Ancient Ark: A Dark-Themed Historical Survival Game

"Heaven and earth are the game board, all living beings are the pieces, and the rise and fall of dynasties throughout history is but a single game."

Sun Wu did not look up.

Focusing intently on studying the chess game.

He asked in a calm and collected tone, "Younger generations, now that you have entered my domain, it means we are destined to meet. Do you dare to accept the test?"

Get straight to the point.

Without any hesitation or fuss.

Xiao Yu bowed slightly: "Please enlighten me."

"Warfare is based on deception."

Sun Tzu casually picked up a white piece, saying, "I will test your ability to discern the true from the false, your choice of strategy, and your mastery of the orthodox and unorthodox tactics."

With a snap of the fingers.

The chess piece flew towards them.

The moment Xiao Yu came into contact with it, he was teleported to an ancient battlefield littered with shattered soldiers and broken armor.

He could smell the strong stench of blood in the air, and the blood-stained flags were fluttering in the wind, as if a great battle had just taken place not long ago.

[You have entered the Trial Grounds of the Battle of Baiju. The time limit for this trial is 300 minutes!]

[Current Level: Detecting Truth from Falsehood!]

[Current Mission: Eliminate six Chu scouts!]

【…】

There's no need to study it in detail.

Xiao Yu had been preparing for this moment for far too long.

A nightmare in the deep sea.

An ancient, hidden realm.

It's not just the difference between "main story dungeons" and "hidden dungeons".

Nightmare instances are formed around the core source of contamination, and each nightmare will inevitably devour more than one historical hero.

These historical heroes were corrupted by the deep sea and transformed into twisted evil, possessing only the purest killing, hatred, and malice.

and so.

There are no shortcuts.

We have no choice but to fight our way through.

The secret realm dungeons are completely different.

The old world has been swallowed by the deep sea, and the souls of all the dead will return to the deep sea. However, due to the strong fortune of these historical heroes, they have temporarily formed a sanctuary to protect them from pollution.

They can both utilize the boundless power of the deep sea to create secret worlds and retain a part of their thoughts and selves.

Therefore.

Such instances are not intended for killing.

Furthermore, because each historical figure has a different personality, will, obsession, desire, and last wish, the secret realms they create are incredibly diverse.

To put it simply...

Deep Sea Nightmare is generally a traditional dungeon.

This type of dungeon gameplay involves grinding monsters and fighting bosses.

The Old Secret Realm sometimes involves killing monsters and fighting bosses, sometimes it involves role-playing, sometimes it involves solving plot puzzles, and sometimes it involves strange tales about rules. It focuses more on mechanics and strategies than on numerical levels.

In his previous life, Xiao Yu spent decades gathering information on secret realm instances.

Sun Tzu was the first epic hero he was determined to obtain.

He knows the "Strategist's Chess Game" too well.

This secret realm has two rounds of trials.

The first round is the current trial ground, where three questions will be randomly selected from a total of more than ten different questions to serve as the trial stages.

The second round is a strategy game, which is the real test of the secret realm, but the trigger conditions are extremely difficult. Only by obtaining a perfect evaluation in the first round of the test can the game be triggered.

This is the first stage of the first round.

The current objective and mission is to eliminate the six Chu scouts.

Each time, a dozen or twenty scouts will spawn near the battlefield, but only one is the real target; the rest are all decoys.

Players must distinguish between real and fake attacks to make the correct kill.

A single misjudgment can lead to the failure of the challenge.

Trying to rely on luck.

Did you guess all of them correctly?

Calculated from probability theory.

There's only a one in ten million chance!

The patterns of phantom scouts and real scouts appearing are completely random and cannot be detected by any conventional reconnaissance methods. Only careful observation and prudent judgment can distinguish between the real and the fake.

The difficulty is extremely high.

It goes without saying!

Xiao Yu had done a lot of research on this in his previous life, but now it seemed completely unnecessary. He soon spotted a scout with a black cloth covering his face and a thin appearance.

[Chu Scout] (Phantom)...

"As expected, my all-seeing eye is far from an ordinary reconnaissance method; it's enough to directly discern the scouts' true intentions!"

so easy.

Eliminate them one by one.

They quickly found their target.

[Chu Scout], Tier 2 unit, 30 HP, Skills: Stealth, Swiftness...

The dungeon level usually represents the maximum level of monsters. The fact that there are only level 2 monsters in the current dungeon is not too difficult.

-20 (Critical Hit!)

Xiao Yu struck the scout in the neck with a slash, dodged the counterattack, and quickly followed up with a sword strike and a slash.

-5!

-7!

[You have collected loot: Soul Essence +1, Gray Soul Stone +1!]

They quickly eliminated the first scout, followed by the second, third, and fourth... In less than twenty minutes, they found and killed all five scouts.

The last one was a bit tricky.

This scout was surrounded by eight phantom scouts at the same time, which was definitely not something that ordinary level 2 or 3 players could handle!

Xiao Yu did not hesitate at all.

The Corruption Ring is activated immediately, consuming 3 points of mental energy to condense a green fireball. The fireball hits and explodes!

-15!

-2!

-2!

The attack failed to kill the scout but instead set his body ablaze, causing him continuous damage. His health quickly dwindled, and he was instantly killed by a sword thrown from mid-air.

You have passed the test of discerning truth from falsehood!

Xiao Yu's surroundings changed, transforming from an ancient battlefield into a canyon filled with organized search and capture soldiers, with a pass at the canyon's exit.

[Current Level: A Choice Based on the Situation!]

[Current Mission: Escape the Canyon!]

[255 minutes and 53 seconds remaining in the trial!]

This is the second level!

There's plenty of time!

The theme of this level is "Choices Based on Circumstances".

What is form?

What is momentum?

These are two sides of the same coin that complement each other.

"Form" can be understood as visible strength, such as the number of people, equipment, supplies, and high walls in a battle between two armies.

"Potential" can be understood as invisible potential, which is a process and energy that fully unleashes strength and ultimately transforms it into victory.

The Art of War, in its chapter "Planning an Attack," mentions five ways to win, the most important of which is "He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot fight will win!"

This canyon pass.

Several thousand elite Chu soldiers guarded the area.

Each soldier is equipped with highly defensive armor and shields, and has a large number of bows and crossbows, firmly occupying the terrain advantage, enough to instantly kill a level 10 player.

You can't win by going head-to-head.

If you try to break through a barrier without understanding the situation, you will never succeed. Therefore, you must find a solution within the canyon.

Xiao Yu doesn't need to test him.

He knew he needed to leverage existing resources.

There are four altars in the valley.

Each time a player activates an altar, they will receive a buff, but the duration of each buff is different, so the activation order is very important; if the order is wrong, defeat is inevitable.

The correct approach and order can be summed up in four words:

"Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain".

First, activate the Swift as the Wind Altar to gain "Windwalker," which greatly increases movement speed for 20 minutes.

Reactivating the Xu Ru Lin Altar grants "Forest Hidden," reducing the chance of being detected by patrols and lasting for 15 minutes.

Secondly, activating the Invasion Altar grants the "Fire Attack" ability, which creates a fire to attract soldiers' attention for 10 minutes.

Finally, activating the Immovable Mountain Altar grants "Mountain Guardian," which temporarily increases damage immunity and grants immunity to knockback and stun for 5 minutes.

You can't afford to make a single mistake.

The timing must be just right.

Only in this way can one have the foundation to overcome obstacles.

This level not only tests the player's accurate judgment and grasp of the situation, but also places great demands on the player's psychological qualities and execution ability. Even if a player figures out the strategy, it is difficult for them to execute it accurately.

This hurdle poses no challenge.

After a series of maneuvers, Xiao Yu passed the test with great success, and in the process, he killed nearly twenty Chu soldiers and gained a lot of vital energy.

In addition, 5 gray soul stones were also found.

The harvest was pretty good.

You have passed the test of circumstances!

The trial environment has changed again.

The pass and canyon were transformed into a military camp.

[Current Level: The Shift Between Ordinary and Unorthodox!]

[Current Mission: Slay Chu General Shen Yinxu!]

[The current trial has 227 minutes and 48 seconds remaining!]

The final level!

Xiao Yu looked at the time.

A sense of urgency arose involuntarily.

Although there seems to be plenty of time at first glance, it's best to complete the game within 47 minutes!

The better the performance in the first round of testing.

When he officially clashed with Sun Tzu.

The greater the advantage, the better.

According to the information Xiao Yu had, Sun Tzu would give up one piece for every hour the game started earlier, and could gain up to three pieces.

This is crucial!

The opponent is the God of War.

Play a game of strategy against the strategist.

If the opponent doesn't give up a single piece, there's almost no chance of a perfect victory.

Even with one perfect move, the probability of clearing the level is still less than 10%, while with two perfect moves, the probability reaches 30%, and with three perfect moves, the probability can reach over 80%.

This is an epic-level hero.

At present, they are not only extremely rare.

It is extremely difficult to obtain.

The current dungeon is already very difficult at level 2, and it will only get harder as the level increases!

No one had ever cleared the game in my previous life.

As a result, the old secret realm has turned into a deep-sea nightmare, which is ten or even a hundred times more difficult than the core nightmare "River Eye Purgatory"!

It wasn't until several years later that a top figure managed to take it down at great cost, but this time history will not repeat itself.

Xiao Yu is determined to succeed on this trip!