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

On the 12th of October, Ou Huang, the game's number one player, logged out after his first day attempting the mage apprentice job advancement quest. On the 13th, he didn't log in for the entire day.

On the 13th, Ou Huang still hadn't logged back in, while in the game, a second wave of players reached the required threshold for the first job advancement. One of them was Give Me Medicine.

Give Me Medicine had long since farmed enough Treasure Expert reputation and had been stuck at the last bit of Potential to reach level 1 for several days. Finally, he managed to level up, and he eagerly logged in during his lunch break to go visit Finley and accept the job advancement.

And then… A short while later, Give Me Medicine died and was kicked offline.

There was no need to elaborate on how frustrated Give Me Medicine was when he died and was kicked offline. But as an engineering geek, Give Me Medicine had strong resilience under pressure. As soon as the death penalty timer was up, he immediately logged back in with high spirits, ready for another round.

However, Give Me Medicine wasn't alive for very long before he died and was kicked offline again…

During the short two-hour lunch break, Give Me Medicine died a total of three times.

By the time he resumed his work in the afternoon, Give Me Medicine, wearing a safety helmet on a construction site (in the real world), took out his phone and posted on the game forum out of anger:

"Attention, players who are grinding levels and reputation! The job advancement quests are a complete sham!

"I can't reach Ou Huang, so I don't know how the first job advancement for mage apprentice is done, but the wanderer's class job advancements are a complete nightmare!

"It's the lowest-level job advancement quest, goddamn it! Seriously, even the first task requires players to sneak out under the watchful eye of that giant rat in the south of town to retrieve a quest item called "Leafless Flower'' in the valley outside where the town is located!

It's freaking ridiculous! I was killed by that giant rat three times, and that's a whole afternoon of my time! Is that rat meant for players to farm, or is it farming us players instead?! I made sure the area was clear and I couldn't see it, but it came charging at me anyway!

Is it even reasonable for a measly first advancement quest to be so frustrating? Are they trying to discourage players from transitioning classes? I demand a reduction in quest difficulty!"

There were many among the players that were working individuals that couldn't play during working hours like Give Me Medicine. When they saw this post criticizing the advancement quest difficulty, many players who were close to leveling up joined in the pleading and begged the game developers to show mercy.

Of course, any discussion on the Internet would not be complete without the presence of self-proclaimed experts looking to argue. In this thread where players voiced their concerns about the game experience, there were inevitably all sorts of sarcastic comments too:

"I feel like the advancement quest is designed just fine. The wanderer class is supposed to be a combination of the traditional thief and hunter classes from other games, where sneaking/kiting is required to kill monsters. If you are gonna be a wanderer that can't stealth or kite, then you might as well go play a mundane lifestyle class like a noob."

"Having trouble defeating a mere elite monster? You guys are just terrible at playing games."

"It's not the game's difficulty. You guys are just noobs!"

For other games, the appearance of such condescending individuals would easily have led to heated online arguments. A post originally intended to protest the game developers' approach could easily veer off-topic.

However, it was different for the game "OtherWorld." With only 310 closed beta slots issued and only two "newbies" seen out of the 10 additional helmets distributed by the unscrupulous developers, players not only remembered each other's IDs, but it was also rather challenging for non-playing netizens to sneak into their ranks. The few instigators were quickly identified as non-players and were subjected to ridicule and sarcasm.

And then… the thread didn't go off-topic, but numerous threads like "Discrimination against non-players," "The need for respect toward non-players," and "Non-players also want to spend money on the game" popped up, which pushed Give Me Medicine's appeal to the second page…

Ou Huang, real name Lin Rulong, who was going through a two-and-a-half-day journey to rebuild his confidence, scrolled through several pages before finally seeing Give Me Medicine's post on the forum.

The "game's number one player" was silent for a bit before he clicked on "Create New Post."

Unlike Ou Huang's usual aloof manner, there was a cute touch to his writing style in posts, and this one was no exception:

"Hello everyone, I'm Ou Huang (〃'▽'〃)

Thanks to some good fortune, I received the mage apprentice advancement quest two days ago.

The job advancement quest is really difficult and it was a serious blow to my confidence. ┭┮﹏┭┮

The first quest is a multiple-choice quiz with a passing requirement of 70% accuracy. The quest panel lists the names and characteristics of several dozen plants that have to be remembered before being quizzed. It's actually quite simple.

The second quest, though, is rather painful. It requires players to enter an underground passage, activate meditation in the town's shelter, and enter a quest area called the 'Mental Trial.'

It's a bit like clearing a hundred floors. In the trial, you have to concentrate and make various choices quickly. If you fail one, you have to start over. It's really tough for me, and I've only managed to reach the 60th floor. _(:τ」∠)_

And I don't know why, but the 'Mental Trial' seems to consume a lot of energy. If you fail several consecutive attempts, you have to go offline and rest. ヘ(_ _ヘ)

Anyway, I've decided to challenge this quest again. Everyone also has to buckle down together and complete the job advancement early to learn new skills, okay? (づωど)"

As for the discussions and arguments that ensued among other players after seeing Ou Huang's post didn't have to be mentioned. On the other hand, the rather talented and reputable duo, Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy, who were grinding the Lord's reputation daily, immediately called each other after seeing the post.

Unceasing Entropy, who already had her own companions, had no intention of joining the two emerging player factions. During the "night of rampaging" on the 12th, they had even managed to snatch quite a bit of loot from the two major player factions despite most of them being unaffiliated.

However, this didn't affect her friendship with Blossoming Strokes. Even though there was a major tension between Brother Lahong and Vanilla Pudding, players on both sides would still team up to complete quests and farm monsters in their spare time.

That night, the two girls agreed to come online at the same time and attempt the mage apprentice job advancement quest together.

When they arrived at the Town Hall, they happened to encounter Guileless Gale and Phantom, two of Brother Lahong's buddies. Despite their fierce battles against each other just two days prior, this close-knit duo greeted them warmly and expressed that they wished to hear their experiences of the advancement.

"Not a problem. We were actually planning to make a post sharing our experiences after successfully completing the job advancement," Blossoming Strokes said with a smile.

After parting with this duo, the two girls approached Lord Yang, who spent most of his time in the Town Hall.

Compared to the other advanced NPCs, Lord Yang could be considered a more handsome category. The black mage exuded a mature male charm and the refined air of a middle-aged gentleman with the wisdom of years. He had a clean-shaven face, neat and tidy shoulder-length hair, a slender face, and a melancholic gaze. His Eastern features, in particular, appealed to the players that were from China.

Every time players approached this NPC for quest interactions, they would find Lord Yang either dressed in a stylish black robe, lounging in a chair while reading a book, or wearing a formal vest and pants, sitting by the table sipping tea. It could be said that Lord Yang was the epitome of human NPCs in the game.

But, an NPC, no matter how handsome, was still an NPC. Moreover, Lord Yang hadn't been given much screen time in the main quests players had undertaken, so even female players who liked handsome gentlemen didn't particularly have any fondness for Lord Yang.

"Are you ready to embark on the path of becoming seekers of magic?" Lord Yang, who was sipping tea, looked up and initiated the conversation as the two female players that had reached "friendly" reputation approached.

"Yes, Yang, we wish to become mage apprentices." Blossoming Strokes stepped forward to interact.

The advanced NPCs in this game were highly intelligent. Even if the dialogue used during interactions wasn't particularly formal, key phrases being mentioned would elicit a corresponding response from the NPCs.

Of course, because these NPCs were so intelligent… it was important to be polite and not have a poor attitude during interactions, as it could easily provoke the NPCs and result in being killed…

Lord Yang set down his teacup, clasped his hands on the edge of the table, and solemnly said, "Magic is a dangerous power. While it is beautiful, it can easily lead one astray. Those who seek the path of knowledge must possess the strongest will, never abandoning the purest convictions deep within their hearts, regardless of the circumstances they face. No matter how powerful their abilities become, they mustn't lose themselves. Undead friends born from evil chaos, are you truly prepared?"

Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy were both expressionless.

What nonsense are you spouting, you evil black mage who even deceived the pure-hearted zombie general and seized the opportunity to take over and proclaim yourself Lord?!

But because this fellow was the only spellcaster advanced NPC and angering him might result in being incinerated by a massive fireball, Blossoming Strokes maintained a straight face and was as courteous as possible. "Yes, Lord Yang, we are prepared."

Fortunately, the NPC didn't ramble on further this time. He simply nodded and, being as pretentious as ever, said, "I admire your courage, undead ones," before issuing the quest.

As they left the Town Hall, the two girls whispered to each other, "This guy will definitely end up as the boss of a dungeon sooner or later…"

After seeing off the two girls, Yang Qiu once again immersed himself in the matrix.

It was currently 6pm Earth time, late morning in OtherWorld, and the peak of online activity. Including the new player Ji Tang, who had received a helmet from NeuroTech Center's Director Lu, there were a total of 301 players online.

Yang Qiu had been paying some attention to this new player, Ji Tang.

This person seemed quite impressive, starting with 53 Potential upon initial login. Yang Qiu also noticed that this person seemed to have suffered significant mental trauma.

This 53 points of Potential was a figure derived from the internal runes of the skeleton character after the soul had suffered severe mental trauma.

Considering the player's unique air and actions upon entering the game, Yang Qiu didn't find it strange when Ji Tang revealed his background in the Chinese military.

It was also precisely because of this that after Yang Qiu decided to introduce civilian NPCs, he had been waiting for Ji Tang to undergo a job advancement. Without Ji Tang to lead and foster the attitude toward "accepting dynamic storyline quests," Yang Qiu couldn't rest easy seeing how neglectful and careful those other players were.

And now, after two days of experiencing the game, Ji Tang had finally decided to become a warrior. After doing some reputation quests at the Warrior Guild construction site, it didn't take long for Ji Tang to voluntarily start taking care of Charlie Rex, who was clearly ill.

During the players' "night of rampaging," Rex, due to his poor mental state and incompatibility with the former bandits, had remained inside his tent throughout the night, completely detached from the festivities.

In the eyes of the players, this advanced NPC Rex was rather transparent.

While warriors had always been a traditionally popular class in MMORPG games and the class initially attracted numerous players looking to grind warrior reputation, most were rational individuals who analyzed their own circumstances.

After realizing that the undead race had no strength advantage and had the drawback of being easily overwhelmed, most players dropped the idea and left, leaving behind only a few "faithful believers" like Tang Jia, Yang Ying, and Qin Guan, who remained steadfast.

Having fewer players to deal with was actually a good thing for Rex. Although he had become more stable after being added to the Mind Imprint Matrix and was no longer teetering on the edge of losing control, his mental trauma wasn't something that could easily be healed.

He would still occasionally experience hallucinations, and his mind would always be in a tense state. If a bunch of annoying players were constantly making a racket around him, his condition might deteriorate further.

On the first day Ji Tang followed Tang Jia and Yang Ying to grind warrior reputation, he couldn't help but notice Rex who was always seemingly sitting in a daze beside his tent.

Today was Ji Tang's second day of gaining the warrior reputation. He logged in at the right time, according to Unceasing Entropy's calculations for optimization, met up with Yang Ying and Tang Jia, and arrived at the Warrior Guild construction site once again.

Rex sat beside his tent, gazing blankly into empty space. A pot sat on the fire pit before him. It barely had a feeble flame.

Seeing this listless NPC made Tang Jia cringe slightly. "Our warrior instructor is truly unique. Other NPCs attack players with their swords, but our NPC instructor… I'm afraid I might scare him if I raise my voice even a bit during an interaction."

"If something like that were to happen, it would be because your voice is just too loud," Yang Ying teased her companion. "It's a waste of your talents if you aren't working at a bustling marketplace."

Tang Jia protested, "Hey, I was born with it! Like I can do anything about it…"

Ji Tang silently observed the NPC for a bit, then carefully walked over, squatted down beside Rex, and asked softly, "Friend, are you alright?"

"He's fine. This NPC has always been like this, and his reactions are particularly slow, especially during work hours. We've gotten used to it and he'll be fine in a little while," Tang Jia said nonchalantly.

Ji Tang glanced at his two companions engaging in idle chatter, then turned back to the NPC, who seemed to be suffering from some sort of mental condition and had an extremely slow response to the outside world. Without saying a thing, he reached for the wood nearby and helped build up the fire for the NPC.

Throughout this process, the NPC with "Charlie Rex" in green words above his head remained motionless.

Ji Tang simply took it as a silent approval and picked up the food bag on the ground beside the NPC and took a look at the contents.

Inside the unmarked transparent plastic bag were packets of instant noodles, dry and hard expired bread, tin cans with torn-off labels, carton milk, repackaged ham sausages, dried vegetables, and sweet potatoes… All in all, it was a bag full of expired and unlabeled food items.

Ji Tang. "…"

Any ordinary player, upon seeing this sealed foodstuff, would simply lament how much time the game developers had to create such realistic models even for the food that the NPCs ate.

But for Ji Tang, he had read a report from the expert task force when he received the helmet and entered the game with the purpose of carrying out a mission. So, he had much more complex sentiments than ordinary players when seeing the off-shelf products purchased by the "target" from local supermarkets on Earth…

Regardless of what others might think, Ji Tang believed that the "target" that had come up with "OtherWorld" needed re-education. It was one thing to treat those "advanced NPCs" that clearly seemed like villains with vile hidden intentions, but Charlie Rex was unmistakably a patient who needed care. Was it appropriate to feed such nutritionally deficient food to a patient?

Unfortunately, Ji Tang had been strictly forbidden to privately interact with the "target" Ji Tang had complaints but nowhere to express them. Therefore, he rolled up his sleeves and took care of this patient, whom he alone knew wasn't an NPC, to the best of his ability.

After playing this "game" for several days and exploring Exile Town, Ji Tang had already memorized the town's layout and the vegetation growth in the surrounding valley. He had also made rough estimations of the temperature based on the sun's position, distribution of plants, and observations of the "NPCs" by their clothing.

He also seized an opportunity when separated from the players to set up a simple squirrel trap and caught a family of small squirrels. Using them, he tested if the wild vegetables of this world similar to those on Earth were poisonous or edible.

And so, Ji Tang asked the two female players to watch over the fire while he headed upstream along the river that cut through the town, near the outlet where the mountain released groundwater. There, he gathered some water spinach and water celery.

Next, he went to the side of the mountain in the valley where players rarely came and found the rabbit hole he had discovered earlier. He broke off a thorny branch and poked it into the hole, successfully stabbing a large gray rabbit that was even fatter than a mother hen.

Using Finley's bone dagger, Ji Tang gutted and cleaned the large gray rabbit, then tied it with a rope and returned to the Warrior Guild construction site. Under the astonished gazes of the two female players, he used the available ingredients to cook a pot of nutritionally rich and reasonably balanced "military stew" for Rex…

Tang Jia and Yang Ying aside, even Rex, who had slightly regained his senses from his morning daze, was shocked.

These skeletons, with their considerable intelligence, self-awareness, and willingness to work for the black mage Yang in exchange for copper coins and the so-called reputation, had already profoundly challenged how Rex viewed the world. And now, this skeleton, who had just arrived to perform a quest here, actually knew how to cook?!

What surprised Rex even more was that this eccentric skeleton even crushed some freshly picked berries, added them to hot water, and sprinkled in some white sugar scraped off a biscuit before stirring and pouring it into a jar. He then tied the jar to a bucket and lowered it into the well before telling Rex, "Bring it out to drink after cooling for two hours. It will help you combat the heat."

"…Thank you," was all Rex could mutter.

"You're welcome." Ji Tang nodded.

Before Rex could remember to "initiate" a conversation and issue a quest, the skeleton had already walked away on his own.

Rex watched the departing figure of the skeleton, dumbfounded. Then he turned toward the more familiar Tang Jia and Yang Ying.

"Don't look at me. I have no idea what other tricks that guy has." The usually carefree Tang Jia seemed unusually uneasy. "Uh… Charlie Rex, do you need us to take care of you?"

"No, thank you." Rex couldn't possibly make such an embarrassing request to an undead lady.

Tang Jia didn't know what to say and looked at Yang Ying out of helplessness.

Yang Ying. "…"

Yang Ying made an effort to adjust her worldview and decided to play the role of a conscientious player. "Rex, can you give us a quest?"

"Of course… The tools are over there, help yourselves." Rex's tone and attitude were much more polite than usual.

Half an hour later, Ji Tang returned, dragging a pile of wooden boards and pillars that he had collected from the ruins to the south of the town, all bound together with rope.

Under the bewildered gazes of the two female players and NPC Rex, Ji Tang went to work and started building a crude but usable pavilion next to Rex's tent…

Tang Jia felt that even grinding reputation wasn't as exciting anymore, and Yang Ying felt like she had done something wrong. The two of them silently put down their quest tools and took the initiative to assist Ji Tang.

The other faithful advocate of the warrior way, Qin Guan, finally managed to handle the internal affairs of his own player faction and rushed over to grind reputation. To his astonishment, he found that the players who had arrived earlier were all gathered around Rex, this NPC who was usually barely alive.

"What are you all doing? Did you guys receive a hidden quest?" Qin Guan hurried over to ask.

"What quest? Can't we do what needs to be done without quests?" Tang Jia rolled her nonexistent eyes at him. "You're so vulgar, that pretty face is wasted on you."

Qin Guan. "??"

In the Town Hall, Yang Qiu rubbed his chin with satisfaction and nodded approvingly at Ji Tang, the reliable designated player leader.

"A pity he's only one person… It would be great to have a few more like him."

As the saying went, "A person is known by the company he keeps." If influential figures among players in the game were troublesome and annoying, then other players would follow suit. If the leaders were upright and righteous, the game's overall atmosphere would be much better.

Unfortunately, he couldn't directly approach Director Lu's side and ask them to arrange for more players like Ji Tang to join…

"But he did give me a reminder. When selecting 'tools,' it isn't necessary to use natives; we can consider having players take on the role."

Yang Qiu tapped the table, pondered for a moment, and took out his phone to jot down his inspiration in the memo.

When assigning "dynamic storyline quests from civilian NPCs" to the first batch of players who complete their job advancement, slots for "tool players" shall simultaneously be open… There's no need for too many; 12 would probably be enough. The imprint matrix can only accommodate this many at most for the time being…

The recruited individuals must take on functional positions within the town, receive copper coin salaries based on their working hours, and provide benefits comparable to the laborers. Those with relevant skills and specialties should be given priority consideration…