Tragic History

"Little Black, can you... can you help me find a few of these herbs in the forest? They're really important to me!"

"My little brother at home is sick, and he urgently needs these to cure his illness and save his life!" The girl said anxiously, even adding hand gestures to make sure Liao Zixuan understood.

Originally, Vivian had almost given up hope on gathering herbs.

The Claw Forest was fraught with danger. She had to stay vigilant against monsters that could appear at any moment while also splitting her attention to search for herbs.

After spending the entire day yesterday, she had only managed to collect a pitiful handful of herbs, nowhere near enough to treat her brother's illness.

On the verge of despair, Vivian had resigned herself to returning empty-handed and agreeing to let her father sell her to a big city for money to pay for her brother's treatment. But Liao Zixuan's appearance brought new hope to the girl!

After all, the little girl would never forget what happened last night.

That rain of fire caused by the wolf monster in front of her had instantly turned all the surrounding forest monsters to ash, dyeing the pitch-black night crimson.

Vivian might not have seen much of the world and didn't understand a lot, but she wasn't truly stupid. At the very least, she knew one fact clearly.

Her little wolf was strong.

Much stronger than many of the monsters in the forest that terrified her! Much, much stronger! Super strong!

On the other side, Liao Zixuan initially yawned lazily, not paying much attention.

Wasn't it just protecting a little girl while she gathered some herbs in the forest? A piece of cake. He was even more bothered by how Vivian had addressed him at the start—what the hell was "Little Black" supposed to mean!

But then...

Suddenly, a flash of an image crossed Liao Zixuan's mind, causing his previously indifferent expression to gradually turn serious. Because the girl's reminder made him recall a very strange detail from when he had first looked at her status panel.

[Vivian]

Status: Poisoned (???)

Poisoned

Followed by three unknown question marks.

Normally, information displayed with "?" on a game panel indicated something extremely special, requiring players to find clues through quests or tomes. It was very rare.

But how could something like that appear on a girl from a remote, rural village?

Unless...

Wait, poisoned, poison, sick.

Damn, sick!

A chain of memories was instantly awakened, as if recalling something very bad, and Liao Zixuan's wolf fur bristled all over. The entire wolf became unusually serious.

Shit!

How could he have forgotten something this big!

Right now, he had clearly traveled back to the launch period of "Fall of the Gods." At this time, the [Flame Domain] still existed, and the Fire God Alice was still resisting the erosion of [Abyssal Fall].

But, as the game's title "Fall of the Gods" suggested, all the main storyline revolved around the "Falling of the Gods." The Fire God of the [Flame Domain], Alice, was the first god to be corrupted and fall at the hands of the game's biggest villain faction, [Abyssal Fall].

The reason [Abyssal Fall], which had been preparing for countless years, chose to strike at the Fire God first was simple.

A single spark can start a prairie fire.

The Fire God might not be the strongest among the Nine Gods, but she was certainly the one with the widest influence over the domain's people. If something went wrong with the Fire God, everyone who believed in her would be affected.

Asymptomatic poisoning was the early sign of [Abyssal Fire Poison]! By the second stage, it would manifest as a sudden, inexplicable severe illness that left people bedridden.

And once it reached the later stages, as the plot developed, the Fire God Alice would fail to resist and succumb to [Abyssal Fall].

At that point, all the people in the [Flame Domain] who believed in the Fire God would instantly be corrupted and fall as well, turning into abyssal monsters. This evil force would spread like wildfire, shocking the world, laying the foundation for [Abyssal Fall]'s invasion, and kicking off the game's 2.0 version, [Under the Black Tide].

This entire chunk of early game plot came flooding back to Liao Zixuan's mind, vivid as if it were right in front of him.

However, after the initial tension passed, an irrepressible fighting spirit quickly spread through his entire body.

The vast [Flame Domain] was completely destroyed, countless people transformed into monsters—it was practically a magical version of a biological catastrophe. And the Fire God Alice, one of the few among the Nine Gods who cared for the common people, such a good and beloved goddess, with a personality and figure both incredibly fiery, ultimately fell and became an abyssal monster.

Back then, this storyline made countless players sigh and feel furious! But there was no denying that tragedy always stirred people's emotions the most.

It was precisely this tragic main plot at launch that drove players to spontaneously and frantically drag their friends into the world of "Fall of the Gods," all to strengthen their player army, vowing to fight [Abyssal Fall] to the death and bring back their goddess!

As for Liao Zixuan, he happened to be one of them, which was also the reason for his current excitement.

After all, it was like Kerrigan mutating into the Queen of Blades in StarCraft. If you could go back in time and get involved in the plot, you would definitely try to change history and reverse the outcome.

"Little Black! Little Black!" Seeing Liao Zixuan standing there in a daze, Vivian was frantic. She kept waving her hand in front of the little wolf's eyes.

Pulled back to reality by the girl, Liao Zixuan began to analyze and consider the current situation.

First of all, Vivian's current stage-one asymptomatic poisoning was likely transmitted from her brother. And since her brother was already showing stage-two symptoms of severe illness and bedridden, that meant...

The Fire God Alice's condition was already grim, and the situation was precarious.

Of course, setting aside such distant matters for now, let's just focus on solving the girl's immediate problem.

To completely cure [Abyssal Fire Poison], there were only two ways. First, escape the [Flame Domain] before the Fire God fell, leaving her influence range. Second, stop the Fire God before she succumbed.

Neither of these was possible for Liao Zixuan at the moment, so he couldn't remove the girl's poison for now. He could only choose to suppress it.

A complete cure was difficult, but suppression was much simpler. Liao Zixuan knew at least a dozen methods, and the easiest one, which he could act on immediately, was...

[Magic Crystal Grass]

The essence of Abyssal Fire Poison is the erosion of the magic power within the body. As long as there is sufficient magic power, it can be suppressed and delayed. Magic Crystal Grass is precisely such a plant, rich in magic power.

However.

Magic Crystal Grass is not like the ordinary herbs the girl had gathered before. The reason it is saturated with magic power is that this type of grass grows in environments already brimming with magic power.

And such environments, in the words of players, are usually called—

Boss Lair.