After leaving the town, there was a forest.
In game terms, this was the wild area, a place for grinding.
It was one way to get stronger. In the virtual game's forbidden zone, defeating monsters yielded experience points, which in turn made one stronger.
This was also a method to tackle bosses, or perhaps, it offered a glimmer of hope to those trapped here, suggesting there was a way to leave.
However, Bai Ye, being experienced, knew that if one's strength wasn't sufficient, it was best not to attempt this.
The reason was simple: the strength gained from grinding in this place, to put it bluntly, translated to physical attributes. These attributes were ineffective outside the game.
The items that could be brought out of the virtual game's forbidden zone did not include physical attributes.
Therefore, to be more direct, grinding monsters in the virtual forbidden zone was a waste of time.
In Bai Ye's previous life, many people regretted this immensely.
It was simple: some believed that since the virtual game's forbidden zone could also enhance strength, they might as well do it here, striving to clear higher levels, and even managing to bring out three gold-quality items from the virtual game's forbidden zone.
And then…
When this person left, the war in the central area had already begun, and besides the three gold-quality items, he had nothing else…
This was a true story. It involved an executive of the Cang Long Society named Xiao Hua. He was originally among the top tier of the Cang Long Society, but Xiao Hua ended up becoming a joke.
Staying in the virtual game's forbidden zone to grind monsters was a choice made out of desperation, only after being trapped within.
…
Walking deeper into the forest, after about half an hour, a treehouse appeared before everyone.
The treehouse didn't look large, but upon entering, it was discovered to be quite spacious, around three hundred square meters, completely defying its external structure.
However, in a game, such things weren't considered miraculous.
Gao Ming pushed open a room and said, "The collected items are all here."
"Alright, I need time to pick things," Bai Ye said. "Don't disturb me."
Gao Ming nodded, not particularly suspicious. After all, each person could bring out three items per floor. The items left here were those they didn't need, meaning they wouldn't take them out. Therefore, even if Bai Ye claimed he wanted to take everything, Gao Ming wouldn't care.
What use were items that couldn't be taken out of the virtual game's forbidden zone?
Gao Ming said, "Our other members should be on the third floor now. I need to contact them."
Bai Ye waved his hand. "Go ahead, go ahead."
After Bai Ye sent Gao Ming away, he entered the room and closed the door.
"There's quite a lot!" Bai Ye exclaimed, clapping his hands in excitement. "We've profited this time."
Bai Ye had only one objective…
The Gate of Babylon!
Bai Ye didn't need to bring items out of the virtual game's forbidden zone; he could simply engrave them using the Gate of Babylon.
In fact, Bai Ye had thought of this bug long ago. He had even considered constantly engraving weapons sold by vendors in the Chosen One market.
However, this strategy was only theoretically feasible; it couldn't be practically achieved.
This was because engraving required a process, taking about three to five seconds to engrave the original weapon and then send it into the Gate of Babylon.
If he were to engrave it publicly, the process would surely be noticed by the other party.
Although engraving wouldn't affect the original weapon, the other party would still need to believe it.
Even if they could verify through the display screen that the weapon was fine, without a clear explanation of the process, they would still be suspicious.
And explaining it clearly…
Why would they help him?
Besides, Bai Ye didn't want the effect of the Gate of Babylon to be known to everyone.
Therefore, Bai Ye needed a large quantity of weapons, and he had to do it secretly.
When Gao Ming invited Bai Ye into the virtual game's forbidden zone, Bai Ye knew his opportunity had arrived.
According to the rules of the virtual game's forbidden zone, each person could take three items out per floor. So, how should these three items be chosen?
Since the quality was capped, the basic level wouldn't vary much.
In such situations, one could only choose what was most suitable for oneself or what met one's needs. This required careful selection. To do so, one had to collect as many items as possible, pick them one by one, and then proceed to the next floor.
Therefore, it was predictable that the Evil Spirit Group would have hoarded a lot of good items.
And his opportunity had arrived!
Bai Ye first piled all non-weapon items to the side. After selecting all the weapons, he began to engrave them madly using the Gate of Babylon.
The final result was a total of seventy-nine weapons, but it wasn't over yet.
Theoretically, through the synthesis of Steel Slimes, this number could be multiplied by more than ten times.
However, Steel Slime synthesis required items to be counted as the player's possession, so Bai Ye couldn't synthesize them yet. But Bai Ye could select three blue and three black weapons. Once they cleared the first and second floors, these would become Bai Ye's possessions.
By combining the six weapons, and disregarding the probability of failure, they could at least increase the number of weapons by about twenty.
And…
Even without considering synthesis, after seventy-nine weapons, the weapon storage capacity of the Gate of Babylon successfully broke through the two-hundred mark.
Gate of Babylon (Noble Phantasm) (Black): The treasury of King Gilgamesh, containing endless treasures. Its quality increases based on the number of weapons engraved within the Gate of Babylon (no upper limit to quality improvement).
Currently engraved weapons…
Current quality improvement: 236/300
After the weapon count of the Gate of Babylon surpassed two hundred, its quality also reached Black.
However, this was of little significance.
Three hundred weapons would reach Red, and five hundred weapons would reach Gold. However, the weapon storage capacity of the Gate of Babylon was: infinite!
This meant that even after reaching Gold quality, the Gate of Babylon could continue to store weapons. Therefore, quality was of little importance to the Gate of Babylon.
But regardless, with an additional seventy weapons, the power of the Gate of Babylon had instantly increased by a large margin.
Bai Ye walked out of the room and said to the others, "You guys go pick."
Bai Ye let the other members of the Evil Spirit Group pick items, then said to Gao Ming, "Have you made contact?"
Gao Ming replied, "Yes, we've made contact. They will meet us at the entrance of the third floor in an hour."
Bai Ye said, "Meet us? Not rendezvous? There's a plan here!"
Gao Ming said, "We're afraid of an ambush by the Cang Long Society. To be honest, we sent people midway once. We didn't intend to fight the Cang Long Society; our goal was to gather twelve people to clear the third floor and leave with our items smoothly…"
Gao Ming trailed off and then spread his hands.
His gesture was self-explanatory, clearly indicating that the people sent in had been dealt with by the Cang Long Society again.
This was good news for Bai Ye. The Evil Spirit Group actually wanted peaceful development because bosses could be re-tackled, so there were no inherent conflicts.
Everyone could collect their own items and take turns tackling bosses.
However, the Cang Long Society clearly did not want to coexist peacefully.
…