A F2P Player's Odyssey - Part 2

In our previous report, we saw the thrilling battle report from the young and brave lord Ge0muni. Although his lineup of commanders is by no means the most impressive among most players, it is certainly practical. More importantly, he has the courage to take on the enemies before him.

Ever since the surprise attack on the first day, the atmosphere in the Kingdom of K463 has seemed to freeze. This once-peaceful territory is now on full alert; as far as the eye can see. Even castles with no troops and resource hyperfarm have activated their bubbles. The entire kingdom seemed to be caught in a suffocating protracted war, with everyone holding their breath behind their defensive positions, quietly watching to see who would be the first to make a fatal mistake.

This tense atmosphere made every breath on the battlefield feel heavy with pressure.

For Ge0muni, successfully racking up victories in K463 requires more than just luck or waiting for opponents to make mistakes; he must exhaust every means to gather intelligence, identify potential threats, and avoid fatal blows—just as the ancient Chinese military treatise The Art of War by Sun Tzu states: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” And there is no better opportunity to safely obtain combat intelligence on opponents than in the Fiery Crystal Mine.

By attacking K463 players in the Crystal Mine, Ge0muni successfully obtained the lineup of commanders and stats for K463’s two strongest players, LeKa and DumbBastard. Clearly, either one of them was capable of crushing Ge0muni. This intelligence gave him greater confidence. Before each attack, he could use a few tricks to confirm whether these two powerful lords were online, allowing him to determine whether he could escape unscathed.

DumbBastard is the second-highest-ranked player in this realm, and he has a fairly standard mid-tier lineup; Please forgive my choice of words, but I mean no disrespect whatsoever. Given that Daenerys can currently be obtained and awakened through the Recruitment Pass and Day of Trade events, DumbBastard’s commander lineup is undoubtedly one of the most popular mainstream cavalry compositions available today. This lineup combines the “Weakness Attack” effect triggered by Jamie and Enzo with the “Female Synchronized” effect provided by Leila, Salma, and Dany, making it a clear and significant threat to Ge0muni.

The formidable LeKa, like Ge0muni, fields an infantry bleed synergy lineup centered around Sinara and Rhea, but the rest of his lineup is truly terrifying; With Jon Snow’s Awakening Critical Strike skill and Daeron’s Bleed Combo skill, his lineup already far surpasses Ge0muni’s. But the truly greatest threat lies in the fact that LeKa also possesses the Awakened Vorian. If you’ve ever faced a player with this commander, you’ll know that this infantry commander is capable of turning the tide of battle in the infantry normal attack formation. On top of that, don’t overlook LeKa’s Advisor lineup, which far surpasses Ge0muni’s, or his exceptional Ancient Weapons. He’s even fully upgraded Sirana’s Ancient Weapon, “Dance of Water.” Ge0muni is almost certain that if LeKa catches him just once, he’ll be left with zero castles—and he certainly doesn’t want that nightmare to come true.

However, the challenges Ge0muni faces in K463 aren’t limited to the two powerful lords mentioned above. Next, we’ll witness the greatest loss he’s faced so far on this journey...

During last week's campaign, Ge0muni had built up tremendous confidence and gained valuable combat experience. He then went on to take down several players who weren't in combat mode, achieving significant results.

Just as he was about to seek out his next prey, a castle exuding a distinctly different kind of danger came into view—it was Redwoodz. Unlike the players around him, cowering behind their shields, Redwoodz was openly in aggressive combat mode, like a beast baring its fangs, ready to meet any challenge head-on. Facing this formidable archer, fully prepared for battle, Ge0muni stopped in his tracks. He knew this wasn’t a casual raid, but the greatest calamity and trial he had faced on his journey so far—yet the warrior’s blood within him was already boiling uncontrollably.

Redwoodz has standard archers combo commanders, including the awakened Melisandre and Kravas. Do you remember our battle against Shipper last week? At that time, he hadn’t even awakened Kravas yet! Kravas’s Awakening skill, Curse of Wild Winds, combined with Melisandre’s Gift of Fire, ensures that every arrow fired deals massive damage to enemies, and this is exactly the disaster Ge0muni is about to face...

Redwoodz’s castle houses nearly ten million troops, including four million archerss. This ensures that his commanders on the wall won’t go to waste. As for Ge0muni, until he manages to break through the front six million meat shields, he’ll have no room to dodge a single arrow fired by the archers. Ouch...

The first wave of the attack was truly a disaster.

When the battle report on the first wave of the attack flashed across the screen, Ge0muni’s heart skipped a beat. It was a complete and utter disaster—of the 1.4 million-strong army, only a tenth of the defeated soldiers managed to drag themselves back to the castle with heavy steps.

A wave of intense frustration washed over him. As a free-to-play player, he understood better than anyone the heavy price behind that string of casualties. Every single T5 soldier was the result of his careful planning, late-night event grinding, and the countless hours spent sifting through his extremely limited supply of Valyrian Steel and Blue Diamonds. And now, all that hard work had gone up in smoke in a matter of seconds—without even managing to fully breach Redwoodz’s first line of infantry meat shield defense!

He didn’t have much time to think. He knew that as soon as someone from the EYR Alliance came to provide reinforcement, he might lose this chance forever. What was even more dangerous was that if DumbBastard or LeKa noticed, he’d likely have his castle wiped out. So, without hesitation, he launched a second attack!

It really hurt. Ge0muni, who had never faced an opponent of this caliber alone before, still got thoroughly beaten. Fortunately, Redwoodz took quite a beating this time too, so at least Ge0muni felt a little better about it.

What Geomuni never could have imagined was that the third round would be any easier. Who would have thought that the outcome of this battle would nearly turn into another suicide mission? Facing a frontline force consisting of the remaining cavalry, it took him a full 23 seconds into the battle to finally clear out these meat shields—and by then, his T5 infantry had already been decimated to the point where he could no longer fill his pre-set formation.

Even though he was extremely reluctant to lose any more T5 soldiers, if you think he’s going to give up here, you’re sorely mistaken.

You can see that he doesn’t have as many T5 soldiers for this attack as he did last time. On the other hand, when he faced Redwoodz’s main force of archers head-on, it was truly like attacking an impregnable fortress. In this round, he was once again only able to take out low-tier soldiers, yet he still suffered massive losses.

Although Ge0muni is an infantry player, he now looks more like an arrow shot from a bow, with no thought whatsoever of retreating! In the fifth wave of attacks, he could only field 600,000 T5 soldiers, but finally, Redwoodz’s main force of T4 archers began to suffer casualties. Victory is in sight!

The fifth wave of attacks finally went more or less as Ge0muni had anticipated; Redwoodz’s forces were nearly wiped out. We then successfully invited Redwoodz’s lord to our castle to enjoy our hospitality—whether he liked it or not!

Looking at the empty barracks, a tinge of unmistakable heartache washed over him. He knew that in the days ahead, he would face a long and arduous period of reconstruction.

However, when his gaze turned to the enemy lord in the dungeon, who had once commanded nearly ten million troops, his couldn’t help but start to smile.

“Was it worth it?” he asked himself inwardly. The answer was a resounding yes. This was not merely a numerical victory; it was a testament to his conviction. He had proven that even a free-to-play player who hadn’t spent a single penny didn’t have to forever remain a mere “filler” in alliance rallies; with enough courage and strategy, he could still make those lofty, powerful foes pay the price.

In fact, we can all see that this attack was far too reckless and ill-advised, but it is precisely this kind of young, passionate, and game-loving middle schooler who can push the limits without worrying about the consequences. Someone once said, “Trying to do things beyond your limits is what makes you feel young again.” I think this is the best proof of that—you can’t pull off attacks like this without a heart that’s young enough.

Additionally, we might also consider whether an archer-focused player like Redwoodz really needs other unit types besides archers to help with defense. Even with less than half his original troop count remaining, the damage he can deal is so close. Perhaps if that 10-million-strong army had consisted entirely of archers, Ge0muni would have been lost his lord after the first wave of attacks...

Ge0muni’s journey will continue. Let’s wish him all the best as he continues to enjoy his adventure! And if you find yourself in a situation like Ge0muni’s, where you suffered heavy losses in the first wave of attacks, would you choose to “fight to the bitter end” or cut your losses in time?

[Game Of Thrones] Jon snow in The Battle of Bastards

This battle reminded me of the Battle of the Bastards, which is also one of my favorite scene, but please ke me clarify—even though Ge0muni’s visit was by no means polite, the members of EYR and LeKa still conducted themselves with great gentlemanly grace. Please allow me to express my respect for them here.