February 5, 795 of the New Calendar, in the territory of the Principality of Ernifea, at Kalon Pass.
The tall mountains, the crowded city gates, and the busy traffic between the two passes were as usual. Traffic, either traveling or doing business, enters from various city gates here, then passes through the small market in the central area, and continues to drive towards their respective destinations. Curious people will stop here to experience the prosperity of this city gate in the past, or to look for the historical ruins of the town that used to be here. By the way, they can also taste the food here and stroll around the ever-changing small town. stall market. Of course, most of the people who stay here to collect things are adventurers. They not only hope to find good goods in this crowded place, but also hope to have a chance to participate in a larger event. In the midst of adventure.
Because most of the people who venture from the south of the Principality to the Andacier Mountains have to pass through here.
Exploring intelligence, arranging logistics and equipment, and even looking for companions - Due to the special circumstances of Baikalon Pass, players seeking to form a team have become regular visitors here. Some people even held placards in the square specifically for this purpose, hosting various events. Various team business. People who are out to take risks and want to find out more about Falling Star Mountain in the north of this place don’t want a cheat to suddenly appear in the same team, so how to find the most suitable teammates among this huge group of players is a matter of opinion. A wise man sees wise things. If players are interested, they can see many people squatting at the east and west gates of Karon Pass. They are not recruiters from various guilds in big cities, but "observers" who are looking for high-quality savages for their team. By".
In fact, there will be such situations around every adventure resort, and there will be such people in every team. And this is why many teams, including guild forces, desperately want to fix good personnel.
To the south of Kalon Pass, when Greenstone Village had just become a novice village and was discovered by players, many people who were keen on adventure or wealth also regarded the Emerald Forest next to Greenstone Village as an adventure holy land. In the New World, the Wings of Freedom people even reborn the main team early and arranged it there. However, with the subsequent changes, all these plans came to nothing, so the number of large groups of people coming and going gradually became less and less. In the eyes of those who squatted in Karon Pass all year round and saw many high-level players, it became a complete A kind of disaster happened - in the past days, they could stop several "like-minded" high-level players at the east and west gates of Kalon Pass every day, and go with them to adventure in Falling Star Mountain, although one went to the south and the other to the north. , but it’s still along the way, isn’t it? The forest is there and you can’t escape, and I heard it is much more dangerous than Falling Star Mountain, so you might as well join them and go here first. Everyone is familiar with the road. Old driver, I will give you a guarantee first. I will never let you leave empty-handed, etc... There will always be five out of ten who will happily go, thus ensuring the success rate of an adventure. After all, a certain player His skills are really poor, but his equipment and knowledge will always be there, and he will always be much better than the novices who come from the south.
But now the good days are over - these high-level players passing by have become a scarce resource. There is Freedom City in the east, war is going on in the west, the Emerald Forest in the south is gone, and the Falling Star Mountain in the north has been visited by all. Been there. There are fewer and fewer players who have stopped in the past, and most of the team members who relied on this food to survive have also left. As time goes by, naturally no one is interested there. The world is so big, where can we go to see it? Until now, they have not broken through the shackles of Falling Star Mountain. They have never seen what the top of Falling Star Mountain looks like. They might as well find a new place to improve themselves and conquer this mountain again in the future.
Of course, there are many reasons for not being able to climb to the top of this invisible mountain. In addition to the player's own lack of strength and the poor natural conditions on the mountain, the player's diminished enthusiasm is also a very important reason. one. If we can't beat a regional leader, we can try it once, twice, ten times, or eight times. If we still can't beat it after trying for several months, then someone has given up long ago. As the highest mountain in the free world, Falling Star Mountain is like the final boss in the entire game. Therefore, many players who have been there assert that only after the players have generally reached the full level and have almost the same equipment and field experience, can they go there? It might still be possible to explore the top of the mountain, but don't think about it now.
What's more, there are all kinds of strange creatures and various reclusive ethnic groups in that mountain range.
Today, there is still an endless flow of carriages in Kalonguan, and there are countless adventurers passing by, but Xiaodong is still as idle as a flagpole in winter. Even the cold wind cannot make him move at all - the old players all go their separate ways. The people on the road are all novices, which makes him, a team builder with increasingly cunning eyes, increasingly sophisticated tastes and difficulty in accepting novice players, very helpless. He is one of the few players who still stays in Kalon Pass and likes to venture to Falling Star Mountain, not only because the produce there is rich and there is a way to sell it back, but also because he likes the adventurous way of climbing mountains. In his heart, he still has some dreams, that is, one day he can climb to the top of that mountain, see the entire world from the top of the mountain, and at the same time leave his name in the history of games in the free world.
But the current situation made him see that his dream was getting further and further away from him.
Most of his original teammates have now left, and even his opponents no longer compete with him for team members. Even so, it is still extremely difficult to find a good teammate during this period. He stood outside the road next to the east gate and chatted with the guards next to him. At the same time, he looked at the passing crowds, shook his head and sighed at the quality of the players, and spent a lot of his free time thinking about his future.
Should you also consider changing your development location? Just my dream...
well.
He raised his head and looked at the vague mountain peak that towered into the clouds in the distance, wondering how he could have persisted until today if he had not seen what the top of that mountain looked like. Every day, countless players who have inquired about the market come to me and recommend themselves. Unfortunately, they all come from the novice village in the south. My goal is not a one-day trip to Falling Star Mountain, but to actually climb to the top of the mountain. , a group of fellow "graduates" from Falling Star Mountain tried to climb it for weeks without success. How could a few young guys who had never seen the steep mountains climb it?
He waved his hand, got away from the crowd, and looked towards the end of the road - I heard that from the end of this road, you can reach the adventurer's paradise city. Many of his companions have now gone to various parts of the continent. To start a new adventure, some of them plan to develop on the seaside. A few days ago, they sent a message to tell themselves that the City of Freedom has undergone another major reshuffle. The two evil forces are no longer as arrogant as before. Many of them were The new ruins they occupied are also open to the public. They plan to make preparations and then go have a look. Maybe they can dig up some ancient swords and the like...
"When things are over here, I'll go to the east and have a look. There are brothers over there. It's better than going to war... Huh?"
He suddenly moved forward and stared not far ahead - in the middle of the road, a woman in a blue cloak led a horse and walked toward the city gate. The woman was holding the horse with one hand and holding the hilt of the sword at her waist with the other. The fur-trimmed leather armor vividly outlined the woman's perfect figure. The crescent-shaped pendants in her ears reflected intoxicating light in the sun. , the long purple hair trailing behind her head was tied into a bundle by a long blue ribbon, flying backwards with the wind blowing in front of her.
But even the beautiful face of the woman was not the main reason that attracted Xiaodong's eyes. After a quick glance with his keen eyes, he saw what was different about this woman - the thin sword for women. , the gems on the sword hilt, and the leather armor that perfectly matched the color and style. He couldn't tell the material of the leather armor at a glance, and even he, who had seen many high-level players, couldn't recognize some of the small carvings.
The woman looked at the city gate of Kalon Pass, walking extremely slowly. She looked at the guards on the left and right, and then at the scene in the distance, as if she was observing where the two sides of the city pass could reach. Xiaodong felt a sudden change in his heart. Hi, just as she was about to step forward to discuss team formation with this player who seemed to want to take risks here, the woman was stopped by a player on the roadside.
"This lady! You, are you here for adventure? We are the Blood Fang Adventure Group, have you..."
"Bloodfang!"
He hurriedly stepped forward and stopped them in front of them: "Why are you still here? Are you still fooling people? Just those members of Three-Legged Cat among you, don't they always come back dead every time they go to Falling Star Mountain? ! Why do you still have the nerve to pull people here..."
"I...what happened to us coming back from the dead? At least we walked to the 'Ice and Snow Cave' last time. Why don't you go and have a look? Oh, by the way, I forgot that all of you are gone. You can go if you want. No, haha!”
"I, we are a team with a map exploration rate of 68%, and the goal is the top of the mountain! So what if there are few people? Who can beat me in terms of experience..."
"What's the use of experience? If we can't climb to the top of the mountain, we can go wherever we should. Why should we give it to you?"
On the side of the noisy road, the leaders of two adventure groups stood on the side of the road and started arguing next to a female swordsman. The woman shook her head helplessly, and then stretched out her hand to press between the two people: "Both of you."
As soon as the gentle and mature voice came out, the quarrel between the two people was suppressed. The two captain-level figures who had met many people seemed to be calmed by the perfect temperament of the woman in front of them: "I want to go to the wind." Huazhen, please..."
She pointed in the south direction: "Are you going south from this place?"
*****************
It was another dark night, and Duan Qing and his two men, led by Nan Tieshan, once again found a place to set up camp.
This road was close to the mountains, which actually saved a lot of distance, because in Duan Qing's impression, the south of the route he took should be the Talon Avenue they walked when they came here, so The current route is equivalent to them passing through the middle plain, diagonally heading directly to the north of Kalon Pass. If everything goes well, they will probably be able to reach the foot of the legendary mountain tomorrow.
However, this journey has not been smooth.
A few people first climbed over layers of rugged mountain roads and encountered all kinds of strange creatures. Later, they encountered demonized creatures and even elemental creatures that appeared due to the rich earth element in the mountains. They were even troublesome to Nantie. Shandu didn't dare to deal with them head-on, not to mention that they had gone too far into the wild, and those monsters appeared in groups.
They even encountered two natural disasters - a large number of rolling stones fell from the cliff on the mountain, almost burying them alive. Fortunately, several of them were good at playing games, and their reactions and awareness were quite high, so they were Under the emergency outbreak, they barely escaped this sudden disaster. However, according to Nan Tieshan's later introduction and speculation, those landslides were most likely caused by the earth element on the mountain. This shocked Duan Qing into a cold sweat and gave him a new understanding of the monster abilities in this game. know.
So now that he was getting closer to his destination, Duan Qing felt slightly excited.
"Get some rest early. If everything goes well, we can arrive tomorrow..."
"etc."
The night was deep, and Nan Tieshan got into his tent to rest early. Duan Qing looked at the night sky and was about to say hello before going to bed and prepare for tomorrow's adventure. The man who came all the way was not there. No matter how he spoke, the woman who had always been indifferent suddenly stopped him.
"How...how did you know I was coming to Falling Star Mountain?"
"You're confused." Duan Qing looked at the other person for a while, and finally laughed and said: "Can't you see this? I was just trying to fool that big black guy, but I didn't expect you..."
"But I didn't want to go there."
"Ah?" Duan Qing was surprised: "Didn't you just say..."
"I should have told you the origin of the equipment I am wearing, right?"
The woman sat on her knees by the campfire, her eyes always staring at the campfire in front of her: "Before... when I was in the team, I went to Falling Star Mountain once. It was at that time that I... got this set. Equipped.”
"So I still have an impression of that place, so I just took advantage of it... and talked about that place."
"Before?" Duan Qing was keenly aware of the hidden meaning in the other party's words: "Then now..."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm still a member of the Wings of Freedom." The woman shook her head and said, "It's just...the first team is no longer here."
"The first team has been disbanded?" Duan Qing said again in disbelief: "How could the Wings of Freedom be willing to disband? They can't make it? What will happen in the next games?"
"It's not disbandment, but...it's not much different."
Xue Ling Huan Bing looked at the black curtain-like scenery not far away - there were the mountains that blocked the sky.
"You should talk about it now." Duan Qing looked at the other party for a while, then gave up the idea of resting and sat down by the campfire next to her: "You ran out alone and ran so far. After all, What is it for?"
"nothing."
After a period of silence, Xue Ling Huan Bing reached out and plucked the firewood in the fire: "It's just like that time in the forest."
"I'm just a little unwilling."
