Of course, besides these coincidental or intentional pranks, Loves White Silk had a lot of time-sensitive content. First off, he was the first player to establish communication with an NPC, and he was also the first to obtain a weapon from an NPC and successfully kill a hyena. Other players are still running for their lives or struggling to survive.
With his fondness for pranks, plus being the first to release a video capturing the novelty, many people thought it was just a short skit, yet they couldn't get enough of it.
At least the special effects are great, the Star Dragon Ridge looks like something you couldn't build in a small film studio.
"This first video update will end here. I've hit my resurrection limit. Next, I'll focus on cooperating with the lord to exchange for equipment and exploration. If any players spawn nearby, feel free to come find me. Just mention my name, and the NPC should accept it. Plus, judging from the NPC lord's reaction, you can all guess that he's currently the only NPC I've discovered who's willing to interact with players, and he definitely has a quest."
He summed up his final thoughts, "Some advice for new players. First, be cautious creating your character appearance; if it weren't for accidentally building a friendly relationship with an NPC, I'd really want to delete my account and start over. Who knew looks mattered in games too! Second, this game is too realistic. I suggest everyone set their feedback level below 10 during combat, and a bit higher when not fighting. You'll find the game is really realistic, but don't go below 5, as no tactile feedback makes it feel too floaty and uncomfortable, like being in an uncomfortable dream. If you do like I initially did and leave it at default 100, geez, it feels like grabbing hot coals; I don't want to experience that again, it's very discouraging. Those who are squeamish about blood can turn off the gore effects; severed heads will turn into cabbages."
Comments: [100 just like the real world? I have a daring idea, if I let my roommate play as a female character]
[You can't even get your pants off, you're bold but it's futile.]
"Thirdly, you guys may have noticed that besides monster killing for experience, the game system's presence is quite weak, useful only when leveling up and assigning points. I guess those who know martial arts or weapon combat will find it easy to get started. If I hadn't woken up in my own bed, I really would suspect that I had traveled to another era, but after all, it's still the beta phase, and they might add new features in the future,"
"Fourth advice, don't rashly attack NPCs. They are quite intelligent, or you might end up waiting for the resurrection cooldown."
Reckless actions without benefits are meaningless. No one wants to wait for the resurrection CD; it's a waste of life.
"Alright, that's all for this episode's game content. I'm White Silk, and I'll see you viewers next time."
The video sparked quite a bit of discussion, but unfortunately, the number of beta testers was too small, and the time was too early, so the viewership barely broke ten thousand.
After breakfast, Li Xiaojiang came back, leisurely washed up, checked his data, and felt thrilled and excited.
Unexpectedly, he had achieved decent results, and "Long Live Sister Li," who had previously posted asking for help, actively contacted him. He watched the video and realized he was on a mountain near Star Dragon Ridge; every time he resurrected, he could gaze at the outpost. Yet, he had been surrounded by scavengers and killed three times, hoping Li Xiaojiang could come to help, or his file would be ruined, seemingly the unlucky fellow he had seen asking for help on the forum.
If he couldn't be saved, he'd have to delete his account and restart, as he couldn't avoid the mandatory cooldown because even deleting an account required logging in first.
Li Xiaojiang said he could try; a monster spawn point represented experience.
But he was unarmed, unable to even deal with a stray dog, let alone scavengers.
He put on his helmet and lay down.
To continue exploring that incredible world!
...
The taste of roasted wolf meat wasn't great, especially now that there was a shortage of salt, with no spices to flavor it.
It tasted a bit like dog meat but was significantly tougher and chewier.
However, nobody complained, even thankful to have meat during the cold winter days, and ten people enjoyed the meal.
After dinner, the leftover wolf meat was cut by Old Pete and hung under the eaves; the cold wind was the best preservative. A living person hanging under the eaves overnight would freeze into an ice stick, so there was no concern about the meat spoiling.
Early one morning, Lind casually browsed a forum and unexpectedly came across a video titled "White Silk Teaches You How to Save the Magic World."
He hadn't realized the other party was a video blogger, which was essentially a public relations outlet. He had to cultivate this well.
Wrapped in a coat, he entered the warehouse.
Soldier Reed and Riff followed, having already organized the weapons and armor to one side, and next they had to tackle another pile that took up most of the room's space.
"Sir, there is a box of Rand Gold Coins here."
The dust raised caused Lind to raise his hand to fan the air unwillingly.
"Bring it out and count it,"
"Yes."
The soldiers didn't understand why Lind was suddenly interested in gold coins, but they brought them out anyway.
With the Ring of Magic shattered, order collapsed. Gold coins, previously a central purchasing power, were now useless. Only gold coins, still relatively scarce due to their fine craftsmanship, retained some collectible value. Silver and copper coins were scattered all around, and nobody would stoop to pick them up.
People had returned to bartering.
A few settlements operated by their own set of rules, ensuring everything was in their favor.
Like near the Star Dragon Ridge, Prey Town, a large communal town, required transactions to be made with a currency called "Gold Badge notes" — said to be made with a stamp possessing residual magic powers on paper, the imprint made the paper extremely durable and the material special, imitating its anti-counterfeiting capabilities unmatched by others.
Lind happened to have several Gold Badge notes, exchanged for wolf skins he had hunted previously.
"Gold coins could barely serve as currency, the final interpretation rights are mine."
If he wanted to drive players to work for him, he had to release rewards satisfactory to them. Gold coins themselves were worthless; after all, they were not made of real gold, and even if they were, their value needed recognition.
What players could buy with gold coins from Lind determined their true worth.
The advantage of using Rand Gold Coins was that not many had been issued in the Rand Kingdom and their manufacturing process was complex, reportedly involving the powers of Flying Escape's spent ones, nearly impossible for the common folk to replicate.
While the soldiers cleaned the gold coins, Lind, with a knife in hand, carved several signs as big as a palm with numbers on them out of wood.
He spent quite some time directing the soldiers to roughly sort weapons and armor by appearance and quality and then set them up like clothes stalls at a night market, hanging them on racks with price tags on each.
He also made several signs for Old Pete, who was in charge of cooking, and erected a wooden sign at the door that read "Temporary Corpse Collection Point."
The unadorned "Shop" and "Collection Point" were handcrafted.
"All set, just waiting for players to log in."