Dark Mist Forest
In the deep, dark depths of the forest, a burst of starlight flickered. Then, in the next moment, everything was peaceful again.
Patter!
Ye Kong put away his long sword and picked up the items that had dropped onto the floor. After a cursory inspection of the loot, he couldn't help but shake his head in dismay:
"They're such a bunch of poor wretches..."
Ye Kong had used the same move to slaughter another team of players. This time, however, he didn't lay out any "bait," because the same trick wouldn't work twice on his opponents.
It could be said that the communication methods in Demon Realm were polished to a high degree. Anyone could create a private communications channel, and aotabo had started up a channel for the Yokai Legion Guild. Hence, after Ye Kong killed the first team, his methods were probably leaked to the others.
Still, even if Ye Kong didn't leave "bait" lying around, he could remain hidden in any one of the trees. And even if they walked with their heads up, on the lookout for him, they wouldn't be able to detect Ye Kong under the effects of Aura Suppression, so one can probably guess how things turned out for them.
After all, they couldn't clear away every single tree they passed. They were in the Dark Mist Forest, which was known for its dense tree cover. Moreover, with players' vision range cut in half due to the night...
The whole area was basically Ye Kong's slaughterhouse.
And Ye Kong had free rein to kill whoever he wanted.
Including the players that just perished, Ye Kong had currently killed five teams from the Yokai Legion Guild. As for the Yokai Legion Guild's private communications channel, it had been in chaos for a long while now.
Without even having to think about it, Ye Kong could guess what his opponents were feeling now.
As such, after he collected his spoils, he immediately ducked into the undergrowth and activated the Ghost Walk effect of his Aura Suppression skill, leaving the scene of the killing far behind him.
Moments later, Ye Kong had once again climbed up a new tree and, after activating his Aura Suppression, waited for a new group to arrive.
At that moment—
Kapow! Kapow!
In the skies above the Dark Mist Forest, balls of light exploded and cast their brilliant light on a large area below them, creating a stark backdrop for the forest creatures in the shadows.
"A Flash Spell?"
Ye Kong shook his head disdainfully. "Hmph, they've already tried this about a dozen times. Haven't they learned their lesson?"
The Flash Spell was one of the Cleric's starting skills. It could dispel the dark fog of night, thereby restoring players to their normal vision range, as well as revealing the Assassin's Stealth effect.
Unfortunately, it did absolutely nothing to a Swordsman.
The concealment effect of the Swordsman's Aura Suppression was far superior to the Assassin's Stealth skill. Its only weakness was that it couldn't be used while moving. However, because Ye Kong was only waiting in the trees, he didn't need to move.
"Huh?"
Ye Kong observed the situation for a while, before realizing something was amiss—
In the forest, at the end of his vision range, he saw some figures moving. They had stopped their search operations in the nearby undergrowth and were heading in the direction of Luna Lake, seemingly in a hurry.
"They're running?"
At that moment, Ye Kong was speechless.
........
At the same time...
Somewhere in the Dark Mist Forest...
The core members of the Yokai Legion Guild were all gathered together. The atmosphere was thick with tension, as though a storm were brewing.
"Get them to pull out." Aotabo gave the orders: "Use the Flash Spell to light the way, and remain cautious of the trees overhead. Try your best to follow the edge of the forest, and don't get ambushed by that lacuna."
"Big bro, we're just going to give up like this?" aosagibi asked a little reluctantly.
"What else can we do, other than give up?" Aotabo sighed. "Individual combatants are much too favored in this environment. Even if we have a numbers advantage, we can't leverage our advantage to win this fight. Everything we try to do is futile."
As he said this, aotabo continued hesitantly, "At first I thought a team could buy at least half a minute. In the end, they couldn't even last 10 seconds. How could anyone else get there in time to surround him?
"This operation's failure is due to my miscalculations."
If the Yokai Legion Guild's small teams could buy half a minute, aotabo was confident they could surround and kill the enemy. However, aside from the teams made up of the guild's core members, none of the other teams could hold off the enemy for 10 seconds. How could they surround that sly "lacuna" like this?!
Even more frustratingly, lacuna wasn't attacking their "core team" (aotabo's team), but was deliberately picking off the other small teams. They could only watch on helplessly as the familiar names in their guild channel went dark, one after the other.
When those players' names lit back up, their characters had dropped by one level...
"Let's go."
Aotabo led the core members to the end of the Dark Mist Forest.
In truth, what aotabo didn't realize was that they had passed below one of Ye Kong's hiding spots once. Unfortunately for them, Ye Kong was prudent and stayed his hand.
It was because he had recognized aotabo's appearance, which threw a wrench in his plans.
"Hmph, this isn't the last he'll see of us.
"Wait till our whole guild is running smoothly again, like a well-oiled machine, with everyone fully equipped with their class skills and normal equipment. When that time comes..."
Aotabo looked back to glare at the forest, which was shrouded in a dark mist. Then, he turned around and strode into the thick mist—
"We'll be back to take care of you!"
......
In a certain tree in the Dark Mist Forest
Ye Kong waited a little longer, making sure that his enemies had really left, before hopping off the tree branch—
Patter!
Ye Kong landed on the ground and brushed the dirt off his arms. "Everything is finished now. Still, judging by aotabo's personality, the Yokai Legion Guild isn't going to give up so easily. Looks like there's trouble in store for me in the future."
Even so, Ye Kong felt no regrets about this outcome.
If he wanted to gain an early advantage in the game, it was unavoidable that he would make enemies of others. For instance, changing the flow of the Stygian Night Invasion story event had allowed Ye Kong to reap huge benefits, but it had also hurt many of the alpha test players.
The world was a zero-sum game, and it was balanced like a set of scales. If Ye Kong wanted to snatch away more chips, he had to take it from someone else's hands. Otherwise, other players would get away with an advantage.
In the world of Demon Realm, it was the survival of the fittest.
Ye Kong was someone who had been rebirthed. In the upcoming story events, if he wanted to gain a greater advantage, he would eventually have to compete with those guilds and financial powers for the same in-game benefits—This was unavoidable.
Even so, Ye Kong felt confident that, regardless of who stood in his way, if it was for Ye Bai...
He could crush all his opposition underfoot.
He would grind their bones down to dust!
"Okay, I've found a good spot."
Ye Kong reached the edge of the forest, close to the Thunder Mountain Range. It was a secluded part of the woods, and normally few people would pass through this area. It was also relatively close to Luna Lake, so it was a good place to go offline.
In the world of Demon Realm, players normally needed to be out of combat in order to go offline (a player was deemed to be out of combat when they hadn't entered combat within the past 15 minutes). Otherwise, players had to forcefully disconnect from the game.
Performing a forced disconnection resulted in the same penalty for "dying." Players would have to accept the penalty for death (losing a level and an item), and when they logged back into the game, they would be given the "Vulnerable" state, and would spawn at a safe town.
As such, even when players were caught in a PK in the wilderness, they would still rather fight to the death than force a disconnection—
Since the penalty would be the same, they might as well try their luck in a fight.
As for "accidental" disconnections, that basically never happened.
And as for server shutdowns... Sorry, but "Demon Realm" was a virtual reality game that ran 24/7. The game would never "shut down" or have to be "closed for server maintenance."
In his past life, Ye Kong had played "Demon Realm" for six years, and he had never encountered a single server maintenance period. Obviously, with the Federal Government's cutting-edge technology, it wasn't necessary to turn off the game to perform regular maintenance on the servers.
As a separate point of discussion, it was actually quite interesting how "Demon Realm" had run for so many years without a single break in the game's operation...
Ye Kong opened the system menu and activated the logout countdown timer—
30... 25... 20...
In addition to requiring players to be out of combat, the normal log out procedure also had a 30-second countdown timer. During this period, all concealment effects on the player were removed—for example, skills like Stealth and Aura Suppression.
During the countdown, players also couldn't move or be hit by any attacks, or the timer would be stopped.
This rule was implemented to prevent players from using "going offline" to sneak out of a wilderness PK situation.
This also showed how "Demon Realm" encouraged PK activities as one of its core tenets.
Very soon, undisturbed by any other players, Ye Kong had successfully logged out of the game by normal means—
Disconnecting player's mind from the game system...
Disconnection complete.
"Welcome, player, back to the real world."
Following the notification from the VR helmet, Ye Kong opened his eyes and removed the device from his head. Immediately, he felt a sense of fatigue—It was as though the weariness originated from his very soul.
This was one of the side-effects of a "Consciousness Dive." It was similar to how thinking for too long can cause a person's body to feel tired, and make them want to rest or go to sleep. Naturally, as long as one didn't exceed the daily "Consciousness Dive" limits, the player wouldn't suffer any real damage, and they would just feel a sense of "tiredness."
It was during these times that the value of gaming modules and high-grade helmets could be felt. Even a high-grade helmet could greatly ease these side-effects, while also giving the players more time in virtual reality.
In addition, to ensure the health and safety of its citizens, the Federal Government implemented a virtual reality time limit on every VR device. This ensured that a player's time spent in virtual reality would never exceed the daily usage limits.
If a player refused to heed the system's warnings and continued their consciousness dive, they would be "forced to disconnect," and the resulting losses in the game would be borne by the offending player.
"Whew!"
Ye Kong shook his head, suppressing the fatigue he felt. Looking at the wall clock in his room, he saw that the time was now 10:15 (at night). Apparently, his altercations with the Yokai Legion Guild had delayed his logout time by 15 minutes (equivalent to half an hour in the game).
"Even if I'm slightly late, it shouldn't really matter. It's Saturday today, so they get off work a little later than usual."
Ye Kong got out of his bed and grabbed a coat, then walked out of the apartment on shaky legs—
"I should go pick her up."