A huge thanks to GreenKiTea in Kofi for the kofis. Enjoy these bonus chapters!

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Six minutes left until confirmation. 

Qiyu made sure all his gear was properly on, pulled the hood of his Guardian Mage Robe over his head, and fastened his Level 3 Mage badge.

Then, at the mages association shop, he bought two hundred sets of materials for crafting elementary magic scrolls in one go and quickly inscribed two scrolls on the spot.

He stowed the pre-purchased materials in his backpack; if he encountered any dangerous situations and ran out of scrolls, he could always inscribe more on the spot. 

The opening of the resource zone couldn’t have come at a better time—although his mana and mental energy hadn’t fully recovered yet. 

Fortunately, he had plenty of magic scrolls in his backpack; whenever he was unsure what to do, he could just throw them all at once, which always bought him plenty of time.

Four minutes left.

After making sure he hadn’t missed anything, he selected “Enter Resource Zone.”

Soon, he heard a commotion outside the shelter. Qiyu stepped outside and saw that the natural area outside the shelter—which had originally belonged to the Star Forest—had, for some reason, a path had appeared.

That must be the path to the “resource zone.”

Having made up his mind to go, Qiyu didn’t hesitate any longer; he walked over and set foot on the mysterious path.

The path stretched straight ahead, so he followed it forward as the scenery on either side changed rapidly. Qiyu silently counted his steps in his mind; after taking ten steps, the view suddenly opened up before him. 

Suddenly, the scene brightened, and a seething crowd of voices surrounded him. There were so many people—it reminded him a bit of his time in the Black Rock Mountain Range.

The golden sunlight made Qiyu, accustomed to the gloomy skies of the Star Forest’s rainy season, squint uncomfortably. He quickly scanned his surroundings and was astonished to discover that there were not only players there. 

It wasn’t that he was observing particularly closely; it was simply… too obvious.

Some were gathered in small groups of two or three, while others stood alone.

They all shared the same characteristics: they stood on guard, their physiques mostly revealing signs of muscle or training, they carried weapons, and…dressed like normal people.

Another group, however, was quite distinctive: some wore straw hats, vests, and flip-flops; others wore armor with a pair of rain boots and a raincoat over their armor, and others wore light armor and sported a strange crown on their heads… 

Take the person right in front of him, for example. Qiyu noticed he had two necklaces hanging around his neck, a bracelet on his wrist, and all ten fingers adorned with flashy rings. He wore something green that resembled a mage’s robe, but on his feet were a pair of golden warrior boots. 

Even by Qiyu’s unconventional standards, this outfit was simply a bit too bizarre. He fell into a rare silence: So, when all that gear is actually worn together, does it really look like this? 

He suddenly felt relieved that he didn’t have that many oddly shaped pieces of gear for the time being.

The Jade Three-Piece Set had a very simple, everyday design; the barbarian fang bracers were quite inconspicuous on his wrists; and the phantom armor blended perfectly with his outfit.

Of course, most importantly, once he slipped on the Guardian Mage Robe, his entire body was completely covered. 

Not only did he look pretty normal, but even if he didn’t, no one could see it ^_^. 

The only things exposed were the five rings on his fingers: the Ring of Shadows, the Ring of Silence, the Ring of Power, the emerald ring, and an ordinary ring that added +2 to attack. 

Qiyu took a two-second, appreciative look and still thought the rings on his fingers looked pretty nice. 

The players are dressed like weirdos—what does that have to do with me, a mage certified by the Mages Association? 

Besides, there was another piece of great news for him: he’d already met the local residents on his last visit, and they didn’t look much different from him. Seeing the players’ appearances for the first time, he was completely put at ease.

In fact, most of the group were Earth players with black hair and black eyes—they actually looked even more like him than he did. Great—he doesn’t have to worry anymore that he’s some weird-looking alien. 

He casually glanced around and noticed that people seemed to be continuously “dropping” onto this island, which appeared to be enormous. It wasn’t that he was running out of adjectives—every single person truly did appear out of nowhere, without the slightest warning, suddenly dropping out of thin air.

Qiyu guessed that everyone must have arrived the same way—by taking that mysterious path and then suddenly appearing. The path must possess a “teleportation” ability similar to that of the wilderness wagons.

Although Qiyu had realized from what they had told him about the resource zone cards that local residents from the outside world could also access the resource zone, he hadn’t expected that local residents and players wouldn’t be separated.

Convinced that there was no official authority or governing organization present, Qiyu saw no point in wandering around. He stood quietly in place, his body on high alert at all times, ready to respond to any unexpected situation.

Most of the local residents were just going about their business, but the players were different—they were running around everywhere and striking up conversations with people nearby. “The stats panel in 6 isn’t working!”

Suddenly, the players around him sprang into action, but Qiyu noticed that even among players, they couldn’t see each other’s status bars. They seemed oblivious to his words and movements. 

A man approached him.

“Esteemed Mage, if I may ask, are you here in the resource zone alone?” A burly man with red hair walked over, his tone surprisingly gentle given his imposing appearance. “My teammates and I are both pretty strong. If you need teammates, you might want to consider us.”

“Thank you for your kindness,” Qiyu said, shaking his head. “But I don’t plan on forming a party.”

The burly man didn’t seem to take it personally; he shrugged at his companions behind him and walked away.

Mages have always been out of place among other classes.

He’d simply spotted a rare solo mage today—one whose entire outfit looked quite expensive—so he thought he’d try his luck. 

What if he got lucky and made a new friend? It was just a matter of asking—he had nothing to lose. 

Meanwhile, a player who discovered his survival panel wasn’t working panicked, but when everyone realized that none of their survival panels were functioning, they all calmed down.

Qiyu heard someone say, “Looks like there’s no signal in the resource zone.” 

Of course, the main reason they remained so calm wasn’t that everyone was equally unable to use the survival panel, but rather that their storage backpacks were still functioning normally.

Qiyu thought it might be because the storage backpacks had also been “equipped” by players.

He heard a player not far away mentioning him: “Holy crap, that guy in the green cloak is so handsome! That’s exactly how I imagine myself.” 

“I wanted to dress up like that, too.”

A player next to him asked, “Then why didn’t you dress up?”

The player who spoke rolled his eyes: “Is it that I don’t want to?” 

Someone else called out, “Are there any players from Zone 703 here? Let’s get to know each other!” 

Then someone next to him blurted out, “Holy crap! Zone 703? Are we all from different zones?”

“I’m from Zone 93.”

“I’m in Zone 06.”

“I’m in Zone 88.”

Qiyu heard a number that sounded somewhat familiar and instinctively looked over. The speaker was a young man who, compared to the flashy players around him, looked a bit more normally dressed.

Qiyu noticed his slender build—he didn’t look like the kind of martial artist who would be “training his body”—so he lost interest and looked away. 

After all, with so many regions and so many players with resource cards, how likely was it that he’d run into God Has No Form by pure coincidence? 

Just then, he overheard someone say, “I’m from Server 01.”

As luck would have it, the speaker was someone Qiyu had just seen—the one wearing a raincoat over armor and rain boots—though by now he’d already taken off the raincoat. 

Someone asked: “Server 01? Isn’t that the one that’s always posting server-wide announcements?”

“Does everyone in your district use cheats? If we’re talking about the game, your server must be the very first one launched, right?”

“Bro, what’s with that look? It’s so unique!” 

“Don’t even get me started—during our rainy season, it rains every single day. Good thing the shelter doesn’t get moldy or grow mushrooms.”

“Damn, I’m so jealous. Over here in the desert, it’s hot as hell.”

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could add each other as friends to trade? Too bad this crappy game blocks the interface in the resource zone because there’s no signal.” 

“In your Server 01, is the top player that bootlicker big shot, or that ‘My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens’ big shot?”

Qiyu：……

Although no names were mentioned, he realized almost immediately who the “bootlicker” was referring to. 

He shot the speaker a cold glare. Hmph, you guys just don’t get the appeal of a survival game. Superficial Earthers. 

However, he also realized that while some players seemed carefree—unlike the locals, who were so wary that they kept everything on the surface—their noisy chattering, what they discussed and revealed, was all very common knowledge.

Clearly, no one was truly stupid.

The ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled. Fortunately, Qiyu had been on high alert the whole time and immediately regained his balance. 

Qiyu instinctively began scanning his surroundings, but before he could even look up, a massive black shadow loomed overhead, and his vision went dark in an instant. It was merely the shadow cast by a colossal creature.

Qiyu’s eyes widened. The island, which would be considered enormous to humans, seemed like nothing more than a toy in the presence of the colossal beast. 

And to this giant, the humans on the island were perhaps nothing more than a speck of dust in the vast ocean.

Qiyu couldn’t even make out its full form; all he could see were two eyes as vast as the sun. Those were the colossus’s eyes.

“This month’s resource zone is now open…” It sounded like thunder exploding in his ears, leaving Qiyu with a ringing sensation. “…Everyone, proceed to the corresponding colored zone with your cards.” 

The shadows dissipated, and sunlight fell upon him once more.

Qiyu was still in a daze.

“Holy crap… what the hell was that?” a player beside him cried out in despair.

“It can’t be another mutated creature, can it?”

“If it’s a mutant, I’m out of here.”

“What kind of hick are you? You don’t even know who the Inspector is,” someone suddenly piped up from nearby. All the players immediately turned their piercing gazes toward the speaker.

One player immediately grinned broadly and leaned in: “Bro, you’re right—I’m a hick fresh off the farm, visiting the resource zone for the first time. Could you enlighten me? What’s a resource zone? And what’s the Inspector?” 

“Stop being so smooth-talking,” the martial artist who had spoken rolled his eyes. “The resource zone is about to open; I don’t have time to chat with you guys. You’ll learn the rules of the resource zone once you’re inside. As for the Inspector, all you need to know is that he doesn’t give a damn about people like us. The Inspector’s presence is nothing more than a deterrent for anyone who doesn’t want to follow the rules.”

As he spoke, three distinct light gates—red, green, and black—suddenly appeared ahead.

Almost the instant the portals appeared, all the natives scattered and rushed toward them. If you looked closely, you’d notice that some of them were clutching a card in their hands and were entering the portal that matched the color on their card.

Qiyu took out a green card and walked toward the green light gate.

A figure happened to walk past him, and a clear voice rang out: “Excuse me, I’m heading to the red resource zone.” 

Qiyu looked up at the sound of the voice and met the other person’s gaze. 

He saw a pair of bright eyes. 

“Wow, your outfit is so cool!” The person with the beautiful eyes gave him a thumbs-up. 

Holding a red card in his right hand, the person waved it at Qiyu. “Thanks!” 

Qiyu watched as the person walked briskly toward the light gate and was soon swallowed up by the crowd. “What an energetic person,” Qiyu thought. 

Perhaps influenced by the other person’s sunny disposition, his mood lightened a bit, and he stepped through the green light gate.