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MoP: Ch. 72
🕑 Added 2025-03-09 18:33:45 +0000 UTC---Viktor's POV---
I stood up, feeling the surging magic power coursing through my body.
"It's been a long time since I've felt this... wait, not that long."
Shaking off the unpleasant memories of the resurrection ritual, I tried casting a Fireball spell.
A ping-pong-ball-sized, blazing fireball hovered above my palm, radiating heat.
"The temperature is about the same as the last time I used Fireball to save those players, but the flexibility and control have improved a lot."
Last time, the Fireball spell had been a desperate act, fueled by my very life force.
It had far exceeded the limits of my injured body, leading to a significant loss of control.
Now, without pushing myself to the extreme, I could easily summon a fireball of the same size.
I reflected briefly. "My current strength is at Advanced Mage."
The divide between Intermediate and Advanced Mages was a major threshold.
The power of spells and the endurance of magical energy would both increase significantly.
At the very least, it avoided situations like what players faced: A battle lasting an hour, where ten minutes were spent chanting spells and fifty minutes were spent resorting to melee combat with weapons.
This was the level where magic could truly start making a difference in battle.
I opened the system interface to check the updates.
[Name: Viktor von Vinesse]
[Race: Undead]
[Level: 34 (Advanced Magician) / 159 (Demigod)]
[Skills: Divine Insight, Shapeshifter, Multiple Avatars (0/10)]
[Authority: Life Revival, Life Purification]
[Divine Power: 664]
[Players: 29]
[Special Items: Int??dim??Net??Spirit??, Divine Contract (Reversed), Game Console]
[Status: Severely Injured, Weakness, Frostbite, Burns, Poisoning, Inner Sanctum Collapse, ...]
[Summary: Severely Injured Undead]
The system's scan results matched my own assessment.
My level was at Advanced Mage.
Beyond that, all the negative buffs in the status bar remained, but their font color had lightened slightly, as if subtly indicating my injuries were improving.
The most notable detail was in the Inner Sanctum Collapse section, which now displayed a progress bar showing 2% recovery.
I sighed. "Of all things to heal, it had to be the hardest one."
Next time I used divine power for healing, I resolved to specify the target injuries.
Finally, my status evaluation had shifted from "Dying Undead" to "Severely Injured Undead."
The ominous "Survival Time" at the bottom of the screen had disappeared.
"At last, I'm past the stage of trading life for magical power."
I felt a significant weight lifted off my mind.
Seeing my survival timer constantly bounce between numbers had been unnerving, no matter how indifferent I tried to act.
Stretching my now sturdier bones, I let out a long sigh.
"Finally, I can rest..."
Though my injuries were healing, I felt an overwhelming and long-missed fatigue take hold.
My consciousness quickly faded into deep sleep.
---Third POV---
The players briefly speculated about the absence of a certain undead.
"Viktor's not around again?"
"Bad weather today, maybe he's not planning to sunbathe?"
"Makes sense."
But since Viktor only provided appraisal and consultation services, and each service was exorbitantly priced, his absence caused only momentary surprise before players shifted their focus.
The fully immersive game panel had gained universal praise among players.
After numerous rounds of feedback, the developers had finally fixed the bug causing delays in the panel's settlement updates!
The newly updated panel was even smoother to use, indirectly boosting player activity.
More strange plants, flowers, trees, and fruits were brought back this time.
With such variety, the players even managed to concoct a few nifty items.
Notably, Garble who had disappeared for two days finally reappeared!
Upon receiving the news, NeverShowOff and Hedgehog logged in temporarily to meet him at the town gate.
Hedgehog yawned and stretched.
"Ugh—so tired. What did he bring back this time that it takes two of us to help?"
He'd logged off less than two hours earlier, so his character's fatigue hadn't fully dissipated.
These negative buffs, which fell short of triggering pain thresholds, were some of the most annoying for players.
"No idea. He didn't say much, just told us to pick him up," NeverShowOff replied.
"He's been out for two days, so it's normal for him to bring back a lot of stuff. And judging by how urgent he sounded, the items must be important. Let's hurry up and get it over with!"
The small size of Honeyvale Town meant it didn't take long to reach the large banyan tree at the eastern safety perimeter.
There, they spotted a battered and exhausted Garble.
"Whoa! Garble! What happened to you?"
Hedgehog stared in disbelief at the man sprawled on the ground, then rushed over to help him up.
Garble was dressed only in a grass skirt covering his lower body, his original clothing completely gone.
His exposed skin bore wounds of all shapes and sizes, smeared with blood, dirt, and leaves, hinting at an unimaginable struggle.
The only intact part of him was a single eye, sunken from sleep deprivation and heavy fatigue.
In a hoarse, weak voice, he croaked, "The church... hurry..."
"Alright, alright! We'll get you to the church right away!"
Hedgehog and NeverShowOff each supported one side of Garble's body, stumbling under his weight.
"What the heck are you carrying in your backpack?"
Seeing that Garble was barely breathing, Hedgehog stopped wasting words and broke into a jog.
The two carried him back to the church, leaving afterimages in the town's two remaining intact streets.
"Make way!" Hedgehog shouted as he ran. "Life or death situation, coming through!"
Startled, the nearby players leapt aside.
"Ahhh, someone died!" gasped a newbie who had just joined the game yesterday.
"And the blood is red!"
"Isn't he from the Lucky Stars Team?"
"They've suffered losses too?"
"The resurrection materials you can get from corpses aren't worth rushing like this, are they?"
After much rushing and stumbling, they managed to get Garble to the church before he drew his last breath, placing him outside the magical formation room where all players were born.
Incidentally, it also served as their save point.
To prevent overactive players from damaging the formation, Viktor had decreed that only players respawning or newly created characters were allowed inside.
To save, players needed only to lie down for 2-3 minutes in one of the 2m x 1m compartments lining the wall outside.
Garble's situation, however, was more unusual.
While NeverShowOff supported the unconscious Garble, Hedgehog pulled out a wooden slab from one of the compartments.
Together, they hefted him onto it and pushed the slab back into the wall.
Hedgehog clapped his hands.
"Alright, that should do it, right?"
It gave him an odd feeling, like shoving someone into a crematorium.
NeverShowOff nodded. "Yeah, he should last long enough to finish saving before he dies. And the magic formation can conveniently convert his corpse into resurrection materials."
Hedgehog's mouth twitched. "That's a little too dark, don't you think?"
No wonder after the compartment was completed, Viktor went out of his way to create a special save point for severely injured players.
At the time, was he thinking of letting players save their progress before conveniently being cremated?
As expected of a necromancer specializing in dark magic.
It really fitted his persona.
The thought flashed briefly through Hedgehog's mind as he rubbed his sore arms and wrists, muttering under his breath.
"I thought I was helping Garble carry loot, but it turned out I was carrying him. I'm exhausted..."
Oddly enough, the fatigue value was canceled out by +1. He actually felt more refreshed than when he first logged on.
NeverShowOff was also rubbing his hands. Hearing this, he chuckled.
"It's amazing he survived that long outside."
At least he couldn't imagine where Garble would've logged off safely during those two nights.
Garble was probably the most frequent player he had encountered.
NeverShowOff reflected on this himself, "Honestly, when he kept urging us to log on, I should've realized something was off. That's on me."
Hedgehog grumbled, "Secretly playing solo for two days without us? As soon as I log off, I'm grilling him in the group chat!"
Just as they were talking, a nearby storage locker opened on its own, revealing the wooden slab from earlier.
It was piled high with five bundles wrapped in clothing fabric. One bundle was too full and tumbled off the top.
Hedgehog's attention was drawn to it. He picked up one of the bundles and weighed it. It felt pretty heavy.
"Huh? What's this?"
"When a player dies, the items in their inventory automatically drop. This should be Garble's stuff," NeverShowOff guessed.
Hedgehog was stunned. "So it cremated him and still returned his items? That's so advanced?"
Is this the power of magic? It skipped over mechanical processes entirely, achieving full automation for the save system?
NeverShowOff pulled out a large fabric bag from his own inventory and began packing the fragile bundles into it. "Let's collect these and keep them safe for him. Once he revives, he can sort it out."
"Fair enough!" Hedgehog helped him repack the plank and put it back.
First, they'd carried Garble into the church. Now, they were carrying his loot out.
Just outside the church, LootGoblin had witnessed everything and was slack-jawed. "Did you just dismember Garble?"
"Don't even joke. If this were real life, it really might look like that," NeverShowOff said.
The five bundles were deposited in Garble's private storage area.
"Finally done!"
Relieved of the heavy load, Hedgehog collapsed onto a bed and let out a long sigh.
NeverShowOff reopened his eyes and called him up. "Don't log off just yet. Garble just messaged me. He wants us to find something in one of the bundles he left for us."
"For us?" Hedgehog got up, intrigued.
He left a gift for them before heading out?
The two opened up the five bundles, spilling their contents all over the floor.
The items Garble had picked up during his exploration were typical—plants, minerals, and a lot of unrecognizable materials. Hedgehog even picked up a lump of black, wet mud.
He sighed.
"Garble really went to a lot of places. He's got all kinds of stuff here."
Most of it was new to him, stuff he hadn't seen other players pick up. It looked like Garble had ventured pretty far.
After rummaging for a while, NeverShowOff's gaze fell on a dull, square piece of fabric.
He smiled.
"Found it!"
He pulled out the fabric, shook it out, and spread it open.
It was covered in dense black charcoal sketches.
Hedgehog leaned closer. "What is this?"
"Looks like... a map of the terrain near Honeyvale," NeverShowOff estimated, using the scale at the bottom right to gauge the distances.
"The furthest point from us is at least ten kilometers away!"
"He went that far on his own?"
Hedgehog was amazed.
Wow, asking Garble to scout the surrounding area really paid off. He'd spent two silent days and even made a detailed map!
What was efficiency? This was efficiency!
The two of them studied the map for a long time.
Because Garble had used a modern mapping method, it was easy for anyone with basic knowledge of middle school physics to understand.
Beyond the terrain, they found several resource points marked by him, including:
Several sweetfruit groves.
Seven resource-rich areas.
A few large underground caves.
A monster lair.
And three spots with goblin activity.
Hedgehog's heart pounded as he examined the markings.
"Support points, strategic locations, danger zones... Is this really two days' worth of work?"
He spoke with genuine admiration.
"This is way better than the scam map LootGoblin sells us, isn't it?"
"Not quite," NeverShowOff countered. "LootGoblin's map, while smaller in scope, have more detail and require skill to interpret. It's still useful."
From just a glance, Garble had missed a few underground caves and some elevation details. But considering it was just one person's work, his map was impressive enough.
The real value wasn't in the terrain itself.
NeverShowOff couldn't put the map down. "It's about utility. LootGoblin's map helps us find mineral veins. This one helps us locate resources."
"But the important part is the three goblin activity sites!"
Viktor had once explained that goblins were social creatures, and their settlements were usually far apart.
These marks had to be from the goblins they were searching for.
By drawing circles around the three points, they could estimate the general area of the goblin nest.
No more running around blindly.
Progress on the main quest skyrocketed!
As NeverShowOff explained, Hedgehog grew equally excited. "Should we show this to Viktor?"
"Of course! Selling this map to him would maximize its value."
NeverShowOff brushed off the clutter on himself.
"Let's go!"
Hedgehog quickly followed.
---Viktor's POV---
I had just woken from a nap when they arrived with the big news.
"Something this good?" I said, examining the map closely.
The map marked the monster lair's location, meaning Garble had ventured into the monster's hunting grounds and survived.
Even if it was just a Level 1 monster, I was impressed.
A player of this caliber in my ranks?
Such a feat deserved a proper reward.
I immediately granted him 15 contribution points.
The regular rewards were also given generously, even triggering a global server announcement.
Although Garble wasn't around to see it, other players active on the forums would spread the word.
Thanks to the announcement, players exploring goblin nest adjusted their search areas using the uploaded map.
That very afternoon, they even captured an ordinary goblin.
The goblin was thrown in with the other two captives to enjoy the signature sweetfruit prisoner feast.
Comments
lohan seibert raimundo
Obrigado pelo capítulo
