Chapter 267 – The Situation on Blue Star and 'Open Beta' Players

The day had finally arrived!

Whether it was Liu Miumiu, Jiang Luoxing, or the others, they all fell into silence upon hearing this.

They had long known this day would come and had made preparations accordingly, but that didn’t mean they could accept it with ease.

Blue Star’s environment was far from superior compared to the Eternal World.

Many high-ranking lords spent most of their year in the Eternal World rather than returning to Blue Star. Yet, even so, no matter how one looked at it, no one wanted to see their homeland vanish.

But there was no choice.

In such circumstances, the lords had a high capacity for acceptance, though they couldn’t help but sigh a few times.

Cold Moon City Lord Liu Xiyue said, “One fortunate thing is that the Crimson Mist disaster month has ended, allowing the Alliance to focus entirely on dealing with the world fusion.”

“Indeed…”

Mu Yuan nodded.

By now, he had a fairly clear understanding of the Taixuan Alliance’s strategic policies.

It wasn’t particularly complicated.

During the fusion, the land of Blue Star and the terrain of the Eternal World would merge together—or rather, Blue Star, like a lake, would merge into the vast ocean of the Eternal World.

All people and objects within Blue Star would, during the fusion, be displaced along with distorted space and randomly appear across the Eternal World—though, of course, those from the Xuan Nation would inevitably appear within or around the territory of the Taixuan Alliance.

In fact, such fragmentation and sinking had already occurred many times.

Just as monsters occasionally strayed into Blue Star, sometimes Blue Star inhabitants would also fall into the Eternal World. The outcome for those who fell was, in most cases, either disappearance or death.

Even if they landed within the inner territories of the Taixuan Alliance or the Divine Radiance Empire, where monsters were sparse, how many ordinary Blue Star inhabitants could survive in the wild?

Only those who landed near populated areas had a chance of being rescued.

The Taixuan Alliance’s plan was to temporarily stabilize the space within the Xuan Nation and ensure that, during the fusion stage, its people would descend safely into the territory of the Taixuan Alliance, organized by cities.

If the Crimson Mist disaster had still been ongoing, executing this plan would have carried significant risks, inevitably leading to heavy casualties.

After all, during the disaster month, the Crimson Mist drifted even within the inner regions of the Alliance, spawning monsters.

These monsters might pose no threat to the various territories in the Alliance Heartland, but for the descending human cities and ordinary people, they were absolutely lethal.

Fortunately, the disaster month had finally ended.

The Cold Moon City Lord continued, “After the world fusion, most cities in our Xuan Nation will, barring any surprises, land in the Alliance Heartland. However, it’s hard to avoid a few cities or certain refuge areas landing in the outer regions of the Alliance.

“If that happens, the Player Associations in various locations will immediately issue missions to assist in search and rescue.”

“Understood. I will deploy my troops as widely as possible.”

Mu Yuan responded.

This was the duty of a Taixuan Lord. Some might only go through the motions, but since he had the capability, he would naturally act. Of course, his abilities were limited, and at most, he could only cover the area around Stone Ridge Town.”The fusion of Blue Star and the Eternal World has brought disasters but also opportunities. During the merging of the two realms, rare treasures are easily born, especially at the intersections of space. You should pay more attention to this as well,” added the Cold Moon City Lord.

After all, she was a big shot and a very busy person, so she didn’t stay long before hurriedly departing.

Once she left, the ‘minor lords’ like the Feathered Serpent and Yu Siyu finally relaxed a bit.

Yu Siyu said, “I’ve heard that some people in Xuan Nation have also fallen into the Eternal World, and they’ve similarly obtained player identities?”

Mu Yuan looked at Jiang Luoxing.

As expected, Jiang Luoxing, though not privy to classified information, was quite knowledgeable about such common yet not widely known details about ordinary players. Clearing his throat, he began to explain:

“Many people abroad have fallen into the Eternal World, with cases even of entire towns disappearing. In our country, thanks to the arrangements made by the big shots, the space is relatively stable for now. Still, some unlucky individuals inevitably get caught in spatial distortions. The largest incident so far is the disappearance of an entire hospital called Green Mountain Mental Hospital in Luoxia Province, which fell into the Eternal World, leaving only a massive crater in its place.”

Although such news isn’t entirely suppressed, it’s naturally not something ordinary people—or even ordinary players—can easily learn about.

Even someone like Yu Siyu, who comes from a wealthy and influential gaming family, had only heard vague rumors.

As for Lord Mu… he knew nothing about it at all.

After all, he was just an ordinary, self-made newcomer who had achieved everything through his own diligence and hard work.

In fact, given his status as the Tianyuan Lord, he could have easily obtained such information if he had dealings with the Player Association. But he was too busy, and Sophia, the Blue Star representative of Tianyuan Territory, was also preoccupied with acquiring Remnant Souls, leaving no time for other matters.

Jiang Luoxing continued, “After entering the Eternal World, ordinary people do receive some gifts from the world. However, unlike us, they don’t get the chance to undergo the Lord Trial, nor do they have initial troops. In fact, they don’t even possess a flawed lord’s seal.

At the moment they enter the world, they randomly awaken to a profession inheritance, mostly common two-star or three-star classes like Lancers, Archers, or Saber Axemen. But there are also unlucky ones who awaken to the Little Skeleton Legacy. It’s said that one such person’s eye sockets began to sink, and their whole body became as gaunt as a rack of ribs.”

Mu Yuan could only offer a silent 0.3-second mourning for this unfortunate player.

According to this, players now fall into three categories: Lord Players, Ranger Players, and Awakened Players.

It somewhat resembles the first beta, second beta, and open beta testing phases.

However, players from the ‘closed beta’ still have a chance to strive for the path of a Lord. Even if they don’t become lords, Ranger Players can still overcome numerous obstacles and reach the Legendary Realm.

Awakened Players, on the other hand, have it a bit rough. Their occupational inheritance is difficult to change, and those who awaken to a common one-star class are almost destined to remain ordinary for life.

Of course, anything is possible, and the future is never set in stone.

An Awakened Player with the Little Skeleton class might still catch the eye of a wealthy patron. If they stumble upon a great Opportunity, they could also defy the heavens and change their fate.

Additionally, both Ranger Players and Awakened Players have a chance to embark on the path of a Lord, though the opportunity is extremely slim.”When we first descended, most people obtained initial soldiers of common one-star units at best, with the highest being common three-star units. But…” Jiang Luoxing said, “Open beta players are different from us—the highest class they can awaken isn’t limited to common three-star.”

He continued, “Currently, some players have directly awakened the rare three-star class ‘Muddled Shaman.’ The player who awakened this class is that patient from Qingshan Hospital we mentioned earlier.

“According to expert predictions, rare three-star isn’t the upper limit. Players have a chance to directly awaken outstanding-tier classes.”

The probability might be very low.

However, with Xuan Nation’s population of over a billion, it means that when the two worlds merge, the Taixuan Alliance could produce a batch of promising seedlings with decent future potential.

“And who knows, outstanding-tier might not even be the ceiling. If some guy really awakens an epic class, that would be like soaring to the heavens in a single step.”

Jiang Luoxing sighed wistfully.

He felt that such people who skyrocket to success… might actually exist! Just thinking about it made him envious. He himself had no idea when he’d ever be able to recruit an epic unit.

It was possible he might never recruit one in his entire lifetime.

Like his father—several times he’d heard clues about epic units, tracked them down, but always missed them by a hair’s breadth.

What a pitiful man.

Mu Yuan thought for a moment and asked, “It seems the matter of world fusion can’t be kept secret anymore. So what’s the current situation on Blue Star?”

“There is indeed more chaos than before.”

Jiang Luoxing said, “As for foreign countries, the Starshine Federation is experiencing widespread ‘zero-dollar shopping’ everywhere, and some smaller nations are even divided among warlords. Here in Xuan Nation, there’s also some chaos, but fortunately the overall order remains intact…”

After all, with disasters increasing, some ordinary people inevitably panic and lose their senses.

The reason social order hasn’t collapsed is, first, because Xuan Nation had made preparations long ago, and second, because various major companies and powerful factions are actively maintaining order.

This isn’t an apocalypse—just a transformation.

Once this tribulation passes, life will continue as usual.

“Therefore, even if players who possess supernatural power develop dark thoughts in their hearts, the vast majority still maintain rationality. Of course, there are irrational people everywhere, but these are mostly ordinary people or regular players who are quickly apprehended and suppressed.

“Maintaining stability amid this chaos long-term is difficult, but if it’s just for another month, there probably won’t be any major issues. However…”

Here, Jiang Luoxing’s tone shifted.

“Actually, compared to powerless ordinary people, us new lords are more likely targets. After all, obtaining player qualifications is completely random. There are plenty of wealthy merchants on Blue Star who desperately seek a spot but can’t get one. And we lords, who possess numerous supernatural items but aren’t yet strong enough, are perfect targets for ambush and plunder.

“From what I know, some new lords have already had family members kidnapped or extorted, and some lords have even been killed because of this.”

Mu Yuan stroked his chin.

He had also heard from Sophia about recent instability, aside from the skyrocketing prices of Inheritance Stones. Previously, Inheritance Stones were far less valuable than similar Unit Shards—even popular ones like Natural Elf Inheritance Stones weren’t as valuable as Natural Elf Remnant Souls.After all, among players who liked natural elves, the option of recruiting an elf they could freely command was far more popular than transforming themselves into one.

But now things were different.

This was naturally related to the imminent Fusion of the two worlds. After the Fusion, ordinary people would randomly Awaken to a profession, but the wealthy and powerful naturally didn’t want to gamble on the slim chance of obtaining a high-tier profession, nor did they want to risk Awakening as something like a Little Skeleton or goblin.

They wanted to decide their own fate, even if it meant spending vast sums to purchase the Inheritance Stone they desired.

And if money couldn’t buy it? Then they would resort to other means!

Before entering the Eternal World, before the world was turned upside down, they had to prepare thoroughly to avoid falling to the same level as ordinary people.

Not all wealthy and influential people thought this way, but some certainly did. And in their eyes, novice Lords who were “rich but incompetent” were the perfect targets.

Supernatural power? Professional Tier or Elite Tier? How many bullets or artillery shells could they withstand?

…

Blue Star, late at night.

On the road from the Baiyun Province Capital back to Baijiang City, a convoy of three off-road vehicles traveled along the empty national highway, with no other vehicles in sight.

They moved at a moderate speed.

The drivers were extremely cautious, keeping a close watch on the road conditions. From time to time, they would see streetlamp poles snapped in half and lying across the road, sudden cracks splitting the pavement, or massive monster footprints.

Whenever they encountered such obstacles, the drivers had to carefully navigate around them.

Sometimes, when monsters suddenly darted out onto the road, all three vehicles would come to an abrupt halt. Armed security personnel would swiftly exit, efficiently dispatch the roaming monsters, and then continue on their way.

Their actions were practiced and efficient.

But this was only due to the deteriorating situation. Nowadays, the general populace had gathered within the urban areas of various cities, and the Xuan Nation authorities had concentrated their efforts on defending and securing prefecture-level cities.

Outside the cities, the land had become barren and dangerous.

With the situation worsening, roaming monsters were a common sight in the countryside, and the exchange of goods had become increasingly difficult.

Because of this, Sophia had no choice but to personally lead a team to White Cloud City for trade.

It had cost her a great deal of time.

“Even though the Boss allocated me another huge sum of a thousand Soul Crystals… I still haven’t managed to spend the previous batch of funds. I simply can’t use it all! Sophia has failed to live up to the Boss’s expectations!”

Although the Boss hadn’t blamed her and had only asked her to do her best, Sophia was still deeply troubled.

Even though the price of Remnant Souls had dropped significantly;

Even though they had more funds at their disposal;

Why, then, had the pace of acquiring Remnant Souls slowed down?

It was because of the environment! While Remnant Souls were cheaper, trade had become far more difficult. Even large merchant groups like First Hand Commerce, which still maintained inter-city and inter-province logistics, only operated convoys every few days.

Sophia couldn’t afford to wait.

Blue Star’s greatest advantages—information exchange and logistics trade—had already been halved, and the remaining half would completely disappear once the two worlds Fused.

Sitting in the back seat of the off-road vehicle, Sophia pondered how she could accomplish the Lord’s task—to spend the remaining thousand or so Soul Crystals she still had on hand.

Suddenly, the convoy came to a stop.

Lin Sushuang, sitting in the passenger seat and serving as one of the security team captains, stepped out of the vehicle and reported, “Sis Fei, there’s a monster carcass blocking the road ahead. We’ll clear it quickly and be on our way again soon.”

“Mm.”Sophia nodded indifferently, propping her chin on her hand while still lost in deep thought.

Suddenly, her brows furrowed.

Outside the vehicle, Lin Sushuang’s hairs stood on end as she caught sight of a large-caliber bullet spiraling through the air, tearing through the atmosphere toward her.

Before she could execute a tactical dodge, strands of black flame rose in the space before her. The flames then transformed into one, two, then three black feathers, overlapping to form a net intercepting the bullet’s trajectory.

In the blink of an eye, the bullet pierced through the soft black feathers but lost momentum and fell to the ground.

Emitting crisp “clink,” “clink,” “clink” sounds.

Three distinct rings.

Three bullets had been fired simultaneously!

“Sniper!”

“Hmm.”

Sophia gazed toward a dark, low-lying hill to the side. Already in a foul mood, her eyebrows seemed to burn like fire.

(End of Chapter)