Bizarre Voyage: Summoning The Fourth Crisis

When the new prompt appeared, most of the players who were still busy fighting monsters noticed the message.

”Huh? We can trade with the Candlekeeper now?”

Li Miao was pleasantly surprised.

”Items that interest the Candlekeeper... Another brand-new mechanic.”

Faraway mused.

Before long, Guagua emerged, happily clad in a full set of gear.

She had planned to log off after trying it out, but the Candlekeeper had just given her such a huge surprise. Naturally, she had to go tell the others first.

”Brother Miao! Faraway!”

After calling out to them, Guagua quickly approached and recounted what had just happened.

”So, does this mean the Candlekeeper has opened a brand-new shop?”

Everyone was thrilled at this realization.

Although getting gear drops from monsters was satisfying, the island didn’t have many monster types, and their drops were all pretty much the same. Good-looking, powerful equipment was out of the question.

The opening of the Candlekeeper’s shop was undoubtedly great news.

”Buying gear with Wax Oil is a good idea, but you first need to have enough ’qualification’—in other words, the Candlekeeper’s approval...”

”And to gain that approval, we have to kill more monsters...”

Faraway thought aloud as he spoke. The different parts of the system formed a perfect loop that continuously raised the players’ Power. ’What a great design.’

”By the way, Sister Guagua, what did you trade to the Candlekeeper?”

Mushroom asked curiously.

Guagua didn’t think twice and told them what she had traded.

”A Mysterious Wooden Box?” Niuniu was confused. ”Why wouldn’t you open a box yourself? What if it had something good inside?”

Everyone knew that opening loot boxes—an ancient and joyous pastime—was a universal favorite among gamers.

In response, Guagua just blinked and gave an answer no one expected.

”Because I couldn’t open it.”

...

...

Inside the Spirit Candle, Luo Ge stroked his chin, staring thoughtfully at the small wooden box in his hand.

’This so-called Mysterious Wooden Box is actually pretty interesting.’

Using the Power of the Spirit Candle, he could feel a strange ”sustaining” force emanating from it, one that maintained the box’s integrity and sturdiness.

Although the Power was faint, its Quality was so high that not even Luo Ge could open the box.

’Looks like I’ll either need a key, or I’ll have to increase my own Power and that of the Spirit Candle to open this thing...’

Having reached this conclusion, Luo Ge wasn’t anxious. On the contrary, he was calm, even feeling a flicker of curiosity.

’A box imbued with this kind of Power couldn’t be ordinary. It most likely doesn’t contain anything useless.’

’I’ll just have to set it aside for now.’

Luo Ge placed it inside the Spirit Candle.

He then glanced toward a depression in the corner, where a small, pink Little Sea Snail lay.

Tiny bubbles rose rhythmically from beneath the sealed shell, like the steady breaths of someone deep in sleep...

...

After training under Brother Mangzi for a while, Niuniu and Mushroom had essentially graduated. Their various combat skills were becoming more and more proficient.

Furthermore, after logging off, they joined the veteran players’ group chat and read through guides, gaining a deeper understanding of Spirit Candle.

However, while they were killing monsters to save up Wax Oil, they also developed some rather strange hobbies.

”Ugh, all this running back and forth is such a pain. Why aren’t there any Blood Bottles?”

Mushroom grumbled.

The realism was great and all, but he was really hoping for a Blood Bottle mechanic.

Even better would be having other consumables with all sorts of different Effects in addition to Blood Bottles.

”Forget about Blood Bottles for now. Maybe they’ll add them in a future update.”

”But I’d suggest you go check with Brother Yu. Most of the stuff he fishes out of the sea has some weird Special Effects. Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Niuniu, who was next to him, chimed in.

Niuniu was currently a Wandering Soul, but instead of rushing back for Resurrection, he was trying to do some high-difficulty stunts.

For example, he tried flying straight up into the sky, drilling down beneath the island, and even entering the sea while in his Wandering Soul State...

But he had clearly failed. The Wandering Soul State had plenty of restrictions, and as time passed, the pull of the Spirit Candle on his Soul Body grew stronger.

Still, his quick mind told him this Wandering Soul State had a lot of potential.

”Huh? Stuff fished out of the sea has Special Effects? How do you know?”

Mushroom’s eyes lit up.

”By looking around, duh. The expert guides don’t cover everything,” Niuniu said, giving him a strange look. ”In an open-world game with this much freedom, wouldn’t you be an idiot to just stay in one spot?”

”...Good point.” Mushroom nodded in agreement, then his face darkened as he shot back, ”I think you’re the idiot.”

Niuniu chuckled. ”Mushroom, I’m telling you, the tech in this game is seriously awesome. I haven’t found a single bug yet, and the Candlekeeper feels almost like a real person. I intentionally pissed him off yesterday. He kicked me so hard I went flying, and I even got a warning pop-up.”

”You provoked the Candlekeeper?” Mushroom was shocked.

’That’s the Candlekeeper, the only NPC in the game right now, and he seems incredibly important. And Niuniu dared to provoke him... This kid’s got some serious nerve.’

”What’s there to be afraid of? You don’t make new discoveries without trying.”

”But... I’m pretty sure getting on the Candlekeeper’s bad side doesn’t trigger any secret plotlines or anything.”

A glimmer of Wisdom flashed in Niuniu’s eyes.

”How so?” Mushroom’s interest was piqued.

”Because the system directly warned me that the Candlekeeper has the authority to restrict players from entering the game. If I do it again, I’ll probably be logged off permanently.”

Niuniu said with a completely straight face.

”...Heh.”

Mushroom let out a speechless laugh.

’If this were a single-player game,’ Niuniu thought, ’I would’ve done something way more outrageous.’

’But this isn’t a single-player game, and it has a kick mechanic.’

’So I didn’t dare to go too far, just a little provocation.’

’But I didn’t expect the Candlekeeper to just kick my ass into next week without a word, and for the system to pop up a warning.’

’So petty...’

’Oh well. It would be a real loss if I couldn’t play this game anymore, so I’ve been behaving myself.’

’But behaving in front of the Candlekeeper is one thing; experimenting elsewhere is another matter entirely.’

”Fine, you keep experimenting. I need to go level up and then fight the Sand Worm.”

”I wonder if you can eat the fish in this game, and what they taste like...”

Mushroom muttered to himself.

”You can definitely eat them. The taste, though... hard to say,” Niuniu replied instantly.

Mushroom frowned. ”How do you know?” he asked, surprised.

”We can eat rocks, sand, and even our own bodies. Of course we can eat fish.”

Niuniu said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

It took a moment for Mushroom to process that. He was stunned. ”So yesterday, when you were lying on the ground... you were eating sand?!”

”No, to be precise, I was trying to taste the Fish People’s blood before it disappeared... but I didn’t manage to.”

”Today, I took a taste of that Fish Person you were fighting before it died. Hmm... a bit fishy, with a hint of piss. I wonder if it’s disappeared from my stomach yet. Ptooey.”

”I thought it would cause a bug or something, but not only did nothing happen, I could actually taste it.”

”Not bad, not bad. The game’s so realistic, the details are spot-on. It’s just like real life.”

As he spoke, Niuniu smacked his lips.

Mushroom was dumbfounded, his eye twitching. ”You’re unbelievable... dude...”