The heavy iron serpent races across the wilderness, while on the ga 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 ga 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 Palr 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 Warhamr, 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 so prior knowledge of "Journey of the Absolute Night," mostly from what he absorbed from Palr. He rembered that the ga should only have the single profession of Hunter. At this mont, Palr grabbed a box and pointed at the embossed golden letters on it.
"Luxury Edition!"
Palr bead and cursed under his breath, "The official team found the ga pieces sowhat monotonous, so they added a few pieces, increased the price, and turned it into a luxury edition..."
When talking about this, Palr’s gaze interrogated Ewen, who pretended to know nothing, as he wasn’t well-versed in board gas. When pulled into etings with ga companies by editors, all Ewen did was nod.
The relationship between Alchemists and Hunters is sowhat akin to that between a Sublimation Furnace Core and the Field Operations Departnt. According to the novel’s content, Alchemists extract powerful Magic Potions from Demons and inject them into Hunters, empowering them to fight against these fearso monsters.
Though Aimou’s character doesn’t possess any combat abilities, she can rescue other players in the ga, acting as a battlefield dic 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 extrely 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, Palr’s expression grew complex. Hawk Hunter was Palr’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."
Palr 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. Palr’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 diocre values, and the initial equipnt 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.
Everyone wants to play as powerful Hunters rather than a surviving, observing Minstrel. Combined with mundane values and boring gaplay, almost no one opts for this identity.
Though ga-wise there is little value, due to the rarity of Minstrels, their worth has gradually increased. In so stores, this rare piece can fetch a good price, making many desire to collect it.
Palr, being a seasoned player, knows Minstrel’s impotence in the ga, "Are you sure you want to assu 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," Palr said, "Role-playing is fundantally about imrsion."
"The Minstrel in the ga 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..."
Palr montarily struggled to describe his feeling.
Ewen understood Palr’s point, "Narrative level issue?"
"Yes! Exactly that,"
Palr 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."
Palr 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 ga’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.
Palr 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 ga 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 erges 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."
Palr 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 mont that Palr placed ga 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 reinforcent allowing Bologue to deal a critical hit. Even Palr envied her; he had played for so long, getting such a major success was rare and major failures myriad.
Everyone loved playing with Palr because he was definitely at the bottom.
Palr glanced at the ti; they had plenty of it for the ga, as for the gaplay itself...
The Dawn had just left the starting station, with a long journey ahead, not to ntion, according to the ga setting, the further you go, the more challenging the ga becos.
"Journey of the Absolute Night" spans several natural environnts: wilderness, coastlines, snow-capped mountains. As this ga has not been out long, there are many flaws in nurical chanisms, and the official team hasn’t had ti to fix them.
Based on Palr’s prior gaming experience, once reaching snowy mountains, the difficulty spikes instantly. When playing with others, Palr 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.
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