89: Gathering complete, Winter is coming officially begins! (Update 3)
Meanwhile, Lin Ye also simultaneously received a notification from the Sky Curtain.
"Sky Curtain Notification: The Raging Sea instance will officially begin!"
"There are 5,000 active sign-ups for this instance, and one person has been designated by the instance Designer!"
"The remaining Challengers will be randomly selected by the Sky Curtain..."
Lin Ye glanced at the list of Challengers in the instance backend. These 5,000 active applicants were either surnamed Kim or Park.
Many of the names, just like Kim Geun-seok's, carried a strong sense of bad taste.
"Hmph... It really is a bunch of Korean chaebols coming in."
"They've come just in time!"
Next was the random selection by the Sky Curtain.
On the backend Challenger list, various names were selected by the Sky Curtain, and the entire process was completed in one second.
"Instance capacity has been met, the instance is about to begin..."
"Instance: Winter is Coming's live broadcast room has been synchronized and opened. Respected Designer, you may enter to watch at any time."
...
On the other side, in a luxury mansion, a notification barrage from the Sky Curtain appeared before Kim Geun-seok's eyes.
"Respected instance Designer Kim Geun-seok, you have been designated by the Designer of the Infernal Grade instance 'Earth Online: The Five Constants: Winter is Coming' to enter the instance. You will be sent to the instance world in two minutes!"
"Please prepare the technology and weapons you are about to bring into the instance!"
"Entering countdown stage now, 119..."
"118..."
"117..."
"116..."
"Does that even need asking? I'll definitely bring all my weapons! Hahaha!"
Kim Geun-seok chuckled to himself. Previously, in the challenge video with Lin Ye, he had stated that the person designing the instance could not use weapons from previous instances, but he hadn't explicitly said that Challengers couldn't bring their own weapons.
This was a little trick Kim Geun-seok was playing. If Lin Ye had chosen to challenge his own instance, he definitely would have said that Challengers also couldn't bring their previous technology into the instance, otherwise the challenge would be void.
And because he inherited it from his old man, Kim Chan-hoon, many of the technologies and weapons Kim Geun-seok mastered were hidden obscurely within his personal instance, which outsiders knew nothing about.
Kim Geun-seok just brought them, guessing that Lin Ye wouldn't be able to tell anyway.
This time, he was determined to catch Lin Ye off guard!
...
"Welcome to the Infernal Grade instance: Winter is Coming!"
"Instance has finished loading..."
"Deploying Challengers into the virtual battlefield, deployed 10000 / 10000..."
Accompanied by the Sky Curtain's prompt sound, Kim Geun-seok and the other 9,999 Challengers were directly deployed into the instance.
Along with the flickering of mosaic patterns, Kim Geun-seok only felt a vast whiteness before his eyes.
When his vision slowly recovered, he discovered he was actually in a large office.
The room was luxuriously decorated, giving one the feeling of an official residence.
On the desk in front of him sat a telephone and a pile of documents.
Immediately after, there was a knock at the room's door.
"Come in!"
Subsequently, several men wearing suits unique to the Kim family company walked in.
"Young Master!"
"Young Master!"
"We have five thousand company elites, all specially arranged by the Old Master to assist the Young Master in conquering the instance."
"There are also other people who should have been randomly summoned; they are all in this building as well."
Kim Geun-seok waved his hand, signaling these company people not to continue.
"You all go and reorganize. Tell the other Challengers that we are people from the Kim family conglomerate, and tell them not to surrender easily."
A few of the company subordinates immediately went to handle it, and only then did Kim Geun-seok breathe a sigh of relief.
Listening to these people ramble was useless; what he needed to hear was the Sky Curtain's task introduction.
Sure enough, the Sky Curtain's notification appeared accordingly.
"Welcome, Challengers, to the instance designed by Mr. Ye: Winter is Coming!"
"This instance is complex in design and high in difficulty, so the Sky Curtain will provide each Challenger with a detailed task introduction."
Immediately after, a huge light screen appeared before everyone's eyes.
This process was the same as the previous Raging Sea.
First, it introduced Earth Online, then the camera zoomed in continuously, focusing on the location of the Challenger faction.
The camera fixed on a small area, which was highlighted, with the words "South Korea" marked on it.
Kim Geun-seok took a look; this area was adjacent to the third-party force from the previous Raging Sea, the Dragon Country, and was also very close to the Japanese island.
However, compared to the territory of the Dragon Country, this Challenger's sphere of influence was pitifully small, looking like a tiny bean.
"This is the base of all Challengers: South Korea. Total area is 100,000 square kilometers, surrounded by sea on three sides, adjacent to the Dragon Country and the Japanese island. The whole country is divided into 1 special city, 4 special self-governing cities, 6 provinces, 6 metropolitan cities..."
Immediately after, a red light spot was marked on the map.
"And this place is your birthplace, South Korea, Seoul, Blue House! Also known as the Seoul Presidential Residence!"
Only 100,000 kilometers?
Kim Geun-seok was furious.
The Japanese island in the previous Raging Sea had at least 400,000 kilometers of territory, but the territory of this instance was not even one-quarter of the Japanese island. Leaving aside everything else, this difference in territory alone made one feel disgusted.
He just didn't know if Lin Ye was deliberately trying to disgust him.
Because on the Azure Star, the South Korea gathering place was very small, and this had always been the pain of the Korean people!
Then, on the light screen, the camera continued to move, shifting all the way to the north.
It stopped on a vast expanse of white land to the north of the Dragon Country.
This piece of land was immediately marked with a blue light, and the words "Mao Xiong Country" were clearly displayed on it.
"This is the enemy force of this instance: Mao Xiong Country!"
"Mao Xiong Country, with a total area of 17 million square kilometers, a national border line of 60,933 kilometers, including a coastline of 38,807 kilometers and a land border of 14,500 kilometers... the largest country on Azure Star..."
The camera continued to zoom into the west of this vast land, sweeping over the endless snowfields, where there seemed to be a dense distribution of cities.
"This is the target of this mission, the three main cities of Mao Xiong Country: Volgograd, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow."
"The map of this instance has been introduced. Afterward, all Challengers can continue to view the instance map on any computer at the Blue House command post."
"Next... the Sky Curtain will provide a detailed explanation of the tasks for this instance."
Seeing this scene, Kim Geun-seok's anger grew even more.
This Mao Xiong Country was twice as large as the previous Eagle Country! It was simply heaven-defying!
Compared to it, South Korea was simply too small to look at.
Was such a setting for the instance force's base really reasonable?