Chapter 300: Professional Studio |
"Ghosts, toxic mist, banshees, plague; a terrible curse envelops this small island."
"It's said that half a year ago, the lord of this land moved his court to the island. Even though famine swept across the land, this lord still indulged in pleasure, disregarding the life and death of his vassals."
"Legend has it that the Gods therefore decided to punish him. From that day on, ghosts haunted the island, and fishermen dared not approach it."
"Anyone who comes near here will be eroded by the curse and toxic mist."
"And you, are the same."
[Main Quest: Lift the curse of the Isle of Toxic Mist.]
As soon as the voice fell, the scene before Bai Mu's eyes suddenly changed, and his body recovered its mobility.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt an unpleasant smell. The surrounding environment was very harsh; he was in a damp swamp. The light was very dim, and the air here was a grayish smog. Visibility was very low, and the surroundings were eerie.
Yan Yu and four other teammates spawned in the same swamp with him. Apart from Bai Mu, among the other four people, there was actually an acquaintance of Bai Mu.
This bro previously sold an inventory item to Bai Mu and at the time also enthusiastically promoted a severely damaged Appraisal Mirror.
Except for him, the other three people were very unfamiliar to Bai Mu. Their IDs were "The Scholar", "Ironbones", and "Long-Legged Oppa".
But his gaze didn't linger on his teammates for long; instead, he quickly shifted his attention to himself.
Not only him, but the other five people also stood in place, either looking at their palms or clicking open their status bars.
On everyone's status bar, two debuffs appeared: "Curse of the Isle of Toxic Mist" and "Poisoned".
[Curse of the Isle of Toxic Mist: This island is filled with a terrible curse. The effect of this curse will gradually strengthen as your time on the island increases, making one weak, infected with plague, hungry, and losing stamina.]
[Poisoned: Toxins have invaded your body, causing your health to drain. The longer you stay in the toxic mist, the stronger the poisoning effect will become, and your resistance to toxins will also become weaker and weaker.]
Because Bai Mu had just entered this script, the curse currently had almost no effect on him, only making his stamina consumption 110% of the base consumption, which meant an increase of 10% in consumption.
As for this poisoning, currently it could also basically be ignored. It looked like it would only drop 5% of health in about 10 minutes, losing 0.5% health per minute. Even if he did nothing, it would take over two hours before he died of poisoning.
But these two effects were both expressing one thing: that is, this script had a time limit. Although right now it seemed the effects of the curse and poisoning were very weak, as time passed, their effects would gradually become stronger, and it looked like there was no upper limit. If the completion time was dragged out for a long time, then this toxin might turn into a deadly poison that drops 10% per second, able to poison a person to death in 10 seconds. The curse would cause a player's attributes to drain until they became a cripple.
"I shouldn't be the only one cursed and poisoned, right?" Lonely Swordsman was the first to speak, but he didn't speak towards Bai Mu, but faced the other three people. It looked like the four of them were a four-man party.
"Obviously, this is a permanent debuff of this island." The Scholar over there, wearing glasses and looking very gentle, said, "Even if we use other items or skills to clear these two debuffs, as long as we are still on this island, the same effects will continuously be applied."
"Is it possible that after clearing the status, the effects will be refreshed?" Ironbones, who looked very sturdy, with a burly physique, dark skin, and wearing a military uniform, asked.
"That possibility cannot be ruled out." The Scholar said. "However, the longer we stay on this island, the environment here will definitely continue to affect us. I estimate that each of us should have a hidden resistance stat. As long as this value decreases, then even if we clear the curse and poisoning status, the next time they are applied again, the effects of the debuffs will become stronger."
"In other words, is this a script racing against time?" Long-Legged Oppa, carrying a large sniper rifle on his back, said.
"You could say that." The Scholar nodded.
"The teammates this time look very reliable."
Seeing these four people analyzing together so rapidly, Yan Yu couldn't help but add a comment.
Bai Mu also nodded. The professional quality of these four people gave a very good feeling. Mainly, they were a four-person team, and their division of labor looked very comprehensive.
Lonely Swordsman was dressed as an ancient knight-errant, with two long swords at his waist; at a glance, one could tell he was a melee damage dealer.
Meanwhile, Ironbones's large physique and the iron armor bracers on his vital parts made him look like a defense-enhanced meat shield, responsible for drawing aggro.
The Scholar was probably the mage damage dealer, possibly also taking on the job of a healer. As for that Long-Legged Oppa, the long, thick, and black gun barrel he carried on his back had already silently declared his positioning as a marksman damage dealer.
This team looked like the kind of studio team in online games that specifically grouped up to clear dungeons.
At least as far as the current feeling was concerned, these four people were the most professional-looking team of teammates Bai Mu had been matched with.
However, Bai Mu didn't feel very happy about this.
The difficulty of Paradise's scripts had always been matched according to player strength. Currently teaming up with him was already the highest-level player among his friends, Yan Yu. Under such circumstances, they still matched with a professional studio-like team that cleared dungeons, instead of casually throwing together some solo players. What this meant was actually very clear.
"This time's script will probably be a bit troublesome." Bai Mu said.
"After all, it's a C-rank script." Yan Yu said. "But I'm also a quasi-B-rank player now, not to mention teaming up with a freak like you."
Previously, when queuing for the Journey of Death with Bai Mu, Yan Yu was already a D-rank player. While Bai Mu upgraded all the way from F-rank to D-rank, she herself also cleared several scripts and reached the watershed for C-rank promotion.
"But, after finishing this script, I'll upgrade to B-rank. This sentence somehow feels like raising a flag." Yan Yu complained.
At the same time she said this sentence, the four people over there shifted their gazes over.
The other three people were all looking at Yan Yu, while Lonely Swordsman narrowed his eyes and looked at Bai Mu, as if he discovered something.
"This brother, have we met somewhere before?" Lonely Swordsman asked.
Bai Mu was speechless and directly took out the Appraisal Mirror he had bought from him back then.
Seeing this thing, Lonely Swordsman suddenly understood: "I remember now, you're that suck... ptui, that good customer!"