Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“How far are we from the destination, my goddess?”
“Call me Phoenix.”
“Phoenix, Your Excellency, what is the magic crystal? Can we eat it?”
“Why do you need a magic crystal to summon a magic circle?”
“What kind of thing attacked the City of Despair? Why is it ruined?”
“Will there be any monsters where we’re going?”
“Also, Lady Phoenix, do you possess any Extraordinary Powers? What rank of Extraordinaire are you?”
…
A group of people strolled along the dark and deserted street.
“Perhaps this dunce had been possessed by Tang Sanzang1 and is unafraid that the NPC will shoot his doglike head with an arrow?”
Xu Zhe looked at Liu Chuanfeng, who continuously asked questions like a puppy in front of Phoenix, who was fashioning a hood. He could not help but want to wipe the cold sweats from his forehead.
“Who knows, we’ll just rely on his high degree of favorability.” Sun Shuai kept looking around; the abandoned city in the night was particularly strange. After hearing Xu Zhe’s words, he could not help but curl his lips, and then glance at Liu Chuanfeng in front of him. “But, the questions he’s asking were still spot-on, as we know too little about the background of this game.”
“Two masters at the front, you guys have participated in the first beta before. Do you have any tips?”
Li Yuncheng, who was following them from behind, heard the conversation and immediately leaned forward. He stood behind the team looking at Liu Chuanfeng, who looked like a flea, but did not have much of an opinion toward him. This was his captain and the guy that gave him an iron sword. Still, he was curious about the first beta that only a few people had participated in.
“It was actually just a rescue mission,” Xu Zhe explained lightly with a single sentence. “I think the world view of this game is quite big. Although we’ve only seen a smidge of it, we’ve already seen a few different types of monsters. The previous scene was in the wilderness, and now it’s in the city.”
“There was an old NPC at that time, but it seems like he has died,” Sun Shuai added. After entering the game, they had been exposed to only a couple of tasks, so they could still remember many things clearly.
“The most interesting part of this game is its openness. Even the resurrection point requires the players’ participation, which makes it feel like a different world,” Xu Zhe said.
“Yep, yep. There’s also the part about the magic potions,” Li Yuncheng added. “As the previous NPCs had mentioned, this should be something like career advancement.”
“It’s more than that.” Sun Shuai glanced at Liu Chuanfeng in front of him again. He thought about how this thick-skinned ugly fellow could also be in good favor with the NPC. However, his face remained calm as he continued, “I think the magic crystal we’re going off to find should be beneficial. It is energy. If this is anything like StarCraft, it’s the most important resource for building bases and explosive forces.”
“Cr*p, when you put it that way, will they treat us as farmers next? Could it be possible that players will have to pay resources when they resurrect in the future?” Xu Zhe immediately reacted as he cried out in surprise.
“That’s not necessarily true. We’re probably in adventure mode right now, but the lack of character panel is a bit unsettling.” Li Yuncheng added his point of view.
A few of them got caught up in their thoughts for a moment.
Compared with the other players, the three were the kind of people who liked to find the root of their issues. Xu Zhe’s habit was developed when he was the president of his club. He loved inventing strategies, which made it easy for him to command team members. Sun Shuai played all kinds of high-end pay-to-play games, and he considered himself to be very knowledgeable. Although Li Yuncheng entered ‘Journey To The Other World’ for a particular reason, he was a higher level player in contrast to the other two. He could keenly perceive the openness and realism of these types of games.
Ang——
Ang——
When the few people stopped discussing, a strange cry suddenly sounded outside the dark and cold abandoned street.
The voice was crisp and clear, like the triumphant sound let out by a big goose after pecking a person, but the volume was much louder. During the night, it spread far and wide.
“Quiet!”
Phoenix, who had been walking in front, immediately booted the long-winded Liu Chuanfeng next to her while simultaneously making a silent gesture at the players behind her.
“What’s going on?”
“What’s the situation?”
The eight players, including Liu Chuanfeng, instantly became nervous.
Only the cold moonlight lit up the desolated street; it felt like a frighteningly eerie scene in itself.
Two of the players wanted to ditch the team to take a look around on their own, but whenever they tried to walk away, they would immediately turn back to follow the crowd after taking just a few steps. The main reason for this was that it was simply too gloomy and silent.
There was the feeling that monsters would jump out of the dark or broken house at any time. Even if they knew it was a game, the experience was still too very pleasant.
“It’s a bright firebird.”
Phoenix looked at her surroundings warily, then noticed the awkward players behind her and explained in a low voice.
“Bright firebird?”
After the players heard this word, their eyes lit up. “Is this a new monster?”
“Shh.”
Phoenix heard the fuss behind her and continued to show her dissatisfaction. She snorted once more. In her head, she didn’t want to bring these weird adventurers, but after considering the issue of the summoning circle mentioned by Meng Yang, she had to admit that the number of magic crystals she could hold on her own was limited. Hence, she could only agree.
“Stop talking, everyone, we are now in the crucial stage, and we temporarily can’t be resurrected if we die.”
Liu Chuanfeng, who was beside Phoenix the whole time, heard her and immediately helped to silence the players who had gotten a little bit too excited.
Everyone immediately suppressed their excitement when they heard these words. Monsters were not uncommon, but this was a realistic experience, and such encounters were very different.
As an NPC, even if she were powerful, Phoenix would naturally not have any prestige among the players. They were merely here for the favorability and rewards after the task was completed. Everyone previously kissed ass to be here, so what else could they not do?
The players were a little clearer about the routine now. As long as they had high favorability with the NPCs, even if the final task reward were not theirs, they could still learn the method of awakening the Extraordinary Seed from Phoenix.
Many of them were still excited by this secretive Extraordinary System.
Ang Ang——
There was another loud and clear voice.
The eight players followed Phoenix to a dilapidated building next to the street. After a while, the screams got closer, and soon, everyone felt the movement.
On the ruined street, a figure standing on two feet took lightning-quick steps as it gradually came into view.
What appeared in front of them was a monster whose head stood at almost three meters high. Its head was big, a little similar to that of a bird, but its beak was covered with dense rows of teeth. Its slender body was covered with feathers, and its legs were slim and sturdy. Its toes consisted of sharp claws. What was even more surprising was that the forelimbs of this firebird were feathers expanded to become wings, but still retained sharp claws.
‘This thingy’s a bird?! F*ck me!’
‘F*ck, it looks so much like a dinosaur!’
‘Perhaps it is a type of dinosaur?’
‘I wonder if it’ll drop some item. Is it considered an Extraordinary Creature?’
Everyone was flabbergasted as they murmured these things in their hearts.
Fortunately, the eight players selected by Phoenix were all relatively reliable. No one went out on a whim to try to test themselves by going up against this beast.
On the one hand, it was because the mission was currently in progress, so everyone was well aware of the current situation about the resurrection. If they died, they would have to wait for the magic crystal to arrive. On the other hand, Phoenix was being overly cautious. With the current number of players and their equipped weapons, it would be no different from sending them to their deaths.
They waited until the bright firebird left before Phoenix finally brought the players out of the abandoned house.
“You can call that thing a velociraptor. Why on earth would you call it a bright firebird!”
“It looks like the thing you’ll usually see in the movies. Only the head is a lot bigger.”
“Encountering this kind of creature in an abandoned city makes me feel squeamish!”
“The start of an apocalypse, like ‘I Am Legend’!”1
“It’s more like ‘Jurassic Park’!”
“We should kill it once we have enough people. The background of this game is a bit messy!”
The players looked at the fast and nimble-paced bright firebird that would produce the sound “Ang” from time to time leaving, and started their discussion once more.
Phoenix glanced in the bright firebird’s direction, and a trace of doubt swept across her eyes. Then, she continued to walk to the front of the crowd again. “Be vigilant, we’ll be continuing our journey.”