Chapter 5: Primordial: Bone Fire

"Great Serpent Coil."

"Second Serpent Follows the Coil."

"Third Serpent Also Follows."

After one hour of gameplay, Li Zheng and the others had already mastered coordinated combat.

Having consecutively slain several Cursed Soldiers on the Ancient Battlefield, they had all leveled up to Level 2.

The six players who chose the Black Armored Snake form saw their body length grow from an initial one meter to around 1. meters.

The two players who chose the Eagle-Headed Demon form found their wings becoming more vibrant, with their body size also increasing.

The greatest change was in the Gargoyle form; besides increased size, a layer of flowing black crystal appeared on their bodies.

Delving deeper into the experience, the game's realism left them utterly amazed.

Especially the buffs gained after leveling up; they could clearly feel their strength, speed, and other attributes being enhanced, not just game data being adjusted.

This made leveling up incredibly interesting, making them even more eager for the power increases that further leveling would bring.

However, the game also had problems that troubled them.

The game was too realistic; the stench emanating from the rotting Cursed Soldiers was unbearable.

Beyond that, the game surprisingly hadn't enabled pain suppression; bumps and bruises were inevitable in combat, leading them to angrily curse the Eclipse Clan as perverts for not setting up a pain adjustment function, essentially torturing players.

【Actually, the pain adjustment function is right there in the System Settings within the Function Panel; just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.】

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

【You never asked?】

Summoning the Function Panel, they found the pain adjustment function within the System Settings.

What surprised them was that the pain adjustment could only be lowered to a minimum of 10%.

Still, that was better than 100% pain feedback.

After adjusting the pain settings, Li Zheng and the others' combat power skyrocketed.

After dismembering another Cursed Soldier, the exhausted Li Zheng and his companions were preparing to rest for a while.

Suddenly, they heard Chi Tu from within the team let out a sharp warning cry.

"Chi Tu, what are you screaming about? Do you really think you're an eagle?"

"Strong energy fluctuations are approaching from the 3 o'clock direction."

Hearing this, everyone raised their heads to look in the direction Chi Tu indicated, only to see a giant three-meter-tall humanoid skeleton walking toward them in the distance.

Unlike other Cursed Soldiers, this Skeleton Warrior's body was covered in raging ink-black flames, its pitch-black figure appearing exceptionally eerie and terrifying under the haunting shroud of dark fire.

Focusing their gaze, information about the Burning Bone Soldier floated into their minds:

【Bone Fire (First Generation Primordial)】:

Hunt Level: 9

Guidance Analysis: A special monster controlling Primordial power, possessing the ability to manipulate death flames.

Note: Killing a Primordial monster automatically completes containment; participants in the kill share massive rewards.

"The boss has appeared!"

Seeing that Bone Fire was actually a Primordial monster, Li Zheng and the others became extremely excited.

In other games usually, encountering a boss meant generous rewards, especially for Li Zheng, a game gold farmer.

The proceeds from a single rare boss were enough to cover his living expenses for several days.

If they got lucky and dropped top-tier items, getting rich overnight wasn't impossible.

In other games usually, bosses had to be fought over, with competition being extremely fierce.

Faced with an opportunity delivered right to their doorstep, they had no intention of missing it.

"Kill!"

The ten-person team decisively launched a fierce charge at the standing Bone Fire.

"Great Serpent Coil."

"Second Serpent Follows the Coil."

"Third Serpent Also Follows."

Before even getting close to Bone Fire, Li Zheng and the others began shouting their self-created ultimate moves.

To use Chi Tu's explanation, regardless of success or failure in battle, the momentum must be established.

But this attack did not go as smoothly as before; ink-black flames ignited within Bone Fire's empty eye sockets.

With a raise of its hand, several clumps of ink-black flame separated from its body surface and flew toward Li Zheng and the others.

Li Zheng, Sha Xin Dong Le, and Bao Zi Tou Ling Chong, who were charging at the very front, were instantly hit by the fireballs, their bodies bursting into flames.

The burning pain was unbearable, causing them to twist and roll continuously on the ground, yet the flames showed no sign of extinguishing.

The other seven leaped over their burning bodies and continued rushing toward Bone Fire.

The moment they made contact with Bone Fire's body, their own forms were also ignited by the flames, but they still endured the pain to continue biting and pecking, creating crack after crack on Bone Fire's bones.

Before long, all ten turned to ash amidst the burning flames.

As the screen dimmed, a notification rang in their minds:

【Challenger Notification: Character died, deducting 10 points of Sacrificial Power (if Sacrificial Power is insufficient, it will be deducted into negative numbers, preventing any item purchases in the Game Mall); character enters a one-hour cooldown period.】

The scene returned to the virtual interface; Li Zheng and the others immediately clicked the icon again, only to see a prompt pop up:

【Character flesh and blood reshaping... (Cooldown time: 59 minutes 49 seconds).】

Realizing they could not re-enter the game, they could only helplessly exit the virtual interface.

【Grind Emperor Player Chat Group (Online: 10 people)】

Poor Enough to Eat Dirt (Admin): What the hell is going on? Why does the game have a resurrection cooldown setting? Give me one more chance and I can definitely kill it.

Game Gold Farmer: The realism of "Dark Lands" is so perfect it's actually painful; although we can set pain feedback to 10%, the burning pain from those flames just now still leaves me with lingering fear, I almost thought I was going to meet my great-grandma.

Playing Games Still Costs Money: It's fun, the attribute buff feedback feels amazing, but the pain is real too; this Bone Fire's combat power is so strong, we at Level 2 are no match for it, I suggest we level up first before challenging it again.

Sha Xin Dong Le: Oh my god, how can there be a resurrection cooldown setting? My plan to raise a Level 100 Sky-Spanning Giant Python has come to a halt; I'm feeling really bad right now.

Family Share Godfather: Brothers, big trouble, the Welfare Officer has left the group.

Poor Enough to Eat Dirt (Admin): Damn, Godfather left the group... Probably afraid of getting into trouble for spreading pirated copies; everyone remember to keep it confidential, absolutely do not spread the download link, or else widespread distribution might get Godfather visited by the authorities.

Unable to enter the game while in resurrection cooldown, while discussing game content, the players in the Grind Emperor group made a decision.

They absolutely must not cause trouble for "Godfather"; the download link would not be spread externally.

Afterwards came discussions about the game's world background, during which Li Zheng proposed an idea.

Game Gold Farmer: Brothers, do we need to find an organization?

Poor Enough to Eat Dirt: Agreed, most people playing this game are whales; joining any organization should allow us to earn considerable profits.

Family Share Godfather: Brothers, go ahead and find one, little brother will follow closely in your footsteps; wherever you go, I go, with no second thoughts.

Regarding this idea, the players in the group expressed their agreement one after another.

The so-called organization referred to guilds, gangs, and other player factions within the game.

The players in the Grind Emperor group were all gold farmers; in previous games, they would always attach themselves to medium or large gaming factions, earning profits by providing services to the whale players within those groups.

This time was no exception; after testing and experiencing the game, the first thing they thought of was finding a game organization.

Seeing that his brothers all agreed, Li Zheng typed out a reply on his keyboard:

Game Gold Farmer: I'll go to the forum right now to find an organization, brothers wait for me to return.

What followed was a string of copy-paste replies:

Godfather, go quickly and return soon!

(End of Chapter)