Chapter 008: The Hidden Sanctuary

When Lin Jia returned to his seat with the bowl, a guy beside him suddenly shrieked in a high-pitched voice, “I’ve found a new map!” The shout startled Lin Jia so much he nearly spilled the noodles over the guy’s head, and a few other players nearby, equally alarmed, began to curse, “You must be new, huh? Didn’t we just talk about how to get to the new map?”

The fellow protested loudly, “No, this really is a new map! Come look, there are so many snakes! Wait, someone’s already here!” Lin Jia, slurping his noodles, craned his neck to see. It was indeed a map he’d never seen before, at the upper right corner of the Bicheng map.

The player who’d been cursing him snickered, “That’s Snake Valley, a massive maze. Go in, kill snakes, run out of potions, and then spend ages trying to get back. Waste of time! Besides, there are just as many people over there as here. You’d better stick to Bicheng and keep killing skeletons or zombies.”

Disappointed that he wasn’t the first to discover the new map, the guy muttered, “Damn it! There’s no information at all—at this rate I won’t figure it out until the end of time!”

Lin Jia chuckled inwardly. If everyone instantly knew everything, where would the fun be? The game’s charm lay in the lack of detailed information on the official site—every new discovery was a delight to the players, which was why the game had become so wildly popular so fast.

Glancing around, Lin Jia saw that most of the players were now higher level than he was. He gulped down the rest of his soup and rejoined the battle. By then, twenty red-named players were already teaming up to slay armored beetles and multi-horned bugs. With warriors and priests in their ranks, they barely needed any potions. As for a low-level mage like himself, it was unlikely anyone would want to take him in, so Lin Jia had no choice but to fight alone.

The area around the small village no longer had enough monsters to go around. Not wanting to compete with the others, Lin Jia wandered north on the map, fighting as he went. Earlier, near the village, there had been more than enough monsters, but the further north he went, the denser the creatures became. The mage’s only advantage was that he didn’t need to fight up close; even with a crowd of monsters, he could kite them in wide circles, casting fireballs from a distance. Soon enough, Lin Jia had lured a horde of over fifty bugs, making it nearly impossible for him to dodge; if he ran too far, he’d lose his target, but up close, the other monsters would attack him. With no other choice, Lin Jia turned and shouted, “Guys! Help! I’ve got hundreds of bugs here!”

The young man at the computer behind Lin Jia turned around in surprise and exclaimed, “Damn, you stirred up a nest? Hang on! Where are you?” After getting Lin Jia’s coordinates, he summoned the twenty or so red-named friends who’d just arrived. A great battle erupted between players and monsters—who would pass up a chance to farm without hunting for monsters?

Everyone quickly realized Lin Jia’s method was effective. They had the fragile mage lure monsters, then attacked en masse. Experience points poured in much faster than when hunting alone. After helping them lure two rounds of monsters, Lin Jia cheerfully bid them farewell and continued north. Surely this new map, Mengzhong, must have a village that sold potions—otherwise, how would a mage like him level up? His plan was to secure a source of supplies first; leeching experience points behind others was too painful. After all, when he lured monsters for others, he only got a sliver of experience if he was close enough, and nothing at all if he drifted too far. Solo grinding was safer and more efficient.

Dodging and weaving straight north for nearly two minutes, Lin Jia finally spotted a massive castle. Its walls were as thick as those of Bicheng’s main city, and an NPC old man stood by the gate, muttering something about “siege supplies.” Lin Jia didn’t understand, so he went inside to get his bearings. As he hoped, there was a potion shop, an equipment store, and even a warehouse, all with normal prices. Delighted, Lin Jia was about to call his leader Xu Fangfang and Xu Hongbin to go red-named as well, so they wouldn’t have to fight for monsters. With plenty of gold, they’d have a huge advantage over those poor players who couldn’t even afford potions.

But just as he turned around, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his character pause behind the clothing store, then the screen flashed to a new scene. Lin Jia was startled—had he really stumbled onto another new map just after finding the potion shop?

He relaxed only after realizing he could return to the castle via a small staircase on the “Secret Passage” map. There was a hidden door behind the clothing store leading to this secret passage—impossible to find unless you hugged the back wall. If he hadn’t dragged his mouse downward while turning around, he would’ve missed it entirely, since you couldn’t see the doorway from the usual angle.

Was this the legendary “hidden map”? Lin Jia’s heart skipped a beat. He’d stumbled upon the hidden entrance while dragging the mouse downwards and his character had naturally entered the secret passage. If he’d simply run straight behind the clothing store, he never would’ve found it.

He retraced his steps along the back of the clothing store, going back and forth twice before finally entering the secret passage. But he barely made it down the stairs before a zombie lurking on the ground one-shotted him. His health was already low, and as a red-named player, Lin Jia was instantly reduced to poverty. All the trinkets and a small healing potion he’d painstakingly looted from monsters were left on the ground.

“Damn! Such high damage!” Lin Jia cursed. The monsters here were exactly like the zombies in Bicheng’s advanced “Mine” area—a zone for players level fifteen and above. The only upside was that he had the place to himself, with no competition for monsters or loot. In this game, any equipment dropped from monsters was protected for two minutes; if the owner didn’t pick it up in time, anyone could claim it. However, if someone stood on top of the item, the owner couldn’t reach it. Wait out the timer, and the looter could claim it for themselves—thus, the infamous “loot-snatching.”

Lin Jia quickly logged out to the character selection screen, then revived in the small village and sprinted at top speed toward the castle, hoping to reclaim his items before the system cleared them. At this stage, every scrap was worth gold—even a toothpick was worth selling to the shop.

Once back at the castle, Lin Jia rushed to the potion shop, bought two bundles of small healing potions, and spent the rest of his carrying capacity on magic potions. Then he stormed into the secret passage, dashed down the staircase, circled twice to lure the zombie away, and hid behind the stairs, unleashing fireballs with reckless abandon.