King from scratch

It's hard to describe the mood of the players who witnessed this scene. They watched the palm-sized iron-eating ants slowly cross the boundary line and crawl back among the layers of iron-eating ants. They were weak, pitiful and helpless.

The scene was silent for a long time, and no one spoke.

The attack launched by the Everlasting Forest came to an abrupt end when the iron-eater ants crossed the border and returned to the kingdom's territory, and all attacks from plants subsided abruptly before crossing the line.

Everything was restored to the way it was before Dudu threw the iron-eating ants into the Everfree Forest, but the players' world view subverted by this scene obviously cannot be easily restored.

In the silence, only the rustling of the branches of the surrounding trees, the roar of predators not far from the forest, and the fleeing sounds of the prey form the usual natural sounds.

The players looked at the iron-eating ants, then at the calm Everest Forest, and finally cast their gazes at Dudu.

No one expected this development, so that the behavior that should have only led to two results got a third result-the Everfree Forest didn't kill the iron-eating ants at all.

Whether it was Dudu's original idea to use the death of the iron-eater ant to let the kingdom intervene, or the system intelligently judged the death of the iron-eater ant as the player's personal behavior, causing the number of players in the public beta to be negative again. These preparations have become impossible. significance.

Dudu looked at the other players in blank dismay.

"So, that's why iron-eating ants are protected animals?"

"So, we are weaker than iron-eating ants?"

"No, the point is, what should we do next?"

"Forget it, give up and pull down, whoever loves to do this task, I will quit."

"Don't be impulsive. I have spent so much time on this task. The sunk cost of giving up is too high. I think our idea itself should be fine. No matter how you look at it, the iron-eating ants suddenly migrated to the kingdom and the endless forest. This behavior beyond the border is absolutely mission-related."

"So, what's next?"

The topic of debate among the players went off track, and finally settled on the iron-eating ants.

"Is this thing full of defense? Can this be unscathed?"

"I said why such a large number of animals can still be protected animals. The co-author is because its defense ability is so good."

"This is a natural mt."

"Huh? In that case..."

The players looked thoughtfully at the iron-eating ants.

"If we hide behind the iron-eating ants..."

"The endless forest's attack is all-round. It spreads all over the sky and the earth. Even if there are iron-eating ants to pull hatred, it's useless. Once you enter, you should die or die."

"That's right, what should I do then?"

The players once again set their sights on Dudu who was watching the iron-eating ants.

Dudu was thinking about a question: "The iron-eater ant was thrown into it just now, and it didn't continue to move towards the endless forest. Instead, it turned around and crawled back to its original position. It felt like it was forcibly staying outside the endless forest. .”

"In this way," another player took the words thoughtfully: "We have also seen before that the iron-eating ants are lined up along the border between the endless forest and the kingdom. If the iron-eating ants If it is what we thought before, if they are extremely weak, then this kind of behavior lined up along the border may not be a big deal."

"But the iron-eating ants are not as weak as we thought before. On the contrary, if the Everfree Forest can't kill them at all..." The other party: "Then what do you think the behavior of lining up along the border looks like?"

"The whole army is under pressure."

"Declaration of war."

"Damn it..." The player who made a surprised sound looked down at the layers of iron-eating ants at his feet, and after looking at them with a new look, he was afraid: "I stepped on them a few times, and the co-author This is jumping back and forth on the brink of death."

"So, the iron-eating ants... are not only not weak, they are even much stronger than us?"

"Your term is not accurate.

The endless forest crushed us, and the iron-eating ants were unscathed before the attack of the endless forest. How can this be called much stronger?That makes people's strength crush us several times. "

"Wait, don't change the subject, why did the iron-eating ants issue a war declaration to the Everfree Forest?"

Players reacted quickly: "Druids' infighting!"

"Fuck, the co-authoring of the internal strife among the druids really has something to do with the kingdom?"

"Stop, stop, does this have something to do with our completion of the job transfer task?"

A word awakened the dreamer, and the players broke away from the intricate relationship between the iron-eater ants, the kingdom, and the druids, and focused on their unfinished tasks, and found that...it really doesn't seem to matter.

The iron-eating ants may pose a threat to the endless forest, but that has nothing to do with the player. The player can neither command the iron-eating ants nor wait for an uncertain time for the iron-eating ants to attack.

As for kingdoms and druids, that might become the next big quest, just like the Arcane Academy, but it still has nothing to do with the players' job change quests.

Their purpose is very clear, which is to bring back those druids who were originally in the kingdom but suddenly returned to the endless forest.

The scene was quiet again for a few seconds, and the players showed expressions of "how difficult is this task?", and the two emotions of shrinking back and giving up were clearly visible on their faces.

Except for Dudu, she kept observing the actions of the iron-eating ants thoughtfully. Not only did she not feel retreated because of the difficulty of the task, but on the contrary, she was very interested in it.

When Dudu recovered from her own thoughts and realized that the atmosphere was too quiet, she stood up and clapped her hands, drawing the attention of the players present to herself: "At least we already know that the war between the Kingdom and the Everfree Forest is about to break out. ..."

She glanced at the layers of iron-eating ants: "I don't think it will be too long before the status quo is broken... This really has nothing to do with our mission directly," Dudu said thoughtfully: "But at least there is an indirect relationship .”

"Indirect relationship?"

Players thought about this word one after another, and some players said it again: "Our purpose is to bring Lincoln and the others back to the Kingdom from the Everfree Forest, but Lincoln participated in the internal strife among the druids and refused to come back. If you bring it back, the only option is to end the internal strife?"

Another player added: "The infighting is over, Lincoln and they won."

Dudu reacted: "Let's go back and find the tree man."

The player moved towards the outside of the forest, and there was a faint voice of dialogue.

"Why did you go back to find the tree man again?"

"Doo, what did you think of?"

Dudu: "The kingdom is overwhelmed by the army, but the tree man is still in the kingdom, what does this mean?"

"Is he on our side?"

Dudu continued: "The tree man is on our side, so Lincoln must be on our side. Which two parties can be the infighting in the endless forest? Why does the kingdom let the iron-eating ants outside the endless forest?" The army is suppressing the situation?"

"Ah, I see. The internal strife in Everfree Forest is the internal strife between the druids who oppose the kingdom and the druids who support the kingdom. The iron-eating ants are the kingdom's backhand to ensure Lincoln's victory."

The druid academy is the same as usual, except that the player has disappeared.

All the players were doing the missions of the Arcane Academy, which caused almost no players to be seen in other cities of the kingdom.

In the huge greenhouse, tree people live in it, their branches move, and take care of the plants in the greenhouse. A few druids are busy outside the greenhouse, sorting out the plants in poor condition brought back from the forest, and preparing for rescue.

The arrival of the players did not attract their attention, and the druid did not take his eyes off the plants at all.

Dudu and the others successfully parked outside the greenhouse - Druid's regulations, players are not allowed to enter the greenhouse.

"The tree man—" Dudu raised his voice and said, "We have encountered some troubles."

The treant who was taking care of the plants slowly did not change his movements, and the other's slow voice sounded in the greenhouse: "That's your business."

Dudu pretended not to hear what he said, and continued to shout: "The druids are fighting."

The tree man ignored her.

Dudu mouthed "Sure enough, he already knew" towards the others, and continued: "Lincoln and the others refused to come back."

The tree man still ignored her, apparently he faithfully carried out his answer just now: this is the player's business and has nothing to do with him.

Dudu: "The iron-eating ants in the kingdom are ready to attack."

The tree man still didn't respond.

It seems that he knows all this...

Of course, it is even more surprising to expect the tree man to know nothing about it. After all, the tree man is a part of nature. Although the nature in the kingdom rejects him, the nature in the distance does not reject him. Tell the tree people about the things on the ground.

As long as the tree man wants to know, he will be more informed than everyone else.

Dudu continued: "If you have nothing to say, then let's ask the king to intervene and end the druid's internal strife as soon as possible?"

The tree man still didn't respond.

Dudu made an expression of "he really is on the side of the kingdom" towards the other players, and finally confirmed with the other players: "As long as we bring Lincoln and the others back, you will help us change jobs to Druids, right?"

The tree man responded this time: "I will do what I say."

"No other conditions?" Dudu tested the other party: "For example, to ensure the safety of other druids? Or to ensure the safety of the Everfree Forest?"

The tree man ignored her.

The players came in a hurry and left in a hurry.

forum.

"I'm afraid you won't believe me, I'm going to see the king. "

[It's still me, it's still the job transfer task from before, in short, it's complicated, so I'll make a long story short...]

[Fuck?This is too much information. 】

[So the internal strife in Everfree Forest is a conflict between the supporters of the kingdom and the opposition?No, as an independent sovereign country, why did Lincoln and the others support the kingdom? 】

[It's not important, what's important is that the landlord, you said everything, and didn't mention why you are going to see the king at all? 】

【Original: Am I in a hurry to explain the summary of the previous situation to you?About why I want to see the king... It's like this, I expressed to you that I hope the kingdom will launch an attack on the Everfree Forest as soon as possible, and then explained to him the task that the druid gave me, and finally reported to the king After the situation, tell me, the king wants to see me. 】

[Fuck!Are you meddling in the main mission?Otherwise, why would an npc like the king, who is almost invisible, suddenly want to see you? 】

[So it seems that the next big task is the druid's internal strife? 】

[Planning finally got the hang of it?The large-scale tasks are one after another, and the superior finally gave the KPI indicators, right? 】

[Wait a minute, let me take a look, so your task is 100% complete?

Unless the kingdom loses and Lincoln and the others fail to win, this mission may fail.

But the Kingdom, as the only bound force of the player appointed by the planner, is absolutely impossible to lose. 】

[Fuck?This wave, this wave, is a flying dragon riding on the face, a sure win. 】

[! ! !Fuck, I died too many times a few days ago, so I gave up, is it too late to come back and join now? 】

[That depends on whether your mission is still in progress. 】

[I haven't paid attention to this point, but I didn't click to give up the task, I will go online and take a look. 】

[No need to go online, when I left the team before, I paid attention to it, and it has already failed. 】

[? ? ?I didn't choose to give up, so why did it fail when it said it failed? 】

[Don't ask, asking is the system's intelligent judgment. 】

[Fuck!If I had known earlier, I would have persisted, I just left. 】

[Thousands of money are hard to buy, I knew it earlier, I should have known that druids still have this task of changing jobs, I will never change jobs to blacksmiths, eight out of ten players are blacksmiths, there is no future. 】

[Original poster: I haven’t seen the king yet, don’t rush to set up a flag for me, if the king decides to send troops after 100 years, should I give up or not? 】

The main city, State Administration Bureau.

After encountering endless difficulties in the job transfer task, the number of players who shared the task plummeted from the initial few thousand players, and finally only a few dozen players were invited by the king to come to the main city.

Players who stepped into the main city for the first time talked a lot.

"This is the main city? The layout is exactly the same as Xinshou Village."

"Let's not talk about Xinshou Village, all the cities in the Kingdom are printed from the same mold, there is no difference at all."

"If there is any difference... there are a lot of NPCs in the main city."

"I also saw several NPCs that always appear on His Majesty's video, Yan, Huang... Hey, is that Zhe?"

Zhe knew very well how uncontrollable the players were, and after a brief greeting to the players, he warned them in advance.

"Pay attention to your due courtesy in front of the king." Zhe led them towards the interior of the Administration Bureau, walked around the npcs coming and going, walked into the deeper corridor, and glanced at the player: "Everyone will not Likes to offend the king's subjects."

The players behind Zhe lowered their voices and whispered.

"What do you mean no one likes to offend the king's people?"

"I guess this means that if you don't behave well in front of the king, the favorability of all npcs in the kingdom will drop?"

Before pushing open the door of the conference room, Zhe glanced at the players who were still whispering.

The players fell silent for a moment.

The overly quiet atmosphere, the hurried npcs, and the identities of the npcs to be seen, inexplicably made the players serious.

The closed door of the conference room was pushed open, and someone in the empty room bowed his head amidst the heavy materials.

He Xingwen looked up from the file and glanced at the place where the voice came from. A young face full of curiosity and interest broke into his sight.

how to say?Under normal circumstances, he is among the group of young people on the opposite side.

He Xingwen glanced at the thick stack of pending documents waiting for his review, and at the players who were excited because they saw rare npcs, and he really had a clear understanding that he was walking on a different path.

Contrast always reveals changes more profoundly.

With a flash of emotion, He Xingwen gestured towards the round table: "Sit down..." He recalled: "The tree man entrusted you to bring the druid back, right?"

Dudu glanced at Zhe, sat down on the chair, and did not jump out of any notification of deduction of reputation, and then nodded to other players to indicate safety, and then there was the sound of chair dragging on the scene, some players sat down, while others did not. The position remains standing.

"Yes..." Dudu was not very good at saying clichés: "Druids are our good friends. We are very sympathetic to what happened to them, so we really want to help them."

Sympathy for what happened to them?Is it infinitely better to sympathize with them than you?

Dudu: "We have tried a lot, but the Everfree Forest has rejected us, so we hope to get your help to save those druids who are in danger."

He Xingwen thought for two seconds: "What help do you want?"

Speaking of this, Dudu regained his spirits in an instant: "We hope that the kingdom can intervene in the internal strife of the druids."

"The druid rejected me." He Xingwen plainly complained: "Lincoln doesn't want other races to intervene in their internal differences."

Some players murmured in a low voice: "Is Lincoln an idiot? He's already at this point, and he's still trying to be brave?"

Then everyone popped up several notifications in unison: the kingdom's reputation value decreased, the kingdom's favorability decreased, a large group of npc's favorability decreased... and so on.

There is no better warning than this, all the players shut their mouths immediately, for fear that all the goodwill points that they have finally earned will be deducted.

Dudu was stunned by this unexpected answer for a few seconds, a little puzzled: "But the tree man wants us to intervene..."

Zhe intervened in the conversation: "He didn't let you meddle in the druid's internal strife, he just asked you to bring those druids back."

Dudu reacted for two seconds, and decided to get straight to the point: "So, can the kingdom bring them back?"

"I respect the wishes of the druids." He Xingwen said, "Lincoln and the others obviously have no intention of getting out of their differences."

A player weakly raised his hand: "In this case, the iron-eating ants..."

He Xingwen winked at him: "The seasonal migration of animals is always so unexpected, isn't it?"

Yeah?The player who asked the question was at a loss for two seconds, and suddenly realized: the reason why the iron-eating ants appeared outside the endless forest is because of seasonal migration!

Except for some silly white sweets, most players can still distinguish the hint in the king's words.

It seems that the planner didn't intend for them to complete the job transfer task with the help of external force so easily. Dudu was not surprised by this development. Although he was a little disappointed, it was in line with their judgment.

After all, thousands of players have given up on this job transfer task to prove its difficulty.

Dudu made the final dying struggle: "So, can we just wait for the druids to end their internal strife?"

That's not it.

In this world, there is no such concept as national reputation, let alone acts of international condemnation. In a world where the weak prey on the strong, the big fist has the final say, and there is no need to find extra excuses.

"It depends on what I think."

The scene was silent for two seconds. The players glanced at the calm notification box and realized that what this npc said depended on his thoughts was a literal meaning, not a task to be completed.

Some players moved their mouths, remembering the series of notifications that deducted their reputation and favor just now, and closed them again.

It took Dudu 2 minutes to keep up with the npc's sharp turn: "Then what are you going to do?"

He Xingwen put down his pen, looked at the players, and repeated his previous words: "I respect the druid's wishes."

"So your idea is to respect the wishes of the druids?" Dudu swallowed back the second half of what you said with great difficulty.

He Xingwen didn't seem to see what she was thinking, and continued: "That's right."

Some players couldn't help muttering: "Then what are you talking about?"

Then I received a bunch of notifications about the decline of favorability and reputation again.

"As far as I know, you have put in a lot of effort for the request of tree people," He Xingwen showed a restrained smile: "I appreciate your indomitable courage."

Um?The players pricked up their ears.

He Xingwen: "I believe that you are more willing to rely on your own strength to fulfill the request of tree people."

No, we don't have that idea at all.The players lowered their heads slightly, for fear that their eager expressions would be too obvious.

He Xingwen: "As a reward for your courage..."

The players blinked their big shiny eyes and stared at He Xingwen eagerly.

He Xingwen raised his voice: "Nubida, please take them to meet Lincoln."

Nubida, who was eavesdropping on their conversation at the other end of the corridor, rolled his eyes, but when he appeared in front of He Xingwen, he seemed extremely enthusiastic.

"King, you really didn't find the wrong person at all. I'm good at being a nanny." Nubida smirked at the players and said with emphasis: "I'm very good at it."

He Xingwen naturally ignored the other party's dissatisfaction—believe the emotions expressed by a demon?

The blood and tears of countless intelligent beings prove how stupid this is.

He Xingwen conveniently put a shackle on the demon to prevent the player from being betrayed by the demon halfway: "I don't want to get any news from them later that you haven't fulfilled my mission well."

"How could it be?" Nubida understood the king's warning, and the artificial dissatisfaction disappeared in an instant, and he enthusiastically embraced Dudu's shoulders and said: "Your king, your people are my brothers, and I will definitely complete it 100% Your mission..."

Speaking of this, he paused and confirmed with He Xingwen: "As long as they see that druid, this task will be considered complete?"

After getting the king's approval, Nubida pushed the players to walk out, and made a promise to He Xingwen as he walked: "I promise to complete the task, Your Majesty."

Players who can't wait to be pushed out of the door by the devil: there is an ominous premonition.