Always playing a full‑HP character got a bit tedious for Yan Qing, and since this new alt was meant for reconnaissance, being too burly would draw too much attention—
Chang’an wasn’t the same as Pingcheng; at Pingcheng’s gates you pretty much had to fight your way in, so a full‑HP build was necessary.
This time he decided to try a full‑dexterity start.
Just as a higher physique granted an extra 2 HP, being too slim also granted an extra 2 dexterity points, so he created a character who looked malnourished, like a boy who hadn’t yet grown up.
He skipped investing in the Talent Inheritance; starting a new map, it was inevitable some alts would die, and as for the name—this was an alt for Chang’an—hence “An Wu.”
“Chang’an Affiliated Starter Village,” he clicked to start the game!
As the screen lit up, “An Wu” appeared in a small grove, and just beyond it was a village. To Yan Qing’s surprise, this village was built on flat land, houses orderly, fertile fields, beautiful ponds, crisscrossed paths—no matter how you looked, it was a prosperous little village.
Was it for real? Did a starter village actually exist?
However, as soon as Yan Qing stepped onto the main road, before entering the village, two burly men with clubs came to block him.
Sure enough, there was no such thing as a free starter village.
Yan Qing felt the location for a starter village should be quite nice, and it being run like an estate was understandable—but that Qi Kingdom’s starter village falling into ruin would’ve been the real surprise.
“I want to go to Chang’an—can you tell me the way?”
The burly men exchanged glances, then pointed west: “Follow this road onto the main path, head northwest for about two shichen and you’ll reach Chang’an County.”
Two shichen—even with an auto‑run buff, that’d take at least one shichen, and the sun was already slanting west—it was afternoon.
It wasn’t the darkness that worried him as much as the travel time—what if his alt died and he had to start another? That’d add another shichen of travel. Every task would begin with a shichen trek—what player could stand that?
Within sight of the guards, Yan Qing gradually moved onto the main road.
Was there a way to cut down on the travel time?
If he couldn’t shorten the duration, at least reduce the number of trips…
He suddenly had an idea: open the in‑game map. Although the map had no landmarks, players had to physically explore to reveal terrain, and the one advantage was that the map was shared across all characters.
Thus Yan Qing could see on the map, a thousand li away from “Chang’an Starter Village,” two other landmarks: “Buye City Starter Village” and “Zhen San Shan Zheng Family.”
Pingcheng hadn’t been logged into the system.
But that was understandable—after all, in the game’s programming it probably only recognized permanent game‑related landmarks like starter villages or dungeons; a settlement like Pingcheng that might be destroyed wasn’t qualified to be recorded on the permanent map.
According to the directions, Yan Qing marked a point to the northwest, then activated the “auto‑navigation” function to let “An Wu” run the map automatically.
Success—“An Wu” could auto‑run the map.
In other words, players could assign quests in auto‑navigation.
Next, Yan Qing had “An Wu” crouch at the road’s edge, then exited the game and quickly created alt “An Liu.”
When “An Liu” reached the roadside, indeed he saw “An Wu,” crouched inspecting ants.
Yan Qing activated “auto‑navigation,” having “An Liu” follow “An Wu.”
Setup complete: “An Liu” crouched beside “An Wu,” both watching ants together!
Yan Qing exhaled in relief, then repeated the process—creating alts “An Qi,” “An Ba,” “An Jiu,” and setting them all to follow “An Wu.”
When he controlled “An Wu” running the map, the four trailing alts followed him—all five running the map simultaneously!
Though the trailing alts couldn’t be finely controlled, at least this saved map‑running time. Yan Qing didn’t dare just let them auto‑run—who knew whether a patrol of knights would spawn and slaughter them—so he sincerely used the speed‑run buff to run.
One shichen later, the sun set, the sky split into one‑third darkness and two‑thirds pale blue—but Yan Qing already saw the grand city: Chang’an.
To be precise, he saw the lights outside Chang’an city walls—ten thousand homes lit, crowds of pedestrians, streams of carts and horses, passing estates and markets open at night, wine houses and entertainment quarters.
Just passing through Chang’an’s outer city took nearly another half‑shichen, so the road time totaled nearly two shichen.
Only then did he realize—what the burly men meant by “Chang’an County” must refer to that outer ring. Chang’an County is Chang’an County, Chang’an City is Chang’an City. Naturally the game didn’t list Chang’an County, but living around the safe zone was the perfectly normal choice.
There were guards at the city gate, but they merely looked back and forth across the faces of “An Wu” and the others, didn’t ask for documents or a toll, and simply let them in.
「You have entered the main city, Chang’an.」
「Based on your level, you may now access the following milestone information」
「Gold-Tier Guide: You have mapped the full regions of Jiangnan, Chang’an, and Buye Tian.」
「Local: You have discovered 19 hidden Haha Grasses within Chang’an City (0/19).」
「Marathon Enthusiast: Run a full circle around Chang’an within half a shichen.」
「Leap Across Vermillion Bird Avenue: Cross from one side of Vermillion Bird Avenue to the other without touching the ground.」
「Suspect: You have successfully harmed others within Chang’an City without being caught (0/10).」
「Demolition Team: You have successfully destroyed a medium or larger building in Chang’an City (0/1).」
「Increase your level or unlock more milestones to access additional milestone information.」
So this game also had a milestone system… Was it only available after entering a main city?
Still, it made sense—normally, players reached level ten in the starter village and did their first class advancement before entering the main city. At that point, giving them a milestone system to encourage exploration was quite reasonable.
Yan Qing skimmed through and immediately recognized that “Gold-Tier Guide,” “Local,” and “Marathon Enthusiast” were all similar milestones. While completing “Local” and “Marathon Enthusiast,” players would basically map most of Chang’an, and likely complete “Gold-Tier Guide” along the way.
If Yan Qing guessed right, the final objective of the Gold-Tier Guide milestone series was likely mapping the entire game world—perfect for casual and achievement hunters.
But “Suspect” and “Demolition Team” were odd.
Rather than milestones, they seemed like a sneaky way for the devs to get players to help find bugs.
After all, Chang’an was a safe zone—how could players possibly harm others or destroy buildings at will? Compared to asking players to report bugs, dangling a milestone would definitely motivate them more.
Milestones surely had rewards, but Yan Qing only glanced over them and moved on.
Not to mention “Suspect” and “Demolition Team,” which were tricky, even just “Local” was impossible for him—normal players relied on forum guides to hunt for the Haha Grass, and without a forum, how could he possibly find all the carefully hidden ones?
Upon entering Chang’an, the surprising thing was that the inner city was far less bustling than the outside. If the outer area was the commercial district, then the inside felt more like a residential zone.
There were other differences too—for example, the inner city was much cleaner. So clean, in fact, it looked like a period drama set. Yan Qing suspected the main city might have a self-cleaning function.
After all, he had never seen a main city in an online game with trash cans or bathrooms…
Even though it was late, many neatly dressed pedestrians strolled the well-lit streets, some even with children. Seeing “An Wu” and the others dressed like country bumpkins, some people showed clear disdain, but almost no one actively avoided them. It was clear they had immense confidence in Chang’an’s safety.
Slipping into a random alley, Yan Qing tried attacking “An Liu” from behind.
“An Wu” punched forward, “An Liu” flinched, and a big fat damage number “0” appeared on screen.
So the safe zone in the main city didn’t block attacks—it just nullified all damage.
Whether the token could be used still had to wait until his alt reached level ten and changed class.
Yan Qing placed “An Liu” through “An Jiu” in an alley to act as mushrooms—since the main city offered protection, there was no need to worry about their safety while AFK. Then he asked around for directions to Anguo Temple and had “An Wu” head there solo.
That was, of course, to avoid a group wipe. If anything happened to “An Wu,” he could just send out “An Liu” next. With five alts, they should at least uncover some intel.
A fine MMORPG, being played by Yan Qing like a strategy game. Follow current novᴇls on 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲·𝗻𝗲𝘁
Yan Qing raised his view and caught a glimpse of someone flitting across rooftops.
Running across rooftops at night—could it be a fellow thief?
He spent nearly half a shichen reaching Anguo Temple and even took a walk down Vermillion Bird Avenue.
There, Yan Qing saw many eateries and shops—for instance, a wonton noodle place that made his mouth water. He had grown up eating wonton noodles.
Unfortunately, all the food shops were closed, and he would have to come back in the daytime.
Anguo Temple was, unsurprisingly, closed too.
Compared to the sandbox version, the real Anguo Temple was far more grand and imposing.
Even the staircase had dozens of steps, and it was surrounded by a wall several zhang high, like a city within a city.
Yan Qing circled the area twice and couldn’t even find a doghole to crawl through.
He’d have to come back during the day.
Yan Qing had “An Wu” crouch in a corner and planned to let him idle until daylight. Just then, a figure stepped in front of him.
“Kind benefactor, if you have no place to spend the night, you may find temporary shelter at the nearby Ciji Courtyard.”