Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 321 - 223: Ultimate Trial Selection Completed! (8000 words, requesting monthly tickets!)_4

Chapter 321: Chapter 223: Ultimate Trial Selection Completed! (8000 words, requesting monthly tickets!)_4

"How come you look down on civil officials? Don’t forget about Wenchuan’s reforms!"

"Yes, Wenchuan’s reforms! Maybe we can replace all the key officials from every important prefecture and county in the Qi Dynasty with our own people? Then everyone can work together to implement Wenchuan’s new laws and see if they can succeed?"

"Great idea! I’m suddenly looking forward to it!"

"Right, that’s the best! We can definitely assign a dozen or twenty top players to lead troops into battle. The rest can focus on internal affairs and see if, with the players’ collective effort, they can successfully drive the initial vision of Wenchuan’s reforms forward!"

"I think we can also designate some people to take charge of the craftsmen’s work. Although Qi’s external warfare is a bit weak, overall, their level of technological development is pretty good. They have primitive firearms, shark ships, Divine Arm Bows, and infantry armor... If we can innovate these technologies, our odds of winning will definitely be greatly increased."

"Yeah, the Ultimate Trial will eventually require us to fight even more fierce demons at the Battle of Niuzhu, and if we could really create a technological gap with these weapons, that would be awesome!"

Players’ minds burst open with ideas, and they began researching the best identity configuration for these 100 people.

After all, within the player base, there has always been a small group led by Li Hongyun and Cui Huowang trying hard to invent the flintlock gun and have already achieved some results.

Once in the historical instance, they might be able to advance the Qi Dynasty’s already decent technology tree even further. Even if they couldn’t develop the flintlock gun, just coming up with the kind of cannons from the Great Sheng Dynasty would also be a formidable enhancement.

And if the ultimate weapon, the flintlock gun, could be developed in this historical instance, then players could completely trounce the demons, from the Ultimate Trial to the Return Order Expedition.

...

Soon, the tense and exciting ranking competition was about to begin.

And players began to summarize the best strategies for clearing the instance through the experiences of these few experts, focusing on Yu Jiaxuan and Wang Wenchuan’s approaches.

Among these, Chu Ge’s handling of Wenchuan’s route was the most novel, while the approaches taken by Li Hongyun, Zhao Haiping, and others were the most pragmatic and easier to replicate.

Many players marveled at how Chu Ge played Wenchuan’s identity as a powerful chancellor, even feeling a bit thrilled.

But some opposed it, arguing that in doing so, was Wenchuan still Wenchuan? Even though they too wanted to clear the instance, they preferred doing things like the historical Wenchuan did.

Chu Ge’s method sparked a small-scale discussion, but more people were focused on the results this method could achieve.

After all, this way of clearing the instance was more efficient and could secure more military resources.

As for whether this solution was reasonable, they would discuss it after completely conquering this piece of history!

...

A week flew by in the blink of an eye.

This time, the enthusiasm for the Ultimate Trial among players reached an unprecedented height.

The reason was nothing else but the sheer number of spots in the Ultimate Trial this time!

A full hundred spots made many players feel an illusion that they just needed to put in a bit more effort to have a chance.

Whether it was to experience more thrilling game content or for a share of the game "Dark Sand" profits later on, it was worth it for players to fight tooth and nail for this opportunity.

Players of different classes showed their unique skills, whether by using Yu Jiaxuan’s identity to exert military force or Wenchuan’s identity to exercise civil governance. In any case, they were all working towards the goal of making it into the top hundred.

Soon, the time for the Ultimate Trial arrived.

As usual, Zhao Haiping entered the special Return Order Space for the Ultimate Trial.

As a regular in the Ultimate Trials, he was already very familiar with the entire process.

However, this Ultimate Trial was very different from the usual ones.

Because this time, there were a hundred players!

One by one, players appeared in the Return Order Space, with many excitedly looking for acquaintances and greeting each other.

Among them were not only familiar faces like Chu Ge, Li Hongyun, Fan Cun, Xia Ruoling, Yun Ying, Lu Heng, and Meng Yuan, whom they had seen before, but also many others who had never appeared in an Ultimate Trial but were known from the Return Order Expedition, such as Li Weiyi and Cui Huowang.

These were elite players, most of whom had performed excellently in the Return Order Expedition, so it was normal for them to recognize each other.

There were also a very few completely new faces curiously surveying their surroundings.

Seeing Meng Yuan, Zhao Haiping thought for a moment and then walked over.

"I didn’t see you on the leaderboard before and thought you couldn’t make it," said Zhao Haiping.

Meng Yuan gave a slightly embarrassed smile, "Well, here I am, rank ninety-two."

Zhao Haiping asked with concern, "What’s the matter, didn’t you adapt well to this instance? You’re a new force in conquering the Ultimate Trial, we can’t have you absent."

Although Meng Yuan had always played a supporting role in previous Ultimate Trials, from playing an opera singer to an emperor, he had left a very deep impression on the players.

If the players had to choose the most talented and skilled performer, Meng Yuan would definitely be an important candidate.

Zhao Haiping and Chu Ge, although talented in clearing instances, really considered themselves less capable in these respects, feeling far inferior to Meng Yuan.

Therefore, when Zhao Haiping saw that Meng Yuan was not among the hundred people on the list, his first reaction was surprise, followed by concern.