The moment Yuchi Goudan took the agate bracelet, a burst of golden light suddenly erupted from it. As he gripped the bracelet, a golden thread revealed itself, extending outward. The blue-named NPC disappeared, and the illusory scenery in the mist seemed to shift into another background. He stood straight, holding the bracelet, his mind still filled with the elegance of that sword strike. When he finally recovered, he found golden threads extending from other directions as well—six threads converging at one point—that was the location of the golden kasaya?
The scene shifted. Yuchi Goudan looked up and saw the other players appear as well. They each held their magic tools, exchanged glances, and walked toward the kasaya.
"So, after getting all six magic tools, we unlock the kasaya and also unlock a multiplayer map?" Nangong Meili wondered.
The players could finally see each other inside the illusory realm, but when they reached the kasaya's location, they saw it floating in midair, and the area beneath it was empty void, without even a cloud to cushion a fall. No one knew what would happen if they fell. The players were confused; no NPC appeared either.
"Do we just take it directly?" But the kasaya was far too high and too far away. Even if the players formed a human ladder and the last person leaped up, they still wouldn't be able to touch it—and even if they did, would they really land safely on the clouds on the other side?
"Wait, hold your magic tools tightly! This golden thread seems like it can solidify." The golden threads pointed straight toward the kasaya, but when the players deliberately gripped their magic tools and focused to use them, their mental and physical energy depleted, and the threads became real. In other words, once all six golden threads materialized, they could form a "chain" leading to the kasaya, allowing someone to climb it.
But the golden chain was far too thin. Climbing it would be…
Yuchi Goudan felt a bit embarrassed. In his opinion, his trial wasn't that difficult—it was just that he failed to overcome the test of his own heart. He had been deceived by appearances, unable to believe in himself and lacking the resolve to cut down the tree. If he had been braver and more decisive, maybe he wouldn't have needed the blessing of two incense sticks at all. Wang Erma… hadn't even received any blessings. It was so high—how could he possibly climb up? "Why don't I work tomorrow and earn more incense for you to boost your stats?"
"Does materializing the golden thread drain you a lot?" Wang Erma looked up at the kasaya floating high above. The thread was simply too thin. Even he wasn't absolutely confident he could climb it. And since the golden thread was controlled by multiple players, if anything went wrong halfway…
"It's fine, we can maintain it," Shangguan Cuihua said after sensing the consumption. Maintaining it wouldn't be a problem. She looked upward. She felt that the difficulty of this trial wasn't about whether the players could hold on—it was whether Wang Erma could trust them enough to entrust his life to his companions.
Even though falling might not mean certain death, no one knew what would happen.
"There isn't much time left in today's illusion trial—maybe we should wait until tomorrow?" Zhang San suggested, since they still had one full day of preparation left. There was no need to rush the trial today. As for facing the NPCs' torment again tomorrow—well, that didn't matter much.
"No need, I'll try." Wang Erma thought for a moment and decided to attempt it. The ritual was in seven days—meaning the day after tomorrow. Who knew what would happen tomorrow on the last day? If the ritual came with its own challenges, then tomorrow should be used for proper rest, with no need to tire everyone. As for climbing… "I liked rock climbing when I was alive, so I have a bit of experience."
Since Wang Erma had made up his mind, no one said anything more. They simply stood together, raised their magic tools, let the six golden threads intertwine and thicken, then controlled the output so that Wang Erma could grip them and climb upward.
Determination? Willpower? Courage? Trust?
Watching Wang Erma climb upward, quite a few players were already thinking about adding each other as friends once the game ended. The three female players who always acted together already had a great relationship, and Huangfu Tiezhu and Yuchi Goudan—those two unlucky brothers who lived across from each other—had also grown close. Zhang San and Wang Erma were likewise a duo of unfortunate souls.
When Wang Erma climbed halfway up the golden thread, Shangguan Cuihua slightly furrowed her brows. She felt the force being drawn by the magic tool increase a little, though she could still endure it. But this kind of change—
The other players' expressions also shifted slightly, but in tacit understanding, none of them spoke. Instead, they silently tightened their grip on their magic tools.
Seeing this, Mu Anqi thought: Now this is the correct way to play the game—relaxed entertainment and friendship. Not only does it provide emotional value for NPCs, but the players themselves also get inner growth. How nice. The fact that players couldn't give her game a five-star rating was truly a design flaw of Nirvana Space.
Watching Wang Erma's face turn red as he gritted his teeth and climbed upward bit by bit, and then looking at the fine beads of sweat forming on the foreheads of the six players, she couldn't help wondering: If I shouted out a blessing for Wang Erma right now, how much emotional value would that give me?
But she was an upright game operator. Unlike those creatures from "All-Things Playground" or "Forest of Eternal Night" who constantly changed the levels, she naturally wouldn't make such a "bamboo-stealing" move.
"But… time's almost up." Mu Anqi watched the countdown of the illusion. If Wang Erma got flung out the very second before touching the kasaya—cough, no, stop, she was a righteous game operator!
While Mu Anqi was desperately holding onto her conscience, Wang Erma hung onto the golden thread, exerted all his strength, and pushed himself upward. He carefully balanced himself and attempted to stand on the thread, and even the onlookers broke into a cold sweat at his wobbly posture. Fortunately, Wang Erma managed to steady himself with his excellent physical condition! Taking a deep breath, in his extreme tension and excitement, large beads of sweat rolled down from his chin. Then Wang Erma suddenly leaped upward, grabbed the floating kasaya, and in an instant, golden light burst forth, dyeing the entire illusion in pure gold!
A sense of weightlessness and falling hit him. Hugging the kasaya tightly, the moment he landed, Wang Erma jolted awake—springing up from his bed. The golden kasaya lay on his blanket, emitting a faint golden glow, pushing away the surrounding darkness. Looking up, he realized he had left the illusion and returned to the room.
The golden kasaya—
He immediately hugged it and kissed it several times. There were no wounds on his palms, yet they still throbbed faintly with pain. Overwhelmed with excitement, Wang Erma couldn't sleep at all. Remembering how he had suddenly left the illusion, he wondered whether the others knew he had succeeded. After calming down slightly, he put on a coat, unable to hide his smile, and tip-toed out of the courtyard.
As soon as he stepped outside, he ran into Zhang San, who was peeking around with concern all over his face. Wang Erma waved the kasaya in his hand, and Zhang San's eyes lit up. He rushed over and picked him up, spinning him twice.
Wang Erma: "?!"
"Ahem." Huangfu Tiezhu and Yuchi Goudan also emerged, staring at the two of them with indescribable expressions. Wang Erma quickly pushed Zhang San away and even kicked him: "What are you doing, what are you doing!"
"Lower your voices! Don't disturb the villagers," Shangguan Cuihua whispered.
"So now, everyone has their magic tool? Then tomorrow we can sleep well!" Nangong Meili said excitedly. "But tomorrow during the day we still need to work a bit and see if we can get more incense. At least each of us should have one boost, right?"
"Mm, we'll work hard tomorrow," Yuchi Goudan nodded. That was what he'd intended anyway.
They had no idea what would happen during the ritual, yet the players were as excited as if they were about to clear the game. They agreed to add each other as friends, talked about teaming up in the future, then huddled together in the night breeze, whispering excited guesses about what kind of boss they might face during the ritual. Only when the cold wind blew away some of their excitement did they shrink their shoulders and head home one by one to sleep.
...
On the seventh day, the tense atmosphere completely vanished. The players were energetic and thrilled. Huangfu Tiezhu and Yuchi Goudan, who worked in the tavern, were hyped up as if injected with adrenaline—wiping tables and mopping floors while practically dancing. They earned a stick of incense for Wang Erma to boost him. The six of them then gathered to watch Wang Erma perform an adorable fancy "heart gesture dance," laughing together as a group. By evening, after eating something simple at home, they pooled their savings, went to the tavern to order a few desserts and specialty dishes to try, and only after spending every last coin did they head home in high spirits to wash up and rest.
"Tomorrow… is the ritual…"
The village looked completely unchanged. Despite the ritual being such an important event, the villagers acted as if nothing unusual was happening. Under this calm atmosphere, the players, for the first time, did not enter the illusion realm and instead slept soundly until morning.
They were woken by the soul-piercing sound of suona horns.
Outside the windows, the sky was still dark and gloomy, but the banging of gongs and drums exploded through the air. Wang Erma, still dreaming of his golden kasaya, was yanked out of bed by the Wang couple who barged in and grabbed him by the ears—
Was it dawn? Was it already daytime? Still confused, Wang Erma quickly washed up, was forced into a white ritual outfit with black trim, draped the golden kasaya over himself, and before he could even ask what was happening, he was stuffed into a white sedan chair waiting at the door—oh, and two meat buns were thrown in with him.
The other players were in similar situations: bracelets and charms were put on them, and Shangguan Cuihua leaned on her silver staff inside her sedan chair. Seven white sedan chairs proceeded up the mountain in a grand procession, accompanied by deafening drums and blaring suona horns, jolting every bit of sleepiness out of the players.
"What? It's this casual?" Shangguan Cuihua couldn't understand. She used her silver staff to lift a corner of the window curtain and peeked outside. The sky was so gloomy it looked like heavy rain would fall any moment, and the person next to her, dressed in white and beating a waist drum—why did he look less and less like a "person"…? Human hands shouldn't be that white, right? What the heck… paper figurines leading the way?
No, seriously, look closely—the white sedan chairs seemed to be made of paper too!
When this "caravan" passed the first shrine at the foot of the mountain, a gust of cold wind blew through, making all the players in their sedan chairs shiver. As they looked out, they met eyes with the black shadow sitting in the shrine. They couldn't make out its facial features, yet they instinctively felt it was smiling.