I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 706 - 706 705. Sword in hand follow me_1

Chapter 706: 705. Sword in hand, follow me_1 Chapter 706: 705. Sword in hand, follow me_1 Walking through the forest, Old Eggplant suddenly felt as if he were back in his college days, on a night march during military training.

Feeling nostalgic, he wanted to sing a song.

Could he sing in this game?

Old Eggplant asked.

“Report, Sir Knight, may we sing?”

Hearing Old Eggplant’s words, Brown almost fell off his horse.

What’s this singing for?

Weren’t they afraid of attracting the monsters from the Black Forest?

“No, you can’t make too much noise here. Wait until we leave the forest, then you can sing all you want,”

Brown hurriedly dissuaded him.

Old Eggplant had no choice but to give up the idea. Singing ‘Return from Target Practice’ while marching in formation would indeed have been a beautiful thing.

Fortunately, they were not far from the edge of the forest.

Soon, a light appeared ahead, and Old Eggplant saw the trees thinning; he stepped into the sunlight.

A world unfolded before him.

He saw scattered fields with people toiling, houses in the distance, watchtowers, and a desolate landscape.

“Is this the Night Country?”

Old Eggplant, like the other players, was filled with wonder.

This did not resemble the magical civilization they had in mind. It looked more like some backward, impoverished small mountain village.

The villagers’ faces bore numb expressions, they were quiet and unresponsive to the appearance of this group of players, showing neither surprise nor agitation.

“It seems the NPC settings here aren’t complete yet—only a few NPCs possess self-awareness. I guess those others are just extras,”

Old Eggplant thought. In many games, only key NPCs have story dialogue, while the rest usually have one or two lines to brush off the player. Games where the dialogue of passerby NPCs changes with the progress of the game are few and far between. More often, an extra has just one model, and when clicked on, all they can tell you is that they used to be an adventurer until taking an arrow to the knee.

In Lu Ban’s games, as everyone knows, these NPCs are extremely detailed, as if there’s a vast database behind each one, avoiding repetitive dialogue altogether. No matter how you interact, the dialogue progresses, which surely requires a great deal of time. That’s why Old Eggplant could understand why the extras were not designed with such rich interaction.

“This grass smells pretty real.”

“It stinks here. Has someone been relieving themselves just anywhere?”

“The mud smells real too.”

“Dude, that’s not mud, it’s cow dung.”

“Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!”

The players were like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, gazing around curiously at the whole world.

“Can we get equipment like that after we level up?”

“Are you stupid? We’re in the Night Country; we absolutely need to learn magic!”

“I get it. Our main quest is to fight the Demonic Tide.”

“But there’s nothing here. Are we supposed to build it ourselves?”

Everyone chattered on until they finally arrived at the gates of the Baron’s Mansion.

Calling it the Baron’s Mansion was generous—it was just a mud house.

The players waited eagerly for the Baron to emerge.

Soon, a man in a red robe came out.

Behind him, the players saw a very serious-looking Lu Ban, Shia, Stone, and Cui Siter.

“???”

Old Eggplant was taken aback upon seeing Lu Ban, almost not recognizing him.

Was this the real Lu Ban, or his NPC?

He wondered to himself while listening to the Baron speak.

“Greetings, I am Gerro, the lord of Sunset Town. I’ve summoned you to construct a fortress to resist the Demonic Beasts and facilities for researching and combating them. Utilize your strengths, and I will reward you handsomely,”

Baron Gerro said, his voice trembling slightly—initially worried whether his stiff words could persuade these players who appeared full of ideas.

But it seemed his worries were unfounded.

As soon as Baron Gerro finished speaking, the players became restless.

“Damn, that’s awesome! We really are going to fight the Demonic Tide; this is so cool!”

“Can we change our job to a magician? I’ve always wanted to cast fireballs.”

“I bet those characters are the mentors. Like, if you find Shia, you can change your job to a mage, and if you find Old Cui, you can become a shooter or something.”

“So, what would you become if you found Lu Ban?”

“Going crazy?”

“So it’s a trash-picking and farming game, huh? Never thought I’d be hauling bricks in real life, only to end up hauling bricks in the game too.”

“I’m an old Minecraft player, building houses is my forte.”

Different players had different expectations, but no one questioned Baron Gerro’s words.

It puzzled him.

Based on his observations, these people, just like Lu Ban and the others, should have received a good education, had their own independent consciousness, and seemed to have strong initiative. Why would such fellows listen to an inconspicuous baron who looked like he had no combat ability?

Yet, contrary to expectations, they accepted what Baron Gerro had said as naturally as breathing, and immediately came up with various plans.

“I’ll take the lead.”

At that moment, Lu Ban walked over to Baron Gerro and spoke up.

“Everyone, I can provide equipment and tools for purchase here, but you must bring back useful materials to buy basic equipment. Go to the Black Forest and turn it into our field. Go forth.”

Lu Ban pointed towards the distant Black Forest.

The players all turned their heads to look.

Gazing at the lush forest and the variety of creatures that might live there,

their eyes immediately revealed a gleam of greed.

Although they were impoverished, clad only in clothing, there must be many valuable things in that forest.

With this thought, the players became excited.

“This mode is a bit like Don’t Starve, except we start with a base. We can pick up some branches first, or gather fruit.”

“You can collect stones to make weapons, to hunt those monsters.”

“I plan to look around the village first; there might be hidden questlines.”

“Right, didn’t that baron earlier say something about studying the demonic beasts? If we capture demonic beasts alive and bring them back, there should be more rewards, I reckon?”

“Starting off with a stone, and all equipment will be scavenged?”

“Think about it, that guy just now who ventured deep into the forest got taken out, which means there are monsters in the depths of the forest. If we move quickly, we can sweep through the outskirts of the forest first. Once everyone has finished, then we can enter the more challenging deep parts. It’s first come, first served right now.”

The players quickly got into action.

In this kind of large-scale multiplayer online survival game, Old Eggplant had a lot of insights; he knew that initial resources were limited, and getting ahead early would keep you ahead at all times.

So, he decided to first get close to the knight using his status as team leader, in hopes of securing some weapons.

Old Eggplant approached Brown and started to speak in a negotiating tone.

“Sir Knight, you see, I’ve organized the team for you. Maybe you could provide me with a weapon? I’ll head to the forest right now and fetch you some demonic beasts.”

“???”

Brown was completely baffled when he heard Old Eggplant’s words.

Asking for a weapon was one thing, but did you really dare to venture into the Black Forest to capture demonic beasts with just those tattered clothes?

That was just too brave!

And besides, I don’t need the demonic beasts you’d bring back!

However, after thinking it over, he decided it was okay to provide this guy with a weapon since his side didn’t need it for the time being.

Making up his mind, Brown called over an underling and handed a sword to Old Eggplant.

When Old Eggplant received the sword and drew it, he immediately felt his combat capability surge.

The other players around him showed envious expressions on seeing this.

“Damn, I told you, getting in good with NPCs lands you treasure. Look at his sword!”

“Shit, we can’t dawdle any longer, let’s head to the forest now!”

“Bro, we’ll follow you!”

“We could go straight for the monsters and take them down; I wonder if we get experience for kills here.”

“Hurry up, if we’re any slower, all that will be left for us is a hoe.”

Stimulated by this, the players quickly ran towards the Black Forest, a place the villagers had always avoided.

Old Eggplant raised his sword high, and in that moment, the souls of the Dragonborn, the Witcher, the Old Hunter, the Ashen One, and the Unkindled possessed him.

“Follow me, and let’s protect Sunset Town!”

He called out, and several players followed him, swiftly disappearing into the depths of the Black Forest.

*

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