Players won’t truly choose a faction until level 25. Before that, they do ordinary quests in Wu and Yue, gaining reputation, experience, and copper coins, choosing a side to serve based on their understanding.

It can be said that the Wu-Yue struggle is the main plotline in the current three maps.

Ying Long had already cleared most of the main storyline in Xishi City. Now in Yue’s main city, she couldn’t miss the experience here.

She first activated the teleport at the post station and then browsed the shops and stalls in the city. Although Yue’s storyline opened later, there were quite a few players who had bound their main cities here. They probably guessed something about the upcoming faction storyline.

—The Wu king has a concubine who is from Yue. The main city is called Xishi City. The ministers around him are cunning and greedy, abusing their power, harming the loyal, while the Yue king conscripts laborers within the country. Although the people have complaints, they also want revenge for past grievances.

This looks like Yue will destroy Wu.

Rather than joining Wu, working hard only to be killed by the plot, it’s better to choose the main faction.

This idea isn’t wrong. Yue destroying Wu is a historical event; players can’t stop it. But if the Wu king dies and Wu is destroyed, what does that have to do with the players? The amount of player gains is unrelated to which faction they join.

Since she had smoothly risen to power, Ying Long was very interested in the game’s mechanics and didn’t plan to change main cities.

She continuously cleared quests, talking to NPCs in various areas, trying to trigger related plots.

Her efforts paid off. While wandering near a residential house, the spy she had let go earlier suddenly whispered to her.

【Wu Spy】whispered to you: I know you’re Si Kou’s person. I have a secret mission for you.

A quest window for a chance encounter popped up.

Ying Long accepted it before carefully reading the content.

The quest was that Si Kou had a task for her. First, she needed to contact Li, the tailor, at Chunhua Clothing Shop, and then, following instructions, infiltrate the Yue Grand Sima’s mansion to find the plan for Yue’s troop deployment.

This quest seemed long. She switched to the guild interface and saw that Tie Ma Qiu Feng had organized a dungeon run without her, so she started the quest.

As expected, she got stuck at the meeting point…

Meeting Li, the tailor, required a password, which was hidden in a torn piece of cloth delivered by a carrier pigeon, requiring the player to decipher it.

Fortunately, Ying Long had read a web novel about a novelist solving cases, which mentioned a lot of knowledge about codes. After several attempts, she discovered it was a rail fence cipher. Restoring the letters to pinyin gave the answer—Jiao Jiao Lian Si, Zai Suo Ran Zhi (Brightly spun silk, in the dyed).

After entering the answer, Li, the tailor, changed his expression and invited the player into a secret room to discuss.

He provided a map of the Sima mansion, marking several mechanisms and shift schedules, and an example of a deployment map, letting the player figure it out.

Although Ying Long was a little annoyed, she had no choice. 《Kyushu》 was like that. Ordinary quests were no different from ordinary online games. Following the prompts would complete them. Even if there was occasional difficulty, it could be overcome by buying items or teaming up.

But the difficulty of chance encounter quests was similar to console games, requiring players to explore on their own, taking effort to complete.

Pharmacist Linglong didn’t refer to any guides and could only try the mansion.

However, after avoiding the first wave of guard NPCs, she was discovered while cracking a mechanism, killed by the guards in two hits.

“Tsk.” Ying Long had played Kyushu for many years. Although she died, she had an idea of how to solve it in her mind. “It seems I need to learn Bi Hu You Qiang (Wall Gecko).”

The mechanism to be solved was under the eaves. Solving it would take at least two or three minutes. If unlucky and encountering a difficult one, it could take five minutes. She couldn’t avoid the patrolling guards who came by every 30 seconds. She could only use light skills to avoid them and hide under the eaves, or learn invisibility skills, to have enough time to pass.

《Bi Hu You Qiang》 is a light skill specifically for climbing walls and roofs, belonging to the same series as 《Yan Zi Chao Shui》, 《Yan Guo Wu Hen》, and 《Ying Ji Chang Kong》. It can be mastered by learning manuals or through self-discovery.

Ying Long remembered that in the early days, a light skill manual could sell for tens of thousands of gold, which was about 5000 RMB according to the exchange rate. Later, it dropped to more than 3000 gold, or 400-500 RMB, purely for the wealthy.

But as the mysterious person’s letter said, wealth only allows you to move faster. Ordinary players can also obtain light skills.

They can learn them themselves.

In wuxia novels, protagonists can learn martial arts on their own, and so can players in the game. But the prerequisite for learning isn’t luck, a one-time gamble, or wealth, buying comprehension points, but persistent practice.

Ying Long was an ordinary player before, buying consumable manuals for hundreds of gold. Later, unable to resist the coolness of light skills in combat, she decided to learn them herself. It was then that she discovered her talent for the game.

So, how to learn 《Bi Hu You Qiang》?

It’s simple: use the double jump that everyone knows to continuously climb walls. Successfully climbing more than 100 times will trigger comprehension.

This has high requirements for the player’s operation, reaction speed, and endurance. Not many players in Kyushu can achieve self-comprehension. After careful consideration, Ying Long decided to do it tomorrow. It was already past 10 pm. She would clear other quests first and level up to 23.

She quickly finished the nearby quests. Around 12 pm, Wan Ren Jie messaged her, asking if she wanted to run the 22-man dungeon again.

The level 22 dungeon can be entered 3 times a day, refreshing at 4 am every day, friendly to night owls.

Ying Long immediately agreed, running the 22-man dungeon again with Pantheon.

Wan Ren Jie led the run today, along with a Bing Jia disciple named Wan Jia Yan Huo, a healer named Lan Shan, and a Yin Yang Jia named Wei Wo Du Zun.

Wan Ren Jie and Wan Jia Yan Huo were both silent. Lan Shan asked where her little donkey came from, and Wei Wo Du Zun was also not very talkative.

The entire dungeon run was silent and uneventful.

Ying Long got a green wristguard, a headband, and an extra pearl clam, feeling satisfied.

Her level also successfully reached 23.

Wan Ren Jie sent her a private message.

【Wan Ren Jie】whispered to you: Want to join our guild? We’re short-handed. Your skills and awareness are good; getting a manager position is easy.

You whispered to Wan Ren Jie: What are the benefits?

【Wan Ren Jie】whispered to you: Monthly outfits, free medicine and food, and reimbursement for equipment later if you have high contributions.

You whispered to Wan Ren Jie: I promised Boss Tie to work for him for a while. Can I talk about it later?

【Wan Ren Jie】whispered to you: No problem.

You whispered to Wan Ren Jie: I also need Boss Jie to put in a good word for me ^_^

【Wan Ren Jie】whispered to you: [Smiling face]

Ying Long still liked Pantheon.

Competition and pressure between guilds gave her room to maneuver.

She chatted with Wan Ren Jie for a while and exited the dungeon.

It was past 12 am. Trying to learn the light skill now might not be ideal due to lack of focus. A bad state was unacceptable, so it was better to go to bed early.

She washed her face, brushed her teeth, confirmed there was nothing important in the game, and turned off the computer to go to bed.

Although she slept until noon, the game required high concentration, and she got tired quickly, falling asleep after a while.

She slept for another eight hours.

Ying Long stayed in bed until 9 am, washed up, went downstairs. There were always delicious things around the university dormitory. She bought an egg pancake for breakfast, saw a stall selling small cakes, bought five, and finally went to the supermarket to buy supplies.

A box of instant coffee, two bottles of cola, several rolls of toilet paper, and a nice grapefruit, asking the vendor to help pick one and peel it.

She returned to the dormitory, put away her clothes from two days ago, turned on the game, and checked the online response.

《Kyushu》’s own forum was naturally lively. She scanned it quickly; it was full of guides and sect skill point suggestions. On China’s largest game forum, there were two hot posts: one was gossip about Pantheon’s disbandment in 《Dao Jian》, and another was complaining about an update that added nothing. There was also a very popular post introducing 《Kyushu》.

On the third day of the game’s launch, most players had a preliminary understanding of Kyushu.

A user named “Du Gu Jue Shi” wrote:

【The emergence of 《Dao Jian》 once impressed people. The Jianghu-style background allowed players to experience the era of Jin Gu Huang Liang Wen. However, the updates in the past six months have been unsatisfactory. The professional balance is terrible. The fighting between guilds has changed from passionate battles to cunning schemes. The intrigue surpasses the fun of the game itself. The main storyline hasn’t been updated for a long time, the copyright contract has expired… it’s inevitable that it’s declining.】

【If it were at another time, there might be a chance to make up for it, but 《Kyushu》 has risen strongly, and 《Dao Jian》 is probably doomed. I’ve played 《Kyushu》 for three days, and the unique professional settings and free school choices are not inferior to 《Dao Jian》. The fictional Warring States period has the shadow of Jianghu sects and traces of historical myths. The framework is much larger than a pure Jianghu setting. The current faction war preview is the Wu-Yue war, which should be the historical period of Gou Jian and Fu Chai. The player immersion is strong, and the combat system is well-made. There’s a video on the forum of a female doctor clearing a low-level dungeon, showing the potential of skillful gameplay.】

【The map is a 3A open world. You can walk to every corner with your legs. Every building can be entered (the royal city has requirements). You can interact with teapots and tables and chairs, and even steal chicken legs from cabinets. NPCs will scold you and chase you, making it extremely realistic. I spent a day studying the map of Xishi City. It’s the best-made scene I’ve ever seen in a game.】

【The official said that there will be more surprising dungeons. If they can really make console-style dungeons and more diverse faction wars, it will definitely attract a large number of domestic online game players. I saw the official say that the number of registered players has reached one million, and the reputation is still fermenting. The future is worth looking forward to.】

This was probably a veteran forum user, even a moderator. The post already had thousands of replies, all analyzing the experience of 《Kyushu》.

Of course, there were people who cursed, saying that all Chinese-style games were garbage, but most were supportive and optimistic.

Ying Long switched to Weibo and checked the situation of 《Kyushu》’s official account.

The number of followers had already exceeded one million. Yesterday, they posted Gongzi Lihen’s video of clearing the 22-man dungeon, and this morning at 8 am, they posted news about 《Kyushu’s registered players exceeding five million, all servers full》.

It’s quite impressive for an online game to have five million players in three days, especially since 《Kyushu》 doesn’t have an IP to attract IP fans. PC games are different from mobile games, and the several million pre-orders of ten years later are not comparable.

But why is the number of forwards so high?

Ying Long was puzzled and suddenly realized she had missed the top post.

A popular actress and a top male star endorsed 《Kyushu》.

They were dressed as Yi Jia and Bing Jia disciples, one gentle and beautiful, the other masculine and valiant, similar to their famous roles.

Ying Long: …

This is like Li Ruotong endorsing the Ancient Tomb School and Gao Yuanyuan endorsing Emei. The impact is too strong. And if she remembered correctly, this female doctor died early in the drama, like a white moonlight. The male general was the second male lead, dying to save the female lead, another tragic story.

What a cunning marketing strategy. Well done.

Ying Long returned to the game with satisfaction.

Xishi City was extremely crowded, with countless small accounts running quests in the streets and alleys. If the previous reports were exaggerated, now 《Kyushu》 was visibly becoming popular.

There were more recruitment messages in the region chat, with established guilds directly offering 20 yuan for a “command Kyushu” title, loudly recruiting members.

【Region】Ba Bao Zhou: I’m not being sarcastic, but to recruit people, you need a guild first.

【Region】Lemon Chicken Feet: The Pharmacist girl is still amazing. There’s still no second guild.

【Region】War Correspondent: Report—Currently, there are twelve guilds officially stationed in Junlin, four from 《Dao Jian》, three from Fengshen, and seven or eight from Western fantasy games, all aiming for Long Zhan, the first guild in the server.

【Region】Honest Merchant 001: Boss Tie is under a lot of pressure.

Tie Ma Qiu Feng was indeed under a lot of pressure…

He was a veteran online game player, having played several games. He had heard of several of the newly established guilds; they were all famous large guilds from other games.

He came to Kyushu to casually play and accompany Bei Ya, but he didn’t expect this game to be so good, and he didn’t expect to buy the title of the server’s first guild.

But since Long Zhan was established, he naturally wouldn’t waste it. Last night, he cleared out his belongings from 《Dao Jian》, put his accounts up for sale, and prepared to invest everything into 《Kyushu》.

As soon as Pharmacist Linglong came online, he hurriedly called for people.

【Deputy Guild Leader】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Pharmacist, remove Bei Ya’s manager position and give it to Gua Zhou.

Gua Zhou was a male healer, level 21. His name showed he was an old friend.

【Deputy Guild Leader】Bei Ya: ?

【Deputy Guild Leader】Tie Ma Qiu Feng: Kid, you’ve been wronged.