Chapter 689: A "MMORPG" Level Secret Realm?

In the World of Warcraft, battlegrounds do not merely grant experience points; the honor points earned there can elevate one's military rank, which in turn unlocks the privilege to purchase certain restricted goods.

Consequently, two distinct factions of players would emerge in the future: those focused on PvP, and those dedicated to PvE.

On the Alliance side, the King of Roaming was far from the only one joining the fray; the dwarf elder Thorck was also there, as was the female magus Trix, a disciple of the mage Adolf.

As a practitioner of the arcane, certain matters were naturally far more convenient for her than they were for Mr. De, who was a mere warrior.

For instance, the visual feed of the battleground at this very moment was being transmitted back to the Royal Mage Association, straight to a few sorcerers with whom she shared a close acquaintance.

Furthermore, because several streamers and players utilizing spell projections were active, a massive audience had gathered to watch this battleground unfold.

"What in the world are they doing?" inquired a mage who had only just tuned in.

Through the spell projection before them, magic and arrows flew in every direction, while the melee professions clashed furiously in the heart of the battlefield.

Since a good number of the Alliance players had already resurrected several times over, the front lines had stretched thin, losing the concentrated cohesion they held before.

Trix's human priestess was currently chanting a spell.

A dark shadow was already charging directly toward her.

With a flourish of her hands, she uttered a remarkably concise incantation.

Power Word: Shield!

A faint glimmer of light instantly enveloped her form.

"What spell is that?!"

"A new incantation?"

"When did the Mage Association develop a new shielding spell?"

"It looks like a minor trick, but it seems incredibly practical..."

Many of the mages who had just started watching Trix's battleground performance wore expressions of sheer astonishment.

Power Word: Shield differed from the Mana Shield found in The Legend. The function of a Mana Shield was to weaken most incoming attacks to an acceptable threshold, though the caster within would still suffer a portion of the damage.

Power Word: Shield, however, entirely absorbed the vast majority of conventional damage.

Yet, its capacity to negate attacks was considerably inferior to that of a Mana Shield; a Mana Shield could allow a caster to survive a direct blow from an entity one or two tiers higher, a feat the Power Word: Shield could not replicate.

Even so, it possessed its own distinct advantages. For example, before the shield shattered, the caster remained entirely unaffected by most conventional attacks. One could even chant a spell right in an enemy's face without interruption—something a Mana Shield could never guarantee.

Similarly, in this system version, it granted immunity to certain crowd-control skills that required inflicting physical harm upon the body to take effect.

Thus, at this juncture, Trix clearly had no intention of fleeing; instead, she stood her ground beneath her shield and began chanting her spell.

"For that warrior to charge in now, isn't it a bit too late?"

"The mage has a shield active. At this tier, a warrior has basically lost half the battle."

Her opening move was Mind Blast, which required a relatively brief incantation time; Trix remained supremely confident in her own spellcasting.

But in the next instant, she realized...

The warrior began to circle frantically behind her back, darting forward and backward like a madman, his footwork as swift and elusive as a specter.

She tried to lock her spell onto him for the longest time, yet she could not secure a target.

Ah! Can you please stop spinning around!

Driven to her limit, she finally released the completed incantation, hurling it directly ahead.

Splat!

It struck nothing but empty air.

"..." After chanting for so long, she was vexed enough to spit blood!

She had been spun completely dizzy!

At long last, her shield shattered.

"Cashaw followed close behind, chanting with the temperature..." Nalan Mingxue’s undead warrior hummed a tune while stepping forward to deliver a sweeping slash of her sword.

Beholding Trix splayed out upon the ground, several mages from the Royal Mage Association inquired, "What exactly are you doing?"

"Fighting a battleground!" Trix wept bitter tears. How could anyone evade a magical target lock in such a manner?!

This only works because the character's strength is still low and their mental fortitude is weak! She thought resentfully as she returned once more to the embrace of the Archangel, waiting in the graveyard to resurrect.

...

Meanwhile, Su Tianji, who was still guarding the flag, could no longer sit still.

"Don't slander me, alright!" Glancing at the screen filled with anti-fans, she stood up. "It’s clearly because they don't know how to play and won't come to capture the flag. Can you really blame me for being AFK?"

How could guarding the flag be considered being away from the keyboard?

"Fine, fine!" Su Tianji finally realized that this was a bunch of newcomers who likely hadn't even thought about taking the flag, and so she finally emerged from her post!

"Just watch how I lead the Alliance to victory, shall we!"

...

"If this keeps up, we won't be able to hold..." The dwarf elder Thorck was clearly no fool. Their current situation was inherently disadvantaged, and if they continued to fight isolated battles, they would only be picked off one by one.

"Everyone who resurrects, gather up! Those at the front, fall back! Group up first, do not wander alone!"

Elder Thorck played a dwarf hunter—much like the one in the cinematic trailer, a dwarf hunter who wielded a firearm.

Crack!

A long trail of fiery light erupted from the firearm in his hands.

Ahead, Liang Shi, controlling an orc warrior, had already charged forward; with a swift, misdirected step, the bullet grazed past his flank.

Charge!

Just as he was about to slam into the Alliance dwarf, Liang Shi suddenly heard a sharp whistle, followed by a sudden chill that seized his body, noticeably sluggish.

Turning his head, he saw Su Tianji still holding the posture of having just raised her staff to cast a spell.

Simultaneously, Thorck’s bear charged forward in tandem, bringing down a heavy paw!

Then.

Whoosh!

From atop the cliff, a night elf hunter loosed an arrow.

Concussive Shot!

"Time to gather," the King of Roaming declared. "Otherwise, this battleground is a loss."

Immediately in Liang Shi's direction, ice spread across the ground like wildfire.

Su Tianji's Frost Nova!

Following that, Liang Shi witnessed yet another Cone of Cold striking his position.

"Holy crap...!"

Honor Honorable Kill!

"Assemble! Everyone come over and assemble!" Su Tianji raised her arms and called out, instantly sounding the horn for the counteroffensive.

"Kill that charging orc first!"

"Clear them out together, push through!"

Players belonging to the Horde could not understand a word spoken by Alliance players.

Mr. Der, who currently had his spell projection active, was suddenly struck dumb as a sweeping deluge of arrows, musket rounds, and spells bombarded him, leaving no room to dodge before he was instantly obliterated on the spot!

Since everyone had queued into the battleground individually, they naturally fought for themselves, and soon, mages, assassins, shamans... nearly half of the Horde players across the battlefield were instantly wiped out and sent back to the graveyard.

"My goodness..."

"This group is so strong!"

"The disgraceful kobold was killed instantly!"

Mr. Der's audience had still not reacted to the turn of events; just a moment ago he had seemed poised to massacre everyone in his path, so why did the opponents suddenly seem to have become so powerful?

"Assassins, go capture the flag, everyone else move out together!" At this moment, many Horde players were still stuck in the graveyard, and the remaining half were scattered almost instantly, watching helplessly as the Alliance players carried the flag away.

"So this is how this battleground is supposed to be played?!" Trix followed the crowd and drove straight in after resurrecting.

The Alliance scored a point.

In Su Tianji's livestream room.

"6666!"

"That wave was awesome!"

"Not bad, even the boss would praise this!"

"Didn't I tell you all not to mock me!" Su Tianji said with a smug expression, "Who dares to call this Elder an entertainment streamer now?"

"Skill streamer, skill streamer!"

...

Meanwhile.

"This battleground thing feels rather interesting..."

"The opponents seem pretty powerful..."

A crowd of onlookers from the Royal Magic Association watched Trix playing this so-called "battleground," and they could not help but feel eager to try it themselves: "Is this a mystic realm too? Could it be a newly released one?"

"It's the new mystic realm 'World of Warcraft' from 'Blizzard Workshop.'" Trix looked at them as if they were completely ignorant, "Don't tell me you all still don't know about it?"

"'Blizzard Workshop'...?" Several mages were deeply perplexed, having initially thought it was just a coincidence, "How does this obscure workshop seem to be talked about in so many places now...?"

"What is this mystic realm for? Do you just fight in this battleground?"

"This is just one part of it." Trix explained with considerable pride, "The battleground is merely the tip of the iceberg. The various races you just saw all come from different capital cities within this 'World of Warcraft,' and many of them are even from the Eastern Continent. This 'World of Warcraft' is a mystic realm that brings together everyone across continents, apparently called an 'online game.'"

"Wow..." Hearing some rumors before had not moved them much, but after watching for a while and listening to this introduction, they wondered, "An 'online game' mystic realm...? This 'online game' is too amazing?"

"Then where are you right now?! Where can we enter this 'online game' level mystic realm?"

.

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PS: There will only be two chapters a day for the next few days, apologies everyone, because I am participating in a Qidian event and will go to some impoverished areas to gather material in a few days, so I need to save some drafts to deal with possible special circumstances, hope everyone understands

If I have time while out, I will also work hard to write, so if nothing unexpected happens, there should be extra updates when I return

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