The "Imaginative" Han Feng, standing to the side, had his eyes rolling, his mind filled with countless thoughts—
Their guild leader was recognized by the new players as a hidden big shot. Even his guild application interview was filled with soul-searching questions. It left him terrified, so how could he mess up on a basic item selection question ?
There must be something fishy going on here…
Maybe he should try thinking from the perspective of a big shot, instead of viewing these items from their newbie point of view…
With this realization, he suddenly had a stroke of genius, clapping his hands loudly, and said:
"Oh! I understand! The guild leader made this choice because he considered the relationship between the personal item and the upcoming strategy target, that's why he decided this way!"
With Han Feng's reminder, the remaining members immediately understood—
Right! They were impulsive earlier, oversimplifying the matter. When they saw their equipment slots locked and later needed to choose a personal item in the game, they instinctively thought these items were for self-defense in the upcoming tasks.
But, the game's design philosophy never worked that way.
How could they be given self-defense items before the main quest was even issued? This item selection phase was taking the place of the previous phase where they chose their strategy target…
This means the item might not be for self-defense but to determine the attributes of the strategy target they would face later!
Thinking this way suddenly made sense.
It's called item selection, but it's actually character selection.
And for players, to clear the game, it's definitely best to choose the character with the lowest strategy star rating!
So, that axe or that handgun must correspond to a much more ferocious ghost attribute than that small box of "Little Umbrellas"!
That box of "Little Umbrellas" is even the thin type, so the ghost represented by it must be the most gentle and harmless.
Definitely choose the "Little Umbrellas" first!
It was only now that they realized the truth: their guild leader made the most correct choice in such a short time.
As expected, a big shot is a big shot.
Their understanding of the game is something newbies like them can't even hope to match.
At this point, all the members were looking at Wen Nan with expressions full of "so that's how it is," "brilliant," and "no wonder he's the guild leader".
Wen Nan was stunned by this.
He wanted to choose the box of "Little Umbrellas" indeed out of a personal preference, but... he honestly didn't think that much earlier.
He simply thought since they were going to the villa to relax and vacation, obviously, the mountain axe or metal chest armor would be useless. The most useful would be the box of "Little Umbrellas"—
After all, he was a responsible player. Even though he wasn't sure if there was reproductive isolation between characters, it's always better to be prepared.
As for Han Feng's so-called "item represents strategy character attributes" theory…
Oh? It can be understood this way?
Seems... pretty reasonable?
So, who could be the character that this box of "Little Umbrellas" represents?
The rules clarified that it's a single-choice question, and items couldn't be transferred. That means the strategy target he got is the only one accompanying him on this map.
He hoped it was the type he wanted.
Wen Nan silently prayed in his heart.
At the same time, two other solo queue players in the back heard Han Feng's statement, showing some doubt in their eyes.
The item chosen corresponds to the strategy target's attributes?
Makes some sense… but is it really that way?
As they hesitated, other members had already rushed to the table, snatching the candlestick, rope, and whip first, leaving only the axe and handgun for them in a blink of an eye.
The two exchanged glances and reluctantly went forward to choose the two items they initially wanted to grab.
After all players finished selecting, the light screen above their heads changed again—
[Please, each participant, complete the binding of your account and personal item.]
Each player followed their system's guidance, printing their fingerprints, iris, and DNA onto the personal items for deep binding.
Then the prompts started scrolling again—
[Congratulations to each participant for successfully choosing your desired personal items.]
[The personal item you chose represents the traits of the target you must strategize in this instance. Please be aware.]
Seeing this, the two solo players' faces sank—
It really was tied to the strategy target's attributes?
The guild leader saw through all of this, in such a short time, and then considering his members' attitude towards him... could he be a big shot?
Both players looked at Wen Nan with extremely complicated expressions, while he didn't glance at them at all.
At this moment, Wen Nan looked upward, fully concentrating on the light screen overhead, waiting for the introduction of his strategy character to pop up.
However, this time he still couldn't see the character's name or background but another line of explanation—
[Your strategy character information is embedded in your chosen personal item, currently locked.]
Wen Nan lowered his gaze to the small box in his hand.
The top of the box was printed with a brand name—Gans.
Below that, taking almost the entire outer packaging, was a slogan—0.01! Ultra-thin! Invisible! Smooth experience!
As he stared at the box for a long time, a small floating light screen suddenly popped up with—
[Name: Pending Unlock]
[Identity: Pending Unlock]
[Background: Pending Unlock]
[Strategy Difficulty: ★★★★★★★★★★★☆]
Seeing this star rating, Wen Nan raised his eyebrows slightly.
He heard other players groaning around him—
"Seven stars, so high!" "I also have seven stars!"
"I have eight stars!" "I'm eight and a half!"
"I have nine stars, it's over, completely over!"
"I have nine and a half stars… is there anyone worse off?"
"No, you're the worst, my condolences, brother."
Wen Nan looked at his eleven and a half star rating and his lips curled upwards.
He got the highest rated character on this map as he had wished!
Even higher by one and a half stars than the bug-level CEO!