You and me under the world tree

However, this is not what Siegfried did on purpose, the look on the child's face is not fake, anyone can see that he is confused at the moment.

Maybe this is the key point. Players only need to give him a little push in this regard. For example, Hodder can say as an elder, 'I hope you can become a famous hero like your father. ' and the like.

Even if you put aside any game strategies, if you just count Siegfried as an independent person, he still thinks he will accept it, because Hodder's own status is not ordinary after all. His current identity is Siegfried's elder, if he said so, he would definitely accept it half-heartedly.

It was such a simple matter, but when Hodder was about to speak, he froze in place.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve done too many dungeons of [Volsonger’s War], the previous high-intensity brushing thirty times a day has branded the dilapidated royal city and the corpses everywhere in my mind, and in the end, What imprinted in his mind was the old face of Siegmund before his death.

"I also have a son, Huo De, take care of him for me..."

At this moment, he could even directly recall his last words, which were similar to each other, and which he had heard countless times.

"I don't know which god is the one who dubbed Siegmund. I remember this voice for so long." Huo De muttered softly

He did speak, but his voice was too low, and Siegfried couldn't hear clearly for a while, so he couldn't help showing a puzzled look.

"Uncle, what did you say?"

"No, I mean, I won't force you to make a choice." Seeing Siegfried's face similar to Siegmund's, Hodder finally just said, "Your father, before you die Just let me take good care of you, of course, and your mother, but she is doing well now, so I don't need to worry about anything."

my mother……?

After hearing this unfamiliar word to him, Siegfried was a little dazed, but because it was so unfamiliar, he didn't care about it.

He has more things to care about than his mother...

"I mean, what if I give up Ghulam?" he said

All of a sudden, his voice became dry.

Chapter 28: Thoughts Only Belong to Players

To be honest, if those people he knew now were not involved, Siegfried didn't feel that he had done anything wrong. Whether he accepted or gave up, it was his own choice.

Choosing to pick up the holy sword and go against the current King Legni and even the Valkyrie who supported him, this shows that he recognizes his identity as a descendant of Volsung, and it can even show that there is indeed a Volsung in his body. The blood of a clan will be extolled and praised by poets.

But in contrast, even if he didn't accept it, gave up the holy sword, and continued to live as the adopted son of the blacksmith Laijin, and continued his ordinary and small wishes, no one could blame him.

He has never received any favors because of his blood, he has never seen his father, and he has no impression of his mother, and he rarely even hears anything said. Now, the identity of Siegmund's son will only bring him death, and in this respect, denial is fine.

However, the person sitting in front of him now is Huo De, his uncle and even his relatives, so he is entangled.

"What if I give up Ghulam?" he asked

This is obviously a tentative tone. He himself has struggled here for many days and cannot come to a reliable conclusion. He has not made any major decisions in the past 20 years since he was a child, and it is such a big decision when he comes up. Things, which made his mind visibly dull.

In the past, he fantasized all day long that he could leave this blacksmith shop to go out and travel, and then become a great hero admired by everyone, but his imagination was only imagination after all. Sometimes, he just felt overwhelmed.

The joy is real, because the ethos of Midgard is such that being a hero means being respected by everyone, receiving courtesy no matter where you go, and even if you die in the end, you can get eternal life in the legendary Valhalla, Happy forever.

This is a word of mouth in Midgard from the beginning. Although no one has ever reached the legendary Valhalla alive, no one has ever doubted its authenticity, because the women who serve the heroes Valkyries do exist, and gods exist in this world.

But apart from the joy that everyone would have, Siegfried also felt a little scared. Although it was hard to say in Midgard, he did feel panic.

Because the current King Legney undoubtedly has the support of the Valkyrie, and he is also extremely powerful. Ram, that alone was enough to make Siegfried feel unattainable.

This is the holy sword Gulam, how can it be so easily broken...

After all, Siegfried doesn't know who smashed the holy sword, he only knows that Legny defeated Siegmund, and now if he just picks up the sword that shocked the entire Midgard 60 years ago , is bound to be hostile to the current king, but he is not well prepared for this.

Thinking of this, Siegfried's young and impetuous heart even felt a little unconvinced. He felt that his uncle seemed to be too anxious and only gave himself one day.

"Take your expression away." Just as Siegfried was anxiously waiting for the answer, he heard the man in front of him say such words, and there was a little helplessness in his voice, "Your It's all written on my face."

"Hey..." After hearing what his uncle said, Siegfried touched his face subconsciously, "Really?"

He looked bewildered, even unbelievable, but his uncle nodded slowly, even though he was wearing a helmet, the nodding motion was quite obvious, as if he agreed with something.

"Ugh……"

Then, he heard his uncle sigh.

He didn't know whether it was because of the barrier of the helmet or some other reason, but he always felt that the sound was a bit dull, and even with this sound, his heart was blocked.

Uncle Hodder must be very disappointed in himself...

Siegfried felt that he heard this from the sigh, and he couldn't help feeling ashamed, and he couldn't help lowering his head, but he didn't speak.

Of course he would not know that what the man in front of him lamented had nothing to do with him. When Siegfried felt ashamed because he realized his selfishness, what Hodder lamented was the subtlety of his expression.

It is very difficult to achieve exactly the same or even approximate human expressions in games. Before the virtual stealth equipment is fully popularized, most games on the computer or host end use expression capture equipment, but this The expressions captured by this capture device are far from natural.

But "Nine Realms" is different. Although I don't know how they do it, they endow each NPC with delicate expressions while maintaining their high intelligence, allowing players to experience these scenes that are dedicated to the plot. There are also copies You can always feel that immersive.

Hodder still remembers the first time he entered this kind of task scene that required interaction. At that time, he was so excited that he couldn't speak, and was pleasantly surprised by the nuanced emotional performance of these intelligent NPCs, and because he was wearing a helmet all the time. Because of the reason, the long silence was even considered by the NPC as 'taciturn' and 'nervous'. As the protagonist, Siegmund even greeted him warmly and told him not to restrain himself.

And after clarifying the boundary between the game and reality, no matter how many times he watched it, even if Huo De has become a game buddy and transformed into a veteran old fritter in two years, he will still be amazed by this meticulous attention to detail. .

At least, the game changes brought by World Tree Corporation and this fresh sense of experience will not fade away for a long time.

But having said that, Siegfried's attitude still made him feel pained.

To be honest, he originally thought that Siegfried, as the protagonist of this expansion, should have a decisive character, or a bolder character. Simply put, he is happy and enmity, just like the previous version of Siegmund. , As a result, even now he hesitates to hold the sword.

Even, if Siegfried is not the appointed protagonist of the expansion, and this is not a game, Huo De will even doubt that a single sentence of his own will make him give up his heroic dream and inherit the family business honestly.

"That...uncle?" Siegfried spoke again just as Huo De was complaining all kinds of things in his heart.

He could see the cloudy gray eyes peeking out from under the helmet, he felt dear Uncle Hodder watching him, and finally...

"I said, I won't force you to make a choice." Huo De said slowly

When Siegfried stood on the forked road of choice, he gave up trying to influence and guide him, and at this moment an idea that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the game slowly emerged in his mind.

This kind of thinking belongs only to players...

Chapter 29: The next stage

Now, Siegfried himself is hesitating. He is standing on a fork in the road of fate. One choice will change his next destiny. As the object of being left alone, Huo De should have guided him to make the most correct choice , and according to Midgard's tradition, he should of course guide him to become a hero, a great hero not inferior to his father.

If this is the real world, Huo De thinks that he will really do that, but this is the world of the game, although the reality and beauty here make him unclear, and he is even desperately searching for Siegmund to survive like a demon. For this reason, I played [Volsunger's Battle] hundreds of times, and tried almost all routes.

He tried to drag 19 friends in the guild to the instance repeatedly, the closest he tried was to directly attack the one-eyed old man who was marked as invincible and wanted Siegmund to live, of course he was succeeds, although that one is marked with '? ? ? 'In fact, if you read some books, you will know that Odin's NPC did not succeed in killing Siegmund, and even triggered the 'retreat' copy route.

But this is of no use, because Siegmund as an NPC asked him to ask for help from the surrounding areas, and then he took his teammates for a long journey in the instance, and when he finally ran back, Siegmund was cold, cold thoroughly, this It is equivalent to connecting to passerby lines that are only triggered by players who do not have enough copies or have insufficient reputation.

Without any use, Siegmund will never survive. This deeply made Hodder feel the limitations of the game, and it is precisely because of this that he can clearly define his identity as a player.

And it's the same now, because of his own experience, he can clearly distinguish what is 'must' happen from the content of the expansion pack and the strategy of the forum.

For example, now, Siegfried is hesitating. He even throws this question to Hodder as a player. On the one hand, this is to let the player make a choice, but on the other hand, it also shows that Siegfried himself has indeed flinched. intention, and this willingness is not low.

With the player mentality that Hodder has recently developed that is dedicated to digging out hidden quests, he can be sure of one thing: there will be a plot next, and in terms of the plot, this will probably affect Siegfried's current mentality.

From the player's point of view, the degree of excavation of the plot will directly affect the progress of the plot and even the dungeon route - just like the hidden boss Valkyrie in [Volsonger's War], which is directly linked to the dungeon rewards,

Based on this, Hodder intends to let it go—he will eventually make his own choice anyway.

"As I said, I won't force you to make a choice." With this mentality, Hodder said.

Even after fully thinking about and clarifying the current goal, his tone even carried a kind of relaxation that was absolutely incomprehensible to the people of Midgard, but in order to avoid the plot in the scene task being skewed to other places , he finally added another sentence:

"However, if you decide to give up, I will take Gulam away."

In fact, there is no deep meaning in this sentence. He just wants Siegfried to understand the stakes. He can face the next difficulty by picking up the holy sword left by his father. If he gives up, he will Return to your own peaceful life without twists and turns.

This is just a choice, and after saying this, Hodder stopped talking, and he just sat on the chair, waiting for the task target to be refreshed.

Because when it comes to this point, the goal of [Guiding Siegfried on the Road of Heroes] can be said to have failed temporarily. Under normal circumstances, the system will temporarily cross this mission goal, and then give a new route.

Although "Nine Realms" is already a broken game that people love and hate, it is only the content of the plot after all. In terms of the player's game experience, this game has always been well done.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened...

[Mission objective: Guide Siegfried on the road of a hero (1/1)]

"????"

Under Hodder's astonished gaze, the game system made such a judgment, how could this goal be accomplished.

At this moment, Huo De subconsciously suspected that there was a problem with his game cabin or server, but after thinking about it, World Tree Company has never had these problems since it started operating the game. The product was fine, so Huo De quickly hid the shock and astonishment in his heart.

He was just waiting for the next result, and while he was waiting, Siegfried spoke.

"I understand." He said

His voice was quite slow, but from his tone, Hodder could hear that he was gradually becoming firmer.

"I will take Gorum," he said, "and I will take back everything that belongs to my father and the Volsung clan."

He is serious...

Although in terms of plot experience, Huo De felt that he was a little confused. It was obvious that Siegfried was extremely hesitant before and even wanted to give up at one point. Why did he suddenly agree at this time?

This doesn't make the player feel the growth of the NPC at all, okay?

Did I miss some plot?

With such thoughts churning in his heart, Huo De just looked straight at Siegfried, the complicated gaze under the helmet was obvious.

Facing such a complex sight, Siegfried nodded slowly, as if he had learned something from it.

So how on earth did you suddenly make up your mind?

Seeing the determination on Siegfried's handsome face, Huo De really wanted to ask the question directly, but he held back in the end.

After all, this is a game, and there is actually no need to delve into some things. Now that the mission objective has been completed, there is no need to care about it. Compared with these, he should pay more attention to the mission objectives of the next stage.

Thinking of this, he moved his eyes to the side, and under the mission mark, a new mission objective also emerged.

But this time, it was no longer the kind of small goal that promoted the plot, but a huge exclamation point, which floated above Siegfried's head.

After seeing this scene, the corners of Hodder's mouth raised.

This kind of task is no different from the previous small goals, and these exclamation points mean rewards.

Then, amidst Siegfried's words, the exclamation point disappeared and became a silver question mark.

"Uncle, please teach me what I should do!"

[Mission: When a Hero Is Born]

[Introduction: Siegfried finally decided to embark on the road of a hero, but he still lacks training as a young man]

[Mission objective: teach Siegfried to become a real hero (0/1)]

[Task Reward: 50 Free Skill Points, Title: Teacher of the Brave]

For a moment, Huo De had the urge to curse, and the joy of receiving a new task in his heart was also diluted a lot.

Chapter 30: Task Difficulty

Skill points are very important things in the game. The game "Nine Realms" does not have any experience points and upgrade system. Everything is solved by skill points. Use skill points to add points to skills and light up the skill tree. The system will calculate the comprehensive level based on the character panel.

There are three types of skill points in this game: combat skill points, life skill points, and free skill points. The former can light up weapon skills, while the latter are life skills such as cooking. Free skill points can be used at will It is added to the first two, but it is also the only one that can be added to sub-jobs such as forging and runes.

Obviously, this is the only way for players to 'advance' in the game, and it is a resource that cannot be traded, and it is impossible to obtain it by fighting monsters. There are only two ways to obtain it in the game, the first is the quest line, and the second is It is a dungeon, and the dungeon cannot be obtained by repeatedly swiping, only the first pass the dungeon and kill the boss for the first time.

In other words, for each player, the game skill points he can obtain are limited, even if he completes all the large and small tasks, and gets the achievement of 'Atrium Wanderer', the skill points will not be enough. Additional increase, and as the level gradually increases, more and more points are required to add skill points. This broken game has not been able to appear a bucket number until now.

So what can 50 skill points do? It can bring a cute new skill to the level of mid-range players. It’s no problem to experience the plot with peace of mind. For a person who has a full career, the demand for skill points is not great. He has more than 200 skill points on the panel, but it is not enough to acquire a new skill.

In other words, this reward is actually a bit tasteless, not to mention the title. This thing does not have any benefits, and it is probably useful when listening to guards and NPCs bragging.

However, the rewards are so simple, does that mean the task is simple?

No, that's not the case...

The situation was much worse than Huo De had imagined. This sand sculpture task was obviously thankless, because the task objective was quite vague.

In the forum, the task difficulty of "Nine Realms" is generally divided into three levels: easy, difficult, hell

Simple tasks refer to the most basic ones, such as 'Warriors, we are hungry, shoot me a wild boar', 'Warriors, we have a grudge against a person, he has committed a heinous crime, please help me kill him', such tasks can It is quite simple to say, and the task objective is also quite clear, that is, to 'kill' something.

This is the main theme of "Nine Realms". Basically, all you need to use are the combat skills in the game, and you don't need to use your brain at all.

Hard Difficulty As the name suggests, it is a bit harder than the above-mentioned "easy", but this "difficulty" is not reflected in the combat. Combat is indeed a part of the game, but this is not the trouble here. The rune magic, the rest here is the simple sword skills.

The difficulty here refers to 'thinking', such as finding a specific person in a specific location—for example, in a city. There is no obvious interface prompt for these, let alone marked on the big map. Can think and reason through high-level detection spells or hints given by NPCs.

But in fact, this is not bad, because this is a game. Under the premise of the concept of "game", there will definitely be many strategies. As long as there is a specific goal, there will be players who are active on the front line to collect various conditions. For those guys who want to copy homework.