Chapter 4: Origin: Bone Fire

"Big Snake Entanglement."

"Second Snake Follows Entanglement."

"Third Snake Follows Too."

After 1 hour of game experience, Li Zheng and the others were already able to cooperate skillfully in combat.

Having killed several Cursed Soldiers in the ancient battlefield one after another, they all reached level 2.

The six people who chose the Black-Armored Snake form saw their body length grow from the initial one meter to about 1.3 meters.

The wings of the two players who chose the Owl-Headed Demon form were more vibrant, and their body size had also increased.

The biggest change was in the Gargoyle form; besides the increase in body size, a layer of flowing black crystal appeared on the body surface.

Deepening their experience, the realism of the game left them incredibly amazed.

Especially the boost brought by leveling up; they could clearly feel their own strength, speed, and other attributes being enhanced, rather than just an adjustment of game data.

This made leveling up very interesting and made them look forward to the strength improvement brought by continuing to level up.

But the game also had problems that troubled them.

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

Besides that, the game didn't even have a pain shielding function. Bumps and bruises were inevitable in combat. They couldn't help but curse the Moon-Eclipse Race for being too perverted, not setting up a pain adjustment function, which was simply abusing players.

[In fact, opening the system settings in the function panel has a pain adjustment function. Just because you didn't look doesn't mean it doesn't exist.]

"You didn't say so earlier."

[You didn't ask either?]

Summoning the function panel, they found the pain adjustment function in the system settings.

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

But it was still better than 100% pain feedback.

After adjusting the pain, the combat power of Li Zheng and the others soared.

After dismantling another Cursed Soldier, Li Zheng and the others, feeling exhausted, were preparing to take a break.

But they heard Eat Dirt in the team issue a sharp warning.

"Eat Dirt, what are you howling for? Do you really think you're an eagle?"

"There is a strong energy fluctuation approaching from the 3 o'clock direction."

Hearing this, everyone raised their heads and looked in the direction Eat Dirt pointed. They saw a giant humanoid skeleton 3 meters tall walking toward them.

Unlike other Cursed Soldiers, the surface of this skeleton warrior was covered in ink-colored flames burning fiercely, and its pitch-black body looked extremely eerie and terrifying under the shroud of the ink-colored flames.

Focusing their gaze, the information of the Burning Bone Soldier appeared in their minds:

[Bone Fire (First Generation Origin)]:

Hunting Level: 9

Guide Analysis: A special monster that controls Origin Power, possessing the ability to manipulate death flames.

Note: Killing an Origin Monster will automatically complete containment, and those who participate in the kill will share the massive rewards.

"A boss has appeared!"

Seeing that Bone Fire was actually an Origin Monster, Li Zheng and the others were extremely excited.

Usually in other games, encountering a boss meant rich rewards, especially for Li Zheng, the game grinder.

The revenue produced by a rare boss was enough to sustain his living expenses for many days.

If he was lucky enough to drop top-tier items, getting rich overnight wasn't impossible.

Usually in other games, bosses had to be fought over, and the competition was extremely fierce.

Facing an opportunity delivered to their doorstep, they didn't want to miss it.

"Kill!"

The ten-person team decisively launched a fierce charge toward the Bone Fire that had stood up.

"Big Snake Entanglement."

"Second Snake Follows Entanglement."

"Third Snake Follows Too."

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

As Eat Dirt explained, regardless of success or failure in battle, the momentum must be established.

But this attack didn't go as smoothly as before. Ink-colored flames ignited in the Bone Fire's hollow eyes.

With a wave of its hand, several ink-colored fireballs separated from its body and flew toward Li Zheng and the others.

Li Zheng, Killing Intent Moved, and Leopard Head Zero-Spend, who were charging at the front, were hit by the fireballs, and their bodies burned fiercely.

The burning pain was unbearable, and they kept twisting and rolling on the ground, but the flames showed no sign of extinguishing.

The other seven people stepped over their burning bodies and continued to lunge toward the Bone Fire.

The moment they made contact with the Bone Fire's body, their bodies were also ignited by the flames, but they endured the pain and continued to bite and peck, creating cracks on the Bone Fire's skeleton.

Before long, the ten of them turned to ashes in the burning flames.

As the screen dimmed, a prompt sounded in their minds:

[Challenger Hint: Character died. 10 points of Sacrifice Power deducted (if Sacrifice Power is insufficient, it will be deducted to a negative number, and you will be unable to purchase any items in the game mall). Character enters a one-hour cooldown.]

Returning to the virtual interface, Li Zheng and the others clicked the icon again, only to see a prompt pop up:

[Character flesh reshaping... (Cooldown time: 59 minutes 49 seconds).]

Realizing they couldn't enter the game again, they had no choice but to exit the virtual interface helplessly.

[Hardcore Gamer Chat Group (Online: 10)]

Poor Enough to Eat Dirt (Admin): What the hell, why does the game have a resurrection cooldown setting? If you give me another chance, I can definitely kill it.

Game Grinder: The realism of "Dark Lands" being too perfect is also a kind of pain. Although you can set 10% pain feedback, the burning pain of the flames just now still makes me have lingering fears. I almost thought I was going to see my great-grandmother.

Why Pay to Play: It’s fun, and the attribute boost feedback is very satisfying, but the pain is also real. This Bone Fire’s combat power is too strong. At level 2, we are no match at all. I suggest leveling up before challenging it.

Killing Intent Moved: My god, why is there a resurrection cooldown setting? My plan to raise a level 100 Heaven-Piercing Giant Python has stalled. I feel terrible right now.

Family Shared Godfather: Brothers, something bad happened. Welfare Worker has left the group.

Poor Enough to Eat Dirt (Admin): Holy crap, Godfather left the group... I guess he’s afraid of getting into trouble for spreading piracy. Everyone remember to keep it a secret. Don't spread the download link, so as not to let Godfather get investigated.

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

Absolutely do not cause trouble for "Godfather." Do not spread or use the download link externally.

Then came the discussion about the game world background, during which Li Zheng proposed an idea.

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

Poor Enough to Eat Dirt: Agreed. Most people playing this game are pay-to-win players. Any organization we find can earn us a decent income.

Family Shared Godfather: Brothers, go find one. Your younger brother will follow closely in your footsteps. Wherever you go, I go. No second thoughts.

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

The so-called organization refers to guilds, gangs, and other player groups in the game.

The players in the Hardcore group are all grinders. In previous games, they would attach themselves to medium and large game groups, earning income by providing services to the pay-to-win players in the group.

This time is no exception. After testing and experiencing the game, the first thing they thought of was to find a game organization.

Seeing that the brothers all expressed agreement, Li Zheng typed a reply on the keyboard:

Game Grinder: I’m going to the forum to find an organization now. Brothers, wait for me to return.

Then came a series of copy-paste replies:

Godfather, go quickly and return quickly!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 6 =====