Chapter 691: We Discovered a Super "Treasure Land", The Deadmines!

In a solo queue battleground, individual power might carry a tipping point, yet it was rarely enough to alter the tide entirely, most notably in a theater where every actor possessed consummate skill.

"I stole the flag!" across the fray, the Wandering King bellowed with sudden exhilaration, hauling the banner clean out from the Horde's stronghold.

"Praise be to my comrades for the cover, I sense this shall be my crowning moment!"

He ran headlong into a silhouetted figure.

Charge!

Mid-stride, the assailant drew a sword and shield, deflecting the incoming arrow before delivering a shield slam and a finishing blow!

Honorable Kill!

The Wandering King went speechless.

"Aie! This Elder hath seized the colors!" Throck, the dwarven elder, rushed forward in haste to receive the handoff.

Though strangers a moment prior, in this fleeting breath, they were brothers-in-arms bound by blood.

"To me! I have ensnared this Undead Warrior!"

"Ensnare your grandmother!" Lurking in the shadows, Black Demon let fly a Corruption spell.

Shadow Bolt!

At that exact juncture, Nalan Mingxue seized the opening and charged forward, her Orcish blood rendering her resilient against the stun!

"Disengage!" Sensing the dire peril, Elder Throck reacted with blinding speed, leaping backward several fathoms to evade the crushing onslaught, thus cheating a gruesome end.

One minute remained!

"Orcish Blademastery!" With a blood-curdling roar, his racial trait ignited, and Master De unleashed a flurry of wild slashes.

A figure descended abruptly from the heavens.

Splat!

"Did I perchance strike something?"

Honorable Kill!

"Oh—!?" Deep within Canglan City, Throck, the dwarven elder, pulled off his virtual visor in sheer bewilderment, clutching his forehead.

"What ails thee, old friend?" Archmage Adolf asked from beside him, puzzled.

Upon Elder Throck’s glowing screen, his character lay prostrate upon the earth, fingers still clutching a crimson banner, while an orc stood nearby, idly swinging a blade.

Connecting that sight with the elder nursing his brow...

Adolf fell silent.

Evidently, in a theater so breathless and fierce, populated entirely by masters, keeping one's eyes and ears open to every horizon was no simple feat.

"Eh?"

"Eh—!?"

Master De, having just slain an adversary, widened his eyes in surprise, and seeing no onlookers, scooped up the banner and sprinted backward.

"A windfall of divine proportions!" The spectators watched, utterly spellbound.

"A shameless hound, waiting for scraps!" Master De's viewers had evidently coined many a sharp proverb; though spoken in the Norah Continental tongue, the sentiment translated perfectly into this.

"Does it appear we are on the precipice of victory?"

"The Kobold made zero contribution to the fellowship, yet we triumph?"

"A manly charge! Orcish Blademastery? What? You say we won? Pray, how did we win?!"

"My comrades were simply too formidable; my gratitude goes to these mighty companions!"

"Aaaaaagh—!" A roar echoed within the stronghold as two souls returned their respective banners to the capture points almost simultaneously.

Time expired!

The tally screen manifested shortly thereafter.

Horde Victory!

"There exists a reward for the first battlefield victory of the day?"

"The spoils appear rather bountiful...?"

The First Victory of the Day denoted an entitlement where winning a battleground earned supplementary experience, honor, and various accolades, claimable but once daily.

In the primordial battlegrounds, this was an implementation of a later era, yet the system's rendition differed, bestowing this bounty from the very genesis.

"Splendid, splendid, we ride again on the morrow!"

"Superb! Doth anyone desire to exchange chronicles and campaign together hereafter?"

The victorious Horde players were visibly brimming with excitement.

Meanwhile, over on the Alliance side, within Elder Su's broadcast chamber:

"An entertainment stream, merely an entertainment stream!"

"This Elder is a muggle, as I have freely confessed!"

The chronicle stream blurred with a cascade of text.

Within the Wandering King's broadcast chamber:

"I failed to anticipate her gambit just now... an oversight, an absolute oversight." The Wandering King spoke with evident remorse, already yearning for another bout.

...

"A breakthrough!" Nalan Mingxue's Undead Warrior was suddenly bathed in a column of radiance, ascending a circle on the spot!

"Whither didst thou vanish just now?" Her private missives still bore inquiries left by a few elves.

"I paid a visit to the battleground," Nalan Mingxue replied. "We secured a triumph, and there seemed to be some manner of First Victory reward, granting a vast bounty of experience. I even attained a new circle."

"So swift?" The congregation of elves had evidently only just begun to fathom the labyrinthine depths of the Undercity, discovering it was partitioned into four tiers, meaning that even upon reaching a designated mark on the parchment, one might find themselves on a tier far above or below. Navigating between these heights required the use of fixed "lifts" stationed throughout the citadel.

Though these "lifts" had multiplied owing to the city being vaster than its primordial counterpart, tracing a quest locale on the map only to trek back to a lift to ascend or descend remained an exceedingly tedious affair.

By this hour, the elven retinue had finally deciphered the path and arrived at their destination.

Sera, converging with her companions, remarked, "We tarried a while to observe the proprietor playing this, yet how is he several circles higher than us?"

"What occupies his movements?" Nalan Mingxue inquired.

"We know not... we merely observed him wandering aimlessly through the wilderness..." Sera murmured in grievance.

"Heed him not," Nalan Mingxue said. "Do you all desire to enter the battleground to claim your First Victory?"

"Very well."

...

The World of Warcraft was inherently a tapestry woven of diverse pursuits; those fond of martial contest could ascend through battlegrounds, just as one could tread the conventional path of progression through the wilds.

Naturally, ordinary souls seldom chose to ascend exclusively via battlegrounds, for such celerity demanded instantaneous entry into every queue and an unbroken streak of crushing triumphs to outpace the traditional path.

The fundamental purpose of the battleground remained the elevation of one's military rank, an honor lesser circles scarcely needed to dwell upon.

Thus, elves like Sera and the remainder of the host merely sought their initial triumph before returning to their prescribed paths.

......

Just as this horde of Undead players was making merry in the battlegrounds, elsewhere, a throng of Alliance players began filing out of Stormwind City.

Inside the Jiuhua City shop.

The royal scions of the Imperial Clan guild had all clearly chosen the Alliance faction, and one after another, they had already reached levels thirteen and fourteen.

"Growl..." By this time, Princess Ji Yu and a group of disciples from the Shengjing Academy had clearly been playing all morning, and their stomachs were rumbling with hunger.

"Boss..." A message was sent to Boss Fang, "Can't we eat your instant noodles twice a day? I'm starving now and there's nothing to eat!"

"If there's nothing to eat, order takeout," Boss Fang replied casually, currently in the middle of slaying monsters.

"Takeout?" Princess Ji Yu asked in confusion, "What on earth is that?"

"Tap a few times on your communication jade, and it'll be there at your beck and call," Boss Fang said. "Wait, that's not right... over in Jiuhua City, has no one set that up after all this time?"

"No..."

"..." Boss Fang pondered for a moment, then flipped through his QQ contacts.

Dong Qingli.

"(Despise) Doesn't your Qingfeng Mingyue Pavilion plan to start a takeout service?"

"Huh?" Dong Qingli was utterly bewildered. "Take... what? What is that for?"

......

Meanwhile, inside the Jiuhua City shop, among the few Imperial Clan guild members still engrossed in World of Warcraft, the Second Prince suddenly cried out, "Look what I found?!"

"It looks like a new area... the Deadmines?!"

"What is this place for?!"

"Could it be a land of hidden treasures..." The Second Prince looked around, noting that no one else seemed to have arrived here yet. Scanning the environment, he couldn't help but be reminded of the mines and the Corpse King Hall in Legend.

If this place contained a legendary treasure trove like the Corpse King Hall...

The Second Prince fired off several private messages in the game: "Hurry over, I've discovered a magnificent treasure hoard here! Send some people! Send more people!"

.