Otherworldly Skeleton Evolution

A cool breeze suddenly blew through, ruffling Qi Tun Tianxia’s hair as he stood in the desolate Stone Forest with his four undead maiden companions.

The air felt awkward in the empty expanse.

“Um… this, uh, might be a game bug, just a bug,” Qi Tun Tianxia chuckled nervously, attempting to brush off the situation.

But deep down, he knew that in The Great Wasteland game, the likelihood of a bug was slim to none.

The only explanation for something like this was that some player had cleared out the area!

His master had told him that around 258 monsters respawned in Stone Forest every half hour.

The Twelve Gods were meticulous, capable of precise estimations without even using calculators. He naturally had no reason to doubt his master’s word.

Which meant that in order to create the scene before them now, that player must have wiped out all 258 monsters in under half an hour!

“On average… that’s roughly one monster every 5 to 6 seconds?!”

“Holy crap, even with my master’s current gear, there’s no way he could manage something like that, right?”

Qi Tun Tianxia was completely dumbfounded, finding it hard to believe.

“Could it be that Xia Dongli, the God of Levels, was here?” he speculated internally, but quickly dismissed the thought.

Xia Dongli had chosen the Mage class, and the Stone Forest was too far from the mage starting village for him to be here.

“It must’ve been done by a major guild. They probably went back to resupply, but if they return, I’ll have to throw my master’s name around to hold our ground.”

Qi Tun Tianxia made up his mind and said to the four girls, “This spot was likely reserved by the Dominating the World guild. Let’s just wait here – my master has some pull with them.”

“Later… if they show up, I’ll mention my master’s name and get them to let us have a corner to level up in.”

Upon hearing this, the four maidens couldn’t contain their excitement.

“Wow, you’re amazing! Dominating the World is a top-twenty guild nationwide, and their leader is from one of the top hundred companies, the Liu Group, with assets worth billions!”

“You really are incredible, to know even Dominate the World’s guildmaster!”

Qi Tun Tianxia grinned, “Well of course, do you even know who my master is? One of the Twelve Gods of the entire online gaming world!”

“Then let’s just wait here. I’m curious to see what the members of Dominating the World look like,” An Xiang Shuying expressed her curiosity with wide eyes.

As they settled down to wait for the Stone Man’s respawn, An Xiang Shuying stumbled upon several scattered Skeleton remains inside a cave in the rocky hillside.

In The Great Wasteland, there were actually many hidden ruins that could contain treasures!

Divine artifacts, rare materials, skill books, pet eggs, hidden bosses – all were possibilities!

Curious, she ventured deeper into the darkness, unnoticed by her companions.

“Eek, there’s a girl here – wow, what a beauty!”

An Xiang Shuying first saw A Silly Cutie’s figure silhouetted by the light from outside, her full curves and defined lines making An Xiang feel a bit inadequate by comparison.

When she saw A Silly Cutie’s delicate, pink face, she was at a loss for words. Even as a fellow woman, her heart skipped a beat.

“Could she be an NPC in distress?”

To avoid breaking player immersion, The Great Wasteland removed the system of displaying health bars and player names overhead.

Unless grouped, in a guild, friends, or intentionally shown, others wouldn’t see your name or HP.

Thus, An Xiang Shuying had no idea that A Silly Cutie was actually the #1 ranked player in the leaderboards.

Seeing her stunning looks, An Xiang’s first thought was that she must be an NPC. Where in real life would you find a girl this beautiful?

“Is she dead or what?” An Xiang poked and examined A Silly Cutie.

“Wow, blue light? That’s Elite-Grade gear, isn’t it?”

Looking closer, she was even more shocked. “This NPC… is decked out in a full set of equipment!”

Helmet, gloves, necklace, boots, belt… other than the starter weapon and clothing, it was all high-level gear!

Though only three pieces were blue, the style looked like it belonged to a set!

“This NPC is way too extravagant!”

If she stripped off this equipment and sold it, wouldn’t that easily fetch a few hundred thousand?

Even if she didn’t sell, wearing it herself and posting a picture on the forums would probably incite envy from a huge group of players!

After all, despite playing for ten hours since the server opened, she hadn’t found anything of value. Her gear was still the starting staff and robe.

Aside from some major guild bigshots, most other players were in a similar boat. On the world announcements, even a level 5 Common-Grade glove was being hawked for 5000 yuan with no takers.

But these pieces of equipment were worth much more than that!

“Hey! Why can’t I remove it?” An Xiang tried to take the items, but found she was unable to. She was stumped.

But right at that moment, excited shouts suddenly rang out from outside the cave.

“Shuying, the monsters are respawning! Come see!”

“Wait, what the… why is there only one Blood Skeleton?”

At the foot of a towering stone pillar in the distance, a lone skeleton engulfed in crimson flames caught their eye as it staggered in their direction, leaving trails of flickering embers in its wake.

Though they had hoped for a chance encounter with the legendary guild, it seemed something far more menacing had found them instead…