The Fallen Genius

When the group returned to Novice Village, the sky had not yet turned completely dark.

Wind Snow Traveler stood at the village entrance, and upon seeing Xiao Fan and the other four return safely, a massive wave of shock surged within his heart.

They had actually cleared that Secret Realm!

He originally hadn't had a shred of confidence in the five of them; after all, he had nearly died in that very Secret Realm himself.

Blade Shadow was right, perhaps the Level 10 Trial Land really will have to rely on him in the future.

At this moment, Xiao Fan's status in Wind Snow Traveler's mind began to rise steadily.

Garfield Without Fat saw the Village Chief standing at the entrance and walked up with a smile to greet him.

"Village Chief, how did you know the five of us cleared the Secret Realm? Were you specifically waiting here for our return?"

Wind Snow Traveler: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴.

Who was waiting here for you!!!

"Heh, well, congratulations to you all," Wind Snow Traveler said with a stiff, insincere smile.

"Haha, it wasn't anything too impressive, it was all thanks to Brother Chen's leadership," Garfield Without Fat said, waving his hand as if it were nothing, though he couldn't hide the pride in his eyes.

Wind Snow Traveler looked toward Xiao Fan, silently asking for confirmation.

Xiao Fan: ╮(￣▽￣")╭.

"Right, a new Player arrived in Zone 18 today," Wind Snow Traveler suddenly remarked.

"No way, Village Chief, how could a new player enter the game at this time?" Mom Is Not Home asked, puzzled.

The current novice players in Cloud Sea were all fresh graduates who had just finished their college entrance exams.

Logically speaking, after that period passed, no new players should be entering.

They had all been in Zone 18 for half a month, so how could someone be arriving now?

"Sigh~ this person's situation is a bit special," Wind Snow Traveler replied with a sigh.

"How so?" Garfield Without Fat asked curiously.

"I can't really explain it. If you want to know, go ask them yourself. You are all new players, so look out for each other in the future."

"Where are they?"

"Over there." Wind Snow Traveler turned and pointed in a direction behind him.

The group followed the direction of his finger toward a dark corner of the village, where a figure suddenly caught their eyes.

It was a girl who seemed almost one with the shadows. Her frame was extremely slight, and she wore a sharp, black combat outfit. Like a forgotten young beast, she sat curled up with her knees hugged to her chest, shrinking into an inconspicuous ball.

Her waterfall-like black hair hung down, completely obscuring her face and making it impossible to glimpse her expression or features. She was as silent as a cold statue, devoid of any presence.

"She doesn't look very sociable," Zai Zai said after craning his neck to peer at her for a long time.

Wind Snow Traveler: "Normal. She's a fallen genius."

Mom Is Not Home: "What do you mean?"

"She came from Novice Village Zone 1," Wind Snow Traveler dropped the bombshell.

The group was stunned.

Novice Village Zone 1!

That was a gathering place for geniuses!

Unlike the other seventeen novice villages, Zone 1 recruited new players by invitation only.

They only invited players with exceptional talent; others had no chance of joining.

Of course, Zone 1 had the capital to do so. It was said that its resources were abundant and the village was built to be even more prosperous than the capital, containing everything one could imagine.

A dilapidated place like Zone 18 couldn't even begin to compare.

Why would a genius from Zone 1 appear in the worst place, Zone 18?

The group couldn't wrap their heads around it.

More importantly, the cost of switching zones as a novice was immense.

Generally, whichever novice zone a player entered upon their first time in the game was where they would have to develop in the future.

If a player wanted to switch zones, they had to erase all of their data to move to another area.

In other words, to switch zones, everything you had worked for had to be reset to zero, including Core Power, level, and even skills.

Under such a heavy cost, almost no novice player would choose to switch zones halfway through.

So, what exactly happened to make a novice player leave a place like Zone 1 for Zone 18?

The group was extremely curious.

"Let's go ask her."

Mom Is Not Home suggested.

Driven by curiosity, the group walked up to the girl.

The girl didn't seem to notice their arrival, keeping her head buried between her legs.

"Hello, my name is Mom Is Not Home. I'm also a new Player."

Mom Is Not Home reached out his hand to introduce himself.

No response.

"Hello, my name is Mom Is Not Home, and I'm also a new Player."

Mom Is Not Home spoke up once again.

Still no response.

It was quite awkward.

Mom Is Not Home: ...(⊙_⊙;)...

The group looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a moment.

"Alright, we've had a long day, everyone go get some rest."

Xiao Fan spoke up.

A Player who would abandon everything to come from Zone 1 to Zone 18 must have gone through things others could hardly imagine.

She might be going through a hard time right now, so it was normal for her to ignore people.

It would be intrusive for them to keep bothering her.

Since Xiao Fan had said so, the others nodded and left on their own.

Only after everyone had left did the girl slowly lift her head, revealing a face of extreme beauty.

At this moment, those beautiful eyes were filled with despair, like dead ashes.

She glanced at the backs of Xiao Fan and the others as they left, then curled back into a ball.

Over the next few days, Xiao Fan led his team into the Secret Realm every day.

As they grew more familiar with it, clearing the Secret Realm was no longer as difficult as before; they could even hunt Fierce Beasts or take down a Boss or two after coming out each day.

The new female Player remained curled up in that corner every day, not leveling up, not speaking, and barely even moving.

Xiao Fan suspected her brain might be broken; was staying curled up like that all day even good for her cervical spine?

But that was none of his business.

Other new Players had tried to strike up a conversation with her at first, but after being ignored a few times, no one bothered anymore. Gradually, everyone just ignored her existence.

After entering the Secret Realm for several days in a row, Xiao Fan felt a surge of excitement as he saw his Core Power had reached 9540 points.

"One more day in the Secret Realm tomorrow, and I'll have enough to reach 10,000 Core Power to hit level five. Then I'll be able to create my third skill."

Xiao Fan was filled with anticipation.

What kind of third skill should he create?

There were too many powerful skills Xiao Fan could imagine, but there were limitations to creating skills within Cloud Sea.

Skills not only had to align with his own attribute traits but also had to fit the overall game setting.

For instance, if the game world was low-martial arts, and he tried to create a world-destroying skill right off the bat, it would likely fail.

Furthermore, the skill had to match his own attribute characteristics.

His attributes were currently very low, so creating the Halo of the Saint and the Gift of the Saint was already pushing his limits.

However, as his attributes continued to rise, the range of skills he could create would expand.

It was the same for other Players.

In this game, the higher a Player's level and attributes, the higher the level of skills they could create.

Xiao Fan was mainly considering the type of his next skill.

Damage? Healing? Or perhaps the defensive skill he had been thinking about for a while.

Over the past few days, his mana had broken through the 10,000 mark, so he could keep the Gift of the Saint running all day without issue.

However, his health was only 460 points. The fact that he hadn't encountered any real danger for so long was thanks to the strong survival capabilities of the Gift of the Saint.

But as he learned more about Cloud Sea, Xiao Fan realized this game wasn't as simple as he had imagined.

The monsters here possessed all sorts of bizarre abilities, and it was still very dangerous if one didn't fully understand them.

"Forget it, I won't think about it for now. I'll decide once I hit level 5."

Xiao Fan closed his eyes. He had grown accustomed to the environment of the thatched hut over these days; the discomfort he felt when he first arrived was gone, and he could fall asleep the moment he closed his eyes.

In the middle of the night, Xiao Fan suddenly jolted awake.

He sat up in bed, discovering he was drenched in a cold sweat.

Just now, in his sleep, he had felt an intense sense of crisis.

"What's going on?"

Xiao Fan looked out the window; it was very quiet outside, without a single sound.

Could it be that I've been under too much pressure lately?

Xiao Fan tried to comfort himself, but the sense of unease in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

"I can't sleep anyway, I might as well go out and take a look."

Xiao Fan's thatched cottage was near the entrance of the Novice Village. He hadn't walked more than a few steps after leaving when he saw the two Players guarding the gate.

It was Mom Is Not Home and a novice Player with the ID Qi Guoguo.

The two were sitting there dozing off. Xiao Fan walked up to them, and only then did they notice him and hurriedly stand up.

"Brother Chen, why are you here?"

Xiao Fan had already vaguely become the big brother figure among this batch of novice Players.

Everyone respected him deeply.

Mom Is Not Home and his companion felt a bit awkward being caught sleeping while on guard duty by him.

"Couldn't sleep, so I came out to check." Xiao Fan paused here, his gaze sweeping over the two: "You still need to be careful when patrolling at night; this concerns the safety of the entire Novice Village."

It wasn't that Xiao Fan wanted to lecture them; it was mainly because if danger appeared in the Novice Village, no one here would be able to escape, himself included.

"Brother Chen, we were wrong. We were just too sleepy and don't know how we ended up falling asleep." Mom Is Not Home rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Mm, be more careful in the future." Xiao Fan nodded at him and turned to look outside the village.

The night was like thick ink, obscuring everything ahead and making it impossible for him to see what was out there.

Seeing Xiao Fan frowning as he looked outside the village, Mom Is Not Home curiously stepped forward and followed his line of sight, but he only saw a stretch of darkness.

"Brother Chen, what's wrong?" Mom Is Not Home asked.

The unease in his heart grew stronger. Xiao Fan stared outside the village, where something seemed to be hidden.

What on earth is it?

Xiao Fan didn't speak; his eyes were locked onto the area outside the village.

He could feel it!

Fierce Beasts were coming!

And not just one!

A Beast Tide!

Xiao Fan suddenly remembered what Wind Snow Traveler had told him that day.

Every so often, a Beast Tide would appear in Zone 18.

That's right! It's a Beast Tide.

Xiao Fan's expression changed instantly: "Quick! Go wake everyone up! Right now!"

His voice was slightly hoarse from extreme fear, yet it brooked no argument.

Mom Is Not Home was stunned, turning to look at the calm night outside with a confused expression.

"Brother Chen, it's quiet as a grave out there, where could there be any danger?"

The other Player, Qi Guoguo, heard Xiao Fan's words and also stepped forward to take a look: "Brother Chen, there's nothing out there."

"I told you to go wake everyone up, damn it!" Xiao Fan shouted sharply.

He could already feel it! The herd was getting closer and closer.

"Immediately! Right now!"

Mom Is Not Home and the other player looked at the furious Xiao Fan. His eyes, whether from anger or fear, were already slightly bloodshot, making him look quite terrifying.

The two of them shivered, grabbed the gongs nearby, and ran toward the back.