Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

Chapter 115.1: Second Round of Beta

November 7, Thursday, Earth time. One day left until the monthly rare item auction.

At this time, when in-game currency among players was in high demand, the advanced NPCs finally listed this month's auction items.

The auction items released by the Warrior Instructor, Charlie Rex, were three extraordinary-looking swords with even more amazing attributes:

[Sword of Beryllus]

[A sword blessed by the Fire God Beryllus. Grants a 20% increase in attack power and a 50% boost in fire resistance.

Additional Fire Damage: Inflicts 30% of weapon damage as fire damage when attacking.

Impervious: Increases armor penetration by 30%.]

Early in the morning, players rushed to the bulletin board in Weisshem Town Hall to check out the auction items. They were blown away when they saw the attributes of these swords.

"What the hell! Beating the Inner Demon instance only allows an enchantment of only one line of attributes and this thing has two?!"

"Two attributes? That's nothing. The equipment effect is just mind-blowing! A 20% attack boost means I'll be invincible when I activate Battle Roar!"

"Warriors, knights, and wanderers can all use a sword like this. It's going to be mad!"

Qin Guan, who didn't usually focus much on his profession, suddenly felt a strong desire for these weapon attributes. He immediately rushed to log out at the teleportation point and called Xiao Zhou

When the auction was held last month, it had caused quite a commotion. However, this month, the developers seemed to be more considerate. Players no longer had to exhaust themselves, grinding reputation for auction rights. As long as they had an Honored reputation with their respective job instructors, they had the right to bid.

But it wasn't necessarily a good thing for players who really wanted the items. For example, last month, whale players had tried to monopolize the auction rights, but this time around, they couldn't do so anymore.

Despite reserving game currency from Xiao Zhou's studio, Qin Guan still felt uneasy and called Blossoming Strokes.

A short while later, Blossoming Strokes came online.

"Any warrior that achieved Honored reputation can bid, so the chances of something going wrong are high." After personally checking out the auction announcement at Weisshem Town Hall, Blossoming Strokes joined Qin Guan and said, "Although there aren't many warrior players, there are still quite a few with Honored reputation, including those we know like Yang Ying, Stuffed Gummy, Ji Tang, and even Brother Lahong's newly advanced warriors."

"Yang Ying and Stuffed Gummy are selling game currency, so they probably won't compete, right?" Qin Guan said. "I don't think Ji Tang will, either. That guy became a player mayor and has gotten obsessed with the role. I haven't seen him out with Yang Ying's group to farm monsters in quite a while."

"Yang Ying and Little Gummy might not be able to afford to bid, but they can definitely bid on behalf of other whales," Blossoming Strokes said emphatically. "Recently, Orange Cat has been getting close to them, so he and his friend will definitely join in. There are also the people from Brother Lahong's side; three swords might not be enough."

Qin Guan suddenly felt a headache.

Orange Cat was a warrior player and whale who had been online for a long time but had limited skill. He had just barely completed his first job advancement this month. He could be considered the lowest standard among all players and was so bad that anyone watching would think he was hopeless.

Having a lack of skill was fine, but he had money and liked collecting high-quality equipment!

Qin Guan couldn't stand thinking about a top-notch weapon like this ending up as an accessory for the low-skilled Orange Cat who loved to flaunt. What a waste that would be!

"Don't worry too much. Haven't they only just released one type of auction item? Previously, there was the Orb of Deception and the Undead Horse. They might release two items this time as well. Let's see what Lord Yang has in store. If it's something good, perhaps those wealthy bosses might be drawn away," Blossoming Strokes reassured him.

The official announcement on the website only mentioned that the Warrior Instructor and Mage Instructor would release auction items on the 7th. It didn't specify the items that would be released. Qin Guan didn't pay much attention to what the Mage Instructor, Lord Yang, might offer, but after contemplating what Blossoming Strokes said, his anxiety lessened, and he teleported back to Exile Town to await news.

It was just past 8 a.m. on Earth, but in the game, it was already in the afternoon. The elusive Lord Yang (actually just an illusion) leisurely appeared in front of Exile Town Hall and stuck up the auction announcement.

Upon reading the contents of the announcement, a loud chorus of "What the hell!" erupted from the players that had gathered.

[Book of the Undead]

[Special item. When held by the team leader or raid leader, it can summon team/raid members to the area around the holder.]

Qin Guan immediately forgot about "The Sword of Beryllus" and stared at Lord Yang's auction item description in awe.

The biggest complaint players had about "OtherWorld" was being only able to resurrect at the town (stronghold) teleportation point after dying and serving the offline penalty time.

It didn't matter too much when farming in places like Spider Cave or the Poisonous Marshlands, as players could run back to rejoin their teammates from the nearest respawn point in just a few minutes. However, if far from a respawn point, like during expedition quests, getting killed meant being out of touch with the team.

Why hadn't adventurous (suicidal) players been able to indulge themselves and only played in areas close to the town (respawn point)? It was because the rule of being sent back to town upon death was just not game-experience-friendly!

If someone obtained this item, not only could they farm monsters as a team, but they could even have a raid group head into the depths of Taranthan and start clearing like mad!

And if there were expedition quests or anything similar, a player that held this item would be revered like a god!

Wiping away his drool and pulling Blossoming Strokes aside from the crowd, Qin Guan said determinedly, "Blossom, we must get this item!"

Blossoming Strokes nodded, about to say something when they heard a familiar voice excitedly exclaim not far away, "What the hell! There's even an item like this?! Buy, buy, buy!"

Qin Guan and Blossoming Strokes glanced over and saw a skeleton decked out in top-notch gear with the ID "There's An Orange Cat" above his head. He was excitedly waving to the crowd. "Anyone else with some copper coins? I'll take as many as you've got!"

"Damn it, I nearly forgot about this guy!" Qin Guan said with a vexed expression.

Blossoming Strokes shared his frustration. They had hoped that the auction item from Lord Yang's side would draw the attention of the whales and allow Qin Guan to bid on a Sword of Beryllus. However, what Lord Yang had presented was too incredible, and they needed it as well.

Blossoming Strokes suggested, "I think we should announce it in the (WeChat) group. Everyone can contribute, and that might increase our chances of winning."

Qin Guan shrugged helplessly. "Alright, I'll ask in the group."

Meanwhile, Brother Lahong and his team were busy grinding materials for their blood alliance quest in the Poisonous Marshlands. On hearing that Lord Yang had released an amazing item, he didn't hesitate to log out and immediately started contacting the gold farmers through WeChat

In the dense forests of the Sorensen Mountains, Yang Qiu, covered in blood, struggled to observe the reactions of the players to the auction items via the matrix. He let out a sigh of relief, withdrew his consciousness, and collapsed on the ground, utterly exhausted.

Just like the steel knives used by players, the [Sword of Beryllus] released by Rex was indeed made in China.

However, Yang Qiu had used the remaining magic dark gold material he used for setting up the teleportation array to the three swords. This enhanced their durability, allowing them to bear dual enchantments. Such a weapon could also be sold for a few gold coins on the black markets of this world, so it wouldn't be considered that Yang Qiu was conning his fellow countrymen.

As for the [Book of the Undead], it was a spoil of war he had casually picked up in his early years. It was called a book, but in reality, it was a long scroll woven from the hair of a unique magic beast. It could carry semi-permanent magic inscriptions and, when needed, could be unfurled to cast the inscribed spell.

Originally, this scroll contained a semi-permanent spell called "Mind Sight." Old nobles would use this spell to determine the loyalty of their subordinates and women. Yang Qiu removed the useless mental magic and replaced it with the undead summoning spell used for resurrection and teleportation, thus turning it into the [Book of the Undead].

These two items would be handed over to players through auctions, not only as a periodic currency sink but also to enhance players' siege capabilities and endurance for battles in the wildernessenergetic players were needed to protect the construction team that would build the direct railway from Weisshem to Exile Town.

Of course, for effective protection, they would need a construction team of at least two thousand, which currently wasn't enough with the current player count.

Yang Qiu let himself rest on the ground for a while, and when he felt slightly better, he struggled to his feet and opened the spatial rift back to Earth.

Shortly, an announcement was posted on the official site:

Announcement: Second Batch of Beta Accounts

Dear players, "OtherWorld" is about to begin its second round of stress testing, and we have 3,000 beta accounts waiting for you.

The account application portal is now open on the official site, and players who pass the one hundred questions questionnaire will participate in a random draw with a chance to obtain a beta account.

The second batch of beta accounts will still be distributed for free, with only a material fee of 188 yuan required.