Master of Kaidan
Chapter 416: Purpose

Chapter 416: Chapter 416: Purpose

As a cross-era, fully immersive virtual reality game that previously only appeared in novels, Jianghu’s popularity could not be overstated; moreover, because video recording and live streaming were possible within the game, its authenticity had been thoroughly verified during the first internal test.

In the discourse of media and self-media chasing popularity and traffic, there were talks about it being the hope against the energy crisis, a cross-era second world, an indirect extension of life, doubling one’s time...

Essentially, it was the utmost art of pie-in-the-sky bragging. How the Metaverse was hyped up initially, the game was now hyped similarly, but unlike the Metaverse, which was nowhere in sight, this game was genuinely impressive.

As capital also began to get involved, under the analysis of various content creator "up masters," people who realized the issue was not simple gradually increased, and by the time the second internal test started, not just game enthusiasts but even those who seldom played games were paying attention to this game that had been hyped to the skies by all major media during a month of maintenance.

They followed players who had become streamers by obtaining internal test activation codes, followed various forum discussion threads, and then, they came across a post on the forum—

"Day one of the second internal test, a Divine Artifact appears in a certain newbie village!"

Posts of this format were everywhere and, ordinarily, would not have drawn much attention from players and cloud players, but as the popularity of this post gradually soared, eventually, someone couldn’t help but click out of curiosity, and then, they discovered that this thing, it seemed to be real...

...

"The heat is very high! It seems that this game is not just circulating within a small circle..."

Feeling the "Identity" continuously flowing into his body, Feng Xue slightly squinted his eyes. Although it was not enough to form a Kaidan, from this amount, it was almost certain that the so-called real world truly existed.

After confirming this, Feng Xue’s plan became even clearer—

He intended to create a Kaidan that circulated in the "game world" but was recognized by people in the real world; if he could achieve this, he might try to leverage the Current World Rules to jump from the game world to the real world.

Although, for him, both the real world and game world were "benchmark worlds" where real people existed, his goal now was no longer the Kaidan entries and "Identity"—

Compared to those things that easily snowballed once savings were accumulated, he was now more concerned about why Infinite City would provide such a world.

If it were said to be randomly mixed, that would be one thing, but according to what Old Li and the others said, traces of Kaidan only appeared above the fiftieth floor of the Tower of Babylon, clearly indicating some mechanism of Infinite City at work.

All he could think of was some hidden "qualification."

For example, one must reach the strength of above fifty floors to survive with the first-mover advantage in other Kaidans, or one must attain the strength of above fifty floors to truly understand certain things.

From the potential rules of Infinite City that Cain had explained to him, Feng Xue could be sure that Infinite City was purposefully urging powerful Kaidans to ascend to higher floors.

He didn’t know whether this was truly a "Divine Artifact chooses its master" kind of conventional plot or a "Evil Spirit chooses a body" type of conspiratorial style, but anyway, Infinite City sending these qualified Kaidans capable of reaching fifty floors to such a world definitely had some purpose.

Since it was a purposeful action, Feng Xue naturally wouldn’t treat it as an ordinary world, and the difference between this world and the benchmark worlds behind the lower doors was likely precisely this "purpose."

So, what was the difference?

Kaidan.

Although he still didn’t know what secrets these Kaidans held, since even Infinite City wanted to understand it, Feng Xue naturally became curious.

At present, the origin of this world’s Kaidan had been identified as the players, or rather, the game that sent the players to this world. However, in this world, Feng Xue couldn’t access the "game," the actual body of the Kaidan, so he must go to another world.

"Senior..."

While Feng Xue was contemplating her next plan, a familiar call reached her ears. Raising her eyes, she saw another player approaching. The player was a woman, but under the influence of the Feminization Filter, Feng Xue had developed quite a resistance to beauties. Although the player’s appearance was well-crafted, Feng Xue glanced only once and grabbed a wooden sword from the corner, saying:

"Ten coins, one per person. Take it and go quickly, don’t bother me."

"No, I’m not here to buy a wooden sword," the player shook her head, neither taking the sword nor offering the money. Slightly surprised, Feng Xue stopped her movements and looked at the player with a half-smile:

"Don’t want the sword? What do you want then?"

"I want to buy an instrument," the player said seriously. Feng Xue narrowed her eyes slightly upon hearing this:

"An erhu for ten silver, a guzheng for fifty silver, a guqin for one hundred and twenty silver, one coin per silk string. If you want a custom make, the price triples."

"Ah, that..." Hearing that even the cheapest erhu cost ten silver made the player’s face show difficulty, but at the same time, a hint of excitement was also apparent in her heart.

Most players treated this NPC as a merchant selling items essential for pioneers, but she distinctly remembered that his real job was making instruments, initially attracted here by his erhu.

A wooden sword as sharp as untempered steel, albeit growing weaker the more it’s used, was far superior to the blacksmith’s iron swords priced at one silver before it exhausted its strength. Such weaponry was sold for merely ten coins, practically a giveaway.

But for an instrument, just an erhu alone was priced at ten silver. While it may not sound much, compared to the wooden sword at ten coins, it was a thousand times more expensive!

"Indeed, buying instruments has to be the method to trigger this NPC’s quest."

She thought for a moment, then said:

"Senior, do you also teach how to play these instruments here?"

"Quite clever, huh..." Feng Xue chuckled inwardly but kept a serious face and said:

"I don’t have time to teach rookies who can’t do anything."

With that, she turned away, her attitude indicating that if you don’t buy it, then leave.

This reaction only solidified the player’s guess, and she thought to herself:

"He won’t teach someone who knows nothing, which means he wants some foundation. But is this foundation in martial arts or in playing instruments?"

Taking a deep breath, the player gathered her courage and asked tentatively:

"Senior, I’ve studied the guzheng for two years."

"Oh?"

Feng Xue showed a slightly interested expression, said nothing further, and turned to go inside the thatch hut. Seeing this, the player instantly got excited.

One second, two seconds...

It wasn’t actually a very long time, but perhaps because the NPC entered the room without making a sound, it seemed as tedious as a long math class to her.

Fortunately, the wait wasn’t too long. About two minutes later, she saw the NPC coming out carrying a guzheng and a desk for the instrument—

"Play a piece you’re good at."

Hearing the NPC’s words, the player felt a bit of a headache—not because she had over-bragged, but because the NPC hadn’t provided a stool!