Back Into the Secret Realm

Nine Talent Stone! Nine Talent Stone! <Cloud Sea>! How dare you!

Xiao Fan looked at the Talent Stone he had obtained and felt like crying.

He thought that these nine Talent Stone might yield a Golden Legend item, but he was overthinking it.

Not a single legendary talent...

"It seems that high-level talents are really rare."

Xiao Fan wanted to cry but had no tears.

When the Talent System was first introduced, he dreamed that his talent page would be filled with Golden Talent.

In fact, he was overthinking it. So far, apart from the Golden Talent <Myriad Phenomena Absorption> that Qin Muyu helped him unlock, he hadn't even unlocked a purple one.

Of the nine Talent Stone identified, three were white, four were green, and two were blue.

This probability is simply outrageous!

However, considering the terrifying power of the Golden Talent, a lower probability seems normal.

The only thing that made Xiao Fan a little happier was that he obtained three intelligence-boosting Talent Stone.

Xiao Fan had previously guessed that the sockets on the talent page actually had attribute requirements.

It's possible that a single socket can only hold intelligence-related items, or it can be further subdivided, allowing only intelligence-support or intelligence-attack items.

This requires a large number of Talent Stone to experiment with.

Xiao Fan had previously planned to collect some white talent experiment stones from players, but he checked the Trading House every day and couldn't find anyone selling Talent Stone.

That makes sense; the Talent System has just been released, so there probably isn't anyone selling it.

Xiao Fan stopped worrying about it.

Having a lower talent rank also has its advantages, such as not feeling bad about experimenting now.

Looking at the Talent Stone in front of him, Xiao Fan brought up the Talent Page. After looking for a while, he finally chose the one that looked best to him.

"You're the one!"

Xiao Fan picked up a white Talent Stone of the intelligence support category.

The talent is simple: after being socketed, it grants an additional 5 points to the Intelligence attribute.

It works okay, but there's not much room for improvement.

Xiao Fan picked up the Talent Stone, feeling a little nervous.

"Cloud Sea, please give me a chance! Let me succeed in embedding this time, and I'll definitely play the game better from now on!"

Xiao Fan held the Talent Stone, praying with a devout expression.

"Phew~"

"Confirm the <Attribute Boost> socketing? Failure to socket will result in the talent disappearing."

Xiao Fan took a deep breath.

"Confirm."

"Talent slots can be replaced after being socketed. Replaced talents will disappear. Are you sure you want to socket <Attribute Boost> here?"

"Confirm."

Congratulations, player! The <Attribute Boost> talent has been successfully socketed.

"Awesome!"

Xiao Fan excitedly stood up from his chair.

"I knew this hole looked alright!"

"Haha, no child cries every day, and no gambler loses every day!"

The successful inlay made Xiao Fan feel like he was capable again!

"I just don't know if my previous guess was correct."

After calming down, Xiao Fan began to put his idea into practice.

After thinking for a moment, he first picked up a white Talent Stone of the power attack type and chose to embed it in the same slot.

"Confirm replacement of the talent <Attribute Boost>? If the replacement is successful, your talent <Attribute Boost> will disappear; if the replacement fails, your talent <Great Strength> will disappear."

Xiao Fan tensed up completely.

If the inlay is successful, it means that his previous idea was wrong, and it also means that whether or not the inlay will succeed in the future depends entirely on probability.

"Cloud Sea shouldn't be like that. High-level talents are so hard to obtain; failing to socket them would be incredibly frustrating."

With this in mind, Xiao Fan felt a little more confident.

"Confirm."

"Sorry, talent replacement failed. Your talent <Great Strength> has disappeared."

"Can."

Although his talent had vanished, Xiao Fan's tense nerves relaxed.

He then picked up the only blue Talent Stone of the Intelligence Attack category and chose to replace <Attribute Boost>.

"Sorry, talent replacement failed. Your talent Hundred Changes has disappeared."

Xiao Fan dared not open his eyes.

That was a blue-tier talent, and it's gone just like that!

However, this also means that Talent Stone of the same attribute but different categories cannot be socketed.

After that, Xiao Fan took out the last Talent Stone that boosted intelligence.

Whether we can achieve the Golden Legend today depends on this inlay!

Xiao Fan carefully embedded the Talent Stone into the same hole.

"Replacement successful. Your talent <Attribute Boost> has disappeared."

"Success!"

Now Xiao Fan was finally certain that talent socketing wasn't a matter of probability or luck, but rather that each socket had a fixed attribute, and only talents with the same attribute could be successfully socketed.

Just in case, Xiao Fan re-embedded the last intelligence-boosting Talent Stone.

"Replacement successful. Your talent <Attribute Resonance> has been lost."

It worked again!

No further experiments were needed. Xiao Fan put the remaining four Talent Stone into his Space Ring and then took out the Golden Talent <Myriad Phenomena Absorption>.

"Finally, it works!"

After using <Myriad Phenomena Absorption>, he will gain permanent Intelligence attribute points when he kills targets with skills that have attributes.

Intelligence affects a player's spell damage and healing output, which is exactly what Xiao Fan needs right now.

Finally, Xiao Fan carefully picked up the Golden Talent stone.

"Confirm replacement of talent <Metamorphosis>? If the replacement is successful, your talent <Metamorphosis> will disappear. If the replacement fails, your Golden Talent <Myriad Phenomena Absorption> will disappear."

"Confirm."

"Replacement successful. Your talent <Metamorphosis> has been lost."

"It worked! That's great!"

Xiao Fan looked at the Golden Talent stone on the talent page and thought it looked beautiful no matter how he looked at it.

It's a pity it's already night, otherwise he would have gone to kill two Fierce Beasts to test the effects of his Golden Talent.

"No rush, we can try again tomorrow in the dungeon."

Xiao Fan suppressed his excitement and waited for tomorrow to arrive.

The next morning, Xiao Fan felt refreshed and couldn't wait to gather his team to conquer the secret realm <Brave New World>.

Try out his new talent, Myriad Phenomena Absorption.

In the group, he spotted a figure he didn't recognize.

"Good morning, Great God Jiu Chen!" Judge Young Master waved to Xiao Fan with a beaming smile.

"What are you doing here?" Xiao Fan asked, frowning.

"Um, one of the guys in Shadow's team wasn't feeling well today, so they recruited me because they were short-handed."

The Judge Young Master's eyes flickered as he spoke.

In fact, he paid a huge price last night to get the qualification to enter the secret realm with Xiao Fan from that player.

There's no way around it, he's just too eager to improve!

He wanted to become a commander like Xiao Fan.

"Um."

Xiao Fan nodded without saying anything more. In the game, players' bodies are digitized; how could they possibly feel uncomfortable?

However, to him, it made no difference whether he was the Judge Young Master or anyone else.

As for command, he can teach if he doesn't know how, but how much one can learn depends on their individual abilities.

Seeing that Xiao Fan did not expose his lie, the Judge Young Master was thrilled.

Does this mean the expert has allowed him to learn how to conduct?

Very good!

Before leaving, Xiao Fan handed the Level 5 City Building Token to Ye Bugu.

"Zhou He will send someone to collect the City Building Token later. Since someone is feeling unwell, it's fine to leave him at the camp to wait for others."

"No problem."

Ye Bugu took the City Building Token and handed it to the player, and the group headed towards the entrance of the secret realm.

Seeing this, the other teams in the camp quickly followed.

"Jiu Chen, did you make a new discovery yesterday?"

On the way, Qin Muyu couldn't help but ask.

Xiao Fan nodded. "I've noticed something's off, but we'll have to wait until we enter the secret realm to find out."

The Judge Young Master behind him was very curious after hearing what Xiao Fan said.

Yesterday, after hearing from the Night Blade Sect about Xiao Fan and his group's experience in the secret realm, he suddenly realized that it was somewhat different from theirs.

Xiao Fan's team is having an even harder time!

At least they encountered resurrected minions on the very first boss, while Xiao Fan and his group only encountered resurrected minions after fighting the last boss, and there were even two more bosses to deal with.

Good heavens!

Even with this kind of skill, Xiao Fan can lead the team to victory!

It turns out that the difference between him and Xiao Fan wasn't just in their command skills, but also in their understanding and knowledge of the game.

The biggest difference is in terms of strength!

How could someone be so incredibly powerful and versatile? The Judge Young Master couldn't understand it.

"Great God Jiu Chen, what exactly did you find wrong about that secret realm?"

The Judge Young Master couldn't help but ask.

Two days ago, when he was playing in the secret realm, he carefully examined everything and didn't find anything wrong.

He couldn't understand why Xiao Fan's team was performing so much worse than them.

"Yeah, Brother Chen, why don't you tell us?"

Others were even more curious.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Fan didn't keep him in suspense.

Recalling the scene he witnessed when he left the secret realm, Xiao Fanhuan spoke up.

"The moon is in a different state."

"When we first entered the secret realm, the moon was crescent-shaped, very bright, and at a moderate distance from us."

"When we left the secret realm, the moon was full, its color was reddish, and it hung very high in the sky, which is why we didn't notice it."

"I suspect that the resurrection of the mobs and the boss might be related to the state of the moon."

"So that's how it is!"

Everyone suddenly realized.

They recalled the time when they first entered the secret realm; the environment inside was dark, with only the moonlight providing a meager illumination. They all looked up at the moon above.

But ever since Xiao Fan took out his Golden Skull, the subsequent lighting in the secret realm has basically relied on it for illumination.

Looking back now, they really didn't pay attention to the moon after that.

Now, when Xiao Fan talks about the changes behind the moon, they can't remember them.

"Huh? This game is so insidious! They even use the moon as a mechanic! It's truly impossible to guard against!"

The fat man stared wide-eyed, incredulous.

This game is constantly redefining their understanding; it's truly outrageous.

The Judge Young Master sighed inwardly.

You have to admire that! If it were him, no joke, he would never have discovered that the moon could be related to a secret realm in his entire life.

"Moreover, we have been overlooking a very important point."

Xiao Fan spoke again.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at him.

"Huh? There are some that were overlooked?"

The fat man scratched his head, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

One moon is enough to make you think about for a lifetime, and yet they're both just a single dot!

How was it discovered?

"What point?" Qin Muyu asked curiously, clearly she hadn't noticed anything else amiss either.

Unbeknownst to them, the group had already arrived at the entrance to the secret realm.

Xiao Fan did not answer, but stepped forward and placed his hand in the circle of light.

"Enter the secret realm <Brave New World>?"

"Brother Chen, why are you still not sure?"

Seeing that Xiao Fan still hadn't made up his mind, the fat man asked.

Suddenly Qin Muyu, who was standing to the side, thought of something and looked sharply at Xiao Fan.

"Didn't you say it was the name of the secret realm?"

Xiao Fan nodded at her.

"Finally figured it out?"

Xiao Fan posted so many secret realms in <Cloud Sea>.

The content of the secret realms is basically related to their names.

Since this secret realm is called "Brave New World," it must be related to Brave New World.

That is beyond doubt.

"But is this secret realm related to the New World?"

Everyone thought of the monsters and mutated monsters in the secret realm; even the environment of the secret realm had nothing to do with words like "beautiful" or "new world."

Whether it's related or not, we'll only know after the fight.

"Perhaps there are still things in this hidden realm that we haven't explored yet."

As Xiao Fan spoke, he selected "OK," and the next second they appeared in the secret realm.

It was still that dim, eerie environment, but this time no one cared. Everyone looked up at the moon in the sky.

"Oh no! How could this happen?"

A player from the Night Blade Sect couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Because the moon above their heads was completely different from the one when they came in last time.

At this moment, the moon was very, very far from the ground, almost round, with a faint red mist swirling around its surface!

The moon was crescent-shaped when they came in yesterday.

"Brother Chen, what's going on?! Is the moon different every time we enter the secret realm?"

Xiao Fan did not answer the fat man's question, but instead looked at the Judge Young Master beside him.

Do you remember what the moon looked like yesterday when you entered the secret realm?

The Judge Young Master really remembers!

He had previously studied Xiao Fan's command techniques and discovered that Xiao Fan would observe his surroundings immediately upon entering the secret realm.

So after entering the secret realm, he also observed it carefully once.

The moon at that time...

It seems to be...

Semicircle!

That's right!

"I don't know about the other teams, but in the two days I led the team, the moon in the secret realm was always half-full when we entered, and it wasn't reddish."

The Judge Young Master spoke up in response.

"Ah! The moon really does look different every time."

The fat man was speechless.

"What on earth is going on?! Does this mean every team is randomly assigned a moon?"

Xiao Fan shook his head.

"I suspect this instance of the secret realm has some kind of connection to the real-world game world."

The Moon Form changes depending on the time period after entering the secret realm.

"You can do that?"

Everyone was confused.

In the Cloud Sea, each secret realm has a different flow of time.

No matter what time they enter the secret realm, everything inside is the same.

However, the time within this secret realm varies depending on when you enter it, which is something I've never heard of before.

This is so strange.

If Xiao Fan hadn't said anything, who the hell would have guessed?

"The expert must be right!"

The Judge Young Master suddenly spoke, and everyone looked at him.

"How did you know?" the fat man asked.

"I like to plan things out in advance. For example, when it comes to clearing new areas, I always enter the dungeon at the same time every day. I've been entering the dungeon at the same time these past two days, and the same goes for entering the moon."

That's what the Judge Young Master said.

Hearing him say this, everyone was even more surprised.

The secret realms are getting harder and harder.