Chapter 256: Distortion Caused by Transformation

Even if not veteran players, everyone present had read at least a few novels and immediately realized they'd likely stumbled upon a hidden quest; several players eagerly brought over chairs and helped the old man sit down, their faces practically screaming "Tell us more!"

"The history of our secluded village stretches back thousands of years. Several immortals came here to prevent the Demon Dragon from breaking its seal, leaving behind their teachings. For millennia, those who wandered in by accident, those seeking immortality, even abandoned children—anyone who wished to learn magic was welcome. But only a handful in each generation ever truly achieved enlightenment. Do you know why?"

Without the prior context, everyone would have assumed it was "difficulty of cultivation" or "limited talent," but with the preceding plot, only one answer remained possible—

"Character?"

"Precisely. Cultivation isn't simple. Some think learning a few flashy spells will make them rich and famous, but the more they think that, the less they ever succeed." The old man stroked his beard, the picture of experience, but the players clearly found such moralizing boring—they just wished there was a skip button.

The Science Maniac listened for a long time without hearing anything useful, so he sent a message to Can'er.

Can'er had already abandoned her persona; being rude now didn't matter. As a veteran player, upon receiving the Science Maniac's pop-up, she immediately accepted his suggestion, thinking she could always make a new alt, and cut in directly:

"Grandpa, I understand all this, but it's not about character. They've realized the spells they learn here don't work outside the village. We came here to learn magic to fight the Demon King—and when we find out what we learn is useless, we naturally stop."

Can'er interrupted the old man's train of thought. He frowned slightly and let out a nasal grunt:

"Hmph! What do you know? That half-baked level of skill? Of course it won't work outside! You expect to wield magic freely without twenty years of cultivation? If it were that easy, the whole world would be full of immortals!"

"Twenty years…" One player couldn't help exclaiming. Though he knew the game couldn't possibly require twenty years of grinding, he still blurted it out—but immediately realized he'd gotten too emotional and quickly added, following Can'er's lead:

"The Demon Dragon has already awakened! In twenty years, the cabbage will be cold!"

"That's precisely why you've come at the right time. The power Feng Jia's little… cough, Immortal Master Feng, stole from the Demon Dragon lies right here on this square. What you're practicing now is borrowing the Demon Dragon's power. If you master it and pass the Simen Trials, you'll naturally harness the Demon Dragon's power to forge a Core Artifact capable of casting spells outside the village!"

"Holy shit! There's a crafting system?" Can'er perked up instantly:

"Can I customize… I mean, decide what kind of artifact it is?"

The old man shot her a disgruntled glance. "Of course you decide what you make! If you're stupid enough to make a pile of shit, no one's stopping you!"

With that, he stood up, slung his basket over his shoulder, and turned to leave.

The Science Maniac, finally encountering a high-freedom NPC, immediately asked:

"Grandpa, the young acolyte said these four houses are the Simen Trials, but inside they only contain Cultivation Methods for the Four Elements. Exactly how do you pass the trials?"

"You'll understand when you pass them."

The old man waved goodbye, his back to them. When they tried to ask more, they found he had vanished.

"Holy shit, is he also a high-level expert?" Ba Bi stared in astonishment at the vanished old man. Can'er immediately flicked him on the forehead—

"Are you dumb? Didn't he say the whole village is an ancient immortal's legacy? Everyone here must have trained! But these civilian NPCs are probably just average cultivators who never achieved immortality, while the one who stole the Demon Dragon's Talisman and Spell? He's the one who became an immortal… or at least a top-tier master!"

"So this is actually a hidden mechanic—you have to master the village before leaving?" Everyone ignored Ba Bi and Can'er's exchange; what they truly cared about was the game's mechanics.

"Maybe? Or maybe it's like a beta test—right now we're hunting bugs for the system. If we succeed, the company will officially launch it." Bao Long chimed in from a game operations perspective. Everyone exchanged glances; their original plan to post it online to prove themselves instantly vanished.

If this was just a pipe dream, every word spoken now might come back as a boomerang. But if it's real, secrecy serves everyone's interest better—wait until they've perfected their skills, then play a completely different game and shock everyone.

After all, they chose to leave themselves—it has nothing to do with me!

After a quick discussion, they returned to the square and resumed studying the Four Foundation Skills and spell editing…

…

"Master, it's done!" Xiao Lingdang reported to Feng Xue after guiding the old man through psychological counseling. Feng Xue, who was studying how to return the Wish-Power Spirit and magic energy back to nourish Qi, merely nodded.

Bi Gelei, who had been testing various spells nearby, heard their conversation and asked puzzled:

"I don't understand—what's your goal in training these heroes? You already have my knowledge. Why go the long way around to find those who rely on world rules to cast spells? Even if my knowledge isn't enough, you could seek other Demon Kings—like that stupid fish, supposedly some sea god's priestess. Why not try her?"

"I'll seek them when the time comes. But for now, I prefer to fully understand what's in your hands. And heroes function differently from you." Feng Xue replied casually. Bi Gelei stared at him:

"What do you mean by 'function differently'?"

"What else?" Feng Xue rolled his eyes, completely ignoring Bi Gelei's mood, and said calmly:

"You, and other Demon Kings—even with complete knowledge systems—suffer from rigid thinking patterns. You're accustomed to your original world's rules, so you interpret everything through that lens. For example, you're used to elemental magic, so in your mind, every spell must be 'lifeless elements,' right?"

"Yes, so what?" Bi Gelei didn't see anything wrong. Isn't that how everyone learns a second language—by interpreting it through the first?

"That's exactly the problem. This rigidity makes transformation inflexible—like the Blue Bar… the world's rules transformed magic. Your Summoning Spell in your world nearly creates life; here, it lasts only seconds. That's distortion caused by transformation. To compensate for this distortion, you need massive repetitive trial and error."

Hearing this, Bi Gelei immediately recalled her earlier experience of being possessed by a ghost and a god for exhaustive trials, and nodded with lingering unease—

"Compared to trying myself, it's definitely better to let heroes—those without fixed thinking—try!"

(End of Chapter)