Plains Life, Wuhuan Farming, and the Wandering Sage
Why the hell was that old man showing up here? Humans are animals of adaptation, they say. After spending over three months on these plains, I'd gotten the hang of it.
'Yeah. Can't leave Liu Bei's army for a while.'
If these guys were just game characters, I could've cut ties without a second thought. But now that real feelings had gotten involved, I couldn't bring myself to bail.
'Just build up my specs with Liu Bei's crew for the time being.'
That was how I rationalized it. Surprisingly, Liu Bei's army wasn't a bad place for leveling up. The kids had lives full of twists and turns, so there were plenty of fights to jump into. And starting out on the plains had its perks.
'I can farm the Wuhuan tribe.'
Yeah. The Wuhuan, those northern barbarians in You Province, were Liu Bei's main enemies back in his plains merchant days.
'Right now, Liu Bei's basically a subcontractor for Gongsun Zan... something like that.'
The big player dominating You Province was the powerhouse warlord Gongsun Zan. Liu Bei was officially his guest general. They seemed chummy enough thanks to their personal friendship, but Gongsun Zan had this subtle way of looking down on Liu Bei.
Anyway, what Gongsun Zan was up to now was hunting down the Wuhuan tribe, who kept picking fights. Liu Bei could pitch in on the Wuhuan suppression efforts too.
For someone like me, who'd conquered every ultimate Shu route in the game, hunting Wuhuan was a no-brainer.
'The Wuhuan are a faction you can antagonize without any fallout.'
That was the key point. Romance of the Three Kingdoms was an arena for all sorts of heroes, with alliances and enmities tangled up in a messy web. Mess with Sun Jian, and Yuan Shu's reputation tanks a bit. Hit Yuan Shao's side, and it ticks up slightly. Even antagonizing Liu Biao slightly dinged Yuan Shu's rep—it was a complicated setup.
'But for someone who doesn't know Three Kingdoms history, it's frustrating as hell.'
If you just dove in for the open-world hype, you'd ragequit. Factions that seemed unrelated were linked in reputation systems you only learned through in-game intel. That's why the game flopped—it was made for hardcore Three Kingdoms weebs.
In this game, randomly attacking anyone was suicide. Your rep would plummet everywhere, turning you into a public enemy of the Central Plains.
But barbarian factions like the Xiongnu and Wuhuan had no ties. You could slaughter them freely without hurting relations elsewhere. They were optimized for farming, plain and simple.
Zhang Jiao and Zhang Shun, who led the Wuhuan in rebellion, were straight-up Han traitors. Killing them didn't piss off any specific group. Even their troops were decently strong, dishing out solid XP. Get lucky, and you might snag a Wuhuan horse, a top-tier mount.
The Wuhuan were basically golden goblins. And one more thing: slaughter enough barbarians, and you unlocked the trait 'Barbarian Slayer'. It gave bonus damage and tactical edges against barbarian enemies—a plain but useful perk that paid off big in the story.
'Works great against Dong Zhuo's forces.'
Dong Zhuo's Western Liang soldiers and Lu Bu's detachments counted as barbarians. Made sense given their origins. Grabbing that trait early would help when joining the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition.
'Just wait for Gongsun Zan's official summons.'
Do the job, and that was that. Lost in these thoughts, I wrapped up today's patrol and headed straight back to base.
It was a residential annex tacked onto the county office like a wart. All us Liu Bei army members crammed in together. Eating and sleeping side by side—it was kinda creepy.
"Ah!! You're back? Gaga?"
Bu Yong-hwa, ladle in hand, greeted us with a smile. I hadn't even asked, but she'd volunteered to handle meals for everyone. Now she was our official cook.
'The cliché is that pampered daughters can't cook...'
But Bu Yong-hwa was amazing in the kitchen. Said she'd taken some bride training or whatever that included cooking.
"Hehe. Good work today. I heated the water already."
Bu Yong-hwa beamed and pulled me into a quick hug. Marrying her would make a guy happy, right? The thought startled me. Blink and I'd wake up hitched to her.
"I heated water for you too, Lady Guan. Let's bathe together later."
Bu Yong-hwa smiled warmly at Guan Yu as well.
"Ah. Sure. Thanks."
Guan Yu and Bu Yong-hwa were always sniping at each other, but as the only women in this volunteer army, they had no choice but to get along.
"Mm. Good work on patrol. Yun Chang, Yi De, and Kim Gong."
Liu Bei smiled our way. He seemed to be handling paperwork and such.
"Aigoo... Bei. This is too intense, isn't it? I'm going nuts."
Liu Bei was a bit clumsy with paperwork, but he hadn't just slacked these three months. He'd recruited help.
Two new members had joined. First, Jian Yong from Zhuo Commandery, Liu Bei's childhood friend. A world traveler by hobby, he'd heard about Liu Bei, shown up in the plains, and joined the crew. His broad knowledge translated to practical skills.
'The type the military loves.'
From civil engineering to clerical work, he had a bag of tricks. Basically Liu Bei's personal secretary now.
And another: Sun Qian, a renowned upright scholar from the plains. Impressed by Liu Bei's efforts to stabilize the area, he'd shown up at the office declaring his intent to serve as an official. One of the Three Jian-Sun trio had joined. Liu Bei's army was growing steadily.
Our 500+ volunteers had geared up and swelled to about a thousand elite troops ready to deploy.
------
After washing up, Bu Yong-hwa had the food all set. She had a knack for everything. We ate and drank merrily, then stepped out for some air.
"Ahem. What a fine place."
Right in front of me stood an old man in mysterious robes, eyeing us.
Whoosh...
A strange wind swirled only around him. No breeze anywhere else, but leaves danced lazily near the old man. Eerily mystical.
Whatever. Having played the game, I knew who he was. The NPC who wandered everywhere, spiking gamers' blood pressure: Yu Gil.
'He followed the plains route right from the start?'
Usually he started in Jianye and looped south through Yi Province. He'd pierced insane odds to reach here. A route I'd never seen in multiple playthroughs.
"Ahem. The people here brim with hope for the future, moving as one. A good place. And it seems you've a fine lord. Young man."
Yu Gil smiled.
No, I wasn't a "young man" anymore... but compared to him, sure.
Whatever.
"You seem to know who I am just by looking. As expected. A heaven-defier, eh? Hehe."
Yu Gil chuckled.
"...You're from another world, aren't you?"
His words caught me off guard. How'd he know?
This wasn't the mere NPC I remembered.
"No worries. I won't blab heavenly secrets. Anyway, you're sticking around here, right? Hehe. That's that."
Yu Gil laughed heartily.
"Don't you have something for me? That's why I came myself. Now, bring out the Taiping Yaoshu."
While I floundered, he cut to the chase. He knew I had it.
"Ah... I'll grab it from the house."
But sneaking to my room meant dodging hazards: Bu Yong-hwa's constant affection bombs, Zhang Fei's booze-and-gambling temptations, Guan Yu-nuna wanting walks. Liu Bei's army had zero privacy...
Still, I'd been here long enough to have the stealth down. Sensing presences all around, I slipped to the corner of my room and retrieved the hidden Taiping Yaoshu.
"Ahem. Nostalgic. A book holding a fragment of the heavenly principles, meant to better the world... but it backfired."
Yu Gil fiddled with it wistfully, then stared at me.
"I'll give you what you want."
He waved his hand, and leaves whipped up from all sides. Beyond the whirlwind, a book materialized.
Thud.
It dropped right in front of me.
A manual from the game: Taiji Swordsmanship.
Focuses on parrying and deflecting skill trees, with powerful passive skills boosting sword damage.
The Taiji Swordsmanship manual from the game. Trade the Taiping Yaoshu with Yu Gil for it. Its parry-and-deflect skills, plus sword-boosting passives, made the game easier. A valuable item.
'Gotta read and master it manually... oh well.'
In these chaotic times, power was survival.
"I'll be watching what revolution you bring to this world."
With that, Yu Gil grabbed his staff leaning on a tree. Glancing up from the book, he'd vanished completely. Just a few leaves in the wind.
Truly a mystical old coot.
As I stared blankly at the empty spot, Liu Bei popped out.
"Kim Gong, what're you spacing out at?"
He approached with a friendly smile.
"Ah, nothing much."
I shook my head and tucked the Taiji manual into my pocket.
-------
After a few peaceful months on the plains, just like in the game, Gongsun Zan's White Horse Cavalry clashed with Wuhuan soldiers.
"To Liu Bei Xude, merchant of the plains!!!"
A messenger from Gongsun Zan arrived at our county office.
"By order of Governor Liu Yu of You Province, we request you help exterminate the traitorous scum plaguing the province's people!!!"
The messenger stood ramrod straight, pleading for aid from Liu Bei.
My golden XP farming opportunity had arrived. My mouth was watering.