Dark Magician Isekai: Return and make Fantasy World into a VR Game

Earth time, 8:20 a.m.

Twenty minutes after the official launch of the game "OtherWorld," approximately a third of the players… died and were kicked offline.

Inside the square Town Hall, Yang Qiu, who was currently stationed in this plane, sighed as a hand clasped to his forehead.

Yang Qiu was mentally prepared for the reckless tendencies of players, but he was caught off guard by the high efficiency and proportion of their recklessness. Challenging NPC interaction limits and being stylishly killed by a group of former bandits was one thing, but going up against the giant rat in the south of the time, even though they had watched Vanilla Pudding's videos and knowing it was an enemy that the current players couldn't handle, was another.

There had been another group that immediately rushed over there after logging in, eagerly attempting to kill the beginner town's BOSS and seize the so-called advantage… It was truly absurd!

"…This can't go on. Players can't serve as stable anchors if they are constantly dying and getting kicked offline."

After pondering for a moment, Yang Qiu stood up and cast a sealing spell on the Town Hall building to prevent any reckless players from finding ways to break in. He then opened a spatial rift and returned to Earth.

While Yang Qiu returned to Earth, back in OtherWorld, a group of players that gathered to search for NPCs eventually found the Town Hall.

"Wow… This rundown earthen shack is actually the Town Hall? This thing is the central building of our Undead race's birthplace? It's way too shabby!"

The players couldn't help showing their disgust when they saw the sign "Exile Town Municipal Office" hanging on the square house.

Even in the subterranean Undercity, Queen Sylvana still resided in a decent place unlike this. Even the Taurens living in the mountains had a chief whose tent was more respectable than this mud hut!

"A bunch of class instructors are squatting in front of their tents, hoping that players will help them with their professional guilds. I guess we shouldn't have any high hopes for this shabby game," Tang Jia shrugged and approached the door before knocking on it. "Is anyone there? Mage Apprentice Instructor? Hello?"

Naturally, there was no response.

"What's going on? Is the NPC not here, or does he not know how to open the door?"

"These NPCs can chase players down the streets and slay them. It's impossible that they don't know how to open the door."

"It means there's no one inside then. Damn, NPCs even know how to slack off."

Some proactive players immediately tried to pry open the window. "Let me see if I can climb in… Oh, this shabby window is surprisingly sturdy?"

"Can the window be smashed?"

"Hey, hey, this is the Town Halll. We'll be killed by NPCs if we do that."

Other than a few among the group that knew each other, most were strangers that had gathered together to find a certain NPC. Seeing that there was no NPC in the Town Hall, someone said, "Forget it, let's find the Mage Apprentice Instructor some other time. My friend and I will go do the zombie NPC quests first. We need to reach level one before getting a class change after all, and we're still lacking quite a bit in Potential."

"Yeah, you're right. I watched Vanilla Pudding's videos, and they completed several quests before gaining even a small amount of Potential points. It seems that leveling up in this game is rather difficult."

"What's so good about the zombie NPC quests? It's better to work on reputation with the job instructors first…"

As the crowd gradually dispersed, Tang Jia hollered, "Is there anyone else who wants to continue looking for the warrior instructor?"

A player, who had still been standing in place, looked around and quickly went over to Tang Jia's side. "I'll join you guys."

The ID displayed above this player's head seemed like a real name, Yang Ying. Tang Jia and her childhood best friend, Zheng Qingyue, were both young ladies and naturally wouldn't refuse another female player joining them.

The three female players grouped up and continued moving together. Tang Jia, who had an outgoing personality, quickly started chatting with Yang Ying. "Are you using your real name as your ID?"

"Yeah, I never really played games before, nor spent much time online, so I wasn't able to think of a good ID at that moment," Yang Ying replied candidly.

"Eh?" Tang Jia exclaimed in surprise. "From your voice, you should be around the same age as us, right?"

"I'm probably older, I'm 22," replied Yang Ying.

"That's not much older. Both Qingyue and I are 20, in our second year of college. What about you?"

"Ahh, college students. I wasn't a college student," Yang Ying gave a sanguine smile and explained, "A few years ago, something happened in my family around the time I was taking the college entrance examination, so I got delayed. After graduating high school, I started working and didn't have time to play."

Tang Jia and her close friend Zheng Qingyue exchanged glances and took the initiative to change the subject.

Both of them were from families with ordinary backgrounds. Before going to college, they thought that all families were more or less the same. It was only after attending college did they realize some families were truly wealthy, while others were genuinely poor.

They had heard stories of schoolmates unable to afford meal cards and having to drop out of college after struggling for two years due to family difficulties.

During their casual conversation, the three of them explored an area they hadn't visited before in the somewhat small Exile Town and found a lonesome tent hidden behind an earthen wall.

"There it is!" Tang Jia's eyes lit up as she exclaimed excitedly, "We've seen the other 18 NPCs listed in the announcement, except for the Mage Apprentice Instructor. This must be the tent! Quick, find out where that NPC is!"

While Yang Ying was accompanying the two of them, Tang Jia enthusiastically described the benefits of playing as a warrior. Initially, Yang Ying had only logged in to see if her young brother's game was truly as good as it was publicized, but over time, she gained some slight interest in gaming; thus, she too actively helped in the search for NPCs.

The three of them quickly searched the surrounding area and, true enough, found the last NPC—a young man with the floating titles "Charlie Rex" and "Weapons Master Instructor."

But, upon discovering this NPC… all three female players, including the gaming novice Yang Ying, were left bewildered.

The NPC's outfit was similar to that of the other advanced NPCs, featuring a sophisticated and fantasy-themed ensemble, consisting of a deep-colored durable armor with a tight and substantial texture.

The Weapons Master Instructor wore leather arm wraps secured with intertwined sinew, a belt adorned with a row of intricately crafted small leather pouches, knee guards, and thick-soled high boots, in addition to a half-body armor primarily designed to protect the chest and abdomen.

Yet this NPC, with a heroic appearance straight out of a meticulously detailed fantasy movie, was sitting slumped on the ground, leaning against an earthen wall, with his head tilting and hands hanging on both sides of his body. He was drenched in a cold sweat, his face pale, eyelids tightly shut, and seemingly muttering incoherent syllables under his breath.

"What the heck… Why is the warrior instructor like this?" Tang Jia was completely dumbfounded. "This… this guy looks so much like a drug addict suffering from withdrawal!"

Tang Jia's childhood friend, Zheng Qingyue, crouched down and carefully observed the NPC, then shook her head. "Although it looks like withdrawal symptoms… If it were really withdrawal, he shouldn't be able to control his tears and mucus. Also, his emotional expressions would be more intense and not subdued like this."

Yang Ying stared in astonishment at this soft-spoken girl who usually kept a low profile.

What surprised Yang Ying even more was that Zheng Qingyue actually approached the NPC and opened his eyelids with one hand while waving the other in front of his eyes.

"Pupils are dilated, but there is still a response to the light reflecting off the white bone. Could it be a brain injury?" Zheng Qingyue muttered to herself, holding the NPC's head with both hands and conducting a brief examination. "It doesn't seem like an injury, so could it be paralysis of the oculomotor nerve caused by autonomic fiber lesions.

"Lips aren't pale, there's no odor, and mucous membrane color is normal, so it's unlikely to be poisoning…"

Tang Jia and Yang Ying then watched in horror as Zheng Qingyue inserted her finger joints into the NPC's throat. "No dry retching, no vomit… Rules out breathing difficulties and insufficient cerebral blood supply due to the airway being blocked by vomit."

"It's most likely a severe stress reaction due to some kind of stimulation." Zheng Qingyue let go of the NPC's head. "There's no sedative available in the game to give him a shot. What should we do?"

"The NPCs can also get stressed?" Tang Jia asked with a look of utter bewilderment.

"Well, they do start attacking people if they are in a bad mood," Zheng Qingyue said.

"So, what should we do? Do we wait for this NPC to wake up on his own?" Yang Ying asked curiously.

Since she had never played video games before, she didn't have any understanding of how normal NPCs in games behaved. Thus, she didn't find anything particularly strange about the NPCs in this game.

"Troublesome indeed…" Zheng Qingyue pondered with her arms crossed.

In the midst of a nightmare, Charlie Rex, in a blurry state, seemed to hear the voices of young women conversing around him.

Their voices were clear, pleasant, and carefree, and they had a certain power to make one calm. And this unintentionally made Rex, who was tormented by the nightmare, relax. The horrifying illusion that seemed to devour him also gradually faded away due to the interference of these young women.

Charlie Rex's eyelids twitched and opened slowly.

He was met with the sight of being surrounded by three skeletons, their six deep black eye sockets staring at him.

"?!" Charlie Rex sat up with a start.

"Whoa, he's awake!" The three skeletons quickly stepped back, though they still surrounded him, their voices filled with surprise and youthful energy.

Charlie Rex was taken aback by the scene before him.

The eerie skeletal figures and the melodious, warm voices of young women created a striking contrast. It felt absurd and unsettling to Charlie Rex, who had just woken up, causing his recently regained composure to slip away rapidly.

"Hello, Charlie Rex. Do you have any quests for us?" One of the skeletons with "Stuffed Gummy" in green above its head eagerly approached him.

The lively and confident voice of a young woman carried a hint of anticipation. If Charlie Rex's eyes were closed, he could almost feel his heart racing…

However, with his eyes wide open, he could clearly see that the source of the deceptively pleasant voice was a weathered corpse that had been buried for god knows how many years.

Has the nightmare not ended yet…?

Charlie Rex closed his eyes and slowly reclined back.

"Damn it! Give me a quest before fainting!" Tang Jia grabbed Charlie Rex's collar in frustration. "What's wrong with this NPC? Where's the quest? Aren't you supposed to be a warrior class instructor?"

Charlie Rex's shuddered, and he immediately snapped back to reality.

In fact, his current state was much better than when he had been in the Sorensen Mountains. The interconnected mind anchors in the imprint matrix greatly improved his mental stability. At least he wouldn't end up like how he was when Yang Qiu had found him, having completely abandoned his humanity.

At this moment, now that Tang Jia reminded him, Charlie Rex finally remembered what he should be doing… To maintain his sanity and qualify as a shared anchor within the black mage's imprint matrix, he needed to play his role well—the warrior class instructor exiled to Exile Town, the birthplace of the Undead race!

So, Charlie Rex mustered his strength, striving to maintain his composure and scrutinizing Tang Jia, who was eagerly seeking a quest.

"Undead friends, undead beings aren't suited to be warriors," Charlie Rex said earnestly. "Undead have a hard time resisting impacts and lack sufficient strength. You should give up."

Tang Jia. "…"

Zheng Qingyue and Yang Ying. "…"

"What the hell? NPCs discriminate based on race?" Tang Jia erupted in anger. "Did I choose to be an undead? Does it look like I had any other options? Stop babbling and give me a quest!"

"Don't get worked up, Tang Jia. Getting kicked offline isn't worth it," Zheng Qingyue quickly advised.

Yang Ying had a look of puzzlement. "Can NPCs discourage players like this too? Is this how online games work?"

"Normally, it shouldn't be like this…" Zheng Qingyue was unsure how to explain to Yang Ying, a gaming novice. "Perhaps this NPC is bugged?"

Charlie Rex couldn't understand what they were saying and responded in earnest, "Indeed, undead aren't suitable to be warriors. If you desire close combat, deathwalkers and death knights are better choices. If you persist in this, you will only tread a thorny path."

"Oh!" Tang Jia suddenly realized, releasing her grip on Rex's collar. "Damn, I thought this NPC was malfunctioning and not issuing any quests. Turns out, it's programmed to discourage players… Enough with the chatter, give me the quest already!" she added impatiently.

"…I am serious, madam," Rex responded.

"I'm serious too. Why is this dialogue so draggy?" Tang Jia muttered irritably.

Rex scrutinized this determined skeletal woman in silence.

Despite being an undead skeleton unsuitable for the class, and despite being a young woman, she still tenaciously pursued the path of a warrior. This determination touched Rex in some way.

"Alright, I hope you will not regret your choice," sighed Rex as he assigned the quest to Tang Jia.

"Quest received!" Tang Jia's spirits were lifted, and she quickly beckoned Yang Ying over.

"Hello, Charlie Rex. Do you have any quests to offer?" Yang Ying approached, imitating Tang Jia's actions.

In the spirit of fulfilling his instructor duties and providing guidance, Rex tried to dissuade once again… only to be nagged into giving out the quest.

After receiving the quest items, the three of them left Rex behind and eagerly headed toward the construction site, discussing along the way.

"In my experience of games, the more difficult the profession to obtain, the more powerful it is. The advanced stage of the warrior class might be insanely strong. Sis Ying, after we transition to warriors, do you want to progress toward weapon-based combat together?"

"Sure, since I don't know how to play, you can just guide me along."

"Then I'll become a healer and support you guys with healing."

"Hehe, Qingyue is the best!"

Just as Charlie Rex was feeling slight gratification that these undead ladies, who were unsuitable to be warriors yet pursued the path of power so relentlessly, he suddenly had a thought. "??"

Wait a minute! Do you two want to become warriors because you feel that warriors are mighty?!

This kind of perverse pursuit of power is an insult to warriors! Ultimately, you guys will get lost in the complexities of power!

Rex's expression froze as he felt a rising anger.

Wait—If not respecting the honor of warriors led to getting lost in the complexities of power and being tainted by evil, then what did his own experiences… signify?

Rex felt his headache returning as hallucinations appeared before him once more.

"No, no… I'm different… I-I just… just…" Rex slumped against the earthen wall and sat down.

A thought emerged in his mind, one that was incredibly difficult for him to believe yet impossible to ignore.

"Could it be… that I was wrong? Were my persistence, my unwavering pursuit of the path of power, misguided?"

Rex struggled to maintain his sanity, forcing himself to ignore the hallucinations and focus on the undead ladies who were cheerfully beginning to start on their "quests."

"Perhaps… these undead who view the warrior's spirit as mere child's play can give me an answer."

And so… Rex personally witnessed these three giggling and nonchalant undead ladies complete quests in succession till nightfall.

During this time, the skeleton who didn't accept a quest from him left for a while and, upon returning, complained discontentedly about something along the lines of "I found Yang, but reputation can't be increased with this NPC until level one is attained," before continuing to assist her companions with their quest.

Taking advantage of the undead's innate characteristic of not requiring food or rest, the three rather weak undead managed to clear a small portion of the designated construction area for the Warrior Guild.

During this time, Rex saw the skeletal lady who had rudely grabbed his collar suddenly jump up with joy, loudly exclaiming in excitement, "My Potential increased a bit! Can it increase without even completing quests? Does this mean that Potential can increase as long as we are in the process of doing quests?"

"Ah, I've also gained a little!" another one of her skeleton companions remarked gleefully.

The three then joyfully conversed, speculating about the rules behind this increase in Potential. After a short break, they continued to bury themselves in their cleaning tasks…

Charlie Rex couldn't understand why these undead beings were willing to engage in such tedious tasks for the sake of their own trivial goal of "becoming warriors" and thus stepped out from behind the earthen wall and slowly approached the construction site.

Before Charlie Rex could decide on how to initiate a conversation without violating Yang's instructions, he heard a chilling remark from the skeleton known as "Stuffed Gummy."

"It's already dark? I didn't even notice since my vision is unaffected," said Tang Jia, leaning on her pickaxe and absentmindedly patting her empty stomach. "I'm starting to feel hungry. What about you guys?"

"Yeah, we've been playing without realizing how much time has passed. I'm feeling slightly famished too," replied Yang Ying.

Charlie Rex suddenly stiffened, and he instinctively started to back away slowly… Even though Yang had repeatedly assured them that these undead guests were "safe and harmless," it was still unnerving to hear them talk about being hungry in the darkness of night!

"It's kinda strange, isn't it? When we entered the game, the in-game time was 4 p.m., and now it's 9 p.m. If we calculate it based on real time, we've only been playing for two and a half hours. I had a big bowl of cereal in the morning, yet I feel hungry after just two and a half hours," said Zheng Qingyue, slightly perplexed.

"Could it be because we've been engaging in physical activity in-game?" Tang Jia speculated as she packed up her tools. "We're wearing helmets while playing the game, right? Could our in-game activities be connected to our brain waves? Maybe our intense brain activity is causing us to feel hungry faster?"

"…That actually sounds somewhat logical." Zheng Qingyue tapped the shovel against a rock, knocking off the mud before handing it to Tang Jia. "Let's log out after completing the quest and have lunch. Do you want to eat at my place?"

"Sure, I'll bring my helmet over, and after eating, I'll play at your place," Tang Jia nodded eagerly.

"Then, I'll log off and order some takeout," Zheng Qingyue then turned to Yang Ying. "Sis Ying, are you going to log in later in the afternoon?"

"Yeah!" Yang Ying replied with a bright smile. "My initial plan had been to log in, take some screenshots and a video before logging out to continue online arguments on the forums. But now that I'm playing, I don't feel like bothering with those internet trolls. It's not as fun as actually playing."

"All set then, let's meet back here in an hour, real-time!"

The three of them headed out of the "construction site" and sought out Charlie Rex to complete the quest.

Though Charlie Rex didn't fully understand what he was hearing, he vaguely realized that he seemed to have misunderstood something. Keeping his mouth shut, he silently handed over the reward to Tang Jia and Yang Ying…

After adding the "advanced NPCs," Yang Qiu had also modified the quest reward system. Whether it was the regular quests offered by zombie NPCs or advanced NPCs' reputation quests, rewards were based on a player's contribution to the particular task.

Other than the one-time beginner's welfare quest that provided players with the basic clothes, all other quests were rewarded based on the player's effective working hours within the quests (without slacking off and working diligently). Similarly, the "NPCs" connected to the imprint matrix could achieve fairness and impartiality by following the prompts provided by the matrix.

"Four hours of effective working time, 400 reputation points, and eight copper coins?" Tang Jia curiously fiddled with the copper coins given by Charlie Rex. "These coins kind of look like arcade game tokens."

Zheng Qingyue also leaned in curiously to take a look. "The quest rewards have changed. I remember watching Vanilla Pudding's video, and he didn't get any rewards from quests."

After Yang Ying got her copper coins from Charlie Rex, she glanced at her two new friends with curiosity. "How do we keep these game coins?"

Tang Jia and Zheng Qingyue: "…"

"What the heck, this game doesn't even have an inventory! I can't believe such a major bug hasn't been fixed yet!" Tang Jia was shaking with rage. "Damn it! We're just bare-boned skeletons. Where are we supposed to stash this money?!"

Charlie Rex, realizing that he had misunderstood the three undead ladies before, wanted to express his apologies, and thus took the initiative to remind them. "Undead friends, there's a tailor named Yarisha selling waist bags in a wooden house near the Town Hall. You can purchase one there."

"Oh, oh!" The three players finally remembered the advanced NPC tailor and lifestyle class instructor who was largely ignored. With that, they quickly bid farewell to Charlie Rex and hurried over toward the Town Hall.

Charlie Rex watched them go before gazing up at the night sky. He then returned to his tent and lit an alcohol lamp before setting up a campfire.

Yang Qiu's work requirements for the advanced NPCs weren't really too demanding. They were just required to be active around their assigned posts from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and could be found by players. As long as they didn't wander too far or intentionally hide, it was fine even if they slept all day long.

Even tool management, which was considered the strictest, Yang Qiu didn't enforce restrictions on players taking tools away. After all, players' activities were all monitored by the matrix. No matter where players took the tools, they could be retrieved.

What Yang Qiu truly restricted was players using "quest items" to cause trouble. For example, a group of players accepting cleaning quests and bringing the pickaxes along to get stomped by the beginner town's BOSS, or using the quest items for mock fights… That was the reason why the use of quest items was restricted to the quest area.

Although these quest items were actually collected from the second-hand market and scrap yards for low costs, it was all because Yang Qiu was poor…

In any case, because Charlie Rex lurked in a slightly hidden location and didn't need to receive too many players at once, he faced much less pressure compared to Hal.

After seeing off the three undead ladies, Charlie Rex prepared some food, collected the tools back into the tent, and declared the end of the workday. Finally, he pulled down the flaps of his tent and went to sleep.

It was an hour to midnight in the game, but 11:00 a.m. on Earth. A large group of players entered the designated construction site for the Warrior Guild, led by Qin Guan, with the ID Vanilla Pudding.

"The warrior instructor should be around this area according to the post by 'Stuffed Gummy' on the message board… Ah, there!"

The group of undead with natural night vision surveyed the quiet street, which appeared no different than daytime in their eyes. Soon, they discovered a small cleared area.

"The NPC's tent should be behind a mud wall… There it is!"

"Where's the NPC?"

"Seems like he's sleeping."

"What? NPCs sleep too?! That's outrageous! Is he going to give out quests or not?!"

"Charlie Rex! Is Charlie Rex here? Please make a sound!"

"Stop sleeping! Wake up and assign us a quest!"

Inside the tent, Charlie Rex's hands were on his head as his bloodshot eyes stared at the ceiling of his tent.

Do these damn undead really understand the meaning of "outrageous" they just used?! The Weapons Master wondered.