Chapter 179: Strategy Guide

“Rising Tide Scorching World” was still in its closed beta phase, with relatively few trial players. Since the game had just begun its closed beta, the vast majority of players were still stuck in the newbie village.

Among the existing strategy guides, to escape the slave identity, one must either flee from the Punisher or directly kill the Punisher.

The Punisher was at the peak of the Seventh Rank, equivalent to the peak strength of the Source Domain on Tianyuan Star. Forcing one’s way to kill the Punisher was almost impossible.

From the game introduction at the start, Jiang Yan realized he was in a newbie village, and each newbie village had a Punisher at the peak of the Seventh Rank.

To kill the Punisher:

Option one: Rely on brute force.

Option two: Unlock the storyline to obtain a Divine Artifact.

Listening to the idle chatter of the players, Jiang Yan pondered for a moment and shook his head.

“Completing quests is too troublesome. Can I just take it directly?”

Just then, a virtual panel appeared before Jiang Yan.

“Hello, Mr. Jiang Yan. It has been detected that you have signed a short-term contract with our company. In ten minutes, ‘Rising Tide Scorching World’ will automatically activate the live stream function for you. Your gameplay will be publicly broadcasted via live stream.”

“For this live stream, you will receive 500 Star Core Coins.”

“Revenue split for this live stream: 50/50.”

“Please promote the game content as much as possible. Thank you very much.”

Jiang Yan hadn’t expected that casually entering the game would trigger the contract.

It seemed Myriad Realms Company placed great importance on “Rising Tide Scorching World,” otherwise they wouldn’t be so generous.

Jiang Yan didn’t care about live streaming; as long as he got paid, it was fine.

Not just Jiang Yan, but other young Transcendents who had signed contracts with Myriad Realms Company also received this notification.

Some players had already started explaining into their virtual screens.

“Everyone, we are currently in the newbie village of ‘Rising Tide Scorching World.’ As you know, Myriad Realms games are top-tier in terms of quality and storyline.”

“We just triggered the newbie storyline, got beaten up by the Punisher, and now the top priority is to complete the hidden quest and find the Divine Artifact.”

“According to the strategy guide, the first player in each newbie village to find the Divine Artifact and defeat the Punisher will receive a special reward. I’m really looking forward to it~”

“Family members who haven’t followed the streamer yet, please hit the follow button. I’ll do my best to show you the real ‘Rising Tide Scorching World.’ Pre-registering for the game grants the following rewards…”

The person spoke while walking.

“To obtain the Divine Artifact, you must go to the Magma Cavern in the outskirts without alerting the Punisher. Defeat the Lava Monarch to obtain the Divine Artifact—the Lava Crystal.”

“The Lava Crystal is designed to have a significant restraining effect on the Punisher.”

“However, the Lava Monarch is extremely powerful. My strength alone isn’t enough to deal with it, so we need to unite everyone in the newbie village to jointly challenge the Lava Monarch and ultimately defeat the Punisher to leave the newbie village.”

As he spoke, the streamer began secretly recruiting players to join his faction.

Since everyone here was either a hardcore gamer or a contracted player, they immediately united upon hearing about the game strategy and expressed their willingness to join the team.

This game had no fixed storyline; you could also rely on brute force to directly kill the Punisher and leave the newbie village.

But since it was a game targeted at young people, very few would possess that level of strength.

Jiang Yan’s live stream room soon opened, and by then, some viewers had already started streaming into his room.

“Huh? Myriad Realms Company has developed a new game again?”

“Wow, there’s more fun to be had now, the Multiverse Game is forever the best!”

“I watched the game’s marketing today, it looks pretty awesome. Can the streamer explain what content there is?”

Jiang Yan glanced at the bullet comments and casually explained:

“《Rising Tide Scorching World》 is also my first time playing. I heard one of the strategies is to go to the outskirts of the city to defeat the Lava Monarch and obtain the Divine Artifact 【Lava Crystal】, then defeat the Punisher to leave the newbie village.”

“Bro, want to join our expedition team?”

Just then, a person walked over. He was wearing the game’s default tattered clothing and extended an invitation to Jiang Yan.

“Bro, tonight we’ll sneak past the Punisher and escape from here, then go to the outskirts to kill the Lava Monarch.”

“Bro, want to join us?”

“No.”

“Ah… alright.”

The newcomer returned dejectedly, having to look for others to team up with.

“Streamer, aren’t you teaming up? I read the strategy guide saying the Lava Monarch has already reached Seventh Rank, and judging by your age, you don’t seem to have Seventh Rank strength.”

“Streamer, listen to me, go team up with them. The best strategy right now is to team up to kill the Lava Monarch, otherwise you’ll never leave the newbie village.”

Jiang Yan didn’t have much live streaming experience either, casually chatting with the bullet comments while observing his surroundings.

During the day, there were many guards on patrol, leaving almost no hope of sneaking out.

The Punisher’s strength is at the Peak of Seventh Rank, seemingly a bit weaker than that Helmsman.

“I should be able to defeat him.”

Everyone says the Punisher is at the Peak of Seventh Rank, but you have to know, the realm divisions of every Transcendent Civilization are different. Who knows if the Seventh Rank in 《Rising Tide Scorching World》 is the same as the Seventh Rank on Tianyuan Star?

Jiang Yan looked at the bullet comments—some were constantly urging him to go defeat the Lava Monarch tonight after reading the strategy guide, while others were passersby who knew nothing and kept asking Jiang Yan about the game.

Jiang Yan whispered to the bullet comments:

“Everyone, I have a safe method.”

“What method? Does the streamer have a new strategy besides obtaining the Divine Artifact?”

Jiang Yan shook his head: “Not exactly.”

“What the streamer is thinking is: tonight, while they go out to defeat the Lava Monarch, I’ll strike and kill the Punisher. Then, when the expedition team returns, I’ll snatch their loot, the 【Lava Crystal】.”

As soon as Jiang Yan finished speaking, the live stream room fell into an eerie silence.

After a long while, the bullet comments exploded.

“Are you really a Genius?”

“Bro, as a streamer, do you really not read any strategy guides at all? The Punisher is Seventh Rank! Seventh Rank!”

“Even if you can defeat the Punisher, can you defeat players who have the Lava Crystal?”

Jiang Yan: “I don’t know, but I can try.”

Bullet comments: Try then try.

Jiang Yan: “It’s just a game. With nothing to lose, just go for it.”

Bullet comments: 666, you’re a streamer who doesn’t follow the strategy guide.

Jiang Yan waved his hand and started spouting empty, grandiose talk to the viewers:

“Everyone, 《Rising Tide Scorching World》 claims to have extremely high freedom. If we always rigidly follow strategy guides, wouldn’t this game lose the meaning of its advertised appeal?”

As soon as Jiang Yan finished speaking, the live stream room erupted in an uproar.

“Damn, that actually makes sense.”

“Not following the strategy guide—does that mean I can directly join the Punisher’s side?”

“The person above is a total Genius! How do I get the closed beta access for this game? I can’t wait to try and figure out how to tackle the newbie village!”

Jiang Yan started boasting again.

“Joining the Punishers is certainly a good option, but I just thought of an even better idea.

Have any of you considered that Punishers also have families and wives? What if…”

Bullet Comments: Streamer from Neon Star, please calm down!