Chapter Sixty-Six: Territory in Contest

The pirated myth of online games, without any pop-up windows.

In two days, the Hero Challenge will begin. On the rankings, I have once again dropped back to sixth place worldwide and third place in China. Yet on the town leaderboard, Murong Shanshan still holds an overwhelming lead. Perhaps because of today’s snowfall, I played more than usual and plummeted to third place on the town rankings. The Ant on the Leaf—Ye Qiu—somehow rose to second place in the town rankings at level twenty-six. Murong Shanshan, at the same level, follows closely behind, and Berserk comes after her. Six Snow and Xin Yu are fifth and sixth respectively. The others on the town leaderboard are unfamiliar to me; the original ranked players have all been pushed off, a testament to the fierce competition.

That afternoon, the group selling skill books proved formidable; their leader took on a hidden profession quest. I have never heard of any hidden classes in Moon Eternal. Should a player with a hidden profession suddenly emerge during the tournament, all strategic plans would have to change. Perhaps, in the future, hidden professions will become an unpredictable factor influencing the direction of Moon Eternal.

Currently, our small studio’s five chosen participants can be considered elites of Hurricane City. Xin Yu, Six Snow, and I are all on the town leaderboard. Xu Lin, at level twenty-five, ranks fourteenth in the city but hasn’t made it onto the leaderboard, while the last chosen, Li Qing, is level twenty-three, placing him over three hundredth in the city. He may not be strong, yet he certainly won’t drag us down.

From what I know so far, the greatest threat to us comes from Murong Shanshan and Ye Qiu’s group. Ye Qiu’s PvP skills are formidable, even I must tread carefully when facing him, and his level is not low. Given his gaming talent, his gear shouldn’t be lacking either.

The most terrifying is Murong Shanshan, whose attack is far higher than mine. If a priest like Six Snow, with low health, is targeted by her, the outcome would be grim. If Coco and the other girls coordinate well enough to keep Murong Shanshan alive, she could eliminate our team members one by one. There’s also the thief “Sky Stealer.” He bought my dagger; if he joins Murong Shanshan’s team, it’ll be even tougher for us. Aside from myself, the other girls on our team don’t have the ability to evade a thief’s sneak attack. If the mage or the priest is killed instantly, our formation will collapse and it’ll all be over.

Berserk’s crew doesn’t warrant much attention; after all, those who use money to boost their levels and gear usually lack real gaming skill. Moon Eternal is not Legend; having lots of people and good gear doesn’t guarantee invincibility. Especially in 5v5 duels, skill and adaptability are what matter most!

As I pondered this, I arrived at Wild Horse Plains. Not far away was a large area where wild wolves gather—a beast-type creature at level thirty-one. My experience at level twenty-eight was already at ninety-four percent; after half an hour more of grinding, I could reach twenty-nine. Since passing level twenty-five, leveling has become much harder. Murong Shanshan took nearly two days to reach twenty-six. When she was twenty-five, Six Snow was only at twenty-one; now Six Snow is twenty-five. It’s not that she leveled faster than Murong Shanshan, but because twenty-five is a turning point where leveling speed drops dramatically. Most players surge to twenty-five, but after that, the rapid rise in levels becomes a thing of the past.

Wild wolves on the plains don’t give bad experience, but compared to gold monsters, they’re lacking. Most importantly, their loot—equipment and coins—is sparse. Having bought three skill books, I was strapped for cash. If I didn’t grind for more money, I wouldn’t even have enough to learn new skills at level thirty, let alone pay the hefty repair fees for heavy gear.

To my surprise, in order to reach level twenty-nine, I spent nearly an hour killing wild wolves on the plains, yet not a single piece of gear dropped, and the money was minimal—only three gold coins. The once teeming pack had been wiped out, and behind them was a cliff separating Wild Horse Plains from Hurricane City’s territory.

Near the cliff, there weren’t any monsters, but along the cliff, a narrow mountain path stretched downward, almost invisible beneath thick vegetation. However, judging by the density of the plants, the path could just barely be discerned. Anyway, staying on the plains grinding those pelt monsters offered no real benefit; what I needed now was gear and money. Experience could be gained anywhere.

Following the path down, the system map suddenly disappeared, and the system prompted: “You have entered a contested territory—Autumn Wind Path!”

I was startled—a contested territory? This concept wasn’t new to me, but this was my first time truly entering such a domain. There had been talk on the forums about these places: lands being fought over between kingdoms with no large towns or villages, only temporary camps and small military squads. Some say wandering in such contested maps allows entry into other countries, meaning you could access servers of other regions even before the system’s teleport service opens, enabling cross-national flow. But given the current player levels, this is clearly impossible. According to a player who died three times here, the monsters’ levels are unseeable—one hit takes out most of your health.

I hesitated but decided to keep going. Since this map connects to Wild Horse Plains, the monster levels shouldn’t differ too much; at least, there shouldn’t be any monsters capable of instantly killing me.

The further I walked, the more eerie the surroundings became; dew thickened, and my boots squelched on the grass, making a “slosh-slosh” sound—the only noise on this path.

After nearly twenty minutes of walking, still no monsters appeared. The mountain road seemed endless, always descending along the slope. The light dimmed, and looking up, I could only see the cliffs stretching skyward on either side, forming a narrow strip of sky.

“Damn it, did I come to the wrong place?” I cursed under my breath.

Another ten minutes of walking, and finally, there was a glimmer of light ahead. Rounding a cliff, the view suddenly opened up; intense sunlight hurt my eyes, and—wait, my body hurt too. What was happening?!

System prompt: You have been attacked by a Swamp Guardian. HP reduced by sixty-eight!

I was stunned—there was clearly no monster in sight, so what was going on?