“Boss is down to 1%! Stop attacking! Poison incomingโhug the wall!”
A player in a priest-like robe shouted commands, clearly acting as the raid leader.
The moment he gave the order, all the players stopped attacking in unison and ran toward the edge of the cavern. Only a single archer remained behind, slowly whittling down the boss’s remaining HP with arrows.
Boom!
A green cloud of gas erupted from the boss’s back, quickly spreading out and concealing the scene below. Zhang Cheng took a few steps forward and leaned out to peek. The entire raid group was still intact, having perfectly avoided the poison’s range.
โThese guys are all in the same groupโฆ and pretty damn coordinated.โ Zhang Cheng thought to himself.
He hesitatedโshould he go down? If the raid team thought he was there to steal the boss kill, heโd probably be respawning at a resurrection point in no time.
Suddenly, a strong force shoved Zhang Cheng from behind.
He had been so focused on the fight below that he wasnโt prepared for the push. He lost his balance and fell straight down the cave opening.
โWhat the hellโ?!โ
Midair, he realized that the spider boss was right below him.
Its grotesque mandibles filled his vision. In a panic, Zhang Cheng raised his greatsword and slashed down at the bossโs back. The impact gave him just enough momentum to break his fall and stagger to the ground.
The boss let out a piercing screech, and another wave of dense green poison burst from its back.
โWho the hell is that?!โ The poison now blanketed the entire underground cavern, engulfing everyone inside.
The raid leader saw the green skull icon appear in his status bar, his face twitching with rage.\
โKill him! He stole the boss!โ
His teammates, watching their HP bars steadily drop from the venom, also realized they were doomed Furious, they hurled their skills toward Zhang Cheng.
Zhang Cheng had already lost half his health from the fall, despite cushioning it with the boss’s body. Now, the poison gas was eating away at his remaining HP. He looked toward the wall, where angry players glared at him with murder in their eyes, and gave a bitter smile.
He knew someone had shoved him from above, but these players obviously had no idea.
And now wasnโt the time to explain that heโd been pushed. The situation had already spiraled, so he might as well pretend he jumped down on purpose. Might as well try to get the kill and walk away with some profit.
Thinking quickly, he glanced at the boss still screeching in place. Seizing the opportunity, he performed a sliding tackle right under the bossโs belly, dodging both the poison and the incoming barrage of arrows and magic.
He turned around to checkโsure enough, the massive boss had blocked all the long-range attacks.
The health bar above the boss now showed 0%.
This is it!
Zhang Cheng positioned himself behind the boss and began channeling Smite. A massive golden cross cleaved through the bossโs body. Because of its size, the system registered it as multiple hits, and strings of damage numbers exploded into the air.
The boss let out one last, pitiful screech, then collapsed to the ground, twitching a few times before going still.
Zhang Cheng stared in disbelief. He’d actually gotten the kill! His heart raced with joy.
Coins and shiny blue-purple items rained down from the bossโs body. Zhang Cheng immediately lunged forward and grabbed whatever he could without even looking. The next moment, his body suddenly lost all strength and fell face-first to the ground.
The screen slowly faded to black-and-white, and the words [You have died] appeared.
Without hesitation, Zhang Cheng hit [Respawn].
Heโd just stolen the boss, earned a huge chunk of EXP, and picked up some unknown loot. That was a massive win. No time to wasteโhe had to get out of there, fast.
If he revived too slowly and ended up at the spawn point with the angry raid team, theyโd camp him and make his life miserable.
โBastard! &โฆ}*%๏ฟฅ@-ใ!!โ\
The raid leader cursed so hard he invented new expletives, screaming every filthy insult he could think of while Zhang Chengโs character vanished in a flash of white light.
A few team members, braving the poisonous mist, tried to rush forward to loot the gear. But having just come out of a boss fight, their health wasn’t exactly in great shape. They barely made it halfway before collapsing, their bodies bursting into white light just like Zhang Cheng had.
This team had only one commander and another team member who were Priests. But the two of them were barely keeping themselves alive, let alone healing others.
In the end, every other team member vanished into white light. The remaining Priest, realizing he couldnโt hold on any longer, cast his final healing spell on the commander, helping him survive the poisoning effect.
The commander was furious they didnโt get the kill credit for the boss, but since the player who snatched the kill hadnโt contributed any damage beforehand, he only received 10% of the experience. As long as they could get the loot, it wouldn’t be a total loss.
Now the sole survivor, the commander approached the bossโs corpse, healing himself while lowering his head to pick up the gear.
Just as he was about to claim the loot, a dagger flashed before his eyes. The Priest dodged by instinctively lowering his head. The daggerโs wielder looked surprised but quickly twisted his wrist, bringing the blade back for a reverse strikeโonly for it to be blocked by a flail.
‘I knew youโd pull something! I might be a Priest, but Iโm a battle Priest, dammit!’
Earlier, when the first player descended into the pit, the Priest had immediately felt something was off. Trusting his instincts, he suspected this was a classic case of โthe mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.โ Sure enoughโhe was right.
Clang! Another dagger clashed with the iron ball at the front of the flail. The dagger-wielding player lashed out with both blades, attacking the Priest relentlessly, but every blow was blocked.
This wasnโt because the Priest was particularly skilledโfar from it. Rather, the small-framed rogue didnโt seem to know any real techniques. She was just wildly slashing with two daggers.
After a fruitless series of attacks, she dodged a flail swing with a quick shift in position, then lunged toward the bossโs corpse.
โSteal!โ
A crisp voice rang out, followed by a flash of lightโand all the gold under the boss disappeared.
The rogue cursed her bad luck under her breath. Hearing footsteps closing in behind her, she snatched up a random purple-glowing item, turned around, and took a direct hit from the flail. She was sent flying, then scrambled up and darted out of the cave along a vine-covered wall.
โYou dirty thieving whโ! %@&$#@!โ the Priest cursed up a storm, but there was nothing he could do. He picked up the remaining gear and started contacting his fallen teammates. Next time he ran into those two, heโd be sure to teach them a lesson.
At first, he didnโt think the two were working togetherโuntil he saw their usernames.
โHeh, oneโs named Spicy Rabbit Head and the otherโs Pink Rabbit? Just you wait!โ
*****
After respawning in Knight City, Zhang Cheng slipped into a random alley under the cover of night. He grinned as he checked his experienceโhe had shot up to level 16.
But then he suddenly remembered something, and the smile faded from his face. He pulled up the system logs and carefully scanned through them line by liZhang Cheng felt this shouldnโt be a problemโit shouldnโt expose anything. When a player logged out, the system would automatically take over their character, and the name above their head would vanish. Those people had only briefly interacted with him just now, and since it was deep into the night in the game, they probably wouldnโt recognize him based on appearance aloneโฆ right?
Inside the game capsule, Zhang Cheng thought about his 187 cm height and started feeling uncertain again.
Whatever. Iโll check again when I log in tonight. Itโs already past 2 a.m., time to wash up and get to sleep.
Lu Qiuchen felt like her brain was about to explode. Every time she came up with a theory, it would immediately get disproven by what she saw.
So is this Eternal World real, or is it just virtual data?
She was completely lost.
Thenโฆ what ifโฆ this world is both real and a game world?
The sudden idea startled her. She instinctively wanted to reject itโhow could that be possible? A game world being real? The two were completely opposed conceptsโฆ
โNo, thatโs not right!โ Lu Qiuchen muttered aloud, denying her initial reaction.
Back when Zhang Cheng had dragged her into the bottomless pit of anime culture, she had watched a few stories about people getting isekaiโd through games.
What she was experiencing now fit perfectly with that premise.
First, she had been transported to another world while playing the game. But for some unknown reason, her consciousnessโor soulโhad stayed behind in the new world, making it impossible for her to log out.
Then, due to some other unknown trigger, the system had activated again. Noโmost likely, it was because the open beta had started on Earth, allowing her, as a player, to reconnect to the system. The strongest proof was that system calling itself โBetaโ and asking her to cooperate with the gameโs main storyline!
If thatโs the caseโฆ then players have already entered the game!
She could try to communicate with them and gather intel!
Excited, Lu Qiuchen planned to visit the South and North Continents to check if there were any unfamiliar people acting strangely. If she found them, everything would become clear!
Without delay, she transformed into her dragon form. But the moment she did, she realized her body had grown several times larger.
With question marks practically floating above her head, Lu Qiuchen tried to recall what had happened.
This must be the dragon inheritanceโs doing.
Her memory of what happened after receiving the inheritance was fuzzy, but she vaguely remembered getting into a fightโฆ and embarrassingly losing. She had no choice but to return to Dragon Island to recover.
As for how long had passed since then, she had just woken up and hadnโt asked the other dragonsโso she had no idea.
Still, priorities mattered. She would get answers from the patriarch, Impart, after confirming whether players had arrived.
The silver dragon spread its wings and rose from the snowy ground, soaring toward the horizon.
During the flight, Lu Qiuchen thought of a troubling detail. From the time she had entered this game world to when she fainted and flew back to Dragon Island, nearly two years had passed. Yet during all that time, the system had never appeared once.
Would a game company really go two years without testing their game? Orโฆ is there something else going on?
And if her theory was correct, what role did the game company play in all this?
How could they create a game that leads to another world?
Thinking of this, the holographic technology of the Eternal Group suddenly seemed suspicious.
But there was no point pondering this right now.
Better to focus on how Iโm going to talk to the players later.
Lu Qiuchen gave up on the mental gymnastics and concentrated on flying.
That was when she noticed her flying speed had drastically improved.
What used to take 10 hours to reach the South Continent now only took 6. When she accelerated, she could even break the sound barrierโa feat that required nearly Mach 1 on Earth.
When she finally reached the southern edge of the continent, Lu Qiuchen slowed down and hid above the clouds under the cover of night, carefully observing the streets below.
Butโฆ she didnโt see anyone that looked like a player.
(To be continued)
Ask ChatGPTne.
You fell from a height and lost 2706 HP.
You dealt 139 damage to โMutated Spider.โ
Player โSpicy Rabbit Headโ made contact with you.
Spicy Rabbit Head!
Zhang Cheng memorized the name. If it werenโt for my quick reflexes and brilliant instincts, that guy wouldโve screwed me over and cost me experience for nothing!
Even though he died once, he still gained two levels. Losing 5% EXP was acceptable.
Zhang Cheng hadnโt yet checked out the skill he got at level 15 or examined the item heโd looted when footsteps approached the alley. He quickly held his breath, ducked behind a large crateโand logged out.
Zhang Cheng felt this shouldnโt be a problemโit shouldnโt expose anything. When a player logged out, the system would automatically take over their character, and the name above their head would vanish. Those people had only briefly interacted with him just now, and since it was deep into the night in the game, they probably wouldnโt recognize him based on appearance aloneโฆ right?
Inside the game capsule, Zhang Cheng thought about his 187 cm height and started feeling uncertain again.
Whatever. Iโll check again when I log in tonight. Itโs already past 2 a.m., time to wash up and get to sleep.
*****
Lu Qiuchen felt like her brain was about to explode. Every time she came up with a theory, it would immediately get disproven by what she saw.
So is this Eternal World real, or is it just virtual data?
She was completely lost.
Thenโฆ what ifโฆ this world is both real and a game world?
The sudden idea startled her. She instinctively wanted to reject itโhow could that be possible? A game world being real? The two were completely opposed conceptsโฆ
โNo, thatโs not right!โ Lu Qiuchen muttered aloud, denying her initial reaction. Back when Zhang Cheng had dragged her into the bottomless pit of anime culture, she had watched a few stories about people getting isekaiโd through games.
What she was experiencing now fit perfectly with that premise.
First, she had been transported to another world while playing the game. But for some unknown reason, her consciousnessโor soulโhad stayed behind in the new world, making it impossible for her to log out.
Then, due to some other unknown trigger, the system had activated again. Noโmost likely, it was because the open beta had started on Earth, allowing her, as a player, to reconnect to the system. The strongest proof was that system calling itself โBetaโ and asking her to cooperate with the gameโs main storyline!
If thatโs the caseโฆ then players have already entered the game!
She could try to communicate with them and gather intel!
Excited, Lu Qiuchen planned to visit the South and North Continents to check if there were any unfamiliar people acting strangely. If she found them, everything would become clear!
Without delay, she transformed into her dragon form. But the moment she did, she realized her body had grown several times larger.
With question marks practically floating above her head, Lu Qiuchen tried to recall what had happened.
This must be the dragon inheritanceโs doing.
Her memory of what happened after receiving the inheritance was fuzzy, but she vaguely remembered getting into a fightโฆ and embarrassingly losing. She had no choice but to return to Dragon Island to recover.
As for how long had passed since then, she had just woken up and hadnโt asked the other dragonsโso she had no idea.
Still, priorities mattered. She would get answers from the patriarch, Impart, after confirming whether players had arrived.
The silver dragon spread its wings and rose from the snowy ground, soaring toward the horizon.
During the flight, Lu Qiuchen thought of a troubling detail. From the time she had entered this game world to when she fainted and flew back to Dragon Island, nearly two years had passed. Yet during all that time, the system had never appeared once.
Would a game company really go two years without testing their game? Orโฆ is there something else going on?
And if her theory was correct, what role did the game company play in all this?
How could they create a game that leads to another world?
Thinking of this, the holographic technology of the Eternal Group suddenly seemed suspicious.
But there was no point pondering this right now.\
Better to focus on how Iโm going to talk to the players later.
Lu Qiuchen gave up on the mental gymnastics and concentrated on flying.
That was when she noticed her flying speed had drastically improved. What used to take 10 hours to reach the South Continent now only took 6. When she accelerated, she could even break the sound barrierโa feat that required nearly Mach 1 on Earth.
When she finally reached the southern edge of the continent, Lu Qiuchen slowed down and hid above the clouds under the cover of night, carefully observing the streets below.
Butโฆ she didnโt see anyone that looked like a player.
(To be continued)
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