Eastern Era Guide — What Is Prevailing Time

This Eastern Era guide is the entry point for a brand-new sect leader: keep the tutorial on, gather the marked trees, bushes and hay, and build a shelter with two mats and two depots before you think about anything else. From there the opening objectives walk you through a bonfire, a research table, farming, crafting and your first dirt structure, and each step quietly teaches a system you will lean on for the rest of the run. Play the tutorial rather than skipping it — community answers repeatedly tell stuck players that the tutorial already covers what they are asking.

The opening hours, in order

The first hour is a chain of short objectives. Scavenge materials and build a shelter, then place two mats for disciples and two depots for storage. Build a bonfire with five log and five stone, cook stewed flatbread and feed a disciple to close that step. Build a research table — five log and five stone again — produce a research paper and unlock agronomy, then plant a wheat field and a cotton field.

Objective	Requirement
First shelter	Two mats and two depots inside
Bonfire	5 log and 5 stone
Research table	5 log and 5 stone
Crafting table	20 log, after researching carpenter
First dirt structure	3 research papers, 5x5 foundation

Systems you will touch early

Beyond the objective list, four habits carry the early game. Research is the biggest one: a tips guide recommends at least two or three research tables and disciples permanently assigned to them, because everything from structures to recipes is gated behind papers. Scheduling is the second: split your disciples so half sleep by day and half by night, keeping the camp productive around the clock.

Resource upkeep is the third. Clear trees, mine stone and hunt regularly rather than in panicked bursts, since buildings, crafting and cooking all draw on the same stores. Exploration is the fourth: send disciples to observe unknown plants and resources so you can farm or mine them, and check the post station often for new recruits.

Disciples are the thread running through all of it. Watch their happiness bar, feed them food they like, and answer their requests, because a happy disciple does not walk off the job. Once your camp is stable, the deeper systems — cultivation, breakthroughs and sect levels — open up, and our cultivation guide covers those next.

What is prevailing at this time?

As of the V1.2 "Realms Unveiled" update, the prevailing advice for a new player is still the tutorial-first approach: gather, shelter, research, farm, then expand. The update added city exploration in Kaifeng, Secret Realms and sect sparring, all of which sit on top of the same opening loop rather than replacing it. For the objective-by-objective version, continue to our walkthrough.