Chapter 2771 – Alien-like Players

At Shi Feng’s question, an exceptional silence filled the room. Lifeless Thorn and the others simultaneously focused their gaze on Yu Luo.

Ever since they arrived in this place, they had come across too many unknown and surprising matters.

However, the only thing they could do was remain silent and quietly observe everything, including the so-called NPCs and players here.

In their opinion, be it the NPCs, monsters, or players here, they all felt alien. This was especially true for the players here. Despite being players, the players here gave them a completely different feeling than the members of their party.

It felt as if the players here were not players at all, but rather the original inhabitants of this world. It was as if these players had already accepted this virtual world as their own.

No!

To be precise, these players treated the world of God’s Domain as a real world. Moreover, judging by these players’ behavior, they had resided in this world for a considerably long period. Otherwise, the alien feeling they gave off wouldn’t be so conspicuous.

This alien feeling was especially familiar to Shi Feng. Looking at the players in this ancient era felt like looking at Phoenix Rain back when he met her in Flame Dragon City. It was just that Phoenix Rain seemed more alien back then than these people. She felt as if she was a player yet not a player at the same time. In short, she gave off a very strange feeling.

Now, the players here gave him a similar feeling. Hence, the shock he felt when he met these players initially was much greater compared to that of Lifeless Thorn and the others.

However, he couldn’t openly state his feelings. After all, the matter concerning Phoenix Rain was of great importance. Moreover, at the same time as their party was finding the players here alien, these players had similarly noticed the strangeness of their party. It was evident that these players were foreign to players like their party as well.

In addition, through the previous conversation he had with Cooling Cloud, Shi Feng got the impression that they lived in completely different worlds. The old man in the cave had already stated that this world was the ancient era of God’s Domain. Logically, there shouldn’t be any other players in this world. Yet, not only were there players living in this world, but there were even a large number of them.

Based on his initial estimates, there should be well over five million players residing in Meteorite City. This was already on the level of royal capitals in the modern era. Meanwhile, according to Cooling Cloud, there were at least 500 such Main Cities on the continent.

If Meteorite City was representative of these Main Cities, there should be well over 2.5 billion players in the ancient era.

Yet, none of the various powers in the real world had an inkling that there were players playing in the ancient era of God’s Domain.

“That’s right. Everything is as you guys have guessed.” When Yu Luo saw the look everyone was giving her, her originally light and happy expression instantly vanished, replaced by a solemn expression. “Whether it is this God’s Domain or the players here, both come from a different world from ours!”

“A different world?!” Solitary Nine’s breathing grew heavy at Yu Luo’s words. “How is this possible?!”

Although he had already had suspicions, he still found it unbelievable after hearing Yu Luo’s confirmation.

While it was indeed true that God’s Domain was a virtual reality game like no other, it was still far-fetched to say that people of a different world were playing the game with them.

“No, it would be somewhat incorrect to say that they’re from a different world.” Shaking her head, Yu Luo smiled and added, “To be precise, they are people living in a different world.”

“What do you mean?” Shi Feng asked curiously.

“You should know of the migration plan that took place a hundred years ago, right?” “Of course, we know. Back then, due to a shortage of resources and the worsening environmental pollution, Earth had gradually become unsuitable for human life. Hence, a migration plan was executed. I heard that many people at that time were sent out to explore the universe for habitable planets,” Solitary Nine answered, nodding. “Could it be... Are you saying these players are the people who were sent out?” “Yes. They are the descendants of those explorers,” Yu Luo said. “Back then, Earth had already discovered several habitable planets. However, they were too distant from Earth, and the journey would take a long time. Hence, after gathering all of the world’s power, several hundred interstellar spaceships with self-sustaining environments were constructed. These spaceships then set forth toward the selected habitable planets while carrying all sorts of resources and hundreds of millions of Earth’s outstanding personnel.

“These people have been living on the interstellar spaceships for these past hundred years. However, these people experienced a much longer time than people on Earth during their journey. I heard that they’ve been living in space for over 600 years. Some spaceships have even experienced over 900 years of life.

“The population on these spaceships has also continued to grow over time, with the total population having exceeded ten billion long ago. The original spaceships have also acquired resources from various planets on the way and modified and upgraded themselves. At this point, these spaceships can no longer be considered mere spaceships but more like interstellar continents. And they are still making their way to the habitable planets. “However, as these interstellar continents had limited resources, the majority of their population can only reside in virtual worlds. Only a small minority has the privilege to roam the outside world. Hence, these people are accustomed to virtual worlds. The professional players of our worlds can’t even compare to these people in this regard, as virtual worlds have long since become a part of these people’s lives.

“After God’s Domain’s launch, the game became their everything. The understanding they have of God’s Domain far exceeds ours.”

When Yu Luo finished speaking, silence enveloped the room for a long time. Solitary Nine and the others even had their mouths hanging wide open. They never thought that they would actually be ignorant of such a huge matter happening outside Earth. They also couldn’t even begin to imagine how it felt to live out in the open universe for several centuries.

“I see.” After hearing Yu Luo’s explanation, Shi Feng came to another realization. During his previous life, right before he reincarnated, God’s Domain had suddenly launched an expansion pack for seemingly no rhyme or reason. It was the most special expansion pack ever added to the game.

Normally, the Main God System would first implement a new expansion pack in the game before notifying players about it. However, news of this expansion pack had spread in the real world before its implementation. In fact, even its name had been revealed beforehand.

War of Worlds!

The description that came with this announcement also clearly stated that there would be several worlds attacking the main continent of God’s Domain. For the sake of their own survival, these worlds would wage war with each other on an unprecedented scale.

The winner would live, and the loser would die!

This announcement had agitated countless people in God’s Domain when it came out. After all, the territories on the main continent were basically fixed at that point, and few disputes occurred between the various powers. The game had been trending toward stability.

With the sudden appearance of several new worlds, how could the players of God’s Domain not feel excited?

The various major powers, in particular, had immediately begun sharpening their blades after the announcement. So long as the new expansion pack took place, they would immediately invade these new worlds and start a new journey. However, as a consequence of the expansion pack, Shi Feng found himself fired.

Upon seeing the stunned expressions of the people around her, Yu Luo revealed a bitter smile and said, “My arrival here was a complete accident. While exploring an underground space in Dragonheart City by myself, I got caught in a space-time storm. By the time I woke up, I was already in this place. Currently, I have spent 20 days here already. Although I want to go back, I haven’t been able to return even after dying or jumping into other space-time storms. What’s most frustrating is that I can’t log out of the game from here.”

“You can’t log out?”

At Yu Luo’s words, Solitary Nine and the others hurriedly checked whether they could log out or not. If they couldn’t, then it would be a huge problem.

Nowadays, all virtual gaming cabins had a Nutrient Solution storage that could let players stay online for one or two months without any problem. The latest model could even let players stay online for three months. And in the event that players depleted their supply of Nutrient Solution and couldn’t leave their gaming cabin for some reason, the cabin would issue a system alert, and professionals would come quickly to deal with the problem. Hence, players had no need to worry about starving to death.

Even so, this wasn’t good news.

“No way! I really can’t log out!” Solitary Nine couldn’t help growing anxious. It would be very inconvenient for them if they couldn’t go offline. After all, there were many things they needed to do in the real world. Moreover, staying online long-term would affect their physical bodies to a certain degree.

They can’t log out? Looking at the “Logout” button on his system interface, Shi Feng found that it was still brightly lit, indicating that he could go offline whenever he wanted.

Is it because of that World Stone in my bag? After some thought, the only explanation Shi Feng could come up with for this situation was the World Stone. After all, this item could stabilize the principle of all things, which meant that he should be able to bypass the rules of this world. With this, it seems I don’t need to be too anxious.

While the ancient God’s Domain was indeed excellent, he also had many things he needed to do in the real world. He couldn’t stay online long-term.

With the World Stone, he could now feel relieved.

Shi Feng then conversed with Yu Luo about the basic information of this world, particularly about information relating to Legacies.

After the conversation, Lifeless Thorn and the others sighed ruefully. The ancient God’s Domain was indeed different.

Compared to the modern God’s Domain, the players living in the ancient God’s Domain had a much easier time getting promoted. With a reliable team, players had no problem at all securing a complete Tier 3 Legacy. In fact, with enough rare materials, one could even seek out a Tier 3 instructor to exchange for a complete Legacy. The only limitation of this method was that players could only exchange up to three Legacies.

As for the promotion to Tier 4, while it was significantly more difficult than that to Tier 3, it was still much easier compared to the process in the modern God’s Domain. At the very least, players didn’t have to seek out a Legacy Land in the middle of nowhere. They could simply head to a Tier 4 instructor and choose to challenge their Tier 4 Promotion Quest. They would then be teleported to a Tier 4 Legacy Space. However, the cost of this method was high. Each challenge required the payment of 15,000 Magic Crystals. The difficulty of the Promotion Quest was the same as in modern times. Players still had to learn a Tier 4 Legacy Skill or Spell during the allotted time. Failure meant having to wait 20 natural days before they could re-challenge it.

At this time, only three players in Meteorite City had successfully reached Tier 4.

At this point, Shi Feng wished he could bring all of Zero Wing’s Tier 4 Flowing Water Realm experts and above to this place. Even if it meant spending a lot of Magic Crystals, it would still be much better than searching for a Legacy Land. After all, searching for a Legacy Land was not only time-consuming, but success was also highly dependent on luck.

If word of this matter got out in the modern God’s Domain, every power across the continent would most likely do everything they could to secure this opportunity.

“Commander, can I borrow 10,000 Magic Crystals from you?” Lifeless Thorn asked as he looked at Shi Feng. “I’ll pay you back double as soon as we return.”

“Commander, you can’t play favorites!” Solitary Nine objected hurriedly, knowing that Shi Feng did not bring a lot of Magic Crystals with him to the ancient God’s Domain. Every bit given away counted.

Meanwhile, Yan Ya and Cleansing Whistle also stared at Shi Feng with eloquent eyes.

“Relax.” Shi Feng smiled spontaneously when he saw everyone’s reactions. “Although I didn’t bring a lot of Magic Crystals with me, I still have a way to let each of you challenge your Promotion Quests once. You can challenge yours as well, Yu Luo.”

“Me?” Yu Luo was stunned by Shi Feng’s words. “But I don’t have that many Magic Crystals.”

She, too, yearned to challenge her Tier 4 Promotion Quest. However, it wasn’t easy to save up Magic Crystals while living in Meteorite City, as everything cost Magic Crystals here.

Even until now, she had only around 4,000 Magic Crystals, still far off from the 15,000 required.

“So long as you help me with a matter, I’ll pay you 15,000 Magic Crystals as remuneration. How about it?” Shi Feng asked as he looked at Yu Luo.

The ancient God’s Domain was a massive treasure trove, its value easily billions of times greater than a Grade 1 ore vein. It was no wonder three of the Five Great Super Guilds had deemed it worthwhile to work together to seal off the Earthfall Secret Land.

If such a secret became public, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Of course, acquiring the various resources of the ancient God’s Domain wouldn’t be an easy task, either, since the base currency used here was the Magic Crystal, something relatively rare in the modern God’s Domain.

And while the ancient God’s Domain had an abundance of Magic Crystals, it would be nigh-impossible for modern players to earn a large amount of Magic Crystals here. After all, the modern God’s Domain was inferior to the ancient God’s Domain in almost every aspect. For players living in the modern God’s Domain, visiting the ancient God’s Domain would be equivalent to Stone-Age people visiting the modern era. Modern players would need to work hard to earn Magic Crystals here.

Fortunately, it wasn’t completely impossible for modern players to earn money in the ancient era. One way to do so would be to take advantage of the unskillful handling of problems relating to the mind and soul in the ancient God’s Domain-particularly when it came to healing one’s mental state. The ancient God’s Domain was actually far weaker than the modern God’s Domain in this aspect. This point was obvious from the gap between the Concentration Recovery Potions sold on the market and those made by Cooling Cloud, an Advanced Master Alchemist.

In short, there were very few methods available for players to recover their Concentration. Moreover, the death penalty here even placed players in a mentally weakened state for long periods, which prevented them from exhibiting their full strength. This meant that methods that could help heal the soul and mind were incredibly valuable.

“Okay!” Yu Luo agreed immediately, understanding that Shi Feng was trying to help her. “What do you need me to do?”

Taking out a Crystal of Souls from his bag, Shi Feng said, “Take this Crystal of Souls and consign it to the Auction House for now. You’re a member of the local knight legion, so you should be able to spread information about it quickly. Just say that this is the Crystal of Souls that healed Angelica Teresa and that it has a minor soul-strengthening effect, which can increase one’s chances of passing the Tier 4 Promotion Quest. Can you do that?”

“No problem. If it is only publicizing the crystal, I can probably inform the whole city in just a few hours,” Yu Luo said, nodding as she accepted the Crystal of Souls.

She had personally witnessed the Crystal of Souls’s effects, so she knew that Shi Feng was indeed telling the truth. As for the aid the crystal could provide in the Tier 4 Promotion Quest, it was partly true. After all, if one’s soul got strengthened, one’s learning ability would improve as well. Hence, it couldn’t be considered an outright lie. Meanwhile, spreading this news throughout the city was a piece of cake for her as a member of the local knight legion.

Yu Luo left the hotel room to get the word out, while Lifeless Thorn and the others went to their respective rooms to sort out their thoughts and prepare themselves to challenge their Tier 4 Promotion Quests.

Once Shi Feng was alone in his room, he took out a Memory Crystal from his bag. This crystal was none other than the complete Legacy Guidance Crystal he had obtained from killing Todelya.

The effects of this room sure are excellent. My perception is strengthened by a further 30% compared to the outside world. Now that I have some time to myself, I can give it a try.

Immediately afterward, Shi Feng took out 100 Magic Crystals and activated the Legacy Guidance Crystal.