Chapter 1315: 427. After Erasing_2
“Waaaah… why did my level drop by five levels, isn’t it supposed to only drop half the current experience on the experience bar?”
“Eh? Eh? Eh?? Yeah, why did it suddenly drop by five levels?”
The players, who were already grieving over the loss of their Task rewards, discovered with horror that the experience penalty for dying and respawning was very strange.
Normally, no matter what level a player is at now, they would only lose 50% of the current experience on their experience bar.
But at this moment, when players opened their Panel, they saw that the level of their highest occupation had dropped by 5 levels.
The players who dared to try their luck at the battlefield to score some extra gains were all mid-to-high-level Interstellar Warriors, with an average level of not less than Level 50.
...
From 45th level to Level 50, averaging one level per day, it would take a continuous grind of five days to regain the lost levels.
This not only meant that they had to pilot their ships to madly grind monsters in the cosmic space for 5 days but also severely hindered the progress of their tasks at the Magic Academy.
Unbeknownst to themselves, these players who dropped five levels were now significantly behind in the plot progress of the expansion compared to those players who had not perished.
The first reaction from the players was that there was a severe BUG.
But soon, a perceptive player noticed something unusual in the system log.
“There’s no BUG, we were just unlucky this time,” a player said in the chat channel:
“Scroll up and take a closer look at our death records in the system log. The system says we encountered a severe death event, and because our level was too low, the death penalty temporarily increased by tenfold. Normally you lose half of the experience of your current level, which is the equivalent of dropping 0.5 levels. A tenfold increase in the death penalty would indeed result in a direct loss of 5 levels.”
Another player complained discontentedly:
“Is this even allowed? Why didn’t the system warn us earlier?”
This complaint garnered quite a response, as many players took out their frustration over dropping levels on the game planners.
A ghostly female voice echoed in the chat channel:
“The system didn’t give a warning? Are you blind or just illiterate? The system sent out two emergency Tasks to tell you to stay away from the battlefield because of potential dangers, but you didn’t listen. And now you start blaming the system? What are you expecting, the system to be your daddy, to spoon-feed you warnings until you recognize there’s a hole in front of you?”
Simple trash talk, ultimate enjoyment.
Confrontation began at the drop of a hat.
The player who got roasted couldn’t come up with a response, feeling a rush of blood to the head.
Some sharp-eyed players noticed that this female player was named “Fanfan Eats Mealmeal.”
She was not only widely recognized as a master Commander by the Great Guilds, commanding every Demon God Host extermination battle, but also a well-known ranter within the Gaming Circle.
Arguing with a ranter who had both talent and wit was not a wise move.
Moreover, the female ranter was right; the Game had warned players with two emergency Tasks to leave the area, even offering Task rewards for doing so.
Additionally, this female ranter had been repeatedly emphasizing during her command that the Artificial Angels deliberately leaving behind Quantum Leap Beacons was a Trap, and absolutely no one should go there to join the excitement.
All the players who followed the command did not suffer any losses.
It was only those speculative players, who always sought to take advantage of opportunities, that suffered heavy losses in this battle.
Fanfan, the female ranter, had been bottling up her frustration because the players weren’t listening to commands, and now she took the opportunity to vent on the players who were complaining about the game, releasing her pent-up anger.
While the chat channel was in an uproar, the Cucumber Slice Team was on their own ship, receiving a new task.
[Notice, you have triggered an emergency Task “Seize the Artificial Angels”!]
[Task Details: The Master of Black Hole Magic Academy, has set up Quantum Leap Beacons for you and your companions. Now, you can Quantum Leap to the battlefield. Upon accepting this task, you must use Spells for Joint casting to capture at least one Artificial Angel into the Space Pocket and bring them back to the Academy.]
[Task Reward: Goodwill from the Master of the Academy, Academic Points, and a free opportunity to take the standard Wizard exam.]
[Failure Penalty: None]
[Do you accept this emergency Task?]
“Eh? Did you guys get the Task message?” Cucumber Slice, sitting in the pilot seat, turned back to look at the team members behind him.
Several young players nodded in response:
“Mhm mhm mhm!”
“Got it! The Task says we have to go to the battlefield and snatch an Artificial Angel.”
“I’m afraid we’re gonna get blasted into dust by the Artificial Angels with this old clunker of a ship…”
Strawberry Juice was contacting the team member who had died on the battlefield.
The member had suffered the misfortune of dying while recording the battlefield video for the team and was already resurrected in the Safe Zone light-years away.
Demotion was inevitable, but fortunately, the video recording was a success.
Strawberry Juice opened the live video sent by the other party for a quick review before saying to Cucumber Slice and the rest:
“Captain, I don’t think there’s any danger because, from the video at the scene, those 20 Artificial Angels should be dead as well.”
While speaking, Strawberry Juice shared the video in the chat channel for everyone to review.
The video content was simple.
The player witnessed a gray-mosaic screen engulfing everything around the battlefield, including himself, from all directions.
Neither the Demon God Host nor the Transport Fleet could escape the screen, and the same was true for the 20 Artificial Angels.
This type of weapon, manifested as a screen, was clearly an indiscriminate attack that made it difficult to precisely identify friend or foe.
Given that all the players at the scene had perished, the chances of the 20 Artificial Angels emerging unscathed were slim.
After a brief discussion, they decided to take on this unexpected task.
After making some preparations, the battleship carrying the Cucumber Slice Team turned into white light and disappeared as it initiated a quantum leap toward the cosmic space of the beacon’s location.
The departure of this battleship went unnoticed by other players.
After all, compared to the movements of any one ship, the flame wars in the public chat channel were the real focus of attention for onlookers.
…
The quantum leap didn’t last long.
About two minutes later, the white light of the Quantum Leap Channel faded away, and a vast expanse of cosmic space appeared before Cucumber Slice and the others.
Upon seeing the 20 Artificial Angels for the first time, everyone took a sharp intake of breath:
“Damn…”
“This is bad…”
“Those Artificial Angels aren’t dead; we’re going to lose experience points too.”
Cucumber Slice’s heart chilled momentarily, then quickly sensed something was off:
“Wait, don’t you all feel there’s something strange? Those Artificial Angels seem as if they are being punished, not moving at all.”
“Huh? That’s true, why is that?”
“How about we fire a shot first and see? If we can take out these 20 Artificial Angels by chance, we might level up a bunch.”
A faint twitch appeared at the corner of Cucumber Slice’s mouth as he quickly restrained the player who was about to operate the firing system:
“No, no, no, firing now might just attract the wrath of the Artificial Angels.”
“Oh, oh, oh…” The player withdrew his right hand.
Cucumber Slice stood up from the pilot seat, called everyone over to circle around, and together they chanted the mysterious spells provided by the task.
The so-called group chanting of spells and joint casting was nothing but a smoke screen.
The one truly in charge of containing the Artificial Angels was Noland Lee.
Upon sensing the actions of Cucumber Slice and the others, he immediately constructed a space pocket attached to their battleship as the target of his spell, right on the spot.
This space pocket was bound to the battleship, following it wherever it went, and only Noland Lee could see its existence.
After creating the space pocket, Noland Lee shot beams of light from the bodies of Cucumber Slice and his teammates, drawing one Artificial Angel toward the battleship and into the space pocket.
From the main perspective of Cucumber Slice and his team, the Artificial Angel was quickly integrated into the battleship’s structure with their own drawing.
Following that was the long return journey. noveldrama
Cucumber Slice activated the quantum leap feature, targeting the United Bureau’s Star Gate, and the ship turned into white light and disappeared.
And so, in this expanse of cosmic space, there was one less Artificial Angel.
The remaining 19 Artificial Angels showed no reaction to the players’ actions, only drifting slowly and aimlessly.
Noland Lee pondered for a moment.
The Angel Enterprises Alliance would certainly come to recover these 19 Artificial Angels.
And he himself was about to use the Angel Enterprises Alliance’s Star Gate to penetrate deep into the heart of the Alliance in search of the space station housing the Main Brain Controller.
Noland Lee quietly approached the Artificial Angels and, turning into an undetectable phantom, clung tightly to their backs.