As soon as Wayne arrived, everyone immediately crowded around his booth.
Ignoring them, Wayne put on his glasses. It turned out that Tirion Fordring's arrival at the net cafe had made him the 100th member, completing [Management Task 8: Reach 100 Net Cafe Members]. This achievement had unlocked the game Uncharted Waters IV.
He entered the game immediately, and the people around him began watching his livestream on the screens.
After a brief animation, the "KOEI TECMO" logo lit up. Wayne gave a mental "ptui" and cursed the company under his breath.
Next, a series of character illustrations appeared: the three new characters—Tiago, Woodstock (Abraham), and Kyotaro—followed by the original four: Rafael, Lil, Hodram, and Hua Mei Li. Then came the scenes of various companions, old and new, like Aziza and Shel.
When Chen had discovered the new game earlier, he had started playing by himself while others were busy, so it was only now at Wayne's booth that they saw the full opening cinematic.
The art style of these character portraits was very similar to the oil-style portraits they saw in their daily lives, which naturally gave everyone a sense of familiarity. Wayne thought this made sense; the "Age of Discovery" was a historical period from the 15th to 17th centuries when massive fleets departed from Europe to find new trade routes. Therefore, the game's art style and clothing were European in design, matching the aesthetics of Azeroth quite closely.
After the animation, Wayne entered the login interface and found himself standing on a massive warship with three towering masts. Beside him, sailors were at their posts, cutting through the waves.
This was no longer strange to him. The VR Enhanced Edition focused on realism, transforming 2D pixels and cartoon scenes into 3D environments that were indistinguishable from reality. Even though the game hadn't officially started, the heavy, salty scent of the sea breeze was enough to transport his body and soul from his chair to the middle of the ocean.
"Set sail!"
With a command, the game began. Which of the seven characters to choose?
Wayne initially thought of choosing Woodstock (Abraham) because he had three beautiful wives and a highly-skilled Indian first mate. Additionally, there were no strong enemies in the Indian Ocean, and it was easy to reach Africa, the holy land for making money. It was a character with advantages in crew size and geography for the early game.
However, on second thought, he noticed from Chen's screen that the player was physically involved in this enhanced version, rather than just playing a character role. Now, the player was the true protagonist; choosing a character simply determined whose "maritime dream" plotline you would use to start. More importantly, the companions in the game would help the player become the most powerful maritime force on the seven seas.
If he chose Woodstock, it meant those three wives would still belong to someone else. Not only would they have nothing to do with him, but he'd also have to watch the four of them acting all lovey-dovey every day. Wayne realized that for certain types of players, this was the ultimate anti-addiction system—otherwise, everyone might spend their time trying to cuckold Woodstock.
So, he chose the Chinese character who vowed not to allow any pirates to run rampant, and who was considered by many to be the number one beauty of the game—Hua Mei Li.
"Hua Mei Li, born June 7th, Gemini, serving the Wayne Family."
The grand voyage officially began!
In a Chinese-style room, Li Hua Mei and other crew members were reporting to Wayne about a naval battle that had just concluded. This served as a general introduction to the starting situation. Their fleet, composed of two modest Chinese junks—the Chun-Shen and the Hua-Chang—had defeated a small fleet of the Kurushima pirates. This informed the player that a hostile force existed from the very beginning.
Additionally, due to the Ming Dynasty's policy of national isolation, every transaction in coastal cities required a 3% fee as "tax"—which was essentially a bribe.
Furthermore, while starting with Li Hua Mei provided five powerful crew members, including the game's top "Swordmaster," Yukihiro Shiraki, none of them could serve as a Navigator at the start. Having a Navigator meant that once a port was discovered, a contract signed, and a route confirmed, you could use auto-sailing between ports. Without one, you had to manually command the sailors to manipulate the sails.
Despite these challenges, Li Hua Mei had significant advantages. Starting in East Asia meant that aside from a 20% contract in a major city like Hangzhou, nearby ports—such as Xinzhou, Quanzhou, Macau, Seoul, and Naha—were "blank" cities with no maritime forces signed to them. The trade margins between these cities were substantial. The port of Naha in the Ryukyu Islands, in particular, was a paradise for making money.
Leaving the room and entering the wharf, it looked exactly like a real wharf, just as Chen had experienced while carrying goods. The exchange, the guild, the tavern, the plaza, the shipyard, and the inn were all physical facilities you could walk into and explore.
With limited initial funds, Wayne bought several cargo holds of Level 5 Jade at the exchange. After his men loaded the goods, he departed the port, heading south toward the port of Quanzhou.
"What is the point of this game?" "Yeah, I've been waiting for a battle scene." "It seems there's no fighting, just making money?" "What's the fun in that? Can you bring the money you make in the game back to the real world?"
The onlookers, who didn't quite understand after watching for a while, began to ask questions.
Wayne told them, "This game is about exploration, accumulation, and of course, freedom. You need some patience."
At this moment, Chen was in the Mediterranean, pulling the sails of a small boat. He let the sea breeze blow through his fur, his face filled with joy and excitement. Being able to take the helm and sail across the vast ocean was a brand new experience for a Pandaren who had been a wanderer for half his life. He kept urging Li Li to join in, saying that these skills would be useful when they eventually got a real ship to find Pandaria.
The onlookers didn't know about Chen's personal goals. They looked at Chen, then back at Wayne, seeing nothing but buying goods and sailing ships. They truly didn't understand the fun of such a game. As time passed, most of the crowd dispersed—some to start their overnight sessions, others to go home.
Wayne wasn't in a hurry. Anything from the net cafe was a masterpiece; he just needed some time to figure out the features of this enhanced edition. For instance, he discovered that time in the game never stopped, progressing at a rate where one day in reality was roughly twelve days in the game.
Also, a line he caught in the bottom-left chat box—"King Arthur has joined the game"—indicated that this was more like an "Online Game." It was just that the seven seas were too vast and there were currently too few players, so they hadn't run into each other yet.
The night passed. Wayne played until he was too sleepy to continue. Even when a player logged off, they could leave operational strategies for their lieutenants, allowing the fleet to continue trading activities.
Unlike the combat-only followers in Skyrim or the NPCs in Monster Hunter G who followed strict scripts, the crew in this game possessed high intelligence. For example, before logging off, Wayne could tell Li Hua Mei which cities to visit and what goods to buy based on profit margins. She would execute these orders within her capabilities and even command the fleet to evade hostile Kurushima ships.
Furthermore, all crew members could chat with the player. Beyond local customs, historical anecdotes, and personal experiences, Wayne could even talk to them about things in Azeroth. These NPCs didn't just give simple canned responses; they could think and remember past conversations. This ensured that exploration at sea was never boring.
Wayne didn't sleep in late the next morning. With a new game out, he wanted to see if his fleet had run into trouble while he slept. He got up early to log in. Fortunately, although the crew's level wasn't high and their automated efficiency was lower than his manual control, the few hours he slept had earned him a good amount of money.
This was thanks to the "Ace Trade Route" of the early game: the back-and-forth trade of "Sugar" from Naha and "Salt" from Xinzhou. In the game settings, continuously buying a certain category of goods—like Sugar (condiments)—would drive up the price of that entire category. Conversely, selling large amounts of Sugar would gradually lower the price of all condiments.
However, the game wasn't quite like reality; the price distinctions weren't that fine. The buying and selling of one product affected the price of the entire category. This meant that even if he kept buying Naha's sugar and selling it in Xinzhou, as long as he also bought salt (another condiment) in Xinzhou, the price wouldn't plummet. He could even keep the overall price of condiments high by selling a few less crates of sugar and buying a few more crates of salt. This behavior was known in the game as "Hedging."
In this version, however, due to the slowed time and vastly increased space, the voyage from one port to another was exactly like the real Earth. Combined with wind power and the crew's sailing skills, the speed of making money wasn't nearly as fast as the original single-player version where you could get rich in no time.
But that was fine. Since it was an online game, the standards were fair for everyone. What left Wayne speechless was that Chen had been online before he logged off, and after a few hours of sleep, Chen was still online. This guy was truly obsessed with finding Pandaria.
Just then, Tess came running over.
"Boss, boss, things are bad! There's a huge crowd outside."
"What's bad about a huge crowd? Doesn't that mean we make more money?" Wayne asked.
"No, just come and see!"
Wayne followed her out. Just as they had said yesterday, McBride and Alos had each brought a large group of subordinates today, looking like they were ready for a massive brawl. On McBride's side were familiar faces: Vice Captain Verdan, the warrior Laini, the priest Anita, and the paladin Samuel. But this time, to beat his "old friend," he had also brought Egan "the Wolf Hunter," Joric the Rogue Trainer, and Dan the Warlock Trainer—a grand total of over twenty people.
"Oh, old classmate," Alos said. "You brought everyone you could, didn't you?"
His lineup was just as strong; he had brought the core members of the Second Legion who had followed him to Stormwind. Still accompanying the two "old children" was the embarrassed Navy Vice Admiral, Cantrely...
"If you want to surrender, do it now," McBride said. "If not, let's go inside and start. Five-on-five, as agreed."
"Less talk! Let's go! Today I'll show you the strength of the Second Legion!" Alos shouted.
His followers behind him roared, "For the Alliance!"
Seeing the other side's momentum, McBride gave Verdan a look. Verdan quickly shouted, "Northshire!"
His followers shouted back, "Victory! Victory! Victory!"
Everyone in the net cafe—even Chen, who was neglecting sleep and food for the ocean—took off their glasses to watch the scene outside. They wondered if soldiers fighting a "group brawl" in a net cafe game counted as a crime, given that private brawling was a capital offense for them.
The two commanders led the way into the cafe. An adjutant followed with a large bag of gold coins, heading to the counter to pay. Today was also the first day on the job for Antonio Pirelli, who had finally recovered from his injuries. Since he was a wandering merchant skilled at buying low and selling high, the task of handling the money was left to him.
As they passed the lounge area, near the massive livestream wall made of nine screens, Cantrely stopped in her tracks and couldn't help but scream, "What is this?!"
Alos and McBride turned their heads in response.
"Oh no!" Wayne saw that the big screen was currently showing his own fleet, led by Li Hua Mei, in a battle against two ironclad ships of the Kurushima family!