"Did you guys buy Cassius's Secret Trove?"
Mantou looked eagerly at the crowd, desperate to find some fellow unfortunates who shared his terrible luck.
He had sunk every copper he made from selling white dragon scales straight into the mystery boxes, blowing through a full seven pulls. In the end, he had walked away with nothing to show for it except an undergarment belonging to some unnamed adventurer.
Tiansheng Zhankuang rubbed his bald head with a chuckle. "My luck wasn't bad. Got a pretty practical piece of green gear."
Xiaye Qiuyu smiled like a blooming flower. "I pulled a Fireball wand—on my very first try, too."
Mantou wanted to weep, but no tears came. "How is everyone so ridiculously lucky? Don't tell me I'm the only one cursed by the RNG gods?"
Then he saw Singo shake his head.
Mantou instantly perked up, beaming with joy.
Thinking he had finally found an unlucky brother in arms, he pressed eagerly, "Haha, you got burned too, didn't you?"
Instead, Singo gave a dismissive scoff. "I didn't buy a single one."
"Just treat it as a show. Isn't this kind of event purely the devs milking the player base? They're probably trying to drain the gold out of closed beta players so the gap isn't too huge once the official launch happens.
"No way—could someone actually be stupid enough to throw all their savings into it? Did you really think you were that lucky? With expected values that low, I'd rather just buy gear with cash."
Hearing that barrage of harsh reality, the smile on Mantou's face froze solid.
He patted his chest, clutching at whatever faint comfort he could muster. "Whatever... at least I'm not the most miserable bastard out there. Someone else did twenty pulls in a row and got nothing but garbage.
"Charlotte, my good brother..."
He dabbed at the corner of his eye and flashed a relieved grin.
In the distance, Charlotte lay flat on the ground, practically drained of all color like an old black-and-white photograph. The members of the Magic Coin guild were crowded tightly around him, desperately pouring all kinds of potions down his throat—mind tonics, rage potions, anything they could find—hoping their beloved guild leader could pull himself together and recover from the tragic ordeal.
Word of Charlotte's "twenty white lights in a row" had already spread far and wide, becoming a hot topic on the forums and serving as a soothing balm for countless unlucky players.
Paired with the miraculous "double rare on single pulls" pulled off by Feitian Nüwu from his own guild, the two were now hailed together as the "Black and White Fiends"—or the "Duo of Fortune and Despair."
"Alright, wrap it up."
"The servers shut down in three hours. Do you want a taste of fine wine worth twenty gold coins or not?"
Singo pulled out an exquisite bottle and gave it a deliberate swirl, letting the sweet, enticing liquid cling to the glass.
A wyvern landed beside them, nuzzling the knight's body affectionately with its long, slender neck.
Mantou felt a sudden surge of bravado.
"Let's do it! Drink till we drop!"
Langlibaitiao slung an arm over Mantou's shoulder and grinned slyly.
"Count me in!"
"Lang-beast, who invited you?"
"Come on, it's the last day! Don't be so stingy, right?"
*Growl—*
"Holy crap! Why is your lizard biting me again? Does it have a vendetta against me?!"
...
Inside the Steel Dragonwing Palace.
Cassius sat upright on his cold throne, staring intently at his system panel while keeping a close eye on the magical projections broadcasting from across the realm.
The countdown on the panel marched forward, second by second.
"10, 9, 8..."
"2, 1..."
"0."
The number finally hit zero.
Without the slightest warning, at that very instant, the clamor in the taverns came to an abrupt halt, and the revelry in the public squares fell dead silent.
Whether out in the wilderness, inside the mechanical factories, deep in the mountains, or even inside the gaping maw of a manticore, the bodies of every single player dissolved in a heartbeat into fine, ethereal motes of light. Moments later, they vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed at all.
Though there were only a thousand-odd players, Northwind Keep seemed noticeably bereft of life without them. Many local residents had grown accustomed to the lunatics, and their sudden disappearance felt jarringly strange. This was all the more true in places like the City of Baator and Sige Town, where the players had first made their start.
A tavern keeper who had just mixed a drink stared blankly at his empty establishment, speechless for a long time before finally sputtering, "Then... who's going to pay for their tab?!"
"Wait... how do you cut off the magical circuit again? And which indicator light was I supposed to watch?
"You didn't have time to tell me—!"
Inside the factory, apprentices watched their mentors vanish before their eyes. Looking at the massive, complex machinery towering before them, they were left utterly at a loss.
*Roar?*
A manticore that had just been toying with its prey, swallowing a human whole, watched the meat slip right out from between its teeth. Feeling its mouth suddenly empty, it had no way to comprehend what had happened. It could only let out an irritable, furious roar, its tiny brain entirely incapable of grasping the situation.
Meanwhile, within the Steel Dragonwing Palace, Cassius spoke toward the magic mirror:
"How is it? Did you detect any anomalies?"
Langpu's hideous face materialized on the glass, his tone grave. "Still... nothing.
"We gathered twelve players for testing, established separate control groups, and monitored over a hundred players with spells, but we found no clues whatsoever.
"By all normal logic, a mass teleportation of this scale—regardless of the method used—should leave behind traces in the Weave, even if it were a divine miracle. Yet these 'Starfallen' vanished as if out of thin air. There were no magical fluctuations, nor any residue left by teleportation spells."
Cassius's expression remained calm. "Understood. You can set this matter aside for now."
"Very well, Master. I will likely go assist in handling the relics left behind by the Machine Cult. Truly capable spellcasters are still too scarce in our realm, and I worry the people dispatched by the kingdom won't operate the equipment properly, causing losses."
"Go, then."
As Cassius severed the connection, the mirror's surface dimmed, and Langpu's reflection faded away.
*Still nothing, huh? Just what kind of power lies behind this so-called 'game system'?*
*Perhaps one must truly touch the realm of deities to catch even a glimpse of the secrets behind this fog...*
Cassius stared at the words signaling the temporary server shutdown on his panel, unable to stop himself from murmuring.
The red dragon had taken this "server maintenance" event very seriously, assembling nearly every spellcaster in the Kingdom of Cinders to investigate it. Yet they had come up entirely empty-handed. This only proved that the power behind it operated at a level far too high—one beyond the comprehension of even a high-tier wizard like Langpu.
*Whoosh...*
Cassius exhaled a plume of sulfurous smoke. Flames burst from his jaws, turning the palace interior into a scorching furnace. Fortunately, this was the newly built palace; otherwise, it would have caused another disaster.
*The ancestral bloodline inside me is growing hard to suppress. If I don't digest it soon, I'm afraid it'll trigger a volcanic eruption. Looks like I must enter my deep slumber within the month.*
Just then, the tiefling guard at the door knocked to report at a rather inconvenient moment.
"Ugh!"
His hand was scalded by the glowing red iron door, wrenching a yelp of pain from his throat. Even so, he endured the agony and announced:
"Your Majesty, Lord Fried of the Dragon Oath Hall requests an audience. This time, he has brought twelve humans with him."
"Send them in," Cassius answered calmly.
With a slight sweep of his wings, the formidable force of his domain smoothed out the Weave and quieted the restless elemental fire. The blistering air in the hall gradually cooled down.
*Looks like Fried has finally chosen the first batch of candidates.*
Chapter 225