I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 707 - 707 706. Every flower here has killed me_1

Chapter 707: 706. Every flower here has killed me_1 Chapter 707: 706. Every flower here has killed me_1 Old Eggplant took the lead, venturing into the Black Forest.

The surrounding light was absorbed by the trees, turning dim.

His target was that certain flower that had previously killed a player.

In Old Eggplant’s opinion, monsters close to the forest generally wouldn’t be too strong.

Plus, most players were now without equipment and weapons, so if it was a normal game design, these initial monsters would definitely be beatable and not too powerful.

Even the Great Tree Guardian could be executed with a Level 1 Shield Counter under the operation of an expert; now, with a sharp long sword in hand, there was no reason he couldn’t beat the small monsters of Novice Village.

However, about ten minutes later, Old Eggplant realized Lu Ban’s malice.

The unfortunate soul that had been taken out had only seen one flower in that patch, but there were at least ten other grotesquely frightening flowers waiting for them.

And countless writhing, thorny vines, emitting the stench of rotting corpses.

The only silver lining was that these creatures couldn’t move, they only stayed in one place waiting for prey, like Old Eggplant and his group.

The fight lasted only about five minutes.

It couldn’t even be called a fight.

Without any combat skills or magic, relying solely on stick-fighting skills inherited from his parents’ mixed doubles sessions in elementary school, Old Eggplant couldn’t have dealt with so many monsters even if he had been wielding a laser sword.

Moments later, Old Eggplant and the group of Players he led crawled out of the mire.

“Holy shit, that was too damn hard, is this even meant for humans to play?”

“Are these Novice Village monsters? I’ve played a lot of games, don’t fool me.”

“Lu Ban wouldn’t have gone bad, starting to do that thing where bosses are placed right next to the spawn point, right? Are you still human?”

“Super thrilling, so exciting, just now I think my heart rate must have exceeded two hundred!”

“How can we fight without skills? Should we look for some people who have trained in martial arts in real life to help us fight?”

The players were all talking at once, but Old Eggplant discovered a serious problem.

“Folks, where’s my sword?”

“Your sword is my sword?”

“No, where did my big sword go?”

Old Eggplant hurriedly searched around him but found no trace of the long sword.

“Could it be… this game has death drops?”

His heart skipped a beat.

Stealthily approaching the spot where they had previously fallen in battle, Old Eggplant suddenly saw his gleaming long sword lying in the midst of the flowers, entangled by a mass of vines.

“Fuck, it really is death drops!”

In ancient MMOs, it was common for players to drop equipment upon death. Back then, players, apart from grinding, would engage in PvP with other players, and by killing an opponent in PvP, one could pick up the equipment they dropped, making PvP very exciting. Big shots would keep spending money to strengthen themselves to avoid being killed.

However, such settings brought about too much frustration for players, and were gradually phased out in later games, which even evolved to include ‘bind on pickup’ mechanics, making it so that equipment could no longer be circulated.

Of course, some MMOs that followed the law of the jungle still placed heavy penalties on death, even losing skill levels and all the money in one’s possession, leading to huge losses with just one death.

To think [Cage] would be this hardcore?

Old Eggplant suddenly felt that the difficulty of the game had just escalated.

Fortunately, it seemed this game lacked an experience point system, and apart from losing all one’s equipment upon death, the only other penalty was pain. However, under the common immersion experience of “Morning Star,” this pain was still bearable, and even somewhat enjoyable for certain individuals with special preferences.

“Listen up, if we want to kill these monsters, we need to retrieve our weapons, which have now fallen among them. So, we’ll have some people attract the monsters’ attention, while others go grab the weapons. I saw that besides the sword, there are also some metals, which might be the equipment of adventurers who previously died here.”

He had analyzed that, under normal circumstances, such actions were extremely dangerous, and a moment’s carelessness could cost a life.

But this was a game, and in a world where the death penalty merely meant the loss of equipment, players without any gear were like the barefoot not fearing those with shoes, each braver than the last.

“No problem.”

Everyone readily agreed with Old Eggplant’s idea.

After all, there seemed to be quite a few treasures hidden within those flowers; securing just one could mean striking it rich.

“Folks, the rise and fall of Night Country hinge on this very moment. I hope we can all work together as one. I’m going in!”

After saying this, Old Eggplant once again charged into the thicket with the players.

A few minutes later, a hand emerged from the muck.

Old Eggplant clambered out, gasping for breath.

“Damn, we can’t beat them.”

They had clearly underestimated the strength of the monsters. Far from using a few people as bait to divert attention, just a single flower was more than a match for ten people. All their strategies were in vain before such overwhelming power.

“Wait, I actually survived for a minute just now; I feel like I’ve gotten stronger.”

“Wasn’t that just a stroke of luck?”

“Not at all; I noticed it too. It seemed like I could make out some of the vines’ movements. Is this what growth feels like?”

“Really? Why do I feel like I got taken out instantly then?”

“Shall we try again?”

The players charged into the thicket once more.

After a while, Old Eggplant emerged from the muck again.

“It’s pretty tough.”

He concluded.

“But just now I was about to grab the sword. Our lineup is fine; it was just a slip-up in our execution. Let’s go again!”

By evening, Old Eggplant still hadn’t managed to retrieve the sword.

He walked over to the edge of the thicket.

Each flower here had killed him before; approaching them felt as familiar as coming home.

He looked at the other players; he knew full well that everyone had reached their limit.

Like a boss battle, being stuck for a standard few dozen minutes to an hour was already quite long, but being stuck for an entire afternoon, dying in all sorts of ways had exhausted everyone, some were already thinking of beating a retreat.

“Let’s try one last time. If it doesn’t work out, then let’s honestly go back to picking up sticks or helping out on the farm to save up money,”

Old Eggplant encouraged.

Everyone perked up a bit.

After all, they had already spent such a long time here; giving up now would just feel like a loss.

Moreover, through repeated deaths, the players had gradually honed their reaction speeds and had even deduced some patterns in the monsters’ attack methods.

If common games gave feedback based on character stats growth, then this game provided feedback based on the players’ own growth and learning.

Indeed, Old Eggplant felt that even if he were to take off the helmet now and return to the real world, his brain would likely retain these experiences, elevating his responsiveness to a new level.

“Let’s go, we’re charging in!”

Old Eggplant led the players towards the flowers.