Nan Cheng cleared his throat. “Ahem.”
He looked around, taking in the two hundred pairs of eyes staring straight at him. An inexplicable sense of responsibility welled up in his heart—along with a subtle flicker of nervousness.
But as a veteran streamer, he had long mastered the skill of keeping his cool on the outside even if he was panicking like crazy on the inside.
“Everyone, calm down,” he spoke up, his voice echoing across the square through the megaphone.
“I know everyone is excited and eager—to be honest, I am too. After all, this is the first main quest of Glorious Era, and a server-wide announcement at that. Who wouldn't want to snag the first clear?”
“But arguing like this won't achieve anything besides wasting half an hour of our starting time.”
He paused, his tone growing even more composed.
“The more critical the moment, the calmer we need to be. Think about it—how high is this game's realism? It's no joke.”
“If a mistake in teamwork causes the quest to fail, or worse—a party wipe—that would be utterly embarrassing. Not only would we miss out on the quest rewards, but we'd also waste our newly acquired Resurrection Coins for nothing. I don't need to tell you how rare Resurrection Coins are; you all know.”
“Besides,” he turned his tone, a subtle smirk forming at the corners of his lips, carrying the playful banter of a veteran player, “don't you think the game developers are pretty sneaky? Based on my years of gaming experience, server-wide announcement quests like this usually have hidden traps waiting for us to step in. If we don't plan ahead, we'll be the ones getting screwed over when the time comes.”
A wave of low laughter and murmurs of agreement rose from the crowd below:
“Makes sense! The devs really are sneaky!”
“Cheng-ge is right, we can't let it get to our heads!”
“As expected of a veteran streamer, his game understanding is so deep!”
“By the way, Cheng-ge, do you have a plan? We'll follow your lead!”
Nan Cheng waved his hand. “No, no, no, it's not my personal plan alone. We're discussing it together as a group.”
“Glorious Era is a hardcore virtual reality game, not a fast-paced mob-slashing game. It places heavy emphasis on teamwork and strategy.”
“First, let me break down the two core issues everyone was arguing about: first, how to gather the magic materials, and second, the order for using the teleportation array.”
“Regarding the materials, I already asked Miss Lilith. They can be gathered in the surrounding forest. There's strength in numbers, so we can just send out groups to search for them.”
“As for the teleportation array, let's stop arguing about who goes in first or last. We'll pool our resources to build a large one together. The issue of monster kill priority is even simpler: we'll teleport in batches by fixed parties. That way, everyone gets a hit on the mobs and secures their rewards.”
He spoke briskly with clear logic, resolving the messy conflicts in just a few sentences—a true testament to the professional poise of a veteran streamer.
The players' eyes lit up as they nodded in agreement, a flurry of barrage-style chatter and praise exploding among them:
“Holy crap! Cheng-ge's words just cleared my head! My brain was complete mush earlier!”
“As expected of a veteran streamer, his game understanding is maxed out!”
“Let's listen to Cheng-ge! No more internal strife!”
“Follow Cheng-ge, and clearing content will be worry-free!”
Nan Cheng smiled and pressed his hands down to quiet them, shifting the topic:
“Now that the materials and teleportation array are settled, there's actually one more core problem—what do we do once we step out of the teleportation array? And how do we lure the kobolds out? What if those creatures nest inside their stronghold and refuse to come out? A blind charge would cause too many casualties, and we beginners can't take that kind of hit.”
“Oh yeah!”
“Awesome! I didn't think of that at all!”
“His game understanding is insane!”
The players chattered at once.
As expected of a veteran streamer, his organizational skills and tactical understanding really are impressive, watching the players secretly, Iluvia couldn't help but marvel.
Nan Cheng looked around, his gaze falling on several people standing at the edge of the crowd. “Regarding this point, I actually made a point of asking the members of Hao Bai's party earlier.”
After leaving the temple, he had specifically sought out Hao Bai's party to get a read on the situation.
Everyone's eyes turned toward Hao Bai, Little Star, and Momozi.
Hao Bai folded his arms with a nonchalant expression.
Little Star shrank behind Hao Bai, lowering her head, her cheeks flushed slightly—clearly feeling self-conscious under so many eyes.
Momozi was the complete opposite, looking eager to give it a shot, practically dying to jump up and deliver an impassioned speech to everyone.
Nan Cheng looked at Hao Bai and asked, “Hao Bai, why don't you guys share your experience? After all, your party was the first on the entire server to trigger a quest. Your actual combat experience is definitely richer than mine.”
Hao Bai shook his head. “I'm not good at explaining things. Ask those two.”
With that, he took a step back, stepping aside to reveal Little Star and Momozi.
Seeing this, Little Star hurriedly took a step back as well. But after a second thought, realizing she was throwing her teammate under the bus, she whispered an excuse, “Momozi... my legs went numb. You should do it.”
Momozi rolled his eyes.
Legs went numb?
If you're too scared to go up, just say so. Numb legs, my foot.
However, he really wasn't stage-frightened. He strolled casually over to the wooden house, leaped up with a light jump, and took the megaphone from Nan Cheng.
“Then I'll just keep it brief.”
Momozi cleared his throat and began recounting their party's combat experience.
“The kobold we encountered before... to be honest, wasn't that strong.” His first words caught everyone off guard. “Speaking purely in terms of stat panels, it was only slightly stronger than an average player.”
“However—”
His tone turned serious as he shifted gears. “In terms of actual combat experience, we were utterly outclassed.”
“Even though that kobold wasn't strong, its fighting style was extremely... how should I put it? Extremely underhanded and treacherous! It would throw rocks at heads and aim for the crotch! Its actual combat experience far surpassed us beginners! When we first fought it, we nearly wiped!”
The players' lips twitched as they listened:
“Aiming for the crotch? This game is way too realistic! The devs really know how to make monsters!”
“Wait, how do you know they go for the crotch?”
“Yeah, pfft... Don't tell me you got hit there, Momozi?”
“Exposed.”
Momozi's lips twitched. Why bring up such an awkward subject in such a serious setting?
Choosing to ignore the comments, he continued, “Afterward, we adjusted our tactics and divided the tasks. Party Leader Hao Bai took charge of main offense, Little Star handled long-range harassment, and I was in charge of... well, in charge of shouting...”
Someone couldn't help snickering, “Pfft, in charge of shouting 666 from the sidelines?”
Momozi's face went dark. “Of course in charge of shouting at the kobold—taunting it to draw its aggro!”
Then he continued:
“Conventional luring involves tossing food... Well, you can also try finding isolated kobolds. But based on my years of experience watching Western fantasy anime, kobolds are timid by nature. So using food as bait is completely reliable. However, whether the kobold actually pays attention to you or comes out comes down entirely to luck!”
The players shook their heads at his words. “Luring depends on luck? That's way too unreliable! What if the kobold has social anxiety and won't come out?”
“???”
Momozi was completely baffled. Kobolds with social anxiety?
But thinking about it carefully, in a sense, it did kind of make sense. Cough... forget I said anything.
Rate on N.U.
