Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 138 - 133: Role Distribution

Chapter 138: Chapter 133: Role Distribution

"First, we need to make something clear, which is that the scoring system in the Trial Illusion differs from the previous ’Until the Coffin is Sealed.’

"In the passing criteria for ’Not My Desire for a Marquisate,’ ’performance’ holds a significant position.

"Combat scenarios, of course, remain the same as before, with killing enemies as the primary goal. However, the demands for ’acting’ in narrative-related content have been further elevated.

"As you might have noticed, taking Wang Zongchang as an example, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with bandits on the battlefield, especially as a scholar, offers a significant bonus to the final scoring.

"The same applies to other characters— the more authentic the portrayal, the more significant the improvement in score.

"This means that our character assignments can no longer simply aim for a ’safe passage’ as the only goal but must include the acting requirements of the dramatic scenes while ensuring a safe combat passage.

"Do you all agree on this point?"

After Chu Ge’s analysis, everyone nodded in agreement.

Actually, during the speed runs in the past few days, players had already realized this.

Sometimes a quick and safe passage doesn’t necessarily result in a high score; instead, authentically portraying characters when acting can significantly boost the score.

This is different from the last Trial Illusion.

In ’Until the Coffin is Sealed,’ players could resort to any means to kill the enemies when the bandits entered the town, which differs greatly from the historical reality.

However, this time is different. At least for characters involved in narrative scenes like Mr. Xu, Grand Governor Lin Xiangmin, and Supervisor Wang Zongchang, there’s a greater emphasis on re-enacting the original character profiles.

Seeing no objections from the crowd, Chu Ge nodded in satisfaction.

Indeed, this selection mechanism is quite useful, filtering out players with a deeper understanding of the game, saving a lot of trouble in communication.

He continued, "Since that’s the case, let me briefly discuss the role assignments this time.

"They can roughly be divided into two groups: one mainly responsible for combat scenes, which include General Deng’s initial bandit suppression and the attack on Puning Port, requiring players with strong combat abilities; the other group will handle the narrative scenes, portraying characters like Governor Lin and Supervisor Wang, striving to maximize the score in the ’acting’ dimension.

"As for why ’acting’ is particularly important in this instance, I suspect it might have to do with the nature of the demons.

"The demons this time, compared to last time, are likely to be stronger and more cunning, so we need to deceive them more effectively."

Meng Yuan silently listened to the side, thinking to himself that Chu Ge was quite smart to have figured out even this.

Indeed, it was so.

The Trial Illusion was a simulated environment created by the authentic Returner Meng Yuan, using information from the actual historical slices, which also includes the abilities of the demons altering these historical slices and their means of alteration.

Therefore, a higher score in the Trial Illusion means a higher success rate in overcoming this slice.

This is because a higher score implies methods that are more likely to restrain the demons, or confuse them, thereby enhancing the success rate.

Chu Ge continued, "So I have arranged for the following people this time.

"Zhao Haiping, Fan Cun, you two are combatant players, absolute guarantees of battle strength, you’ll act as soldiers, assisting General Deng in combat, ensuring that all combat aspects, including Puning Port, are foolproof.

"General Deng has a vast aura protecting him, which makes him the only character in the instance who won’t be tampered with by demons. Thus, we will not assign anyone to play General Deng; he can act freely in his original state."

Zhao Haiping and Fan Cun nodded, having no objections.

Chu Ge then looked at Li Hongyun, "As for you... join them and play a soldier too."

Li Hongyun’s face involuntarily showed a smug smile, "Why, have you finally acknowledged my combat ability?"

Chu Ge shook his head, "No, your acting is just too poor, no other characters suit you. Better you play it straight as a mere soldier throwing spears."

Li Hongyun: "..."

This was a clear mix of public and private grievances!

Li Hongyun wanted to protest, but after some thought, he realized his acting indeed left much to be desired. His previous failures to pass the scholar instance were solid proof.

As for the assassin instance... that wasn’t about acting skills either.

It could only be said that becoming a lucky king comes with a price, and his price was his acting ability.

As for what price Meng Yuan had paid to become a lucky king? That was unknown.

So from this angle, Chu Ge’s allocation was rather reasonable.

But Li Hongyun certainly wouldn’t easily give up.

Playing a soldier or a supporting role? When it came to the stage, it still mattered who could captivate the audience!

Chuge continued, "Lu Heng, it’s just the two of us scholars here. Between the roles of Lin Xiangmin and Wang Zongchang, pick one."

Lu Heng didn’t hesitate, "I’ll choose Wang Zongchang."

Chuge nodded, "Good, I completely lack confidence in playing Wang Zongchang, so I’ll take Lin Xiangmin.

"Then, Xia Ruoling, you play an ordinary citizen in Nanhe City, collaborate with Lu Heng to defend Nanhe City. We will take down Puning Port as quickly as possible and then come to support you.

"And Meng Yuan...

"Who should you play..."

Chuge’s mind momentarily went blank.

While assigning roles, he subconsciously left Meng Yuan for the last because Meng Yuan’s performance in the previous instance was so unique that Chuge subconsciously excluded him from these roles.

If in this instance, the opera troupe that Governor Lin gave to Chief Minister Yan had a part to play, that would definitely be Meng Yuan’s role, no question about it.

But crucially, that opera troupe never appeared.

So who should Meng Yuan play?

After thinking for a bit, Chuge said, "Why don’t you also go to Nanhe City, playing Liu Ji would be fine, or even a soldier, civilian, whatever, just having one more person guarding the city is safer."

Chuge thought, after all, Meng Yuan was also a Ranger player with decent combat ability, so there shouldn’t be any major problems defending the city.

However, Meng Yuan shook his head, "No, I think the manpower in Nanhe City is already sufficient."

He had been paying attention to the players’ performances and was clear about Lu Heng and Xia Ruoling’s combat abilities, so he felt it unnecessary to go.

Chuge asked, "Then why don’t you join Zhao Haiping and the others as a soldier?"

Meng Yuan still shook his head, "Their combat power is sufficient as well.

"Actually, there’s a very critical character that might be altered, which you’ve overlooked."

Everyone was a bit puzzled, "Who?"

Meng Yuan paused slightly before responding, "The Emperor."

Chuge suddenly realized, "Right, I almost forgot the Emperor!"

This was indeed a key role that might be altered.

These players entering the ultimate Trial Illusion were essentially resetting the entire historical scenario to its original state to start over.

Thus, the character altered by the evil forces this time might not necessarily be Wang Zongchang again.

Generally, the more a character is filled with righteousness and is a famous hero celebrated in history, the harder it is for evil forces to alter them.

For a national hero like General Deng, the possibility of alteration approaches zero, as it exceeds the capabilities of the evil forces that could enter this scenario.

For characters like Governor Lin, the likelihood of alteration is also low, but better safe than sorry, so Chuge still decided to play him.

As for the Emperor, that was an even weaker link.

The Emperor himself doesn’t exactly exude any impressive righteous aura and couldn’t be considered a wise ruler; if he were really altered by the evil forces, the consequences would be too severe.

Because the key to suppressing the rebels lies in military resources, without them, all efforts would be in vain.

What if the Emperor was altered, didn’t stick to the script, didn’t provide the military resources? What then?

Therefore, it’s indeed vital for a resetter to play this character.

Chuge nodded, "Okay, it’s settled then! Everyone, familiarize yourselves with your roles again, pick your specific talent skills, and then get ready to depart!"

In the ultimate Trial Illusion, players could select talent skills from the repository, meaning they could assume their strongest full potential.

Once all arrangements were in place, everyone entered the teleportation gate.

Entering the real historical scenario!