Chapter 68: Entering by Night

Night fell, in the basement of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

Batch after batch of rookie players appeared in the confinement room. True to the behavior of the previous batch, these newcomers reacted to the near-realistic world before their eyes with boundless curiosity about everything.

Some were caressing the iron bars, others were jumping up and down on the floor, and a few even pressed themselves flat against the wall, rubbing back and forth.

"Awesome! This game is too fucking awesome!"

"Before this, I was skeptical when the game claimed 100% virtual realism, but I never expected it to be real. Right now, I literally can't tell reality from illusion anymore. This game is definitely going to blow up!"

"I could gush about this graphics clarity for a whole year."

"When is this game entering open beta?! I'm going to whale out instantly, just give me a few top-tier martial arts manuals!"

"Bro, do you even know what the current exchange rate for martial arts hall points is on the forums? A single point is already selling for a hundred bucks, and those martial-grade techniques cost at least three thousand points—that's three hundred grand. Are you sure you can whale out?"

After familiarizing themselves with their surroundings for a bit, the newcomers began chatting among themselves. Clearly, they were much more prepared for the arrival of the High Martial World than the previous batch.

This scene left the veteran players waiting outside marveling endlessly. They hadn't expected this batch of newcomers to have a much higher acceptance rate than they had initially. Not only did they adapt to the High Martial descent very quickly, but they were already discussing how to play the game.

"Brothers! Look at this! Little Yuan has made it in!" Among the newcomers, an energetic, youthful, and adorable girl under twenty years old kept talking to the empty air above her, looking practically unhinged. "Starting today, Little Yuan will teach everyone how to play the High Martial descent from scratch! I'll be uploading the daily recorded tutorial videos to my private channel, so you don't have to worry about missing any complete tutorials. Please subscribe and hit that like button!"

"Old Zhen! That Little Yuan looks like she's in the same line of work as you," God's Twilight said, looking at the girl named Little Yuan with a chuckle. "Looks like your livestream popularity is about to get poached."

"Poach my popularity?" Fang Zhen glanced at Little Yuan, unable to help shaking his head with a bitter smile. "You overestimate me. While I've gained quite a bit of popularity from the High Martial descent and managed to break into the top ten game streamers, that Little Yuan is a god-tier member of the strategy guild. She doesn't stream often, but whenever she goes live, she's always among the top five major streamers."

"A strategy guild god?" God's Twilight asked in surprise. "Is she really that strong?"

As the number of virtual games on Blue Star grew, aside from supporting a large number of professional gamers, it also gave rise to many people who specialized in crafting detailed game guides. These individuals were known as strategy guilds.

To be called a god within a strategy guild meant one had accomplished ultra-rare achievements in some of the most punishingly difficult games, clinched first place in various dungeon speedruns, or designed hyper-difficult dungeon guides simple enough for an absolute idiot to clear.

It was hard to imagine that someone roughly his own age could be a god-tier strategy guild member.

"I've read this person's guides," said Outland Gunman from the side. "Not long ago, she was working on assessment and test guides for the High Martial descent. Her demonstration video from yesterday already managed to last fourteen seconds. That video went wildly viral, and its view count alone has already exceeded six million."

"Fourteen seconds? Isn't that getting close to the assessment record on the forums?" God's Twilight was completely shocked.

By now, the platform had opened an official forum for the High Martial descent, and every day a crowd of people flaunted how long they could last in the test assessments. Rumor had it that even legendary beings akin to pilgrim sages were showing off their scores.

The current best-verified score on the forum was 15.7 seconds, and people suspected that the person might be an old pilgrim sage monster who had achieved that score after taking some kind of medicinal booster.

A time of fourteen seconds was already not far behind those sage-level entities.

Just as Fang Zhen and the others were chatting about Little Yuan, the strategy guild god, A Leaf Floating in the Clouds' expression suddenly shifted drastically, instantly replaced by a look of wild ecstasy.

"Sis, you're here!"

A Leaf Floating in the Clouds walked up to a woman who looked like a celestial immortal descending to earth—none other than Ye Qinglu.

"Eternal Immortal Road won't open its open beta for a while anyway, and I had nothing better to do," Ye Qinglu said, not even looking at A Leaf Floating in the Clouds as she quietly limbered up her hands and feet, offering a lukewarm evaluation. "This game actually has some substance to it. The sense of realism surpasses Eternal Immortal Road a bit; I just wonder how it holds up in actual combat."

"Don't you worry, Sis, the actual combat in this game is peerless," A Leaf Floating in the Clouds assured her with absolute confidence.

Initially, he had been worried. Even if Ye Qinglu wanted to play, the reservation count had already broken fifteen thousand, and selecting forty people out of fifteen thousand meant the odds were dismally low. He never expected Ye Qinglu to log into the game by tonight—it was an absolute pleasant surprise.

Amidst the noisy chatter of the crowd, Lin Qi also walked downstairs, drawing the sideways glances of everyone present.

The newcomers who had entered the High Martial descent by now had all more or less perused the NPC introductions on the official forum. Among them, Hall Master Lin Qi was of paramount importance—an NPC with player management permissions who was even tied to the main storyline development, making it impossible not to treat him with utmost respect.

If one happened to piss this NPC off and got directly expelled from the martial arts hall, death would feel preferable.

The thirty veterans present also curiously gazed at Lin Qi, wondering what kind of trial Lin Qi had prepared for the newcomers this time.

"Newcomers! Welcome to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. I am your Hall Master, Lord Lin Qi. According to the rules, if you wish to become proud disciples of the martial arts hall, you must first prove yourselves."

"There is a registration ledger on the table. Write down your names and ages, then go over there to pick out a little shovel of your choice. Turn right out the door and head upstairs—I have already prepared everything for you at the training ground..."

Just as Lin Qi was speaking, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from upstairs, sounding as if something had been blasted to smithereens.

"What's going on?"

"That sound... why do I feel like that large wooden door upstairs just shattered?"

"No way, that large wooden door is over four meters high and more than twenty centimeters thick. I heard it's made of local sturdy ironwood, boasting a hardness comparable to steel and weighing four to five tons. To blow that apart, you'd pretty much need to fire a rocket launcher."

"Could this be Hall Master's trial for the newcomers?"

The veterans were quite familiar with this shattering sound, especially since the martial arts hall always closed its gates at night. With a sudden explosion and the sound of heavy objects crashing down from upstairs, they couldn't think of anything else besides the martial arts hall's front gate.

"Are we under attack?" Hearing the noise, Lin Qi turned to the crowd and commanded, "Everyone, go to the armory over there to grab your weapons and gear. Equip yourselves quickly and follow me upstairs!"

Though Lin Qi didn't know who was launching a midnight raid, the current Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was no longer as easy to deal with as before. In particular, his Leopard Shadow Step had reached the first major perfection, granting him a passive buff that increased his speed by 5%, and he had also mastered the Scorching Prairie Spear Technique. With the current buff bonuses, his physical strength had broken through to 600 kilograms, making him an advanced martial apprentice.

In less than a minute, Lin Qi donned A6-grade protective gear, grabbed Rand's A6-grade spear, and led the fully geared players rushing up to the training ground.

"White Feather Gang!"

Lin Qi looked at the twenty-odd members of the White Feather Gang standing in the training ground. They wore faction garments and had double wings sprouting from their backs. This group was also fully equipped, wearing A4-grade protective gear and wielding A6-grade weapons, and every single one of them was an apprentice-level expert.

The leading Feathered giant, standing two meters and forty-five centimeters tall, wielded a massive mountain-clearing battleaxe of unknown grade. The axe alone likely weighed over two hundred kilograms. Clad entirely in A6-grade armor, his terrifying aura far surpassed that of Florence from the Azure Sparrow Gang.

The two shattered doors on the ground still bore a deep axe scar, clearly cleaved open by the Feathered giant before them.

"Deputy Leader Gana! That's them, no doubt about it!" The one-armed Feathered youth pointed at Lin Qi and the others, a sneer on his face as he said with absolute certainty, "They are the ones who hijacked our White Feather Gang's medium-sized transport vehicle!"