Being an NPC was hard, being a game designer was harder, and being an NPC who doubled as a game designer was harder still

Inside the castle, Ed spent ages patching and mending before finally putting the four bodies more or less back together.

But Ed's abilities could, at most, make the four bodies whole again. The four players apparently hadn't considered just how much energy twelve hours of intense physical labor would burn.

Fortunately, thanks to Little Green, these four bodies could perform some photosynthesis, which kept them from outright starving to death.

As for now, although the players had logged off and their bodies had entered sleep mode, night had also fallen in World of Disorder, so they were still slowly consuming energy.

Ed thought it over and settled on tomorrow's "test tasks":

For one, he needed to have them build a raft so they could enter the Black Forest on the opposite bank, effectively having the players unlock a new map by hand.

For another, at this rate of consumption, the four of them would certainly be too hungry to move tomorrow. Before they lost their ability to move, they had to realize they needed nutrition.

Only after finishing all of this did Ed finally have time to check the changes in his own status.

He believed that one or perhaps several of the players might have noticed something too: he and the players used Deadwood Vine differently.

Although [Good Times Don't Last] had been slapped twice after being parasitized by Deadwood Vine, his way of using it involved awakening the fragment and then forming a symbiotic relationship with it. This was a common way to use drops from creatures in World of Disorder.

The Deadwood Vine fragment in Ed's hand, however, had rapidly withered and vanished right at the start, after which his fingers could turn into vines to attack.

Although they looked quite similar, these were fundamentally two different abilities.

As for Ed himself, his powers of observation had always been strong, and after that demonstration, his stat panel had undergone a certain change as well.

Now, under special abilities on his panel, a subentry had appeared beneath [Verdant Crown]:

[Genes collected: Deadwood Vine]

Ed had reason to believe this was what made his ability special. It seemed Little Green could not only serve as a voice assistant, but also keep growing and bring him new surprises.

The sapling in Ed's eye socket seemed to sense his thoughts as well and began to sway gently without any wind. Its air of seeking praise was exactly like Ed's not long ago.

After going over the whole chain of logic, Ed asked:

"So, as long as I keep collecting plant samples, you can keep getting stronger, which will make me stronger too?"

Little Green said, "That should be how it works. There are plenty of things I only learn after experiencing them. After all, in terms of age, I'm still just a little tree."

"Trees pretending to be young can get the hell out of my eye socket."

"Let's go with that, then. If you collect more samples, I might remember other things."

"Where did you learn to make empty promises like that?"

"From your memories and personality."

"...I think we can discuss a different question."

"Then what are you planning to do now? Is there anything I can help with?"

Little Green grew a little more serious, and Ed, its symbiotic partner, wasted no time assigning a task:

"Keep watch over the area. I'm going to do something else."

"What?"

"Do you know what a 'wiki' is?"

"If you share that part of your memories, I'll know soon enough."

"I'll share them later. In short, I'm going to write an encyclopedia for the game now, and while I'm at it... leave them a little surprise."

"The world not yet disordered."

[Zhongde], Zhou Jue, was grinding away at work, while [Good Times Don't Last], Jing Ming, was getting a real-life beatdown.

Those two needed no further mention. The remaining two players also had their own affairs to attend to.

Inside a rental apartment, [Howling Pothos], whose real name was Chang Nie, was waging an internal battle.

Chang Nie had been unemployed for two months. As a professional player without particularly impressive results, his career could only be described as unremarkable.

Despite always training extremely hard, sometimes the gap between two people was greater than the gap between a person and a dog.

And so, during the transfer window, he had become a discarded piece no one wanted.

Professional gamers who met with this fate generally had three paths available:

The first was to start streaming and rake in cash. Unfortunately, Chang Nie had no entertaining tricks, no skills, and no fans. Hardly anyone would pay attention to him.

The second was to slink back to his hometown and disappear from everyone's sight, but he was utterly unwilling to sink into obscurity like that.

The third was to start over and aim for the top of the world once more. Unfortunately, this was reality, not a novel (?).

Before today, Chang Nie had intended to pick option two, but the past twelve hours had made him realize that perhaps he could choose option three.

Although he had only ever seen the third option end successfully in novels, that did not stop the fire in his heart from rekindling.

An epoch-making, fully immersive game with an evidently rather complex power system would undoubtedly explode in popularity if it officially launched.

The phrases "full immersion" and "highly open-ended world" alone were enough to secure World of Disorder a place in the gaming industry.

And now, Chang Nie had secured one of only four test slots for just such an epoch-making game.

It seemed he was once again qualified to compete with his former opponents.

Having firmly made up his mind, Chang Nie switched from player mode to pro mode. From this moment on, World of Disorder was no longer a game to him, but a new job.

Although he had no idea when the game would officially launch, or whether his savings would last until then, Chang Nie still made his decision. After all, this game really couldn't be judged by ordinary standards. What game started its closed beta just three days after releasing promotional concept art?

One last time, Chang Nie warned himself. If I still can't make a name for myself this time, I'll go back home and settle down.

And if he wanted to stand at the top of the world, he needed to keep his strength in the top tier at all times. For that, he needed a team and truly reliable teammates.

With that thought, Chang Nie tapped a few things on his phone.

The group chat [Disordered World Closed Beta Group (4)] was created.

People did not share one another's joys and sorrows. In another city hundreds of kilometers away, [Do Some Farm Work], whose real name was Ji He, kept scrolling through a bombardment of private messages from his friend [Chief Shit Appraisal Master]:

"Bro, did you download the client installer? How big is it? Can you forward it? Is it device-locked?"

"Bro, why aren't you saying anything? It's only quarter past eight. You go to bed this early?"

"Bro, you haven't started playing, have you? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Bro, does you not replying mean this game isn't fun at all?"

"Bro, it's already two. Why are you still playing? This game must be really boring, right? Stop forcing yourself."

"Bro, it's four..."