Chapter 289: End of the First Round (1/2)

It was possible that some would hold the opinion that having the minimap was cheating.

That, however, was not strictly true. In the logic that applies to this world, the minimap that the Players have partially belongs to the divine grace which Xi Wei, the God of Games bestowed upon them, a reward for their belief in him.

Therefore, if the minimap was a cheat that upsets the balance of the tourney, the believers of the Temple of Glory must be forbidden from using their combat auras, the Brilliant White Church’s monks must be banned from using holy water while the believers of the Marcolo, God of Harvest must be prevented from eating at all. The latter case was because the food they brought along were made from crops blessed by the God of Harvest, which delivers higher yield but wouldn’t stay alive unless cared for by believers of Marcolo, and therefore counted as a divine grace…

Be that as it may, having a convenient tool like the minimap meant the Players’ performance were more or less of what Xi Wei expected.

First, it was the Players’ outstanding ability for map exploration.

That was perhaps thanks to the Players making a habit of consistent dungeon clearing. Even Players who did not work well in teams wouldn’t squander their time and would go on adventurers over the continent to train themselves, and though such Players might prove less formidable than elite Players, their reaction speed and countermeasures against unexpected situations were better than most normal Players!

One should mention here that the lazier Players and casual Players whose level were subpar were off selling potatoes with the newbies instead of participating in the tourney.

Either way, in less than a day since the first round of the Twin City Cup began, ninety percent of the massive maze island which was vaster than ordinary cities was explored, eighty percent of which was unraveled by the highly mobile Players.

Parties with Clerics or Holy Lancers were especially bold and unconstrained as well, since they could save anyone crushed, quartered, or reduced to dartboards.

Therefore, some of the most reckless of Players pretty much paved a blood-path in the truest sense of the word. If the Players’ blood and organs didn’t vanish after a while, the other contestants who arrived later would be suspecting that some horrific maneater demon was lucking around the maze…

Still, resurrection here still meant losing EXP, and even the more reckless Players became prudent after going Leroy Jenkins for a while.

Naturally, the ‘prudence’ mentioned here was relative. Compared to the contestants who had survived the traps and monsters in the maze, these Players were actually still strutting around. In terms of speed, they were absolutely faster than the other contestants who were walking no different than elderly people, fumbling around the walls every few steps and only proceeding after ensuring that there were no traps.

It was even less necessary to talk about the monsters in the maze.

Isn’t that just farming? Us Players fear many things, but not farming monsters!

One might even say that the Players mobility had truly exceeded Xi Wei’s expectations, prompting the feeling that he had nurtured a group of wonderful monsters…

Nonetheless, the Players did run into certain troubles and lost some of their own.

The reason was simple, however: Xi Wei’s deliberate guidance molded the Players to become frenzied when it came to farming monsters to the point that even Bosses have to check their own sanity.