Strange Exhaustion

Guanshanyue, villa district.

Cleaver God of War had just logged off. He picked up his phone and browsed the game's global rankings. The purple set he had bought back for a hundred thousand did not even qualify for the list, making him sigh. "Looks like quite a lot of people are spending money on this game. It should become hugely popular in the future, like LoL."

A little girl suddenly threw open the bedroom door and shouted, "Big brother, look! There's actually epic equipment!"

"I saw it. It's exclusive to Tokisaki Kurumi, so it should be like yours, right?"

"Yeah! I thought everyone's talent was unique." The little girl muttered unhappily, then said enviously, "I looked up Tokisaki Kurumi's profile. Her skills are way stronger than Agatsuma Zenitsu's..."

Cleaver God of War patted the little girl's head and comforted her. "It's fine. Big brother will find you an even stronger one."

USA, a certain club.

"Exclusive weapon? Does that mean that even if we make it drop, we still can't use it?"

Several players stared at the newly announced equipment rankings, their attention focused on the attributes of the Time Gun.

"Tokisaki Kurumi... that's a manga character. If this character is connected to the manga, we can learn more through that angle. Even if we can't snatch the weapon, we can still try to recruit her," one of the players said thoughtfully.

"This is really strange. The game is made so well, and it's clearly medieval fantasy. Why would they add this kind of anime girl?"

"Hey, forget that. I've been playing for a few days, and I'm really interested in the company behind this game. Have any of you found the company's name?"

"No. I've contacted a lot of people in the gaming industry. They want to know who the company behind it is even more than we do. Or rather, they're desperate to know—like jackals that have caught the scent of blood," another person said with a roll of his eyes.

"Ah... if we can't find the company behind it, we can only watch this money-making opportunity slip away right in front of us. So frustrating."

Japan, Fujimi Shobo.

An editor handed the newly acquired information to the editor-in-chief.

The editor-in-chief's expression darkened.

The editor said, "Tokisaki Kurumi has appeared in Meta World. It's obvious they never received authorization from Tachibana Company, making this an infringement. I also contacted a friend at Shueisha. Agatsuma Zenitsu likewise was never licensed to Meta World."

"If this game only operated within China, defending our rights might be very difficult. But this is a game operating worldwide. I think we can sue the company behind it in an international court."

The editor-in-chief looked helpless. "Furuta, I already knew about this. More people are paying attention to Meta World than you imagine. Even the mayor called to ask whether we had any connection with the company behind Meta World."

Editor Furuta was somewhat dumbfounded. A game's copyright infringement had actually prompted the mayor to call personally and ask about it?

"So?"

The editor-in-chief said, "There is no 'so.' We have no idea who the company behind the game is. Leave this matter alone for now."

Anime culture was immensely popular in Japan, and news of Tokisaki Kurumi and Agatsuma Zenitsu appearing in Meta World spread even faster there than in China.

However, compared to the schemes of those at the top, ordinary players and netizens were more concerned with finding out who possessed the Dimensional Avatar talent, or how to obtain it.

After all, those hardcore otaku also wanted to see anime characters step into reality.

At this moment, Su Jiang had just logged off.

The moment he removed his virtual helmet, he felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion.

Su Jiang had not sought out any cosplayers for fun in two weeks. On one hand, Su Yu was around, and he was worried it would leave a bad impression. On the other, there was this indescribable exhaustion.

Could it be that playing the game lately has drained too much of my energy?

Su Jiang could not quite figure it out. Logically, work should have been more draining, yet he had never felt this tired.

He got up and washed his face.

Then he went to the treadmill and exercised for a while.

Only after his entire body was covered in a layer of sweat did Su Jiang begin to feel better.

He went online and read some game-related news. Sure enough, what everyone cared about most was still weapons.

Su Jiang did not recognize most of the people currently on the rankings. They were probably all players who would be eliminated half a year later.

Besides, players who reached level thirty in his previous life would definitely do so several days later. Just look at the player ranked second on the level leaderboard—going from level twenty-seven to level thirty would take even a rich spender who threw money around at least three or four days.

I wonder if this will cause a butterfly effect...

Su Jiang pondered.

Su Yu was watching television in the living room.

The virtual device he had bought for Su Yu earlier was useless now.

Meta World had refused to let Su Yu log into the game on the grounds that she was too young and her spiritual world was unstable.

Su Jiang had not known about this in his previous life.

Thinking about it, Su Yu had also entered the game only half a year later in his previous life. This might have something to do with the human Mind Net.

He watched television with Su Yu for a while, then turned off the lights and went to sleep.

The next day.

Su Jiang appeared in the Green Root Mountain Range, where he had spent nearly half a month.

He opened the quest panel. The location of the final boss for Destroy Fallen Camp was displayed on the mountaintop. He had nearly completed all of the Adventurer's Guild's daily quests, and he also had the Verdant Water Buffalo quest to turn in at the guild.

Now, aside from the final boss and the Saintess Candidate quest that he had no idea how to complete, this journey was more or less nearing its end.

Although he might still be a little lacking in strength to take on the final boss, what if it was like the Blue Fire Snake, completely countered in every aspect?

Anyway, with Zafkiel's passive, there was nothing to fear.

Su Jiang glanced at the snow-covered peak, then stepped forward.

"System Notification: You have discovered an iron mine. Its coordinates have been recorded in the quest, Investigate the Mineral Coordinates of the Green Root Mountain Range."

"System Notification: You have discovered a crystal mine. Its coordinates have been recorded in..."

"System Notification: ..."

Along the way, Su Jiang was like a radar, easily discovering mines hidden underground and recording them in the quest.

This place, which players had yet to set foot in, was covered in resources.

Unfortunately, mining profits were too low and took too much time. Otherwise, every one of these undeveloped mines could yield at least one or two epic-grade ores.

But with the time spent mining, he could earn even more gold by fighting and simply buy them instead.

He traveled for an entire day.

From halfway up the mountain onward, he encountered fewer and fewer monsters. Now that frost covered the treetops, the summit could not be far away. There was not even a trace of magical beasts here.

Just as Su Jiang was worrying about how to traverse the snowy path ahead, the system notified him that it had detected the entrance to the final camp.

However, it would take him at least another two days to reach the summit from his current location, yet the system said the final boss was nearby. How could Su Jiang not be surprised?

Could it be that the boss wasn't the dragon on the mountaintop?