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

October 9, Earth Time, 4 a.m.

Qin Guan, who had become the "wife" of many netizens, exited the forum and logged into the game. The sun had risen in OtherWorld, and the advanced NPCs were already at work.

When Qin Guan logged in at the respawn point, he noticed there were people waiting nearby.

Although countless "husbands" flooded the forum with comments after Qin Guan released his video, the content of the video itself carried significant weight. Various hardcore players, accustomed to pulling all-nighters, were interested in his invitation.

"Vanilla," the first to greet him was the socially adept Brother Lahong, who led a few others over. He approached Qin Guan and shook his hand as he said, "I've watched your video, though I won't join in because I'm not very skilled myself. However, these friends of mine are rather capable. Take a look and bring them along if they're suitable."

"You're too kind, Brother Lahong," Qin Guan replied politely as he stealthily used "Identify" on the players brought by Brother Lahong.

ID: Study Obsessed

Potential: 48

ID: Phantom

Potential: 49

ID: Guileless Gale

Potential: 49

While Potential value, the only game statistic at present that could be used for comparison among players, was rather controversial, the majority of players' Potential was in the range of 40 to 50. Only a handful had achieved 50 and advanced to level 1, and there hadn't been any who had successfully done a job advancement yet.

Therefore, regardless of whether it was accepted or not, the gulf between one's Potential value and the required 50 points for advancement was the criteria for distinguishing between experts and amateurs.

The three players brought by Brother Lahong were on the verge of hitting level 1 and seemed rather sincere, so Qin Guan immediately put on a smile. "Thank you, Brother Lahong. And to you three brothers, we'll be relying on you."

"Well said." The player called Study Obsessed waved a hand in a grand gesture, similar to the style of a sophisticated gentleman like Brother Lahong. However, the voice of this player was a sweet and tender voice of a young lady.

Qin Guan wasn't fazed at all by this. While game characters in this game were divided into male and female, they weren't skilled enough to discern gender based on skeletal frames, not to mention the large number of players using opposite-gender avatars. Before a player spoke, it was rather difficult to determine their gender.

Qin Guan, who viewed gaming as his career, also didn't believe that a player's ability was related to their gender. Moreover, in OtherWorld, currently female players accounted for 60% of the players that had reached level 1. Even in most PC and mobile games out in the market, there were already a considerable number of skilled female players among the intermediate and high-level categories.

"Please wait for a bit. Right now, only my friend, Give Me Medicine, has the privilege to create a team. I've already given him a call and he will join us soon. Once he's online, he'll pull everyone into the party," said Qin Guan.

Several other players waiting nearby were encouraged to see Qin Guan readily accepting the three players brought by Brother Lahong. One of them took the initiative to approach and said, "Hello, Boss Vanilla, you can consider me a passerby fan. Although I competed with your friend Give Me Medicine for the Orb of Destruction, I hope we can let bygones be bygones, right?"

Qin Guan eyed the player's ID and immediately replied warmly, "Of course, in-game competition is normal. Are you also here to join us in clearing this quest, brother?"

Jiang Wei, ID Win By Grinding, let out a sigh of relief. "Yes, I saw your video. This quest determines the unlocking of game content, and I want to help out."

"Welcome, welcome!" Qin Guan didn't wait for anyone else to speak and actively greeted the players waiting near the respawn point. "What about you guys? Are you here to lend a hand as well?"

"Yes, yes!" Tang Jia couldn't wait any longer and dragged her two companions. "My friends Unceasing Entropy and Yang Ying. They've both reached level 1 and should be able to help out."

Qin Guan's eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly as he glanced at Zheng Qingyue (Unceasing Entropy) and Yang Ying. "Of course, of course. I'm truly grateful!"

In just a few minutes, three first-tier players had come, exciting Qin Guan even more, especially so when he saw Unceasing Entropy, who had quite a reputation for being a smart player due to the three mini theses she had posted on the game forum.

Soon, Qin Guan's other two companions, Give Me Medicine and Blossoming Strokes, also logged in.

Blossoming Strokes had been grinding until the advanced NPCs got up and started their workday before logging out. After a bathroom break and a quick bite, she logged back in. She hadn't yet had time to visit the game forum and was still unaware of her tragic image circulating throughout the Internet, so she was still in rather good spirits.

Seeing that Qin Guan had already gathered a group of high Potential players in such a short time, Blossoming Strokes gleefully greeted, "Yo, the team's already gathered up. That's really efficient!"

Give Me Medicine didn't hesitate and immediately started adding these enthusiastic players to the team.

After triggering the hidden quest, a team panel had appeared with space for ten more people apart from the team leader. Give Me Medicine added Blossoming Strokes, Qin Guan, Unceasing Entropy, Yang Ying, Win By Grinding, and the three players brought by Brother Lahong. After exchanging a glance with Qin Guan, he decided to include Brother Lahong and Tang Jia, who couldn't bear to leave after bringing their experts over.

They came with the intention to help after all, so it wouldn't be right to disappoint them.

Next, the team of eleven players, consisting of four first-tier experts, immediately set off toward the small wooden house where Give Me Medicine had first triggered the quest.

"Tsk, even Sis got roped in…" Inside the Town Hall, Yang Qiu, who had been watching this bunch ever since Qin Guan logged in, frowned.

His sister, Yang Ying, seemed to have taken a liking to this means of making a living after earning more than a month's salary in just three days of manual labor. Without hesitation, she quit her low-paying, demanding job and devoted herself to the gold farming business in the game. Yang Qiu wasn't particularly surprised by this. There were very limited job opportunities for someone with only a high school education.

Yang Ying had always been ambitious, and her ambition wasn't limited to mere words. It was reflected in her actions and her strong spirit. Even though she knew that her younger brother had connections with the game development team and even managed to secure a helmet for her, she never asked her brother to give her special treatment or boasted about knowing an insider on the game development team.

In the conversations she had with Yang Qiu via social media, it had always been stuff like "come home quickly and let Mom be reassured," "you're a minor, don't recklessly sign any contracts," "focus on your work and don't act like a child," "don't spend wantonly and save for your future college expenses," and other such similar advice.

In short, she was a reliable family member that wouldn't cause any worries.

Of course, even with such reassurance, she was still a family member, and Yang Qiu couldn't help but have some personal concerns. Seeing his sister getting involved in this quest made Yang Qiu start to reflect on whether he had gone too far with the quest he had personally created…

"Never mind… It's not like Yang Ying hasn't been slain by NPCs before. It's just a half hour of offline rest at most." Yang Qiu sighed and suppressed his biased thoughts.

Epic quests were never meant to be easy, nor were they not meant to torture players. If these fellows thought they could mindlessly grind through the game until the end, all of Yang Qiu's efforts would be in vain—hardcore players ought to play a hardcore game!

The advancement quests of WoW were much more challenging than similar games on the market, and had there been any player that never experienced being slain by the miniboss during an elite quest? But when the classic server opened, players still came flocking in!

As the game developer, Yang Qiu was determined to make players truly experience how cruel this dark world could be.

Meanwhile, the players had already arrived at the tiny wooden house. As usual, they thoroughly searched the house, but the team of players didn't find anything.

"After teaming up, we could all see the parchment and zombie arm that Give Me Medicine found. It doesn't make sense that we can't find any clues if they are right in front of us. Since there's nothing here, it means that the only clues in this place are the parchment and arm. What does everyone think?" Blossoming Strokes was the first to speak.

"I agree," said Unceasing Entropy, another player known for her intelligence. "This is a critical quest in unlocking further game content. From the contents of the letter, we can tell that it's about the origins of Exile Town. Given such context, I believe it's highly likely that the whole of Exile Town is part of the quest area. We probably have to search the entire town… no, the key locations in this town."

"Hold on a moment," Brother Lahong interjected. "With so many players running around grinding quests for the past few days, most places other than the southern part of town where the giant rat is have already been thoroughly searched. A lot of trash has also been cleared throughout the town. Can we really find any clues this way?"

"This house was also cleaned up by players too," Win By Grinding suddenly added.

"Uh…" Brother Lahong muttered.

"Where do you think the key locations might be?" Blossoming Strokes looked toward Unceasing Entropy.

"Underground," replied Unceasing Entropy.

"Huh?" Brother Lahong was surprised.

"There are a number of houses in this town with cellars or basements. These underground spaces are small, usually just one or two square meters, and seem to have been used by the former residents for storing supplies," Unceasing Entropy explained. "Because these underground spaces are so cramped, players don't pay much attention to what's beneath the surface."

"Oh…" Blossoming Strokes came to a realization. "But when receiving a quest from NPC Lord Yang, we discovered that there's actually a very large space beneath this town."

"That's right. The cellar of the warehouse behind the Town Hall leads to a space as big as a basketball stadium. So what about other cellars?" Unceasing Entropy went on. "Is it possible that players have come across some seemingly small cellars or basements that actually have passages leading to similar underground spaces, just that they're blocked or collapsed?"

"Makes sense." Blossoming Strokes stroked her chin. "If this town was once established by a group of 'pioneers' for habitation, then logically, the people who used to live here would have considered safety and protection measures for their residences, such as building defensive structures like city walls and escape tunnels."

"Now, we players can see that this small town is nestled in a valley, surrounded by mountains to the east, west, and north, with only one exit to the south, which is obstructed by that giant rat. We aren't able to leave at all, so we can assume that… beyond the south, there are even more dangerous things than that rat," Unceasing Entropy rambled on.

"Clearly, the people that used to reside here abandoned this town because they were unable to ensure their safety when attacked by the giant rat and other things. But before being forced to completely abandon this town, they should have had emergency measures to fend off dangerous attackers," explained Blossoming Strokes.

"That's why it's unlikely that the area beneath the Town Hall is the only underground space in this town. There should be other such spaces, similar to bomb shelters or the like," Unceasing Entropy added.

"In that case, if we search the cellars and basements that players have discovered, we should be able to find some clues," Blossoming Strokes concluded with a nod. "Let's get to work, then."

The exchange between these two left others in a blank daze…

Qin Guan, Give Me Medicine, Tang Jia, and Yang Ying silently exchanged glances.

It seemed that Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy had a better understanding with each other than their own companions whom they had been playing with for days… It was truly a complex feeling.

"It would be quite a waste of time if all of us went and searched together," Unceasing Entropy spoke up again.

"Let's split into two groups. You take one and I'll take the other," suggested Blossoming Strokes.

"Your side should take the extra person. Yang Ying has activated 'Basic Battle Roar,' which can make up for that lack of personnel in critical moments," said Unceasing Entropy.

"Alright, then. Win By Grinding, Phantom, and Guileless Gale, come with me," Blossoming Strokes commanded.

"Everyone else, with me." Unceasing Entropy turned to her teammates, focusing on Brother Lahong and Study Obsessed.

Everyone:."…"

The charismatic Brother Lahong, who usually had the role of a leader in this game, was rather surprised to be ordered around so succinctly without having a chance to say a word. However, in the face of these two capable and resourceful ladies, Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy, he hesitated slightly and decided to keep his mouth shut.

This was a very crucial quest, and even the three closed beta veterans didn't dare form their own team and attempt it; Vanilla Pudding had even released a video to solicit skilled players to join, so it was best for him to be obedient. After all, this full-immersive game relied on face-to-face communication, unlike traditional games that relied on voice tools where whoever spoke loudest had the final say.

The trigger point for the quest was the small wooden house located in the central street of the town. The two groups were responsible for searching different sides of the town, with Unceasing Entropy's group heading to the nearest houses with cellars as their starting point.

After the groups split, Brother Lahong glanced at the people in his team. Though he didn't have any ill will, he couldn't help but challenge Unceasing Entropy. "Since we're going to search the cellars players have already discovered, shouldn't we wait for more players to come online and ask around?"

"There are a total of 123 wooden houses in the town, and among them, 68 have cellars. Over half of these houses with cellars have been classified as dangerous and demolished, leaving 32 intact," Unceasing Entropy said without hesitation. "Using the central street as the dividing line, there are 13 intact houses with cellars on the eastern side. The cellars that were buried after the houses were demolished amount to 21."

"Eh? You actually counted them?" Study Obsessed exclaimed.

"It wasn't just me who counted. Blossoming Strokes, Ou Huang, Win By Grinding, and a few others have independently conducted our own counts," replied Unceasing Entropy.

"The official game website doesn't provide any background information on the game. It simply introduces the undead race's Resurrection Master recruiting us to return to the abandoned land of Taranthan in an attempt to revive the undead race.

"We speculate that the reason why Lord Yang wants to resurrect the undead as well as the overall background information of the game are hidden within the quest line.

"Since the official game doesn't provide any triggers for the main quest, we all believe that players may need to fulfill certain conditions to activate the main quest line. That's just something we have contemplated to some extent. Counting the visible buildings in the Exile Town was merely a trivial preliminary task," Unceasing Entropy concluded.

Study Obsessed and Brother Lahong: "…"

So this is the true strength of first-tier gamers? How disgusting!