Chapter 301: The Drama (Part 3)
Jinse's eyes widened, not wanting to miss even a single second—this was the first time she had ever appeared in a drama.
The following storyline was mostly familiar to her. This time, the drama used a cinematic style of editing. Once Old Turing's buildup finished, the adventure shifted focus to the protagonist, Wayne Sturwell.
After a few montage shots, the audience learned Zhou Ning's purpose for this journey. In addition to collecting the Life Core, he also needed to travel to the Allsop Marsh in search of two missing Wanderers. The compass in his hand was an unknown artifact—one that could forever point to the thing you most desired in this world.
Barrage after barrage of envious, jealous, and spiteful comments swept across the screen.
Jinse pouted, ignored them, and kept watching:
As the sound of a lingering bagpipe rose, the camera pulled upward into the sky, moving forward. Players saw the forest suffused everywhere with life element, venomous lizards roaming all around, and two groups struggling through the woods: one was a dignified aristocratic expedition party, the other a ragtag band of pirates oozing with comic flair.
The overhead shot continued forward, revealing that the weather here was equally strange—this forest and marsh together formed something like a meteorological tide of life element. Distinct bands of different weather alternated sharply every short distance: sunshine, acid rain, fierce winds, and showers of life element, shifting one into the next.
The camera then advanced into the marsh, revealing more bizarre creatures: swamp crawlers creeping about at random, countless short and pitch-black pygmy swamp-dwellers, then drifting across a vast sea of green mist and the ruins of what seemed to be an elven relic. When the view jumped into a shadowy cavern, it began to descend and move forward.
The lens passed the swamp pygmies dancing in ritual, swept past a dark mirror, and slowly pushed deeper inside.
In the lower left, a line of subtitles appeared: [Nest of the Dark Spider Mother, Matalita].
Inside, the players saw a cavern filled with white spiderwebs and countless human-shaped cocoons. The cave walls were coated with flesh and blood. Deep within, an enormous spider lay dormant, its body bristling with clusters of compound eyes. Black filaments writhed along its sides, twitching with each breath like threads of some unknown lifeform. Even through the screen, players felt their chests tighten, as if they were face-to-face with a terrifying beast.
Above its head floated its dreamscape, receiving the worship of countless voices in a black void.
Moments later, a spectral spider, far smaller in size, rose from its body and crawled forward along the path.
The screen displayed another subtitle: Ancient God · Dark Spider Mother Matalita. Authority: Theft, Lust.
"It's actually an Ancient God!" Players erupted in shock.
This couldn't be a monster that appeared so early in the game, could it? Compared with what had shown up before, this was the true treatment of a protagonist! Was Wayne's expedition about to run into an Ancient God?
Jinse paused the video, staring wide-eyed at the cavern scene, replaying it several times before swallowing hard and continuing.
At that point, the overhead shots finally ended, and the view cut back to Wayne.
After the terrifying imagery just now, players held their breath as the protagonist encountered the aristocratic expedition deep in the forest. They were immediately struck by acid rain, only for Wayne to seamlessly shift the weather back, leaving them stunned speechless. Players were floored, spamming "666" as chatter filled the screen.
"At last the tone feels right."
"What skill is that? Don't tell me the protagonist moonlights as a meteorologist?"
"Not that weird. A chosen child of fate having two main professions isn't impossible."
"Exactly—Kien West, the leader of the Sunwatchers faction, is both a clan knight and a meteorologist, isn't he?"
With no clear answer, the players watched on. Soon, deep in the forest, Wayne captured the bumbling northern pirates, who revealed information about "Storm" Wilt's hidden treasure in the Allsop Marsh. They agreed to a 28% split to join forces in exploring the marsh.
The editing was remarkable. Though countless events had taken place in the marsh, the light-brain's cuts managed to streamline the clutter into a tight, gripping flow with no dull moments. Thanks to comic relief from the clownish Richie Burke, the drama even gained a dash of humor.
The BGM shifted into a jaunty tune. Wayne Sturwell remained mysterious and powerful, pairing stylish footwork with flamboyant gunplay. He cut down every monster in his path with effortless grace. The light-brain played clever tricks too—the jaunty rhythm of 11221122 matched perfectly with the rise and fall of life-element monsters, collapsing and reviving, interspersed with bursts of gunfire hitting right on beat.
Upon entering the Allsop Marsh, the adventure grew even more thrilling. Yet Wayne's effortless dominance continued to prevail. Surprisingly, comic relief Richie Burke shone as well—armed with a clearly outdated flintlock that somehow had infinite bullets and a chance to insta-kill, his performance stood out.
Following the compass, Wayne discovered the corpse of one Wanderer in the grass, then was led into a set of ancient ruins.
"It's here, it's here." Jinse's eyes widened, terrified she might miss a single detail. The earlier events had been spectacular, but they were things she had already lived through. What came next—Wayne's encounter with the mirror—was her blind spot.
After clearing the ruins' monsters, Wayne placed a mirror into a slot on the altar. His body vanished on the spot.
The screen flashed, showing him inside a mysterious tomb. Subtitles appeared: [Tomb of the Ancient Elf King].
The other missing Wanderer lay lifeless on the ground not far away, long dead, and there was no way back.
The BGM abruptly shifted from jaunty to deep and ominous.
Players unconsciously held their breath. Zhou Ning summoned a mage companion. Since he had previously summoned a dragon, no one found it odd. Step by step, he explored deeper into the tomb: passing through crumbling archways and murals, navigating perilous corridors, dodging lethal traps, and arriving in a chamber glittering with treasure.
It was like watching a masterful tomb-raiding film, utterly immersive.
The light-brain displayed captions for the treasures—most were priceless materials or unknown artifacts. Yet Wayne didn't even glance at them, his gaze fixed instead on the chamber's depths—where a massive golem-like creature approached.
To make its power clear, the system unusually labeled its name and level:
Ancient Mithril Golem, Level 67 Boss, Golem-type Monster.
Through the wide-angle lens, players who expected a fierce battle gaped as Wayne drew a pair of pistols, one white, one black, and fired without hesitation. He drew its attention. Across the way, his mage companion hurled a spell to further taunt it. For the next two minutes, the mithril golem ran uselessly back and forth, never once landing a blow, before being killed on the spot.
After the kill, Wayne pushed open the stone door to the left. With seemingly precognitive ease, he sidestepped the arrows that shot out and came face-to-face with three more mithril golems identical to the first, now encircling him.
"Holy shit, three bosses nearly level 70!"
"Skip ahead, this is the big moment!"
As tension gripped the viewers, Zhou Ning remained calm. With a slide and a flicker of afterimages, his figure blurred past, firing as his coat tails flared—causing the three mithril golems to crash solidly into each other.