Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 187 A Talkative Commander

Perhaps it was because he was reluctant to lose his dignity in front of this girl, but Purity Essence didn’t even hesitate before accepting the responsibilities of being the commander.

Ye Ci was satisfied. Although Ye Ci wasn’t incapable of taking charge of this small scale battle, she was reluctant to due to the fact that there was nothing to gain. Additionally, she had also wanted to gauge Purity Essence’s ability.

In Ye Ci’s previous life, Purity Essence was a very capable commander in both PVP and dungeon clearing. However, his performance was greatly impacted by his incompetent team. As Upwards Ho! lacked a capable and versatile commander, Ye Ci would recruit Purity Essence if he was as good as Green Hill’s Moon made him out to be.

After reaching an agreement, Purity Essence made a final request. “These people turned up for you. If I were to step up as the commander, they might refuse to listen to me. Could you please make an announcement or something like that?”

Ye Ci was troubled; she had only barely been able to escape the awkwardness of being the being the players’ rallying totem. Wouldn’t her situation worsen if she spoke up?

Upon sensing Ye Ci’s hesitation, Purity Essence smiled, “Just tell them I’ll be taking command, leave the rest to me.”

In order to discover the true depths of Purity Essence’s abilities, Ye Ci was forced to agree. A message appeared in the bustling Map Channel which seemed as lively as a marketplace, “Purity Essence will be the commander for our battle against the Northern Continent players today. Please join Command Channel if you wish to participate in this battle.”

These words were from none other than Ye Ci.

The players at the scene who were only there for fun were immediately roused.

“Wow! It’s Gongzi You! This is the first time I’ve seen Gongzi You!”

“Hurry up! Take a screenshot! Gongzi You rarely appears in a public channel, you’ll miss the chance if you don’t do it!”

......

Ye Ci stared silently at Purity Essence with a darkened expression, but upon noticing her gaze, he averted his eyes as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. It would be wise for him to settle this matter as soon as possible.

“The Swamp of Sorrows is a neutral territory. Warring is fine, but senseless killing is definitely not allowed! Us players of the Eastern Continent have always loved peace! However, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be viewed as cowards due to our peace-loving nature! Am I right?”

As his words appeared in the Map Channel, only a small number of people responded. However, Purity Essense was not panicked, nor was he rushed. Instead, he took his time and interacted with the players, stirring them up. Before long, the Map Channel’s activity died down, and players began to pay attention to Purity Essence. Some of them even began to chant, “Purity, create a Command Channel!”

“Are you guys not done organizing our forces yet?” A voiced piped up. It was the voice of a player named Night Pupil.

“Aren’t we doing just that right now?” responded another.

“Can you people hurry the f*ck up? I’m almost at the Western Gate, and there’s a large group of people behind me! I’ve died trying to reach this place and you guys aren’t even ready yet? How are we even going to fight these sons of b*tches?”

The players in the Map Channel sprang into action after hearing Night Pupil’s words. They flooded into the command channel. Only a small number of people remained in the Map Channel, whilst the Command Channel was bustling with activity.

Purity Essence muted the players, and began making pre-battle arrangements.

In Fate, the graphics weren’t the only aspect of the game designed with the latest technology. Even the minor details of the game were also well designed. The Command Channel was one such example. In any other conventional games, the players had to form themselves into multiple squads that were commanded by their squad leaders. In a large scale battle, there would be hundreds of squads, heavily burdening the chain of command.

Fate, however, revolutionised this. A Command Channel was set up in every map of every continent. Players would usually never enter such a channel. A player that was selected as the commander could activate this channel during times of emergencies by paying a price that ranged from 10-100 gold coins, obtaining the highest authority within the channel. Of course, if less than one hundred players joined the channel 10 minutes after its activation, the channel would be shut down automatically, and could only be reactivated after 24 hours.

This saved players from using third party softwares to prevent players from hogging the channel. It was a well-designed feature.

Players who had joined the Command Channel upon its activation would be recognised as a combatant by the system. Their data would be automatically added to the Integrated Command Interface, allowing the commander to have a grasp of the number of players as well as the classes of the players who were participating. They could even obtain information about a player’s level and even their GS, making it easier for the commander to organize combatants.

The commander could also appoint a maximum of 15 sub-commanders to assist him, and divide players into different battle groups led by the sub-commanders.

The chat in the Command Channel was also strictly controlled.

Players were able to speak freely in the command channel, but when a battle began, the commander would restrict all player communication within the command channel. Only the voices of the commander and the sub-commanders would be able to be heard in the channel. The Command Channel was then divided into different sub-channels. Commanders had the authority to speak in any of the available channels, while sub-commanders could only speak freely in the sub-channel they were assigned to. A time restriction would be imposed on any sub-commanders who wished to speak in the main Command Channel. A commander could switch between the main Command Channel—which could be heard by all players—and the sub-channels of each battle group.

This meant that the commander would be the person with the highest authority in the battle. The players would be under the commander would be under their authority for as long as the battle lasted, disregarding their level or their mechanical skill.

Ye Ci observed silently as Purity Essence made preparations for the battle. The population in this neutral territory was small as expected. Although 95% of the Eastern continent players in the Swamp of Sorrows had joined the battle according to the Integrated Command Interface, they only numbered to a mere four thousand players.

As a matter of fact, the maximum population of a map of this type was typically between 500,000 to 1,000,0000. The small number of players was an indicator of the fact that the Swamp of Sorrows was severely underpopulated. It was nothing short of a ghost town.

As the number of Eastern Continent players was quite low, the number of Northern Continent players in the area would most probably be low as well. This battle would only be considered a skirmish in comparison to the siege of Champion City.

The Western Continent players who participated in the siege number a mere 10,000, however, due to the complexity of the terrain and the incompetence of the Eastern Continent players during the earlier stages of the siege, it was a hard fought battle.

Based on Ye Ci’s experience in her last life, she knew that the battle fought today would play out very differently from one fought in Champion City. After all, other players could move freely in the countryside and use the terrain to their advantage while they were confined to the cramped streets in a city. The combatants of both sides in this battle were only normal players from the both continents, whereas the elites of the Western Continent had also participated in the siege of Champion City.

Thus, other than the fact that this battle would be able to prove the Purity Essence’s competency, Ye Ci wasn’t interested in anything else.

Purity Essence began to make the pre-battle arrangements in an orderly and slow fashion. Although his voice had faltered in the beginning due to his nervousness, he was able to regain his composure after roughly 3 minutes. He seemed to be more composed as he calmed down.

Before long, the battle began.

Due to Ye Ci’s influence, Mi Lu and Overflowing Ink had adopted a strict and serious style when taking command of a party. They were just like copies of Ye Ci. Although they may have been slightly more talkative than Ye Ci, they were always strict and meticulous. Because of this, Ye Ci had a hard time getting used to Purity Essence’s style of command.

Unlike Ye Ci, Purity Essence was jovial and talkative. He would often joke with and tease the players under his command.

“Group up! That’s right, you guys in the hill at northwest, I’m talking to you! I’m telling you to group up, not to spread yourselves in a row! Can you understand me? Group the hell up! That’s right! Stand around your sub-commander! What? You can’t see your sub-commander? Do you want me to get him to dance naked in front of you? Come on ladies and gentlemen! Group up and then advance! Why are the mages in your party not attacking? What are mages, you ask? Mages are like portable glass cannons! Just hit them with all you got! As long as you have a single drop of mana left, I want you to throw your spells when you’re in range , you hear me? There’s no need to be afraid of OT! I’ll take full responsibilities! I’ll f*cking dance naked in front of you after the battle if it’d make you happy!”

Hiya minna-san! Another chapter is here!! I hope you people enjoy this chapter!

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

This chapter is posted,

By Jimmi for you!

BOOM! Epic poem right there!

Anybody played Vermintide 2 before? Seems like a fun game... Would be great if someone could send it to me on Steam xDD I mean... *cough cough* I would relaly like to try it out!

Also, go watch Violet Evergarden if you haven’t! It’s a real good anime! Overlord Season 2 is nice too but for me I think Violet Evergarden is the best so far. And then there’s that Fate/Extella thingy *cringe* look at what they did to Nero!

Don’t forget to comment FIRST BLOOD! in the teaser next page! Desu Vult!