Chapter 445: Official Release of “Shadow of the Swamp” and Hall of Fame Opening

After seeing off Brother Meow, Brother Stick felt a bit melancholic alone in his tent.

Ah, relationships still fade after all.

He made such a silly sigh, then immediately called himself out for being wrong.

His clever mind quickly realized a rather “terrifying” possibility, with Brother Meow’s shrewd thinking, he couldn’t possibly fail to see that cooperation between the Big Bird team and the Hammer and Sickle team would be the optimal solution, yet he gave up cooperating with Brother Stick now.

There might be some “personal grudges” mixed in there.

Could it be that his request to Brother Alpha to have Brother Meow accompany him for “seven days in jail” was exposed?

No way?

Brother Alpha shouldn’t actively reveal such things, after all, given his personality shown on the forum, he doesn’t seem like someone who enjoys watching others’ misfortune, and as an administrator, he should at least have professional ethics not to disclose such matters.

Oh my my my, if I knew this day would come, why did I do that back then?

With this faint melancholy, Brother Stick poured himself a glass of fruit wine and took out a small bottle to drip a few drops of blood into it.

This was the “prescription” given by Lady Tris, which could help reduce that terrible attribute reduction after each time Melia feeds on blood.

Although vampire players only look like vampires and don’t have real blood-drinking instincts, the form transformation actually gives them the ability to gain power through blood, but people from the civilized world certainly wouldn’t be barbaric enough to taste blood.

Last time when giving Melia the First Embrace, Brother Stick took a sip of blood and almost threw up from nausea.

Hey, even as a vampire, he still had an otherworldly stomach, the local vampires’ “recipes” were still a bit too exotic for them.

“I sense unease in your heart”

Melia’s voice rang out in the tent, making Brother Stick, who was drinking the strange-tasting blood wine, sigh.

He had now gotten used to Melia’s “appearing out of nowhere” by his side. As his “blood” was continuously being drawn, Melia’s strength was slowly recovering, and this former Wolfsbane girl had recently started a “second development” of her wings.

This made her somewhat uncomfortable, always wearing loose clothes to cover the blood dripping from her back.

Unfortunately, her poisoned blind eyes still showed no signs of improvement, unless she could drink source blood, but just hearing the name of this thing made it clear how expensive it was.

Brother Stick didn’t even dare to ask Governor Murphy for the price, lest it stimulate his fragile heart. Every time he thought he had some wealth, various new items would appear to prove he was still a poor mercenary.

“You seem to be troubled by something, can you tell me? Perhaps I can help you sort it out?”

Melia held a sword cane as a walking stick.

She walked with elegant steps to Brother Stick’s side. A vampire’s keen perception meant she couldn’t possibly trip over objects, but that slow movement peculiar to blind people also added a sense of “fragility” to her.

Faced with Melia’s inquiry, Brother Stick initially didn’t want to say anything, but he had nothing else to do at the moment, so after hesitating for a moment, he revealed the current situation completely.

After listening patiently, Melia was silent for several seconds, seemingly organizing her thoughts, before finally speaking:

“Actually, in my view, Brother Meow’s choice is correct. Even without considering your friendship, purely from the most rational perspective, choosing to cooperate with another force to strengthen oneself in this operation is a choice he must make.

Your team is already arguably dominant among the warriors, and in this situation, if he continues to follow your footsteps, it would mean giving up his own ambitions and willingly becoming your vassal.

For mediocre people, this might be a decent life plan, but anyone with even a bit of ambition wouldn’t allow their career to be dependent on other strong figures.

Even if not now, the same situation would inevitably arise in the future.

And from my shallow understanding of you, you should have been prepared for this. You’re not someone with a sense of security, you’ve always been preparing for possible bad things.”

“I know.”

Brother Stick put down his wine glass and said softly:

“But having former partners become competitors still makes one feel at a loss. It’s precisely because I know his talent that I feel how intense the competition in this pioneering effort will be. After we were incorporated into the same system as guilds, competition between us had already emerged, and now it’s just making this competition public.

In a new world with unlimited possibilities, no one would want to accept the assertion that they’re just mediocre.

I am like this, Meow King is like this, the Silver Moon team is like this, and so are the student parties.

Our previously hidden potential is being discovered, yet just like united wolf pack members still need to establish hierarchy.”

“But this is a good thing.”

Melia said softly:

“Appropriate healthy competition can keep you progressing. From an overall perspective, this will help you achieve lasting strength. Stagnant water only breeds irreversible decay.”

“Mm.”

Brother Stick nodded.

As a former soldier, he strongly agreed with Melia’s words, and he had also realized that his team would likely have to fight alone in this operation.

But Brother Stick didn’t fear this competition!

The fact was just as Brother Meow said, his Crimson Hammer and Sickle team surpassed the current player population in both quantity and quality due to their “troop source,” especially after they obtained the Winged Cavalry career system. The rise of the Crimson Hammer and Sickle team was already a foregone conclusion.

Even though this event’s setting was a swamp terrain not suitable for cavalry, his companions would definitely be more formidable than other guild members even in dismounted combat.

The war blessing and mountain folk bloodline on them were no joke, their advantage in close combat couldn’t be ignored.

However, just as Brother Stick had prepared himself for fighting alone, an unexpected guest visited him.

Led by NPC retainers, the short and stout Border Town Wanderer, carrying a classic Mosin-Nagant rifle on his back, walked into Brother Stick’s tent. This middle-aged man with an ever-present sly smile exchanged pleasantries with Brother Stick for a few words before getting straight to the point:

“Our ‘Loyalty Anthem’ guild wants to form an alliance with your team in this big event, Brother Stick. Although we’re few in numbers, because we operate the First National Armament Factory of Transia, we can provide a lot of help as logistics personnel for you.

However, we need to declare that this alliance is just a beginning.

If possible, we hope both sides can maintain a long-term friendly relationship, I mean the type of ‘strategic partnership’.”

“Well”

Faced with Brother Wanderer’s request, Brother Stick hesitated.

Getting aid from other guilds was certainly a good thing, especially since they had an armament factory that could provide the weapons and ammunition he urgently needed.

Joy Stick’s hesitation came from other aspects.

He had been very careful in maintaining distance from these “guys” during the past period.

He was probably among the first players to detect these guys’ “background,” and Brother Stick didn’t plan to let any unsettling factors appear in his gaming career that had maintained 300% satisfaction so far, so he pondered for nearly 30 seconds before finally saying:

“Cooperation, fine!

I’m very willing to maintain good cooperative relationships with other players, but this is limited to within the game. I don’t have the habit of meeting online friends offline.

What I mean is, keep game matters in the game, don’t let it affect reality, how about that?”

“Oh?”

Brother Wanderer looked at Joy Stick with surprise.

This guy’s response made him realize their disguise had apparently been seen through by Joy Stick, and this former excellent soldier seemed to already know their background.

Tsk tsk, worthy of someone who had operated in several places in Africa, his sense for danger was indeed sharp.

“Alright!”

Brother Wanderer laughed and extended his hand, saying meaningfully to Joy Stick:

“Don’t worry, we don’t have the habit of meeting strange online friends for tea offline either. As you said, let what happens in the game stay in the game; in reality, we’re just strangers. Next week we’ll have a batch of new people entering the game, and we’ll arrange them to work under you in civilian positions.

Don’t worry, it’s just an internship for at most half a month.

Please help us train the newcomers, and let them participate in the swamp strategy, to get a taste of gunpowder and adapt to the otherworldly combat mode.

Rest assured!

Won’t let you work for nothing.

Brother Loyalty said that when the first batch of firearms and explosives comes off the line, you’ll get priority supply.”

“Hey, that’s great, can we customize the styles? If I say I want a Type 56 assault rifle…”

“Uh, that’s not possible for now, precision machining and materials are insurmountable problems, but we can discuss the Mosin-Nagant, and those Slavic firearms that will be unlocked as we climb up this tech tree also have their unique beauty.

Even though we can only provide bolt-action rifles now, but ‘Mad Minute’ is also great, isn’t it?”

————————

“The Crimson Beasts have already taken down the skeleton army’s outer sentinel posts? Their action speed is actually this fast? I really underestimated the enthusiasm these students could unleash.”

In the Crimson Halls, Murphy looked at the frontline battle report transmitted back on the core orb and clicked his tongue in amazement.

He hadn’t even released this “new event” yet, but the little players over there had already started taking action. It seems that after this period of training, the thought of “achieving merit and establishing oneself” had sprouted in every Transian warrior’s heart.

Good!

This is excellent.

Such eagerness from everyone is exactly the sign of Transia’s rise.

The Vampire Lord nodded with satisfaction, then made final edits to the task document already prepared in the core orb before clicking publish.

At once, all warriors across Transia holding player-grade computation orbs received this task trigger notification. Like an invisible bell ringing, it announced that Transia’s new history had finally entered its next phase.

“Ding”

The crisp notification sound made Old Huo, who was calculating yesterday’s earnings in the village chief’s office at “Treasure Bay,” look up, and he saw the event notification that appeared on the computation orb:

【Main Quest Chapter One – Dawn of Transia Phase Three Event Update: ‘Shadow of the Swamp’ has been triggered!

Event Content:

As one hidden danger after another is eliminated from the land of Transia, this nation that has suffered greatly is recovering its vitality. However, the approaching Black Plague means that the hard-won peaceful life won’t last long. The footsteps of war are approaching, and our enemies have sent forth vicious vanguards.

The Plague Clan from the Dark Mountains hides in the Foul Swamp at Transia’s border. Those jerks who wield filthy spirit energy and disturb the dead maliciously spy on this land.

Others’ peace makes them restless, and the tragedy that occurred in Malo Town was just the first victim of this evil’s overflow.

Governor Murphy and his warriors have decided to no longer ignore this threat! And no one will allow these villains to willfully destroy Transia’s resurgence.

Therefore, Governor Murphy hereby issues a warrior mobilization order!

From this day forward, conscripted warriors should head to the dangerous swamp, serving as Transia’s spearhead to strike directly at the enemy’s heart, and completely end the threatening shadow brought by the Plague Clan with a clean and decisive victory.

Victory and glory shall be with you!

Event Instructions:

Instruction One:

As Transia is still in the ‘100-Day Grand Construction’ campaign, the pace of construction cannot be halted due to a border war. Therefore, in this event, Governor Murphy will not employ any official Transian forces, only dispatching Baroness Femis of Anderma as an assistant to participate in this event.

Note!

The Shadow of the Swamp event is linked to the opening of Team Dungeon No. 003 ‘Land of Rotting Corpses’, and will use the completion of this team dungeon’s strategy as the event’s ending marker.

Note!

Baroness Femis of Anderma will only enter the swamp battlefield after the team dungeon opens. She will support player guilds that have obtained dungeon strategy rights to complete the strategic operation against Plague Town.

Instruction Two:

As the Plague Clan is part of the Black Plague, this naturally has attracted the attention of all civilized forces vigilant against the Black Plague!

Therefore during the event, the ‘Fort Crimea’ at the easternmost end of the Maginot Line and the ‘Goldflower Vanguard Camp’ at the westernmost section will appear as support forces and open reputation exchange.

The affiliations and extended reputations of both sides are as follows:

Fort Crimea – Nordtov Kingdom/Winter Wolf Legion/Thorn Clan

Pioneer Vanguard Camp – Goldflower Kingdom/Pioneer Army/Carpe Family

Due to concerns that changes in the Foul Swamp might trigger further ecological disasters, the Avalon Church will also dispatch some elite members to enter the swamp as supporting forces.

Please note!

So-called ‘supporting forces’ means these organizations will only provide logistical guarantees and necessary assistance. They will not actively participate in attacks against the gnoll clans unless the player groups on that battle line issue a “collective call for aid.”

The “collective call for aid” command requires approval from 60% of the players on each battle line to be executed.

Instruction Three:

Because the swamp area where Plague Town is located is too vast, this operation will advance the war process simultaneously from three directions – south, north, and west. All players entering the swamp must choose one route to join, and this operation will report status based on ‘guilds’ as the basic unit.

Players on each battle line will be assigned different responsibilities, therefore they cannot arbitrarily switch battle lines without special reasons.

Players without guilds can sign up as ‘mercenaries’ and belong to the supporting forces at each battle line.

Current battle line support affiliations are as follows:

Southern Battle Line – Avalon Vanguard.

Northern Battle Line – Fort Crimea.

Western Battle Line – Goldflower Vanguard Camp.

Current main player guilds for each battle line are as follows:

Southern Battle Line – Big Bird Spin Spin Spin Team/Silver Moon Pride Team/Torrent Knights Team

Northern Battle Line – Crimson Hammer and Sickle Team/Loyalty Anthem Team

Western Battle Line – Crimson Beast Team/Eight Demon Elite Group/Shadow Trail Sect/Soldier Strike Team

Instruction Four:

The “Shadow of the Swamp” event is currently classified as a “border conflict” with an observation period of 40 days.

If players cannot resolve this conflict within 40 days, the event’s rating will be elevated to “military threat” and force Governor Murphy to mobilize the regular army led by Lord Kudel to enter the Foul Swamp to resolve this problem. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

This also means the player group will lose all rights to obtain and distribute any spoils of war from Plague Town, and ownership of this potential stronghold will be reclaimed for direct administration by the Administrative Office.

Event Rewards:

If the “Shadow of the Swamp” event is successfully concluded, the player “Hall of Fame” function will be unlocked.

Members of player guilds who complete the “Land of Rotting Corpses” team dungeon strategy and make significant contributions before the intervention of official Transian forces will be inducted into the first batch of the Hall of Fame roster.

All Hall of Fame members will enjoy a 10% discount on all commercial activities within Transia.

All Hall of Fame members will receive the ‘Hero of Transia Medal’ personally awarded by Governor Murphy and be recorded in the New Blood Vulture Clan Chronicles.

The 999 character portrait statues planned to be built throughout the city in the Crimson Citadel’s construction plan will use Hall of Fame members as models, and offline they will receive physical trophies and miniature statues provided by the «Reality Realm» operations team as commemoratives.

Event Description:

Warriors of the otherworld yearn to leave their own legends on this continent, and fate has generously bestowed upon them the power to realize their ambitions.

Under the witness of this land, lords! Please begin your legend!】

“Damn!”

Old Huo, who originally wasn’t interested in the swamp operation, suddenly stood up after seeing this series of instructions. He wasn’t concerned about those honorary rewards, but was particularly eager for that “10% discount” on all commercial activities.

If he could get this privilege, the already flourishing development of “Treasure Bay” would certainly reach another level.

“Sinking Fish, Falling Wild Goose, Hidden Moon, Shy Flower! Quick, stop slacking and gather at my place!”

Old Huo immediately called out in his communication framework:

“Hurry hurry hurry, we need to quickly assess which team is most likely to complete this task and start supporting them from now, otherwise once this village is gone, we won’t have this shop anymore.”