Bizarre Voyage: Summoning The Fourth Crisis

”Then let’s go take a look.”

”My Level should be high enough.”

Skyrim heard this and nodded slightly, his words hinting at an underlying confidence.

Li Miao saw that he didn’t elaborate, so he didn’t plan on asking further.

But Shore couldn’t hold his tongue. ”Huh? Bro, it’s only been a few days. How could you possibly have enough Wax Oil to level up...”

If Shore didn’t know how ridiculously skilled Skyrim was, he definitely would have told him to go back and grind some more.

”I pawned a pearl yesterday and exchanged it for some Wax Oil.”

Skyrim wasn’t angered by Shore’s doubt. Instead, he gave a concise reply, his expression calm.

Seeing this, Li Miao shot him a glare, the meaning obvious: stop prying into things others don’t want to talk about.

”Let’s go, then. We can head over together.”

As far as Li Miao was concerned, it didn’t matter whether Skyrim was bluffing or just putting on a brave face. He didn’t care about that stuff.

The urgent priority was to go suffer in the new dungeon!

Just as the group was about to set off, a player had already posted information about the two new dungeons in the world chat.

”Brothers, Captain Teemo reporting in!”

”Skeleton Forest, a two-person dungeon. After entering the Gray Mist, you don’t need a boat. You start right on the shore.”

”Gael’s Depression, a solo dungeon. You enter a swamp and need a boat. It’s best not to get off; it seems you can’t swim in there...”

”Captain Teemo, good work! Keep scouting!”

”...”

...

Meanwhile, there was new activity outside the Spirit Candle game as well.

[Breaking: New Grind! The Land of Burning and the Endless Sea, Spirit Candle World’s Background Revealed Again!]

That’s right. The Storyteller had just released a brand-new video, posting it simultaneously on Bilibili and the Spirit Candle Forum.

However, his timing was clearly a bit off.

Most players were in-game right now, and the new dungeons had captured their full attention.

But, after a long period of promotion, Spirit Candle’s popularity was already quite high. The number of ”cloud gamers” on the forums, desperately waiting for game access, was several times that of the actual player base.

So, even though the video was released at this critical moment, it still drew a large audience.

And as more and more players watched the Storyteller’s new video, a flood of bullet comments scrolled across the screen.

”He updated!”

”Dinner is served! Dinner is served!”

”My takeout just arrived. Finally have something to watch with it.”

”I love a diligent creator! Here’s a reward! (Tosses Silver Coins)”

”Blind guess: it’s a 20-minute video, and probably half of it is filler.”

”You’re not being bold enough. I’d say in a twenty-minute video, there’s probably only three seconds of actual substance.”

”Thanks for asking. I was thirsty yesterday and wrung out one of the Storyteller’s videos. My whole village is still fighting the flood!”

”...”

After a classic Storyteller-style opening full of disclaimers and pleasantries to ward off criticism, the video got to the main point.

[...So, this time, the Storyteller will use a character’s story to explain some of the world background of Spirit Candle.]

[Burton Mage, an important story NPC recently added to Spirit Candle, is responsible for providing players with all sorts of practical and powerful Magic.]

[Here, I have to mention the sheer variety of Burton Mage’s Magic and the surprisingly high level of detail in the Spirit Candle game.]

[Whether it’s the utilitarian Mind Control, the high-poise-damage but physically-damaging Mithros Giant Stone Skill, or even the self-disguising Cat Tail Skill, every single form of Magic fulfills the wonderful fantasies players have about being a Mage...]

Seeing the Storyteller rave about Burton Mage in the video, some of the viewers started to tease him.

Of course, it wasn’t that they disagreed with the Storyteller’s points...

”Yeah, yeah, yeah, you only talk about the sweet parts, huh? You don’t mention the bitter side at all.”

”Teacher Burton’s strongest Magic is actually the Wallet Clearing Skill.”

”Such a good Teacher Burton. He made my wallet empty and my liver explode. Love, from Spirit Candle.”

”Mages have so much Magic they can learn. Their pockets must be full of Wax Oil, right?”

”No way, there can’t be Mages who can’t even afford Recovery Wax Blocks, can there?”

”Stop posting, you guys. I’m a Mage player and I’m actually tilted.”

”...”

Currently, Mage players had only two demands.

The first was, naturally, to reduce the Wax Oil cost of buying Magic from Burton Mage.

The second was, of course, to make Spirit Candle’s Blessing purchasable, so Mage players could have more Skill slots to learn Magic.

If they had to choose between the two, many Mage players would probably pick the first one.

After all, the feeling of seeing something you can’t afford is truly agonizing.

What’s more... right now, both of their demands had fallen on deaf ears. The Spirit Candle officials had no intention of paying them any mind.

This left some Mage players completely baffled.

’What the fuck, did Mage players do something to offend the Spirit Candle devs? Are they specifically targeting us to screw us over?’

[...And one thing most players might overlook is that Burton Mage’s backstory is also complete and rich.]

[As one of the few NPCs to appear in Spirit Candle so far, Burton Mage is also extremely well-developed in terms of his AI and dialogue.]

[My wife Noxia might occasionally crash and zone out, but Burton Mage never does.]

[And judging by how Spirit Candle usually operates, important plot points are often hidden within the dialogue with these NPCs.]

[Burton Mage, naturally, is no exception.]

[After several days of conversation, your Storyteller has finally managed to piece together his general history from Burton Mage’s own words—that is, the character’s backstory, and the focus of today’s video...]

Then, in the video, the Storyteller began to explain the story he had gotten from Burton Mage after chatting with him.

The main focus was, of course, on the Land of Burning and the Endless Sea, and the Storyteller used this content to pad out the video for all it was worth...

Luo Ge, however, already knew about all of this.

But he hadn’t explained it to the players in detail.

...He’d originally planned to, but after the situation with Noxia arose, he no longer had time for it.

This was why the Storyteller could only get information from Burton Mage.

And since Burton Mage was constantly surrounded by a crowd of Mage players, it was difficult for the Storyteller to find time for an ”exclusive interview,” which is why this video was delayed until now.

But hey, better late than never!

Moreover, after introducing the general situation of the Land of Burning and the Endless Sea through the experiences Burton Mage had recounted, the Storyteller also dropped some information that even Luo Ge didn’t know.

[...I have to say, the anthropomorphism of Spirit Candle’s NPCs is just too high. I could even clearly feel that Teacher Burton and I really hit it off. It’s such a strange feeling.]

[Because of this, Burton Mage also told me something special...]

At this point, the Storyteller’s tone shifted, and he abruptly launched into a commercial.

This slick move naturally caused the bullet comments to explode with angry messages of ”Your coins are gone.”

Some of the regular viewers, without a second thought, skipped ahead in the video.

[...From Burton Mage’s words, I could clearly sense that his feelings toward Mithros Academy were complicated.]

[Based on my own feeling, perhaps it’s an emotion similar to ”hopeful, yet disappointed”?]

[Regarding this, your Storyteller naturally inquired further.]

[But no matter how I tried to probe indirectly, Burton Mage would only shake his head and remain silent. He was tight-lipped about the situation with Mithros Academy, seemingly unwilling to say more.]

[But on another occasion when Burton Mage was collecting the remains of a friend, he suddenly asked me a strange question.]

[”If the end of revolution is predestined to be annihilation, then should one die sticking to the old ways?”]

[Those were Burton Mage’s exact words. Perhaps it’s related to the situation at Mithros Academy, but we still don’t know the specifics...]

[However, I think the very fact that Burton Mage is here makes his choice self-evident.]

[Perhaps when the Mithros Academy dungeon appears in the future, all related secrets will finally be revealed...]