The crowd reveled until midnight...
Even Elf bodies in the World Tree game could grow tired. For low-level creatures, necessary rest was still needed.
Although players could turn off the sensation of fatigue, the negative debuffs caused by exhaustion would still remain.
Under negative debuffs, all of the body's attributes would decline, and in severe cases, one could even die.
Thus, after weighing the gains and losses, most players chose to rest. At worst, they could log off for an hour while their characters rested. After all, World Tree had thought-acceleration technology—one hour in reality equaled ten hours in the game.
And so the night passed. It was just dawn on the second day of game time, making it much more convenient to get moving.
Qi Lin and the others returned to the Player Camp and found many more hardcore grinders gathered around the bonfire, chatting and laughing.
It would have been even better if one ignored every player's bizarre appearance and the negative-status icons beside their names.
Players gathered around the bonfire in groups of three or five, eating fruit gathered in the forest during the day and game hunted from their prey.
They chatted and laughed together. Some players had even started a party, singing and dancing, while others used unknown blades of roadside grass as instruments to play an unknown accompaniment.
Though it was already past the middle of the night, the entire Player Camp remained bustling and lively, its atmosphere as cheerful as a festival.
Looking at the sight before them, the group that had just emerged from the orchard felt somewhat dazed.
The evening breeze drifting from the forest, the lake in the distance rippling beneath the moon and stars, the flickering bonfire shadows... and the players' laughter nearby—this place was like an earthly paradise, a pure land where one could escape the pressures and pain of reality.
Watching this scene, everyone seemed to gain a deeper understanding of "immersion." This World Tree game was clearly different from the games they had played before.
It was as if they were not playing a game, but joining a fun outdoor camp with a group of strangers whose names they did not know.
Together, they escaped life's disappointments, stayed far from the clamor of the mortal world, completed quests with strangers, adventured together, and laughed together...
As Qi Lin watched them, she felt as though all of this was an unreal dream.
And that dream was so illusory, yet so beautiful.
This time, everyone truly understood the meaning of "immersion."
"This is immersion, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Even though it's a game, it feels like another real world."
Ironclad Heroism gazed at the Player Camp before him, his eyes fixed on nowhere in particular. In his heart, he had already understood everything Young Mistress had said before.
Thinking of himself in reality, he said, "To me, this isn't just a game anymore. It's more like a pure land where I can hide from the real world..."
"Every flower, every blade of grass, every tree here feels so real."
"If it weren't for Earth's internet and the system logout option, sometimes I'd think I was the protagonist who had traveled into a fantasy world."
Lord Xin could not stand it any longer. He slapped Ironclad Heroism on the shoulder. "Xiaolun, what are you doing, putting on such a profound act?"
Ironclad Heroism was Ge Xiaolun. Scratching the back of his head, he said helplessly, "Lord Xin, I was just speaking from the heart."
"I suddenly understand what those promotional lines meant..."
"To create the most realistic, most profound, most immersive magical xianxia gaming experience..."
"The official team really is trying to create a world like this."
Dun Qu Qi Yi, who was listening nearby, muttered inwardly, Does that really require a brain? Big Sister's script was copied straight from the original... But she could only think it to herself.
Lord Xin, meanwhile, was getting impatient. With a slap to Ironclad Heroism's back, he shattered the atmosphere Ironclad Heroism had built in an instant.
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
Ironclad Heroism helplessly rubbed his back, wondering why it still felt itchy when he had clearly turned off his pain settings. He could only continue.
"Come to think of it, what exactly did we do all day?"
"Hunting." That was Hawkeye and Coulson.
"Chopping trees." That was Young Mistress.
"Cleaning streets and looking for fruit." That was Qi Lin.
"Fighting wild boars. I died, so all the levels I grinded were for nothing." That was Lord Xin. Seemingly recalling what he had gone through that day, there was a hint of helplessness in his voice.
"And teasing the NPC Skadi." That was Big D.
Qi Lin, Young Mistress, and Dun Qu Qi Yi all turned to Big D at once and glared at him fiercely.
Ever since Young Mistress and Qi Lin had guessed that Skadi was an artificial intelligence with extremely high intelligence, they had been unable to view the three men who had stripped naked at the beginning favorably.
At that thought, Young Mistress was the first to laugh.
"Now that you mention it, we spent the whole day doing hard labor, yet none of us thought there was anything wrong with it. Like fools, we happily rushed right in. If someone in reality wanted me to do hard labor, my grandfather would have them sliced into a thousand pieces."
After watching the players in the camp who had yet to rest for a while longer, everyone went into the wooden cabin to sleep.
All the wooden cabins here had been arranged by Young Mistress. As for rent, everyone wrote IOUs and would pay it back once they had Mora in the future.
By midnight, a few scattered players outside were still chatting and laughing merrily despite their negative debuffs.
Inside a crude two-story wooden cabin, Young Mistress had assigned the first floor to the male players, who were squeezed together, while the room upstairs held only the three female players: Young Mistress, Qi Lin, and Dun Qu Qi Yi.
Dun Qu Qi Yi, lying on a simple plank bed in the upstairs room, cautiously opened her eyes and glanced at Tianhe Sheriff and Young Mistress, who were sharing the room with her.
She sat up, extended a finger, and summoned a system panel, then glanced at the players sharing her room.
If anyone could have seen it clearly, they would have realized that this panel was clearly the system backend, displaying the following:
[Tianhe Sheriff, status: Offline.] [Young Mistress, status: Offline.]
"Phew!" Dun Qu Qi Yi slowly let out a breath. Though she already knew they had logged off and returned to their reality, she still tried to make as little noise as possible.
After leaving the Player Camp, Dun Qu Qi Yi stretched out her long legs and ran with all her strength.
The wind howled through the forest, outlining every curve of Dun Qu Qi Yi's voluptuous figure in exquisite detail.
Dun Qu Qi Yi was like a nimble leopardess. With the lightest tap of her foot against the ground, she appeared dozens of meters away, like a martial arts master from a wuxia novel.
After running only a short distance, Dun Qu Qi Yi stopped and looked toward the elegant, tall figure that had appeared among the trees.
Upon seeing that figure, Dun Qu Qi Yi shouted happily, "Sister Skadi!"
As she spoke, Dun Qu Qi Yi leaped into the air and clung tightly to Skadi like a koala.
Skadi only saw a blur before her face sank into the softness of Dun Qu Qi Yi's chest.
Skadi sighed helplessly and used her magic power to form a hand, lifting Dun Qu Qi Yi off her like a kitten. Then Skadi said helplessly,
"Princess Jue, how many times do I have to tell you not to do this?" Clearly, the girl named Jue was truly the player Dun Qu Qi Yi.
Hearing that, Jue stuck out her tongue and put on an indifferent expression. "What does it matter? Anyway, every time Big Sister sees us like this, she seems very excited."
Before you continue