Civilization

"Babe, Evan said there is a post on the forum we should look at." - Rebecca

"Babe? Is that what you are calling me now?" - Ian

Looking at Rebecca as she walks into my room, or is it our room now? She smiles gently as she climbs into bed and under the covers, wrapping her arms around my chest.

"Do you not like it? Is someone shy about it?" - Rebecca

"No, it's fine. Then should I call you babe?" - Ian

"You can call me whatever you like." - Rebecca

"Alright then, babe. Uhh… Let me open up the forum on my phone." - Ian

"Sure." - Rebecca



With a small giggle, Rebecca pecks my cheek before settling down in bed as I open up the browser. The forum had been on fire during the whole day with players talking about their tragic experiences on the first day of the event. However, at the top of the forum was a post highlighted red.

[ Third Event - Settlement_News_Agent

Hello everyone, my name is Settlement_News_Agent, and I am with X_MarksThe_Spot the founder and leader of Information-Gathering Guild Espion. I have formally joined the guild as well and together X_MarksThe_Spot and I will be delivering to you, the public, news that will benefit all of you. All information gathered is from our team, however, things can change explosively depending on who is interacting with it, so do not take our information at face value, but reference them instead.

Now with that said let's get down to the most important part, the Third Event. What do we know already? It is a continent-wide event, different for each continent, with its own monsters and storylines. That was it. That's all the information the producers gave us prior to the event but now that it is started what else do we know?

Well, as everyone else would have seen the notification, the main objective of the event is to either survive the attacks of the Reaper's army or find a way to stop it. You might be wondering, how can I survive? What do I do to even start? Well, that's what I'm here for. I might not be able to give you a step-by-step guide, but I can at least inform you about what is currently happening in other parts of the continent.

Currently, each territory is faced with different monsters spawning from the pillars of light that litter the continent. The North faces zombies, the East facing ghosts or spirits, the South facing demonic beings, the West facing creatures from the depths, and the Center facing skeletons. Now you might be thinking but wait the Center is just facing skeletons but me being in the South am versus against demons with magic or demons that are twice my size.
While it might seem unfair, the game has somewhat balanced it. A source that is situated in the Center has expressed to us that it is like seeing a tsunami of skeletons crossing the Earth, whereas the South is only facing a few demonic beings. The difference in numbers balances the difference in strengths as skeletons will die with a single blow to their skulls, but demonic beings are tankier and have more variety in their attacks.

BUT that begs the question. What are the stronger monsters in this event? Every event so far has had some sort of boss or mid-boss or something that resembled a stronger monster of the same race. Well, there are also those roaming around, exiting the pillars of light.

In the West, there are multiple sightings of Krakens with some even coming ashore and wreaking havoc on Players that are based near the shore.  The East has seen sightings of a Dullahan, roaming the empty plains with a cavalry squadron. The North houses a zombie dragon that has already decimated parts of Bones's territory. In the South, there are reports of multiple Cerberus eating Players. In the Center an army of skeletons surrounding a Lich or a Lich king, by the way let's just assume they are mid-bosses.

This is just the start of the event, and we are already plagued with such strong monsters, but how do we fight against them? We don't. Surprisingly we do not do anything. It has been confirmed by Bones, Lotus, and Aqua that the loot dropped by the monsters is all valuable and helps increase the overall strength of the army. Whether it is a weapon, a piece of armor, or a skill book, the loot drop rates are relatively higher compared to the last 6 months of play.

This, in turn, encourages players to fight harder, in hopes of better drops, and yes it is risky and dangerous, but it is without a doubt worth the time and effort. So, then why is there an option of stopping the attacks early? Isn't it better to just farm the monsters and grind weapons, armor, and skill books?

The answer to that question is still up in the air. While the game producers have stated the top 10 players will get a reward, it is based on contribution, and we have little to no way of measuring that number yet. Obviously, if someone stops the attacks they will gain a high contribution but what if someone is focusing only on defeating monsters? Will they also get a high contribution for killing monsters that are stronger than normal?

All we can gather from the information given to us is that it is better to farm the pillars of light for more loot to become stronger before finding a way to conquer it. Gain more weapons, gain more armor and gain more skills, whether it is for yourself or for your NPCs, get stronger and stronger since the monsters are also getting stronger.

This brings us to a situation that happened last night in the Bones territory. It isn't surprising that the Kings are retaliating against the invading Reaper's army, but up in the North, the Horde, is especially adamant about killing the monsters to the extent of sending some of his own generals.

One of which is a human boy that looked to be somewhere between 14 and 18 years old. It is hard to gauge the age according to our sources as the human boy was further away and moving at fast speeds. However, this human boy is definitely not a Player but a human NPC in the game.

He fights with his bare fists and zooms across the ground, beating up zombies faster than any player could kill them. His golden hair flutters in the wind as sweat glisten off his muscles, but he isn't big, no he is quite thin. This human had also killed players but each player that I interviewed expressed that the human always seemed sad and killed with a hollow expression.

Blood splatters across his face, but he shows no response. No matter how loud a player is screaming the human boy looks with pity and despair before dealing the final blow. The only identifying feature is his golden hair.

I'm sure other Kings are sending out their troops as well or are going to since the Reaper's army has only just invaded. Thus, Players might have the opportunity to ally with other Kings , or it might be the opposite and there will be a three-way tug-of-war between the other Kings, the Reapers army and the Players.

There is still much more to be explored as this is only the first day. We will be sure to update in the forum whenever we find more detail but for now, we do strongly advise finding a way to farm the monsters. This is Settlement_News_Agent, representing Espion, in delivering news to you. ]

After reading the forum post, I became speechless. A quiet sentence full of disbelief escapes my lips.

"I can't believe it…" - Ian

"What's wrong?" - Rebecca

"It's Luke. He is up in the North." - Ian

"The NPC that got kidnapped? Is he the human NPC with golden hair?" - Rebecca

"Yea… It's him. I can't believe it." - Ian

"Well isn't it good babe? Now you know where he is." - Rebecca

"It is good, but how do I even reach him? All I know is that he is definitely somewhere in the North, killing players and monsters alike. I have no way of actually reaching him." - Ian

"You will find a way, don't worry too much, although the rest of the post is very interesting. The monsters in other areas all seem to be very strong but both you and Kingston have already defeated one of the mid-bosses. Doesn't that mean the both of you are already stronger than the other Players?" - Rebecca

"No, because the information guild can't get all the information in the world. Like how they didn't know about a Bone Wyvern or the Monster in the Darkness, I'm sure there are mid-bosses that other players have already defeated. I think they also classify Luke as a mid-boss too since he is obviously stronger than the current monsters." - Ian

"So, what now? They don't really say what to do for the event. The post kind of just tells us about the monsters that people would see but that doesn't really affect you." - Rebecca

"I'll just do what I had originally planned to do. Build a wall at the cave and defend the wall. Have a second line of defense between the cave and HavenFall and have a third line of defense at HavenFall." - Ian

"And the Krepost?" - Rebecca

"I left that for Kingston, giving him free rein to do whatever is necessary to stay safe." - Ian

"Oh~ Babe is so cool." - Rebecca

"Stop…" - Ian

"Hahahaha, so cute. I'll hopefully see you in game soon. I might see Evan first though." - Rebecca

"That's fine. I'll see you in the game soon babe." - Ian

With a kiss goodnight, the both of us prepare to go back into the game and as I open my eyes, I ready myself for the defensive plan immediately.