As players from all rungs of the world reconnected into New Eden, be it in the Elven forests, the Human plains, or the Dwarven mining cities, all the way to the mystical alter-plane of the Fey, and the perpetual dusk skies of the dark continent, things had changed.
Cities had grown, towns had fortified, villages disappeared, along with landscapes altered. It wasn't something quite noticeable at first, but the players would rapidly find out that an unknown threat had risen all over the world of New Eden.
Some players reappeared in the towns and villages they had disconnected from, only to land in destroyed ruins amidst hordes of monsters covered in red mist. Needless to say, these players were killed in a heartbeat, unaware they would spawn in the middle of enemies, and unprepared to defend themselves.
Of course, their graveyard spawn took them out of the danger zones, since unconsecrated graveyards became inactive. This meant the players wouldn't die repetitively.
But this was only a temporary respite. The corruption had already spread far and wide, all across the lands, and they inevitably face the corrupted beasts again, at a later date.
The new players, who connected for the first time, had a fifty percent chance of landing in a town that was actively fighting back against corruption, or just outside of the corruption zones.
Many towns had invested in smaller portals, so that they could retreat if they suddenly could not defend any longer. These smaller portals only ever connected to one city, usually the closest major city.
But this small addition allowed many of the higher level players to step back into the lower level zones, and help the new players level, at a fee, of course, setting grounds for a new money-making scheme.
Rare were the solo players, before the update, and even rarer were they now. Travelling alone had become closer to suicide than just plain risk.
Only the strongest of the strong dared travel alone anymore. But it wasn't without rewards.
The new corrupted monsters and their augmented levels and grades allowed for much quicker Exp gain than before, making the risk-to-reward ratio not too bad.
The first week of this new update was the busiest the players had ever been. Activities ranged from gathering intel to fighting back waves of monsters, all the way to politicking for guilds and their leaders.
Astaroth had been on a constant loop of fighting back the waves of corruption, which kept growing in size and apparent strength over the course of the week, as he waited for his reinforcements.
He had sent a message back to Phoenix, asking for a priest player to be sent his way, with a means to seal a demon portal. He wasn't sure how long the portal would keep spewing corruption before it changed to something more.
There had already been two demons out of the portal, the first attacking his temporary camping spot, and taking hold of Kloud, and the second attacking the Ash Elf capital, Tel'narel.
The gap between the two incidents was around half a year, by what he had garnered from Aberon and the others. But how long would it take until another demon came out, he had no idea.
Plus, he had no clue when the demon that acted as court mage for the rotten king of the Ash Elves had popped out, and from where. He still had to talk to whoever was waiting for him back at the Bastion, but he couldn't exactly leave here.
If he left, it would leave the settlement practically undefended. Kloud still wasn't exactly battle ready, his mind not entirely recovered from guilt and the demon's corruption, and Aberon was using every ounce of mana he had to maintain the barrier that the forest guardians had set up.
For some reason, the day after Astaroth had reappeared, the barrier suddenly started weakening. He wanted to investigate what had caused this, but he was temporarily locked here.
Phoenix sent Silent Light, along with a small party, to escort him toward Astaroth's location. It wasn't until the end of the first week that they arrived at the desolate settlement.
The players all across New Eden, who had access to gaming pods, had taken a habit of only going out of the game to resupply their IVs and take care of their basic needs.
A wave of calm took Earth, as most of its younger population suddenly stopped visiting society. Evo-Gaming had also reduced the gold-to-money ratio by half, making it one gold coin for fifty dollars.
But even with this lowering of the exchange rate, a lot of new players swarmed the game, trying to change the station in life through farming money inside New Eden. Some were successful, others not so much.
But the fresh wave of players allowed for the still-standing towns and smaller kingdoms to remain alive, for the time being. The world of New Eden viewed the abnormals as their light of hope.
Most players busied themselves fighting the waves of corrupted beasts, whose resources were now worth more than before, given as the quality of their materials had risen.
But there were still some players with nefarious intentions crawling about in the shadows, waiting for their time to shine. Amongst these players, Shadow Scourge, also known as the Kingslayer, was the one with the most anticipation.
The new corrupted beasts were only test subjects, for him, acting as an additional source of poison material. He had already started experimenting with the beasts' blood, testing out his new poisons on regular monsters.
His goal was to gain a poison that could act as a weapon, but also a boon. He was not unaware of what the corruption did to the monsters, and was trying to replicate it for human use.
Shadow Scourge was a scientist at heart, and even though his methods and goals were dubious, he was still trying to better humanity outside of New Eden. This goal guided him through many experiments, better left untold.
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