Chapter 11 – Reencounter

In 9 Heavens, demons have been initially people. The sport’s setting adopted historic mythology, and the in-game demons have been the folks of the legendary Chiyou[1]. They seemed like people, with lengthy horns on their heads, clawed arms, and tall and durable our bodies, possessing distinctive energy. If a participant selected a demon character, they might set their peak to a most of 150% of their unique, so this level alone tempted many gamers.

At nighttime, the yao didn’t achieve utterly human varieties. For instance, Aotian and Qingyue’s buddy, Xiaoyao, nonetheless seemed like a willow tree, solely now with a face on its trunk. He may uproot himself and transfer round, utilizing his branches as weapons, his fight energy extraordinarily excessive.

Yao may domesticate utilizing human essence, however at night time, all of the NPCs grew to become demons. Yao couldn’t steal essence from them, so they might solely seek out the human gamers who hadn’t discovered shelter at night time.

The sound of cussing could possibly be heard all around the village. The human gamers had spent lots of effort reaching degree 10 in the course of the day, and now, at night time, they needed to be trampled over by the yao, demons, and ghosts. They ran round searching for hiding locations whereas insulting the sport firm.

A very tall demon noticed Qingyue and Aotian atop the wall and swung a saber at the least two meters lengthy towards them, however discovered himself blocked by the inn’s barrier array.

“Tch, we are able to’t invade the residences, or the Tanye Temple monks will come out to banish demons,” the demon participant stated, shaking his head in disappointment as he walked away.

After escaping catastrophe, Qingyue and Aotian huddled again behind the wall. Aotian sighed and stated, “This recreation is means too imply. We’re all low degree, but some gamers can kill gamers of different species to degree up. Isn’t that an excessive amount of?”

“Let’s ask Dugu-dashen,” Qingyue stated. “It appeared like he seen means earlier that one thing would occur at night time, so he satisfied us to rush up and discover an inn.”

“Is smart,” Aotian stated. “Perhaps he was a part of a closed beta.”

They walked to the door, however their means was blocked by a stony-faced waiter. “Did you end your work?”

Aotian owed the inn 20 silver and wanted to work for 2 hours to pay it off, so in the event that they each labored collectively, that point could possibly be halved.

Qingyue stayed to assist him end quicker, and after they mixed their efforts for an hour, the waiter lastly allow them to go free.

It was 9 pm and Dugu Zhuo had already meditated within the vitality gathering array for an hour. Checking his expertise bar, he noticed he had gained 1000 expertise.

He solely wanted 100 extra EXP to achieve degree 10. Dugu Zhuo didn’t need to outlevel Ye Zhou, so he stopped meditating.

Pressing knocking got here from exterior the door at that time, so he opened the door and noticed Aotian and Qingyue standing exterior and searching frantic. “Dashen, all hell is breaking free exterior! Have you ever seemed?”

Dugu Zhuo replied calmly, “So the races which couldn’t domesticate in the course of the day are allowed to return out now?”

Seeing how he appeared to have already anticipated every thing, Lengthy @ Aotian couldn’t be extra impressed. He nodded a number of occasions. “Dashen, you knew from the beginning, didn’t you?”

“I solely had a guess,” Dugu Zhuo stated.

The people and spirits had an excessive amount of of a bonus in the course of the day, whereas the yao have been pushed to 1 facet and the demons and ghosts weren’t current in any respect. This stability was too skewed.

Dugu Zhuo felt that this recreation world shared some similarities together with his former world, so he had made his assumptions based mostly off the widespread sense of the cultivation world. Often, demons, ghosts, and yao would roam the night time, whereas having their powers enormously diminished in the course of the day. If the sport was additionally arrange on this means, then certainly, when night time fell, there could be a couple of modifications.

“The civilians within the beginning village have additionally grow to be demons,” Qingyue stated, her face white from fright. “They’re people by day, however demons by night time, and so they even assault human gamers.”

“Is that so?” Dugu Zhuo was barely bowled over.

He had thought that when the yao and demons emerged at night time, the villagers would lock their doorways and keep inside. He hadn’t imagined that the city would utterly change upon dusk.

“Was there one thing like this within the PC recreation?” Dugu Zhuo requested Aotian.

“After all not!” Aotian stated. “What sort of a hostile mechanic is that this? Not everybody can reliably go surfing throughout daytime or nighttime. Is the corporate attempting to lose gamers?”

“Not essentially,” Dugu Zhuo stated. “At increased ranges, people, spirits, yao, and demons alike will all haven’t any drawback in daylight. Solely low-level gamers shall be restricted by daylight or moonlight.”

“So the corporate did this in an effort to improve the problem of leveling up?” Aotian stated thoughtfully.

“Probably,” Dugu Zhuo stated, furrowing his forehead. He thought again to Tanye Temple. Logically, one thing like this shouldn’t happen the place Buddhist cultivators have been current. Nevertheless, he additionally knew very nicely that this was a recreation, not his former world, so variations have been pure… proper?

Considering of this, Dugu Zhuo unconsciously touched his bundle, which held the damaged Xuansu Swords.

Whereas Dugu Zhuo contemplated, he all of the sudden heard a notification by his ear.

[Ding! Your master Ye Zhou is online.]

Usually, you wouldn’t get notified for a buddy coming on-line, however for a blood bond, you’d get a system notification.

Dugu Zhuo hadn’t been conscious of this when he provided the blood oath. He had simply been attempting to forge a powerful reference to Ye Zhou in order that he may sense Ye Zhou’s location always.

By a blind coincidence, although, he may now know Ye Zhou’s on-line standing at any time when he needed.

Ye Zhou had clearly stated that he could be on 9 to 12 within the morning and three to six within the afternoon. Proper now, it was previous 9 pm, so why had he all of the sudden logged on?

Dugu Zhuo abruptly remembered that Ye Zhou had gone offline within the Karmic Forest. At night time, the monsters inside it could be empowered, plus there was a cat yao he had trapped in there!

Dugu Zhuo leapt to his ft and rushed out of the room, with Qingyue and Aotian following him. They noticed him kick open the primary gate of the inn and vanish into the night time full of monsters.

The 2 checked out one another, not figuring out what was with their dashen, or whether or not or not they need to comply with.

“Mother, Dad, Aunt Wu, I’m going to mattress.” At 9 pm, Ye Zhou bought in mattress proper on time, and after telling his mother, dad, and the aunt who all the time took care of him good night time, he closed his eyes and acted like he was asleep.

Aunt Wu positioned a name button subsequent to his mattress, reminding him that if he felt unwell wherever, he ought to press it instantly, and he or she would rush to his facet.

Ye Zhou agreed obediently, and after Aunt Wu left him a nightlight and closed the door behind him, his eyes opened.

His household all the time tried to maintain him from overexerting himself, and Ye Zhou additionally knew that his physique wouldn’t have the ability to take an excessive amount of exercise.

After signing off of 9 Heavens right this moment, although, he felt loads higher. He had all the time been sickly and even consuming a meal took lots of effort from him. Immediately, nevertheless, he felt stuffed with vitality, as if he had taken some type of miracle tablet.

Within the nightlight’s weak glow, Ye Zhou seemed on the VR helmet on his wheelchair.

Inside the sport, he may run and soar round to his coronary heart’s content material.

Maybe that was why he was in such excessive spirits.

The helmet gave the impression to be calling out to Ye Zhou. He couldn’t resist anymore and, pushing himself upright with problem, barely managed to achieve the helmet on his chair.

Ye Zhou informed himself he’d simply play for 2 hours. He set his recreation timer for logging off at 11 pm sharp.

He placed on his helmet with no sound, enter his data, and entered the sport.

The Karmic Forest seemed stunning at night time, with the moonlight glowing on the leaves. In a nimble leap, Ye Zhou landed on a tree department, admiring the moon.

The nightscape of this recreation was very lifelike. The breeze that blew throughout Ye Zhou’s pores and skin carried a slight chill, and though his contact sensitivity was at its lowest setting and he couldn’t really feel the faint breeze towards his face, the coolness made him really feel good.

He hadn’t seen the moon from exterior in a very long time, solely capable of sit in his wheelchair and watch by way of a window.

“Yeoww!” The sharp cry of a cat interrupted Ye Zhou’s peace.

Listening to a gust whistle by his ear, Ye Zhou dodged instinctively with out wanting again as a black shadow streaked by way of the world the place he had simply stood.

“What sort of a monster is that this? The boss of this bamboo forest?” Ye Zhou stared rigorously and noticed a black human determine which appeared to have a tail and pointy ears. Its eyes glowed an eerie inexperienced underneath the moonlight.

He felt like his imaginative and prescient was weaker than regular, and checking his stats, noticed that his velocity, agility, energy, stamina, and numerous different stats had all been lowered by 10%, chopping his skills considerably.

“Are you a participant or NPC?” Ye Zhou requested warily. “I’m a participant, so if you wish to combat monsters, you’ve discovered the mistaken goal.”

“No, I haven’t,” the opposite occasion stated, revealing their face within the moonlight. He was an individual with a cat’s face. “Participant or NPC, I can use the important essence of any human to degree up.”

“That’s additionally a mechanic?” Ye Zhou stated, sighing. “I assume gamers would lose out in the event that they miss the night time on this recreation.”

Swinging sharp claws, the cat-man charged towards Ye Zhou, who dodged at an unhurried tempo. Even when his velocity and imaginative and prescient have been decreased by 10%, Ye Zhou nonetheless may depend on his superior maneuvering to keep away from him.

Unable to hit Ye Zhou, the cat-man leapt up, curling his physique up in midair and remodeling into slightly black cat.

Ye Zhou was surprised for a second. “So yao actually can flip into people. You couldn’t remodel in the course of the day, so is the rationale you may proper now as a result of night time has fallen?”

“Mroww,” the cat stated sweetly. It began to look cuter to Ye Zhou’s eyes.

He already appreciated small furry animals and had as soon as needed a cat or canine, however his well being was too poor and an excessive amount of mud and lint within the air may set off an bronchial asthma assault for him. His room was all the time stored away from mud and he couldn’t preserve any pets.

The cat’s fur seemed so delicate. Ye Zhou couldn’t assist excited about how a lot he needed to rub its ears.

His eyes a bit hazy, he reached out towards the cat, which walked as much as him with its tail held excessive.

After dying a couple of occasions within the Karmic Forest, the black cat had gotten mad and logged off, yelling on the recreation firm for not giving yao a break ever since. Lastly, at 8 pm, somebody had posted that yao, ghosts, and demons ought to go surfing instantly, since their stats would improve at night time. Solely then did he log again in to find that he may grow to be a half-yao underneath the moonlight. Not solely did his stats go up, however he may domesticate with the moon and achieve expertise.

His senses have been sharper at night time, permitting him to see the Misdirection Array’s weak level instantly. He may additionally use the array towards the karmic beasts as a substitute, and had risen to degree 8 in simply an hour.

He’d been planning to depart this silly forest after degree 10, when a human participant conveniently confirmed up.

The black cat didn’t care whether or not his goal was a participant or NPC. They might solely lose a couple of ranges, in any case, so it was about the identical as killing them.

The Beguile method was strengthened underneath the moonlight. The black cat leapt onto Ye Zhou’s shoulder, rubbing his cheek together with his head, opening his mouth and leaning towards the defenseless Ye Zhou.

Ye Zhou knew he had fallen for a trick. The jade hanging from his waist, gifted by Dugu Zhuo, was releasing heat into his physique, attempting to alert him.

The sword in his hand was additionally buzzing. If solely Ye Zhou needed to, he may use the sword aura to dispel the appeal.

But…

Ye Zhou seemed on the cat’s ears. He informed himself that he would squeeze them as soon as, simply as soon as, then break away.

As his fingers have been about to the touch the cat’s ears, a human determine flashed by.

That particular person threw one arm round Ye Zhou’s waist, grabbing the cat’s scruff with the opposite. “Are you alright?” he stated with concern. “Has this yao taken your important essence? Have you ever misplaced any ranges?”

Below the moonlight, Ye Zhou noticed that it was Dugu Zhuo.