Chapter 527: From Witcher to Gwent Player, Boxer (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

The oppressive atmosphere, that's what Song Ren felt the moment he arrived in Velen, his first stop.

This place was already in dire straits, and now, due to the war, it had become an unofficial no-man's-land.

The entire map was riddled with swamps and swarming with monsters; ghouls, in particular, were practically everywhere.

Especially his very first stop in Velen, the 'Hangman's Tree,' left Song Ren deeply moved.

As the name suggested, many people had been hanged from this large tree.

But what truly caught Song Ren's attention was discovering an acquaintance there.

As he controlled Geralt in the game and approached the Hangman's Tree, he found a collectible, interactive item beneath a barefoot corpse hanging there.

Picking it up, the item's name was displayed as [Unfinished Book], and the author's signature was Adalbert Kaelmert, the scholar who, at the beginning, wanted to record the war in the White Orchard village tavern.

"This is truly tragic," Song Ren couldn't help but sigh.

Beyond these details, what also troubled Song Ren were the quests in the game.

On his way to meet the Imperial Agent for the main quest, Song Ren also took on a side quest.

Along the way, he encountered a Church of the Eternal Fire priest. Although the priest's tone was quite unpleasant and discriminatory towards Geralt as a Witcher, Song Ren didn't pay it much mind, as he wasn't the first to show prejudice.

While he would have been quite indignant at first, by now he was used to it.

The priest told Geralt that to prevent the corpses in the mass grave from being desecrated by ghouls and other creatures, he needed to burn some of the remains.

The other party seemed like a good person, a kind priest, even willing to pay out of his own pocket to let the deceased rest in peace.

However, after Song Ren controlled Geralt to burn the bodies at two locations, upon reaching the third, he discovered that someone wasn't dead but was being ambushed by ghouls.

After rescuing him, the man told Geralt that he was actually a bandit who sold anesthetics, and the Church of the Eternal Fire priest was not a good person.

He had supplied them with goods, but afterwards, the priest tried a dog-eat-dog move, having ghouls kill them to fake their deaths.

As for Geralt, he was merely meant to clean up the trail even more thoroughly.

So, should he believe the priest, or this bandit in front of him?

Song Ren didn't hesitate for too long and directly chose to believe the bandit. He then returned to the priest to complete the quest, and the priest's subsequent reaction proved that what the bandit said was true; clearly, neither party was entirely good.

"Hmm... quite interesting. I'm willing to pay you for this story, to keep your mouth shut." Looking at Geralt, the Church of the Eternal Fire priest pulled a coin purse from his pocket.

At the same time, two options appeared before Song Ren: accept the bribe, or refuse the bribe.

"You think you can buy Geralt, a Witcher as upright as I am? I don't want your money! It's dirty!" Song Ren snorted and immediately chose to refuse.

At the same time, the Church of the Eternal Fire priest immediately turned hostile.

Three against one, but at this difficulty, it was no challenge for Song Ren; he quickly dispatched the priest and his henchmen.

"Isn't this still my money?" Looking at the three corpses on the ground, Song Ren chuckled, then took 200 Yuan from their bodies.

He picked up several different side quests along the way, and even though they were side quests, the stories were quite engaging, giving Song Ren the feeling of reading a collection of short stories.

These were completely different from tasks in other games, like helping an old lady cross the street or helping an old man pick up a package.

Moreover, from them, one could also perceive some of the game's political landscape and the current living conditions of the populace, making it quite rich.

Of course, Song Ren also noticed something else: in Velen, there were many more people who could play Gwent.

The village perfumers and swordsmiths could all play cards.

And besides playing cards, Song Ren also discovered another mini-game: there were even boxing matches in Velen.

In small roadside villages, people set up boxing rings where bets could be placed, just like with Gwent.

"Indeed, this makes sense! I knew not everyone would like to play Gwent, or could afford to play Gwent, so boxing is also a very fitting recreational activity for the game's setting!" Song Ren looked at the new side quest before him, his face alight with excitement.

Time to make some money again!

It was quite difficult to earn money in The Witcher: Wild Hunt, Song Ren realized, because the characters involved in side quests were mostly poor common folk.

These people basically had no money, and the Witcher contracts posted in villages were mostly funded by villagers pooling their meagre resources, which still wasn't much.

Although Song Ren didn't understand why these seemingly poor commoners always had good cards when playing Gwent, overall, there were still relatively few ways to earn money in the game.

Just like the bugs from his previous life, such as farming cowhides in White Orchard, Chen Xu had essentially patched them all out.

So, in the early game, there really weren't many places for players to earn money, which led to players ransacking every house they could enter.

However, this was also a common trait among RPG players; an RPG game would lose much of its flavor if one didn't raid NPC houses, wouldn't it?

After finishing cards and then three rounds of boxing in Velen, Song Ren finally noticed that it was already dinner time.

"Time passed so quickly? The game content is so rich!" Song Ren exclaimed in surprise.

Although he had played many rounds of Gwent and boxing, and also explored the question marks on the map, and completed a huge number of side quests.

For example, he had basically cleared out all the side quests in White Orchard.

But an entire afternoon had just flown by?

He had only just begun the main story!

Just as Song Ren was exclaiming, a special notification popped up: a message from Old Zhang.

Zhang Yi: "Old Song, how's The Witcher: Wild Hunt? Is it fun?" Zhang Yi, sitting on the subway heading home during peak hours, finally couldn't resist asking Old Song for his opinion on The Witcher: Wild Hunt.

Although he had confidence in Nebula Games and there was certainly no shortage of related content online, he still chose to ask Old Song.

As for the reason, it had been several hours since he got off work, and since it was an ARPG game, he was worried about seeing spoilers while browsing online game reviews.

If it were a game that had been out for several months or a year or two, it wouldn't matter, of course.

But this was a launch title, and he still wanted to explore it himself.

And Old Song, he believed they should have that much tacit understanding.

Old Song didn't keep Zhang Yi waiting long and quickly replied, though the content left Zhang Yi a little bewildered.

Song Ren: "The game is really fun. Playing cards and boxing are especially interesting. You definitely have to play Gwent in the inn when you get there, it's very fun."

What's going on, what does that mean?

I asked for a game review, what's with the cards and boxing?

Isn't it Geralt, the White Wolf, the legendary Witcher?

How did he turn into a Gwent Player and a Boxer?

Are you even playing The Witcher: Wild Hunt?

Zhang Yi was utterly confused, but in truth, Song Ren, who replied, was also quite conflicted.

After all, he had played for an entire afternoon, but the story content hadn't progressed much, and he only had a rough idea of the game's worldview.

And what left the deepest impression on him after an afternoon of playing, aside from a few interconnected quests, was the mini-game, Gwent.

It was fine when he hadn't fully grasped it, but once he truly understood the rules, this little card game was genuinely addictive.

(End of Chapter) <>