Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 357 - 231: The New Affiliated Identity

Chapter 357: Chapter 231: The New Affiliated Identity

At 10 PM, in the city-citadel of the Reorderers.

Zhao Haiping emerged from the teleportation gate and discovered the place teeming with people, buzzing with activity.

Outside the blacksmith shops within the city, a crowd had already formed.

As the players reclaimed more historical slices, not only did the area of the Reorderer city-citadel expand, but the number of NPC craftsmen and merchants also increased.

Even the blacksmith shops grew from a few to dozens, both large and small, scattered throughout the entire town.

After all, this Reorderer city-citadel could accommodate nearly one hundred thousand players in an extreme state; if there were too few merchants, they simply couldn’t serve so many players.

And the merchandise sold by these merchants varied.

For instance, although the weapons and armor sold at the blacksmith shops were mostly standard Qi Dynasty or Great Sheng Dynasty equipment, different blacksmith shops emphasized different items.

Some shops focused more on armor, others on weapons, while others specialized in firearms.

Moreover, there were many specialized workshops for manufacturing other special equipment.

At this moment, outside one such workshop, a large number of players had gathered.

These players were frantically buying the newly introduced equipment in the recent version update—the Qi Dynasty flintlock guns.

Though called Qi Dynasty flintlock guns, these had nothing to do with the actual Qi Dynasty; they were concocted by the players within the historical slices.

Once this weapon entered the Reorderer city-citadel, players were surprised to find that it was neither shoddily made nor weakened; in fact, its craftsmanship and details had been improved.

As for the price, although it was somewhat more expensive than a matchlock gun, considering the significant improvement of the flintlock over the matchlock, it was entirely worth it.

Furthermore, these flintlock guns also came with upgrade kits, like paying extra to make certain components of these guns more sturdy.

It was an offer hard for anyone’s wallet to refuse.

"Get me a flintlock gun!"

"I want one too!"

"Are there upgrade kits? Put it all together for me!"

Players already began their frenzied purchasing, sparing no expense.

Meanwhile, the cavalry players watched those frantically buying the flintlock guns and felt mixed emotions.

Honestly, they were a tad upset!

These cavalry players still retained a sense of pride from the era of cold weapons.

Remember, the hardships endured to clear the Cavalry Trial!

The suffering they later endured in battles had indeed paid off.

Cavalry was always an essential military arm in the era of cold weapons; in the historical slice of the Great Sheng Dynasty, following Emperor Taizu of Sheng, they charged against the Northern Barbarians’ cavalry and utterly defeated them—a thrilling victory.

But now, the players who hadn’t passed the Cavalry Trial could play with flintlock guns, and this made the cavalry players somewhat distressed.

These players wielding flintlock guns seemed superior in many areas!

They didn’t have to clear the challenging instance of the Cavalry Trial, nor did they need extensive training; they only had to familiarize themselves with the process of loading the ammo;

Regarding equipment, although flintlock guns weren’t cheap, aside from the gun, bayonet, and ammunition, these players had no other expenses; whereas cavalry players not only had to buy weapons and armor for themselves but for their warhorses as well, which was far more expensive than flintlock guns.

On top of that, if there were a confrontation, cavalry would indeed be outclassed by flintlock guns.

That was truly an uncomfortable thought!

Some cavalry players considered defecting on the spot, quickly buying flintlock guns and joining the enemy.

But many cavalry players did not take this course of action.

On the one hand, even with the appearance of flintlock guns, cavalry, due to their high mobility, remained an irreplaceable military arm—unless players could create tanks;

On the other hand, as the game "Dark Sand" updated, the further back players battled into the Ancient Era, the more the game seemed to veer towards a fantasy style, and there would certainly still be opportunities for cavalry to turn the tide.

Thus, cavalry players retained their pride, not bowing to the potent sway of the flintlock guns.

Zhao Haiping had no intention of using flintlock guns either; after all, his skills were all in cold weapons, and he wasn’t particularly adept at shooting and saw no need to seek a far remedy.

He went to the blacksmith shop and updated his armor.

The Qi Dynasty was the pinnacle of cold weaponry-era armor, whether it was Qi Dynasty infantry armor or Jin Country’s iron pagoda, both were top-notch.

However, as robust as this kind of armor was, it was indeed too expensive.

Jin Country, established on the pride of its cavalry, had never managed to sustain a strong armored cavalry force after General Han Fuyue devastated them in one fell swoop.

Later on, both the Northern Barbarians and the Great Sheng Dynasty also emphasized armored cavalry, but they somewhat cut corners on the armor.

After all, ancient battles in Huaxia often involved numerous fighters, not just a few hundred villagers’ armed struggle. Weapons and armor had to be mass-produced for thousands, balancing performance with cost.

After balancing cost and performance, infantry armor was no longer the optimal choice.

But in the Reorderer city-citadel, none of this was an issue.

Money wasn’t lacking, nor were there limitations on warhorse endurance or player stamina; naturally, the more high-performing the armor, the better.

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