The Black House.
The expression of the Blonde Elder was as calm as it could possibly be.
"Is this the 'benefit to our players' you spoke of? Is this how Galen Yu's plans were supposed to fall through?"
That calm tone carried an immense pressure, making the Intelligence Director tremble with nerves.
"Theoretically, that should have been the case."
"With the awakening of climbing abilities and the evolution of zombies—granting them higher defense, health, and attack power..."
"For any player, this should have been a nightmare. No one would want to encounter these things."
"The Sky Island looks prosperous, but it's actually severely lacking in defensive capabilities."
"It relies entirely on the biological energy of the Snow Queen, the Architect, and the Guard Villagers to function."
"The so-called Great Wall, setting aside its buff effects, is just a nice-looking wall. It serves a purely auxiliary role and cannot deal any damage."
"Who would have thought Galen Yu would create so many shocking things?"
"First the Tri-Bow, then the Annihilation Cube, and now this."
"Since the start, we've been shouting about the Freedom Nation's advantage, but even our long-range archery advantage is gone."
"In fact, the Tri-Bow is stronger—much, much stronger—than a standard bow!"
"If they ever went head-to-head, it's obvious what would happen."
"Mark and Jett combined would be insta-killed!"
"Galen Yu is just an anomaly. Look!"
Under the Blonde Elder's gaze, the Intelligence Director silently adjusted the screen to show other players.
In the Samurai Nation, Kira Oakmoor had defeated the Hydra and was heading to challenge the fifth boss.
He chose to face the Phantom Knight, finally completing the puzzle and using the trophies to open the gate.
But before he could find the tomb, the Blood Moon descended.
He was now trapped inside the maze.
The outer partitions were blocked, so the zombies couldn't rush out yet, but Kira Oakmoor was locked in the room because of it.
He had to constantly watch out for Skeletons, hiding behind blocks and unable to leave.
Another player, Ronan Mountwell, had decent luck, having collected ten colors of wool over the past few days.
He was more than halfway done, only six pieces away from completing the collection to obtain the Questing Ram's reward.
He was faring a bit better than Kira Oakmoor, hiding in the Enchanted Forest where the barrier kept him safe; the zombies couldn't break in yet.
But he was just as trapped, unable even to move through the tree canopy.
In the Indus Kingdom, Kapil was in a similar situation.
He had already killed two Nagas and one Lich, only a step away from unlocking the SlashBlade key.
Despite that, he was still hiding at home, not daring to show his face. He had to survive the night before he dared return to the Twilight Forest.
Whether their progress was fast or slow, whether the players were strong or weak—who among them didn't fear the Crisis even a little?
Who wasn't hiding somewhere, at least waiting out the Blood Moon before daring to act?
Why was Galen Yu such an exception?!
"According to expert estimates, the later stages will only get harder. The Enchanted Forest and the Glacier barriers will slowly disappear."
"When that happens, I'm afraid the players will lose their qualification to enter the Twilight Forest entirely."
If they could climb walls after only twenty days, it was hard to say they wouldn't stop fearing the sun later on.
Furthermore, the Twilight Forest has no daylight. Without the shortcut of the treetops, the players' progress will only get slower and slower.
Therefore, even for the fastest player like Kira Oakmoor, experts deduce the following.
At best, he can only defeat the sixth or seventh boss before he loses the ability to explore the Twilight Forest entirely.
If not for Galen Yu, they might never have seen artifacts like the Annihilation Cube or the Tri-Bow appear in their lifetimes...
The Blonde Elder fell into a long silence.
If one person fails, it's their problem.
If two people fail, it might be bad luck.
Now everyone was in the same boat except Galen Yu, who remained unrestricted. This proved that Galen Yu's understanding of the game was simply too deep for other players to even glimpse.
"Everyone else is trapped by zombies. How is he the only one who can hunt them instead?"
"And why is it him? We've never seen a Nine Provinces player with such profound insight before."
"I haven't heard any news about black technology recently. Or could it be..."
Does Destiny truly lie with the Nine Provinces, such that no one can stop them?
Clutching his head, the Blonde Elder felt a mounting migraine.
"A massive civilization... how terrifying!"
Putting Nine Provinces aside, the Crisis Zombies alone had already claimed the lives of many players.
Just how far could the zombies evolve? Whether Mark and Jett could even make it out alive was now a question!
Seeing that he wasn't going to be kicked, the Intelligence Director felt a secret joy.
Knowing what the Blonde Elder was worried about, his eyes darted around.
"Sir, you actually don't need to worry about this."
"Since Nine Provinces is progressing too fast and looming over everyone else, can we use this to gather the strength of others?"
He whispered a few words into the Blonde Elder's ear, causing the elder's eyes to light up.
"Good. Set it up exactly like that!"
...
Sky Island.
With no zombies to disturb them, the night passed without incident.
Looking at the unscathed Sky Island and comparing it to the other players who were scrambling for their lives, the Nine Provinces audience felt as if they were in a dream.
"Heavens, the most terrifying Blood Moon was resolved so easily!"
"From the initial Sky Island to this Sky Manor, it's enough to make one's head spin!"
"Who could have thought? A few civilizations ago, we were still worried about the collapse of our nation."
"Now, thanks to Great God Galen Yu, my eighty-year-old grandpa can go to the square and do two somersaults!"
"My grandma is nearly ninety, and she says she's at the prime age for adventure. she wants to travel the whole country!"
"Yeah, thanks to Great God Galen Yu, I can deliver eighty orders a day on foot without even needing an electric scooter! How could we have had such good days before?"
"
"Impressive! I don't respect marathon runners, but I respect you, brother!"
Regardless of the quality of life, the body is always the source of everything.
In the face of life, thousands of gold pieces are no match for health, which is the root of wealth.
Improving health and constitution is, in a way, more useful than directly receiving money.
Throughout the Nine Provinces, everything was flourishing and regaining vitality because of Galen Yu.
When day broke, Galen Yu first headed to the resource area.
Having been scorched by the sun, the ground was littered with rotten flesh and bones.
He didn't need that junk; he came specifically to collect two things.
Lapis Lazuli and Redstone.
Once he hit the daily mining limit, he would go to the Nether to find some Quartz.
Zombies would also spawn in the Nether, but not in such high numbers. With Galen Yu's current gear, they were easy to handle.
After gathering his materials, he returned to the vicinity of the Enchanting Table.
He wanted to see if he could produce a few more enchantments to use on his gear.
He took out a book and placed it in the table, and three options appeared.
[THORNS I][AQUA AFFINITY I][LESSER SHARPNESS I]
More Enchantment content had indeed appeared, but the problem was that what appeared was worse than nothing.
Galen Yu felt speechless.
"How are there even weakened effects?"
It seemed that while More Enchants could provide powerful modifiers, it also had a chance to roll weaker effects.
This mod certainly lived up to its name.
In the research institute, Headmaster Quill, who had just finished resting, noticed this scene.
"Enchanting... it really can provide surprises!"
Based solely on the enchantments that had appeared in previous civilizations, most were better than nothing but hard to take seriously.
It was Galen Yu who made them realize how heaven-defying these buffs could be.
"As far as I know, the Enchanting Table can only enchant an item once. Once the modifiers appear, they are very difficult to change."
This was one of the reasons most players gave up on enchanting.
You only get a choice of three, and whether the effect is strong or weak is entirely reliant on luck.
Resources were already scarce, and they didn't even know how to craft the table, so they naturally couldn't be bothered to research it.
However, Galen Yu's current actions deeply interested Headmaster Quill.
"Is he... refreshing enchantment modifiers?!"
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