Chapter 705: The Avengers and a New Round of State of Mind Tempering

"It is said... in the Orc Kingdom, it seems that the people of several towns have gone missing recently...?"

At this moment, let alone the orcs who had come into the shop, even Cret, the mercenary who had just entered the shop today, had caught wind of the rumors.

"Lately, the border back home... doesn't seem very peaceful..." Mr. De was also discussing it with the audience at this time.

"Has anyone found out what the situation is?"

"For now, there doesn't seem to be any news."

...

Within the endless void, a massive shadow seemed to be quietly spreading outward.

It floated as if in the dark abyss, scattering a death and dread that swallowed everything.

As if drawn by some inexplicable summons, it drew closer and closer to that continent so vast its boundaries could scarcely be seen at a glance.

Situated high above in the dark void, a colossal eye cast its gaze down from the emptiness, monitoring everything in this world.

...

"Excellency Dicks, do you think there are truly gods in this world?"

"What are you saying? Those miracles and disasters were certainly not fake; some countries still have the remnants of those catastrophes lingering even now."

"That is true."

On the screen, Mr. Fang's instructional livestream was also entering its final phase.

"What you face now are two bosses, but the kills must be orderly; slay the priest first, then deal with the knight," Fang Qi spoke.

High Inspector Sally Whitemane was a powerful priest, accompanying Commander Mograine as his lover; she possessed a resurrection art far more potent than anything the players commanded.

Returning from the dead was in fact nothing new to players since Diablo 2; the demon lords in Diablo 2 had been slain more than once, only for their souls to endure.

Resurrection in World of Warcraft worked the same way, pulling back the player's soul and repairing the body to achieve rebirth.

As everyone knew, the conditions for the resurrection art held by players were extremely harsh; even if the player characters like Paladins and Priests were devout by default in their faith, they still required an extremely quiet environment free from interruption to cast.

At the same time, if they took an attack during the process, the spellcasting would easily be disrupted.

But Whitemane was different; she only needed to hypnotize the players for a brief moment, and she could quickly cast the resurrection art.

"You must kill this priest first," Mr. Fang said. "Otherwise, you will have to face a knight who can never be slain."

Of course, under the protection of a powerful and valiant Paladin, wanting to kill the priest behind him was obviously not that easy.

If there were a Mage, these two bosses could even completely form another warrior-mage-priest system to contend against the players.

Yet even now, the mutual complement of warrior and priest still formed an extremely troublesome combination.

"Therefore, we need a nimble class that can bypass the Paladin, while our Main Tank must tie down the enemy's frontline."

In truth, this felt more like PVP than PVE.

Humanoid bosses naturally possessed intelligence.

Five players with poor equipment and low levels going up against two high-level players with great gear and special skills—that was exactly what it felt like.

It was worth mentioning that in the system version of World of Warcraft, after the two were defeated, Mograine would flee carrying Whitemane's corpse.

Perhaps only in the future, when someone retrieved the Corrupted Ashbringer from the hands of his father, the elder Mograine—who had already been resurrected as one of the powerful Four Horsemen under the Lich King—could they bring him his final death, ending this cycle of karma for the tragic old knight who died by his own son's hand.

Of course, that would perhaps be a long time from now.

Because the bosses fled, the way players obtained loot was also different from the original version; after Fang Qi and the others cleared it, a loot chest would appear in the center of the cathedral: spoils searched from the cathedral.

"Scarlet Commander's Shield?!"

"The stats are so high..."

"With this shield, the Main Tank is invincible!"

The drop immediately drew a wave of gasps; of course, Mr. Fang hid his merit and fame deeply, after all he was just teaching the newcomers and explaining some basic common sense, whereas the old shop already had several teams of players who had fully cleared it.

...

Helen, the female knight of the Golden Gryphon Knight Order, seemed to arrive very late today; she had not stayed up all night yesterday, yet her face today still appeared thoroughly exhausted.

Lately, she seemed to always dream of some... extremely strange and bizarre things, a sensation that defied description.

Fear would continuously corrode and eat away at a person's will, just like a terrible plague.

And at this very moment, an invisible plague seemed to be spreading through the crowd.

In the distant Elven nation, the Silvermoon Forest.

Several Elven elders were currently gathered by the lakeside, which was as smooth as a mirror.

"Do you feel it... that power of fear coming from the shadows..." the silver-haired, silver-bearded Elven elder murmured. "Its power grows greater by the day; fear... will erode people's will, darkness will swallow their remaining consciousness... until finally, they become puppets of fear..."

"We must find those believers of the shadow as soon as possible," another elder said. "We absolutely cannot allow it to continue! Otherwise, when they truly descend, we will completely lose the power to contend with them!"

...

"Ah—!" Within the new shop, a sharp cry of alarm rang out; Helen seemed to have bumped into someone, leaping away like a startled rabbit.

"What's going on? You gave me a fright..." Mr. Fang looked at her with a face full of depression.

"No... nothing," a voice as thin as a mosquito's buzz drifted over. "I'll go get on a machine first."

"Am I really that terrifying..." Wasn't it just that he had blown this girl away with a sneeze back then...

Just at that moment, Fang Qi seemed to feel an imperceptible yet extremely bizarre power invade his brain.

Mr. Fang only felt a shiver run through his entire body.

But it did not seem to cause any damage to him, quickly dissipating into nothingness.

Just then, Fang Qi suddenly received a new prompt.

New shop players have reached over 5000, activating the new shop special movie.

Obtained the distribution rights for the new shop special movie "The Avengers", with the option to screen it simultaneously at the old shop.

New Quest: A New Round of Mental State Tempering.

Quest Goal: As a boss, you need stronger psychological resilience than the customers; please enter the game training room for special training until the quest is completed.

Quest Reward: "Outlast" Virtual Reality System Remastered Edition.

Quest Description: After training in this game, your mental state will become even more powerful.

Previously the system had released "Silent Hill"; although it also elevated the mental state, its greater function was to dispel inner demons and patch vulnerabilities in one's state of mind.

It was clearly slightly different from this current title.

"Outlast...?" Mr. Fang stole a glance at the system interface, his face turning black. "Are you sure you want to temper my mental state, and not temper it into pieces?"

The system interface displayed: Produced by the System.