The Silent Watcher's Requiem

Rewards have been issued.

Your level has increased Lv.2→Lv.3

Greninja let out a contented sigh.

Those thousands of yuan hadn't been wasted. He had finally leveled up!

He could finally go to sleep!

Having achieved his goal, Greninja finally felt the fatigue coursing through his body. Just as he was about to log off, he remembered what people on the forums had said about how he couldn't play the game without spending money. He hurriedly opened the forum and edited his post.

Can't play without spending money? I'll go straight to number one on the entire internet as a free-to-play player!

After arguing with netizens for a while, Greninja exited his post in satisfaction. But just as he wanted to log off, his eyes inadvertently caught the reply count on a certain post.

1,000,000+

Rubbing his eyes, Greninja thought he had misread it due to mental exhaustion.

Wasn't this a new game? And it had only been out for one damn day. What kind of god-tier post could there be?

But when he saw the title, he couldn't sit still.

After discovering the hidden NPC, I've uncovered another one of his secrets

Poster: Myriad Flower Mirror.

Of course Greninja knew who the hidden NPC Myriad Flower Mirror was referring to was, because he had read his previous post too.

But the problem was, hadn't that guy always been fighting monsters alongside him and the other players?

I didn't notice anything, so what the hell did you discover?

With a fury that felt like being NTR'd, Greninja clicked open the post. What he found wasn't some marketing-account-style copywriting, but a rather lengthy video.

Hello, everyone. I'm Myriad Flower Mirror. Didn't I say before that I'd bring you all kinds of information about Little Black? Well, it hasn't been long, and I've already discovered that Little Black's identity is definitely not simple.

I won't be speaking during the rest of the video. Please watch carefully on your own.

"Little Black." A strange smile appeared on Greninja's face.

While giving NPCs nicknames was standard practice for players, such a plain, featureless name was genuinely rare.

Shaking his head and tossing the strange thought aside, Greninja continued watching the video.

The video had a bullet-comment function, so after the narration ended, a flood of comments drifted across the screen.

Friendly reminder: This video is intense from start to finish.

I can testify that ↑ is telling the truth.

Aaaah! My husband showed his face, he's so handsome!!!

Sob, Little Black, my Little Black, how am I supposed to live without you?!

Iris, hehe (drooling bean-face), Iris, slurp slurp slurp.

Tone it down, the stench is too strong. My wife doesn't need dogs like you.

After setting the bullet-comment filter level, Greninja's viewing experience improved considerably.

When the footage began to play, he was shocked to discover that this wasn't from when Little Black had taken them out to fight monsters?

Damn it!

Being cuckolded was bad enough, but getting cuckolded right in front of his face was more than Greninja could take.

"Don't let me catch you!"

He cursed inwardly, but Greninja's attention never left the screen.

"Miss Iris really is a tsundere. The moment I saw her blonde hair, I had a feeling. She's worried about me. She has me in her heart!"

"Holy shit, I never expected Little Black to be one-tenth as handsome as me. Damn it, he was just a tiny bit away from surpassing me."

"No wonder Little Black has always worn a black robe. But why is he feared by humans and loved by non-humans?"

"Gasp~ Little Black actually used us? Is this really an NPC that can't even walk without players?"

"Ghost Hitting Wall? What exquisite dungeon design. If players had to explore it themselves, without the blessing of absurd luck, probably no one would discover before the servers shut down that this dungeon beside the beginner village even had a hidden stage, right?"

"Forgotten Flesh Battlefield... This name doesn't feel like it'll have a happy ending."

When Greninja reached the part where Linton revealed the dungeon's name, even with the bullet-comment filter enabled, he still couldn't stop the flood of high-level comments.

Please note: An information explosion lies ahead. Lore scholars, get your notebooks ready and take notes.

Greninja was a thorough min-maxer. Although he wouldn't skip the story outright, he never studied it in detail either.

Yet when he saw the knights' loyal faith even after losing their memories, and how they insisted on perfectly carrying out their battle plan despite their own wounds, he suddenly wanted to read a history book.

"Fuck, Little Black, you have no heart."

"Where's the official team?! Can you give us some information? Can you be useful for once?"

"When is the open beta! When is the open beta! I can't wait anymore, aaaah!!"

It wasn't just him. As early as when Iris had shouted the Knights Order's slogan and awakened the remnant-soul knights, the bullet comments had already been howling for the official team to provide information so they could research the history of the Kingdom of Heavenly Principles.

After all, the finest words in the world were the weight of history.

The progress bar continued advancing, reaching the moment when Wendell released the pale flames within the souls.

At that moment, high-level comments appeared once more.

Though we're sick of warning you by now, what's ahead is seriously intense.

On-screen, Wendell wore an expression of agony. The soul flames surged dozens of zhang high, burning away all light. Even the air rippled with distortion, like towering waves about to crash ashore at high tide, seeking to destroy everything in their path.

Yet the flames did not fall.

That man—the one who called himself a necromancer—stared at an ancient, heavily patterned book that had appeared in his hand at some unknown point. Facing the wave of flame that sought to reap lives, he did not even spare it a glance.

He held the book up in one hand, chose a page and turned to it. His eyes were sorrowful, his lips gently opening and closing as he chanted softly.

"On Monday, I seek the deepest sea; on Tuesday, you seek the highest mountain;"

"On Wednesday, she seeks the coldest snow; on Thursday, he seeks the farthest road;"

"On Friday, we climb the temple together; on Saturday, we descend into the abyss together."

His enunciation was incomparably clear, his tone gently rising and falling as though he were singing an innocent nursery rhyme. As the final words trailed away, a void-like shadow appeared behind him, its age, gender, and appearance impossible to discern. It quietly crossed its arms over its chest. As the necromancer chanted, its hands slowly spread apart, and utterly pure black flowed from its chest, sketching out the melody of the lyrics.

"On Sunday, we return from the abyss."

"—On Sunday, our world is gone!"

Skill: The Silent Watcher's Requiem

Skill Effect: You may attempt to invade the opponent's soul through a check. If your Intelligence is higher than theirs, they will be forcibly "Stunned" for 3.25 seconds. This cannot be dispelled or resisted. (The Stunned duration increases with skill level. Current level: Lv.2. Current Intelligence: 20)

Skill Description: Bad children, bad children, we are disobedient bad children; good children, good children, no one calls us bad children anymore!