Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 410 - 244 Second Stage

Chapter 410: Chapter 244 Second Stage

After discussing the feasibility of the entire route with Chu Ge, Li Hongyun couldn’t wait to open the official forum for "Dark Sand" to see the discussions of other players.

Indeed, great minds think alike.

Most players had been tortured by the first stage of the "Eight Thousand Miles of Cloud and Moon" instance!

The forum was full of lamentations.

Players from all four professions were sharing their miserable experiences.

"This first stage is just too punishing!"

"As an assassin player myself, I was utterly shattered. I thought my previous successful assassination of Emperor Yanling was smooth, but it was all fake. I realized how era-dependant the profession is when I encountered the Jin soldiers—it’s no wonder assassins have all but disappeared!"

"Yes, the records of assassins only go up to the Yan Dynasty, and the records of rangers only go up to the Chu Dynasty..."

"I’ve been relentlessly chased and attacked by a minor leader of the Jin soldiers without any breaks!"

"I won’t even ask if anyone has successfully assassinated Wanyan Sheng. Has anyone seen him at Cen Bridge Inn? Would he even go there? At what time might he go, and what are the chances?"

"I think the most enjoyable must be the scholar players, after all, their character starts as an Imperial Censor, a third-grade officer!"

"Nonsense! You wouldn’t say that if you’ve ever played as a scholar. Though it seems neat to be an official, what can an Imperial Censor do in the capital? All they do is engage in trivial squabbles with various officials. Plus, one wrong move and you could be suspected by the emperor. The worst is, if the emperor interferes directly, it causes the entire instance to fail!"

"The ranger’s objectives are nonsense too, having to save as many villagers as possible and taking a bunch of untrustworthy forest bandits to clash with regular troops... I’ve been utterly betrayed by these pig-like teammates!"

"Being a foot soldier is the most ridiculous, I checked, and the trials for the foot soldiers were actually based on the true experiences of General Han Fuyue!

"At first, General Han was in the Peace Army, and he was also tasked with spying on the enemies, being assigned one hundred cavalrymen."

"Ah? That was an actual mission carried out by General Han? How did it end?"

"I heard Zhao Haiping pulled a solo act, charged into enemy ranks, and directly slew three or four deputy generals of the Jin soldiers, then commanded the cavalry to press forward, executed a neat retreat, and even captured a prisoner. General Han probably did something similar, right?"

"No! General Han’s actions were even more incredible!

"Initially, General Han charged in alone, moving in and out four times, cutting down several cavalry generals and repelling those Jin soldiers. Then, he let others return first, only taking a few subordinates who disguised themselves in the uniforms of the Jin soldiers and sneaked directly into the Jin army’s main camp for a close-up observation!"

"Ah? Wouldn’t he be discovered?"

"That’s where the most outrageous part comes in! General Han went at night, encountered a patrolling Jin soldier, and just ’mistakenly answered in their language’! That means, General Han responded in the language of the Jin people, wasn’t recognized, and finally ’secured the enemy camp’s key points to return’."

"...That’s just out of this world! Players couldn’t even imagine such maneuvers, yet General Han managed to pull it off, unbelievable!"

"That’s why General Han is considered one of the greatest generals ever; we only manage to keep up due to the sequencer’s talent and game mechanics, and still can’t match him."

"General Han’s ability to learn is MAX; being well prepared in advance allows him to perform miracles in such situations."

"Perhaps that is what defines a great general, acing an out-of-syllabus test with full scores, amazing!"

"With that in mind, the challenges for foot soldier players are also quite frightening. Especially since after completing this mission, they still have to participate in the defense battle of the Peace Army. According to historical records, this small town actually had only three thousand inhabitants, but Jin historians claimed it held ’tens of thousands of enemies.’ It was because of this small town of three thousand people that the Jin soldiers who had conquered Taiyuan City couldn’t prevail for a long time, incurring thirteen thousand casualties in the process! Afterwards, General Han eventually made an impossible escape."

"Damn, the missions for foot soldier players are indeed outrageous..."

After venting their grievances, the players realized that, indeed, the challenges for all four roles were fitting to their professions, but also undoubtedly outrageous!

This also matched "Dark Sand’s" consistent game feature: initially, the challenges in instances are extremely high. As players gradually understand the patterns and improve, they then find easier ways to solve them.

Soon, players began sharing strategies with each other.

For example, assassin players started sharing favorable ambush spots at Cen Bridge Inn, including appearance times and main features of high-ranking Jin officers, encouraging everyone to make full use of the surrounding environmental factors for assassinations;

Ranger players started sharing tactics on how to deploy troops and make the most of the forest bandits and peasants, retaining strength after repelling the initial wave of Jin soldiers, deciding how quickly they should pack up and flee to the mountains;

Foot soldier players were somewhat more straightforward, mainly analyzing the main attack directions of the Jin soldiers, choosing the right battlefield, and timing for retreat. Of course, players also discovered that the results of that earlier reconnaissance mission directly determined their subsequent status in the Peace Army—the higher their rank, the more influence they had during the defense battle, naturally making it easier to pass the level;