Three months later.

"We've arrived, this is the backbone of the Edelweiss Forest, Horjumu Mountain."

"This place is really far, all the way it's either poisonous swamp water or high-rank elite monsters."

"Stop dawdling, Lai Anding's time limit is almost up, we must continue our actions."

Ripping through the morning fog, Long Yuqiong's party of three tread the mountain trail forward.

Under Lai Anding's supervision and training over the past months, their aura has solidified at Kappa Rank (10), ranking among the top five on the player leaderboard. Apart from the slightly shabby equipment, not much better than ordinary Border Abyss civilians, they're at the top level of player standard in all other aspects.

"Whew, this mountain is quite hard to climb."

Night Fighting Sword wiped off his sweat, the humidity in the air was huge, and coupled with the unique properties of Border Abyss, there was a bone-piercing feeling of humid heat—water vapor clinging to the body, instead releasing heat onto the body, forming a layer of Bai Shuang.

"Even though we've been here for months, this environment is truly harsh. I understand now why Border Abyss has so few people; in the wild jungle, never mind the beasts, just this natural environment is enough to drive one mad."

In such an environment, forget about industrialization, even the most primitive steam engines can't be operated. The emergence of Narrative Civilization here had nothing to do with native intelligent creatures; it was entirely because the four narratives were all from foreign immigrant-based hegemonic civilizations, three of which relied on external incoming immigrants to grow the population.

This is a paradise with endless resources, yet it's also a barbaric land untouched by civilization.

Along with Border Abyss's positioning, the only ones able to manage and alter such an environment are those at the Chief God's level of Pathway.

"Actually, it's not too bad; beyond the Edelweiss Forest are the Northern Territories, with Oxiulia Duchy representing them. I've seen settings say that place is more suitable for living."

Yutianxiao pulled up the character panel and said:

"This mountain imposes four DEBUFFS on our summoned characters: [Slow], [Fatigue], [Dampness], [Panic]—however, this precisely shows we're not mistaken about coming here."

"That's true."

Long Yuqiong nodded:

"According to clues revealed from previous long cycle tasks, [Mysterious Rock Lord] Anweng Breton was the last person to see [Rock Ghost] Terafall. Although it's been seventeen hundred years, with descendants either dead or fled, his tomb is still preserved here."

"That's why I hate doing these long cycle tasks."

Night Fighting Sword sneered:

"Originally, we were only about two weeks away from here, but for understanding the Rock Ghost's whereabouts, we had to go to Lorton City's library to gather information, discovering there was a scholar with crucial details, entering to find him. Turns out this guy had been cuckolded and demanded we catch the adulterous couple before he'd help us."

"After capturing the adulterous couple, just as we were about to claim the info, who knew the cuckolded guy would be nabbed by a wild griffin halfway, making us spend three days rushing, planning a rescue only to find we'd need materials for setting a griffin trap, which we had to acquire from a little girl selling herbs. Finding her, she said her mother had been captured by Bug People, and the materials were with her mom."

"So we defeated the Bug People, saved her mom, but found she was dying, and the materials needed were precisely those capable of saving her life. Then we had to make a choice—abandon the materials to preserve life or watch her wither as we walked away with the materials."

"Long Yuqiong handled this very well." Yutianxiao assessed: "He lied saying the materials were destroyed in the fight, dumped the woman at the local hospital, and didn't concern himself with our matters anymore."

"We did our duty." Long Yuqiong said: "It's not our responsibility after all."

"Ultimately, this task is downright lousy and long, I'm about to vomit from playing."

Night Fighting Sword complained:

"That Lai Anding is pushing us too hard, we don't even have time to buy equipment. The other day, while shopping, I saw a pair of daggers just perfect for me, about to buy them, but then Lai Anding shouted 'There's a new situation, go resolve it immediately,' my system interface shut down directly, it's maddening."

"That's not the core issue."

Yutianxiao juggled the wooden stick in his hands, helplessly said:

"We haven't upgraded our equipment at all, nor have our skills been updated, this long-term task doesn't offer rewards, we can only scrape by with robbery."

"Thank goodness she doesn't have much authority, only basic NPC functions, otherwise I feel she'd exploit us until server closure."

"Server closure? Whether this is a game or not, it's still undecided." Yutianxiao shook his head.

Since that day of communication, his conflict with Long Yuqiong has temporarily been set aside, Night Fighting Sword also ceased stirring trouble, and treated NPCs with more humanity.

After all, once they realized their actions had impacts on living people, it became hard not to take them seriously.

"Regardless of if it's a game, at least we're currently players in this world, and can't choose not to be players."

Long Yuqiong said calmly:

"At this point, we can only act obediently and protect our safety, which is most important."

"I haven't been in the real world for three days."

"Don't worry, you're absolutely safe in the real world." Yutianxiao paused and said: "As long as [Society] doesn't appear."

The three chatted idly, pushed aside the mist, crossed branches of the Sun Lifting Tree, and officially reached the cave entrance.

"Whoa, finally arrived."

Night Fighting Sword stepped to the entrance, touched the heavily weathered stone door, griped:

"How many years has this place remained unmaintained, probably no one has visited—speaking of which, how did [Mysterious Rock Lord] as a titled Demigod become so degraded?"

"Records show that Mysterious Rock Sword Master, Anweng Breton was heavily wounded in Mass Abyss War, after multiple dives and rises, he suffered severe curses, both mentally and physically ruined, in a fit of madness, directly slaughtered all his clansmen, only some branch families were passed down, with the demise of the Demigod's decline into suicide, they too migrated upward to Starry Abyss seeking safer life."

Yutianxiao explained:

"The curse's trait is to perpetually follow the bloodline, I guess his descendants, even if they're alive, are still suffering from curses."

"Wow, so tragic." Night Fighting Sword marveled: "Despite being a demigod, why did he still aspire to advance? This has entangled his entire clan's fate."

"After all, we're players, and unable to comprehend these native Starry Abyss Ascenders' feelings."

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