Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Cross’s Choice

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When a game becomes a reality where death is not allowed, where death is the end of life, and in this world where danger lurks everywhere outside the main city’s safe zone and one can easily lose their life, everyone’s thinking may fall into disorder due to temporary loss of rationality.

Why would it be like this when it’s clearly just a fantasy MMORPG game?

Many people still had ongoing lives in reality, only spending part of their leisure time playing, yet in an instant, it was as if an unbreakable glass barrier separated them from the outside, telling them they were trapped in the game world.

Nevertheless, a small portion of people quickly regained their composure. Most of these were players who had more knowledge about the game from the beta testing period, along with a small number of more perceptive and decisive new players.

As Nolan led Cross away from the Pure White Holy City, heading toward the second floor’s transfer entrance on the wilderness road, they could see several scattered groups of people hurrying behind them.

They weren’t pursuing them specifically; rather, everyone was racing to claim priority access to safer resource points.

But the distance from the Pure White Holy City to the second floor’s entrance wasn’t short. They would need to pass through at least one satellite town and several villages of varying sizes. Apart from beta testers and official release pioneer groups, most players probably hadn’t even figured out where the second floor entrance was located.

Moreover, many dangers lurked in the wilderness areas along the way, and even simply passing through safely wasn’t an easy task.

“No-Nolan, where are we heading?” Cross’s tense face was filled with panic and confusion.

“To the second floor area. The first floor’s boss has already been defeated by the pioneer player team, giving all players free passage rights to the second floor. There are too many players on the first floor, and monsters around the main city will quickly be depleted.”

Not only that, but other material resources and treasure chests would also become subjects of contention.

On the game’s official website, Nolan had read about regional resource settings in the design documents. Each area had inventory and recovery settings.

For example, in the Wild Boar Plains where they had been earlier, if the inventory was set at 500 boars and the recovery rate was 5 minutes per boar, then as long as the inventory was sufficient, a boar would immediately respawn in another random location after being killed.

But if players killed them too quickly, reducing the inventory to 0/500, then each subsequent boar would need to wait 5 minutes to respawn. Even if no one cleared them out during that period, at 5×500, it would take at least 41.6 hours to fully restore the initial inventory state.

This meant that resource respawning was theoretically unlimited, but there was a cap within a certain timeframe.

In the current situation, surrounding areas would likely fall into complete resource depletion before long, and the main way to level up in the game was by defeating monsters to gain experience. The higher the level, the higher various stats including HP would be.

In Cross’s trembling eyes, filled with unease, Nolan seemed to detect something.

Amid the chaos, her footsteps appeared hesitant.

Perhaps this was only natural human emotion. After learning this was a game where defeat meant actual death, most players’ self-preservation instinct would first lead them to think about hiding in safe zones, never venturing out to ensure they faced absolutely no risk.

But that approach would likely result in growing fear of combat and complete loss of self-defense ability.

Moreover, there was no rule guaranteeing that safe zones would remain permanently safe. Even if such a thing might not happen, if various accidents did occur, how could players with no self-defense capabilities possibly survive?

It was at this moment that Nolan realized what he had overlooked.

As a beta tester, he had already gathered significant intelligence about the game, arriving in this world earlier and having greater confidence in conquering it. In contrast, Cross was just a female player who had tried the game out of curiosity. This was only her first day here, and she had encountered such a dramatic change — she probably couldn’t even calm her emotions yet.

Gradually, Nolan slowed his pace and finally stopped in place.

He turned to look at the petite girl before him, who was now clutching her novice magic staff tightly with both hands. Cross correspondingly raised her face, meeting Nolan’s night-colored eyes.

“Cross,” Nolan lowered his voice and said, “I’m sorry. I was momentarily anxious and didn’t think things through.”

“Why… are you saying this…?” The girl’s eyelashes trembled lightly.

“Do you want to stay in the main city? Actually, for the time being, there really aren’t any threats within the safe zone. Players can’t attack each other, monsters won’t appear there, and even falling damage is greatly reduced. At least there…”

Thus, many players would inevitably choose to remain in the safe zone, even if they lived each day in fear, preferring that to engaging in dangerous combat.

Cross clutched her staff even tighter against her chest and asked with concern, “What about you?”

“I must push forward,” Nolan answered, raising his head to gaze at the plains.

“In this game, battles permeate almost everywhere. Even PVX players will need to venture into the wilderness to collect materials, potentially encountering battles along the way. Even higher-grade equipment forging and potion crafting require fighting wilderness bosses to obtain corresponding rare materials. Giving up combat… equals giving up the right to defend yourself.”

But this was Cross’s freedom to choose. Neither approach could be said to be superior or more righteous than the other.

As long as one could survive and not easily perish in this world, they were already winners.

“So, it’s your choice. If you come with me to the second floor, we’ll inevitably face many battles that could be called dangerous, but we’ll definitely grow stronger, become more adept at handling combat, and be less likely to die easily.”

“Staying in the safe zone, at least for a considerable time, barring any changes, there won’t be any danger.”

“…” Cross bit her lip, and in an instant, countless thoughts flashed through her complex mind.

Her feet, clad in leather boots, first retreated a step backward, then dug in at the heel. She knew that parting with Nolan here might mean they would go their separate ways from this point on.

Even if she returned to the main city area and hid in an inn, nothing would change about the current situation.

When the statue in the plaza conveyed its message to everyone, she had heard it.

There was only one way to leave this death game: reach the 100th floor and defeat the boss.

This meant that no matter how one struggled to survive, unless this condition was met, they could never end this absurd game, never leave.

Players like Nolan would likely become active on the frontlines as 【pioneer group players】. That group would gradually become everyone’s hope, risking their lives in the most dangerous first line of battle against the strongest monsters.

And then she, hiding in a safe zone inn, could probably only pray while bearing that sense of guilt…

“I’ll go too,” Cross said, raising her face after rapid consideration.

Even though fear still showed on her face, her water-blue pupils had grown somewhat more determined.

Nolan gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist. He had to admit that this newly arrived female player was far braver than he had imagined.

“Then let’s continue forward. It’s twilight now, and without having activated transfer rights, we probably won’t be able to reach the second floor entrance before sunset. But we can head to another safe zone, a satellite town of the Pure White Holy City — 【Morning Dew Town】.”