Dark Magician Isekai: Return and make Fantasy World into a VR Game

Previously, Yang Qiu had watched numerous game-related videos while preparing for the game's launch on Earth. Through these videos, he discovered that popular MMO content creators and streamers often emphasized the concept of a "sense of belonging."

His observation of the three veteran players during the closed beta testing further confirmed that the player community did indeed pursue spiritual fulfillment when it came to games.

It might sound exaggerated to claim that playing games was a pursuit of spiritual fulfillment, but at the very least, it could be categorized as a psychological need.

Mainstream MMORPG games on the market featured opposing factions, and the conflicts between these factions provided players with a strong sense of belonging and a shared language. In other words, for a game to generate high player engagement and increased time spent online, it had to foster a sense of "belonging to a collective" among players.

However, Yang Qiu couldn't implement the straightforward approach of having opposing factions. He could only use skeletal remains as "game character vessels" and couldn't accommodate too many players in the short term. Splitting a mere three hundred players into two factions was simply ridiculous. Therefore, he had to focus his efforts on the background setting of the playable undead race.

Taranthan was a massive thousand-mile wasteland nestled between the Duchy of Shiga and the Rhine Kingdom. For hundreds of years, both countries had dispatched pioneering teams in attempts to conquer this desolate land, all of which ended in failure.

The reasons for their failures were apparent. Despite the existence of this relatively easily accessible wasteland, trading caravans still preferred the risky route through Sorensen. The desolate wastelands of Taranthan had been untouched for over a thousand years, and it harbored all sorts of demonic monsters and beasts, along with unstable void rifts.

Sending a few thousand pioneering settlers into this place was akin to throwing rabbits into a lion's den. Not only was establishing dominance impossible, but even surviving was considered a small miracle.

The small town Yang Qiu selected, hidden away in a valley, had indeed belonged to a group of settlers several decades ago. However, nobody knew for sure whether they were from the Rhine Kingdom or the Duchy of Shiga.

Of course, this wasn't important. What mattered was that the downfall of this settlement was indeed due to idolatry.

Shortly after clearing the surface vegetation, Yang Qiu discovered the remnants of sacrificial altars and arrays hidden in the underground tunnels, along with a large pile of human remains. With one look, he could easily imagine the brutal fate that had befallen the original inhabitants of this town.

Though for Yang Qiu, this phenomenon wasn't surprising at all. This world wasn't like China, where you could send troops to the vast deserts of the northwest to colonize and settle. In this world, when there was a political need for colonization, the conventional approach would be to gather prisoners from the jails and form an army of exiles. Then, grant a civilian officer with a massive ego the title of general while providing some supplies as a casual gesture of support.

In other words, colonization in this world was either a political show or a means of dealing with explosive prisoner numbers; it was never about territorial expansion. If countries truly sought expansion, they wouldn't bother with a desolate wasteland that needed to be rebuilt from scratch. Wasn't it more enticing to go to those lands beyond the continent, where indigenous populations had already developed large-scale farming and cultivation?

And to make matters worse, the majority of the prisoner population in most countries included cultists and heretics.

Such deployments were often harsh and a great challenge for those involved.

Of course, Yang Qiu couldn't allow players to "inherit" the honor of a band of exiles composed of criminals; there was simply no such honor to inherit.

Thus, Yang Qiu came up with the plotline of a "border guard team that came to save people." He then transformed the zombie king he had retrieved from the marshes into the "righteous and resolute General Lancelot Edgar."

"Born from chaos, but longing for order," "conceived evil that yearns for the light"—this faction with an antagonistic facade yet committed to righteousness perfectly embodied core socialist values!

Furthermore, what appealed to Earthlings was a dose of "contrast cuteness." Take a video, for example. A righteous protagonist with thick eyebrows and bright eyes sternly shouted, "Release that old lady!" would probably result in most viewers watching it blankly and skipping the scene. However, if it were a bald man wearing a flashy shirt with a gold chain on one side and roaring, "Release that old lady!" Those same viewers would cheer with enthusiasm.

This was what made Yang Qiu's game appealing.

This extremely hideous zombie general, who didn't issue manual labor quests, was usually disregarded by players. But as the plot progressed, the zombie general's attributes of "righteousness and determination" were slowly exhibited, which would increase players' favorability toward him.

Considering the original setting of the town, Yang Qiu decided not to include characters with the identity of prisoners or heretics. Drawing from his observations during his travels in this messed-up world, he slightly modified and created characters such as "General Charlotte," "Morris," "Anna," and "Yarlyn."

In conclusion, the players' discontent with the emotional plotline was not a deliberate attempt by Yang Qiu to provoke them. It was simply a result of this dark magic plane where too many unfortunate individuals, whether by family, friends, neighbors, comrades, or even strangers, were afflicted, and being driven to insanity was the norm.

Unlocking the dialogue with the zombie general plotline marked the completion of the quest's second phase. The next part involved an escort quest: After learning that the players had discovered the corpse of "Yarlyn," the zombie general personally descended into the underground tunnel to retrieve his body. During this period, the players had to protect the Zombie General as he entered the underground shelter while also exploring the consequences of the townsfolk uttering the name of the evil god.

This particular consequence was the "cult sacrificial site" deliberately left behind by Yang Qiu when he cleared the underground tunnel. Of course, he had eliminated the excessively brutal elements, leaving behind only a few mutilated corpses and remnants of the sacrificial altar.

The players remained rather calm and unaffected on the outside as the zombie general led them to the site. After all, compared to the dusty remains of fragmented bones piled up in the corners, the zombie general, even when accompanying them, had a more horrifying effect.

Apart from the exploration, the players also had to face the test of being attacked by a "miniboss," which was a corpse ghoul that Yang Qiu had specially kept when cleaning up the underground tunnel.

This corpse ghoul was likely summoned by the cultists during their sacrificial rituals. It had high physical attack power, extreme speed, and the ability to lurk in the shadows. Yang Qiu's estimates were that it would eliminate about half of the players; after all, an epic-level quest without casualties wouldn't be a proper quest.

Of course, Yang Qiu had no intention of letting the players who had worked so hard be wiped out. Once half of the players died, the zombie general, as the leader of the undead race, would receive the "Fury" buff due to the "excessive deaths of his fellows" and would then eliminate the corpse ghoul.

The zombie general was a heavyweight among the zombie NPCs after all, and Yang Qiu had spared no expense when crafting it and imbued it with numerous runes.

As expected, when the group followed the zombie general into the underground shelter, before they even had a chance to move "Yarlyn's body," Blossoming Strokes, who stood in the middle of the team, was struck by a claw from the emerging undead monster and disappeared in a white light.

"Why is it always this poor lady with bad luck?" Yang Qiu sighed as he watched with a mix of both laughter and sadness while observing via the imprint matrix.

Other than Yang Ying, this group was made up of experienced gamers. Upon accepting the quest and knowing they would have to fight monsters, they had deliberately arranged their formation, placing the members who weren't particularly adept at combat in the center—Blossoming Strokes, Brother Lahong, and Unceasing Entropy.

However, they never imagined that the spawning location of the monster was off. The corpse ghoul appeared right in the middle of their formation and instantly caused a whole lot of chaos.

Blossoming Strokes was reduced to a white light, and Brother Lahong, who couldn't escape in time, met the same fate. At a critical moment, Unceasing Entropy pulled Yang Ying away, narrowly saving both their lives.

"Why is this damned thing so fast?!" Yang Ying gripped a broken wooden stick, intending to fight back, but after being clawed twice, she met a glorious death.

Yang Qiu's lips twitched. "Sis, even I can tell that this monster is too much for the players to handle. Don't be so stubborn…"

Before he even finished muttering his sentence, Yang Qiu witnessed the player called Stuffed Gummy attempt to grab the corpse ghoul by the waist before being sent flying by a powerful kick, crashing into the wall and falling apart.

Yang Qiu. "…" Oh, well. Players can respawn, and being stubborn has its advantages.

After four consecutive deaths in their party, the players finally realized their inferiority and hurriedly scattered in panic.

Run toward the zombie general! Yang Qiu shook his head.

After the player with the ID Win By Grinding was grabbed and killed by the corpse ghoul, the zombie general's "Fury" buff was activated—it was actually Yang Qiu briefly lifting the sealing rune that restricted this zombie's aggressiveness. With an enraged roar, the zombie general swiftly charged toward the corpse ghoul as if he were Usain Bolt in a sprint.

"What the hell?!"

The players jumping and dodging about were astounded by the slow-moving zombie general's sudden burst of lightning speed.

In the next moment, these newbies in the magic plane witnessed firsthand the combat style of this world. In an instant, the zombie general, clad in tattered armor, caught up to the agile corpse ghoul. With a swift moment, he grabbed the corpse ghoul by the neck and slammed it against the ground like a sandbag. Then, with a clenched fist, the zombie general ruthlessly pounded the triangular-shaped head of the corpse ghoul…

"Holy crap! Our general doesn't use a sword?!" Qin Guan exclaimed in astonishment.

Of course, the zombie general didn't use a sword. The armor it wore and the longsword hanging by its waist had been added by Yang Qiu to give the "leader of the undead race" a certain degree of prestige.

"Such a shame! Why is the leader a zombie while we are skeletons? Skeletons can't possibly engage in such a domineering melee battle!" Give Me Medicine remarked in envy.

Unceasing Entropy, Qin Guan, and the others didn't feel like giving a reply.

Even though zombies were formidable, they wouldn't play the game if only zombies could be selected as game characters. They couldn't bear the idea of being surrounded by zombie teammates—no matter how good they fought!

With his bare fists, zombie general Lancelot Edgar pounded the corpse ghoul, which was originally created through sacrificial rites, into ashes. When the "Fury" buff was removed, the zombie general slowly picked up "Yarlyn's body" and carried it to the surface.

After "Yarlyn" was placed inside a small wooden hut, the zombie general, acting as if it had accomplished a great task, recited a series of predetermined lines, urging the undead players to unite and fight against all incoming enemies, then announcing the content for reaching 80% quest completion had been unlocked.

In simple terms, after slogging away for several hours and losing half of their comrades, the players had finally earned the opportunity to grind the reputation for Yang Qiu in new ways…

While the zombie general provided the concluding storyline, Yang Qiu, who had been spectating all this while, issued a timely announcement to all online players via the imprint matrix:

———

System Announcement: Congratulations to players "Give Me Medicine," "Unceasing Entropy," "Blossoming Strokes," "Vanilla Pudding," "Yang Ying"… for completing the worldview breakthrough quest, [Birth of the Undead Race].

As the completion rate of the worldview breakthrough mission has exceeded 80%, new content in the server will be unlocked.

1: Players Unceasing Entropy, Yang Ying, Stuffed Gummy, Study Obsessed, and Brother Lahong discovered an underground passage leading beyond the town during a quest. At the end of the passage lies a cave infested with spider-like creatures. Players can now form teams and explore this area.

2: Players Blossoming Strokes, Unceasing Entropy, Give Me Medicine, Vanilla Pudding… successfully deciphered the history of Exile Town and how the undead race came about during a quest exploration. Taranthan's Territory Prestige system is now unlocked. Players can obtain territory prestige by defeating monsters and contributing materials to the Lord of Taranthan.

Mayoral election is now unlocked. The player with the highest Territory Prestige on will assume the role on a monthly basis.

3: Alliance system unlocked. Players who have reached level 1 and successfully completed a job change can receive Blood Alliance quests from the Zombie General, "Lancelot Edgar."

4: Blood Alliance bases unlocked…

5: Main storyline quests have now been unlocked. Players who have reached level 1 and successfully completed a job change can receive the [Birth of the Undead Race] quest from Zombie General, "Lancelot Edgar," to uncover Exile Town's hidden past.

———

Many grinders laboring away tirelessly and a few casual idlers let out exclamations of surprise.

After carefully reading the contents of the announcement, these players who were addicted to grinding or only wanted to play by themselves when logging in let out screams like "666," "Boss is awesome," "F*ck! I have to be level 1 to even play!"…

Beneath the Town Hall, Ou Huang, who disliked collective activities, casually browsed the announcement before turning his attention back to the Great Leaf Vines.

Similarly, fellow lone wolf Jia Luo was busy doing manual labor to accumulate copper coins while striving for the final two points of Potential to hit level 1. She stood in a daze for quite some time after reading the announcement, mumbling to herself, "It's said that we must form teams to explore the monster-spawning points. Does that mean solo farming can't be done? Indeed, these sorts of monster-spawning scenarios aren't very solo player-friendly… Should I go find a small group to join?"

Roughly ten minutes after the in-game announcement was made, the official website also posted the update notice.

There were many who frequented the forum daily, eagerly waiting for account releases. Such netizens immediately sparked a lively discussion, with various posts urging the release of beta accounts:

"Patch has been updated to 1.04 already, when will new accounts be released?"

"What can 300 players test? Development team, release new accounts quickly! I'll help you test for free, I'm really good at finding bugs!"

"Why did I hesitate and not grab a helmet back then!"

When Yang Qiu, who was back on Earth, checked the forum, he wasn't surprised to see the bunch of routine posts requesting beta accounts dominating the page.

"I understand that feeling… I remember feeling just as anxious when I couldn't afford to buy GTO and could only watch others play. However, this much spam is unacceptable. Banned from posting for three days."

Yang Qiu expressed sympathy for these non-player netizens eager to enter the game but wasted no time in deleting their posts and issuing bans.

After deleting over a hundred meaningless spam threads, Yang Qiu suddenly noticed a post with a completely different style—

"Shocking News! You Won't Regret Seeing This!"

"What groundbreaking news could there be within ten days of the game's launch?" Yang Qiu wondered as he clicked on the post.

Yang Qiu's body trembled when he glanced at the main post.

"Let me tell you some shocking news: the financial blogger who criticized the development team for their scheming money-grabbing tactics was actually paid to publish that Weibo post!

"The person who paid him initially failed to obtain the helmet but immediately received it after paying the financial blogger to publish that Weibo post!"

Yang Qiu exclaimed, "What? Such a move exists?!"

It wasn't just limited to him. Other non-player netizens who clicked on this post were taken aback as well.

"What the hell! Is that for real?"

"How does OP know?"

"Damn, no wonder! There were people offering it for 500 or 800 the day before, but by the second day, it was only 300 yuan everywhere!"

"Those 300 yuan ones are from studios. My sister got a helmet from a studio and I even scolded her for spending money foolishly back then!"

"My friend also got his helmet from a studio. I bet that studio must be crying now!"

"F*ck me, I'm already crying. I sold my helmet at that time! Does the OP know who the scheming scumbag is? I want to kill him!"

"I sympathize with you, LOL… Wait, why are tears welling up in my eyes?"

"Ahahaha, I didn't even have a chance to buy a helmet. By the time I found out about OtherWorld, there were no unbound login helmets available. I couldn't get one even if I had the money!"

"Developer team, please release accounts!"

"People really go to great lengths to seize helmets. Compared to that, my news feels insignificant. My dad works at the NeuroTech Center, and a super impressive scientist from there contacted me a few days ago, asking me to wear the helmet and participate in their experiment…"

Yang Qiu's body shuddered again when he reached this comment.

Then… he opened a search engine to find out what exactly this NeuroTech Center was…

He'd been in the OtherWorld for centuries now. How was he supposed to know?