Cataclysm King

Chapter 461: The correct way to unfold the hidden plot

“Discover Yinshan Village, plot exploration rate +1%”

Ji Xun and his group of twelve people walked all the way from the mountain road in the lumber camp, and soon saw a village surrounded by a tall wooden fence at the mountain col.

There is a lookout tower on the gate, and there are hunters with bows and arrows on their backs on guard.

After asking about their identities as bounty hunters, the group successfully entered the village.

Ji Xun was inconspicuous among the team.

He silently observed everything around him, only glancing at the owl on a big tree at the entrance of the village, and then followed the team into the village.

The village is not small, it looks like there are hundreds of households.

And judging from their clothes, the people here are quite wealthy.

Ji Xun also saw a smelting shop and a blacksmith shop in the village. Not only was there a lumberyard nearby, but there should also be mineral deposits.

There is a notice board at the entrance of the village with some announcements posted on it.

Ji Xun glanced at it. This was supposed to be some clues given by the will of space.

It's a pity that most of it was torn apart.

The missing piece had the words "Silver Fir Lord Sheriff's Bounty Notice" written on it.

Not getting any clues, he instead studied the words above.

This was converted by the will of space, and was originally another ancient text.

Ji Xun happened to have read it in the ancient text database of the Royal Library.

It was confirmed that this is the text of "Alterac Ancient Civilization".

Compared with primary plot clues, he felt that the most important thing now was to confirm the civilizational background of this extradimensional space.

Experience has proven that plots in extradimensional spaces are almost all virtual worlds created as templates for real events in history.

Even for plots in extradimensional spaces that seemed completely unrelated to this world, Ji Xun felt that maybe he just didn't know about it, and that it should be history that actually existed.

And these are actually the clues that Space Will really wants to hide.

As long as you know it, you can get some important but deeply hidden information.

For example, major events occur in certain eras, which determine the direction of the space plot.

Just like the original "Warren City Rebel Camp".

Aragorn told the ending of the slave uprising in history in advance, allowing Ji Xun to use this clue to gain a great advantage.

Calculating time, the "Alterac Civilization" should be an ancient civilization that existed around the early days of the Talon Dynasty more than 100,000 years ago.

Just because he had confirmed the era, Ji Xun wondered: "It's strange. Was the Southern Continent so poor in elements back then?"

He basically confirmed that this place is most likely the Southern Continent.

It was just the Southern Continent hundreds of thousands of years ago.

But this barren element is completely different from what it was hundreds of thousands of years later.

If it's not a special geographical reason, there are always other reasons.

Obviously Ji Xun is not the only one who can think of this.

The first time he saw the notice board, Sark turned around and asked the lizard mage Seri, "Serri, what did you see?"

Seri also identified the age of the text and responded: "Master, this should be a text from the Alterac period."

Sark nodded appreciatively: "Yeah."

Seri had done enough homework on this trial before coming in.

He even consulted the files of past academy trials, consulted some seniors, and watched all the space plots that had a high probability of appearing in the Tower of Babel.

But alas, this time it is a brand new space that no one has ever been to before.

He continued: "If I remember correctly, this is also the first time that the academy trials have encountered the trial space of this ancient civilization period."

There are advantages to clearing up wasteland.

The risks are greater, but the rewards are also greater.

Developing a new space not only gives the college extra points for settlement, but also many documents and materials brought out of this ancient civilization space can be exchanged for additional rewards.

Overall, the harvest will be several percent higher than that of other developed spaces.

Sack also nodded: "Well, what else?"

Seri: "Well, it's gone for the time being."

Sack didn't say much.

After all, there are only a few words on the notice board. If you can tell the age, you are already knowledgeable.

Before they had time to take a closer look, as soon as these outsiders arrived, curious children immediately gathered around them, pointing and looking at them.

"Some more bounty hunters are here. The bandits from Black Crow Castle should be able to deal with them now."

"Dear Mr. Bounty Hunter, are you the same as those in the village chief's grandpa's house?"

"."

When everyone heard these words, they immediately realized that someone had entered the village before them.

The people in the village are not that cheap, so the notice on the notice board must have been torn up by the same group of people before.

The trial was about the family's reputation, and Sak was not willing to lag behind. He quickly greeted: "Let's go!"

A normal person's thinking, when entering Yinshan Village, would be to go to the village chief's house to inquire about information, which would trigger the plot.

It's a pity that someone has gotten there first.

Ji Xun originally had no interest in this kind of information acquisition method that everyone wanted.

No matter how hurriedly I thought, what I could get from the village chief were normal clues to the main plot.

He originally went to the village to see if he could trigger some hidden branches.

But with the big wave of Young Master Sack's hand, everyone had no choice but to follow.

Ji Xun also followed silently.

Soon, they arrived at the village chief's house.

It just happened to be such a coincidence that the first person to arrive was none other than someone else. The badges on the chests of the knights guarding the door were the logo of a forest green dragon.

It was none other than Duke Langdon’s enemy, the family crest of Duke Simon.

As soon as Young Master Sack came with a group of people, they were immediately blocked from the door.

Sak's face darkened and he asked, "What do you mean?"

The knight captain did not dare to offend the high-ranking nobles, but he did not flinch: "I'm sorry, Master Sack, Master Fearon is looking for plot clues inside, please wait a moment."

Sack didn't understand what the Simon family meant.

These guys want to monopolize this plot line.

This has also appeared in previous assessment trials. Some large families used their own strength to monopolize the resources and intelligence in the trial space, thus obtaining super high evaluations.

But in this way, the assessment results of other trialists will be very bad.

Some plot tasks cannot be shared. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the village chief is a certain key plot character.

If someone gets ahead of you, this clue will most likely be broken.

And Duke Langdon and Duke Simon's Palace are still feuding.

When both sides meet in the same trial space, whoever seizes the opportunity will have better results in the assessment trial.

So we can’t give in anymore.

Young Master Sack didn't even look at the knight, and shouted angrily: "Get out of here! Don't block me!"

Although the knight captain was embarrassed, he didn't give in.

As soon as these words came out, the two sides immediately became at war with each other.

The Simon family has gathered three teams, with a total of nearly twenty people.

The Langdon family obviously suffers from a smaller number of people.

Both sides refused to give in and were about to fight.

At this time, a green-haired noble boy came out and said with a smile: "Hey, what's going on?"

The person who came was none other than the one who had met Young Master Feilun in the black market of Djinn City before.

The knights didn't dare to use force against Sark yet, but Faerun was not afraid at all.

He looked at Sak, who had arrived late, and said with unabashed sarcasm: "What? Sak, have you forgotten the academy's trial rules? This is the clue we discovered first, and you still want to know whether you can get it or not?"

In the previous black market incident, Ji Xun and the others decisively intercepted and killed the key figure "Scarface", which caused the Simon family to suffer huge losses.

Although everyone knows that this is the work of the Langdon family.

But Ji Xun and the others were too decisive and clean, leaving no chance for a comeback.

The conflicts have been building up to this day. Seeing the deflated Sark, how could Feren easily let go of this opportunity to suppress the feud?

"Hmph! Let's go!"

Seeing that it was Faerun, Sark snorted coldly and walked away without looking back.

If it were just a team of knights from the Simon family, he could still rely on the pressure of his title to force the other party to give up this plot clue.

Now seeing that it was Faerun, there was no chance at all.

Everyone in the Langdon family also turned around and left.

Young Master Feren's sarcastic laughter came from behind, "Hey, Sack, please don't leave. We've finished asking, and we'll share the information with you later."

"."

Young Master Sack's face became more and more gloomy.

This trial made him very unhappy, as if nothing went smoothly after entering.

Not only did they almost lose an elite maintenance man in the attack, but now the plot thread is also broken.

Basically, it can be declared that their results in this assessment will not be very good.

Not only him, but everyone in the team looked unhappy.

Except Ji Xun.

Ji Xun was a little transparent throughout the whole process.

He had actually foreseen this scene when he saw the notice board being torn down when he entered the village.

The two teams were attacked in the forest before, and the treatment was delayed for some time. It was normal for them to be late. If it were a slightly more powerful family, monopolizing plot clues would be inevitable.

Now that the Simon family has a monopoly on the main storyline, normally it would be almost impossible for others to surpass them in the assessment.

But...that's normal.

There are also abnormalities.

The fact is that the nature of extradimensional space is to encourage people to take risks.

The main plot is only on the regular difficulty level, guiding adventurers to obtain some information, such as a novice guide;

As for the "veteran mode" where you can really get good things, you still have to watch the hidden plot.

Ji Xun once obtained the [Spelled Clay Pot], [Sismark Holy Grail], and [Power Gem Golden Ball] in the low-level extradimensional space. These treasures.

It’s not that there are no good things in low-level extra-dimensional spaces.

It's about whether you are qualified to trigger those hidden and difficult plots.

So Ji Xun didn't think it was a bad thing when the main line was cut off.

In this way, you can legitimately explore some hidden plots.

He carefully observed everything in the village, and his countless past exploration experiences told him that hidden plots were often hidden in inconspicuous places.

The Langdon family also discussed things along the way.

"Now that the Simon family has a monopoly on the main storyline, should we go to another village?"

"I'm afraid it's too late. There are many strong teams in this extradimensional space. At least the team of the Red Dragon Royal Family is not far away, probably in the next village. If we go there, the situation will be similar."

"This is going to be difficult. If we can't get the main information, should we go directly to Black Crow Castle?"

"."

Someone once again suggested going directly to Black Crow Castle.

Even Young Master Sack was obviously tempted.

Now that the main line is cut off, the opportunity has been lost.

It seems that only taking risks can turn defeat into victory in the assessment.

Although everyone knew there were risks, they all saw Young Master Sack's desire to survive. No one had a better plan, and no one dared to persuade him.

However, seeing that everyone was really planning to leave the village, Ji Xun finally spoke: "Master, I think this space exploration is not that simple. The monster in the forest before and the assembly signal of the Red Dragon Royal Family have shown that this time Trials of the unknown are very risky.”

It wasn't that he didn't want to go to Black Crow Castle, but he saw that the high wooden fence in the village seemed to be guarding against some large beast or monster.

Although I'm not sure what it is, there must be danger in the environment outside the village.

Furthermore, a bandit captain had almost reduced their numbers before. The medium-sized trial space for 500 people could not be justified without 1,800 bandits.

If you rush out without any information, the probability of danger is very high.

Moreover, Ji Xun had felt before that it was no coincidence that so many strong teams were in the same extra-dimensional space at once.

Now that he met the team from Duke Simon's Palace, he finally saw a hint of the not too obscure layout.

The Langdon family and the Red Dragon royal family, as well as Duke Simon, are unhappy with each other. In this kind of three-party competition relationship, all parties will inevitably want to strive for better assessment results and work hard to obtain a higher evaluation pass.

The only way to clear the game with a high rating is to delve deeper into the plot.

These teams are strong and qualified to explore difficult plots; now the competition has momentum, and the cause and effect relationship is all in one fell swoop.

This layout is not too clever, but it is completely enough to deal with a group of first-level card masters.

It was precisely because Ji Xun saw through this that he found this trial and examination more and more interesting.

He also wanted to see what the people behind the scenes were going to do.

Now he has basically confirmed that there should be something hidden in the plot of this extra-dimensional space that the people behind the scenes need.

Ji Xun is very low-key in the academy. Not to mention outsiders, even within the Langdon family, they think he is just an ordinary polymath.

But several people in the team knew that this teammate was very powerful.

Seri had originally decided to take the risk to the Black Crow Castle with Young Master Sack, but when he heard Ji Xun speak, he suddenly turned his eyes, and after thinking for a moment, he responded: "Young Master, I think Su Lun should be right. Think about it. This extra-dimensional space doesn’t feel good to me. Going to Black Crow Castle rashly may cause problems.”

Lizard Mage is already on the path of wisdom and specialization, and he also has dangerous intuition.

Although he didn't expect Ji Xun to have so many.

But I also thought of part of it.

Moreover, Ji Xun's reminder made his crisis intuition instantly awaken.

Sak, who had a dark face, listened to Seri and Ji Xun's words. He stopped walking towards the outside of the village, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Then what do you think we should do?"

These two people were brought to the black market before.

Having seen their intelligence and resilience first hand, he had an instinctive trust.

Seri saw that Ji Xun had no intention of continuing to speak, and said what he thought: "The evaluation of the trial space mainly depends on the difficulty of the plot. I think we can dig deeper into some hidden plots and trigger branch plots. Usually hidden The plot is more difficult than the main plot. As long as we can dig out a few valuable branches, the rewards may not be less than the main plot. Moreover, although the people of Duke Simon's Palace monopolize the main plot, their main mission this time is to suppress bandits. The team is still in the village, we just need to keep an eye on them, and as soon as they leave the village, it won't be too late for us to follow them out."

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the team's expressions lit up.

yes!

No one from the Simon family went out, and they were not in a hurry.

Although I have not received the mission, it is still a good idea to keep an eye on the opponent's team and follow them as fishermen.

Sark pondered for a moment, thinking of the monsters he had encountered before, and trusting his intuition.

He ordered: "Okay, work in pairs and search for clues in the village! Once you find something valuable, notify me immediately!"

On the other side, listening to the report from his knights that the Langdon family did not leave the village, Young Master Feilun also looked regretful and muttered: "Tsk, tsk, those guys are so calm, they didn't even leave the village."

He just got important information from the village chief.

In this silver fir forest, you cannot leave the village at night.

At night, the fog in the cracks of the abyss will spread out, and there will also be terrifying monsters hiding in the fog to hunt.

He had no idea what those "monsters" were.

I originally thought that the Langdon family would take a dip in the water, but I didn't expect that the other party would not leave the village after being so irritated just now.

Ji Xun and David have the best relationship.

Moreover, as a polymath, he is also a vulnerable group in the team. Of course, he must be paired with someone with the highest combat power to be safer.

After splitting up, the two of them strolled around the village slowly.

David is also a pure martial artist and doesn't like to use his brain.

Seeing other teams knocking on the door one after another to ask for clues from the villagers, but the two of them walked slowly, David couldn't help but curious: "Su Lun, don't we ask these villagers?"

Ji Xun smiled and asked, "How long will it take for these hundreds of households with thousands of people to knock on the door one by one?"

In the eyes of those first-time brothers, finding subplots is just a matter of luck.

But in the eyes of Ji Xun now, there is no luck, only the logic of cause and effect.

The hundreds of households in the village are all connected to their fates.

It's like a mess. If you sort it out for a while, you will know that there is a problem with that line.

Although David didn't follow the train of thought, he knew that Ji Xun was very powerful. After hearing this, he asked expectantly: "Do you know where there are clues?"

Ji Xun said casually: "When I entered the village before, I heard a child say that there is a tailor named Aunt Caroline on the east side of the village. Her husband has not returned from hunting. I think we can go and have a look."

This is an obvious clue.

But when David heard this, he was surprised and said: "Ah, the entrance to the village? Why didn't I hear it?"

He recalled that when he entered the village, the dozen or so children were chattering for a long time, and they couldn't even hear what they were saying, let alone distinguish them.

And I didn’t think about it at all at the time.

Who would have thought that a few children could trigger other subplots?

Ji Xun smiled and explained: "I am a [Polymath], and my thoughts are easily distracted, so I heard it. You are a martial artist, so it is better to focus. It is normal not to hear it."

There's nothing wrong with that.

But that's just one reason.

The most important thing for Ji Xun to capture this information is his ability to multi-task and the insight he brings to me, the world.

Logic is like the laws of nature. They have always been in nature, but they are just invisible to extraordinary people who have not reached the realm.

Ji Xun didn't explain much.

The two of them walked straight to the wooden house on the east side of the village with monster furs hanging at the door, and knocked on the door.

The person who opened the door was a haggard village woman.

Ji Xun got straight to the point: "We are bounty hunters summoned by the lord. I heard in the village that your husband has not returned from hunting. If you can explain clearly what happened, maybe we can help you."

It sounded like she was here to help find her husband, and the village woman immediately looked expectant.

She quickly invited Ji Xun and the others into the house and told them what happened a few days ago.

Almost immediately after entering the door, Qi En appeared.

"Tailor Caroline's trust in you +10"

"C-level side mission triggered: missing hunter. Three days ago, Chloe, a hunter in the village, disappeared while hunting in the Frostwolf Forest and has not been seen yet."

Also seeing inspiration was fellow teammate David.

The dark-skinned boy looked at Ji Xun who was talking to the village woman again, his eyes filled with disbelief, as if to say: Is this triggering a side plot?

It's like sleepwalking. The rest of the team is still knocking on the door one by one. Has their arrival triggered a C-level mission?

For a moment, David only had deep admiration in his eyes.

Ji Xun didn't pay much attention to his teammates' exclamations.

Triggering this C-level difficulty plot was not his purpose. He had even guessed the outcome of the entire plot: the hunter Chloe was most likely killed by the vampire they met before. Following the frost wolf forest the woman said, You may encounter monsters, kill them, complete tasks, and receive rewards.

This kind of side mission is completely unattractive to Ji Xun.

He needs more.

But obviously, this kind of basic NPC will never know much.

What Ji Xun needs is to dig deep into what is hidden in invisible places: "Mrs. Caroline, we will not collect your magic core for now. We will wait until we find your husband."

He now knows the power of spatial will. As long as there are rules, there are ways to use them.

Since the term trust has appeared, let’s brush up on trust first.

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, Qi Di came out as expected: "Tailor Caroline's trust in you +10"

Faced with a bounty hunter who was willing to help her find her missing husband without paying first, Caroline, the seamstress, quickly gained enough trust.

At this time, under Ji Xun's guidance, she finally revealed an important clue: "You two. In fact, there is a legend in the village. The witch doctor in the village was once sent by the Holy See."

(End of chapter)