Strategy Guides

At the same time, Cassius was also watching videos on the forum, sulfurous smoke drifting from the corners of his mouth. "That's right, it's all footage of real events." "Practically everything shown is a major event that influenced the balance of power across Anzeta." Cassius suddenly felt that, somewhere in the unseen depths of the universe, a pair of eyes was watching and silently recording everything. Even though his own power was approaching the pinnacle of mortal existence, he was still completely unable to peer at the entity behind it all. He continued browsing through the forum and spotted a new post by Singo. *Launch Guide: A Beginner's Guide to Elezerg* "There are currently twelve starting spawn points to choose from across Anzeta, including Stravburg, the City of Walz, Arlan Keep, and others... But I recommend only one and a half: Northwind Keep as a full recommendation, and the City of Baator barely qualifying as half of one. And as for factions, there is only one I recommend—the Kingdom of Cinders. "In terms of class selection, the Kingdom of Cinders offers broken, overpowered options like the Redscale Conqueror and the dragon-blessed paladin, which give you an immediate lead over other classes right out of the gate. Among faction subclasses across the northern realms, only the Principality of Bosque's lionheart paladin has some decent strength, but that's a private noble army with brutally strict advancement requirements, and its raw power doesn't even come close. "As for factions, that goes without saying. The entire closed beta was essentially the development history of the Kingdom of Cinders; almost every main storyline quest revolved around it. The kingdom possesses an overwhelming lead in technological advancement, backed by an apex faction leader like Cassius, the Lord of Cinders. "Put it this way: even if you lose on the battlefield, you still get to watch a cutscene of the red dragon annihilating the other side. I honestly suspect this is the 'protagonist faction' pushed by the devs themselves. "Players looking for rapid growth should start directly in Northwind Keep, where opportunities are everywhere. Whether you take a job in the factories to earn coin or work at an agency, you can scrape together startup capital in no time. For those who prefer adventure and want to level up faster, I'd suggest starting in the City of Baator; Storm Heights is crawling with hostile mobs, making it great for grinding experience..." Mantou had also put up a "guide" of his own. Rather than a guide, however, it read more like a smug brag dripping with humblebrags from start to finish. "The Redscale Conqueror isn't even that strong, honestly. The scenery's just nice, and you get to fly around on a wyvern whenever you want." "Huh? You guys are asking about the perks of being a peace officer? It's just a few hundred Faction Contribution points a day. You can't even trade it for much good stuff—Dragon Blood Potions at most, that sort of thing." Aside from these guides, there were lore analysis threads, more than half of which mentioned the "Lord of Cinders," speculating whether he was the ultimate boss or the developers' chosen protagonist. Cassius scrolled through the threads, nodding slightly. "Excellent. The desired effect has already been achieved." "Now it all comes down to the open beta." Over the past decade, his goal had been clear: subjugating the tieflings step by step, seizing Northwind Keep, and ultimately founding the Kingdom of Cinders. He had done all this to monopolize the entire main storyline of the closed beta's 'Turmoil of Northwind Keep,' establishing his faction as the premier choice in the eyes of the players and laying the groundwork to absorb greater power in the future. Players represented far more than tens of thousands of "undying immortals"; they also brought talent reserves and technological knowledge from another world. In the game's mid-to-late stages, real-world governments had even gotten involved, becoming the puppet masters behind the elite guilds. For instance, the Machine Cult would eventually recruit numerous top scientists from various countries to construct immense floating citadels, reducing even its guild master, Gangtie Kuangchao, to a mere rubber stamp early on. And now, Cassius had clearly achieved his objective. He had even led the mysterious "System" to establish him as a central figure in the world's lore. "Time to make preparations." With that in mind, Cassius activated the magic mirror and summoned Langpu in Northwind Keep. The ogre mage's hideous face materialized once more on the mirror's surface. "Master, what are your orders?" "The Starfallen will descend soon. Instruct all departments to prepare." "Yes, Master." Langpu answered without hesitation, then paused briefly before continuing, "Master, regarding the item you requested, the initial blueprint is ready." Designing this magical equipment had racked Langpu's brains. Cassius had personally commissioned and overseen it, meaning no one could shoulder the blame if anything went wrong. The blueprints had been revised again and again, undergoing over thirty iterations. To make matters worse for Langpu, everything about this equipment was classified as a top-secret state affair. He could not even delegate the work to the wizards in the Ministry of Magic and had to complete the entire design himself. The finished blueprint depicted an opulent golden crown sculpted to fit Cassius's head perfectly, forged from magical adamantine and inlaid with an assortment of precious gemstones. *Crown of the Supreme Dragon.* "Not bad." Cassius glanced at it. Seeing the three full pages of intricate magical circuits he couldn't comprehend, he merely nodded slightly to acknowledge it. "At least it looks the part." ... Several weeks went by. "Yes!" "I got one! An open beta slot!" Inside a room dominated by a game pod, Ji Ming pumped his fists in the air and cheered. He had been following Elezerg ever since watching Mantou's videos. After yearning day and night through a grueling year of waiting, he had finally snagged an open beta slot thanks to the hand speed honed by thirteen years of bachelorhood. All fifty thousand slots had been snatched clean almost the instant they dropped. Nearly a million hopefuls could do nothing now but wail on the forums, hurling curses at the damn developers for not releasing more slots. Ji Ming could hardly wait to tear open the packaging and set up the enchanted, rune-engraved Elezerg game pod in his room. He first snapped a photo to brag on the forum, stirring up waves of envy and jealousy among fellow netizens, before comfortably climbing inside. Having watched Mantou's videos long beforehand, he was already thoroughly familiar with the setup process. [Please enter your nickname.] Ji Ming pondered for a moment and chose his most frequently used gaming handle, "Lonely as Snow," which gave off the distinct aura of an expert. From the videos, he also knew that Elezerg used face-scanning tech and that one couldn't afford to fool around too recklessly; Holy Light Bro, who had thoroughly discarded all sense of shame, was a living cautionary tale. [Connecting to central nervous system...] [Scanning physical parameters...] [Constructing character...] [Character construction complete.] Lonely as Snow (Note: Standard human attribute value is 10) Strength: 11 Agility: 10 Constitution: 11 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 12 *Tsk, tsk, basically a peak human. Way better than Mantou's eldritch abomination of a 9 in Charisma,* Ji Ming thought smugly.