A look of shock flashed across Yu Xiangnan's eyes, which was then replaced by a bright smile.
"Of course, I couldn't ask for more."
Seeing this, the petite girl's tense nerves instantly relaxed, and a shy smile appeared on her face. The woman carrying the bow and arrow laughed heartily, hands on her hips, "Alright, let's show those guys what our team is all about!"
The trial was not described in detail. Yu Xiangnan, who had never participated in the trial, only knew that it was divided into four stages.
The first step is the team competition; only by successfully passing the team competition can you enter the individual trial. The individual trial is divided into three stages, and if you fail to pass any one of them, you will not be able to obtain the Gold Badge.
Although the Gold Badge is not considered particularly difficult to obtain among the Blue Badges, this gives you an idea of just how terrifying the Trial of Fire must be.
With about three minutes left before the trial officially began, the three quickly huddled together and whispered their battle plan.
The woman carrying the bow and arrow was named He Huai, level 77, while the petite woman was named Lin Yuzhen, level 73.
He Huai took out a cloth from his backpack and skillfully wiped the bow and arrow in his hand. At the same time, he lowered his voice and said slowly and deliberately, "I have participated in the Trial of Gold before. From my observation, the items with high scores are likely hidden in the core area of the trial field. However, there are definitely a lot of high-level players gathered there, all of them eyeing it covetously."
"Let's not rush in yet, it's too risky. Let's start collecting items from the outer perimeter, which is near our team's exclusive area, where items don't respawn."
Lin Yuzhen took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, and said in a soft but firm voice, "I...I've participated once before. I'm quite familiar with the game rules, traps, and mechanisms, so maybe I can help everyone avoid some dangers."
Seeing that both of them had experience participating in the Trial of Gold, Yu Xiangnan was taken aback.
She said, "In that case, I'll take care of getting the props! I'm better at close combat."
He Huai nodded slightly.
"Then it's up to you! I'm good at ranged attacks. Once we're inside, I'll provide cover from the outside. If other teams try to steal the items, I can use my bow and arrows to hold them off and buy you some time."
As she spoke, she put the cleaned bow and arrows back into the quiver, patted them, and a sharp glint flashed in her eyes.
After a hasty discussion, Yu Xiangnan had a general understanding of the rules.
Upon entering the trial, each player will automatically be equipped with a bracelet of a different color; players of the same color belong to the same team. Simultaneously, an area corresponding to the bracelet's color will appear in the scene; only by successfully placing items into this area can the team score points.
Defending your base is a strategy to secure points. If no one is guarding it, other players can steal items from your area. If items are stolen, points will be deducted. Only items left in the area at the end of the time limit will count as points.
Besides defending the base, another strategy is for the three players to carry a lot of items and then place them in the corresponding areas when time is almost up. This avoids the situation where they have to defend and fight for items at the same time, but end up with nothing.
Just as they were having a heated discussion, the skeleton in the center of the arena spoke again.
"The team competition is about to begin, please get ready."
Suddenly, the world spun around him, and Yu Xiangnan felt the scene before him magnify rapidly. When he came to his senses, he found himself seemingly thrown into a warehouse.
Just as He Huai and the others said, all the players participating in the trial...
They've all been shrunk!
The warehouse was filled with an old and worn atmosphere. The floor was made of rough stone slabs, and some moss grew in the cracks.
In the very center, a huge grandfather clock occupied a large space, its pendulum several times their height.
The grandfather clock's glass cover is covered in mottled verdigris, through which you can see the densely packed gears inside. Large gears drive smaller gears, which in turn drive the adjacent gear sets. They mesh and rotate, making a "click-clack" sound that echoes in the empty warehouse.
Giant wooden crates were piled up next to the clock, each crate resembling a small mountain. In a distant corner, some old tools, such as axes and shovels, were placed, all of which were ridiculously large.
From a reduced perspective, it resembles a giant's weapon.
Yu Xiangnan squinted and looked into the distance, where he could vaguely see several small moving dots, which should be players from other teams.
They were located far away, at the other end of the warehouse, where the light was dim, and their location could only be determined by the moving figures.
At this moment, light blue bracelets appeared on Yu Xiangnan and the others' hands, and their designated area also appeared, only about ten times the size of themselves after being shrunk.
Yu Xiangnan also discovered that his card album was locked by a transparent energy shield, and no matter how he tried, he could not take out any items from it.
"Attention everyone, all card collections have now been blocked. You have half a minute to choose one weapon. After selection, you can only use that weapon, your own class skills, and additional skills. If cheating is detected, you will be permanently banned from participating in the Trial of Gold. You are not welcome here!"
The sinister voice of the skeleton suddenly exploded in their ears, sending a chill down everyone's spine.
"The trial is over when two incense sticks have burned out. Please be mindful of the time..."
Yu Xiangnan looked in the direction of the sound and saw two incense sticks appear out of thin air in the middle of the warehouse, steadily enveloped by an invisible transparent barrier.
At the tip of one of the incense sticks, a pale blue flame flickered gently, igniting the incense in an instant.
Wisps of smoke rose gently, slowly dissipating within the oppressive warehouse.
"Two incense sticks" is a rather vague time concept. Generally speaking, the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn is about an hour.
However, this fragrance is different from the fragrance of Blue Star.
He Huai said that one incense stick lasts about an hour. Two incense sticks last about two hours.
The trial begins the moment you choose your weapon. In the warehouse, various items suddenly shrink to about the same size as the player and appear randomly, including screaming chickens, batteries, tissues, mice, shovels, teddy bears, and more, each clearly marked with its corresponding score.
At a glance, the items are mostly worth less than ten points. Even if the three people can fill their own inventory, they can only get a maximum of sixty points, which is far from the target score of eighty.
But right now, there's no time to think about it.
"No time, choose a weapon first!" He Huai decisively picked up the longbow on his back, quickly hid behind a wooden box, crouched down, and focused intently on observing the situation, not missing any movement.
Yu Xiangnan quickly made his choice, picked up the [mysterious old shovel], and sprinted towards the screaming chicken that had the highest score in his field of vision.
"Cluck—cluck cluck—coo coo coo—"
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