Chapter 029: Players' Complaints

On the other hand, the fact that Lady Gremory, who was only level one, had repelled Gandalf caused quite a stir among the player community.

After some discussion, they quickly came up with a reasonable explanation.

Lady Gremory must have a powerful item on her.

This item allowed her to ignore any attacks and even reflect them.

Though incredible, similar items had appeared in the history of Oasis—the game had been running for many years, and many powerful items, even artifacts, had emerged.

These artifacts possessed immense power, and when used, they often caused catastrophic destruction.

However, such items usually came with severe restrictions, such as being single-use, or even the artifact's owner could not be spared and would be killed by its power.

Therefore, it was nothing special for the game to have an item that could reflect attacks.

Perhaps this item had a host of limitations, such as not being able to actively attack enemies, or only being equippable at level one.

In the players' view, Lady Gremory was a real-life paying player with some skill.

Without money, one couldn't buy such an important item.

As for thoughts of bugs or cheating, they never crossed the players' minds, since Oasis had been running for many years.

Over those years, there had been no bugs, nor had anyone heard of cheating.

So, under habitual thinking, the players simply wouldn't think that way.

Wang Bo, however, was curious. After the test ended and he joined the Fellowship of the Ring, he found a moment to approach Lady Gremory and ask her how she had done it.

After all, this game was just a bunch of data—how had Lady Gremory managed to alter the data?

"I think, therefore I can."

Faced with Wang Bo's question, Lady Gremory gave an answer.

But this answer only made Wang Bo smile bitterly.

From this, it was clear that Lady Gremory seemed to have a power of manifesting thoughts, which could interfere not only with the real world but also with the game world.

The abilities of the mystical side never followed science.

If they did, Newton's coffin lid—no, Newton's coffin lid would have long been blown off.

In the end, science and mysticism were two completely different paths; some could be conflated, but others were diametrically opposed and could not be brought together.

Trying to explain mysticism with science was simply nonsense, a waste of effort.

…

After Wang Bo and his group joined the Fellowship of the Ring, they stayed in Rivendell for a day, then, led by Gandalf, set out for Mount Doom in Mordor to destroy the One Ring.

This would inevitably be a long and perilous journey.

In the original story, the nine-member company had now swelled to over twenty with the addition of players, and including Wang Bo's group, there were twenty-nine people in total. One short of breaking the thirty mark.

Their combat strength was more than a grade higher than in the original, but even so, no one thought they could reach Mount Doom smoothly.

After all, Mordor was the domain of the Dark Lord Sauron; once discovered, they would be besieged by armies.

When that happened, total annihilation was only a matter of time, so everyone had to be extremely cautious.

At the Ford of Bruinen, they left the main road and followed a path through the rolling hills, their goal being to maintain this direction toward the Misty Mountains.

This road was very desolate; compared to the river valleys of the Wilderland, it seemed lifeless, and they could not move quickly. However, they hoped that by taking this little-used path, they could avoid many unfriendly eyes.

Sauron's spies were rarely seen in this empty land, because apart from the people of Rivendell, outsiders were almost completely unaware of this road.

Gandalf walked in front, followed by Aragorn, who could run blindfolded across this land. The man had grown up here and was very familiar with the environment.

The others lined up in a single file, with sharp-eyed Legolas and Caroline serving as rearguards.

Undoubtedly, this was a tiring journey. On many sunless days, an icy wind would blow from the eastern mountains, and no clothing seemed able to block its cold touch.

Although the members of the Fellowship wore heavy clothes, whether walking or resting, they felt as if they were soaking in ice water.

Fortunately, the players used their various skills or items to easily block the cold wind, making life a bit easier for the Fellowship.

However, to avoid detection, Gandalf proposed that during the day they sleep in valleys or thorn bushes. In the afternoon, they would be woken by the person on watch and eat a customary cold meal—since they dared not risk making a fire.

At night, they continued walking, heading south whenever there was a road.

Of course, this only applied to the original members of the Fellowship.

Most players didn't have it so hard, after all, players could log off.

When Aragorn and Gandalf slept, the players logged off, ate hot meals, and then logged back on to continue traveling with Aragorn and the others.

But even so, many players still complained; they had never suffered like this before.

In Wang Bo's view, they hadn't actually suffered much at all.

It was just that these people lived too comfortably and couldn't endure even a little hardship, so they found the journey miserable and felt they were being tortured.

At first, Gandalf would try to comfort them, but judging by his expression, he seemed very impatient. Later, Wang Bo could even hear Gandalf losing his temper and berating the players.

Gandalf despised their inability to endure hardship and their constant complaints, which demoralized the group.

Wang Bo suspected that Gandalf once wanted to kick these complaining players out of the group, but considering that driving them away might expose their whereabouts, he ultimately forced himself to endure.

Wang Bo had to admit that this game was indeed very realistic.

Along the way, Wang Bo introduced his subordinates and Lady Gremory to Yui Ikari, Asuna, and Dr. Bravestone, and the three naturally exclaimed in surprise.

Lady Gremory, a demon lord of hell—this was a demon lord that only appeared in myths and legends.

No one had expected that such a figure would be a friend of Wang Bo.

But considering that Wang Bo could even kill gods, it didn't seem so hard to accept that he would befriend some demon lords.

Yui Ikari also gained a bit more confidence in whether Wang Bo could save her world.