---Viktor's POV---
As the forum gained sudden popularity, I noticed more players beginning to reserve discussions about how to deal with goblins.
What surprised me was: Whether they were beta testers or cloud players, a considerable proportion leaned towards aggressive strategies.
Once again, it was the Lucky Stars Team who posted another strategy thread.
[Massive Update on Creatures Around Honeyvale Town! The True Appearance of Goblins!]
[Attached Image.jpg]
[Thanks to ProGamer_Daddy, the most handsome in Chronicles of Aeltia, for providing the sketch.]
"Long story short, remember the spider silk trap I mentioned a few days ago?
Persistence pays off—it's finally in stock today, and it's a big batch!"
(…)
After embellishing the story of capturing the great goblin with a touch of artistic flair, ProGamer_Daddy continued writing:
[Summary:
Hostile faction detected: +1.
Estimated resolution timeline: 15–20 days.
If we ignore it, the goblins are unlikely to go on a massive search due to the loss of one member.
This gives us more time to prepare for an attack. However, we'll lose a dwarf NPC, potentially affecting the future wall-building quest and the magic tide storyline.
If we decide to attack the goblin nest: Our existence will definitely be exposed.
If we fail: Honeyvale Town's base is lost (the consequences for losing the starter village are currently unknown).
If we succeed: We gain at least +1 dwarf NPC, and there's a high probability of looting resources from a mid-sized goblin nest (though I'm not sure how useful goblin resources are to us).]
"First!"
"ProGamer_Daddy's art is as abstract as ever."
"Did you crack open its skull? Does that count as prisoner abuse?"
"What? Isn't this about extracting its brain?"
"Wait, isn't this supposed to be Chronicles of Aeltia's game forum?"
As usual, the top comments in any forum thread were either people snatching the spotlight without reading or misinterpreting the key points.
But as beta players joined in, I saw serious answers begin to appear.
CowardlySurvivor: I have to kill 600 goblins? Are you serious?
NationalChampion: If we had 10x the number of players, I'd support this. But with limited time and completely uneven combat power, how are we even supposed to fight?
StoleYourOfferings: Pfft, is that all? I kill over 600 goblins daily in Netherworld Revolution. Just wait until it goes public; you're all doomed
ChestBurster: … I can't tell if the one above is trolling or just role-playing
ImmuneToBeauty: No need to investigate; they're definitely trolling and giving an Oscar-worthy performance
BobBobby: The funniest part is that some new players are still joking around, but trolls actually believe the game is real
I recognized the username StoleYourOfferings. This guy's registered skills were utterly exaggerated, but when investigated, he couldn't do a thing.
Despite not qualifying for the beta test, he refused to believe the game wasn't real, tirelessly fanning the flames in every thread.
In fact, if I had to pick the most die-hard believer in Chronicles of Aeltia among the "cloud players," this guy might rival even the oldest fans who had watched the official site's development over the years.
I didn't mind; the registration fee was already paid. With the sheer amount of time this guy spent on the forums, he was practically boosting threads for free.
Blade: Even though StoleYourOfferings is trolling as usual, I still have to ask: are the monsters in this game really that tough?
Hedgehog: See the video of the first kill on the red-scaled worm
SoySauceLeader: So this game is pretty unfriendly to solo players, huh?
MemeKnight: You can always stay in the starter village until you max out your level before venturing out to kill monsters
Garble: The combat power is indeed unbalanced, but compared to the worm's ridiculous regeneration, goblins are much easier to deal with. The new spider silk are basically their kryptonite
NeverShowOff: The only downside is that we don't have many untreated silk left—not nearly enough
ImmuneToBeauty: Then just go find more spider silk! If you found them once, why not a second time?
Blade: The more I think about it, the more I feel like this battle is worth fighting. Didn't you all say the starter village has nothing, not even enough shared durability for quest items?
Blade: If we pull this off, we'll be rich!
LootGoblin: The key is the new NPC! I'm sick of 15 people crowding around a single quest NPC!
CowardlySurvivor: Exactly! The more I interact with Alyanne, the faster her favorability drops. We definitely need new NPCs!
FastingMidLane: Isn't this too greedy? We only have about 20 days!
Blade: If you're not greedy, are you even a gamer? Trust me, we've got a good chance!
Blade: Even if we only have double-digit players, you won't actually die. Considering the players who haven't joined yet and the one-day respawn time, even if it's a one-to-one exchange, we can take down 400–500 goblins!
Blade: If a few brave players manage a one-to-two or one-to-three exchange, we could even overachieve!
Garble: Have you considered that respawning might require cooldown time and certain materials?
NeverShowOff: Which means we'd need monster corpses. Unfortunately, we can't even beat the monsters
CowardlySurvivor: +1
Blade: …Wow, your weakness exceeds my imagination
Blade: No worries! I have Plan B!
Blade: In modern warfare, the decisive factor is never numbers—it's technology!
Blade: If the game's freedom is as high as you claim, then crafting pistols, rifles, and sniper rifles for ranged combat should let us steamroll them!
Hedgehog: That's... ambitious
ProGamer_Daddy: The plan sounds great. Let's not make any more plans next time
Garble: Ten days is too short. There's no time
BobBobby: Dude, do you think everyone on the internet just hopped off an aircraft carrier in the U.S.? Who knows how to make guns?
StoleYourOfferings: Hah! Making guns is hard? You can find blueprints online, and you don't even need a 5-axis CNC machine!
FastingMidLane: Forget CNC machines; I haven't seen a shred of industrialization in the game
DroolingEvenCured: Wait, isn't the guy above the champion in God of Gods? Did you get roped into forum roleplay too?
FastingMidLane: Have you considered the possibility that this game really exists?
After reading the thread, I closed it and sighed to myself.
"I originally thought most players in the game so far were casual life players. Turns out, they're all secretly combat-focused experts?"
Despite the pessimistic tone in the thread, the fact that they were discussing it at all meant they were considering it.
Blade's approach had one real insight: players were inherently greedy.
With a best-case, middle-case, and worst-case scenario, most players would almost always gravitate towards the best-case option—no matter how difficult it seemed.
My original plan was to be more aggressive. Since most players' thoughts coincided with mine, the next target for The Watchers' actions was obvious—Goblin Nest!
"Originally, I planned to wait for Edgar to return and address the Goblin issue once our combat power was fully ready, but who knows what's gone wrong on his end…"
I let out a long sigh, staring at the strategy map spread across my desk.
"Plans never keep up with changes—" I muttered to myself, deciding to set Edgar's situation aside for now.
If the players cooperated and managed to find and eliminate the goblin nest before the ritual began, it might not be impossible. Though I could count myself as three-fourths of the weak, sickly, and disabled, that didn't mean I was completely without combat ability.
Seven hundred years didn't leave you entirely helpless, even in my undead state.
Still, the details required more careful planning.
We'd need precise coordination, proper resource allocation, and contingency plans. The players were an unpredictable variable—useful, but chaotic. Like trying to herd cats while conducting an orchestra.
With this in mind, I knocked on Alyanne's door late at night.
---Third POV---
ProGamer_Daddy logged in early.
After several tests by the Lucky Stars Team, they discovered that as long as the pain threshold wasn't enabled for more than three hours the previous day, a single Holy Light spell and eight hours of character sleep would restore them to peak condition.
He jumped out of bed and walked past the other three players' bunks, clicking his tongue.
"Looks like I'm the first one online today!"
Since buying land, the team had moved their logout spot from the church to the wooden house they built.
To save space and make room for future members, the bunks followed a school dormitory-style design with upper and lower beds.
However, Hedgehog had joked, "After we log out, the game characters stop breathing. These bunks look more like a hospital morgue."
Regardless, having their own space meant they could at least avoid waking up and finding their faces pressed against someone's smelly feet.
Walking out, ProGamer_Daddy headed straight for the church.
As usual, he waved at the sunny spot next to the church.
"Good morning, Lord Viktor! Huh? Viktor?"
The undead who usually basked there wasn't around, and even the lounge chair was gone. It didn't seem like a temporary absence.
"NPC behaviors are getting more dynamic?"
This thought only flickered in his mind before he shook his head and opened the church doors.
"Forget it, finding people is more important."
Before logging in, hours of intense forum discussions had resulted in a unanimous decision: Attack!
So what if it was 1v10?
Fortune favors the bold, and attacking the goblin nest was a great opportunity to expand outward.
At worst, they'd see what happened if the starter village was wiped out.
None of them had ever witnessed that before.
Whether they won or lost, it was a win-win!
Veteran players tired of grinding bricks and new players eager to test the combat system of Chronicles of Aeltia both responded positively to this decision.
A staggering 60% of players chose to participate in the plan!
They had agreed to meet in the church. If anyone was close to unlocking a skill, they could do so there as well.
When heentered, several players were already online, gathered around Luminaris beneath the statue, laughing mischievously.
"Heh heh, the goddess seems to have grown a little!"
"I bet she'll be a twin-tailed blonde loli with wings in the future!"
"Or maybe she's just gotten chubbier?"
"Come to think of it, I've never seen her eat. Have you guys?"
"You don't get it. Cute girls don't need to eat or use the restroom!"
Meanwhile, Luminaris clung defensively to the statue, screaming frantically. "Ahhh, unknown undead! Stay away from me! I said stay away from me!"
If not for fear of them climbing the statue and ruining his little nest, he would have run far away.
With no better options, he pulled up the NPC interface Viktor had given him and began frantically lowering the favorability points of the three players before him.
[Luminaris -1 Favorability!]
[Luminaris -1 Favorability!]
[Luminaris -1 Favorability!]
[Luminaris -1 Favorability!]
-1, -1, -1, -1…
He spammed the interface with his thoughts, rapidly driving their affection scores into the negative hundreds.
One of the players expressed concern, "Are we sure this is fine? Will we get some kind of negative buff?"
"Don't worry. The forum guides say the goddess always finds excuses to dock our favorability whenever we linger near her statue."
"Exactly. Anyway, she's face-blind. Just give her some random gifts next time, and she'll restore the points in no time!"
"Yeah, seeing her at the statue and not messing with her would be a huge loss!"
ProGamer_Daddy's forehead twitched. "I should've known better than to write that guide about the goddess."
He strongly suspected that his own affection score deductions were collateral damage from these guys lowering the goddess's impression of him.
If this continued, they'd end up breaking the poor goddess.
He cleared his throat loudly.
"Ahem!"
The three players turned around simultaneously.
CowardlySurvivor's eyes lit up. "Hey, you're finally here!"
Seizing the moment, Luminaris fled far away.
Since ProGamer_Daddy had posted the thread and the Lucky Stars Team had made the discovery, organizing players interested in the operation naturally fell to them.
He nodded at the three players.
"You've all reached your first class advancement, right?"
"Relax. The three of us are part of the second wave of players. We're already close to the second advancement!" CowardlySurvivor assured confidently.
He glanced behind ProGamer_Daddy.
"Where's everyone else?"
"Managing too many people is a hassle. The four of us will do." ProGamer_Daddy explained.
He then inquired about their skills—two Fireball spells and one Water Arrow.
Hearing this, his lips twitched.
Some people just wouldn't accept the pros and cons of skills until they hit a brick wall themselves.
Still, he forced himself to stay calm.
"Our skills aren't well-suited for exploring the goblin nest's exact location.... Now we have two options: act as support staff in the town, or search for rare resources."
"Which do you choose?"
"Obviously the second! Doing support work is all we've done recently!" CowardlySurvivor exclaimed.
The other two players nodded in agreement.
ProGamer_Daddy said, "Alright! Let me tell you about the rare resources we're looking for…"
The four players sat in a circle, planning their next steps in detail.
He relayed the results of the offline discussion held by the Lucky Stars Team.
That cloud gamer, Blade, often proposed outrageous ideas, but some of them weren't entirely without merit.
In the face of both time and manpower disadvantages, the players had two key advantages…