Chapter 5: Chapter 5

‘NoUpdatesToday’ was Jiang Qiao’s account with which he chose the easy Summoner class.

When the JC Kings were still in the semi-finals of the Internationals, Jiang Qiao had already extended one out of the nine-hundred and ninety-nine invitations to players ‘qualified’ for Sacred Souls.

Given that the Sacred Souls server could only accommodate a thousand players at the moment, Jiang Qiao had to ensure the one thousand were veteran gamers who were also passionate enough to train their game character to a sufficiently high level.

Zhao Mingwei, commonly known as Old Smiley and an outstanding Fighter-class user in [War] was therefore given heavy attention by Jiang Qiao.

In fact, he even came to the starter village as a ‘veteran’ to help a ‘newcomer’ like Zhao Mingwei level up.

That being said, Zhao Mingwei appeared doubtful when he saw him. “You’re a player here?” He asked.

After all, the realness in the VR game [War] was actually lacking. No matter how vivid the images were, Zhao Mingwei could tell at once that the game backgrounds were all ‘drawn’. On the other hand, the world of Sacred Souls was different—he could see that every woven thread on Jiang Qiao’s mage robes, and even each strand of hair seemed to be independently processed.

“Have you met any NPCs with an ID like this one?” Jiang Qiao replied, pointing at his name that read ‘NoUpdatesToday’.

“That’s true,” Zhao Mingwei smiled awkwardly and looked around. “Is this a new game? This server looks like it doesn’t have many people around… even the login method was quite unusual.”

There certainly weren’t many ‘people’ around apart from a few NPC standing around all by their lonesome, waiting for players to talk to them.

“I only joined this morning too. I thought it was some prank at first, but it proved interesting after spending the day playing it.” Jiang Qiao’s ability to lie appeared to have achieved such mastery that he never blinked.

“Still, after playing all by myself for so long, I thought I was playing a single-player… but at least there’s someone new now! Should we make a team? I’ll help you level-up!”

Turning on his functions panel with a flick of his finger, Jiang Qiao quickly sent a group invite to Zhao Mingwei—only to be declined.

“No need. Just add me as a friend.”

“Are you sure?” Jiang Qiao pointed to the left corner of the ID tag hanging over his head—he had already reached Level 10.

“I have nothing to play for if you get all the monsters for yourself. But I’m counting on you for some gimmicks and strategies, bro.” Zhao Ming said, not refusing Jiang Qiao’s help entirely.

Leveling up by killing monsters was a process of the game that Zhao Mingwei enjoyed very much. However, he was also aware of the importance of gameplay strategies, and having a more experienced player instructing him was certainly better than nothing.

“Strategy? I’m actually still learning too, but I’ll share when I managed to find some good trick.” Jiang Qiao replied. He had not really put together any useful strategy, given that he had just completed the starter village quests.

“Well then, I’m off to do starter village quests. I’ll message you if I find something, bro.” Zhao Mingwei said, leaving Jiang Qiao with a wave.

Jiang Qiao watched as the man who was a god in Hua Nation’s gaming scene. He seemed to have a spring in his step too as if he was a child on a field trip and had just arrived at his destination.

After all, it had been seven years since he was the frontline player of a new game. Moreover, it was a new game that held its own against [War], and was still in a beta stage where there were still few players!

That was enough for any online gamer to explore it with excitement.

“I’ve actually been curious about something all along… why not just max level every player?” Jiang Qiao asked Ocean Blue who was floating beside him, after watching Zhao Mingwei vanish from the edge of the path.

She was in invisible mode, and was accompanying him as a summoned spirit.

“The human soul has a limit to the energy they could absorb on each occasion,” Ocean Blue replied. “Leveling up by killing monsters could help them cultivate the soul, but injecting energy too great would tear their souls apart and destroy their sense of self.”

“But can the players of this server really repel the invading monsters in ten days?”

Jiang Qiao made a flick with his finger. It shows that the current player number was 720/1000, with himself ranking the top amongst them.

He was the only Level 10 as well, with a Level 9 priest player ‘FreeMilk’ ranked just next to him, and five Level 8 players further below.

They were the top group of players in Sacred Souls at the moment. Considering that the server had started service for less than a day, it therefore should not be an issue for the player average level to reach twenty-five in ten days.

“The warriors… I mean gamers are of the best quality I’ve ever seen. The training you’ve granted them would definitely help them grow swiftly, and I believe there would be no problem for them to handle the invading plane that’s around Level 35.” Ocean Blue said albeit with slight uncertainty, before floating in front of Jiang Qiao and stare at him with her dark blue eyes. “And instead of worrying, you should be leveling up.”

“To think that I would be urged by an NPC to level up when in my natural life… still, it’s fine as long as I’m not urged to top up with my credit card.”

Jiang Qiao headed towards Lionheart City to start leveling up, and when he reached Level 11 after three hours, he received a private message from Zhao Mingwei.

[Found a wild Boss. Want to join?]

[Sure. Send me the coordinates.]

[3251, 234, 2314.]

Jiang Qiao clicked on the numbers sent to him, and a virtual map appeared.

It was to the left side of the Leo Plains, and if his memory served, the place was full of Level 9 boars.

Then, he found out that Zhao Mingwei had reached Level 8 in the three hours they were apart.

Jiang Qiao needed twice the time to reach the same level, making Jiang Qiao suspect that he had taken something like a double EXP potion.

Well, that’s a god for you.

Zhao Mingwei had been waiting for some time when Jiang Qiao reached his coordinates, throwing him a party invite once he saw him.

Jiang Qiao quickly accepted, and he also saw that Zhao Mingwei had swapped his starter equipment for Level 5 equipment.

It was embarrassing to say it, but Jiang Qiao’s own equipment was Level 5 as well—only his staff was a Level 10 Blue rare item.

“Ocean Blue, could you raise the Boss’s loot drop rate?” Jiang Qiao asked the system fairy beside him softly.

“I could make any item that boar drops. Is there the need for such trouble?” Ocean Blue asked, rather speechless.

“Well, that’s boring.”

“Boring? You humans have such weird way of thinking.”

Ocean Blue had floated towards the King Boar that was twice as tall as an adult human and touched it softly with her hand.

Suddenly, the King Boar’s fur was shining in golden light, and a notification promptly popped up before Jiang Qiao’s eyes.

[King Boar has received divine blessing. Increased monster attribute and item drop rate.]

“There’s such a function?” Zhao Mingwei watched as the boar’s HP increased by 1.5 times, suddenly finding it a little tough for himself and Jiang Qiao to kill the monster.