Chapter 87: The Arrival of the Game Players

Early the next morning, Lingyun and the others left the Starting Town and headed toward the wild areas to slaughter monsters. After all, resources in any game are limited; once the game's players arrived here, the monster resources would surely be greatly reduced, so it was better to take advantage of this time to kill a wave of monsters first.

While Lingyun's group was happily killing monsters in the wild, beams of white light shot into the sky at the Central Plaza of the Starting Town, and batch after batch of young men and women appeared along with the light. There were quite a lot of them, and they soon crowded the Central Plaza.

"I'm back, this world!" A black-haired boy in the plaza clenched his fist and revealed a smile.

"Wahahaha, this world shall be conquered by me!" Another boy looked at the crowded plaza and laughed as he issued his declaration.

Many of the players here were experiencing this kind of large-scale virtual reality online role-playing game for the first time. These players were observing this beautiful and unfamiliar world with great interest, not realizing what a dark future awaited them.

Quite a few residents of the Starting Town looked curiously at the people who had suddenly appeared in the Central Plaza, wanting to see how they differed from themselves; these scrutinizing gazes made some people feel uneasy. However, upon discovering that these people were no different from themselves, the residents lost interest, dispersed in twos and threes, and went back to their own business.

Watching the residents, the black-haired boy couldn't help but mutter to himself, "The AI of the NPCs in this game is too high, isn't it? Could it be that every NPC here is equipped with high-level artificial intelligence? Hmm, although this sounds incredible, it doesn't seem hard to understand when it comes to a genius like Kayaba Akihiko."

After scanning this familiar yet unfamiliar world, the black-haired boy did not wander around the Starting Town like the others, but instead set his sights on a target and ran toward a certain place.

"Since this is a game world, leveling up and making money are the most important things!" the boy thought.

At this moment, in the crowd, a young man with the face of a down-and-out samurai saw the sprinting boy, felt a stir in his heart, and quickly followed him.

In the wild, Lingyun's group was dealing with a pack of wild wolves. Although these wild wolves were much stronger than wild boars, they were still not enough to challenge Lingyun and the others.

Among their group, the most diligent person was Alice. After possessing elemental power and being taught how to use magic by Lingyun, Alice also gained the ability to fight against these wild monsters.

Alice was now a little artillery piece, throwing various types of magic at the wild wolves as if it cost nothing. Although these attacks didn't look very powerful right now, once she grew up in the future, she would definitely be a powerful damage-dealing character.

Suddenly, Lingyun looked up toward the direction of the Starting Town. In this world, his Divine Sense had been partially liberated, and his perception was greatly enhanced. A large number of soul auras had suddenly appeared in the Starting Town; although it was not very close to this place, it still caught his attention.

"Have they finally arrived? The game players of this world?" Lingyun said in his heart.

However, Lingyun's expression soon changed. As a virtual game world, the players here should all be virtual avatars; why were there soul auras?

"It seems something big is about to happen!" Lingyun felt a slight shock in his heart. However, he did not choose to return to the Starting Town immediately, but instead began to call for Ruoxi in the Cloud Realm.

"Brother, is something the matter?" Ruoxi appeared before Lingyun, and with a graceful turn, she kicked a wild wolf in front of Lingyun into fragments.

"Ruoxi, your speed is the fastest here. Go to the Starting Town and see if there has been any change. It should be virtual avatars entering the game, so why are there soul auras?" Lingyun said.

Ruoxi looked toward the direction of the Starting Town, a hint of gravity flashing in her eyes, before her figure flickered and disappeared into the Void.

Lingyun stopped fighting monsters and looked at the distant Starting Town: "The wind is about to rise."

Not long after, Ruoxi reappeared before Lingyun, her little face showing a hint of gravity: "Brother, something big has happened. The players appearing in this world are not virtual avatars formed by the game world, but their actual souls!"

"Souls? Has this world actually dragged the souls of the gamers into this world?" Lingyun raised an eyebrow. "That makes sense; a Semi-plane without life is incomplete. But with so many souls pouring into this world, will it have any adverse effects on it?"

"The evolution speed of this world has accelerated!" Ruoxi looked at the sky, her eyes flashing with a profound light invisible to others. "The power of these souls has begun to have an unpredictable impact on this world. Although the time it takes to transform into a nascent Semi-plane has not changed, its degree of perfection will be greatly increased."

"Where exactly does this degree of perfection manifest?" The Samurai Sword in Busujima Saeko's hand drew a sharp arc of light, slicing a wild wolf into fragments.

"The most significant part should be the division of strength. In this world, every twenty-five levels will form a threshold, and a situation of level suppression has appeared." Ruoxi withdrew her gaze. "Moreover, the unique Sword Skills of this world have also begun to change. Perhaps in the future, after the players' strength increases, the situation of body stiffness after using a Sword Skill might gradually disappear!"

"These seem to be the good aspects. What about the bad ones?" Lingyun asked.

"The bad aspects? That would be that the erosion of this world by the power of the Underworld King of the End has become more severe. Quite a few wild monsters have already been infected, and the most serious area is the Labyrinth Area. After being affected by the power of the Underworld King of the End, the Boss in the Boss Room of the Labyrinth Area has undergone various mutations, and its strength has greatly increased. This is a huge threat to those who want to clear this world."

"Boss?" Lingyun frowned slightly. "If that's the case, then it's troublesome. Perhaps the Underworld King of the End will borrow the power of these Bosses to fight against the forces suppressing it."

"Master, why don't we just do this? We will try our best to improve our own strength, and then beat those players to it and take care of the Boss!" Luo Yexi said.

"That is a method, but we cannot just do that. On one hand, we have too few people and don't have the energy to find the Boss Room in the Labyrinth Area. On the other hand, we must also let these players know the strength of these monsters to avoid unnecessary casualties caused by their own overestimation," Ruoxi nodded.

"Ruoxi, Brother has a mission for you!" Lingyun turned his gaze to Ruoxi.

"What mission?"

"Try to contact the external forces of this world and see if you can get some help from them! Among our group, only you can accomplish this. After all, I don't have the ability to go to a place as high as the hundredth floor right now."

"Mm, leave it to me." Ruoxi nodded, and her figure disappeared into the Void.

"I hope nothing goes wrong when this world transforms into a Semi-plane!" Watching the sky, which had begun to darken, Lingyun muttered in his heart.