Chapter Fourteen: The Altered Plot

“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
A tremendous bell suddenly echoed through the town. Chu Cheng, who was fishing by the seaside outside the town, turned his head in surprise, his confusion deepening as a message from his homeroom teacher arrived. He opened it and read:
“Return to town immediately. The fleet of the Black Sails Pirate King is approaching and will reach the port in about half an hour.”
Chu Cheng’s heart was filled with astonishment as he asked,
“According to the plot, hasn’t the Black Sails Pirate King never attacked Seaside Town?”
This was precisely the main reason the school had chosen Seaside Town as the landing point among the three towns of the scenario. Following the storyline, after the Black Sails fleet massacres Bread Town, the kingdom, enraged, gathers its fleet to attack Black Sails Island, eventually destroying it.
Duan Yuqin explained,
“Normally, it wouldn’t happen, but if the plot is significantly altered, there’s a slight chance of such an event.”
“The school has anchored this scenario for centuries; every few years, this occurs once or twice.”
“Alright.”
“I’ll be back immediately.”
He quickly packed up his fishing rod and hurried back.
Luckily, he was fishing just outside the town, so it only took a few minutes to return.
Upon reaching the town, he saw the docks crowded with students, discussing fervently and gazing in wonder at the sea.
Most of the fishing boats at the port were already withdrawing in an orderly fashion, while the kingdom’s warships, always anchored there, were now assembling, their decks packed with kingdom soldiers.
On the plaza near the docks, a large number of town garrison troops and militia had gathered—about a hundred regular garrison soldiers, all at level fifteen, standard template, equipped with regulation chainmail and sword-shield weapons, and twenty archers at the rear.
Several garrison commanders and officers, ranging from level twenty-seven to thirty-five, were shouting instructions before their troops.
The commander was level thirty-five, elite template, with several thousand health points.
The squad leaders were around level twenty-seven or twenty-eight, also elite templates.
There were about fifty militia, armed with all manner of weapons, the militia captain at level twenty-two, elite template.
Adding together the town garrison, militia, and soldiers aboard the warships, there were an estimated four to five hundred defenders.
As for the pirate fleet...
Based on previous estimates, it would number over a thousand.
They were outmatched in both manpower and ships.
Because the storyline had changed, the kingdom’s main naval force would not arrive until the end of the month. For now, only the defenders of Seaside Town could stand guard, with just one five-masted flagship, three three-masted medium warships, and seven two-masted smaller vessels—clearly no match for the pirate fleet.
At that moment, Chu Cheng received another message, seemingly a group notification:
“All Class Five students, due to the storyline change, Seaside Town is no longer safe. Everyone must return within five minutes.”
Then, a private message followed:
“You stay. Gather at the castle training grounds.”
“Understood.”

Closing the panel, he noticed many classmates visibly disappointed, and saw others leaving the docks, heading back into town.
Hurrying to the castle, Chu Cheng found the training grounds already crowded. Besides the class president Wang Weilong and a few other class elites, most were top students from other classes.
Chu Cheng greeted Wang Weilong and his classmates with a wave, then casually found a stone to sit on.
As time passed, more people arrived and gathered.
After a while, several teachers emerged from the castle, one of them calling out loudly,
“Everyone’s here. Line up by class.”
Those chatting or resting stood up, dividing into four groups.
Chu Cheng had glanced around earlier—Classes One, Two, Four, and Five totaled thirty-eight people. Classes Three, Six, and Seven were in another scenario, with Class One comprising more than half, twenty people.
Class Five had the fewest, just five including himself.
When he stood beside Wang Weilong, the group was surprised, and Zhang Chunlei exclaimed,
“You stayed too?”
Chu Cheng nodded,
“Teacher Duan asked me to stay.”
Wang Weilong asked,
“You’ve awakened your talent?”
Chu Cheng was surprised,
“How did you know?”
“You just changed class at level ten a few days ago. To gain the teacher’s favor, it must be because of awakened talent.”
Chu Cheng gave a thumbs up,
“As expected of the class president. Your observation is remarkable.”
At this, Zhang Qing, the only caster in the group, asked with interest,
“What kind of talent? If it’s convenient, could you share?”
Chu Cheng smiled,
“Tank!”
The group paused, their expressions visibly becoming more serious. Wang Weilong’s face brightened with a smile,
“A tank talent is excellent!”
He became noticeably enthusiastic, pulling Chu Cheng aside to explain,
“This is your first time participating in such an event. Let me give you a few pointers.”
“Everyone left in the training grounds is an elite from their respective classes. All have the right to stay and benefit, but how much you gain depends on yourself. Here, individual strength is insignificant; only a united team can secure more rewards.”
Chu Cheng...

He agreed somewhat. Though his talent made him invincible against minor foes, he was powerless against bosses, and the best spoils usually came from them.
“With five people, we can form a proper squad, and our roles are well balanced.”
“You have tank talent and can serve as main T. My class is weapon warrior, main damage, and secondary tank.”
Zhang Chunlei chimed in,
“My class is ranger, with talent—main ranged DPS.”
After he spoke, the only girl in the team introduced herself,
“Cheng Mingyue, berserker, main damage.”
Chu Cheng looked up at the tall, nearly two-meter, powerfully built girl and nodded earnestly,
“I’ve heard much about you!”
He truly had; her physique, impressive even among barbarians, was striking in the class—impossible to miss.
Then the last member, a boy in mage robes holding a red short staff, spoke,
“Zhang Qing, fire mage!”
“Nice to meet you.”
Zhang Qing was one of only three students in the class with talent and the sole mage, thus receiving special attention from the homeroom teacher.
It was worth noting that in the Chaos Realm, mage classes were rare mainly because their class-change requirements were extremely strict.
Both initial intelligence and spirit needed to be at least nine points.
Given the human attribute cap of ten, nine was already extremely high, and most ordinary people could not reach it.
Even a single attribute at nine was uncommon; both at nine was rarer still, eliminating nearly ninety-nine percent of candidates.
Out of fifty students in Class Five, only one mage.
Even in the so-called elite Class One, there were no more than five. Across all seven classes in the school, three to four hundred students, barely more than ten mages combined.
Two classes had no mages at all.
Theoretically, Chu Cheng could have changed to a mage after his golden finger awakened, but his talent did not suit mage classes, and he hadn’t managed to obtain a mage class certificate at the time.
However, dual-classing was possible; at level thirty, upon second class change, he could pick up another class.
It was worth noting, though, that the mage class required initial intelligence and spirit above nine, and points gained from leveling did not count.
So, if you weren’t eligible from the start, you couldn’t become a mage later either, unless you found a way to increase your base attributes as Zhang Qing had.
With Wang Weilong and his team so welcoming, Chu Cheng naturally didn’t hold back and joined their conversation.
They’d never been at odds; previously, he hadn’t reached level ten and wasn’t on their level to play together.