Endless Debt-Chapter 738 - 218: The Game Begins

The heavy iron serpent races across the wilderness, while on the game board, the Dawn is also ready to set off, preparing to leave the starting station and traverse the map along the predetermined route.

According to the game setting of "Journey of the Absolute Night," there is only one type of piece, which is the Hunter. Based on the initial weapons and values carried by the Hunters, they differentiate into various types.

As before, Bologue chose a Hunter proficient in using various cold weapons and adept at close combat for his role. This type of Hunter is known as Swift Wolf.

The Identity Card is placed in front, and Palmer handed over the Hunter piece corresponding to the Identity Card. The small, exquisite model is carved with vivid imagery; the Hunter’s body is slightly hunched, a Sword Bag strapped on his back, filled with deadly weapons. At the base of the piece is the emblem of Swift Wolf.

Hart chose the Howling Bear type of Hunter. This type of Hunter initially carries Heavy Armor and a Warhammer, with the lowest agility value among initial values, but also possesses the highest initial Armor value, akin to a group of Heavy Armor Knights.

Aimou picked her profession, but her profession wasn’t a Hunter; instead, it was an Alchemist Bologue had never seen before.

Bologue had some prior knowledge of "Journey of the Absolute Night," mostly from what he absorbed from Palmer. He remembered that the game should only have the single profession of Hunter. At this moment, Palmer grabbed a box and pointed at the embossed golden letters on it.

"Luxury Edition!"

Palmer beamed and cursed under his breath, "The official team found the game pieces somewhat monotonous, so they added a few pieces, increased the price, and turned it into a luxury edition..."

When talking about this, Palmer’s gaze interrogated Ewen, who pretended to know nothing, as he wasn’t well-versed in board games. When pulled into meetings with game companies by editors, all Ewen did was nod.

The relationship between Alchemists and Hunters is somewhat akin to that between a Sublimation Furnace Core and the Field Operations Department. According to the novel’s content, Alchemists extract powerful Magic Potions from Demons and inject them into Hunters, empowering them to fight against these fearsome monsters.

Though Aimou’s character doesn’t possess any combat abilities, she can rescue other players in the game, acting as a battlefield medic and, if necessary, enhance teammates to deliver a deadly strike.

Canary flipped an Identity Card and placed it in front of herself. She is a Hawk Hunter, initially carrying a Crossbow, with an extremely wide attack range. According to the current rulebook, Hawk Hunter is the perfect starting role, and with their ultra-long attack range, they often pass the first few events unscathed.

In discussing this, Palmer’s expression grew complex. Hawk Hunter was Palmer’s favorite role to play, but due to his terrible luck, he often ended up badly injured within the first couple of turns.

Cinderella opened her Identity Card; her profession was also an Alchemist. She picked a piece she liked from the pile and held it in her hand.

Now only Ewen had not revealed his Identity Card, and the others directed their attention toward him. As Ewen unveiled his card, an unexpected profession appeared.

Minstrel.

"Wow, what a coincidence."

Palmer praised repeatedly and then expressed envy, saying, "This is a rare identity; I’ve never played it before."

The Minstrel is a hidden identity in "Journey of the Absolute Night," randomly assigned. Palmer’s previous purchase of "Journey of the Absolute Night" had not revealed this identity, but, unexpectedly, the temporary copy he bought contained it.

This identity has very mediocre values, and the initial equipment is just a useless book. Yet, this seemingly dull character identity possesses a very unique ability.

In the setting of "Night Hunter," besides battling Hunters and assisting Alchemists aboard the Dawn, there are ordinary Minstrels. Their job is to record this hunting journey. Therefore, in the rulebook’s setup, Minstrels die only after all Hunters are dead; before that, even if severely injured, Minstrels won’t leave the stage. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Everyone wants to play as powerful Hunters rather than a surviving, observing Minstrel. Combined with mundane values and boring gameplay, almost no one opts for this identity.

Though game-wise there is little value, due to the rarity of Minstrels, their worth has gradually increased. In some stores, this rare piece can fetch a good price, making many desire to collect it.

Palmer, being a seasoned player, knows Minstrel’s impotence in the game, "Are you sure you want to assume this identity?"

"Why not?"

Ewen quite liked the identity, "It also counts as a role true to form."

"Hmm... I just think it’s a bit repetitive," Palmer said, "Role-playing is fundamentally about immersion."

"The Minstrel in the game setting follows the hunting of Demons, recording the Journey of the Absolute Night, but to a large extent, the host is already a recorder like... like..."

Palmer momentarily struggled to describe his feeling.

Ewen understood Palmer’s point, "Narrative level issue?"

"Yes! Exactly that,"

Palmer was enlightened by Ewen, "The host is like a narrator, I’m already at the highest narrative level, while you’re beneath my narrative level, another narrative layer... it sounds a bit like nesting dolls."

"Hm? I think it’s not bad,"

Ewen smiled, settling on the identity, placing the Identity Card in front of him.

"Well then, roll the dice, everyone."

Palmer brought out the twelve-sided dice, handing it to the players for them to roll sequentially, adding up their values, and with a simple conversion, determining the number of spaces the Dawn moves forward.

The Dawn moves forward, rumbling across the game’s map, stopping in a desolate wilderness.

"You’ve arrived at a desolate land; gray-white sandstones and dried shrubs are the only things within sight... are they really the only things?"

You gaze into the distant darkness.

Palmer narrates with real atmosphere, as if, true to his words, the scenery outside the window slows gradually, light disappearing, leaving only the indefinitely stretching gloom.

Following the game order, the remaining six draw Event Cards in sequence, then flip them open one by one.

Bologue, the first to draw a card, also flips open the first Event Card; as the card rotates, a grim artwork emerges before everyone’s eyes.

The card depicts a group of terrifying monsters. According to the illustrations in "Night Hunter," these are Demons.

Hart remarked, "It’s not a lucky start."

"You gaze into the darkness; the darkness gazes back at you, as the pitch-black world begins to writhe, twisted monsters swarm over the wilderness, leaping towards you."

Palmer recounts the content of the Event Card, guiding the players to the next step.

"You encounter Demons, the battle begins."

The six roll the dice again, different values signifying the pieces of their characters appearing at various positions on the board. It was also at this moment that Palmer placed game pieces representing the Demons on the board.

Like two armies confronting each other, the battle between Hunters and Demons erupted. Bologue made another dice roll, moving and slashing according to the values, slaughtering the beasts existing only in their imaginations on the board.

Aimou cheered; she rolled a beautiful number, a huge reinforcement allowing Bologue to deal a critical hit. Even Palmer envied her; he had played for so long, getting such a major success was rare and major failures myriad.

Everyone loved playing with Palmer because he was definitely at the bottom.

Palmer glanced at the time; they had plenty of it for the game, as for the gameplay itself...

The Dawn had just left the starting station, with a long journey ahead, not to mention, according to the game setting, the further you go, the more challenging the game becomes.

"Journey of the Absolute Night" spans several natural environments: wilderness, coastlines, snow-capped mountains. As this game has not been out long, there are many flaws in numerical mechanisms, and the official team hasn’t had time to fix them.

Based on Palmer’s prior gaming experience, once reaching snowy mountains, the difficulty spikes instantly. When playing with others, Palmer almost always loses in the mountains. Despite frequent play, he has never truly completed "Journey of the Absolute Night."

The dice fall intermingled, emitting crisp collision sounds constantly. Amidst these pleasant tones, pieces traverse the board, and one by one, the Demons fall, with the Dawn arduously moving forward again, triumphantly advancing in players’ imagined worlds.