Chapter 70.2: Altered Spiritual Boundary
"Damn—!" Blossoming Strokes, who had been disconnected, roared as she sat up from her recliner.
Her cat twitched and looked over nervously.
Blossoming Strokes didn't have time to comfort her cat. She removed her neck pillow and helmet, hurriedly turned on her computer, and logged into the player forum to make a post.
"Weekend Activity Strategy Guide! Everyone, don't continue falling for it! The newly introduced monsters in Exile Town can't be defeated!
"They can't be defeated!
"They can't be defeated!
"Important things have to be repeated threefold!
"These event monsters aren't meant to be killed by players; they are the entrance to instance dungeons!"
After posting all her frustrations on the main thread, Blossoming Strokes then patiently described the process of how she, Ji Tang, and Give Me Medicine stumbled on the entrance to the instance dungeon.
"…It's still uncertain if having three people simultaneously touching the monster triggers the instance dungeon. If those online try it and find that it doesn't work, then there might be some hidden Potential value or level restriction involved.
"Firstly, expert Ji Tang has a Potential of 125, and we broke through 200 Potential combined with mine and Give Me Medicine's added to it. Perhaps, this might be a restriction for players entering the instance dungeons and a total of 200 Potential value has to be gathered, which means at least four Level 1 or higher players must enter together to possibly activate the instance dungeon.
"Secondly, Ji Tang is at Level 2, while Give Me Medicine and I are both at Level 1. If the limitation is in terms of levels, then it might require a Level 2 player to lead the team.
"As for the latter restriction theory, I personally find it less likely. The current majority of players are at Level 1, and the instance dungeons introduced during this event period can't possibly demand a Level 2 player to lead. Therefore, I believe the limitation is most likely related to Potential values. If players currently online are attempting to strategize for the event, they can give this a try.
"Besides that, the monster inside the instance dungeon is extremely challenging! Not only is it tough, but its attacks are also very powerful! Any team attempting to enter the instance dungeon must have a knight! Without a knight, you won't stand a chance!"
When this weekend event was released, players had been excitedly devising strategies. Many, like Tang Jia, went offline to summon their friends the moment the night fell.
However, within the first hour of the event, at least a quarter of the players had died and were kicked offline…
Despite these setbacks, players weren't disheartened. After the death penalty time passed, they returned online to fight again… only to die once more in quick succession.
From half past ten in the morning until one in the afternoon, it was a non-stop cycle of players respawning at Exile Town and dying…
Players weren't afraid of dying, but that didn't mean they were willing to die meaninglessly. As a result, the majority of players who had been online throughout the day began to log out and started flooding the forums with posts berating the developers. This was why Ji Tang hadn't seen many people online when he logged in.
Amid the numerous posts venting frustrations toward the developers, a thread titled "Weekend Event Strategy Guide" suddenly appeared. The author of the post was none other than Blossoming Strokes, who was equally renowned for her astute thinking as Unceasing Entropy.
Players, regardless of whether they were engaged in heated debates or simply mindlessly cursing the developers, temporarily ceased their output and clicked on the thread.
Following that, these players, who had been using all sorts of flowery language cursing the developers or clamoring about how "OtherWorld" would go bankrupt the next day, quickly got down to business. Those still with a death penalty found means to inform their online buddies, while those that didn't have a death penalty logged in immediately and rallied friends to form teams.
In the Town Hall, Yang Qiu remained impervious, regardless of the numerous insults hurled his way. On his face was a cryptic smile.
Good… The plan is in motion.
It wasn't that he wanted to be unreasonable and created this weekend-exclusive event dungeon to mess with players. The fact was that existing conditions limited his options as a developer.
After all, "OtherWorld" wasn't a true game, and it wasn't possible to just write code and create a program to generate the essential dungeon instances that typical online games require.
Firstly, establishing a stable material plane where players could repeatedly enter to hunt specific monsters was a huge challenge that even grand mages would find perplexing.
Spatial magic had always been limited to individuals with unique talents, and Yang Qiu wasn't one such person… otherwise, he wouldn't have delved so deep into black magic.
Spellcasters could create temporary subspaces via dimensional boundaries, essentially forming "secondary planes." However, these boundaries were incredibly fragile and would only briefly mislead the senses of ordinary people, while those with greater mental power could easily see through them.
Attempting to place monsters inside such a fragile temporary plane for players to hunt wouldn't work. From the perspective of players, it would be akin to experiencing a whole load of bugs.
So, Yang Qiu decided to introduce the "Void Realm" into Exile Town during the night—in simple terms, it's an enhanced version of the "Infernal Breath." By utilizing the eldritch energy gained from assimilating the elder god's tentacle, he transported a vast amount of the Void's aura over.
This aura of the Void wasn't just for the mundane purpose of creating an ambiance for the town during the event. Instead, it was intended to strengthen the shadows of the three individuals he had chosen to be "providers of instance dungeon monsters"—Hal, Tuttle, and Rex.
Everyone, including Yang Qiu, had a part of their psyche derived from psychological shadows or inner fears—dark, negative wounds that couldn't be touched on.
Under normal circumstances, these psychological scars wouldn't significantly impact a person's life. They only surfaced when someone's mental state became fragile, leading to a loss of control and breakdown.
By combining "Void Realm" with his black magic, Yang Qiu succeeded in materializing the psychological shadows of these three individuals within the confines of "Void Realm." This gave rise to the three terrifying monsters that only roamed Exile Town but never strayed too far from their "hosts."
These ethereal monsters, materialized through black magic and bound to the existence within the "Void Realm," were essentially invincible. As long as the "Void Realm" was maintained and the host remained unharmed, not even Inspector Lowell could take them down, let alone the novice players.
Also, the "instance dungeon" that players entered after meeting the required criteria wasn't an actual dungeon but altered spiritual boundaries of the three advanced NPCs.
Yang Qiu had intentionally misled players with ambiguity in the event announcement for this reason. Firstly, this extreme alteration of one's spiritual boundaries made it very unstable. The success of entering the instance didn't just rely on the conditions summarized by Blossoming Strokes but also metaphysical elements.
In short, satisfying the conditions might still result in a mass disconnection while attempting to enter the instance.
Secondly, the scenarios within these "instance dungeons" were highly unconventional in that they would make Spider Cave seem like a tranquil garden.
That was why Yang Qiu had to reluctantly torture the players. A sense of achievement entering the instance that must be earned through countless hardships; in a sense, fabricating happiness…
With the intention of playing this game for the long haul, you guys will sooner or later have to confront the essence of this world. Entering instance dungeons to fight monsters will prevent you from being startled by every little thing in the future. Becoming stronger requires getting stronger in spirit too!
Yang Qiu took a sip of his tea and cast a slight glance at Lowell, who was standing by the window.
Though the enigmatic black-robed inspector was wary of the "Void Realm," he wasn't panicking. This confirmed one thing for Yang Qiu—the Goddess of Prosperity's faith must possess some sort of sealed artifacts capable of restraining the emanations of the Void. Such seals shouldn't require that high a rank within the faith's hierarchy, which suggested that this black-robed inspector should at least have such access to them.
This revelation caused Yang Qiu's heart to stir.
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