"Is this really inside the EFO?!" Zean looked around with a confused expression.
All he saw were large, towering trees, their moss-covered trunks and dense foliage blocking out the sunlight.
Zean looked up, staring at the sky, which was barely visible due to the dense foliage. Only a small amount of light filtered through the gaps between the leaves.
The forest around him felt utterly empty, as if enveloped in a silence that was becoming increasingly eerie.
There was no sound of birds chirping, no rustling of branches, and not even a breath of wind. The forest around Zean seemed completely devoid of all life.
"Shouldn't there be some kind of patch note for players if we're going to be transported to a forest or even a random location like this?!" Zean complained.
"Usually, the EFO developers wouldn't create a bug this ridiculous!" Zean muttered.
For a professional player who consistently plays, they'd naturally be quite annoyed if they encountered such a bug. While it might not have been a problem for Zean, if it were just a regular bug, this bug could be quite fatal.
Respawn conditions are crucial for a player. The respawn start point is the starting point for making decisions. The better a player's respawn start point, the better their chances and prospects for completing their missions.
For example, a player respawns in a village or an inn. Since these are the standard respawn locations, they clearly offer better access to quests and missions than the forest.
While in an inn or village, a player will encounter more NPC, and the more NPC a player encounters, the greater the number of missions or quests they can potentially obtain. This contrasts with forests, which are typically deserted and even tend to be more dangerous than villages. Therefore, forests are clearly not ideal respawn locations.
"Okay, time to spam complaints to the developers."
"Status..."
A transparent blue hologram screen appeared right in front of Zean's face.
Zean's eyes widened, and his face tensed as he saw what was before him.
"Oe... Oe... What does this mean? Why did my level go back to level one, and all my stats have also reverted to their original levels?"
"Isn't this a really serious bug!" Zean said with an annoyed expression.
And indeed, what he saw was his level and stats reverting back to their original values, like when he first started EFO.
Still trying to suppress his irritation and a look of annoyance on his face, Zean looked through his inventory, checking all his items one by one.
"All my items are still there, and all my money is still there. Only my stats have reverted back to the original. I think this is clearly a bug in the game system."
Zean continued moving his index finger, selecting the bug report menu to report to the developer. Although he didn't really need to file a complaint, other players would have filed their own if the bug affected the entire system. But because Zean was already annoyed and impatient, he preferred to file a complaint himself rather than wait for other players to file one.
"Seriously... Why is even the complaint menu gone?"
"Friends... my friends list... At least I can contact them if they're active."
"Aaaaah..."
Zean suddenly sat limply on the ground. Not because no one on his friends list was active, but because the menu displaying his friends list was completely empty.
Not only that, but the menu that would have allowed him to exit the EFO was also completely missing.
Zean remained frozen in place, wild images starting to cross his mind, negative thoughts he was still trying to deny and still trying not to fully believe, but the fact was he was experiencing them right now, and this was definitely not a dream.
"No... No... This can't be."
Zean was still trying to deny his current situation. He kept moving his fingers across the hologram screen, but no matter how many times he touched it, there was still no change.
"Huuufft..." Zean took a deep breath and stood up, trying to calm his mind.
"Okay, I better calm down now. Being too nervous won't solve my problem."
Turning his gaze around, Zean retrieved a longsword from his storage dimension. It was a silver longsword, one that also looked like a mithril sword from the outside, even though it was actually made of ordinary iron.
"But where am I supposed to go now? There are only trees around me now."
"Tch... Whatever. Whichever direction I take, it's better than just staying here."
Without hesitation, Zean simply walked straight ahead from the direction he was currently looking. He felt there was no point in choosing a direction, since no matter which direction he chose, he still wouldn't know which one was the closest to the nearest settlement or town.
"This might not be a developer bug anymore, but I can't believe that out of all the billions of players playing EFO, I'm the one experiencing this."
As he continued walking, Zean occasionally swung his sword, clearing away some of the bushes that were blocking his path.
He also occasionally glanced at his status screen, hoping that perhaps there would be a change, or at least that it was a genuine developer bug.
"I'll probably die of exhaustion in this forest if I don't find a town or village soon," Zean muttered as he continued walking.
Zean's words were certainly true. Looking at the amount of food in his inventory, he realized it would probably only last a few days.
He also had energy-restoring potions and powerful healing potions, but none of those could replace a human's vital need for nutrition. Staple food is vital, and it can't be replaced by any potion.
"Aaaah... Why don't I try this?!" Zean suddenly remembered something, something that seemed risky, but he had to do it to verify the truth of what he was experiencing right now.
"Okay, here we go, slowly... I don't think this will hurt, and besides, I have healing potions."
Zean's silver sword was slightly raised. He pointed the sharp tip of the blade at his arm, then slowly drew a line across it.
Fresh blood leaked from his arm, flowing slowly and dripping to the ground.
"Tch... This is clearly not EFO anymore! No matter how advanced the EFO's systems are, there are still limits they can't cross. This clearly exceeds the Blood Sensor system's limits and doesn't comply with the Pain Limiter."
In any virtual reality game, it's a standard practice that developers must prohibit realistically depicting blood in their games, and there must also be a pain threshold system that players can adjust. But this time, Zean clearly found neither. Fresh blood flowed from the skin of his arm, and he could feel the pain and soreness in his arm.
"Well, then the conclusion is clear: this isn't EFO anymore," Zean said as he took a small bottle of healing potion from his inventory. He then downed it with a single gulp. Before long, the cut on his arm healed, leaving only the dried blood behind.
"Okay... I think I've come to a conclusion, it's just a matter of how I can survive in this world. I hope I can soon meet another human who can help me even though the chances of meeting a human in the middle of a forest like this are slim."