The moment this inspiration struck, Lin Yuan immediately followed that train of thought.
"In other words, the 'Bronze Thirteen Artisan Academy Instance' really has ended, and the Instance has opened, which is why everyone could leave through the main gate and return to their ships."
"It's just that this entire Instance has been enclosed within an even larger barrier?"
The more he thought about it, the more sense it made.
After all, a system that had existed for so long and trained countless players shouldn't be this unreliable.
It was more likely that nothing was wrong with the system, and someone else was causing trouble.
As for who that someone was, a name immediately sprang into Lin Yuan's mind-the Crawlers.
Although Retainer 9527's phantom and the Divers under its command had been eliminated, its true body was still around.
Moreover, when he had gone to destroy those strange rituals, he had seen the other party's figure from afar.
At the time, the other party had even mocked him for wasting his effort, acting as though all the preparations were already complete.
Thinking back on it now, once the ritual preparations were complete, this larger shield must have formed around the entire Instance, trapping everyone inside.
That way, even if the players cleared the Instance, they still wouldn't be able to leave the Academy.
And verifying Lin Yuan's theory was simple enough.
He looked at the passing player and asked:
"Did you go out to sea?"
"Uh, yes, but I came back after discovering I couldn't get through the instance boundary." Though the passing player didn't know why Lin Yuan was asking, he answered honestly.
"Could you see the waters outside the instance boundary? Did you notice anything wrong?"
Normal instance boundaries were translucent. They blocked the view from a distance,