Hey, goblins are weak monsters, right?" A player asked the group.
"Yes, goblins are almost always very weak, the problem with them is that they are usually very smart when they become NPCs, but when they are just monsters this race is pretty easy to kill." Another player responded. He had already played a game where there were goblin NPCs, these goblins were very smart and always stole players' gold.
The goblins in Elder Worlds were just monsters, these players didn't think monster intelligence would be that high.
But soon they realized they were wrong, very wrong!
"Help!!!!!!" The player screamed in horror as the little green goblin scaled that player's cuts and tore at his flesh with the little claws he had in his hand.
Players with lighter stomachs felt a little retching, and players with sharper battle instincts were horrified by what they saw.