Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 376 - 235 New Instance Opens_3

Chapter 376: Chapter 235 New Instance Opens_3

The first identity card was the "Soldier", but the soldiers here were clearly just low-level troops of the Qi Army. They were not elite troops wearing infantry armor and wielding Divine Arm Bows; they were merely ordinary spearmen with neither particularly good nor bad equipment.

The second identity card was the "Assassin", dressed in the attire of the outlaws, unremarkable in appearance but carrying a lethal blade, with a fierce gleam in his eyes.

The third identity card was the "Ranger", also dressed as an outlaw, but wearing lighter armor and holding a long sword, with a look of sorrow and distress on his face.

The fourth identity card was the "Scholar", wearing the official robe of the Qi Dynasty. However, he didn’t seem to be a high-ranking official; perhaps he could attend imperial assemblies and see the emperor, but to think he could play a decisive role in the overall situation? That would probably be wishful thinking.

"This time in the Trial Illusion, all the initial identities are quite low.

"I wonder if, after playing these roles for a while, I can unlock more, higher statuses.

"If I could play as the emperor, that would be simple. I’d fully support the then-main warfare faction’s Prime Minister Li Boxi and the commander of the Western Army, Zhong Pingyuan, letting them take full responsibility for the defense of the capital. I’d also promote General Han Fuyue from a mere soldier to rapidly rise through the ranks. With the national strength of the Qi Dynasty during the Jingping Change, even if we couldn’t beat the Jin soldiers immediately, in two or three years we’d definitely be able to grind Jin Country into the ground.

"Unfortunately, that’s not possible."

Li Hongyun silently sighed; in fact, in many time-travel novels, becoming one of Qi Dynasty’s incompetent emperors was a popular choice.

Everyone agreed that, let alone replacing them with great founding emperors like Emperor Taizu of Sheng or Emperor Taizong of Liang, even a mere competent sovereign would suffice, provided his brain wasn’t diseased, to prevent the disgrace of Jingping from occurring.

Yet Qi Dynasty had, at this critical juncture, produced three emperors historically notorious for their incompetence. From what angle could this make sense?

"Which identity should I choose?"

As Li Hongyun’s gaze swept over these four identity cards, he realized he could choose freely.

This meant that the player’s identity did not have to correspond exactly to the identity in the instance—players of the Assassin could play the Scholar’s storyline, and scholars could play the Soldier’s.

As long as you’re skilled enough to get through.

Li Hongyun was caught in a dilemma.

Since his own profession was that of an assassin, but he didn’t really have many assassination skills. In terms of combat, blending into the Soldier’s instance should also be feasible, or maybe he could leverage his historical knowledge and play the Scholar’s storyline.

He could play all three identities, but he wasn’t specialized in any.

"So, let’s use the process of elimination.

"The Scholar identity seems to be that of an official, but not a high-ranking one. Such an ordinary official would definitely appear in the capital and likely wouldn’t be able to exert much influence.

"After all, the current emperor is a fool. Advising him would just label me as part of the pro-war faction.

"Helping the then pro-war faction’s Prime Minister, Li Boxi, coordinate some people for defending the city might have some effect, but I would inevitably be frequently obstructed.

"As for the Soldier identity, that would definitely just be a common soldier. Perhaps I could get a chance to fight the Jin soldiers, but the morale of the Jin soldiers was high at that time while the Qi Army was fragile.

"Even if I were reincarnated into the strongest Western Army, it would probably still be a definite defeat.

"Even a fierce General like Han Fuyue couldn’t play a significant role at this stage, let alone me.

"Of course, choosing the Soldier identity might allow me to encounter General Han Fuyue and cling to his coattails early. But overall, both the Scholar and Soldier identities seem quite constrained.

"After all, during that chaotic period, being able to fight the Jin forces without any concerns was itself a luxury.

"Looking at it this way, it seems that the Assassin and Ranger identities, originally outlaws, might be less restricted.

"In that case, let’s start with the Assassin identity."

Li Hongyun made up his mind and lightly tapped the Assassin identity card.

Immediately, talent skill cards appeared in front of him.

[Xin·Archery Proficiency (White): Your archery skills are correspondingly enhanced.]

[Xin·Overbearing Presence (Blue): You emit an aura of oppression, making enemies more likely to fear you.]

[Geng·Keeping a Low Profile (Blue): You conduct yourself discretely, attracting less attention from others.]

Li Hongyun’s eyes scanned over these three talent cards and he shook his head slightly in resignation.

There were no golden talents, nor did they seem particularly useful.

If he wanted to improve his strength, maybe he should choose Archery Proficiency. But considering the Assassin identity was mostly about assassination, Keeping a Low Profile might also be useful.

After some consideration, Li Hongyun ultimately decided to take Archery Proficiency.

Though it was just a white talent, if coupled with his lucky streak, it might produce good results.

Besides, the archery here included both bow and crossbow. If he could manage to get a Divine Arm Bow in the instance, perhaps his assassination mission would go more smoothly.

After choosing the talent, mist gathered before Li Hongyun’s eyes, signaling the formal start of the trial.

But what he hadn’t expected was that before it began, a system notification appeared.

[In the current Trial Illusion, other players acting out other identities may randomly appear.]

"Oh? Other players might appear? And it’s random?

"It doesn’t specify how_many nor guarantee their appearance. That’s quite arbitrary..."

Having previously encountered multiplayer instances where everyone raids the same instance, Li Hongyun found, however, that this was different.

In the ultimate trials, the participants and their roles were predetermined right from the start; in Emperor Taizu’s instance, it involved four people acting out different historical stages, influencing each other only indirectly, without direct interaction.

But in this initial simulation trial phase, he might be matched with other players, and the opponents could be of any identity, requiring confirmation between players.

Certainly, one could just find no other players and purely play on their own, but if they really could find a partner, closely coordinating and fulfilling respective roles would likely make clearing the instance much easier.

Li Hongyun still didn’t know how players could coexist in the same Trial Illusion at the same time, considering that if one player failed and died, he had to start over. Then would other players also have to start over? Or did everyone have different progress, just overlapping and interfering at specific times? Or perhaps every time a player died and restarted, they would be rematched with different players?

Temporarily unable to figure it out, Li Hongyun didn’t think further and formally began his attempt to conquer the Trial Illusion.