MoP: Ch. 162

---Third POV---

[Since we've got this many people... why don't we just lay siege to the city directly?]

In an instant, the cheerful comment section exploded into chaos.

[Makes perfect fucking sense!!!]

[+1, I've been fed up with Nary Town for ages!]

[Earn 100 sols and they tax you 85, even loan sharks have more shame!]

[Give Viktor a little territorial expansion shock!]

Replies started stacking three per second, showing just how much resentment players had bottled up toward Nary Town.

NeverShowOff even spotted a comment from Hedgehog that made his eye twitch.

[Don't be fooled by Nary Town having several thousand permanent residents, less than 10% of them are mages! Our chances of winning are huge!]

"There are probably a bunch of newbies and cloud players mixed in there. Why are you joining in the hype?"

Sure, the mage ratio was low. But their combat power was evenly distributed, covering everything from level 1 to level 80.

Unlike the player faction, which had exactly two high-level powerhouses: One was holed up in the starter village like some hermit monk.

The other claimed to be on the verge of a breakthrough, hiding in the casino acting only as an intelligence officer.

Both were at the top of the wanted lists issued by the Mage Guild and the Church.

The rest? All a bunch of small fries who hadn't even broken past level 30. A single high-level opponent from the other side could turn them all into very expensive fertilizer. And yet, there were still plenty of players chiming in...

[That's right, we've got modern weapons, taking on ten at once isn't a problem!]

[I've been grinding my sliding tackle skill against monsters, already mastered it to perfection!]

[The latest event has us recruiting NPCs, and Nary Town is overflowing with them!]

NeverShowOff's mouth twitched as he read.

"Well... I guess it's good to have dreams."

As long as they weren't completely delusional.

Even though he'd never witnessed a Magus in action, from the game's promotional trailers, the NPCs' occasional remarks, and the bits of strength Viktor had hinted at, there was no way the so-called "modern tech" of improvised guns and cannons could possibly deal with that level of power.

He started typing furiously, trying to inject some sanity into the madness.

[How about we go ask Viktor first?]

Even though the new map was designed as just a remote town, there would always be sirens and well-traveled adventurers who could recognize the players' unusually fast casting speed and realize they were part of The Watchers.

He really didn't want to end up facing the strongest force in the entire game before even hitting level 20. The result would be worse than corpse camping in the most toxic MMO ever created.

But players caught up in the heat of the moment couldn't hear NeverShowOff's warnings.

[Precisely because Viktor is gone, this is the best time to act!]

[Exactly! He is great and all, but he's paranoid as hell, always afraid we'll screw things up. Way too cautious!]

[Don't be fooled by all the goofing around on the forum, deep down, we all know what we're doing!]

NeverShowOff was mortified.

"Do you guys really know what you're doing?"

And then, a well-known forum player, one who only ever operated in the wastelands, dropped a comment that poured gasoline on the already blazing fire.

[OneShot]: I've asked around, Nary Town is very far from the surrounding settlements, and the terrain between them is full of mountains and rivers. That means there are only two major roads connecting it to the outside world. Tens of thousands of refugees gather in the area, surviving by robbing travelers on those two roads. As long as we negotiate with them properly, even news of us capturing Nary Town won't spread!

Now it wasn't just newbies and cloud players getting excited anymore. Even the core players NeverShowOff had pinned his hopes on couldn't hold back their enthusiasm.

[Child]: This looks very feasible!

[Thor]: Suddenly I feel like giving it a try isn't half bad!

Some players were still skeptical, but their voices were getting drowned out:

[Tens of thousands of refugees? More bandits than farmers? Can we really trust them?]

[Obvious cloud player here. In this game, anyone who can stay in a city isn't just some farmer!]

[The chance of a human being born with magical aptitude is 1 in 100,000. Do the math yourself.]

Even players with decent physical or magical talents found life in Nary Town unbearable. Any NPC who managed to stay there would only be more ruthless than the last. It was survival of the most cutthroat.

Of course, that didn't mean the refugees weren't ruthless enough either. At the very least, getting them to help block commoners fleeing a collapsing city wouldn't be a problem at all.

What followed was a flood of wild suggestions, as cloud players and beta testers brainstormed together.

[Faction diplomacy! I studied psychology, finally I can use it! Let me design a therapy-style persuasion plan!]

[I looked at the map you posted. If we go for a blitzkrieg attack, these are the few escape routes they'll have...]

[Most of the houses in town are wooden, with fire attacks, the whole place could go up in flames instantly.]

[No, no, this is a siege. The townsfolk can actually be swayed into becoming a neutral faction.]

[I analyzed the noble portraits you mentioned earlier. If they start a fire to sow chaos, the odds aren't low. We could actually turn that against them...]

[That wall that can withstand magic tides is the hardest part. But I've figured out Viktor's fake ID trick, we can replicate it!]

[I, uh, I can help by sending them cease-and-desist letters with my professional background...]

[Nice, I like the phantom thief style of advance warning notes!]

[...]

The veins on NeverShowOff's forehead throbbed as he read through the plans. He was just about to post something harsher to stop the players from hyping themselves into a suicidal frenzy, when a long-absent figure appeared on the forum.

[ProGamer_Daddy]: You guys want to siege the city? Perfect timing. I've been working on a mana generator recently, and one of the byproducts interferes with magic signals. Take it and see if it helps.

Boom!

Seeing that reply, NeverShowOff collapsed weakly into his chair.

It's over.

The last reason he had to slam on the brakes had been snuffed out by ProGamer_Daddy's engineering genius.

[NeverShowOff]: How many units do you have?

[ProGamer_Daddy]: Uh, in three days, probably around 8? I've been developing standard modular universal mana generators. The byproducts are consistent and can be mass-produced on town assembly lines. It's just the assembly and enchantments that take a bit longer, any player above level 5 can handle it. Anyway, that's more than enough to cover all of Nary Town.

The replies below cheered ecstatically:

[ProGamer_Daddy, you're my god!]

[As long as you remember to call him Daddy.]

You can't fight an entire crowd with just one voice. Just as his protests couldn't stand against the enthusiasm of all the players, the originally planned covert siren rescue mission had been completely transformed into a full-scale siege battle.

At least the players still had some sense left. They decided to first stir up conflict between the White Dove faction and Nary Town, then wait for the right moment to strike while the chaos provided cover.

After making their plan, the players moved.

In the middle of the night, the first batch of players who took the small paths out of the Great Oak Forest had already shown up early.

They hurried through the night and lined up outside the tightly shut gates of Nary Town.

When the soldiers finally opened the gates at dawn, they were ushered inside by Hedgehog, who had just logged in.

At this time, dawn was only just breaking, and the inside of the town was quiet and still. It wasn't until they left the busier gates behind that the exhausted new players, who had trekked without rest all night, finally started to look around.

One female player with fox ears, NineTails, kept glancing back toward the gate.

"Did we... really just get in like this?"

On the way, she had imagined at least nine different scenarios, ready to duel wits with the NPC guards at the gate, barely slipping through with her cleverness and maybe some bribes.

But nothing happened. It went this smoothly? Didn't they know she was a beastman? In a human town, shouldn't they have checked more carefully?

At the front, Hedgehog couldn't help but yawn.

"The gates are meant to keep out monsters and armies. As long as you pay enough, the gate guards couldn't care less about you."

After all, the entrance fee was expensive enough to make people wince. The more they collected, the better the guards' performance reports looked.

Once they found a quiet spot away from prying eyes, Hedgehog looked around the group of disheveled newcomers.

"Are you all the ones who got lucky and ended up here?"

Since too many players were involved, without coordination things could easily turn into chaos.

So everyone had agreed: existing player groups who had already established themselves on the new map would take in and guide the scattered newcomers according to plan. Basically, the same groups that had attended the recent player meeting.

About half of the players raised their hands with varying degrees of exhaustion.

"I-I'm with the Divine Scam Syndicate!"

"I got assigned to the Air Force One Family!"

Hedgehog counted the numbers, doing quick math in his head.

It seemed the players who'd settled in the Wastelands had already left earlier; fortunately, his detour wasn't too long.

"Alright, I'll take you over there first. Soon, some veteran players will come explain the current situation to you."

He tapped away on his game panel, quickly grabbed two active night owls from the forum, and dragged them in through a barrage of urgent calls to help guide the newbies.

Then, on the road, he began explaining the basics.

"You already know to change out of your ragged starter clothes before entering the city, so I won't bother with the common sense stuff. Just remember two main points."

"One: Don't go charging straight into areas guarded by soldiers to snoop around, or you'll be waiting on the forum for your respawn cooldown."

"Two: Don't go out at night. Stay in the player bases we provide."

NineTails frowned in confusion.

"Why the second one?"

She could understand the first. After all, the NPCs in this game were really smart. Judging from complaints on the forum, Nary Town NPCs even had a violent streak, so it was normal to avoid them.

But the second rule... wasn't it basically an anti-addiction system, forcing them to log in at fixed hours?

Hedgehog explained, "The entry threshold isn't high. With a newly forged identity document, you can sneak in. But the real backbone of keeping order here are the night patrol guards enforcing curfew. Whether you act suspicious during the day, or a shady local merchant marks you, it's easy to get killed off and silenced. If you die out there, at least someone will record the cause, so others don't make the same mistake."

"So that's the reason..."

She had thought the player bases were just safer accommodations.

But in reality, the veteran players weren't responsible for protecting them at all, they were only there to witness how they died. And then pick up resurrection materials and gather experience data for future reference.

"We veterans already figured out the guards' patrols, so it's no big deal. Honestly, sneaking out at night's sometimes even easier. But right now, it's a critical period. Every death means one less pair of hands at work..."

Hedgehog spoke softly as he guided the way through narrow streets.

Time passed quickly.

He stopped in an alley one street away from the church, pointing to Lux, who had just come running out of the church looking frazzled.

"Alright, wake up everyone who's about to pass out. The Divine Scam Syndicate's people are here."

Lux had been about to take a bath when she got called online, and she was full of complaints. But when she saw this ragged bunch of newbies, more bedraggled than beggars and looking like extras from a zombie movie, she was startled out of her wits.

"How long have you not slept? Your dark circles are bigger than your eyes!"

Hedgehog shrugged.

"Probably spent two whole nights on the road. See if your holy light magic can fix them up."

Lux shot him a look.

"You think holy light is omnipotent? We only heal physical injuries. What they need is sleep!"

Still, he led the newbies along.

"You really walked out of the Great Oak Forest on foot? Wasn't it boring the whole way?"

One player thought for a moment, swaying slightly on his feet.

"Not really. We were browsing the forum along the way."

After all, once you're exhausted past a certain point and pain resistance kicks in, all you really feel is your speed slowing down. And with the forum's 2:1 time flow, chatting there even feels more intense than in-game banter.

Hedgehog waved his hand dismissively.

"You guys chat. I'm off."

Two more streets later, the group had thinned to 12 people, those assigned to the Lucky Stars.

Hedgehog handed out the basic gear he had prepared for the newbies. That included 10 sols in currency, a 7-page Nary Town survival guidebook, and their assigned mission brief.

Then he shooed them all off to bed.

Otherwise, he was honestly afraid he'd have to drag their corpses back from the respawn point tomorrow.

Finally, he kept NineTails behind, eyeing her.

"You're a Fire Fox beastman?"

"Probably. I've never seen any other beastmen, so I'm not sure."

NineTails touched the ears on her head.

"Is there something special about this race? I don't even seem to have fire affinity. At most, I can jump a little higher than others."

Everyone said rare races were powerful, but she hadn't noticed any advantage at all. On the contrary, sometimes her beast instincts even weakened her control over her character.

"There is an advantage," Hedgehog declared firmly. "You look good!"

"...Seriously?"

Among players, whose looks already averaged higher than NPCs or normal humans, was "being good-looking" even a real perk?

And why had the topic suddenly jumped to this?

"No, no, no, you don't understand the game's lore yet. It's really hard for beastmen to look good," Hedgehog said.

In the game, beastmen were intelligent creatures with both human and beast traits.

NineTails, who was mostly human with just a pair of animal ears, beastman.

Those who looked entirely like wild beasts but walked upright like humans, still beastman.

And then there were the ones that looked like walking nightmares, testing the limits of human aesthetic tolerance.

So yes, finding a good-looking beastman was far harder than finding a good-looking human.

A beastman like NineTails, if put up at an auction, would definitely be a grand finale lot.

He looked at her with eager eyes.

"Interested in going undercover in the casino?"