Chapter 19 Forger Yan Ling
Hang Yu curiously clicked on the post.
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"Hello everyone!"
"I’m your Wraith Sister!"
"This time, I’m truly honored to be one of the first beta testers for Twisted Three Kingdoms. I won’t elaborate too much on the gameplay and features; if you're interested, you can check out the post by Black-Eyed Rui Ge next door."
"Today, I’ll briefly discuss the game’s story and share some personal guesses!"
"Of course, since the content made public in the early stage of the game is only a drop in the bucket, and players' exploration progress of the world isn’t even a corner of the iceberg, the following content will inevitably have errors and is for reference only."
"First of all, Twisted Three Kingdoms has some Souls-like or rogue-lite flavor. The development team has done a lot of recreations based on the Three Kingdoms, constructing a dark world that feels both familiar and strange, with extremely high playability and a strong sense of mystery."
"Today, together with Rui Ge, Salty Fish, and other top players, we explored the game map for the first time and discovered an abandoned village called He Ting. According to the analysis of ‘Chenxi’, it’s a small village near Shanyang County of Henei Commandery during the late Han Dynasty, not far from the Han capital Luoyang."
"While exploring the abandoned village, we encountered Yellow Turban soldiers that had been transformed into headless fiend soldiers, and also a humanoid boss named ‘Xu Feng’. Based on the materials we later found, Xu Feng was a Palace Attendant during the first year of Zhongping under Emperor Ling of Han and was one of Zhang Jiao’s important internal allies in the court."
"We have reason to believe that the destruction of He Ting Village is related to Zhang Jiao or the Yellow Turban Rebellion."
"The early-stage maps that players need to face might be related to the Yellow Turban Army."
"As for why Xu Feng became demonized, and why the killed Yellow Turban soldiers turned into headless fiend soldiers, it might be linked to a major core setting of the game—Abyssal Invasion."
"The world-building of Twisted Three Kingdoms is extremely complex!"
"We absolutely must not treat it as just a historical game."
"This Three Kingdoms era seems to have suffered, or is suffering, from a certain mysterious calamity, causing the entire world to become distorted and to continue collapsing. Perhaps it can be understood as a post-apocalyptic version of the Three Kingdoms."
"From the current situation, it seems that the vast majority of characters have already been demonized during the Abyssal Invasion. Of course, there is also a high probability that some neutral or friendly NPCs or NPC factions exist."
"I speculate that the main storyline of the game is to travel across various maps, helping the Lord to conquer cities and expand territory."
"During this process, players will participate in drastically modified major events from the Three Kingdoms, challenge demonized characters, interact with lucid characters, understand their experiences and stories, investigate the causes and process of the Abyssal Invasion, and explore the dark background of the Three Kingdoms’ storylines, eventually repelling the Abyssal Corruption and purifying this piece of history."
"From the brief words of hostile NPCs and Lords, we can infer—"
"There seem to be two major opposing factions in the world of Twisted Three Kingdoms: the Abyss faction and the Stars faction!"
"We players, unsurprisingly, should belong to the Stars faction, but its composition is extremely complicated. Besides the Lords representing humanity, there also seem to be other alien races attempting to invade this world, although we haven't encountered them yet."
"I have reason to suspect that, beyond the twisted Three Kingdoms setting, Twisted Three Kingdoms hides a much grander overarching world view. However, players will not be able to come into contact with this hidden world view anytime soon, at least not until the mid-to-late stages of the game."
"……"
"All in all."
"Twisted Three Kingdoms is a perfect game in every aspect."
"Whether you're looking to experience powerful gameplay, immersive storytelling, thrilling battles, appreciate scenery, travel and sightsee, or enjoy unraveling mysteries as a lore enthusiast, it will bring you surprises worth ten or even a hundred times more than expected."
"I will continue to dig deeper into the story and settings of the game. If I discover anything new, I will update through posts or videos. Friends who are interested, feel free to follow!"
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These players had only played for two days.
And yet they had already managed to speculate so much?
This Wraith Sister even discovered the antagonistic relationship between the Land of the Stars and the Abyss World.
Although some of the guesses were not very accurate and even deviated quite a bit, it was still rather impressive.
Hang Yu glanced at the replies.
Although many people expressed curiosity about Twisted Three Kingdoms,
Skepticism and ridicule still occupied nearly half the thread.
After all, no pictures, no truth; from beginning to end, only Black-Eyed Rui Ge and Wraith Sister had posted, which was indeed hard for people to believe.
Hang Yu didn’t mind this. He decided to absorb some suggestions and further perfect the game mechanics.
After all, the better the gameplay experience, the longer players would stay online, and naturally, the revenue generated would rise sharply.
"Xiao Ba, I want to design a few virtual items." Hang Yu summoned the Heavenly Dao Cube.
"Please give your instructions, Master."
"The first item will be called ‘Essence Contract’. Players can form a party relationship through the contract, allowing them to distribute the obtained Essence according to a predetermined ratio for a period of time."
Hang Yu continued to elaborate, "Additionally, the contract will have ranks and quality levels. The higher the quality of the Essence Contract, the more players it can include. The higher the rank of the Essence Contract, the higher the level of players it can bind... Each Tier-One ordinary Essence Contract will be sold for 200 Essence, can accommodate up to six players in a team, and will have a validity period of six hours."
"No problem!"
Xiao Ba immediately created the related item according to his request.
For the Heavenly Dao Cube, such a function was merely a trivial task.
"The second item will be called ‘Photography Crystal’. Players can use the crystal to take in-game screenshots, and higher-level Photography Crystals can even be used for recording videos..."
Following the suggestion of Black-Eyed Rui Ge,
the team formation feature and screenshot feature were successively launched.
They were merely treated as value-added services to ‘harvest’ players.
This way, it not only enhanced ceremony and immersion but also provided an opportunity to recycle more Contribution Points, motivating players to work harder and fight more fiercely.
While Hang Yu was still racking his brain on how to better squeeze and stimulate the players, a sudden important notification came from the Lord Core, making him perk up immediately and put aside the work at hand.
【Ding, dear Lord, the Forger you hired has arrived. Please go to the Forging Workshop to complete the employment contract!】
Faster than expected!
Hang Yu immediately headed to the Forging Workshop.
A red-haired girl appeared before his eyes.
The Flame Fox Tribe was about seventy to eighty percent similar to humans, somewhat like the fox people often seen in fantasy novels, possessing extremely powerful flame talents.
They were considered a lower-middle race, holding a status higher than humans in the Land of the Stars.
Because the Flame Fox Tribe was naturally adept at manipulating fire, most of the members who did not become Lords could usually excel in productive professions such as forging, alchemy, or cooking.
"Hello, great Lord. My name is Yan Ling, and I am the Forger you hired!"
The Flame Fox girl was just over one meter fifty tall, about the size of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old human girl.
She had flaming red long hair and porcelain-white skin, distinguished by a pair of fox ears and a fluffy tail. Her appearance highly matched the mainstream human aesthetic standards, and her looks and figure even carried a bit of an anime style.
Very good.
NPCs of this type were often the most popular among players.
In the future, she might even break into mainstream fame, becoming a virtual idol.
This could further boost the game’s appeal, bringing in more players from outside the gaming community.
Yan Ling cautiously spoke, "If the Lord is satisfied with Yan Ling, I hope we can sign the contract and begin work as soon as possible."
Hang Yu nodded and said, "I want to add a confidentiality clause to the contract. You must swear to the Will of the Stars that you will strictly comply with the confidentiality requirement at all times, and without permission, you are not allowed to disclose any information about the territory!"
"No problem!"
Yan Ling readily agreed.
After all, there was often fierce competition between the Lords of the Stars. If hired personnel were to steal territorial secrets during their service, it would pose a huge threat to territory security, so similar confidentiality clauses were very common among Lords.
Not long after,
both parties successfully signed the contract.
A vast will swept over them.
Under the gaze of the Will of the Stars, the contract was successfully concluded!
Although Yan Ling appeared as steady as an old fox in front of her employer, her heart was already surging with excitement and joy... Oh my God, it wasn’t easy at all!
After graduating for so long, she finally found a job and made it ashore!