Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“A Forest Crystal Core?!” Ye Kong blurted out unthinkingly. He didn’t expect the announcement reward to be so helpful this time!
The Forest Crystal Core was a type of enchanting material, which meant it had the ability to enchant weapons. Based on the Forest Crystal Core’s attributes, the abilities gained from the crystal’s enchantment would generally have effects relating to “Life,” “Beasts,” or “Nature.”
For example, if a Warlock’s weapon was enchanted with the “Forest Crystal Core,” it could possibly gain the bonus ability to summon beasts, or a similar ability involving plant-type organisms.
Enchantments were abilities exclusive to weapons. Only weapons could be enchanted. At the same time, weapon enchantment abilities were extremely varied, with all kinds of strange effects. But the one thing they all had in common was—
Weapon enchanting materials were all incredibly precious!
According to what materials cost in his past life, a piece of enchanting material, even if it was the lowest grade “Crystal Powder,” could buy you a piece of regular Gold gear (Gold equipment was far better than White equipment)!
Moreover, the Forest Crystal Core wasn’t a low grade enchanting material. According to Ye Kong’s knowledge, Forest Crystal Core was one of the better enchanting materials related to “Nature,” and it was at least in the top 50 high grade materials!
A high grade enchanting material!
With this Forest Crystal Core, once Ye Kong hit level five, he would be able to create “enchanted weapons”—
It would be the first enchanted weapon in the whole of “Demon Realm”!
“I shouldn’t have expected anything less from an announcement reward. I’m getting such a generous gift right from the outset.”
Ye Kong finally came to understand why, in his previous life, the top-class alpha test players tried their hardest to achieve region first records. He now knew that the system announcement rewards were extremely generous!
Of course, these types of rewards were only given out once, and only the player who completed the achievement first would receive the generous rewards. As for the second, third, and later players who did it… they received absolutely nothing.
“I need to watch the time. It’s probably already been about five minutes since I killed the first solider.”
Ye Kong packed up his things and promptly left the small alleyway.
Two minutes later…
Two female players hurriedly rushed onto the scene—
“You’re sure he was here?”
Strawberryjam looked at the empty alleyway, a doubtful expression surfacing on her face.
“He told me ‘lacuna’ ran into this alley, so there should be no mistake about it,” rainbowcaramel said while nodding. “I’ll admit that ‘yungmstrsummer’ is kind of a jokester, but he wouldn’t dare to joke about this. After all, you know what my temper’s like.”
Strawberryjam nodded in acknowledgement. It was certainly true that rainbowcaramel was more straightforward than she was. If anyone dared to play her for a fool, the poor soul would be “blacklisted” by her for the rest of their life.
“Hold on a second. Don’t you think something is strange?”
Strawberryjam squinted her eyes, when suddenly, she slapped herself on the thigh. “WTF! The soldier that was here is gone?”
The two girls were casual players. Earlier, they had passed through this alleyway, taking notice of the soldier stationed here. However, in this empty alleyway, they couldn’t find any sign of him!
A jolt of inspiration instantly flashed through strawberryjam’s mind—
“That ‘lacuna’ character entered the alleyway. Then, the soldier stationed here disappeared without a trace!
“And it just so happened that two minutes ago, we heard a system announcement about the ‘first completed set equipment,’ though the player chose to remain anonymous…”
Strawberryjam’s fingers began to tremble as a terrible thought came to her mind:
“Normally, players wouldn’t want to hide their names, because having their name announced on the region-wide broadcast is a great honor. Unless, of course, the player had reasons for wanting their name to be kept secret!
“And, ten minutes ago, we heard a similar ‘anonymous announcement’ about the ‘First NPC Kill.’ If we look at these two events together—
“At the same time, in the same location, with a matching announcement… Could it be?!”
Strawberryjam’s expression became frozen stiff. After putting together all the available information and evidence, she could guess at what it all meant.
It was a very chilling possibility!
Strawberryjam gulped, and then uttered her guess, which was close to the truth of what happened—
“It could be that ‘lacuna’… is the ‘anonymous player’ who killed the NPC!
“He continued to kill a number of NPC soldiers, and collected a set of equipment!
“My God, what are we doing here, actually tracking a ‘First Kill player’?!”
Hearing this, rainbowcaramel couldn’t remain still. “What are you saying?” she said. “You think that ‘lacuna’ is the mysterious player who took the ‘First NPC Kill’? You’ve got to be kidding me…”
Suddenly, however, ranbowcaramel’s expression froze, and the words she was about to say were caught in her throat like a swallowed fishbone, refusing to come out.
It was because the many signs they saw along the way all pointed to a profound truth—
Strawberry’s hypothesis was most likely true!
Whether it was the timing of the system announcement, the disappearance of the soldiers, or the many other things they saw and experienced while following Ye Kong, it all fit with the “anonymous player” theory!
That lacuna…
Perhaps he really was the “First Kill player”!!!
Rainbowcaramel was choked up for a long time before finally managing to force out a complete sentence:
“That… that means… that lacuna, he’s an alpha test player?!”
“Not just an alpha test player!” Strawberryjam shook her head. “A normal alpha test player wouldn’t be able to get the ‘First Kill’ achievement, let alone the first NPC kill. Even though I’m not an alpha test player, I know how difficult it is to achieve that…
“It seems to me that lacuna is at least a 2nd Test player, or maybe even a 1st Test player (someone who played since the earliest testing phase)!”
“A 1st Test player?!” rainbowcaramel exclaimed in fright, because the meaning behind these four words was far too much to take in!
To elaborate, “Demon Realm” was a “second world” developed by the Federal Government. For a person to be able to get the activation code for the 2nd phase test, his capabilities in the real world would have to be a force to be reckoned with!
As for players with a First Test activation code…
Only the planet’s top tycoons, financial groups, or business families would be able to obtain one of these activation codes!
These 1st Test players represented more than just gaming ability. They also represented the huge financial power in the real world!
“That’s right!” strawberryjam nodded as she continued. “That lacuna must be the account name of an expert, but he chose to use a new name so others wouldn’t discover who he was. This style of doing things isn’t something even a 2nd Test player would emulate!
“1st Test players have always been mysterious, and this kind of behavior matches their way of doing things—aside from the few most famous guild leaders, nobody really knows who the other 1st Test players are!”
As she said this, strawberryjam let out a defeated sigh. “Caramel, let’s go inform the others and get them to stop bothering this master. Otherwise, we’ll be the ones getting into trouble!”
Despite the fact that she was the first to get riled up earlier, in truth, strawberry was much smarter than caramel. Whenever they encountered really pressing problems, she was able to calm herself down and take the most logical steps toward solving them.
“Right! I’ll send out the news right away, and get them to stop!”
Rainbowcaramel was scared, and she broke out into a cold sweat. She felt a persistent chill in her heart. She realized that “lacuna” had obviously been hiding his real identity, even choosing to remain anonymous for the system announcements so he could move forward with his plans!
If they somehow messed up this player’s game plan because of their investigations, wouldn’t that incur his “wrath”?!
Even though strawberry, caramel, and the others came from well-to-do families, with a couple million credits’ worth of family assets, compared to the real bigwigs, they weren’t even worth mentioning!
(P.S. In the Federation era, housing prices were more stable. Housing close to the suburbs cost less than a hundred grand, while housing near the city center cost at most a few hundred grand. A millionaire, then, was considered to be a small tycoon.)
1st Test players were definitely out of the question, but even if lacuna was just a 2nd Test player, he wasn’t someone they could afford to provoke!
At the end of the day, if an individual who could get a 2nd Test activation code wanted to give them a bad time in the real world, it would be as easy as making a call to the right people!
“Quick, quick, quick. I’ll help send out word too. Get them to stop whatever they’re doing immediately!”
Strawberryjam joined in to help, and the two of them began furiously sending out messages. Deep down, they were incredibly vexed. They hated themselves for their shortsightedness in trying to mess with a “1st Test player” who wanted to keep a low profile.
“It’s over. We’re in big trouble now!”
The two female players both thought they had kicked a “hornet’s nest”…
……..
“I’ve arrived!”
Ye Kong reached the vicinity of the association building, but when he got there, he saw a large group of players gathered around the entrance. His eyebrows knitted together in a frown. “What’s going on here? Why are players guarding the entrance to the association?”
At that moment, outside the entrance of the Violet Mercantile Association, a large crowd of players were staking out the place. If anyone tried to enter the association building, they definitely wouldn’t be able to escape the crowd’s notice!
Not wanting to alert them to his presence, Ye Kong was trying to think of a plan for sneaking into the association building, when—
Boom!
There was a loud commotion among the players gathered outside the entrance to the Violet Mercantile Association. It seemed that there was a change in the situation, because a moment later, they looked like they had seen a ghost, and fled in a disorderly panic.
Pitter patter!!!
The large group of players scattered in all directions, running down various streets and avenues, and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
Lucky for him, they were all “scared” away…
Watching the scene unfold, Ye Kong did a double take as he muttered to himself, “This group of players—
“Is something wrong with their heads?”
…..
Violet Mercantile Association, inside the hall
Squeak!
Ye Kong pushed open the main door, then walked briskly to the center of the hall. Modr, who was standing in front of the wall mural, turned to face him, revealing his terrifying, deep-purple face.
“Welcome back, brave explorer.
“In the short span of ten minutes, you have completed your mission. Most excellent…” The corners of his mouth drew back into a hideous grin.
“Looks like we can move forward with our plans.”