No Battle No Life

France, Paris, Palais des Tuileries

“Just motley crowd with a few guns and yet I had to waste so much effort.”

Tu was in the main hall of the Palais and was very infuriated at the big show he had to put up in front of those people who were most likely NPCs, as well as the depletion of his national treasury to reward the troops who had helped him quell the uprising.

Though the troops and officers who had received what was equivalent to years of wages had all declared that they wished to continue fighting for him, Tu did not actually want to see them again. He couldn’t believe the extent to which the previous king had wasted the national wealth to the point where there was barely any left now…

— Just who were the “rebels” huh?

“Eh, now then…”

Tu opened his skills tab. One game design issue that was supposedly part of the designers’ intent to create a realistic experience was that players had a limited time to check out their skill details in the skills tab. After the first login, they only had 3 days to confirm and check the details of their skills.

— But this wasn’t the sort of game where you could level up so whatever I see will probably be the same as that in the closed beta.

“What the heck is this?!”

Tu who had opened his skills tab had found a new category called “King’s Privilege”. He hadn’t seen this before in the closed beta, could this be one of the rumoured closed beta benefits?

“The king’s majesty?”

— This skill name, why does it sound so… Maa, it’s still within acceptable limits.

“Let me see, you can forcefully summon all forces under your command to your position, limited to 2 uses per battle.”

— Tu nearly spat out.

“What the f.u.c.k, isn’t this a cheat? … With this skill, can’t I just swim across the English Channel, make my way to Buckingham Palace and just occupy the place?”

But Tu’s flight of fantasy was stopped short by his own rationality. After all what could one do with just a few thousand men? Even if he did occupy Buckingham Palace, he would only be met with the eventual fate of capture or death.

This skill felt like the ‘flying general’ in Chinese Chess.

(TL: In Chinese Chess, there is a rule that when moving your pieces, your ‘General’ piece (equivalent to the king piece in International Chess) cannot face the other side’s ‘General’ piece in the same file without any piece in between. This is a rule to enforce checkmate.)

“At least this is actually useful…”

But looking at this, Tu finally understood the nature of the so-called closed beta player benefits. The benefits were actually special skills, which explains why there is an absence of information on them on the net. This was, after all, the equivalent of a national secret as it could potentially turn the tide of war if used appropriately.

Each nation in this world probably had a different skill since each nation had their own specialty. England had naval superiority while Prussia was known for its infantry…

This information, however, could be easily found online so strategies and counter-strategies revolving around the strengths and weaknesses of each nation were commonplace amongst conflicts in the closed beta.

Of course, this world did not just involve raw armed conflict. Each player had access to a diverse talent tree which players could choose to train in and advance down branches that would further lead to smaller branches etc, with skills such as swordsmanship, marksmanship etc.

But this only raised the combat capability of the player. As for the strategies employed and commanding the army during battle… It all came down the player himself.

And training a skill in this world only led to effects which weren’t too different from the real world. For example, training swordsmanship wouldn’t lead to any weird blade techniques or skills.

The only thing that was different was the time taken to reach a high level of proficiency. Tu had taken only a year in closed beta to master archery.

— This had raised quite the commotion during closed beta. Who would train their skill in an outdated weapon such as the bow in a game which was set in the era of guns and cannons?

Maa, it was a game after all. Tu had felt as though his strength had increased immensely in the real world after playing in the closed beta but he dismissed this as mistaken perception.

Tu continued browsing through his personal information.

“Army limit: 5,000 (This is also the upper limit that one can transport using “King’s Privilege”)”

Army limit was the upper limit for how many troops a player could command at any one time. Normally, this limit was set to 3,000 but 5,000 was probably yet another small benefit for closed beta players.

Because every player had a limit to how many troops he could command, each battle requires one to gather multiple players to create a formidable army. Of course, if you were good enough, you could try to lead your few thousand against an enemy that could number in the hundreds of thousands, but n.o.body would do that after all.

— This is similar to reality I guess. You need enough officers to properly command a large and powerful army after all. Layers and layers of command just like the pyramid.

Death here was of course not actual death but if you died in combat, you were locked up in a small black room for 24 hours. If you were captured, not only did it mean a great loss of face, the other side might make absurd demands.

But this was only hearsay, as Tu had never actually died nor was he ever captured in battle. He had never heard of anyone who had died in combat either. There were a few players who gave up though, probably those who couldn’t accept humiliating conditions for release after they were captured.

— Hai, or perhaps those people were too mentally weak.

“Your majesty!”

An officer with brown, short hair stood before Tu, who was closely observing the man’s looks as he kept getting the feeling that he had seen his likeness in a portrait before.

“Michel Ney?”

Though he had asked this question to test out his hypothesis, Tu kept a serious expression on.

“Yes, your esteemed majesty!” He said as he bowed slightly in respect. Ney’s reply gave Tu a complicated feeling.

— Do players like using historical names? First Murat, now Ney… Looks like there are quite a lot of history buffs like myself huh.

— Or could it be that my judgement is wrong? But that can be tested,

“No need for all these c.u.mbersome formalities from today forth, France needs you.”

Tu said with a respectful tone as he patted the shoulders of the man who was about a decade or so older.

“Help me find these people, as quickly as you can.”

He gave Ney a piece of paper that was completely filled with names of historical figures that he could remember who were present in this era.

“Yes your majesty, it will be done!”

Ney took the piece of paper and gave a top notch military salute before he left.

“Now, time to talk a walk down Talent District. Perhaps I might even b.u.mp into Robespierre… Ahaha.”

After Ney left, Tu felt that it was still early, and immediately made his way to the Central Area– The so-called Talent District.

According to information on the game website, there was still some time before the restriction on open warfare would be lifted.

That is to say now is the time for every country to make their preparations, advance national development and gather talented individuals. And the Central Area that was floating in the sky was where every unaffiliated player gathered, which the reason why it is called the Talent District.

— This period of time is also the only time when one can see all the information on players in the Talent District. Once this period is over, the Central Area will be shut down and you can’t see the information of other players at all…

“Let’s see what treasures I can find, haha, maybe I might see some familiar faces.”

— Familiar faces?

The silver haired girl’s face that popped up instantly in Tu’s face made him blush but he quickly regained control.

— Thinking about it is no use.

…

“Huu… There really are a lot of people here huh.”

The moment he arrived in the Talent District, the sight of bustling unending crowds that greeted Tu gave him a shock. Open beta really is amazing huh, closed beta was nothing compared to this!

“Excuse me, excuse me, coming through here!”

Tu was able to squeeze through the crowds, and he browsed their information with great difficulty as he did so, as he felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information.

— It’s all thanks to my experience in browsing websites quickly, or I would be exhausted by this…

“Huu… All of a sudden, I feel like this is way too many people.”

Just as he thought so, a familiar name captured his eyeb.a.l.l.s.

“T…u?”

This name gave him a sense of connection with the player since it was his name as well after all. Could this be fate? Tu decided to follow the arrangement of the heavens and browsed this person’s information in detail.

“Management, policy… Good, good!”

“The king of France? You need me for something?”

(TL: This is kind of like stalking that cute girl in the same cla.s.s on Facebook and then she comes and sits beside you.)

This low voice came from a skinny, bespectacled young man. Behind his gla.s.ses were deep, clear eyes and he wore a clean, neat white shirt without any gaudy accessories about him. Though he did not say much else, he was probably the one Tu was looking for…

— Finding talented partners is like finding a lover, the first impression is the most important…

And this interesting fellow even has the same name as me. Brother, this must be fate.

Though Tu was against the practice of selecting people by his first impression of them employed by hirers, he still committed this mistake when it came to be his turn to be the hirer. There were too many people after all, and to look through everyone’s information one by one was way too tiring and national development could not wait.

— Even though this is a game, I must still give it my all.

“Un, very good. I’ve decided to welcome you to join my country. But if you want to get a better offer, then pa.s.s the test I will be putting you through.”

“Well then… Thank you, your majesty.”

Tu was not sure if basing this decision on his judgement was appropriate. He was not, after all, an expert in the matters on governance.

“There’s a small shop there and it isn’t so crowded so let’s discuss this further over there… Is there anything you can show me so I can have a better understanding of your capabilities?”

“This will decide your role and responsibilities so think carefully about it.”

(TL: Walk me through your CV / Show me your portfolio.)

Before they began their discussions, Tu was still concerned and gave these instructions to the man.

… After the discussions had concluded and the man had presented his overall plans for France in detail with concrete steps at every stage and specific milestones to be met, Tu’s concerns were allayed and he patted the man’s shoulders as he said.

“You are in charge of the government of France from now on.”

— He had not seen wrongly. This man had avoided all the pitfalls Tu had fallen into in the closed beta, and did not employ any weird or fancy policies to try and show off his creativity.

— I believe that with him, France will be able advance national development greatly. Without this guy, I would probably have to sleep for 6 hours a day like what Napoleon said.

(TL: Napoleon’s quote on sleep: Six for a man, seven for a woman, eight for a fool.)