Chapter 696

【 SYSTEM CONNECTION INTERRUPTED 】

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It felt as if he had been traveling for an eternity, yet at the same time, as if only a few heartbeats had passed while he traversed the very fabric of space itself.

Throughout this whole time, Cypher felt disoriented, as though he were on a relentless roller coaster ride with the world spinning wildly around him.

His head felt heavy and his body no longer obeyed him; he could not speak, nor even a whisper, and his breathing had nearly stalled, shallow and erratic. Before his eyes the surroundings stretched on, shifting and undulating like a shimmering kaleidoscope.

For a fleeting moment, he thought he glimpsed an endless starry sky, glittering with distant suns and flickering constellations. But the next instant, the brilliance vanished, and the entire world was swallowed by an all-encompassing, profound darkness, leaving him suspended in a void that seemed to stretch beyond time itself.

As Cypher struggled against the suffocating and nauseating sensation, wondering if he had encountered a game bug, everything suddenly returned to normal.

He collapsed to the ground, gasping for air as if he had just emerged from drowning. Yet the breath that filled his lungs carried a faint, indescribable stench of decay, nearly causing him to lose consciousness again.

After what felt like an eternity, he forced his eyes open, blinking against the dim light, and glanced upward.

Cypher: “…?”

From the look of it, he was no longer within the familiar confines of the Titan Ruins.

The pitch-black sky above him was so deep that it seemed to stretch infinitely toward the horizon, with heavy clouds rolling slowly across it.

Silver streaks of lightning occasionally slashed through the darkness, illuminating the landscape for fleeting moments, accompanied by rolling thunder that shook the ground beneath him. Then the light would vanish, swallowed again by the thick clouds, leaving him practically blind.

Summoning what strength he had left, Cypher forced himself to his feet, executing a swift, practiced forward roll to steady his body. His gaze darted across the vicinity, alert and searching, as he began to take in this unfamiliar, desolate world.

Everywhere he looked, he couldn’t see a single sign of life, only an endless stretch of wasteland. The ground bore no trace of vegetation at all, only dark brown soil that’s cracked and parched that was severely desertified.

Looking more closely, he noticed faint wisps of black smoke seeping from it, drifting toward the sky. Having hunted countless demons in the Labyrinth Dungeon, Cypher recognized the smoke as a sign of corruption from the abyss.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

He tried shouting, but the surroundings remained silent. Except for the occasional thunderclap, the world around him seemed utterly still, without even the faintest whisper of wind, as if time itself had frozen in place.

“…Where the hell is this?”

Cypher felt a wave of disorientation wash over him.

Suddenly recalling something, he spun around, eyes searching for the teleportation array he had used moments ago. But there was no trace of it, not even any residual signs of a portal gate.

It was as if he had just appeared here out of nowhere, without explanation.

“It must be that array! After I successfully activated it, I got somehow pulled in and teleported here…”

His mind raced, trying to make sense of it.

“Could this… be the space sealed by the array? Perhaps a new map?”

Such speculation stirred excitement within him, and despite the eerie landscape, a thrill ran through Cypher at the thought of discovering a place no one else had set foot in.

But just as he prepared to activate his [Scout] skill to survey his surroundings, an intense surge of danger shot through his mind.

His expression snapped into alarm, and he instinctively rolled to the side. Mere seconds later, the ground beneath him split apart and a claw, over four meters long, shot upward with terrifying speed.

“Holy hell!”

The monstrous appendage nearly froze him with fear, its sheer size and power overwhelming his senses. Yet before he could even gather himself to prepare for battle, a sudden pain erupted in his chest.

Lowering his gaze, his stomach dropped.

A sharp mandible had burst from the ground, impaling him with brutal precision.

Immediately, numbness spread to his limbs as his mind dulled, and as he tried opening his mouth, his consciousness slipped away.

༺⟐༻

A flash of golden light appeared, and Cypher crawled to his feet at the respawn point in the Central Plaza of the Chosen City.

Still gasping for air, he quickly placed a hand over his chest, which throbbed from the lingering pain.

“Dammit, I forgot to lower my pain settings before entering the Titan Ruins,” he muttered under his breath.

Checking his equipment, he saw that all his items had been restored to him, which eased his relief.

But soon, a new pain struck him.

“Fuck, one hundred resurrection coins gone just like that…”

As a level 50 silver-ranker, the penalties for dying at his level were doubled, meaning this single death had cost him a staggering 100 resurrection coins.

A hundred coins amounted to 10,000 contribution points!

Considering that players could only acquire limited resurrection coins on a daily basis, even though Cypher had carefully saved over time, he had only accumulated 202 coins in total after accounting for previous deaths.

Therefore, this last death had consumed nearly half of his resurrection coins!

I wonder if harvesting another batch of Fathead Mushrooms could make up for such a loss…

Cypher thought, quickly shifting his mindset, letting excitement replace the lingering frustration.

The memory of that mysterious world he had just glimpsed through the array sent a fresh surge of thrill coursing through him.

“That place… I’m sure no one has ever mentioned it on the forums. Could it be… I’ve stumbled upon a completely new playable map?”

The monster that had nearly killed him had likely been at least upper silver-rank.

And where there were formidable monsters, there was almost always the possibility of a hidden map or secret storyline tucked away in those locations.

Having played this game for over a year, Cypher was already familiar with the quirks of the devs of Elven Kingdom. Unlike most games, they rarely revealed maps or quests outright. Instead, they hid them carefully, rewarding those who explored thoroughly and discovered secrets for themselves.

From a player’s perspective, this was actually quite immersive. The guild, Moe Moe Committee, even organized expedition teams specifically for exploring such hidden areas, encouraging members to uncover secrets and rewards.

However, when Cypher checked his game log and the notification board, he saw no system prompt indicating that a new map had been discovered, unlike previous occasions when hidden areas had registered automatically.

“Huh…? That place was definitely a new map,” he muttered, pausing and raising an eyebrow, slightly taken aback.

“—Or could it be that the system didn’t register my accomplishment because I died too quickly?”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Cypher decided he would prepare once more and return to the Titan Ruins to investigate further.

He had no intention of bringing anyone along.

Typically, when a new map or hidden quest was discovered, the first explorers often gained recognition, sometimes even receiving special privileges or unique rewards. As an ordinary player, he was unwilling to share this opportunity with anyone else.

Moreover, he was not affiliated with any guild, but a true soloist. Thus, there was no need for him to report every discovery he found to a guild like other players might.

Previously, he had been a member of the First Legion, but the guild’s activities were too frequent and often mandatory for his taste. As a semi-casual player, Cypher found himself unable to keep up with their pace, so he eventually chose to leave.

Later, a member of the Moe Moe Committee had invited him to join, but by that time, Cypher had already embraced the life of a soloist. Having purchased a seaside villa in Mirovia, he had come to appreciate the freedom and leisure of playing on his own terms, so he declined the offer.

“I’ll buy some magic scrolls and supplies first, then equip my strongest defensive gear. That monster might be the first boss of that place. If I can evade it, perhaps I can trigger something. If not… I can consider asking for help later,” Cypher thought, his mind racing through possible strategies.

He opened his status window to check his contribution points, planning to purchase the necessary supplies here in the Chosen City.

However, when his eyes fell on the number of resurrection coins, he froze for a moment.

“202?”

Staring at the display, he blinked, certain he must be seeing things.

“Eh…? Didn’t I just die? I already respawned back here, so why weren’t any resurrection coins deducted?”

A frown creased his face as puzzlement swept over him.

Touching his chest, Cypher swore that his last death had not been an illusion at all.

Besides, he had only just been in the Titan Ruins. Without dying and reviving, there was no way he could have appeared at the Chosen City’s resurrection point.

“Could… this be a bug?”

A spark of excitement lit up his eyes.

He had effectively saved a hundred resurrection coins! His heart leapt with joy at the unexpected windfall.

Soon, other thoughts began to crowd his mind.

“Wait… maybe dying in that place doesn’t deduct resurrection coins?”

Once the idea formed, it refused to leave, embedding itself like a persistent lure. Cypher’s desire to explore that mysterious world again only grew stronger.

Truly, what a mysterious world!

Despite it being morning here, with the sun hanging high in the sky, that other place remained unmistakably night.

Of course, even with this tantalizing suspicion, Cypher was not willing to test it out by dying again. Instead, he carefully purchased a supply of one-use escape scrolls in the Chosen City and then returned via the teleportation array to the Titan Ruins near Mirovia.

He had already marked the sealing array’s location on his mini-map, so he reached it without delay.

The magic crystals he had used to activate the array last time lay where he had left them, though their glow was now slightly dimmed.

Cypher focused, sensing their remaining energy, and realized that roughly half of their magical power had already been consumed.

“Can they still activate it once more…?” he muttered, furrowing his brow in thought.

These were his last remaining magic crystals. Unlike ordinary mana stones, these crystals were extraordinarily potent and extremely rare. On the market, a single crystal would cost at least 30,000 contribution points, making the four in his possession worth a staggering 120,000 points in total.

Although Cypher was by no means poor for a silver-ranker, 120,000 points was far from negligible.

“If I still can’t uncover anything this time, I’ll call for others or post a help request on the forums.”

He resolved.

Taking a deep breath, Cypher prepared to activate the sealing array once more.

A soft radiance illuminated the surroundings, and the world began to shift once more.

The familiar nauseating sensation of the world spinning around him came once more. This time, however, Cypher was ready. So the moment he felt his senses slipping away, he swiftly turned on [Awakened] state and transformed into a blood elf then cast his innate skill, [Mist Transformation].

His vision changed, and he reappeared in the mysterious world he had visited before—this time manifesting as a form of black mist.

Without hesitation, he immediately fled into the distance.

Sensing his presence, the ground split open again, and the massive claw and sharp mandibles erupted from the ground once more.

Yet this time, Cypher was prepared. Like a swift gust of wind, his mist transformed body easily evaded the attack, reappearing several hundred meters away.

Panting, he looked back and finally saw the creature that had attacked him.

It resembled a mix of giant beetle, yet also a scorpion. Its head bore a sharp, insect-like mandible.

Its body was covered in black scales, emanating a sinister aura…

“A creature corrupted by the abyss!”

Cypher judged instinctively.

Failing to strike him, the monstrous creature seemed uninterested in pursuing him further and burrowing back into the ground.

The soil resealed itself, and amidst a swirling mist, all traces of disturbance vanished.

“So it was acting on instinct and not specifically targeting me. Judging from this, the surface of this mysterious world must host other living creatures, which are preyed upon by that monster. Otherwise, it would not behave like a stationary ambush predator.”

As a hunter-class player, Cypher had long developed the habit of judging his environment based on monster behavior.

This instinct had even carried over into reality, enhancing his observational skills without his conscious effort.

With the monster now retreating underground, he was temporarily safe.

Yet, this also served as a reminder: this seemingly quiet world was likely not as peaceful as it appeared and likely concealed danger.

“I should scout the surroundings,” Cypher muttered.

He intended to pull up his mini-map, record his current coordinates, and enable its mapping function. However, as he shifted his gaze to the mini-map in the upper-right corner, he froze.

It was entirely black.

“…Huh?”

Cypher furrowed his brow.

He clicked to open it, but there was no response, only a continuously spinning loading circle.

“What’s going on? Poor signal?”

His frown deepened.

Back on Earth, network technology had long since eliminated such signal issues. Since he first connected to the game, Cypher had never experienced network problems.

He then glanced at his chat interface in the lower-left corner and paused.

The latest world log message was from five minutes ago, before he had entered this new map. However after entering this place, it seemed no new messages had been logged.

His heart skipped a beat as he quickly opened his friends list, only to discover that every avatar had turned gray…

Attempting to access the external network via the game system, he received only a single warning:

“System connection interrupted. Unable to connect to the network at this time…”

Cypher: “…”

A cold sense of foreboding crept over him as he recalled a certain scenario from an old anime.

“No way… Don’t tell me—”

He quickly brought up the logout button.

Fortunately, it was still there.

“Whew… I thought it would disappear too,” Cypher breathed, relieved.

But when he tried to click the usual logout button, the normal confirmation dialogue—“Do you wish to exit the game?”—did not appear.

Instead, only the spinning circle and the “System connection interrupted” warning were displayed.

Cypher: “…”

The worst scenario he’d imagined did happen!

W-What is this!?

Logging out… was impossible?!

Panic surged through him.

“R-Relax! Calm yourself down! I can still do self-pk to return back to Chosen City! It has to be a game bug… it has to be…”

Cypher muttered to himself, taking several deep breaths until he could regain his composure.

No resurrection coins were deducted when he died here, and the game system was weirdly having network issues…

Slowly, a suspicion formed in his mind:

Maybe… I’ve entered into a glitched map that hasn’t been properly tested yet to be released to the players!

The thought steadied him considerably.

After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to explore first. If necessary, he could always turn back, find that monster earlier, and die—or even use his own dagger to self-pk.

He picked a random direction, activated his [Scout] skill, and moved cautiously forward.

But just as he had initially expected, this world was indeed utterly desolate, with nothing existing around him.

Within his view stretched only a monotonous wasteland that seemed to keep on and on…

The lightning flashing across the sky was the only sign that this world was not completely devoid of life.

After walking for about ten minutes, a familiar sense of danger suddenly rose within him.

Without hesitation, he activated [Mist Transformation] once again, his body dissolving into vapor as he escaped swiftly into the distance.

Glancing back, he saw a monstrous creature erupt violently from the ground, soil and debris scattering in all directions.

It resembled the previous monster he had encountered, but its aura was noticeably weaker, lacking the overwhelming pressure of the first one.

Having successfully evaded the ambush, Cypher observed it carefully, assessing the monster’s strength at the lower silver-rank.

Yet the thing that surprised him more was that, instead of a proper name, the display above the creature showed only a continuous string of question marks.

“Hmph… a lower silver-rank mob dares to ambush me?”

Cypher sneered.

Activating the skill [Flying Bat Wings], he leapt into the air and drew his dagger, intent on teaching the creature a lesson.

However, just as he prepared to strike, a silver-glinting arrow suddenly shot from afar, striking the monster in the head.

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