Chapter 61: The Novice Period Cut to Just Seven Days! A Server-Wide Battle for an SSS-Rank Hero!

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: The Novice Period Cut to Just Seven Days! A Server-Wide Battle for an SSS-Rank Hero!

John’s heart stirred, and the dark golden treasure chest floated directly in front of him.

He opened it immediately.

[Ding!]

[Obtained: Legion Equipment · Cloak of Concealment (Epic)!]

[Cloak of Concealment (Epic · Legion Equipment)]

[Effect: Once equipped, all Lords, Heroes, and Units under your command will have all information concealed from external detection.]

[Description: Other players, enemy scouting skills, and detection items will be unable to reveal any information about your units, including their IDs, names, unit star ranks, levels, HP, and status.]

[Special: Within enemy vision, your Hero units will be regarded as ordinary NPCs and cannot be identified as player-owned Heroes.]

John was momentarily stunned when he saw the equipment.

This item was quite interesting.

Once equipped, nobody would be able to see his units’ status panels.

Wouldn’t that mean that even if he sent Raistlin out to gather intelligence, the enemy would only see "an ordinary elderly Mage NPC" when inspecting him?

"Equip."

John didn’t hesitate.

[Ding!]

[Cloak of Concealment has been equipped in the Legion Equipment slot.]

An invisible ripple, resembling waves spreading across the surface of water, radiated outward from his body, sweeping through every unit under his command within a radius of several kilometers.

Once the ripples faded, everything appeared as normal.

But John knew the equipment was already working.

"Let’s go home."

He was in an excellent mood.

...

By the time they returned to his territory, it was already well into the night.

John immediately used the newly acquired Epic Resource Plot Selection and chose the resource his territory currently lacked the most: Iron Ore.

[Obtained: Epic Resource Plot · Iron Ore.]

Now, his territory finally had all four types of basic Resource Plots.

John closed the territory panel with satisfaction and continued browsing his inventory.

He casually listed the Four-Star Unit Training License obtained tonight on the Auction House as well.

The price remained the same as before.

After finishing everything, John finally began to feel sleepy.

He would normally have gone to bed much earlier. Today’s expedition had delayed him somewhat, and he was already preparing to return to his room.

[Ding!]

[System Notification: Server-wide Ranking Points Updated!]

John lowered the hand he had raised to cover a yawn and casually opened the leaderboard.

[1st: Tyrant (Region ID: Dark-0914) — Points: 4,862,300]

[2nd: Raine Augustus (Region ID: Light-0002) — Points: 512,700]

[3rd: Drake Wyrmheart (Region ID: Dragon-0011) — Points: 238,600]

[4th: Karsen (Region ID: Iron-0005) — Points: 201,900]

[5th: Lucian Skyfall (Region ID: Sky-3008) — Points: 176,400]

His lead remained overwhelmingly large.

However, Augustus’s score was actually quite impressive as well, far exceeding that of the players below him.

After briefly scrolling through the rankings, John shifted his attention to the total player count displayed at the bottom.

[Current Online Players: 52,471,832 / 124,23,1034]

In just four short days, seventy million players had already been eliminated.

The elimination rate had exceeded sixty percent.

"Isn’t the difficulty curve a little too steep? There are supposed to be thirty days. If everyone gets eliminated this early, what are they going to play afterward?"

John leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyebrows.

His own development speed was practically like cheating. He was far ahead of everyone else.

That was certainly a good thing.

However, judging from all the strange developments over the past few days, John increasingly felt that the difficulty of the Novice Trial seemed different from what it used to be.

It was almost as if the difficulty was somehow linked to his own rate of development.

He even began to suspect that his very existence had forcibly accelerated the entire game’s progression.

Just as John was thinking about this—

[Ding!!]

[Ding!!]

[Ding!!]

Three urgent, piercing system notifications suddenly exploded beside his ears without warning.

Immediately afterward, a blood-red server-wide announcement appeared directly before his eyes, more eye-catching than any announcement he had seen before.

[Server-Wide Announcement:]

[Due to the excessive number of eliminated players on the Novice Continent, the system has decided to shorten the Novice Period from the originally scheduled 30 days to just 7 days!]

[Due to the excessive number of eliminated players on the Novice Continent, the system has decided to shorten the Novice Period from the originally scheduled 30 days to just 7 days!]

[Due to the excessive number of eliminated players on the Novice Continent, the system has decided to shorten the Novice Period from the originally scheduled 30 days to just 7 days!]

Even John couldn’t help being shocked when the announcement appeared three times in succession.

The Novice Period had actually been reduced from thirty days to seven!

This wasn’t simply cutting the time in half.

It was reducing the original duration by three-quarters!

And today was already the fourth day.

That meant there were only three days left in the Novice Period!

In other words, at the current elimination rate, more than half of the remaining players could be eliminated over the next three days.

Only the top ten percent would qualify for advancement to Godfall Continent.

This could no longer be described as merely cruel.

But the shock wasn’t over.

A second announcement immediately followed.

[Server-Wide Announcement:]

[Starting at 12:00 PM on Day Six, the system will summon an SSS-Rank Hero’s Tomb at coordinates G-7 on the Novice Continent.]

[All players possessing a Hero Recruitment Scroll may use their scrolls to enter the Hero’s Tomb.]

[The Hero’s Tomb will contain one unique SSS-Rank Hero.]

This time, John shot to his feet.

[World Channel:]

"What??? The Novice Period has been reduced from 30 days to 7??? Do we even have a chance of advancing anymore?!"

"Everyone, hurry up and get stronger! Two more Lords near my territory were wiped out by the Beast Tide today!"

"I just want to ask one thing. Where the hell are we supposed to get Hero Recruitment Scrolls? It’s been four days, and I haven’t obtained a single one! How am I supposed to compete with everyone else?"

"Someone please help us old folks understand what’s going on. Why is everything changing so quickly out there?"

...

Judgment Alliance Headquarters.

Raine Augustus was in the middle of training his units when his hand suddenly trembled.

He stared at the blood-red announcement in front of him, his expression turning grim.

"They actually reduced it to seven days. That means we only have three days left..."

His original plan had been to spend two days rapidly expanding his army within his territory.

He intended to increase the number of Fire Elementalists to an astonishing level, then set out on the third day to attack Tyrant’s territory.

Once Tyrant was eliminated, he would have plenty of time to secure his position in the rankings.

But now, the Novice Period had been drastically shortened.

And to make matters worse, the Hero’s Tomb would appear on the sixth day.

"My Lord."

A player below him cautiously spoke up.

"Should we temporarily abandon the search for Tyrant? Recruiting a Hero may be more important now."

Raine Augustus closed his eyes.

He knew the player had a point.

"Pass down my orders. The plan has changed. Continue training Fire Elementalists."

"Before noon on the sixth day, all players must assemble. We will head to G-7 to recruit the Hero."

He slowly opened his eyes again. A ruthless glint flashed through them.

"This Hero must belong to our Judgment Alliance. Anyone who dares to compete with us will be eliminated from Godfall Continent!"

...

Elsewhere, in the western part of the Novice Continent.

A figure dressed in a black robe, his face hidden beneath a hood, stood before a window, watching the announcement in the sky that had yet to fade.

"Teacher."

Another player dressed in a similar black robe stood behind him, lowering his head as he asked:

"Our alliance hasn’t obtained any Hero Recruitment Scrolls so far. Should we head to G-7 and compete for the Hero when it appears?"

The black-robed man’s lips curled into a faint smile.

"Of course we’re going."

"So what if we don’t have any scrolls?"

"We’ll simply take them from other players when the time comes."

"Hopefully, that brat named Tyrant will show up too."

"Since he dared to reject my invitation, I’ll let him see the true power of an alliance."