Bizarre Voyage: Summoning The Fourth Crisis

The CG wasn’t very long.

Li Miao hadn’t even had a chance to comment after watching it when he saw another official announcement from Spirit Candle.

[Spirit Candle Version 0.3 Update Announcement]

[Dear Candle Spirit Warriors...]

Li Miao skipped right past the polite opening and looked for the content he cared about most.

[The updates are as follows:]

[1. Game access will be continuously granted...]

[2. New Warfire System: After reaching Level 10, Candle Spirit Warriors can consume a certain amount of Wax Oil at a Spirit Candle to ignite their Warfire. This will advance their Tier and allow them to master even greater power!]

[3. New Ability Slot: The ”Recovery Wax Block” Ability has been added. It can be unlocked and replenished at a Spirit Candle by consuming a certain amount of Wax Oil, increasing your sustainability during exploration.]

[4. Map (Instance) Unlock Method Change: Future maps will be unlocked through story progression and NPC interaction to enhance the immersive experience.]

[5. Updates to Spirit Candle appearance and Candle Island terrain. Added a monster Life Value perception effect, which will be displayed upon entering combat...]

[6. Pain perception settings are now adjustable...]

Li Miao glanced at the rest of the announcement but didn’t read further. It was nothing compared to the importance of the first few points.

Scrolling down, he saw player comments popping up one after another.

Battle Bliss: ”Warfire? Does that mean we get classes? (Excited)”

Gotta Eat Mushrooms: ”Recovery Wax Block... Huh, so basically a Blood Bottle. Didn’t expect them to release it this soon. I guess our fishing hauls are gonna be useless now...”

Poems and the Faraway Place: ”I doubt it. Unless the Recovery Wax Block has all the various effects of a fish haul, which is unlikely. Fish will still be necessary.”

Storyteller: ”Hmm... judging by the cutscene and the update, it seems like the game’s progression is always tied to the Candlekeeper’s actions.”

My hamster’s name is Guagua: ”The Spirit Candle’s appearance and Candle Island’s terrain were updated too? I wonder what they’ll look like...”

Bees don’t like flying: ”Monster Life Value perception, so basically a health bar? Awesome! While we’re at it, anyone got some lewds?”

After glancing at the discussions, Li Miao eagerly jumped in. The game wasn’t open yet, after all.

...

Time ticked by, second by second.

The fervor on the forums gradually died down, but the CG video attracted a lot of new players.

After watching it, they all became quite interested in the game, causing pre-registrations to steadily climb.

Luo Ge finished his preparations, glanced at the time, and lifted the login restrictions.

In the very next second.

Several figures materialized beside the Spirit Candle.

”Haha! We can finally log in! The wait was killing me!”

”I’ll check my status screen first.”

”I’ll check out this Recovery Wax Block first!”

”Hey, Mushroom, I just had a crazy idea... I wonder if the Candlekeeper has a health bar...”

”...”

The group of players excitedly began to try out the new features.

Meanwhile, more players were still logging in and entering the game.

Fortunately, Luo Ge had already placed several identical Spirit Candles in other locations; otherwise, the Reef Cave would have quickly become jam-packed.

Luo Ge smiled slightly as he watched the ecstatic players.

He found it noisy when there were too many people around.

But he’d feel a little out of place if there were no players at all...

...

Players began to log on one after another.

However, since it was the middle of the workday, some players logged on for a quick, reluctant peek before logging off again. Others who started work early didn’t have a chance to log on at all.

But Brother Yu was clearly not among them.

[Title: Never Air Force Fisherman]

[Tier: Residual Ash]

[Level: 10]

[Ability Value: ...]

[Talent: Piercing (Attacks include a small amount of penetrating damage, Power +1)]

[Abilities: Dodge, Recovery Wax Block]

[Skills (Magic): Bone Fork Throwing, Knight Charge]

He got this Knight Charge Battle Ash while farming maggot bait in the Near-Sea Cave, since he was there anyway.

Brother Yu was still only wearing shorts. Looking at his status screen, he rubbed his chin and muttered, ”Where’s this Warfire thing? Why can’t I see it?”

Sister Yu, who stood beside him holding a Wooden Staff and wearing Rusted Light Armor and other gear, rolled her eyes when she heard him. ”You idiot, you have to ignite the Warfire before that option appears.”

It finally dawned on Brother Yu. He chuckled sheepishly.

The couple then walked over to the Spirit Candle to check the requirements for igniting the Warfire.

It cost 120 Wax Oil to ignite the Warfire and advance their Tier.

”One twenty... so expensive,” Brother Yu grimaced. ”Isn’t this an online game? When are they going to open a cash shop? I’m too old to be grinding like these youngsters...”

Sister Yu gave a wry smile. ”No one’s forcing you to kill monsters... If you could catch a new type of fish for the discovery bonus, you’d get Wax Oil, wouldn’t you? And even if it’s not a new fish, you could still trade it to someone else.”

”...” Brother Yu’s eye twitched. He fell silent.

’If I could save up Wax Oil from discovery bonuses, would I be saying any of this?’

’Leave it to my own wife to twist the knife.’

”...Forget it, I’ll go run an instance. You go on and level up, honey.”

Between fishing and killing monsters, Brother Yu had no choice but to choose the latter.

”Nah, you go ahead and play. I have to log off. My sister and the others are coming over later, so I’m going to go tidy up the house...”

”Alright, then. Call me if you need anything, honey.”

”Mm.”

After saying that, Sister Yu logged off.

”Two hundred forty... How long am I gonna have to grind for that? My sword’s gonna be dull by the time I’m done...”

Looking at the sword in his hand, Brother Yu scratched his head.

...

One hundred and twenty Wax Oil was no small sum. Only veteran players could accumulate enough in such a short time to ignite their Warfire.

Poems and the Faraway Place was naturally one of them.

Unlike Brother Yu and Li Miao, he hadn’t bought extra slots for friends. He only frequented the Candlekeeper’s shop to try out various Weapons, so he had plenty of Wax Oil to spare.

After the update, he made one dungeon run and quickly gathered enough Wax Oil to ignite his Warfire.

[Restore Condition]

[Replenish Wax Block]

[Ignite Warfire]

Now, upon touching the Spirit Candle, different options appeared before him.

Faraway chose to ignite the Warfire.

As a wave of mysterious, inexplicable power spread from the Spirit Candle and into his body, his Warfire began to ignite.

Although his Candle Spirit Body appeared unchanged to other players, Faraway could clearly hear the sound of the flame igniting.

He closed his eyes, feeling the surge of power through his body.

’I can’t believe this game even simulates the feeling of a class promotion...’

Before long, everything returned to calm...

[Title: Poems and the Faraway Place]

[Tier: Embers]

[Level: 11]

[Warfire: Swift Mage]

[Ability Value: ...]

[Talent: Diligence]

[Abilities: Dodge, Recovery Wax Block]

[Skills: Bone Fork Throwing, Concealment, Blood Stone Burst]

As for Skills, he had learned basically all of them, except for Knight Charge, which he couldn’t learn due to its high Constitution requirement.

Pulling his hand back from the Spirit Candle, Faraway stared thoughtfully at the words ’Swift Mage’ next to his Warfire.

He had previously added points to other attributes to test their effects, but he mainly focused on Agility, with Spirit as a secondary.

’So it seems Warfire is basically tied to a class system, and the class you get when you ignite it is determined by your Attributes.’