### Chapter 0: Faction Selection
==============================
Choosing a faction is a monumental dilemma for many players. But when the 30-minute countdown hits zero, they’re left with no choice but to confront their inner turmoil.
If they’re late, they might not even get a sip of soup!
Players over level 30 are all in a tizzy, flooding forums with countless “Should I choose White Feather City or Cold Wind City?” threads.
Meanwhile, players below level 30 are just enjoying the show, not being able to participate themselves. They’re content being the cheerful audience munching on snacks.
Within just two minutes after registration opened, all 5,000 spots vanished like hotcakes.
Of course, this included many guilds of all sizes, banding together in an organized manner to aim for greater benefits in the game.
Anyone who carefully read the update notice knew that participating in this two-faction showdown offered not just the system rewards for the ultimate victor, but NPCs would continuously release missions during the duel. This meant plenty of stage rewards waiting for them to uncover.
Those choosing the faction with better odds would have more opportunities. Even if the final system rewards were slightly fewer, they could compensate through these stages.
So, when the final list was revealed, the player distribution was pretty much in accordance with the winning chances.
About 4,000 players went for White Feather City, while around 1,000 stubborn ones chose to gamble with Cold Wind City.
These 5,000 were the elite among players, mostly inner disciples from various sects, with guilds largely built around these sects. The behemoth among them? The Heavenly Sword Sect Guild!
While most players belonged to various major sects, a few free-spirited wanderers jumped into the fray, eager to work for the Monster Race amid the chaos. To them, it was all perfectly normal.
Whoever dangles the meat is the boss.
But how did the NPCs view this turn of events?
Curious players couldn’t help but fish for answers.
The NPCs, however, responded nonchalantly. “Isn’t this just normal? The sect leader approved it. Inner disciples simply go out to train. What’s the big deal?”
Alright then, letting Human Race disciples work for the Monster Race is indeed a form of training.
With the game system permitting it, how could there possibly be any mistakes from the NPCs? The players were simply worrying for nothing.
However, within the guilds based on various major sects, there was one that stood out — the “Extermination of Immortals” guild, which gathered some disciples from major sects and numerous wandering cultivators.
Its leader was Dog Head Strong Brother, while Cold Little Rain and Li Xiaocong served as vice presidents.
Since Dog Head took on the task assigned by Demon-Slaying Squad captain Wei Wenxuan, he was close to tearing his hair out.
Recruiting ten player cultists should have been a piece of cake; he could easily rally a thousand or so in his live stream.
But the NPCs are natives who grew up with cultivation education. Just the thought of such rebellious talk might make Dog Head explode.
And as luck would have it, he tried to recruit in a remote village, thinking the locals were simple folk and there weren’t any temples or shrines around.
He brandished a lollipop and caught a five or six-year-old boy with bubbles coming out of his nose, trying to recruit him as his first member.
After much negotiation, the kid took the lollipop and nodded, but the system never sent him that joyous notification.
It dawned on Dog Head that merely getting a verbal agreement wasn’t enough; the kid had to truly believe and sincerely participate to qualify.
When the little kid tangled with a strangely dressed outsider, thinking he was a human trafficker, the parents promptly summoned a horde of youths to haphazardly beat Dog Head to near incapacity.
After barely recovering, he ventured to a few more places, only to be chased away and beaten as a suspected cult leader.
Clearly, the initial sparks of innovation always come with the most arduous challenges.
At this point, Dog Head started to understand how tough it was for the creators of revolutionary ideas back in the day.
Just when despair hit and he considered the task impossible, an unexpected twist emerged.
Rich kid Li Xiaocong appeared, bringing along NPC Si Yan.
Virtually everyone in the player community had heard of the previous “Small Cave Heaven” live broadcast, and even if someone missed it, they caught up on the forums.
Si Yan sought the help of Extermination of Immortals. Naturally, as her boyfriend, Li Xiaocong was all in on helping.
He brought Si Yan to Dog Head with the goal of fulfilling his first mission, securing his identity as a member of Extermination of Immortals.
Si Yan, as an NPC, completely satisfied the recruitment criteria.
Before this, Li Xiaocong had briefed Si Yan on Wei Wenxuan’s anti-cultivation philosophies discussed on the forums.
She was so excited upon hearing them, shouting that this was true world harmony.
Perhaps, having carried too much suffering in her early years, she utterly despised the low-tier cultivators who toyed with power over the weaker. The ideals of Extermination of Immortals resonated perfectly with her expectations.
Thus, Dog Head finally received his first devoted cultist.
At this point, Dog Head finally saw the light.
NPCs didn’t just include humans; there were also countless monster races capable of speaking. As for the demon race, nobody had seen them yet, so let’s not even factor them in.
Instead of trying to convert ten stubborn humans, recruiting monsters would likely be way easier.
Just then, the game updated, and Dog Head was overjoyed to discover they could actually join the Monster Race faction. He was practically ready to shout in glee.
He immediately rallied everyone in his live stream, proposing to form the “Extermination of Immortals” guild. All stubborn players were welcome to join.
Of course, due to Little Musashi’s influence, he absolutely hated White Feather City, yearning to shred the Great King of the Split Land to pieces, so he could only join Cold Wind City’s faction.
Given the player level restrictions and Cold Wind City’s high difficulty, their guild ended up rallying nearly two hundred members.
This was still thanks to Cold Moon Witch and Little Musashi’s popularity; players showed Dog Head some face. Otherwise, with so many big guilds in White Feather City, any of them could easily rake in a fat profit. Why bother enduring the cold sweats in Cold Wind City?
Once the player numbers for each faction were announced, a wave of shock swept through the community.
White Feather City was already powerful, and now with an additional 4,000 players, it was practically a one-sided slaughter! For poor, nameless Cold Wind City to have any hope of winning in this showdown felt akin to tackling hell-level difficulty.
Meanwhile, official win rate estimates shifted to:
White Feather City 95%, Cold Wind City 5%.
Needless to say, both the officials and players had immense faith in the White Feather side.
After all, high-profile figures such as Heavenly Sword Sect Guild Leader Li Hanbo and Extermination of Immortals Guild’s Upgrade Maniac were on White Feather’s side.
As for Cold Wind City, apart from the Extermination of Immortals Guild and the second guild leader of Heavenly Sword Sect, Firefly, who was slightly known, the rest of the small guilds were utterly insignificant.
An epic battle was about to unfold under the attentions of countless players.
