Chapter 2592 – Natural Training Ground

As Zero Wing’s members teleported to the Lost Town’s Residence, the Residence’s plaza quickly became crowded. “What is this place? Why do I feel like a foreign energy is trying to invade my body?”

“My senses feel so dull, and I’m suddenly starving. Didn’t the higher-ups say they were bringing us to a sacred training and leveling ground? What’s going on here?”

“My friends were still jealous that I got chosen to join the Guild’s special training, and they didn’t, but why does this place feel lesser than Stone Forest City?”

Upon their arrival to the Lost Town, Zero Wing’s new recruits and core members, all of whom had high potential, were curious about the situation, falling into heated discussions. The recruits were especially confused. They knew nothing about the Lost Town, and now, they had been thrown into such a harsh environment. They couldn’t bring themselves to believe this was a sacred training ground. Just surviving in this town long-term would be a problem.

The situation began to worry Aqua Rosen. The town’s new location was nothing like what she had imagined. Even Tier 3 players like herself would struggle to survive here, much less the Guild’s latest trainees, who hadn’t yet reached Tier 3.

Needless to say, training and fighting the random monster tides would be nearly impossible. Players would be fortunate to exhibit their normal combat standards in such a severe area, much less improve their combat standards.

During her previous visit to the Demonwolf Mountain Range, she had stayed in the neutral map’s outer region, where the environment hadn’t been particularly harsh, but now that she stood in the inner region, she felt sluggish, and her senses had considerably dulled. The constant hunger assaulting her mind and body was also quite uncomfortable.

Most importantly, the Mana here felt like an icy hell. Violent, ice-type Mana filled the area, and Aqua Rose could sense scant amounts of other elements. Manipulating Mana in this zone would be almost impossible.

When players couldn’t manipulate Mana, how were they supposed to improve?

“Guild Leader, you don’t intend these Tier 2 members to remain here for their training, do you?” Blue Frost anxiously asked Shi Feng.

Blue Frost recognized the area as the Demonwolf Mountain Range’s inner region and knew that the lowest-leveled monster was Level 120. This would be an amazing area to level and train for players of his tier and level, but Zero Wing’s new recruits and Tier 2 members would only waste their time here.

These members were Zero Wing’s future. Sending them to such a place to waste their time would cost the Guild.

“Remain here for their training?” Shaking his head, Shi Feng said, “Such a wonderful thing isn’t possible.”

Shi Feng’s reply confused Blue Frost. He couldn’t understand what was so wonderful about this frozen hellscape.

Shi Feng didn’t explain his statement, however. Instead, he met with the Adventurer’s Association’s NPCs to complete the handover procedures. Once complete, the NPCs promptly left the Lost Town, making the already desolate town even more lonely.

At that point, the sound of a system announcement rang in everyone’s ears.

Lost Town Region System Announcement: The town’s new location is subject to a mysterious curse. Wraiths will absorb the excess Mana players radiate, transforming into monsters. Please be wary of these monsters’ attacks.

Shortly after the system announcement ended and before Zero Wing’s members could digest the information, translucent, humanoid ghosts started to manifest around some of Zero Wing’s members. These humanoid ghosts appeared to be clones of the players they stood by. They even had the same levels as their human counterparts. The moment their forms were complete, these ghosts attacked the players.

Not understanding what was happening, everyone was stunned.

Fortunately, they were all Zero Wing experts, and although their levels and tiers weren’t up to standard, they commanded expert combat standards. Even the weakest player there could reach the Trial Tower’s fifth floor. They had no trouble responding to the ghosts’ attacks appropriately. Meanwhile, the players who hadn’t been attacked joined the fray, targeting the ghosts near them.

After a moment, however, something else surprising occurred.

The ghostly clones had the same combat standards as their human counterparts. Moreover, other players’ attacks proved utterly ineffective.

Your official training begins now! Be careful of the ghosts that will appear beside you! No one, other than the player the ghosts copy, can do anything to them! If these ghosts kill you, not only will you lose a level, but you won’t be able to log in for a day!” Shi Feng warned as he watched Zero Wing’s members fight these phantom monsters.

The Demonwolf Mountain Range was no ordinary location. The map’s inner region was actually considered a forbidden land.

Every forbidden land in God’s Domain has some mechanic that made survival particularly difficult. The Demonwolf Mountain Range’s inner region had this curse.

Shi Feng neither knew exactly what this curse was, nor did he know who was responsible for it, but he knew that an endless stream of ghosts would appear to attack and harass any player resting within a town or city established in this area, preventing anyone from remaining in the region long-term.

Zero Wing’s many members gasped when they heard Shi Feng’s warning.

How was this ‘training?’

This was simply an execution!

They had now fought these ghosts, so they knew the spirits had the same combat standards as the players they cloned. Unlike players, however, the ghosts weren’t affected by the harsh environment. Hence, the monsters commanded their players’ peak combat power. In other words, the ghosts were stronger than the cloned players.

To make matters worse, they would lose a full level and be banned from the game for a full day if they died. Just how were they supposed to catch up with mainstream experts in this situation?

While many of his Guildmates complained to themselves, Blue Frost, who was engaged in a bitter battle with his ghost, realized something, and excitement flashed in his eyes.

Players were at a disadvantage against these ghosts, and they couldn’t even manipulate the ambient Mana due to its violent, biased nature. The only option they had left was to find a way to manipulate and use the Mana within them to defeat the phantom clones.

Since these ghosts mimicked both the players’ behavior and combat standards, players could also predict their opponent’s moves in certain situations.

With this thought in mind, Blue Frost found his ghost counterpart much easier to fight. He also discovered many of his own flaws, killing two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, these fights wouldn’t benefit Tier 2 players as much as it did Tier 3 players like himself. However, Tier 2 players could still use their Skills and Spells in this harsh environment, where Tier 3 players struggled. As long as Tier 2 players steadily trained their combat standards and Skill and Spell Completion Rates, they were more than capable of defeating their ghosts.

Not only weren’t these ghosts the problem they had all assumed, but they were also the perfect training partners for experts like them. Only, this kind of training was a little too risky.

It wasn’t long before the rest of Zero Wing’s members realized the same, and many stopped complaining, fully immersing themselves in battle.

“Guild Leader, this place is amazing! It is like a natural training ground! Although using it is costly, everyone’s training efficiency will be several times greater than normal. The Tier 3 experts who haven’t unlocked their Mana Bodies’ full potential will likely do so after spending a month here,” Aqua Rose said, her eyes glowing brightly as she watched the Zero Wing members before her grow steadily stronger.

Zero Wing’s main force members had already unlocked a sizable fraction of their Mana Bodies. If they trained here, they’d complete the task in no more than 10 days. Once they did, the Guild would have over a hundred Tier 3 experts with 100% of their Mana Bodies under their command!

Just thinking about this elated Aqua Rose.

Training here was brutal and dangerous, but compared to its benefits, the cost wasn’t overly high. Even if players died, they’d only lose a level and some time. Zero Wing’s main force members were already much higher levels than the various superpowers’ peak experts, so the loss wouldn’t be a problem. Moreover, the Lost Town now occupied a Level 120 neutral map. Grinding for levels would be easy here, and trading levels for progress in unlocking their Mana Bodies was certainly a worthwhile exchange for Zero Wing.

While Zero Wing’s members worked hard to improve, Shi Feng made his way to the Extraordinary Tower. He didn’t pay everyone’s battles much mind.

The mysterious curse was only an additional benefit for relocating the Lost Town to the Demonwolf Mountain Range. The Extraordinary Tower was still the town’s most valuable aspect.

The Extraordinary Tower had always been the best location for players to grasp the Realm of Truth’s principles. Training in this tower could shuttle players from the Truth Realm all the way to the Transcendental Realm. However, Shi Feng had only been able to unlock the tower’s second floor, which offered guidance for reaching the Ascension Realm, due to a lack of Magic Crystals. As a result, he hadn’t gained any guidance or clues about progressing to the next realm.

Now, however, Zero Wing’s Magic Crystal income had skyrocketed due to Stone Forest City’s popularity and the Dark World’s Teleportation Gate. After the past few days, the two sources had provided more than 300,000 Magic Crystals, utterly surpassing Shi Feng’s expectations.

And this now allowed Shi Feng to unlock the Extraordinary Tower’s third floor.

Once he reached the tower, Shi Feng called up the tower’s interface and unlocked the third floor. As he did, he heard the sound of a system notification.

System: The Extraordinary Tower’s first two floors have already been unlocked. Do you wish to pay 1,000,000 Magic Crystals to unlock the third floor?

“Unlock it!’