Player World—July 17.
After the System forcibly logged him out of Endless Sea, Ethan Vale lay sprawled on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
Fifteen days in the Endless Sea. Gone like a dream.
He grabbed his phone on reflex. The lock screen read 3:00 p.m.
A flood of unread messages filled the notification bar.
Most were from Yanyan Huang.
She’d messaged him nonstop yesterday. Ethan hadn’t replied—not because he didn’t want to, but because yesterday had been Day 14 of Cycle 14. He’d pushed into the Endless Sea’s core island—World’s End—a place so dangerous he couldn’t afford a single lapse.
When the cycle ended last night, the System had yanked him back to the player world. He’d collapsed into sleep and stayed there for more than ten hours.
“So that’s the price of becoming a Tier 2 Hunter,” he muttered.
He typed a short reply: “I’m fine. Was busy.”
He stopped thinking about it and opened the global channel.
[CHAT]
“Cycle 15 starts today, brothers! I’ve been in bed for days prepping—got my Blood Rose ready. I’m hitting Night Demon Island to find my wife!”
“Hold up. What’s a Blood Rose? And what’s Night Demon Island? Since when do we have a new dungeon?”
“You seriously don’t know Blood Rose? That stuff lets you survive the miasma on Night Demon Island!”
“For real? I almost died there yesterday—I’m still on respawn cooldown. If you know how Night Demon Island works, talk. I need that info.”
“Ahem. I’m not trying to show off, but if you don’t understand that dungeon, don’t go. It’s a death sentence.”
“Quit bragging. Night Demon Island is the new island for Cycle 15, right? Newstar’s saying someone found Demonbane Fungus there.”
“Demonbane Fungus? What’s that even do?”
“Newstar’s buying it. Rumor is it boosts your strength hard—and it might even impact the big update for Cycle 15.”
“Then I’m going. Party up, now!”
[/CHAT]
Ethan’s brow rose slightly.
“Night Demon Island… Demonbane Fungus…”
He wasn’t hearing those names for the first time.
During the chaos at World’s End, he’d picked up a piece of information from Governor Panglos Fell’s personal guard: Faranir’s notebook mentioned Demonbane Fungus.
A rare fungus that could dispel—or at least weaken—demonic corruption. Against demons, it was a silver bullet.
As for Night Demon Island, it wasn’t just “new.” It was a System-pushed opportunity with an expiration date.
Right before Cycle 14 ended, every player had received the same warning: once Cycle 15 ended, Night Demon Island would be swallowed by a thick miasma and become impossible to enter.
If you wanted in, you only had this one cycle.
No wonder the channel was boiling.
And Newstar was already moving.
They’d deliberately leaked the Demonbane Fungus rumor into public chat. That would drag waves of players toward Night Demon Island—exactly what Newstar needed.
Manpower. Harvesters.
“Trying to use the players,” Ethan thought, almost amused.
To be fair, the players would happily let themselves be used as long as the payoff was real.
Ethan didn’t hate the idea of a trade. He just refused to let any faction get a leash on his neck.
He kept scrolling, collecting every scrap of information he could—
—when his private window popped up.
Sender: Newstar Official Account.
Message: “Player 0067, we need to cooperate with you.”