Scourge Messenger

Chapter 33: All Account Shared Milestones
"One hundred thousand spirit jades! If I could only meet this bastard..."

"And then you died. That was a thief who could rob in Chang'an. Do you know what Chang'an is? It's a divinely blessed city on the same level as the City That Never Sleeps!"

"Only a fool would ask for 100,000 Spirit Jades. Who would be short of Spirit Jades when they have a legendary token?"

"Besides, what's so great about a big thief? Can he really beat us, Baibao?"

"Ha, a powerful messenger can defeat a thousand men alone. Do you think you're from the Loyalty Camp?"

"I think Captain Night will be promoted to the Loyalty Battalion sooner or later! Captain Night, do you think we can defeat this bastard?"

In the early morning, in the mess hall of the Pingcheng military camp, the Northern Border soldiers who had just woken up gathered in groups of three or five, holding their bowls and chatting. The topic always revolved around the keywords "Shenhou Mansion", "Wanted Order", and "Legendary Token".

Although four or five days have passed, the announcement from the Shenhou Mansion is still the latest and hottest topic.

As everyone was chatting, a curious soldier looked at the team leader Ye Si who was in the limelight recently - he changed his job in three days and became the team leader in five days. Even with Gai Louxian's care, Ye Si's promotion speed was astonishing.

However, everyone admired him. He would join the secret realm team every day and always rushed to the front. Although he was taciturn, he was surprisingly powerful. His only flaw was that he didn't have a token, so he couldn't lead the team into the secret realm. However, there was a merit system within Baibao, where messengers could earn a small merit every time they entered the secret realm. The easiest token to obtain, the Devil Face, only required 100 small merits.

For others, it may take one or two years to collect 100 small merits, but for a guy like Ye Si who goes to the secret realm as frequently as going to a brothel, everyone believes that he can definitely meet the requirements in three months.

Ye Si was currently slicing mutton with a small knife. He now had to eat about a whole goat for every meal to keep his health up. He was considered a small eater, but second-rank messengers like Gai Louxian could easily consume an entire cow per meal, and each meal would take him half an hour.

They actually had a better option: taking blood-replenishing pills, which could instantly satisfy their daily blood and qi needs without requiring a bowel movement. However, even a Rank Three Messenger wouldn't be willing to consume such a sacred medicine. Besides, the flesh and blood of powerful demonic beasts found within the secret realm was a second-best option after the blood-replenishing pills. However, the Zhensan Mountain Secret Realm lacked such demonic beasts, and Ye Si wasn't a nobleman, so he couldn't afford to eat such specially supplied demonic beast meat.

"First of all, that's not a dog-man, but a messenger wearing a yellow dog mask. Secondly, I can defeat him alone without you."

After a brief lull, the soldiers burst into laughter.

"That's right!"

"As expected of our Night Team Leader, he'll be a prominent figure sooner or later!"

"Sooner or later? Now!"

At this moment, an old general arrived, and the noisy cafeteria suddenly fell silent. It was Gai Louxian, the leader of Baibao Clan. He looked around and beckoned Ye Si to leave.

When Ye Si returned, he was already wearing the Devil Mask, the most coveted item among the Baibao Knights. When everyone asked, they learned that although his minor merits were insufficient, Gai Louxian had vouched for him and had bought him the Devil Mask in advance.

Of course, the price was not small. From today on, Ye Si would lead the team into secret realms, take the initiative to take damage when encountering the secret realm's demon boss, and lead the team at least sixty times within the next three months. This requirement might be a challenge to others, but for Ye Si, it felt like a reward.

The news spread faster than the wind. By the time Si Ye finished breakfast that day, he had become the most popular person in the military camp. Many team leaders came to congratulate him and even invited him to go to the brothel next to the military camp to have some fun together in the evening.

However, Ye Si naturally refused all of them and began today's journey to the secret realm. Unlike the time of the Karasuma Ryu, many Baibao were vying to enter the secret realm, and even had to fight to allocate places.

The hundred guards who finally got a spot looked very relaxed, chatting and laughing with each other as if they were on a picnic. Ye Si, who was leading them, did not carry any weapons. After entering the secret realm, he asked the guards not to participate in the battle, but to just shoot from the outside. Naturally, the guards obeyed.

Just like that, the Hundred Guards watched as Ye Si used his kicking skills to kill all the monsters in the secret realm, without any risk at all—or rather, the risk was all on Ye Si. It was precisely because of this that entering the secret realm went from being a difficult chore to being a popular pursuit. Besides the Hundred Guards who could easily pocket the bounty, the other team leaders and tower masters were also happy to see this happen.

Few people were willing to fight the demons of the secret realm. As messengers, they had plenty of ways to make money and didn't care about the small reward. Now that a martial arts fanatic who loved fighting had appeared and taken on these troublesome tasks, it was simply the best thing.

"I didn't expect the Night Team's main kicking skills to be so good."

"Don't learn it. Specialization is the right path. Practicing here and there..."

"Captain Night, don't you want to rest up? Fighting in secret realms every day will easily break your body, right?"

"You don't understand. Captain Night is so talented and works so hard for a reason. I heard his entire family was murdered by a third-rank messenger, so he's out for revenge..."

"What I heard was that Captain Night's engagement was broken off, and they had a three-year agreement, and if they didn't achieve the third level, the messenger wouldn't marry?"

Yan Qing was naturally unaware of the commotion in the military camp. He looked at the data on the screen and couldn't help but smile.

"Finally got it right!"

Night Four

"Level: 18"

"Qi and blood: 31"

"Soul: 23"

"Dexterity: 15"

"Comprehension: 8"

「已掌握基础技能：基础刀法10级、基础步伐10级、基础枪法10级、基础拳法10级、基础剑法10级、基础盾法10级、基础腿法10级、基础射术10级」

"Mastered advanced skills: Advanced Swordsmanship Level 1" "Activated milestone effects: Martial Arts Genius, Demolition Team"

The reason why Yan Qing asked 'Ye Si' to constantly change weapons and hone basic skills was not only for experience, but also for this milestone of martial arts genius!
Before introducing this milestone of martial arts genius, we have to start from the day Yan Qing returned from Chang'an.

That day, Yan Qing saw the "Demolition Team" in the status bar of 'Ye Si'.

Demolition Team

Milestone requirement: Destroy any medium-sized building in the main city

"Effect: Your token's effect makes it easier to destroy buildings."

"Note: Brother, isn't your desire for destruction too strong?"

"The subsequent milestone 'Destroyer' has been triggered: destroy any large landmark in the main city."

"This milestone was achieved on a Real Mode account and is available on all Real Mode accounts."

When Yan Qing saw the last line of words, he was stunned.

But if you think about it carefully, it makes sense - it is very easy for an ordinary account to get all the achievements, as there is plenty of time and room for error, but a real account simply does not have such conditions.

If milestones can't be shared, and if a real account dies, everything will be reset to zero, then the only result will be that real players will simply abandon milestones as a part of the game. After all, milestones are dispensable, but completing them requires considerable effort and time, so players would naturally rather level up than touch milestones.

On the other hand, milestone effects can be shared by all accounts, which can not only attract real-world players to complete milestones, but can even pull ordinary players into the real-world mode. Think about it, if you first practice with a few real accounts and strive to complete a lot of milestones, then the small accounts you open in the future will have a lot of milestone bonuses from the beginning, which is equivalent to cheating in an MMORPG!

The joy of using cheats in online games is at least ten or even a hundred times greater than using Feng Ling Yue Ying in a single-player game!
Moreover, ordinary players will not feel that it is unfair. Firstly, a real account will be gone once it dies, so most of the time real accounts dare not compete with ordinary players; secondly, if they are beaten by real accounts, they can also play in real mode to reach milestones.

Anyone can cheat, as long as you are willing to spend time and take risks.

The more Yan Qing looked at it, the more he thought the "milestone sharing" mechanic was ingenious. The more he thought about it, the more fun it seemed. He wanted to open a regular account to hunt real players, but he also wanted to open a real account to accumulate milestones to pave the way for his alt-account. No wonder The Messenger has been able to carve out a niche in an era of declining MMORPGs. While experts can certainly dominate the game, novices can also gain a cheat-like experience with time.

For example, a rookie like Yan Qing.

For him, the biggest gain from this thief mission was not the Bingzi Jiaolin, but the discovery that the title could be effective for the entire account.

The milestones of the small account will naturally take effect on the big account as well!
So Yan Qing hadn't done anything else for the past few days, completely focused on achieving the Martial Arts Genius milestone. After completing the secret realm in the morning, he'd conduct various training exercises in the military camp, operating the entire process manually, as 'automatic evolution' would deduct 30% of his experience.

Others can only see that Ye Si is working hard, but the one who is really working hard is actually Yan Qing!
But it's all worth it.

"Martial Arts Genius"

Milestone requirement: Master the eight basic skills

"Effect: Each time you master a technique, your comprehension increases by 1. This only takes effect when your comprehension is less than 10. You also gain an additional 100% experience when training a skill."

"Note: What is a martial arts genius? Someone who understands things the moment they see them, masters them instantly, retains everything they learn, and possesses a lasting memory? No, no, that kind of person is a genius even if they're living off their wife, so they can't be considered a martial arts genius. A true martial arts genius is someone who's skilled in rudimentary techniques, but not bright enough—why would a truly intelligent person practice martial arts?"

"This milestone was achieved on a Real Mode account and is available on all Real Mode accounts."

This milestone requires mastery of eight basic techniques, but the results are disappointing. A normal player's Comprehension cannot be less than 10, so it's effectively no Comprehension gain. Training experience doubles, but players gain ten times as much experience from killing monsters, so there's no need to waste electricity training.

Therefore, when 'Night Four' triggered this milestone, Yan Qing did not take it seriously.

Until the milestone effect is discovered, it can be shared.

This milestone is better than nothing for players, but it is different in the real world.

In this world, it takes years for ordinary people to develop basic skills from scratch, and they have to train to at least level three or four before they can go into actual combat. Only game characters can quickly level up through combat.

A three-dimensional creature like Yan Qing, who couldn't evolve into a game character, naturally had to rely on training to acquire basic skills. And unlike the others, he would never leave the Thieves' House to fight outside, meaning training was his only viable path to level up.

With the milestone of martial arts genius, Yan Qing can finally train basic skills besides playing games.

After completing the Martial Arts Genius Milestone, the game popped up new milestone information:

"Martial Arts Prodigy: Mastering Five Advanced Kung Fu Techniques"

Advanced techniques weren't as easy to master as basic ones. Even if the number was reduced from eight to five, the time required would still be at least a month. Yan Qing had been working on it for a few days and felt a little tired. For the time being, he had no idea what to do with this milestone.

What's more, he had made up his mind early on that as soon as he got the title of martial arts genius, he would start practicing basic skills and could not be lazy anymore!
Today, the messenger doesn't start!
At this moment, a new message popped up in the chat box in the lower left corner:

"The Jiangnan region event 'Wandering Woods' has begun."

(End of this chapter)