Reign of the Hunters

Ye Ci let out yet another sigh as she sat outside the newbie village. Why have things come to this? She could not even gain experience points by partying up with Fleeting Time due to her status.

The Fate developers have finally given official designations to people like Ye Ci: Dark Players. They share the same character classes and traits as the mainstream players, but a veteran would have to completely reset their levels to join the Dark Side.

Not many among the player base who were already beyond lvl50 were willing to join the Dark Side as it meant that their efforts in leveling up would go to waste. But newbies, on the other hand, were very willing to try.

A player like Ye Ci was known by Naga as The Reborn, and by the NPC as The Fallen.

It was a new trend in the game. While it placed more challenges on the players, many among the new players were willing to join the Dark Side.

But unlike her fellow Dark Players, Ye Ci did not join the Dark Side out of her own free will. She was forced into it. With things as they were, there was nothing she could do. And more importantly, Dark Players had an entirely different way when it came to leveling their characters.

A mainstream player could level up by gaining experience points from the monsters they slay. Dark Players had to do the same as well. But the ‘monsters’ from their perspective, were the mainstream players.

This proved to be difficult as the players were actual human beings. They would not be automatically spawned by the system, and were harder to defeat than a monster. That was why a Dark Player who had managed to kill a mainstream player of the same level would gain a large amount of experience points. The experience points awarded would be increased many times more if the victim was a mainstream player with a higher level.

As a Dark Player who was very dedicated to leveling up, Ye Ci had been sitting at the entrance of the newbie village for a long while. She was unable to find a suitable victim just yet.

She was sitting at lvl3 thanks to the experience points she received after completing the preliminary quests by joining Naga’s camp. Her goal was to reach lvl5 so that she could summon her pet. This would quickly solve her leveling problem.

But the first few levels were very hard to obtain. The newbie protection for a mainstream player was set at lvl10. While she was equipped with a Passive skill that could trick any NPCs, she could not engage other players in battle in a Safe Zone.

With the game already available for a few years, the player population in newbie villages had become relatively low. This forced Ye Ci to continue waiting for the appearance of a player who was above the level of 10.

The fight between a lvl3 and lvl10 character was very different from a fight between a lvl100 and lvl110 player.

A lvl10 player was equipped with three active skills while a lvl3 player only had a single active skill in his or her arsenal, giving the lvl3 player a huge disadvantage in a fight.

But this was not something that Ye Ci found difficult.

What she needed was a chance. The killing blow will be dealt when a victim appeared. She was not a good person. Underhanded tactics were something that she would not refrain from using.

Her patience finally bore fruit as a player appeared in her view.

A Warrior in crude armor was walking out of the village. Everything about him, from his face to his figure to his armor and the sword on his back had a very normal appearance. He stretched himself under the rising morning sun and made his way towards the nearest city.

Ye Ci sat under the shade of a tree. Despite appearing bored, she was eyeing the Warrior like a vulture. The predatory glint in her eyes was just like a viper that had its eyes on an innocent little frog.

The little frog was on his merry way to the city when he heard a voice calling out to him. “Hey, you there, wait up!” and the little frog stopped dead in his tracks.

He looked around, and saw an Elf with silvery hair and amber eyes smiling at him. She was very pretty.

The viper shivered the moment she opened her mouth. Never had she imagined that she would have to resort to acting cute for the sake of leveling up. Nobody must learn about this! Thought the viper to herself.

“Eh? Aren’t you an Elf? Why are you here? This is a Human village.” the little frog was not stupid.

“Aiya, I got lost because of my poor sense of direction.” the viper pulled out a map and showed it to the little frog, “Can you take a look at this map and show me the way back?”

The naive little frog was still unaware of the dangers of the world. He walked up to offer his aid to the beautiful viper. He immediately felt a stabbing pain in both his eyes as he leaned forward to study his eyes.

As he stumbled his way like a chicken with its head cut off, the little frog felt something burying itself into his back. And he fell onto the ground.

You have been slain by the Dark Player Gongzi You.

Dark Player? Gongzi You?

The newbie could feel his world crumbling around him. While he was new, he had been paying close attention to the gossip on the forums. Never in his wildest dreams would he expect Gongzi You would appear in a newbie village like that and kill a nobody like him.

Sadness welled with the little frog’s heart. He had just hit lvl11 before his death, and he was now back to lvl10.

A golden light enveloped the viper. The experience she gained from killing a player eight levels above her was enough to boost her to lvl5. She sheathed her dagger, and summoned a large Holy Dragon with a whistle.

Thank God my pets are still around despite my level reset. Thought Ye Ci. She would have strangled Naga if she lost her pet along with her level. Due to her lower stats, Ye Ci found it difficult to mount her steed.

Ol’ Six lowered its neck so that Ye Ci could climb onto its back easily. It then let out a loud roar that sent fear into the hearts of the newbies nearby before shooting up into the sky.

Leveling was made much easier with Ol’ Six. The Dragon was able to maintain its lvl120 status unlike Ye Ci, which meant that it was a godly presence to lvl80 and below players. The only thing Ye Ci needed to do was to launch an attack with Ol’ Six in a populated area and experience points would come flooding into her EXP gauge.

But despite her formidable pet, Ye Ci was still weak. She could easily die to a counterattack by other players, and this forced her to be constantly on the move.

The entire Eastern Continent was in turmoil. And bounties for Gongzi You were plastered almost everywhere.