Let’s rewind time a bit.
After watching Nova Quinn enter the instance, Silas Vane put the matter to the back of his mind and buried himself once again in the mountain of paperwork.
However, the more he read, the more he felt like tearing his hair out.
The current pressure on the frontlines was immense, yet the Strategy Group had failed to come up with an effective plan.
Right now, progress in almost all the top-tier instances was completely stuck at a standstill.
The reason was simple.
They were too difficult.
They were so difficult that even within the Strategy Group, only a handful of people could clear them consistently.
Moreover, they relied entirely on individual ability, offering no reference value whatsoever, making cross-referencing strategies impossible.
Under these circumstances, it was naturally impossible to arrange for frontline soldiers to enter these instances.
Meanwhile, the lower-difficulty instances that could be arranged offered rewards so poor they provided almost no substantial help…
And so, the problem was deadlocked here.
Right now, Silas Vane’s biggest headache was figuring out how to find an instance that frontline soldiers could consistently clear while also providing sufficient returns.
It had been quite some time since they last found a suitable instance.
But the enemies on the frontlines wouldn’t wait.
Almost every so often, their attributes and abilities would be enhanced.
In contrast, the strength of the frontline soldiers saw limited improvement.
Aside from combat experience and technique, there was almost no significant growth.
After all, they spent almost every day immersed in the battlefield; where would they find the time to study instances?
With the enemy growing stronger while their own progress stagnated, it was fine for now…
but it truly was a Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
The Strategy Group had to find an instance capable of elevating the overall strength of the frontlines as soon as possible.
As for why the frontline monsters periodically grew stronger…
Perhaps this was also part of the screening process.
That goddess was perhaps trying to force the human race to continuously evolve.
Monsters infested the entire world and received regular enhancements.
If players couldn’t keep up, they would simply be eliminated.
The only way out was to constantly run instances, constantly grow stronger, and survive.
However, the country wasn’t overrun with monsters, because they had chosen to hold the monsters back at the frontlines.
But this meant someone had to sacrifice themselves, giving up the opportunity to explore instances to focus entirely on fighting.
The frontline soldiers were those sacrifices.
As time passed, the vast majority of frontline monsters—aside from elite mobs—no longer dropped any equipment or skills.
Killing them didn’t provide any attribute enhancements either.
Now, if frontline soldiers wanted to get stronger, they relied almost entirely on the Strategy Group to filter instances for them to acquire attribute points, skills, equipment, and items.
The rest of their time was spent slaughtering on the frontlines.
But filtering out an instance that frontline soldiers could enter in collective rotations was incredibly difficult…
The Strategy Group was under immense pressure.
A few months ago, some extremists even proposed imitating certain other countries: completely opening up the frontlines and pushing everyone onto the battlefield.
Natural selection, survival of the fittest.
Shifting the cost of defense onto the individual.
This way, capable people would naturally survive, clear instances, and establish a firm foothold amidst the monster offensives.
During this process, a price would be paid.
Many people would die—many who couldn’t adapt to the changing times.
But it would be a necessary sacrifice, better than the current situation…
where the frontlines fought desperately while ordinary people in the rear were sheltered, only to struggle pointlessly in garbage instances.
However, no one ultimately agreed to this proposal.
Many even pointed fingers and cursed the proposer to their face.
Silas Vane combed through the intelligence on existing instances one by one, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
*Knock, knock.* A sudden knocking sound echoed.
Silas Vane looked up as a staff member pushed the door open.
“Director, there’s a meeting.” …
Silas Vane arrived at the conference room.
The Director of the Coordination Bureau, Li Bao, along with several department directors, had already arrived.
In addition, there were representatives from the frontline military and heads of other functional departments under the National Anomalous Space Response and Survival Committee.
The conference room was shrouded in smoke.
The ashtrays in front of many attendees were already piled with five or six cigarette butts, and their expressions were far from pleasant.
The only person whose expression remained unchanged was an elderly man with dark skin, wearing a faded, old-fashioned short-sleeved shirt.
Seeing this scene, Silas Vane’s heart sank slightly.
He pulled out the chair to the old man’s left and sat down.
The moment he sat down, the frontline military representative looked at him and cut straight to the chase.
“The monsters on the frontlines have been enhanced again.” *Just as I thought.* Silas Vane’s brow furrowed tightly.
“Same as always.
Full attribute boosts, new monster types have appeared, and some elite mobs have even developed new resistance skills.” The military representative tapped the report on the table.
“It’s fine for now, but we need new instances…
It’s been two months.” Hearing this, Li Bao also turned to look at Silas Vane.
“Does the Strategy Group still not have any suitable instances?” Silas Vane remained silent for a moment.
“There are no suitable instances at present.
Progress on the top-tier instances is almost entirely stalled.
They rely completely on the personal talents of top players to clear, so we can’t provide effective strategy guides.
We temporarily have no way to arrange for frontline soldiers to enter them.
As for the low-level instances, the meager attribute points they yield aren’t even enough to offset the monsters’ enhancements.” “…” As his voice faded, the conference room fell into a deathly silence.
The frontline military representative couldn’t help but lower his eyes.
Even if they were mentally prepared, finally reaching this point where there were practically no instances to choose from still left them feeling somewhat despairing.
The frontlines were fine for now, but what about the future?
Would they really have to shift the cost of defense onto the individual?
“If that’s the case, I propose that the major guilds stop messing around with rotations.” At this moment, a department director slammed his hand on the table and stood up.
“Just have those high-end players stationed permanently on the frontlines!
They monopolize the resources; if they don’t fight to the death now, when will they?” “I don’t quite agree.” Another director thought for a moment, shook his head, and retorted, “Dragging our top combatants into a profitless frontline battlefield like this will deprive them of the time to improve in instances.
In a few years, they’ll be reduced to mediocrity as well.
Sooner or later, the monsters will grow so strong that even they won’t be able to handle them.
If we do that, we’ll lose our sharpest blade.” “Then draft more soldiers!” another person muttered in a low voice.
“Expand the base numbers.” “The frontlines aren’t lacking in manpower.” The military representative looked over.
“What we lack is a way for the soldiers to grow stronger.
We lack instances that can be consistently cleared.
Otherwise, no matter how many people we have, they’ll just be feeding into the same vicious cycle.” “Last year, we ran a rotation pilot program, pulling some veterans back to clear instances.
The results were less than ideal.
If battle-hardened veterans couldn’t balance both, could newly drafted soldiers?
What use would new recruits be?
Throwing rookies in there would serve no purpose other than making the casualty list longer.” “…” The conference room once again fell into silence.
Ultimately, it all came back to the same point.
The frontlines, the instances, the gamification…
All of this was fundamentally a screening mechanism, a method to force the evolution of individual humans.
And to protect those who couldn’t adapt, a price had to be paid.
However, the silence didn’t last long.
“Silas Vane, have Nova Quinn, Cheng Xiu, Foster Lane, and the others re-enter the instance [Island].
Then, have the rest of the Strategy Group filter through all the System instances with A and B ratings one more time.” Li Bao spoke up, “Even instances that stably produce attribute points will do.
If the rewards from one instance can’t bridge the enhancement gap, then use two.
If not two, then three…
For instances that have already been cleared but still have reward attempts remaining, we can continue arranging for people to clear them.
Although the rewards will worsen on the second and third clears, they can’t get that much worse.” The frontline military representative opened his mouth to speak.
Li Bao gently shook his head.
“I know that rotating soldiers to clear instances like this carries great risks.
If it’s truly too difficult, the Coordination Bureau will have the Strategy Group step up to the frontlines…
New regulations targeting the major guilds and top players are already being adjusted.
Additionally, the Coordination Bureau is systematically advancing the reserve army plan.
We intend to fully utilize the advantage of low-difficulty instances being easier to clear.
By relying on sheer numbers and assembly-line clearing methods, we can acquire more Survival Points and a batch of reserves with relatively decent attributes.
This should effectively alleviate the pressure, but it will take some time.” The frontline military representative nodded in silence.
Li Bao continued, “No matter what, we cannot let the frontlines fall.
That is the bottom line.
What I just said are merely stopgap measures.
The Strategy Group still needs to find a suitable instance as soon as possible.
Silas Vane…
understood?” “Understood.” Silas Vane nodded slowly.
The meeting adjourned in a somewhat oppressive atmosphere.
Returning to his office.
Silas Vane leaned heavily against the back of his chair.
Looking out at the bustling city beyond the window, he let out a long breath.
The enemies on the frontlines, with their irregular enhancements, were like a slowly tightening noose around everyone’s necks.
If they couldn’t break this vicious cycle, the current peace was nothing more than a final illusion before the collapse.
Although things were fine for now.
But what if one day, the Strategy Group could no longer find any suitable instances?
How much longer could they endure these days of walking a tightrope?
No one knew.
Rumor had it that someone had already proposed building fortress cities.
Instances, instances, new instances…
Thinking about his work, Silas Vane rubbed his temples, his head splitting with pain.
Right at that moment.
A white light suddenly flared in front of his desk.
The space twisted slightly, and a slender figure landed silently, her waist-length silver-white hair fluttering gently.