"Ace Thief adds skills, likely skills related to the thief class, optional."
"Elite Beggar offers a useless lackey, meaning unclear, could it be using the lackey as cannon fodder?"
"Ruffian, during the instance, stacks percentage damage by eliminating enemies, a very nice trait, but I don't lack damage."
"Martial Artist, double experience upon instance completion, this trait is useful to me, but avoiding combat may generate some aggro which is a bit risky."
"Peacekeeper, an identity that can acquire special initial equipment, and can bring out even better equipment upon meeting certain conditions, a very enticing choice... but will this Peace Organization really give me epic or legendary equipment? I'm deeply skeptical…"
"Mad Scientist, an identity that can search for technological equipment, might be more useful for the shooter class."
"Environmentalist, a very ambiguous identity setting, actually requires players to clean up trash… this related special NPC doesn't seem quite normal either…"
"Corporate Personnel, a good identity, regularly receives supply resources, advantages without disadvantages."
After a thorough research, Wang Zhifan found many of these identities to be useful, but none had exceptionally outstanding effects, and many identities clearly had pitfalls just from the description.
While he was still undecided, the surrounding players had already woken up completely, read the instance information, and started communicating with each other.
"Everyone! We have a total of thirty-six players this time, we need to form at least six teams! I am a shooter class and want to team up with a tank and healer class! I will handle long-range output!"
An Asian youth, who looked like a big horse monkey and carried a large sniper rifle, was the first to speak up, his eyes scanning the players for potential collaborators.
"People from Mei Country look here! All people from Mei Country come team up with me! I, the first Wizard Association of Mei Country, will protect you!"
A young white man wearing a wizard's hat loudly proclaimed next, his tall and strong physique being surprisingly paired with a Mage class, which felt quite incongruous to look at.
"Evil Country people gather! The will of our Evil Country is invincible!"
Another young white man shouted, raising an arm that was densely covered with fine hair.
"Sumimasen… watashi wa…"
A young island country player with a slightly restrained expression uttered a voice that didn't have much presence.
For a moment, the voices of the thirty or so players gathered together merged, causing the air in this place to quickly become noisy.
After all, everyone was a player, and with quite a number, there wasn't a recognized leader, so each person talking over each other was quite normal.
Wang Zhifan remained among them, one of the few not engaging in conversation, still quietly pondering which identity to choose.
"Choose Martial Artist for the experience? Peacekeeper for the equipment? Environmentalist… let's forget about that one."
By this time, he had already eliminated most of the identities, focusing on the few special options, since he already possessed what the other options offered.
For example, he certainly wasn't interested in the Ace Thief's skills, as someone in control of certain Space-Time Laws, what concern did he have for petty thieving skills?
The Ruffian's percentage damage increase was similar; his damage was already overflowing, choosing it would be a waste.
The Martial Artist, Peacekeeper, and Environmentalist were the only ones with any slight significance to him, but the requirement for the Environmentalist to constantly clean trash rendered it impractical, so he further excluded it.
"Forget it, I'll choose Martial Artist for more experience at the end, I do want to level up quicker, and the equipment given by this Peacekeeper according to the instance's usual trends isn't likely to be impressive, so let's not rely on luck."
Ultimately, Wang Zhifan decided on the identity of a Martial Artist, with the goal of leveling up faster, and felt he could accept the aggro-drawing effect; comparing escape and survival abilities, there probably wasn't anyone stronger among the players present.
Having resolved this issue, he focused his attention on the surrounding players, realizing they were now mostly in groups of three to five, communicating with one another to find the most suitable team, while only a few, including himself, remained inactive, with two outliers having silently left to venture into the depths of the city alone.
"Should I form a team? It doesn't feel particularly necessary… I've been through solo fights against several opponents before, and these players don't come off as particularly strong to me."
Wang Zhifan continued pondering over this crucial question, as the current instance encouraged players to form teams to clear it, though solo attempts were permitted, albeit inevitably attracting targeting from team players, placing solo players at a disadvantage.
Two black players seemed to notice his struggle, immediately approaching him, the taller one of them volunteering:
"My dear Asian brother! You haven't found your companions? Then join our team! We are players from Africa, both shooters, and need an excellent melee player like you to collaborate…"
While speaking, this tall black player glanced at the Cyan Emperor Saber hanging at Wang Zhifan's waist, likely deducing his melee profession from the weapon he carried.
Unexpectedly, before Wang Zhifan could answer him, the nearby player groups, much like cats smelling fish, began approaching, extending olive branches to Wang Zhifan.
"Bro! Our team is already complete with five different professions, we just need a tank warrior, are you interested in joining us?"
Spoke a very confident-looking young white player.
"Buddy, you certainly look like someone from Xia Country! Come join our team! By working together, we'll clear the instance quickly!"
A glasses-wearing Xia Country player invited Wang Zhifan, their sharp gaze scanning over Wang Zhifan's entire assemblage of gear.
"Sir, our team lacks a strong warrior, please join us, and after clearing the instance, if you come to our guild, we will offer you special benefits."
A well-dressed gentleman-like foreign player also extended an invitation.
"Our team needs an outstanding warrior smida! Please join us smida!"
A Han Country player joined in.
All in all, Wang Zhifan suddenly found himself surrounded by other players, who suddenly perceived him as a "precious treasure," eager to draw him into their teams.
"What's going on? Why weren't they this warm earlier?"
Numerous question marks popped up in Wang Zhifan's head, thinking he might have inadvertently revealed some key information.
But he quickly realized that the inviting players were all speaking in terms of "tank" or "warrior", suddenly understanding the situation.
"Oh, I see, they've realized I'm a rare melee profession and want me as a tank!"
Without needing to check with his eyes, Wang Zhifan could deduce through broad perceptive sensing that out of these thirty-plus players, at most three were warriors, and that number might be overestimated; the other two might not even be war roles.
This data reflected that the warrior profession wasn't particularly dominant, with fewer survivor players at this instance level, but why were other teams so keen on him?
The reason was naturally that warriors could charge ahead, drawing aggro for other players, facilitating them in dealing damage and increasing their survival rate!
As for the problem of warriors being relatively weak, any warrior player entering an instance of this level was destined not to be a rookie, so they weren't overly concerned about a warrior dragging their team down.
At any rate, as long as the warrior moved up front to take hits, they would significantly contribute to the team, alleviating pressure from the shooters and mages who followed. If complemented with priest healing, the warrior's role would become even more pivotal, serving as the team's shield.
The only one who might feel the hardship would be the warrior themselves, after all, they were the ones risking injury, with the highest equipment damage rate, yet their status during rewards distribution wasn't guaranteed to be high.