Jiang Yuan was completely stunned when he heard it—there were other players?!
Terms like "pay-to-win", "cheat codes", "harem building", and "NPC" are definitely things only new players to the game would say. A player who entered the game a few days earlier was killed by an "NPC"; so, what happened to him in reality?
Did he get randomly selected by the system due to a previous player's mission failure, or was the Wilderness Descent game always meant to have many players? Would he be robbed after meeting them?
A string of questions buzzed through his tired brain all night long.
The villagers blabbered explanations in hushed tones, quickly helping him understand the basic rules of the game.
The wilderness descends at night bringing abundant spiritual energy, which can be absorbed for cultivation. Therefore, apart from the native demon beasts in the wild, there are also cultivators from the vast human world beyond the deserted island who can control the winds and command rain, standing on equal footing with demon beasts.
However, for ordinary people who have no access to immortal cultivation heritage, surviving in the chaotic world requires banding together.
Whether it's crops growing in the fields, fruits hanging from trees, game caught from fishing and hunting, or gems mined from the ground, all these can be offered in prayers to receive protection from the divine.
Accumulating enough contribution value allows the village to receive a divine statue from the offerings, which at night releases energy to envelop the village, preventing it from being crushed into ruins by mountains descending from the sky, and also offering some defense against demon beast attacks.
Before the Divine Statue of Goddess Nuwa was cracked by an outsider's axe, the villagers didn't know that the statue could be damaged by external forces. They usually took great care in offering it, and who would think of vandalism?
There was still quite a bit of contribution value needed to level the statue up to Level Three. The villagers, who had never encountered such a situation, couldn't come up with a way to repair it in time, leading to failure when the wilderness descended.
"So as soon as a Level One home is built, it grants the most basic self-protection." Jiang Yuan glanced at the main quest hanging up, thinking that perhaps upon completing the mission, the final reward would be a divine statue capable of protecting his homestead.
He didn't need to request divine miracles through the traditional village-specified ritual methods like the villagers of Riverfront Village.
The world during the day is relatively safe albeit barren. The economic livelihoods of ordinary people rely on land, rivers, and craftsmanship, with occasional trips west to towns for trading goods;
At night, when the wilderness descends, those who haven't established safe settlements must find places to hide and wait for the wilderness ascension to leave; villagers protected by a divine statue don't need to hide. They can stay quietly in their homes and avoid attracting the attention of monsters to safely endure the perilous night.
In general, when the wilderness leaves, original inhabitants take away wilderness creatures, but sometimes there are accidents, like those two cherry trees in the yard—they're remnants from the wilderness left at an unknown time.
And those unfortunate villagers who were captured to work as miners are confined in prisons deep in caves by daybreak despite not seeing the wilds in the daylight they can confirm they indeed got taken away. Many mentioned waking up groggy during the day to hear indescribable terrifying roars, old mouse spirits hiding cowardly inside, even, it must be more dangerous during daytime.
[Dawn Ascension of the Wilderness]
At six in the morning, the system notified Jiang Yuan as he turned to look outside the tree hollow. Unlike the grandeur of the wilderness descent, leaving actually carried a few fantastical hues.
Everything visibly became somewhat translucent, feeling light and afloat, even some semi-transparent weeds and branches passed through his body, lifted by white clouds light with immortal energy at a fast pace, the surrounding scenery interlaced display semi-transparently and people busily adjusted positions to find open space safely.
The whole process lasted a minute and immensely tall and dense jungle and swamps floated up skywards and disappeared, before his eyes became wild-growing grass bamboo groves.
The soft rays of the rising sun illuminated the entire world, switching the map to day mode, displaying the hills behind stretching like a lying cat named Cat Ridge.
"Isn't that Cat Ridge? We're not far from home!"
"Damn monsters, taking us for such a long walk, turns out we were going in circles! I thought we were far from home!"
After the wilderness left, someone quickly identified the direction, excitedly saying, "Over the mountain lies Riverfront Village, that's great! Let's go back quickly; that night was too chaotic and many escaped, we don't even know how they are, we still got to quickly get the Divine Statue of Goddess Nuwa offering!"
Wan Mingchuan, enduring back pain, invited: "Brother Jiang, it's dangerous for you being exiled here alone. How about discussing among us moving to Riverfront Village?"
"Yes, yes, moving to the village gives more support for everyone!" Lin Chunxi helped out beside him, even thinking the old house at the alley's end there could be fixed up for living.
This nimble-minded little brother who hears well wouldn't affect daily life, there's plenty for him to do after joining the village.
"Thank you all for your kindness, but I've already found a suitable place to build a house, so I won't trouble the village," Jiang Yuan, not wanting to abandon the system's allotted homestead, needed to go back to pick cherries and build a storage box at the workbench, of course choosing to politely refuse.
He didn't deliberately reveal he wasn't blind, as it's crucial to maintain cautious distance in social interactions with NPCs due to potential betrayals in a chaotic era, without divulging real situations.
Honest Wan Mingchuan opened his mouth not knowing how to persuade.
The opponent seemed not like a commoner whether in speech or swift reaction to monsters, but surviving independently in the wilderness without sight carried immense difficulty.
Lin Chunxi visibly despondent, yet she didn't know what to say, her deer-like large eyes occasionally glancing across him.
Upon hearing this, the village chief advised: "The deserted island can't match outside bustling with crowds, even begging on streets downtown overnighting outdoors, with divine protection, needn't fear wilderness monster havoc.
Here stretches tens of miles rarely seeing souls, at night it's chaotic. The village has strength in numbers, quickly gathering materials for offerings getting settled again, at least resting securely throughout nights. You saved many of us, moving to the village would be warmly welcomed by all."
Jiang Yuan again politely declined the villagers' enthusiastic invitation and pointed to the approximate location of his courtyard offhandedly.
"You built a house by Shuiyun Lake?" Qiao Mei squinted and looked into the distance frowning slightly, "We all know that place, vast open land with river surrounding, convenient for farming. But, it's haunted there!"
Ghosts?!
Jiang Yuan was slightly stunned, then guessed it might be the player's login initial point—given more than one player, NPC villagers clearly misunderstood.
Anyway, with system rewards over there, he could never abandon the cheat code to live in the village—too many people would hinder convenience in doing anything.
The villagers whispered as the unheeding young fellow walked away, "The young know no bounds, probably reluctant to give up large convenience having regrets later!"
"Right, right, an excellent piece of land left wasted, definitely something fishy about it!"
"Rumor says it's haunted even by day—is it because he can't see them he's unafraid?"
"Let's hurry back to find people, we've a ton ourselves to handle, no room dissuading. Check in some days, him surviving is good, if luck runs out, we'd give him a burial avoid exposure wilderness as thanks for his favor..."
Jiang Yuan naturally didn't hear villagers gossip, walking checked maps familiarizing surroundings.
Beyond a large bamboo grove was an almost grass-overgrown winding stone path, leading into a forest; afar forests encircled crystal lake picturesque serene.
After walking momentarily arriving at large ruin opposite courtyard's dilapidated wood bridge, seemed some unseen barrier hindered entrants, attempting touch prompted system notice needing Level Two to unlock new map.
"Pick cherries first, it's my only income now; upgrading gradually not hurried!" Finding no other salable earnings now, Jiang Yuan overlooked night labor fatigue, climbed tree first picked large rosy cherries from wild.
Gathering another hundred pounds cherries into storage bag, assured timely delivery, he finally exhaled relief, opening workbench in hut to synthesize task-required storage box.