As the server went under maintenance, the forums bustled with speculation over the upcoming updates.
When the server finally re-opened, all the players hurriedly logged on. When Shi Sheng tried logging in, the connection timed out quite a few times before she finally managed to get in.
The moment she entered, she was greeted by the sight of many unfamiliar guild names.
Shi Sheng opened up the map and found that a lot of things had changed. It had been clearly divided into two separate camps.
Deities and Demons.
The other races also had clear allegiances. Humans, buddhas, and deities were in the Deity Camp, while spirits, demons and ghosts were in the Demon Camp.
The two major camps were in opposition.
The update not only revealed new areas on the map which related to the new camp features, even the level cap and main questline had been updated.
The level cap now was 120.
Shi Sheng hadn’t visited Transient Life before, but others had. There was already a detailed post on the forums analysing this.
[Only when two servers are merged do you get the full map. Really have to sigh at the developers’ planning.
Only when both servers have cleared Twinklegem Tower can the Camps be activated.
This explains why a couple outfit would be split between two servers. After all, what if they were merged?]
The moment this thread was posted, the people in other servers immediately started gathering in parties to clear Twinklegem Tower.
Shi Sheng looked through the menu and discovered the new camp icon.
She was a deity, so of course she belonged to the Deity Camp.
And right now, the page for camps was completely empty.
A few people voiced their doubts on world chat and asked the GM about it, but the GM simply told the players to discover the new features on their own.
Though this page was supposed to display the various Camp Alliances, you didn’t have to open it in order to create an alliance. All you needed was to have a Camp Token, which would open up a separate menu for creating the alliance.
The experience she gained from clearing Twinklegem Tower yesterday was enough for Shi Sheng to level up 6 times.
She clicked a few times to pull up the leaderboards, and discovered more than half the names were unfamiliar. Li Suo wasn’t in 1stplace. 1st place went to Ink Seeker, a demon who was at level 80.
2nd place went to 4Seas8Lands who was at level 78.
She was in 3rd place, at level 76.
4th to 7th places were all unfamiliar IDs. Li Suo was in 8th place. Godly Tycoon was in 9th place. Sir Jade was in 10th place.
The four Undermoons were completely gone from the top 10; they had been squeezed out.
‘Now that the level cap has increased, most people are going to be busy levelling. The leaderboards will probably change again tonight.’
[PM] Snowfall Undermoon : [lil musey, come lvl. not even on the leaderboards anymore… can’t be called dashen anymore… *heartbroken* lil musey, hurry over, I want to climb up]
[PM] Music For Miles : [co-ords]
[PM] Snowfall Undermoon : [goose hill]
Goose Hill was one of the new zones that had been added. It was for those in the level 70 to 90 range.
‘We’re still level 70 though?’
Land of Demons and Gods was a bit eccentric in that you couldn’t fast travel to the zone if the largest boss in that zone hadn’t been defeated. The only way to get there would be to walk manually.
The zones had just been updated, so it was a certainty that no one had taken down any of the level 90 wild bosses yet. Shi Sheng could only travel there on foot.
Just as Shi Sheng reached Goose Hill, a shadow darted out and swept towards her. Before she could see it clearly, that shadow disappeared.
Right after, a group of people charged over from afar, angry curses popping up in the speech bubbles above their heads.
[Hidden Quest : Tie the Knot.]
‘What the hell… hidden quest is here.’
[Quest Target : Ink Seeker. Become Ink Seeker’s lover.]
‘Ink Seeker? Isn’t that the fellow who got the first clear from Transient Life’s Twinklegem Tower? The one in the top position on their leaderboards?
Wait a second… why does this ID look so familiar?’
Shi Sheng thought of the final boss of the original storyline: Ink Seeker, whose real name was Ji Yan.
He was the final boss of this novel. After the server merge, he had competed with Li Suo for the position of first place.
In short, he exhibited many different ways of courting death. In the end, he had been cannon-foddered.
[World] Countless Miles : [Report Ink Seeker’s co-ordinates. 100 gold.]
[World] Countless Twists : [Report Ink Seeker’s co-ordinates. 100 gold.]
[World] Dancing 2 Da Beat : [Ink Seeker Dashen’s on TV again. What’d he do this time?]
Dancing 2 Da Beat emphasised ‘again’ and ‘this time’.
[World] Enjoying Wind : [From the looks of it, he’s stolen the first kill of a wild boss from right under the noses of Countless Generations.]
Countless Generations was the number one guild of Transient Life.
[World] Eternal Peace : [Ink Seeker Dashen and Countless Generations can’t co-exist ah! Their bosses always get kill-stolen by Ink Seeker Dashen hahahaha.]
[World] Green Flower On Sauerkraut : [*doesn’t dare to speak when the other server’s IDs show up* PS: Who’s Ink Seeker?]
[World] Just Watching Shows : [I didn’t dare to speak out just now… the server next door’s style is simply… PS: Ink Seeker is the Dashen at the top of the leaderboards… and the public enemy of the neighbouring server.]
[World] Call Me Profiteer : [Buying Heavenly Mystery Crystals! Please sell it if you have it!!!]
Shi Sheng checked world chat as she headed for where Snowfall and company were.
She had thought they would’ve already started killing mobs, but when she arrived, what she saw was a bunch of people bantering while striking provocative poses at the mobs somewhere the mobs couldn’t reach them.
Only after she had made it did they form a party and start hunting mobs.
‘You guys had to wait for me before you started hunting…’
Since the servers had just merged, everyone was busy levelling. Though the people in both servers needed some time to get used to one another, there weren’t any major disputes that broke out.
In these times, even Li Suo and Sang Yu’s Not Late hadn’t come out to remind people of their presences.
But there was a daily occurrence. Ink Seeker Dashen’s name would always be showcased on world chat.
Apparently, back when he was still in Transient Life and before the server merge, he had numerous enemies. Out of every 10 people, 7 would be his enemies.
As for the other 3, 1 was offline while the other 2 enjoyed watching the dramas that unfolded.
But this fellow had skills. All he did was kill people, but he didn’t speak. No matter how much you challenged him, he wouldn’t answer you.
Even if he was showcased on world chat every day, no arguments broke out over him. It was simply a peculiarly harmonious atmosphere.
The most numerous messages on world chat were the ones asking for Ink Seeker’s co-ordinates.
‘I have to go and be the wife to a fellow like this…
How exciting! Enemies with the whole server ah!’
[World] Countless Miles : [ink seeker, are you even a man %$^&#]
The curse words at the end got censored.
Shi Sheng shut the world chat, and she felt her world become more peaceful. Her current mission was to level, not to date guys.
‘Let’s talk about seducing this dashen after I’m at the level cap… After all, it’s not easy to act cool when you aren’t even at max level!’
After leaving her character out in the wild, she went off to bed.
Right now, everyone was busy levelling. Godly Tycoon had brought people to help them level. Shi Sheng hadn’t accepted it though. The hack she coded herself was much better than any replacement leveller. All she had to do was leave her character out to do its own thing while she went off to do hers.
……
The next day, when Shi Sheng returned, she discovered her character was dead. ‘That shouldn’t be… I made it so it’d auto-respawn…
WTF!
How come all the resurrection pills in my inventory are gone?! I just restocked yesterday! 100 of them too!’
I only used 2 of them before! T-w-o, 2! There were still 98 left! I died 99 times in one night… are you kidding me?’
Shi Sheng chose to respawn back at her spawn point. Just as she did so, a window popped up:
Congratulations for having activated the Hidden Quest “Dream of A Thousand Years” by dying 99 times!
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘The hell… dying 99 times can activate a hidden quest?! You fucking with me?!
Wait! The question is: How the fuck did I die 99 times?!’