Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 130 - 125: Is This First Clear Boss Talented in Both Arts and Martial Arts?

Chapter 130: Chapter 125: Is This First Clear Boss Talented in Both Arts and Martial Arts?

The white fog enveloped his vision once again, and Li Hongyun felt that he was about to wake up in reality.

"Did I time it just right?

"I really am a king among men!"

Even Li Hongyun himself found it hard to believe the success of this clearance.

Looking back at his clearance experience, it was indeed full of coincidences.

The instance "Sealing of Nobility Was Not My Intention" could actually be divided into three stages:

The first stage was General Deng sweeping away bandits, including the initial "Three Arrows Set the Universe" and subsequent attacks on Puning Port, mainly testing the player’s basic combat abilities;

The second stage involved Governor Lin’s struggle with the court officials and the Emperor, similar to a trial of scholars without combat segments, primarily testing puzzle-solving abilities;

The third stage was defending Nanhe City against bandits, whose difficulty lay in avoiding the deceptive General Liu Ji, impersonating and correcting Wang Zongchang, and successfully keeping Nanhe City under control as a civil official until General Deng’s reinforcements arrived.

As for the final military camp beyond the pass, it seemed more like an easy concluding stage, with the only difficulty possibly being the oversight of Mr. Xu and not bringing him to meet General Deng. But overall, this conclusion could be said to have been easy, more like a cutscene after clearing the instance.

The first stage wasn’t very hard, although the bandits’ strength had increased compared to the previous instance and elite monsters like the Wandering Warrior appeared, but after all, the players were also growing, and having General Deng to rely on, clearing it after several tries was perfectly achievable.

The difficulty spiked at the second stage, where players not only had to analyze the situation in the court correctly, finding a breakthrough in the power struggle between Yan Maoqing, Gu Qingzhang, and the Emperor, but also had to figure out the specific moves.

Just the matter of the two confessions alone, it’s unknown how many players it would stump.

However, reflecting on it, Li Hongyun thought that the two confessions were not essential; perhaps it was also possible to acquire a specific talent skill to persuade Sun Fanghua, who came to probe, and thereby influence Gu Qingzhang.

It’s just that Li Hongyun didn’t have so much time to experiment, so he chose the most secure method.

After all, most players had already recognized the characteristics of the game "Dark Sand" after two official instances; every new instance initially was tough and the thought processes for solving puzzles were often unconventional—it seemed like no condition could be omitted; but once genuinely cleared, various new methods were developed, and the ways to clear multiplied.

When it came to multiplayer and team modes, that was when the creativity really blossomed.

Li Hongyun woke up in reality just in time to hear Chu Ge’s frustrated sigh.

"Damn!

"Why can’t I just hold it? What in the world is wrong with General Liu!"

Chu Ge’s expression was one of life questioning.

In the instance, he also had a sense of the general time and saw that he was only a step away from clearing the instance but no matter what, he couldn’t hold Nanhe City, which could indeed frustrate anyone.

But Chu Ge didn’t dwell on it much, as he felt he was among the faster progressing players; just solving the second stage alone would take other players a couple of days.

He still had time.

As long as he could manage the segment about Nanhe City tonight, striving for a first clear was still hopeful.

"How about it, did you figure out how to meet the Emperor?" asked Chu Ge.

Li Hongyun swung his legs off the bed, "I’ve figured it out, my approach involves preparing two confessions, one for Sun Fanghua to see, and another to present."

Chu Ge nodded, "Right, the core idea is actually to provoke Gu Qingzhang to launch an attack on the Yan faction, and then you play the role of Governor Lin to rebalance the relationships among Yan Maoqing, Gu Qingzhang, and the Emperor, achieving a chestnut-out-of-fire effect.

"It looks like you’ve got quite the understanding!"

Previously Chu Ge had only helped Li Hongyun analyze the court situation and loosely provided a direction that ’reaches all the way to the heavens’, and for Li Hongyun to come up with the specific solution on his own was indeed not simple.

Li Hongyun gave a slightly sly smile, "Then I guess you must be stuck with the plot of defending Nanhe City, right? Want to know why you couldn’t hold it?"

Chu Ge’s expression was slightly astonished, "What? You mean you held it?"

Li Hongyun chuckled, "What else? A king among men isn’t joking with you! Alright, I admit my clearance does involve a tiny bit of luck, but luck is also part of strength, right?"

Chu Ge remained puzzled, "But, our combat strengths should be similar, or I should even be stronger since I can enhance the soldiers’ strength with my integrity as a scholar.

"Where did it go wrong? No matter how I play as Liu Ji, I can’t seem to correct him..."

Li Hongyun just smiled and said nothing.

Suddenly, Chu Ge had an epiphany, "Could it be that it’s not Liu Ji who’s been tampered with?

"Eh? But that’s not right either. I’ve played as Wang Zongchang twice, and neither time did any success notification appear...

"Could it be... that I need to personally take to the battlefield as Wang Zongchang to fight the enemy??"

Chu Ge was indeed very smart; previously, he was too involved in the instance to see the situation clearly. Li Hongyun’s silent smile reminded him, and he immediately noticed his previous blind spot.

The two previous times, he had also played as Wang Zongchang and successfully gathered the remnants of the army.

But both times, he failed to hold and also received no notification about Wang Zongchang’s identity being corrected.

So Chu Ge thought that the tampered character might be Liu Ji, and thus switched to playing as Liu Ji.

But in fact, the correct approach should have been to play as Wang Zongchang, go into the battle to chop down enemies, and then die bravely.

Even if a civil officer lacked close combat skills it wouldn’t matter; as long as he chopped down enemies and died, it would mean that Wang Zongchang’s identity had been corrected. Once he restarted, let the system automatically control Wang Zongchang, the player just assists a bit, try a few more times, and it could be defended successfully.

Having realized this, Chu Ge couldn’t help but clench his fist in frustration.

"Damn it! Why didn’t I think of this sooner?

"I got tricked by this game, and even with a choice between two options, I was still misled...

"And let you take the first pass! It truly is a time without heroes, making mediocrities famous..."

Li Hongyun’s face darkened, "What do you mean, ’a time without heroes making mediocrities famous’? How many historical heroes have had the luck of the devil? There are many heroes whose luck was crazier than mine.

"This is real skill, you understand? Real skill!"

Chu Ge nodded in agreement, "Indeed, it’s real skill. It’s just that the requirements of this instance perfectly align with your real skills...

"This instance requires both an understanding of historical knowledge and political struggle, as well as certain practical abilities. Playing Wang Zongchang, this civil officer, you still have to personally roll up your sleeves and fight... It really suits someone like you, a history major who chose a combat profession...

"But I have to ask, as an assassin player, have you used your innate skills? You should still remember how to use ’A Common Man’s Wrath,’ right?"

Li Hongyun was momentarily speechless, then said, "You wait! Tonight I’m going to play the upgraded trial instance, and show you what a long-range assassin is!"

The two of them laughed and bickered as they went to have breakfast.

Really, it somewhat brought back the feeling of when they used to explore together in large multiplayer role-playing games.

...

At this time, the official forum for "Dark Sand" had also become lively.

Players woke from their sleep, and the first thing they did was to go to the forum to discuss the results of tonight’s exploration.

Many players also noticed a surprising fact: someone had already cleared the instance!

Every time a new instance was opened, the official would set up a specific leaderboard, mainly meant to sieve players for multi-player instances, completing the ultimate difficulty challenge with 100% pain sensation.

Originally, the leaderboard for the instance "A Barony Not of My Own Willing" was empty, but now suddenly a name appeared.

Although because the completion level of the instance wasn’t high, it hadn’t reached "second-class" and hence was displayed at the very bottom of the leaderboard, it was still a first pass!

Players immediately began a heated discussion.

"What’s this? I’m still stuck with Governor Lin, and someone has already cleared the instance?"

"How did they clear the instance? I’ve been fighting at Puning Port, and it seems impossible to take down! Could the big shot be superhuman? Could one person fight thousands of bandits?"

"And looking at this big shot’s records, he’s among the newest batch of beta players! And he hadn’t even explored the instance ’A Matter Fixed Awaits the Closing of the Coffin’ before..."

"Wasn’t there a lot of speculation by the big shots saying that ’A Barony Not of My Own Willing’ actually needs to pass both the soldier and civil officer routes to clear? Most people are probably stuck on the route they are less proficient in, right? Does that mean this new big shot is proficient in both military and civil talents? Terrifying indeed!"

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