Chapter 57: Land of Darkness, Activate!

"I'm so furious! The monsters outside are far too strong; they're giving newcomers no way to survive. Fortunately, I'm agile and managed to escape from a Blood Corpse by a fluke. Before entering Emperor Tomb Village, I even turned around and spat at the Blood Corpse that had chased me for ten blocks."

"Looking for a team! Is there any high-level big brother who can start a party and take me out to explore? It's too terrifying out there."

"This game is invincibly powerful! The haptic feedback when touching my girlfriend's hand is so realistic; I don't even feel any difference from reality. No wonder I bought this game for 128,888; every penny was worth it."

"Seeking veteran players to form a team! I'm a newbie who just arrived and know nothing. Is there any big brother who can teach me how to configure my Star Veins?"

"Haha, I've turned into a little fire chicken! Switching Star Veins is quite interesting. Time to launch the Golden-Winged Peng cultivation plan!"

New players kept flooding in, and the resurrection point in Emperor Tomb Village quickly became overcrowded.

For this epoch-making new game, the behavior of all new players after entering was remarkably similar: they used various methods to test the game's realistic feedback, attempting to find any potential feedback bugs.

Some players even exerted too much force while testing, rolling on the ground in pain.

Other players, while testing the realism feedback on each other, got into conflicts that gradually escalated into violent brawls, wrestling and grappling together.

Veteran players passing by generally looked at the series of bizarre behaviors exhibited by newcomers with the gaze one reserves for fools, forgetting that they themselves had been exactly like this when they first entered the game, performing a series of outrageous stunts to test the game's realism.

Unlike the previous batch of players, this group of recruits arrived in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range under the Waning Moon scenario.

Outside, there were no low-level evil entities like Cursed Soldiers wandering about; the hunting difficulty was far higher than in the Residual Moon scenario, offering no gradual process of growth.

Even the weakest Blood Corpses had a minimum hunting level of 10, causing many new players who had just left the novice village to suffer greatly.

Consequently, large numbers of players returned to Emperor Tomb Village to recruit teammates, hoping to continue their hunts by forming groups.

Some new players also followed the advice given by veterans in the regional voice channel, heading to the entrance of the Gloomy Cave south of Emperor Tomb Village to mine there and accumulate starting capital.

During this period, major guilds also seized the opportunity to recruit newbies; they would provide mining picks purchasable for 1 point of Sacrificial Power, or even lead newbies out of Emperor Tomb Village to begin hunting, using these methods to win over newcomers and thereby strengthen their guilds' power and influence.

The arrival of these 2,000 new players made Emperor Tomb Village exceptionally lively.

Qi Sheng, who had been observing from behind the scenes all along, also began to anticipate the increase in profits these new players would bring.

Although new players at this stage could not hunt monsters of their current level alone and needed to form teams or be escorted by veteran players to explore outside.

Their output profits were even negative, since death would deduct 10 points of Sacrificial Power.

He believed that as long as these players were given enough time to grow, they would quickly adapt to the difficulty of the Waning Moon scenario.

His daily Sacrificial Power income would also see new growth points emerge as this batch of new players matured.

As for the loss of Sacrificial Power caused by the deaths of new players in the early stages, Qi Sheng did not care in the least.

This Sacrificial Power consumed for death and resurrection was, in essence, still charged to the players themselves.

Once players later possessed sufficient Sacrificial Power, it would be deducted; the true cost was merely the initial investment of 1,000 points of Sacrificial Power.

Just as Qi Sheng was monitoring the dynamics of the new players.

In the real world, Yelan City.

Waking from sleep, Tong Xin felt a splitting headache and weakness throughout his entire body.

The night outside was hazy; looking up at the time and date in the bottom right corner of his computer desktop, he was surprised to discover he had slept slumped over the desk for 28 hours.

Huh?!

Just then, Tong Xin noticed a pop-up window in the upper right corner displaying:

[Download Complete - 100%]

"Holy crap, the download succeeded?!"

The surprise came too suddenly; Tong Xin, who had been groggy with sleep, instantly perked up, staring wide-eyed at the download completion prompt.

The grievances, envy, resentment, and various other emotions in his heart vanished, replaced by tears of excitement.

After this brief surge of emotions, he transferred the file to the game pod, then went before the pod to press 'File Adaptation,' before returning to sit at his computer desk.

Opening the Kindergarten chat group, he excitedly tapped on the keyboard to input:

Kindergarten Principal: @Everyone, brothers!!! Your principal is about to enter the battlefield; hurry up and assemble to carry me leveling up.

Kindergarten Principal: @Everyone, saying it again, hurry up and assemble to carry me leveling up; include me when you make money.

After posting, Tong Xin began to wait anxiously, having already changed into his game attire in the meantime.

After a long while, the game pod lit up with a green light indicating adaptation was complete; he decisively walked over to the pod and pressed the start button.

One minute later, Tong Xin, lying inside the game pod, entered the virtual desktop.

The desktop layout was simple; besides proper games, there were several improper games hidden within folders.

But Tong Xin's focus was not on those games that had once given him joy; his gaze precisely locked onto the monster icon surrounded by burning flames.

"Land of Darkness, activate!"

As his consciousness touched the game icon, Tong Xin's mind had already begun to eagerly imagine the happy gaming hours ahead.

Just then, a prompt box suddenly appeared:

[Due to not entering the game within 24 hours, the game qualification has been revoked, and the game files have been shredded; please re-download to enter!]

Staring at the prompt box, Tong Xin's gaze gradually became dull.

A long time later, the game pod lid slowly opened, but Tong Xin remained curled up inside the pod, tears flowing uncontrollably:

"Boohoo~ This is truly damned; how can they bully me like this?"

"You can't bully people like this... boohoo~."

Half an hour later, the previously silent Kindergarten group became active again; members who had entered resurrection cooldown began constantly @-ing the group owner:

Small Class-Drunk Milk: The principal actually managed to grab a qualification; congratulations! We'll come online in an hour to carry you leveling up.

Small Class-Iron Hammer: Hahaha, the principal has finally returned; our team has been waiting for your return to take charge. We'll transfer the guild master position to you then. Congratulations! The gods of the Kindergarten Group have all returned; it's time for us to rise.

Small Class-Black Ball: (Confetti) (Confetti), Principal, go mine in the cave for a while; once our resurrection cooldown ends, we'll come in and carry you leveling up.

Learning that the principal had secured a qualification, the group members all expressed their congratulations.

Noticing that the principal never replied, they subconsciously assumed he had already entered the game and begun experiencing the content.

Meanwhile, a certain player whose qualification had been revoked was still curled up, sobbing and crying, until he finally exhausted his strength and cried himself unconscious inside the game pod.

Four hours earlier.

Emperor Tomb Village, Primordial Sacrifice Altar.

[Boss, among the challenger qualifications distributed this time, one qualification has never been activated.]

Hearing the Guide's prompt, Qi Sheng frowned slightly.

His purpose in distributing qualifications to players was to have them create profits for him in the Monster World; he naturally would not allow anyone to occupy a workstation without working.

Turning to look at the Guide hovering beside him:

"From now on, if any distributed qualification is not activated and used within 24 hours, revoke it. Revoke this unused qualification as well and distribute it to other players."

[Understood.]

(End of Chapter)