Chapter 1 Aftermath

After comparing notes, everyone's mission objectives were the same, a result that relieved everyone.

"The system notification just now said, [Friendly fire will be temporarily disabled during this mission], but it didn't specify a team cooperation mode in the mission type."

David frowned. "Could the system be deliberately delaying the appearance of the notification to make us kill each other during that time because we're unclear about the situation?"

"Unlikely."

Honenheim shook his head. "Players aren't idiots. When they're not sure who's an enemy and who's a friend, and there's no critical conflict of interest, they'll definitely prioritize observing to see if they can get along peacefully.

If the system really wants players to kill each other, then it should pick people who know each other in the real world and have deep-seated grudges."

"Could it be that the 'friendly forces' in the system prompt also include other types of beings?"

Ding Zhensi thought for a moment and pressed the speaker button on the control panel, hesitating as he said, "Like the natives of the mission world, or other players from the Star Gate world..."

Honenheim glanced at him, thoughtfully saying, "That is possible. In the new version, there are two groups of players from different worlds in the same scenario mission.

The two sides may have different interests, positions, and mission objectives, but they can choose to be hostile or cooperate...

Hmm, if I remember correctly, you're from the Special Affairs Bureau, right?

Do you have any relevant information to confirm this?"

Ding Zhensi was startled and said in a deep voice, "Well, I'm sorry, I don't know."

"Okay."

Honenheim nodded, not pressing further on whether Ding Zhensi didn't want to say or didn't know—this mage and university professor from the Clock Tower actually had a pretty good personality.

"We are now facing the dual threat of a low free-energy zone and players from another world,"

Honenheim thought for a moment and said, "The system put us together, surely it's not without purpose.

My personal suggestion is that since everyone's goals are the same, we might as well act together until we reach the Holy Mountain mentioned in the mission objective, then make further plans. What do you think?"

"I agree."

David said first, looked at the others, and smiled. "In a low free-energy environment, the spirit energy recovery speed will be suppressed to a very low level. It might be difficult to cope with high-intensity, long-term battles.

My power system can withstand it relatively well.

Although everyone has a one-time escape ticket rewarded from the last Gate contention war, which can be used to escape directly, it's best not to waste it if possible."

"I have no objections."

Li Yi patted the armrest of the rattan lounge chair, retracted the Swamp Divinity that was drilling into the ground, and his attitude was casual.

His connection with the Zerg hive has been severed. Every point of Divinity used is one point less. Only by believing in himself can he recover a negligible amount.

Divinity must be used sparingly. His current focus is on adjusting his mental state and consolidating his psychic powers.

In this mission, Ding Zhensi and Amberley are hard to say, Liu Wudai, David, and Honenheim should be considered resourceful and well-planned,

If we act together, we can save some trouble in terms of command, making it easier for him to slack off.

"Same here."

Seeing that Li Yi agreed, Liu Wudai, wearing a half-skull mask, nodded lightly.

Ding Zhensi next to him also controlled the Kui Cow mech and nodded in agreement.

Everyone turned to look at Amberley.

The red-haired female pirate said carelessly, "Sheep flock together, but beasts always walk alone.

So I choose... to act together."

She had a hearty smile on her face, her hand on the hilt of her scimitar. "I'm not very good at other things, but I have a bit of experience in chopping people."

With everyone present having agreed, the next step was exploration.

After a brief experiment, everyone reached several conclusions:

Using summons (including but not limited to animals, plants, mechanical puppets, familiars, summoned demons, etc.) in this area will result in lightning strikes;

Attempting to fly, or being more than thirty meters above the ground, will result in lightning strikes;

Any object attempting to pass through the stone tablets will also attract lightning strikes;

The power of each lightning strike is different. Continuously violating the rules will result in increasingly violent lightning strikes.

Overall, the initial power value of all lightning strikes is enough to break through the defenses of the players present and cause damage, so it is necessary to avoid violations as much as possible.

————

"Failure has no punishment, which means that not arriving is a punishment in itself.

No drones, vehicles, or horses can be used, and no low-altitude flight...."

David frowned, looked at the stone tablets that were still intact even after being forcefully chopped by Amberley, and turned to look at the others. "Considering that the system wants us to reach the foot of the so-called 'Pale Holy Mountain' within five hours,

The time spent on the road should be sufficient—the difficulty should be in how to find the Pale Holy Mountain and solve the difficulties on the way forward.

Based on the system's habits and the composition of our team, no one has any skills that can directly scout a radius of several kilometers or even dozens of kilometers, right?"

"No."

Amberley shook her head. "If it were on the sea, my scouting range would be much larger.

But in this situation, whether it's Prometheus's reconnaissance drone or the biological weapons purchased by Thousand Throat Beast, they'll be struck by lightning as soon as they're taken out,

Flying thirty meters above the ground will also be struck by lightning—standing on the ground with a support rod with a camera attached is also not allowed."

"There must be clues to be found."

Honenheim said, "I just measured and scanned those stone tablets.

Their material is ordinary stone, and the biological statues used as bases do not contain bones or muscles—that is to say, they are not made of living creatures.

And all the stone tablets, seemingly connected in a straight line, divide the forest,

But if you measure carefully, you can find that there are small, imperceptible arcs between the stone tablets."

As he spoke, he walked to the front of the stone tablet and gently tapped the stone tablet with his index finger.

Along the surface of the stone tablet, he created rectangular, flat light screens to show others that all the stone tablets really looked like dashed lines on the edge of a huge circle.

"If we use the circle's arc and diameter formula,

The center of the circle should be in the eleven o'clock direction from us."

Honenheim put away the phantom and raised his arm, pointing into the depths of the forest. "That area is a hillside. After we get over it, we may be able to see traces of the Holy Mountain.

If nothing else, we can climb higher and see further.

Let's go."

Having a goal is always better than having nothing. The others had no objections and walked forward together.

The forest was deep and dense, the terrain was complex, and there were vines and dead branches everywhere. Large and medium-sized vehicles could not be used, and the spirit energy-deficient external conditions also prevented players from using equipment and props at will. They could only walk—

After testing, the natural recovery time for a full bar of spirit energy went from half an hour to five hours, and the efficiency of obtaining spirit energy by drinking potions was also greatly reduced.

After all, the principle of many potions is also based on improving the body's efficiency in absorbing external free energy. It's not a water without a source or a tree without roots.

Fortunately, Ding Zhensi's mech could be used as a road-opening construction machine.

The three-meter-tall Kui Cow mech walked in front, simply raising the high-frequency cutting blade obliquely, without turning on the high-frequency function. With the two mechanical arms entering automatic locking mode, it could cut down all the vines and trees blocking the way.

And those venomous snakes and insects lurking in the trees, once they appeared, would be easily solved by David and Amberley, these two melee-specialized players—they were relatively less dependent on spirit energy, and could splatter a large number of mortal lives with just ordinary attacks.

Well, teaming up with high-level players is kinda awesome.

Li Yi nodded silently, and every time he walked a certain distance, he would reach out and gently pat the tree trunk, permeating a small amount of Swamp Divinity into the trunk to check the tree rings and leave a mark to prevent getting lost in a ghost wall situation.

Liu Wudai glanced at him without asking any questions. It was not surprising what Li Yi did,

Even if he took out an air purifier from his pocket now, claiming that activating the machine could purify the air and alleviate the spirit energy-deficient situation around them, encouraging everyone to fly into the air together to imitate Benjamin Franklin and attract lightning to provide power for the air purifier,

She would not be particularly surprised, and could even imagine the scene.

"Did you see anything?"

Honenheim, bathed in the shadow of the Kui Cow mech, looked up and asked, "Man-made buildings, cooking smoke, startled birds in the distance, high mountains, thermal shadows, or anything like that."

"No."

Ding Zhensi carefully observed the data returned by the various sensors and replied via broadcast, "Everything is normal ahead."

The spirit energy-deficient environment had actually caused some impact on the Kui Cow mech. The sprite became lazy and didn't appear after being called for a long time. Some functions based on the sprite could not be used, and energy consumption increased slightly compared to normal.

"By the way,"

Ding Zhensi thought of something and said, "According to the previous test, drones and intelligent machines are all considered summons and will attract lightning strikes.

Why hasn't my mech been attacked?

Is it because I teleported in with the mech?"

"That's possible."

Honenheim said, "But it may also be because your mech occupies a larger proportion.

The Clock Tower's records have shown this situation,

Some curses from the Slaughter Game that can directly launch ultra-long-range attacks on others in a mystical way,

Under certain circumstances, will not take effect on the person,

Instead, it will destroy the most precious and portable items he cherishes.

Such as glasses, wigs, and the like.

We believe that it may be that these things occupy too much of this person's life, leading to a higher proportion in the mystical field than the person himself.

That is, the common saying: the glasses are the main body.

You may be in this situation—this area doesn't see you as a person, but treats the mech you're driving as the main body of a transcendent life. You're just a fleshy decoration placed in the cockpit."

"Ah, this..."

Ding Zhensi said with a wry smile, "Although I may have luckily escaped the judgment, why does it sound so painful..."

"What's so bad about that? You haven't seen the others in our Clock Tower."

Honenheim was not surprised and said, "They can do anything for mystical experiments.

To hatch a basilisk, they hug roosters to and from work all day long;

To optimize the [Idler's Banishment] spell, they squat in front of the toilets in scenic spots every day to observe the effect;

To cultivate the base of curse spells, they risk infecting themselves with cauliflower virus in the red light district to cause emotional breakdown and enhance the power of the curse;

There is nothing you can't think of that they can't do.

They would be overjoyed to become a special case in the field of mysticism like you."

Ding Zhensi opened his mouth and smiled awkwardly, "...That's really, colorful, haha."

"It's already much more restrained than before, after all, everyone has a mobile phone now, and if wizards do something too outrageous, their personal photos will be reported along with the news."

Honenheim said calmly, "Many unscrupulous tabloids like *The Sun*, for the sake of sales, are not afraid of retaliation.

They love to dig up bizarre and outrageous news related to Slaughter Game players—especially news related to the Clock Tower, which is usually high above and doesn't eat the food of mortals.

For example, two wizard apprentices cast spells on each other after drinking to test the effect of the spell barrier, and as a result, both turned into horny domestic cats;

The Clock Tower's infirmary mistakenly treated a wild mouse as a student who had failed to transform and gave it an IV drip for three days. When the mouse died tragically, they even sadly sent a memorial to the student's parents—later it was confirmed that the missing student had eloped with a shapeshifter in the school to Romania, and even had children;"

Honenheim paused and added, "Originally, that shapeshifter was to be contained according to the Clock Tower's regulations,

But the shapeshifter's one-month-old child was inexplicably given player status by the Slaughter Game, becoming a relatively precious alien player,

So, the mother became valuable because of her son, and the shapeshifter and ta's child became precious property of the academy, and no containment measures were taken.

Instead, the academy built a small villa with a swimming pool for their family of three and took good care of them every day, making the other students in the academy who were still struggling for credits, papers, and graduation delays particularly envious—

To prevent them from taking any outrageous actions, the school had to strengthen the protection of all magical creatures, especially those that were good-looking."

Honenheim calmly recounted the bizarre things that happened in the Clock Tower.

In fact, the Clock Tower's current level of development is quite good. The knowledge excavated from ancient records is rapidly being transformed into productivity.

The Clock Tower's affiliated academies have also been established one after another—their teaching staff visit various regions of Great Britain every quarter,

Looking for children with ancient wizard family bloodlines scattered among the people, as well as ordinary children with magical talents, and inviting them to study at the academy.

It is said that in another two or three months, new and more efficient crystal balls will be used to identify magical talents.

All school-age children within Great Britain will be able to line up to touch the crystal ball under the supervision of the academy's enrollment staff to test their qualifications.

Perhaps a scene of "Magical talent, three segments!" will appear...

Just as everyone was chatting casually, Ding Zhensi, who was clearing the way at the front, suddenly felt something. The Kui Cow mech suddenly stopped, and the high-frequency cutting blade started with a "hum" and suddenly slashed towards a certain place in front.