The mouse moved on the screen leaving behind a few ripples as the character screen opened, showcasing four characters linked to one account.
Frost, Sleepy, Nightmare, Asleep.
If one asked Xiao Yi how he came up with his names he’d have to be honest - V chose them based on his personality. Frost was chosen by Chen Qiang… Only alt characters on his other account IDs were chosen by himself, but he was awful at naming.
The mouse moved to the character, Sleepy, for no other reason than it was the second in the list and he had no special reason to use another. Frost simply couldn’t be used because the friend list would show his real activity and name change couldn’t fool friends - if those bastards were smart, they’d log into their old accounts sooner than later.
Xiao Yi leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed underneath his thigh whilst the other leg pushed off the ground, bouncing the chair slightly as he stared at the loading screen.
As the character loaded, he raised a brow with a slight smirk.
Black nameplate.
‘Did I go on a rampage last time I logged in?’
Extremely likely.
The POV moved as Xiao Yi checked the appearance of his character, switching from looking at the back to the front.
A Blood Elf with long black hair with a red hue in the light appeared on the screen. It wore a training outfit with one ripped sleeve that showcased a golden dragon tattooed wrapping around his bare arm with its tail at his wrist and head disappearing underneath the rest of the sleeve.
Spoiler, the head rested on his shoulder.
It was one of ‘Frost’s’ old character customizations that V had made for his private account but it had rarely been used by him during that time. It was V’s mistake to give it as a gift right before they won the championship!
The POV switched again and he glanced around. Sleepy, unlike Frost, was in a bustling lower-level city in the first continent next to the city spawn. He didn’t have a house yet and likely accompanied a player in this continent.
In Valley of Light, there are 4 continents but despite being a low-level continent, this would also be the most popular one. Each continent had one capital city, which was where Sleepy had spawned into, and a mirage of towns, villages, camps with the usual dungeons, bandit camps, training areas, mob farms, gathering spots, etc.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Each continent had different terrain, cultures, architecture, seasons, and weather.
This continent was so popular due to the lack of rain, which would cause the stalls to shut down automatically if the ‘weather’ became harsh. The architecture was boring compared to the other continents, but it was a vast grassland with lush grass and trees that branched out for miles until it hit the ocean.
Another reason was that it was indeed the lowest level cap continent with new players filtering into the city at level 25. It was common for players to set up stalls to sell and buy items, scam other players, and find new players for guild recruitment, quests, dungeon recruitment, etc.
Xiao Yi glanced at the bustling crowds filtering through the streets and sighed.
How likely was it that he’d be able to catch a boat to the fourth continent?
Did he really want to waste his time traveling by boat?
No - he really didn’t want to.
It was while he was contemplating this fact that he noticed the chat boxes above the other player’s heads, their words treating him as if he were an exotic animal that couldn’t understand human language. Or, they just assumed he wouldn’t check the general chat.
[A black-plated player?]
[I thought that the guards wouldn’t let those players walk around peacefully!]
[Should we report him to the lord?]
[Why haven’t I seen his name before?]
[The guards in this continent can’t deal with a maxed-level character so they decide to cut their losses and leave them be.]
[He’s maxed level!]
[He doesn’t have a guild yet? Who’s going to notify the assassin guild to come pick him up?]
Finally, a voice of reason pulled up. A little mage typed carefully: [Guys, what if he kills us because we’re annoying him?]
[Isn’t he AFK?]
And this is why Xiao Yi rarely checks the general chat. He glanced around at the little green-name-plated players around him and playfully moved his character a few steps.
The little low-level green players swiftly either ran off or logged out, all that was left were a few veteran players with yellow and orange nameplates who seemed to be AFK.
‘It’s not like I’d actually kill you… Did you forget you’re in a safe zone?’
The little leveled players did have good reasons for running off, though. Valley of Light was a typical MMORPG inspired by both Western and Wuxia fantasy worlds but some key differences made VOL oh-so-popular.
Firstly, the game was visually stunning and updated its graphics every few years to stay at the top of the industry without creating a new game. The company also switched around quests, and NPCs, added new content or continents, and raised the level caps as well as some other odd changes.
Secondly, the fact that this game could be played either competitively or leisurely. It pleased the PVE, PVX, and PVP players equally.
Colored nameplates were one of the things that was focused toward the PVX and PVP players and could be used to show status and provide a warning label that catered to PVE players.
[White] Beginner players level 1 - 20 [can't be attacked at all]
[Green] Mostly novice players 20 - 50 [can only be attacked by green players]
[Yellow] World level players 50 - 100 [can be attacked by any]
[Orange] Players that have killed 20 or more players in open PVP in a week
[Red] Players that have killed 50 or more players in open PVP in a week
[Black] MAxPlayers that have killed more than 500 opponents without cleansing.
[Gold] VIP players. This includes pro players or the first 100 players to reach the max level.
Those players literally couldn’t have been attacked by him, so he wasn’t sure why they scurried away. The ironic thing was that the green players ran, while the yellow and orange-plated players whom he could have a ‘fun time’ with stayed.