Chapter 336: Cycle

After emerging from the cellar that day, Naimi Xisi set a goal for the two of them—to slay monsters, to slay as many monsters as possible.

They needed a large amount of experience points to level up, so that they could eventually go to the Dark Castle to destroy the lich Wei Ke Na's soul jar.

As for his plan, Ai Ma could be said to strongly disagree.

"I also want to return to the real world, but I don't want to go to my death!"

Ai Ma's words reflected her viewpoint; she had lived here for three years and had seen all kinds of monsters and dangers.

Most of the time, she furtively scavenged for supplies and survived in a safe house. During those three years, unless forced to act, she constantly avoided conflicts with those monsters.

This is why, after being here so long, Ai Ma was still only a level‑5 sword chanter.

"Don't you want to return to reality, to spend your whole life in this bizarre world?" Naimi Xisi replied.

Ai Ma felt an indescribable sensation, yet forced herself to answer: "No, definitely not! I must go back! My family is still waiting for me!"

After saying that, Ai Ma still remembers the intriguing look that flashed in Naimi Xisi's eyes: "Your family? Do you have many family members?"

But she didn't think too much, and muttered, "Family—of course. My parents died in a car accident when I was five, but I still have a dog—Bing Gan, who has been with me since childhood."

When talking about her family, Ai Ma's gaze became extremely gentle, if one ignores the burst of data gibberish flashing in her pixelated eyes.

Yet Naimi Xisi merely said with a hint of intent, "It looks like your family has a long lifespan. In that case, for your Bing Gan, you should work even harder to return to reality, right?"

So, after that, they began their leveling journey.

Naimi Xisi displayed his talent of ten times the Spell Slot, which made Ai Ma extremely envious. After leaving the starting village and arriving at nearby Wu Song Zhen, both of their levels rose to seven.

With four Ring Spell Slots, Naimi Xisi rode alone on the leveling road; no monster group could not be dealt with by a Fireball Technique, and if a monster was fire‑immune, he used Lightning Bolt or Ice Spike to melt them.

In Wu Song Zhen there were many villagers who looked extremely mechanical and rigid; they were like NPCs in this illusory world, assigning various quests to the two. Apart from that, normal conversation was possible, but once topics about the world being fake were raised, they would instantly reshape their consciousness and forget the prior dialogue.

"These people are truly pitiful; they don't even know they are fake," Ai Ma sighed.

Each villager's quest granted some experience—not much, but plentiful in quantity. By completing various quests and clearing monsters around Wu Song Zhen, their levels quickly rose, reaching from level 7 to level 12 within a month.

If it weren't for the later increase in experience requirements, forcing Naimi Xisi to sleep enough each day to recover Spell Slots, their leveling speed could have been even faster.

Even so, for Ai Ma, who had survived here three years yet was only level five, everything still felt somewhat unreal.

"I recall when I first arrived, one night I encountered a raptor dragon and was so frightened I lay still in the grass, not daring to move." Ai Ma sighed after slaying a raptor dragon with a single sword.

The leveling process together with Naimi Xisi was full of thrills but no danger, yet soon they faced a problem: no more experience points.

After completing the mayor's quest in Wu Song Zhen—eliminating a level‑13 Necromancer—there were no more quests in the town, and the surrounding monsters had all been cleared.

Yet they only reached level 13 thanks solely to that.

So they had to leave Wu Song Zhen and set out toward the Dark Castle.

On the road to the Dark Castle there were no Monsters, so at night they safely lit a campfire by the roadside and began to rest.

In the bright night sky, a square‑shaped full moon hung overhead; the violet campfire fragmented Ai Ma's face, and pixelated logs burst hex‑code sparks in the flames.

Ai Ma stared vacantly at the fire, heavy‑hearted, and asked, "Hey, do you think our strength is enough to face Wei Ke Na?"

Naimi Xisi wiped the stains off his mithril dagger, saying, "Whether it's enough or not, this is already our limit."

Ai Ma looked at him puzzled, expecting an explanation.

"Look around, have you been here before?" Naimi Xisi asked.

Ai Ma froze for a moment, seeming to recall something, a strand of data code flashing in her eyes: "…I have been here. At that time I heard of Wei Ke Na's deeds, wondering if I could defeat him to earn the right to go home, but after leaving Wu Song Zhen I found the road too dangerous… wait."

Her eyes suddenly widened as she looked at the empty surroundings. The desolate wilderness sparked a hint of fear in her heart.

"Why, I remember there should have been many Monsters here before—"

Naimi Xisi abruptly cut her off, saying coldly, "Because we have reached the limit allowed by this illusory world."

"It doesn't allow us to level up any further, because that would be too dangerous for it, so it deleted all Monsters that could provide experience."

This explanation surprisingly made sense to Ai Ma; indeed, if killing the final boss lets one leave, then to prevent intruders from succeeding, simply withholding experience so they can't level up works.

But if that's the case—

"Then why doesn't it let us face the final boss in the beginner village? That would be foolproof," Ai Ma said, bewildered.

Naimi Xisi looked at her fire‑lit face, meaningfully. "Because it is also bound by rules."

Ai Ma frowned, thought for a while, found no answer, and simply gave up.

The campfire fell silent again, making the empty wilderness feel even more tranquil.

After polishing his dagger, Naimi Xisi nonchalantly raised a topic: "You said you'd lived here for three years?"

Ai Ma unconsciously answered, "Of course, counting from the day I awoke," she pointed at the fire and said, "Look at the cracks in these charcoal; they're exactly like those from last autumn when I burned a maple tree."

Naimi Xisi sneered inwardly, thinking how clearly she remembered even the charcoal cracks, yet just now she forgot that this road should have had Monsters.

He didn't say that, but instead asked, "Maple tree?" He lifted a piece of vaporizing slime residue with his dagger and put it in his mouth, "Does the pixel world have seasonal changes?"

The campfire suddenly turned indigo. A cascade of data waterfalls flowed through Ai Ma's pupils: "Of course there is! In spring the swamps bloom data flowers, in summer the desert heat can cause pixel rashes." Her voice began to tremble, and the sword hilt etched chaotic geometric patterns into the sand.

The Mage's Arcane Power vision suddenly caught an anomaly—Ai Ma's shadow was rotating counter‑clockwise. He pretended to be casual and asked, "Then for autumn maple syrup, which numbered collection bottle do you use?"

"Use…." The girl's silver hair suddenly rippled with mosaic waves; she sprang up, armor clanking with glitchy noise, "I just remembered there are still three goblin camps in the north uncleaned!"

Naimi Xisi pressed his hand on her shoulder plate, the feel like stroking flowing metallic code. He pointed to the sky, where the square primordial moon had somehow become a blood moon, split by countless hexagons: "Look at the moon, does it look like the one you saw back home?"

Ai Ma's sword clanged onto the ground. She tilted her head with animation‑like precision, a disc‑reading squeak emanating from her throat: "Seasons… are cycles; no need to remember specifics."

The bizarre, unsettling voice continued for several minutes, then her whole body suddenly stiffened, then relaxed. The data codes on her eyes and armor vanished, and she opened her eyes in bewilderment.

She looked at Naimi Xisi's hand attached to her shoulder, shyly saying, "Why did you put your hand on me? I can tell you, in reality I have a boyfriend."

Naimi Xisi smiled and withdrew his hand: "It's nothing, I just saw a data bug on your shoulder."

Ai Ma shrugged, then looked at the fire, heavy‑hearted, and said again, "Hey, do you think our strength is enough to face Wei Ke Na?"

(End of Chapter)