"Today No Update" was the game account Jiang Qiao created, and the profession chosen was a rather laid-back Summoner.
While the Sovereign team's match was ongoing, Jiang Qiao sent invitation letters to nine hundred and ninety-eight "qualified" players worldwide.
The current server capacity was capped at one thousand players. Jiang Qiao had to ensure that all one thousand were experienced players, passionate enough to level their characters sufficiently high within one month.
Zhao Mingwei, known as Laughing God, the top fighter-class player in Conflict, was Jiang Qiao's key focus.
To this end, Jiang Qiao even came to the newbie village personally… intending to act as an "old player" to help the "new player" Zhao Mingwei level up.
"Are you a player of this game?" Zhao Mingwei looked somewhat puzzled when he saw Jiang Qiao.
Since Conflict was a VR game, the realism wasn't perfect. No matter how realistic the graphics were, Zhao Mingwei could instantly tell Conflict's visuals were "painted."
But this world was different. Zhao Mingwei could see every silk thread on Jiang Qiao's robe clearly, and even his strands of hair seemed individually computed.
"Have you ever seen an NPC with an ID like this?"
Jiang Qiao pointed at the name above his head: "Today No Update."
"Indeed, I haven't," Zhao Mingwei smiled awkwardly, then glanced around, "There are so few people on this server. Is it a new game? The login method is… strange."
The streets of this main city truly had few "people." Only three or four NPCs stood alone, waiting for players to talk to them.
"I also just received the login app this morning. At first, I thought it was a prank, but after playing all day, this game is actually quite interesting," Jiang Qiao lied expertly, not even blinking as he spoke.
"But for the whole day, I was the only player. I thought it was a single-player game! Finally met a newbie! How about we team up and I help you level?"
Jiang Qiao flicked his fingers and brought up the function menu, sending a party invite directly to Zhao Mingwei.
"No party. Adding as friend is fine," Zhao Mingwei declined Jiang Qiao's party invitation.
"Are you sure you don't want me to lead you?" Jiang Qiao pointed to the left of his ID above his head, showing his level: LV10.
"You've killed all the monsters already, so there's nothing left for me to play with. But I do need some strategy tips from a pro like you."
Zhao Mingwei didn't completely reject Jiang Qiao's help. Leveling and killing monsters were part of the game, and Zhao enjoyed the process.
But Zhao Mingwei knew the importance of game guides; having a veteran player to lead was definitely better.
"A guide? I'm still exploring the game myself. If I find any good tips, I'll share them."
Jiang Qiao hadn't thought of any useful strategies yet, since he just finished the newbie village quest.
"Then if I discover anything, I'll message you. Big bro, I'm off to do the newbie quests."
Zhao Mingwei waved goodbye to Jiang Qiao.
Jiang Qiao watched this true legendary figure of the Chinese online game scene leave.
Zhao Mingwei's steps were light and relaxed, almost like a kid on a spring outing excitedly hopping around a new place.
For seven whole years, he hadn't seriously started a new game—especially one that could rival Conflict, and in such an early beta stage with only a few players!
This would excite any online gamer to explore.
"I've always wondered, why not just set players' levels directly to max?"
Jiang Qiao watched Zhao Mingwei disappear down the road and asked the invisible Hailan floating beside him.
Hailan was in stealth mode, currently following Jiang Qiao as a summoned spirit.
"The human soul has a limit on how much energy it can absorb at once. Leveling up through fighting monsters is the process of training their soul. Injecting too much energy at once would tear their soul apart and cause them to lose themselves," Hailan explained.
"Ten days—can the server's players really hold off those invading monsters in that time?"
Jiang Qiao flicked his fingers, bringing up data showing 720/1000 players online. The highest-level player was Jiang Qiao himself.
Currently level 10, the second highest was a priest player named "More Healing No Price Increase" at level 9, followed by a bunch of level 8 players.
This was the server's top tier. The server had only been open one day, but reaching average level 25 in ten days shouldn't be a problem.
"These warriors—or players—are the best talents I've seen. Your training method helps them grow fast. The invading dimension only has monsters around level 35, so I think it's doable," Hailan said, with some uncertainty in her voice. She floated in front of Jiang Qiao, her deep blue pupils locking on him, "Instead of worrying here, you should hurry up and level."
"In my lifetime, I never thought I'd be pushed by an NPC to level up—but at least it's not a push to spend money."
Jiang Qiao headed outside the main city of Lionheart Castle and began his leveling journey.
Three hours later, Jiang Qiao had leveled up from 10 to 11 and received a private message from Zhao Mingwei:
"I found a wild map BOSS, want to fight?"
"Sure, send me the coordinates."
"3251, 234, 2314."
Jiang Qiao clicked the coordinates and a virtual map popped up before him.
The location was on the left side of Lion Plains. If Jiang Qiao remembered correctly, monsters there were mostly level 9 boars.
In just three hours, Zhao Mingwei had reached level 8.
His leveling speed was twice as fast as Jiang Qiao's. Jiang Qiao even suspected he had taken some double experience potion or something.
Maybe that's what a true pro feels like.
Jiang Qiao arrived at the coordinates. Zhao Mingwei had been waiting for a while and immediately sent Jiang Qiao a team invitation.
The invite was quickly accepted. Zhao Mingwei's gear had already upgraded from newbie sets to roughly level 5 equipment.
Embarrassingly, Jiang Qiao was still wearing level 5 white-quality gear, with only his staff being a level 10 blue rare item.
But newbie gear was easily replaced. Jiang Qiao was just testing the game's combat system.
(End of Chapter)