Afterlife Dream

Both the players from the beginner and advanced maps started to jump on the spot frantically. My friends and I exchanged quizzical looks. Did Ingenious just say that he could reap 1000-something points easily just like that continuously? So what was I being proud about my 700 points achievement for? This felt like a huge smack on the face!

I suddenly understood what HellWitch meant when she said that HinoKun was second-highest in level but not in strength. Ingenious was still a lot stronger than HinoKun was, and the former was ten levels lower than the latter was! I could not imagine how strong Ingenious would be once he hit 150.

The lower-level players were so excited about what Ingenious said that they might just pee in their pants.

"Oh my God!" They screamed in euphoria. "Oh my God! We are going to build both bridges!"

Livina in my peripheral vision was already busy redoing her calculation for the number of players that were required to build both bridges, now that Ingenious' awesome accomplishment needed to be taken into account. When she glanced up from her screen with a bright smile and gleaming eyes, I knew that the numbers depicted an optimistic outcome.

The high-level players on the other side did not look happy at all. They exchanged grim looks with each other. Clearly, something was burdening their mind but they did not have the heart to speak about it. They merely exchanged soft whispers with each other. After some time, ArrowRain could not take it anymore. She decided to step forward to tell what the high-level players thought about the whole situation.

"Excuse me, one second," She said with a rather loud voice to calm down the crowd. After the initial euphoria died down, she came with a piece of bad news. "Everyone, I understand that for you the bridges are right now the most important thing to have. But please understand that the event allows us to get a lot of items that are no longer accessible to players. These items are critical if we wish to defeat the Dimensional Master."

Of course. What ArrowRain said was not wrong. A lot of the items in the trade list used to drop from the Love Dungeon. Now that Love Dungeon was no longer accessible, naturally those items became rarer than ever. Take the Skill Reset Scroll for example. The price had gone double to triple its original price because of how rare and how sought-after it was. Which player did not need a Skill Reset Scroll at least once in their life?

ArrowRain tried her best to be delicate with her words, but they still hit hard like a series of bullets. Even without ArrowRain saying it out loud, all players understood what she was trying to say. She did not wish to donate her Dimensional Points to build said bridges. She would rather use them to trade against other items on the list that would be useful for her. Bricks and bridges were not useful for her at all. By the looks of it, she was not the only high-level player who felt that way. All of them did to some degree.

This posed a huge problem to the Afterlife Dream community because the ones who could get a lot of points every invasion were not the low-level players but the high-level players. Their contribution was crucial for the success of the plan. If the high-level players refused to help, it was very likely that at the end of the event, only half a bridge was built. It did not matter then which bridge they decided to build first because no bridge could hope to be finished if the high-level players refused to chip in!

All the low-level players looked at ArrowRain as if she had personally let arrows rain from the sky and stab each of them in the chest, leaving them to bleed in the rain.

"But..."

"But if you guys don't contribute then we will not have both bridges by the end of the event..."

"We won't even have one bridge..."

"We might never again be able to cross to Fairy Forest..."

"We will forever be stuck in the beginner maps..."

The players from Fairy Forest who chose to go back to Marsh City instead of going to Paradise Island deeply regretted their poor choice. If they had gone to Paradise Island, they could just grind until they reached 120 and then beg to be taken to a level 120 raid to exit the game. Screw the Life Points.

ArrowRain gave the gloomy crowd a bitter smile.

"Our goal has always been the same. We need to defeat the Dimensional Master once and for all. For that, we need to be as strong as possible. This event is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get things that we would never again have thanks to the elimination of all party quests. I am so sorry but... these bridges only help you guys. It doesn't help us at all. It is not going to help Afterlife Dream."

By "us" she naturally meant the high-level players. I could not help but recall a similar conversation back then at the Fire Golem raid when we proposed selling Fire Golem helmets while at the same time granting free helmets to helmless raiders. At that time the question of "What's in it for me...?" popped up and eventually the squad dispersed because the helmless players and the helmed players were unable to achieve a common consensus.

A level 15 rogue burst into tears. "Of course these bridges are not going to help any of you guys, but what else are we supposed to do? We are stuck with no way to move on. Are we supposed to just wait here forever until you guys reach 150 and hopefully defeat the boss soon? What if you require a long time to do so? What will happen to us?"

ArrowRain sighed. She threw her arms into the air in desperation.

"Look. I am sorry but I play this game of my own volition and for my own selfish reasons. I do not want to be tied down with any responsibility to help every single player in Afterlife Dream. I already said that we were going to get rid of the final boss for you guys but if that is not good enough then I don't know anymore. I cannot answer every question. I only know what I want to do with the current situation. Everyone should decide for themselves."

A low-level mage slowly muttered, "Even if the boss is defeated, we still need the bridges to cross over... Else all of us would be stuck. All of us and upcoming players."

How I wished that Afterlife Dream could be restored to its original state after the Dimensional Master was defeated. Unfortunately, the game did not mention anything about it.

HighTide rubbed at his temple and looked around, seemingly in search of something. When he did not find what he was looking for, he asked, "Guys, I am sorry but... Where is BlackPuma? Why is he not here with us?"

"Ah, yes," Ingenious muttered as if BlackPuma's sudden disappearance just occurred to him. "We might have failed to inform you that BlackPuma went missing around a week ago. He went to see what the final raid looked like, and we lost contact afterward. You can try sending him a message. The system will give you an error notification."

This news was not taken lightly. The crowd broke out in chaos.

"What??? BlackPuma disappeared???"

"What happened at the level 150 raid???"

"Oh my God, we are NEVER going to be able to leave this game!"

A player mumbled, "Maybe he just exited the game?"

"Yeah!" another player shouted. "Did he maybe exit the game and just leave us here to fend for ourselves?"

Aurendiria snapped when she heard BlackPuma being badmouthed. "That is not true! All players who exited the game had their IDs erased by the system. BlackPuma is still recorded within the game. He did not exit the game!"

The players quickly quieted down when they saw the angry expression on Aurendiria's face.

Kitty spotted me and stepped down the platform to walk toward me.

"Anty, you knew...?" she whispered, hurt flashed through her eyes.

I sighed and nodded. "Yes..."

Kitty rubbed at her forehead. "What are we going to do now? Why did he suddenly disappear... Is it even worth it to keep trying...?"

I put an arm around Kitty and rubbed her shoulder. "We are going to be fine. Look, we will find out what is happening to BlackPuma, and we will do the best we can do in this circumstance..."

HighTide spoke again. "Excuse me, as agonizing as the news was, I want to point out that it might happen again. A squad of 30 people at level 150 might enter the level 150 raid and they might also disappear suddenly. In that case, is it not a more sensible plan to build the bridges to allow later generations to do something to save this world?"

Next to me, Kitty raised her hand. "Also, I have a proposition that I believe will benefit both the high-level and low-level players."