Master of Kaidan
Chapter 426: Where is the Style?

Chapter 426: Chapter 426: Where is the Style?

The Jianghu’s last closed beta test’s first week had ended, and within the highly watched forum section, posts appeared every second, only to be swiftly replaced by newer ones. However, amidst the old giving way to the new, one post suddenly started lingering on the front page, and, as if by right, it attracted the attention of many players—

"What You Don’t Know About the New Version."

"Hello, everyone, I’m Mei Wenhua. Those who follow me might know what I’m about to say, but I need to say it again, this game’s style is a bit off!"

"First off, I’m a newbie who just got an activation code for this closed beta, so if I get anything wrong, please go easy on me."

"Now about the game—"

"Isn’t this supposed to be a martial arts-themed game? Why am I constantly working with screws after logging in!"

"This messed-up game has neither wild monsters nor quests, the whole village is just full of blacksmith shops. Though they pay well and teach Inner Strength, being dragged off to blacksmith as soon as I log on—what kind of madness is that?"

"And what about this air? Didn’t players from earlier tests say it had picturesque scenery and fresh air? Why is it all coal smoke and heavy metal particles here? Play for half an hour and your character’s nostrils are filled with black ash, even the clouds in the sky have been tainted black. If it weren’t for all the NPCs wearing ancient costumes, I’d have thought I was playing a Cyberpunk game!"

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"And that guy called Pentakill! He keeps talking about a hidden NPC who gives quests for Inner Strength. Is this what they call giving away Inner Strength? It’s more like trading skill for tasks! Can any of the big shots tell me when the hell these damnable quests will be done? I work with screws during the day at my job, and I’m expected to work with them in the game at night too, right?"

...

[First Floor: Instantly recognized as a cloud player, these days who knows if it’s a human or a ghost out here showing off. Have you ever even logged into Jianghu? With just one picture, the rest is all made up, right?]

[Second Floor: Exactly, I’m from the third test, and after working for a few months, I’ve only just saved enough money to learn the Basic Skills at a martial arts school. I can’t even beat a bandit, so where are these quests that give away Inner Strength as soon as you start?]

[Third Floor: Same here, I’m a first-test player. Now I’m just running Defense along the coastline, haven’t even seen a shadow of Inner Strength!]

[Fourth Floor: Uhm, the original poster seems to have player verification, doesn’t look like a cloud player.]

[Fifth Floor: Damn! Could it really be a Cyberpunk newbie village?]

[Sixth Floor: The legendary foreign server?]

[Seventh Floor: Requesting the address...]

...

Various cloud players commented under the post, some accusing of making it up, others saying it’s an account hack, but with the forum’s "player verification" accounts, the comments gradually shifted towards discussing where exactly this so-called Cyberpunk village might be.

Logically, even if it was a new starter village added alongside the distribution of activation codes, there should at least be two hundred players right, but such a uniquely characterized village had hardly been mentioned on the forums, and the player who made the post had not replied at all.

However, some cloud players who followed game streamers suddenly realized, some streamers had abruptly stopped broadcasting. Ordinary people might think they’ve stood them up, but connecting to this post, the more clever ones started suspecting—had these streamers also been dragged off to work with screws?

Without any videos and a lack of player leaks, all of this gradually got submerged in the information overload flooding the forums, becoming an urban legend remembered by only a few—until the final week of the beta test, when players began their attack on the island occupied by the Wokou pirates...

...

On the coastline, within the camp of the "Southern Lake Alliance" formed by the players, a group of players were gathered around a table, discussing their attack strategy.

The Wokou pirate stronghold was discovered by a fisherman who went out to sea three days earlier. Conservatively estimated, there were at least two to three thousand people on that island. Although the number seemed outrageous, considering it was a game, players didn’t doubt it too much. Instead, they immediately began to form attack squads, hoping to take down the island before the end of the beta test.

"Didn’t they say all the Wokou pirates were local merchants and bandits in disguise? Why are there so many samurai on the island!" A man dressed in linen vented his frustration, his rage meter going off the charts. Behind him, a bunch of shabbily dressed players showed signs of dejection or anger, clearly having suffered a major setback in the first wave of combat.

"Enough talk, if it wasn’t for those katana, who would want to chew on this tough bone? Those with a wooden sword should be extra careful, if you use that thing, the loot will just become a pile of scrap metal."

Another player rolled his eyes, but the previously frustrated player retorted:

"Da Kuai Shu Village will be gone after this beta test, where are there any wooden swords left? They’ve all been used up. Speaking of which, do you think that Screw Village could be Da Kuai Shu Village?"

"Do you actually believe there’s a Screw Village? I told you that’s just to fool you. You believed it just because of an account and a few pictures? If I post right now that there’s an Alien Village, are you going to believe that too?"

This is just how players are. Whenever they discuss serious matters, the conversation inexplicably veers off-topic. Just as a player was about to steer the conversation back, they hadn’t even opened their mouth when a lookout shouted through the bullhorn while spamming the public channel:

"The Wokou pirates are here! The Wokou have landed! This time it’s real Wokou, all armed with blades!"

"Well, if it isn’t the honorable elders..." A few guild leaders were amused by the player’s announcement, but they quickly realized the enemy was counterattacking. Abandoning their bickering, they grabbed their weapons and began rallying the players to prepare for combat.

Even though they were front-line players from major guilds, at the end of the day, with the Game’s beta tests adding up to less than half a year, players, both financially and in terms of power, still had a significant gap compared to the natives. Even with system features to help, they were still on the level of Jianghu henchmen, not even comparable to those street performers who can smash stones on their chests.

Dealing with bandits was one thing, but when faced with genuinely trained Wokou, even those with some blade skill were naturally suppressed. Moreover, the players had to be careful not to damage the loot, and since the performance of the Game’s Wokou Blades was quite outstanding, even three against one might not be enough to hold one down, it often took a team of five to steadily farm a single Wokou elite.

But the problem was, the Wokou elite monsters came in swarms!

Player casualties kept increasing, and in the face of the twenty-four-hour respawn cooldown, the fourth calamity couldn’t unleash its true power without having enough numbers to form batches. The Wokou landed for just twenty minutes, and the player army had already been forced to retreat repeatedly.

"Since when do elite monsters roam in groups to farm players? Is there something wrong with this game’s AI design?" A player who had learned a bit of Qinggong complained. A flash of blade light appeared in his peripheral vision just as he braced for death, when suddenly, a wave of sound exploded in mid-air, knocking him flat on the ground. The clean and crisp drumbeats seemed to trigger an earthquake each time, while the low bass was like a flood, making it hard to breathe.

Mixed into the rousing guitar sound was an out-of-place zither, rolling in like a chaotic current in the sea, tearing at the listeners’ spirits.

Different instruments’ sounds clashed and collided, even suppressing the coastal tide, which dared not approach.

"What the heck is this?"

"Death metal, right?"

"Hmm, based on my experience, the next thing should be..."

"Ah—" A hoarse voice full of misery pierced through the wall of sound from the instruments, shattering all defenses. Amid this soul-shaking singing, six huge figures fell from the sky like meteors.

"This, this style shift isn’t quite right, is it?!"