Chapter 374: Regional Situation, Traces of an Old Friend

Source Altar.

Qi Sheng has been closely monitoring the Fate Clan's progress in building the Fate Casino.

Once the Fate Casino officially launches, he will still extract 30 percent of its profits, at the same rate as other players.

It is foreseeable that this will become a major future channel for producing Shou Shou Jili.

Upon ending observation, the instant his gaze returned to the player forum, a flood of information surged into Qi Sheng's consciousness.

At this moment, the Guide also provided data on player development across all regions.

At this stage, the player faction's expansion is like wildfire spreading, with territorial influence continuously growing and resource integration efficiency dramatically rising.

In certain regions, player groups have already formed structures capable of countering local factions.

First is the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range region.

The bonus from the Waxing Crescent has greatly strengthened the Earth-Nian Tyrant, granting him sufficient power to expand rapidly outward; the scale and intensity of the Pain Tide he personally founded are also advancing at breakneck speed.

The Tyrant Alliance's size has expanded from its original five-member internet cafe squad to eight Tyrants.

The three new Tyrants were personally selected and screened by the Earth-Nian Wraiths as elite newcomers; one was recruited by the Earth-Nian Tyrant shortly after entering the Monster World and brought into the Alliance for cultivation.

On the player side, besides the United Battle Group led by the God-King,

two other United Battle Groups have successfully established firm footholds in the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range.

They are the Starlight United Group, led by player "Starry Sky," and the Rust War United Group, led by player "Bread Is Crab."

Each United Group is formed by dozens of veteran, powerful guilds.

Before entering the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, these guilds were already renowned on the forum.

They had participated in multiple campaigns to contain domain nodes, enshrined in the annals of glory.

Many of these veteran players never even attended Ah Le's Training Camp; like the God-King's Divine Hall Guild, they all fought their way out from the early days of the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range.

To successfully re-enter the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, both major United Groups began intensive preparations half a year ago.

"Starry Sky," leader of the Starlight United Group, had previously built considerable popularity on the forum as a guide writer, spearheading multiple cross-guild strategic symposiums that thoroughly analyzed the terrain, Tyrant tactical patterns, and potential external resource points of the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range.

During this time, he invited many renowned veteran players to livestream their experiences on the forum, attracting potential players to join.

Thanks to the traffic generated by his forum popularity, Starry Sky's formation of the United Battle Group proceeded smoothly.

But the most famous member of this United Group is not its leader, "Starry Sky."

It is the overall commander, Ye Lan.

His Tide Rotation Tactics, proposed on the forum years ago, once sparked heated debate among players, and the very foundation of this tactic was designed to counter the Earth-Nian Tyrant.

By lowering the upper limit and reducing weaknesses, it directly confronts the Earth-Nian Tyrant's absolute superiority.

After years of preparation, the tactic has matured and is finally ready for deployment.

"Bread Is Crab," leader of the Rust War United Group, is a veteran player from the Combat Game, with considerable popularity in the player circle; he excels at coordination and, during the formation of the United Battle Group, had already pre-planned fair profit-sharing arrangements among guilds, establishing a balanced mechanism for resource sharing and risk distribution, ensuring veteran powerful guilds could join with confidence.

The guilds participating in this alliance are also all renowned on the forum.

For example: Hawk Eye Guild, Forger's Alliance, Spring of Life, Stoneheart Guild, and others.

After a series of preparations, the two major United Groups consolidated the strength of dozens of veteran powerful guilds and forcefully entered the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range.

They formed two new forces capable of securing a foothold in what players regard as the "highest hall."

Their arrival has also eased the pressure on the Divine Hall United Battle Group facing the Earth-Nian Tyrant and the Battle Insect Clan.

Although the number of active players in the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range region does not rank among the top three, the average daily Shou Shou Jili output per player surpasses all other scenes.

Next is the Color Mist Coast region.

This is the region with the most complex player factions.

The Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range has only War-flow players, but the Color Mist Coast hosts over a hundred player factions.

Besides mainstream ones like Competition, Fishing, Exploration, Hunting, Gathering, Spirit Cooking, War (against the Mingwu Clan), and Engineering (represented by Arms Dealers),

many niche faction players also operate in this region.

For example, the recently surging Blade-Stealing Faction.

This is a faction whose core gameplay revolves around "collecting kills."

This faction existed since the game's early days, but vanished entirely from the player circle after the "kill attribution" system was changed to output ratio.

It resurged only after war erupted at the border between the Azure Star Sea and the Ascension Sea to the north of the Color Mist Coast.

Unable to steal players' blades, they can freely steal blades from external factions.

Players who choose this playstyle are typically Stealth-flow players, using the Dusk Shadow trait to roam the battlefield, seeking wounded or isolated Mingwu Clan, Ascension Clan, or Within Shu Yan Warriors to kill with minimal effort.

Its hallmark is zero risk, high reward, and constant tension and excitement.

Once entering the battlefield, Blade-Stealing Faction players must remain vigilant at all times.

Then reap the thrill of "others fight hard, I reap the harvest."

It is an experience entirely different from direct, brutal combat.

They need not charge forward bearing damage like War-flow players, nor spend effort tracking targets like Hunting-flow players; they only need to watch for low-health targets on the battlefield and strike at the right moment to collect evolution points and Shou Shou Jili.

Watching others fight bloody battles to leave behind low-health targets, which they then effortlessly claim with a single strike.

This brings not only tangible benefits but also the sensation of "gaining without labor."

Combined with the thrill of vanishing instantly after each successful finishing blow, the once-forgotten "Blade-Stealing Faction" has forged its own unique celebration on this new battlefield.

Also present are Archaeology, Achievements, Trap-Making… and even many forum players who take orders to customize armor, vehicles, and weapon designs for others mostly operate in the Color Mist Coast region.

Since launch, the Color Mist Coast has consistently ranked first in regional popularity.

It is also the region with the highest total Shou Shou Jili output.

Especially with the recent war among the three factions, many small groups have joined the sea battles, expanding Shou Shou Jili production.

Third is the Adventurer World, formerly known as the Di Ku Shi Jie.

Players active in this region are also called: Dungeon Faction players.

This region has many players and overlaps with the Colorful Mist Coast area.

After all, players are not restricted to a single region; players in the Adventure World also have a primary area of activity after leaving a dungeon.

The Colorful Mist Coast area, with its beautiful environment and high spiritual Qi content, has become the top choice.

And clearing dungeons is the mode with popularity second only to hunting and war playstyles within the player camp at this stage.

After more than half a year of development, multiple playstyle schools have emerged among the dungeon-clearing players, which can be categorized as: speedrun style, exploration style, score-competition style, cheat-style, and so on.

Among them, the score-competition style refers to those players who do not pursue speedruns but instead maximize the dungeon score.

They will go through every process in the dungeon, kill all potential monsters, and must smash every bottle and jar along the way, pursuing the settlement score upon clearing the dungeon.

Thereby obtaining the high rewards given by the Blue Lantern Clan.

The cheat-style refers to using special techniques to bypass many processes within the dungeon map, achieving a low-spec clear.

In terms of output, the percentage of output from dungeon-clearing players within the player camp is still gradually increasing.

Becoming a dungeon-clearing player is also the generally preferred career direction for many players graduating from the A-Le Training Camp.

But the characteristic of players is absolute freedom.

Becoming a dungeon-clearing player does not mean one will stick to the dungeon playstyle forever.

Even within the two newly arrived joint warbands in the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, there are many players who also clear dungeons.

Their output is also the most important procurement channel for war equipment in the external trade of the Gold Coin Merchant Guild at this stage.

The Senluo Forest Realm area, ranked fourth, has recently seen a significant increase in the number of players.

This region is the kingdom of plant-type monsters and is also the area closest to the battlefield between the Reverse Tide Legion and the Soul Return Clan.

Among those active here are many players of the pet playstyle, whose goal is to wait for the right moment to capture a versatile spirit beast as a pet.

Secondly, there are also many powerful guilds active in this region.

Their goal is to join the war between the Reverse Tide Legion and the Soul Return Clan in the future and become a core force on the battlefield.

But at this stage, the goal is still far away; at most, they can only fight lone Soul Return Clan warriors in the borderlands.

The Big Mushroom's "Precognition" is also the strongest single combat power in the eyes of the players at this stage.

After all, regarding powerful figures like the Reverse Tide God and the Soul Return Great Emperor, although players know their strength is immense, they have never truly encountered them.

In the foreseeable future, the importance of the Senluo Forest Realm area will continue to rise, and it will inevitably ascend to the top three on the regional popularity rankings.

Once players have the strength to intervene in the war between the Reverse Tide Legion and the Soul Return Clan, this region even has the potential to become the number one in popularity for a period of time.

All players believe that there will be a place for them on the main battlefield of the Pale Continent area.

Even the God King once stated on the forum that he would lead a joint warband to participate in the war if the opportunity arises in the future.