Mysterious Fog World: Eldritch Nexus

[World Announcement]

[The number of Extraordinary players has reached 10,000. Starting the official rankings.]

[1. Player Strength Ranking: Players will be ranked based on their strength. Outside support will not be counted.]

[2. Follower Strength Ranking: Players’ followers will be ranked based on strength. Outside support will not be counted. Only followers above 71 (Loyal) loyalty points will be counted.]

[3. Territory Ranking: Players’ territories will be ranked based on level, strength, etc. Territories belonging to players' followers will be counted as players' territories.]

[All ranking results will be announced 30 days later. Only the top 100 in each ranking will be announced. Rewards will be given to the top 100 with the top rewards being potions and potion formulas.]

All the players who were logged in heard the announcement. Even their followers heard it too. It's just that they heard chosen one instead of player and didn't hear the prerequisite of a minimum of 71 loyalty points.

After the announcement, it was as if a bomb had exploded among the players.

Every player was excited. All the players wanted to be one of the hundred.

—------------

Some place in the fog world. Inside a player-established mortal territory.

“How confident are you?”

A young man standing in front of a lush tree asked a woman standing beside him.

The woman had long pointed ears and long platinum blonde hair.

“My lord, you can rest assured about the followers and territory rankings. And with the speed of the lord’s increase in strength, the first ranking is also in the bag”, the woman reassured her lord.

The man only smiled upon hearing that.

He was confident in getting at least the top 3 or even the first place.

His opportunity gave him that confidence. He thought no one else got such an opportunity as him.

The seed that he found in his late grandfather’s attic traveled with him to the game and it turned out to be an Elf Tree.

Every week it gave birth to an elf. He already had 4 elves serving under him.

The elves had their path and could make their potions, so he didn't need to look for potions for them.

Moreover, each elf had at least 81 points of loyalty, whereas the woman standing beside him even had 91 points of loyalty and was devoted to him.

The prerequisite of 71 points stopped many from participating in the rankings. It was too hard to increase someone’s loyalty so high in a mere one month. Most followers had loyalty in the Reliable stage.

That further increased his confidence as he had no problems with his elves' loyalty.

She was the strongest under him and was level 5 (rank 1, 50% potion digestion), while the rest were at levels 3, 2, and 1 respectively.

His followers’ strength plus the new followers he would get before the rankings were announced were enough for him to own the Followers' Rankings.

“How confident are you in reaching Rank 2 (level 11)?”

“Before the rankings are announced, I will be Rank 2.”

She replied with utmost confidence.

Just like the elves, who had their path, he also had his exclusive path, and his potions were prepared by the elves for him. He was already level 3 (rank 1, 30% potion digestion).

His path was much stronger than the common path, hence he was not worried about the player rankings either.

As for the territory, his Elf Tree Seed also worked as an alternative Fog Foundation Stone, so he had already established a Mortal Territory (below sequence 9).

He was confident to level up his territory to Sequence 9 Extraordinary Early-Stage as he had all the prerequisites prepared.

Hence even in territory rankings, he was prepared.

—------------

“Xiao San, we need to go find a strange fire, that will make you many times stronger. I can not guarantee about the other rankings, but I assure you that you will be the first for the strength rankings.”

The voice came inside a ring adorned in the hand of a young man.

”Thank you, master. I will work hard to create a new body for you”, promised the man enthusiastically upon hearing the prospect of becoming the first in rankings among billions of players.

—------------

‘Why can I hear the announcement,? I am neither a player nor a follower of one. I am an NPC, but could still level up like a player and had all the privileges of a player except the capability of logging out. So in the end am I a player or an NPC.’

A girl wondered about her identity.

‘Since I could participate in the rankings, I should get a good ranking to keep the face for the NPCs’ thought the girl smirking.

—------------

In another player-established territory.

Dragons of different sizes could be flying in the sky of the territory.

A woman stood in front of a dragon statue. She was an archaeology student. Once during a university expedition to some old ruins, she found a Dragon statue. She felt as if it was calling to her so she secretly kept it with her.

Who knew the statue that followed her to the game could be used as an alternative Fog Foundation Stone?

—------------

‘Am I too late?’

‘The rankings have already started, I should not waste too much of my time.’

‘But I don't want to lose those twins. In my last life, they followed a player who took advantage of their plight and offered them servitude in exchange for protection as they killed the local gangster boss and were harassed by the big boss of the city's underworld because the local boss was his younger brother.’

‘That player struck gold. The twins were too talented and with their help he reached Sequence 3 Overlord (Overlord is the title for Sequence 3, like Extraordinary is the title for Sequence 9). Those two also were Sequence 3. That was the last he knew as he died later.’

‘Have they already followed that player?’

‘I remember that they didn't have a good relationship initially. I could take advantage of that and take them for me. But I need to find them for it.’

‘No hurry, I still have time for them.’

‘I need to look for others who got famous later. I already got two such followers but need more.’

‘With my future knowledge, I will prepare for the world’s assimilation with the game world. I will be ahead of everyone else and stand shoulder to shoulder with those giants and even surpass them.’

‘My legend will start with getting top positions in these rankings.’

A man was thinking of his plans while eating in a small food shop in the town square of the Falmise City in the Black Forest Kingdom.

He asked around for twin beautiful girls, but the only response he got was about two twin girls leaving the territory to explore outside, but one of them was blindfolded. He remembered that none of the twins in his previous life had a blindfold so concluded that they were not his target.

—------------

Many guilds were also lucky enough to obtain Fog Foundation Stones. Many guilds had Mortal Territory of their own.

Many charismatic players were able to acquire their followers but the requirement of 71 points of loyalty stumped most if not all of them.

All the guilds started preparing for the upcoming rankings as getting a name in the rankings was a surefire way of increasing their guild’s popularity.

—------------

When the players had barely recovered from one bomb, another bomb exploded.

[World Announcement]

[World Event: Monster Tide]

[After 15 days, a monster tide will attack all the territories designated as players' starting territories along with the territories established by players and their followers. The event will be two days long. The strength of the monster tide will depend on the overall strength of the territory. After which the top players with the most monster kills will be awarded. Kills done by followers will be counted in players' accounts. Top rewards consist of potions and potion formulas.]

—------------

“Hurry stock as many consumables as possible. Tell all the guild members to level up as fast as possible. Provide increased support to top members. This event, we will win.”

“Yes, guild master.”

Such talks were happening in all the guilds.

They gave the World Event much more importance than the Rankings. As it was clear that the Rankings were not one time. If they failed to get a good position they could try again. But the World Event was one time only.

If the rankings showed the majesty of the guild, the World Event proved it.

Moreover, they could use the reward from the event to get a better ranking.

—------------

Meanwhile, Drake and his group also heard both announcements.

He was not much interested in the rankings but thought since he was playing the game he could still do something about it.

“Take care of it.” He left all the responsibility to the twins. At least he would get a good ranking in the Followers Rankings.

He had no territory, so no chance for that. It was not that he had no interest in getting a territory but the time was not right.

If he could get a suitable follower, he might let her create a territory. Of course, the follower would be a she.

Lastly for the Player Rankings, if he got a rankings, good, if not, still good. He wanted to play the game only to enjoy and have fun.

Again, for the event, he would let his followers do the hard work.

The twins whose eyes were already blazing with fire after listening to the announcements, further intensified their resolve after listening to Drake's order.

“Yes, Young Master. Leave it to us.”

They said in unison. They were going to work hard so that their lord could get the top rank in both the followers' rankings and the event.

Drake sold the Gale Vulture to a restaurant and then rented a small mansion in the good part of the city.

They reached the mansion and settled in.

There was still an hour before dinner time, so he had an hour to waste.

Instead of wasting it, he decided to utilize it. It was finally time to taste his followers.