Chapter 087: Changing Positions

After losing a Skull Ring, Old Fourth gloomily replaced it with the Gale Ring that Lin Jia had acquired. Originally, Old Fourth was unwilling to use such a worthless trinket with only 0–1 attack, but after calling out in the safe zone for a long while without anyone stepping forward to sell or exchange equipment with Lin Jia’s group, he had no choice. This speaks volumes about the current luck of players in the game—while the majority are still struggling just to get by, those who can produce high-level gear for trade are exceedingly rare.

The wealth Lin Jia and his companions now possessed far exceeded what the average player could dream of. Even though the game had only been open for four days, the massive influx of new players still made up at least fifty percent of the population. Thirty percent of players were still below level fifteen, and of the remaining twenty percent, about fifteen percent were lone wolves or small groups barely scraping by. Of the final five percent, half had achieved self-sufficiency thanks to luck or experience, and only two percent were the leaders of large gaming guilds or family clans. The last half percent comprised super-lucky players like Lin Jia’s group, as well as some professional players and traders. Looking at these numbers, it was clear that the game’s developers had set the drop rates miserably low!

Given the current player base, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to obtain good equipment. However, for various reasons, even if these lucky players were too broke to buy potions, their gear rarely left their warehouses. If the equipment suited their class, they’d save it for later use; if it was for another class, exchanging it for gold was considered a waste. Early in the game, with the prevailing exchange rates, even if most players had that much gold—which they usually didn’t—a level 20 weapon would fetch only about half a million gold, barely enough to fund potion consumption for two days for the game’s more reckless players.

Thus, most people preferred to stash away their equipment as potential investments, hoping for future appreciation. Not to mention, items like the Skeleton Set had such low drop rates that few possessed them. Warrior players would never sell, while Taoist and Mage players hoarded and speculated; acquiring such sets was nearly impossible in the short term. Last time, if it hadn’t been for a certain leader desperately needing gold to support his flock, he wouldn’t have stripped off his own pair of Skull Rings to sell.

So, player trading in the game was still in its infancy. Most people hadn’t developed a sense of player-to-player commerce. With gold in short supply, the true value of high-level gear was murky at best. Even those inclined to sell feared being cheated due to ignorance, so most haggled blindly, making up prices on the spot. Deals would often fall through at the last minute, with sellers backing out in fear of making a bad bargain.

What frustrated Old Fourth the most was that all the backup equipment the three brothers had stockpiled had already been handed over to Lone Wind to sell off, leaving Old Fourth without even a level 20 Black Crystal Ring with 0–2 attack to trade.

Now, wearing an ordinary 2–0 Devil’s Necklace and a 0–1 Gale Necklace, Old Fourth’s attack dropped by three points, leaving him with only 7–28 attack (Necklace 2–0, Bracelet 2–4, Ring 0–4, Base Attribute 3–4, Zhanmadao 0–16 equals 7–28 attack). If there weren’t a junk Bullhorn Ring with 0–5 attack left in the warehouse for emergencies, he wouldn’t even be able to swap out his Skeleton Set for repairs. But with no spare gear now, he had to make do.

Having weapons in the warehouse that he could only look at but not use was a bitter pill for Old Fourth, but let’s leave his disappointment aside for now. Lin Jia, on the other hand, cheerfully put on the Sibyl Bracelet that Old Fourth had risked his life to retrieve. Although its attributes matched those of the exceptional Ebony Bracelet, its appearance was much more attractive. After admiring it for a while, Lin Jia still took it off—pairing an Ebony with a Sibyl just looked too mismatched. He resolved to wait until he found a matching pair before wearing them.

The aftermath of the battle for the Incense Stone Catacombs still rippled through the game. The sight of a sea of red-named players was truly spectacular—this was likely the largest upheaval since the opening of "Legend." Even at night, nearly five thousand players were online; in the daytime, the number would be even higher. For a game to boast such numbers just days after launch was impressive, considering some smaller games didn’t even have this many registered users.

However, the large population also strained the servers. The system was already laggy, and with so many players concentrated on one map for PvP, the connection in Mengzhong was practically frozen. Yet, the players’ enthusiasm remained undimmed—many even used the lag to ambush others. PvP had become a test of computer performance and bandwidth capacity.

Even Lin Jia’s group was “moonwalking” due to the lag, let alone everyone else. China’s bandwidth quality only brought tears to countless players’ eyes. In 2001, before the internet cafe boom, most cafes had pitiful bandwidth and hardware. If the legitimate ones were bad, the black-market cafes running on dial-up connections were hopeless.

Wisely, the group avoided the overcrowded Pig Cave, and with the Incense Stone Catacombs now history, the three brothers—unwilling to partake in further player killing—moonwalked for half an hour to the “Dungeon,” which, due to the day-night system and the complex, narrow terrain, was far from an ideal leveling spot. Players referred to it as the “Centipede Cave.”

The layout of Centipede Cave was a hundred times more complex than Pig Cave. Its narrow corridors, high monster density, and rapid respawn rates meant Mage players would never come here to level up, cutting the player count by a third. Aside from high-level Taoists with Summon Skeleton and Invisibility, few Taoists bothered with the place either.

There were plenty of monsters, but when they respawned, they often crowded in tens or even dozens around you—certain death for Mages, while Taoists could only flee for their lives. In such a cramped map, getting blocked by monsters meant not even a chance to dodge. Only Warriors, with their high defense and health, dared venture here, making it one of the deadliest locations in the game. If other maps had 100% of their potential players, this one had only 40–50%, making it a relatively roomy spot for monster hunting.

*********

Apology: I’ve been delayed these past two days because I had to return early for the ancestral tomb sweeping, but I still managed to update a chapter from an internet cafe—which counts as being responsible, right? Though the word count isn’t high, I promise to make up for it, so please don’t criticize me for breaking my word. Yesterday afternoon, I intended to catch a train back, but couldn’t get a ticket—the schedule for the train I always take had suddenly changed, so I had to take a bus instead. After all the back-and-forth, I didn’t get home until after ten. I quickly grabbed some food and came online to write. Here’s an update for now, and I’ll make up the rest in the next couple of days!

ps:
Patch Update: Addressing a bug—character base stats in Legend increase gradually with level, but I’d forgotten this and had defaulted everyone’s stats to 4–5 early on. Let’s correct that moving forward, though previous chapters won’t be edited. Someone mentioned that the base stat limit increases by one every seven levels, and that a level 22 character should have a base of 3–4. I can’t recall exactly, but let’s use that as our standard for now—thanks!

Also, some bugs in the text are intentional for narrative convenience. For example, at this stage, the Stone Tomb should only have four floors—the fifth floor was added in a later update—but I introduced it early because the Evil Serpent’s spawn point is complicated to describe. If I’d said “above the fourth-to-fifth-floor entrance,” veteran players would picture that remote, convoluted spot. But for readers less familiar with Legend, you’ll have to use your imagination. This is a limitation of writing about 2D MMORPGs, and my writing may not always bring it vividly to life.

At this time, even the Zuma Temple only had four floors—the fifth was added in the first major update. I don’t recall exactly when. So, when the plot needs a floor to exist, it will be there. Some debate in the review section questions whether the Evil Serpent spawns on Pig 4. To clarify: in my memory, Pig 4 does spawn serpents, right in that complicated corner I described. I can’t recall which version introduced it, so I’ll just assume it’s there—without it, the protagonist couldn’t shine! In fact, Evil Serpents can appear on floors 4, 5, and 7, and even the White Serpent has spawned on the second floor before. These are my recollections, though accuracy is hard to guarantee. Furthermore, different servers may vary. The server in my story is based on “Radiance,” which I played back then, specifically areas 1, 2, and 10. Any in-game situations described are based on these servers!

I hope readers continue to share your funny, peculiar, or memorable experiences in the review section—it’ll provide me with lots of inspiration. After all, one person’s memories are rarely enough to recall all those unforgettable moments from years ago!