Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 75 - 70 Rolled Up

Chapter 75: Chapter 70 Rolled Up

For players, three days is neither too short nor too long.

It seems short because "Dark Sand" kills time like no other game.

In this game, players are always in a deep sleep state, allowing them to focus intently on their gaming objectives. Furthermore, the content in this instance is intricate and complex, with so much to verify that time simply flies by unnoticed.

It seems long because, in three days, players’ progress within the instance can leap significantly!

Meng Yuan, while trying to clear the Trial Illusion instance himself, also closely followed the discussions among players.

Up to now, many essential posts about "speed runs" and "high scores" had appeared on the official forum.

"First Battle Optimization: Quick Access to Divine Artifact Sword, Optimal Enemy Killing Routes, and Safest Escape Strategies!"

This post mainly helped players plan their battle strategy against the County Magistrate, especially intended for roles like commoners and Gao Ze in the early stages of combat, including how to easily steal the sword from a thief, how to weaken the enemy with minimal health remaining, and when to decisively flee, among other tactics.

"Role Choice Analysis: How to Decide Whether to Opt for Ordinary or Special Roles Based on Play Style!"

This post analyzed the issues of role selection within several main schools of thought.

Players discovered that characters with special roles like Su Xianjun, Yang Xinyan, and Gao Ze might not necessarily be superior to ordinary roles.

Special roles consume identity points and generally possess stronger physical attributes. They are also key figures in the plot and can more easily influence other characters, but choosing ordinary roles to support these special identities can, in some cases, have a more significant impact.

"Three-Minute Quick Kill Methods for Shadow Guards Even Clumsy Players Can Master!"

This post aimed to address the difficulties some players faced in defeating the Shadow Guards. It covered topics such as choosing combat talents, ambush locations, and support from other characters, enabling even less combat-capable players to successfully eliminate the Shadow Guards and ensure smooth progression.

After all, some players excel not in combat but in role-playing, rallying local militia, and so on.

Besides these, there were many other guides covering all aspects, and the players had virtually turned the Trial Illusion upside down.

It was only because the game lacked bugs and didn’t allow for any unconventional shortcuts that Meng Yuan didn’t doubt players would come up with tactics like "starting directly on the theatre’s rooftop to kill the Shadow Guards and set the theatre on fire to clear the game," which would be completely disorienting.

In any case, after three days of intense effort, those players who previously only had a "C minus" rating had, through constant optimization of their clearing processes, generally managed to secure a "C plus" or even "B minus" rating.

As for those at the top of the leaderboard, they had rolled their scores up to "A minus"!

And regarding the highest score of "A plus," no one had achieved it yet.

Indeed, this wasn’t the players’ fault, given that the original "A plus" rating was based on the standard of Return Order having three talents.

With three talents, Return Order had much more flexibility in the instance than players, as the talents could interconnect and build upon one another, making an "A plus" score possible.

Thus, for Meng Yuan, it was already a pleasant surprise that players could achieve an "A minus" rating with just one talent.

Of course, the fierce internal competition among players also put tremendous pressure on Meng Yuan. Even with three talents, he had endured much hardship to barely keep up with these top players’ pace, barely achieving an "A minus" by playing Su Xianjun.

Besides, during these three days, Meng Yuan had also offered those who had successfully climbed the leaderboard the opportunity to experience the 100% pain setting.

This was, of course, to help them adjust earlier to this level of pain sensitivity, to avoid a decrease in combat ability when entering the real historical slices.

From what could be seen, those elite players at the very top of the leaderboard were largely pursuing a no-injury approach and had adapted quickly.

But whether they could perform to their expected standard in the actual historical slices remained to be seen.

In any event, everything was ready.

Meng Yuan had posted the announcement on the official website and sent individual notifications to the chosen players.

Tonight at 10 PM was the time to truly test the results!

...

"Wow, Chuge, you got selected!"

Li Hongyun, looking at the "Ultimate Trial List" on the "Dark Sand" official website, couldn’t hide his envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Although this ultimate trial had 100% pain sensation, only five players were selected from all the internal test players!

Many hardcore players would rather die from pain than to miss out on trying.

Chu Ge glanced at the list, "Hmm, as expected, the selection is quite reasonable."

The officials indeed selected based on the previous leaderboard, and all selected were familiar faces to the players, top players in their respective professions, so there were no objections from other players.

Zhao Haiping, Yun Ying, Xia Ruoling, and Chu Ge, as representatives of their four professions, were selected, and they were also the top four on the leaderboard; this result was anticipated by most players.

As for the last candidate, although he was also ranked fifth on the list, no one really remembered this name.

This player, named Meng Yuan, was a Ranger, but never posted any strategies online, so no one knew him.

Only a few players like Zhao Haiping and Chu Ge, who had participated in an offline event near Tiandu City, knew him as the guy who was "unskilled but brave."

It seemed this guy had made noticeable progress!

In any case, the players were decided, and other players also offered their blessings, hoping they would successfully clear the ultimate trial.

After all, whether the ultimate trial was cleared would directly determine if the game could officially launch the "Return Order Expedition."

...

At 10 p.m.,

Xia Ruoling entered Return Order Space on time.

However, unlike before, the Return Order Space was not only occupied by her alone but also presented four other figures!

Zhao Haiping, Chu Ge, and Yun Ying; although she hadn’t met them before, she recognized them from videos.

But the last player, Meng Yuan, she hadn’t seen at all.

Everyone made brief self-introductions and exchanged pleasantries, quickly becoming familiar with each other. Being players, they naturally had common ground.

For Meng Yuan, he was familiar with these individuals as he had watched them clear levels.

Nevertheless, he tried as much as possible to keep a low profile and let the players take center stage.

He always remembered that his role was just to start the game.

As for this place, it was indeed the real Return Order Space. Because only here could they open the path to historic slices.

"So, what should we do next?" asked Zhao Haiping.

The group looked around but saw no new portal appear.

The previous portal for the instance "Final Decisions Await Closure" was now emptily void.

Chu Ge thought for a while and said, "It seems the ultimate trial hasn’t been officially activated.

"This is good; we can go over the battle plan and assign tasks again during this time.

"Even though it’s a cooperative instance, the officials have said that the difficulty of the ultimate trial would increase significantly, and the plot development could be quite different from normal instances.

"We definitely need to plan ahead."

As a player who was accustomed to strategizing before acting, one would surely triple-check the battle plan before embarking on a one-time, 100% pain-inducing ultimate challenge.

Otherwise, if everyone fought independently without coordination inside, wouldn’t that just be floundering?

The others nodded in agreement, with no objections to Chu Ge’s leadership.

Chu Ge had actually shared a multi-player battle plan with them before, which essentially reviewed all the current strategies and divided them into several different task lines.

It was just that who would carry out which specific task had not yet been finalized.

After all, before the list was confirmed, Chu Ge wasn’t sure if there would be any changes to the leaderboard, so the specific assignments weren’t finally set.

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