Reincarnation NPC, but Arknights

Besides the inner guard, there are two other fragments, which Bai Ye obtained after dealing with Garson, the leader of the Sarkaz mercenary group, and the indestructible Black Serpent.

In Bai Ye's opinion, the value of these three dungeons far surpasses that of the main story dungeons introduced by this timeline system.

This time, due to the intrusion of White Night, the main storyline has changed, and the enemies players will face have changed from the cadres of the Reunion Movement to the soldiers and agents of the Ursus Empire Army Group.

The side quests are easier because you don't have to directly face monsters like Patriots.

Fortunately, Bai Ye's three dungeons were all of very high quality.

Needless to say, the inner guards were a force to be reckoned with, and the Black Serpent was no exception. Even Garsen, the former leader of the mercenary group who was killed by Bai Ye and sent to meet the Black Serpent, was a powerful figure.

At least, they can summon minions, and their own strength is comparable to Rhodes Island's elite operator Scout.

An elite operator-level powerhouse, along with a bunch of Sarkaz mercenaries, would be quite a challenge for players these days.

"With the player's main city, game dungeons can finally be set up."

For Baiye, the purpose of game dungeons is to attract players; gaining experience is secondary.

The more players circulate in this city, the greater its potential and direct economic benefits will be.

This is also the locational advantage of the core city of Chernobog, and it is also a place that the integration movement can take advantage of.

Two months before the server launch, Baiye reached business partnerships with many companies. The players in the core city represent a completely new market, a vast and promising world. Blacksteel International can find temporary mercenaries here, Thor Industries can expand its equipment market, and the minerals mined by players can be exported to other countries and regions.

Even without considering the impending arrival of infected individuals, players can bring this city to life.

This is also what Bai Ye hopes to see. He can't eat such a big cake by himself, and it's impossible for him to take it all for himself. It's better to bring others together to make money.

Speaking of which, the first person Bai Ye found was the Great Emperor. His first pot of gold after transmigrating to this world came from Penguin Logistics' "zero-yuan purchase" program, after he broke into the Great Emperor's safe house.

The Emperor did not pursue the matter afterward, and even arranged for him to stay temporarily in the Penguin Logistics dormitory. Therefore, Bai Ye was quite grateful to that penguin.

With the Emperor's involvement, Bai Ye's plan gained significantly more credibility, making it easier to win over others. Bai Ye's personal identity and reputation also played a considerable role.

After all, he is now quite well-known in this land. As the first scholar to study the behavior of the undead (players), he has not only published several papers in just one month, but also written a book.

Through all of this, and with Dr. Kal'tsit's previous encouragement, Bai Ye has now become an expert and authority in this field. His words carry a high degree of credibility and can attract the attention of other large corporations and senior executives.

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After leaving his residence, Bai Ye temporarily closed his small shop.

With a wind barrier set up as a safety measure, Bai Ye headed towards the central square of the player area and the Awakening Temple.

Along the way, the entire core city of Chernobog has changed dramatically.

The old buildings were demolished, new infrastructure was built, and the basic functions of the core city have been fully restored.

Speaking of which, through the Rhodes Island connection, he also got involved with a construction company in Rembitox, which was contracted to demolish and rebuild most of the old buildings in the city, as well as to build new facilities.

Meanwhile, Bai Ye also obtained a batch of inexpensive but high-quality building materials from Lungmen. These materials could even be used to construct mobile city-states.

Bai Ye knew that with the increase in the number of players and infected, this one city would certainly not be enough.

However, he had already reached his limit by seizing one core city, and he didn't have the extra time or resources to expel all the citizens from another city. Therefore, he would have to find a new way to control the subsequent city areas.

Besides procuring building materials and collaborating with other companies to construct the city, Bai Ye also plans to scavenge for scrap across the land. The Ursus Empire itself has many abandoned city plots available for players to dismantle and transport back using their inventory.

……

Under the players' watchful eyes, Bai Ye slowly walked to the plaza beside the Awakening Temple.

Immediately, a large group of players gathered around him.

The familiar feeling is back.

Whenever Bai Ye appears in an area with a large number of players, he is bound to be surrounded by a huge crowd, something he's long been used to.

However, with a large player base, there will always be those who act recklessly.

For example, some players might secretly try to attack Bai Ye.

Then they were sanctioned.

Before even touching Bai Ye, he was immediately killed, his affection level was completely wiped out, reduced to a negative number, and his personal shop was shut down.

After that, players rarely ambushed Baiye anymore.

The price of an ancestral habit of being unable to die is still too high.

Chapter 31 Dungeon Launch and Offline

Although they didn't know what Bai Ye wanted to do, the players just stood around him idly.

They won't get too close either, because getting too close to Bai Ye will deduct favorability points. Don't ask them how they know this; it's all the result of testing by various quirky players.

They stood in a circle around Bai Ye and began to entertain themselves.

Some characters are standing still, probably chatting with friends through chat channels or browsing game forums.

In fact, Bai Ye had also opened the game system panel, but the players couldn't see it.

[Copy has been generated]

You have lost the fragments of events.

As the system notification sounded, the fragments of events in Bai Ye's inventory vanished into light.

At the same time, all players received a system email and notification:

[Dear Players: Main story dungeons and side stories are now available. Main story dungeons are currently only open to players who haven't accepted the main story quests, and the content primarily replicates the main story questline. They will be available to all players after adjustments following the end of the limited-time event. Please note that side story dungeons are extremely difficult; failure will deduct experience points, so please proceed with caution. —Arknights Online Official Operations Team]

"This game actually has an operations team? Is it fake or not..." Bai Ye raised an eyebrow after reading the email.

Surprisingly, the system is quite efficient.

The dungeon system was launched as soon as version 2.0 was released.

It didn't seem to happen this quickly in my previous life; the instance probably opened some time later.

"Could it be because of me again?"

Bai Ye raised an eyebrow.

Speaking of which, he seemed to have checked his inventory and used the Fragment of Events before. Could it be that the main story dungeon was also unlocked at the same time?

Then, Bai Ye felt the ground in the square begin to shake.

The resurrection point crystal in the center of the Awakening Temple began to shine brightly. Then, several large doors in the temple suddenly opened, revealing the teleportation portals inside.

This phenomenon occurred at the Awakening Temples throughout the land. However, apart from the temple in the core city of Chernobog, only one portal appeared in each other location.

And here, there are three more that are slightly smaller.

Players posted screenshots on the forum and quickly noticed the differences. Combining this with the system's hints, players reasonably deduced that these three separate portals probably corresponded to the "sidestory" mentioned in the system email.

"Why is there a side story instance only in the core city of Chernobog? That doesn't make sense!"

"I already accepted the main quest in the previous version, so I can't lead everyone through dungeons anymore!"

"Go watch the live video of the chairman of Future Technology, that's a natural game strategy guide."

"Is nobody paying attention to the sidestory instance? It's only available in the core city of Chernobog, and you have to teleport there..."

"I've seen it. The content is called 'Bai Ye's Solo Mission.' Just from the name, it sounds like it's related to the big boss Bai Ye. No wonder it's quite difficult, and it's also exclusive to this area, since Bai Ye's base is here."

"The scholars have already verified that White Night is clearly from Rhodes Island, so how can you say that's their main base?"

"Difficult? How difficult? Bai Ye can touch it, but I can't? Let me see!"

"White Night's solo mission, hehe, hehe..."

Players are actually quite familiar with dungeons, which is a very classic and unique gameplay element that is said to have originated in the board game Dungeons & Dragons.

In short, Team 1 entered Dungeon XX. They entered copy A of Dungeon XX. Team 2 also entered Dungeon XX, but they will not enter copy A, but copy B. A and B will not interfere with each other. At this point, both A and B are called "copies" of Dungeon XX.

Similar to countless parallel timelines.

There are two theories as to when the concept of instances in modern online multiplayer video games actually emerged.

Firstly, Blizzard introduced the concept of "Instance" when they announced World of Warcraft in 2003. Two months later, the expansion pack for Extreme Challenge (EQ) had already completed the physical implementation of Blizzard's "Instance," which was still in the conceptual stage. However, many World of Warcraft players still hold the idea that "the game company we play proposed it first, and EQ imitated it."

The second theory is that the concept of "dungeon" first appeared in the famous online game "EverQuest" (EQ), and was abbreviated as "FB".

Due to the passage of time, it is impossible to verify which statement is correct, but even now, game dungeons remain a very classic gameplay element.

For example, the game "Arknights Online," which is run by a magical game system, has also launched dungeons.

Dungeons are not just an extra fun gaming experience; they also mean a large number of bosses, abundant experience, high equipment drops, and new levels of difficulty.

Players who considered themselves to have graduated from the old version after experiencing version 1.0 are now eager to test their strength. Dungeons are definitely a good way to do this.

Furthermore, dungeons also serve as an alternative form of PVP competition between game guilds and clubs.

The game's guilds and clubs fiercely competed for first kills, fastest completion times, and solo runs of multiplayer raids. Because these records are highly official, they are inscribed in the game's annals and will be remembered forever.

Whenever a dungeon opens, the largest guilds will simultaneously deploy a dozen or even dozens of raid groups to compete for the first kill. The level of competition and intensification among them is truly astonishing for ordinary players.

After probing some of the boss's moves and weaknesses, the guild will begin to assemble elite teams, using what the previous members have discovered as stepping stones, gathering all the guild's resources to officially attempt to break the first kill and speed kill records.

These liver-damaged men can stay up all day and night, tirelessly trying and dying again and again.

This behavior is actually similar to speedrun challenges in single-player games, and is a unique form of competition found only in online games.

Bai Ye knew that once the dungeon opened, this place would become incredibly lively, with players teaming up every day to buy equipment and supplies before entering the dungeon to challenge it.

"That's great..."

Bai Ye felt a little nostalgic for the scene before him. Some players had already formed teams and entered the dungeon, while others, fearless of death, had directly rushed into Bai Ye's own three high-difficulty dungeons.

He had experienced all of these things in the past. As a player, he was also invited to join the "Libertines' Tea Party" by the leader of the guild before the dungeon.

Chapter Thirty-Two: First Experience

(I am guilty of yesterday's post about water quality; I apologize today.)

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"4=1, five people to run dungeons and push the main quest, we need someone with healing skills."

"Can't you just know battlefield first aid if you don't know any medical magic?"

"Five warlocks are sweeping us aside, but someone who knows Fireball, please!"

"Equipment will be bought back at low prices, with priority given to staves."

……

Shortly after the dungeon appeared, a large number of players gathered near the Awakening Temple. Fortunately, the central square that had been planned in advance was large enough that there was no overcrowding for the time being.

"The utilization rate of two-dimensional space is too low. We need to increase the height to form a three-dimensional structure..."

Unlike ordinary city-states, mobile cities are difficult to expand horizontally, but their advantage lies in their ability to develop vertically and horizontally.

This is thanks to the Terran civilization's somewhat skewed technological development; its achievements in materials science, architecture, and engineering mechanics are no less than those of Earth, which is capable of colonizing Mars.

No, in Bai Ye's opinion, it was even a bit beyond that. After all, he had seen the Civil Engineering Master in Yan Country pull two mountains directly onto a mobile city and then carry them around everywhere.

That's an outrageous move.

Bai Ye was still deep in thought, but soon players came to him. Players attracted by the dungeon began to gather around Bai Ye, hoping to learn some skills before entering the dungeon.

'The flow rate has clearly decreased...'

Compared to the end of version 1.0, the experience points players spend at White Night have dropped drastically.

This might be because players already spent resources at the end of the previous version, and now that version 2.0 has just begun, they don't have enough resources left. Furthermore, since attributes are prioritized over skills, players tend to focus on leveling up their characters first.

After a while, Bai Ye's plan to reap a wave of player experience points backfired.

'Most of the players here have been in contact with me since the last version; they're like韭菜 (a metaphor for easily exploited people), they still need time to grow...'

Bai Ye responded to the players with a blank expression while pondering.

Fortunately, his character is usually aloof but passionate in battle, so even if he does this perfunctorily, it won't ruin his character.

Although the experience gained wasn't great, Bai Ye's potions sold very well. After the dungeon opened, players' demand for supplies increased dramatically, and most of the various potions and healing potions that Bai Ye purchased and made were consumed in a short period of time.

'From now on, I'll only sell rare potions, or I'll just commission someone else to do it for me...' Bai Ye no longer cared about this little bit of money; the small-scale retail business was no longer enough for him.

-------------------------------------

While Bai Ye was busy dealing with the players, Zhai Mao arrived at the dungeon portal with several friends. This team of players was quite well-equipped, with a tank, DPS, warlock, and healer. The strongest player in the team was an old acquaintance of Bai Ye's, "Coffee Cup".