The Verdant Clarity Potion and a Premonition of Change

Having stepped out, Ye Jue sighed inwardly before seeking out Lin Shenyue.

At that moment, Lin Shenyue was intently focused on the alchemy furnace before her. She was currently refining the Verdant Clarity Potion, one of the simpler advanced concoctions. This potion was capable of neutralizing negative effects of intermediate level and below. She had purchased the recipe from an unscrupulous merchant for nearly 50 gold, having grown tired of the monotonous process of crafting intermediate potions.

After nearly twenty failed attempts, Lin Shenyue finally succeeded in concocting the Verdant Clarity Potion. Its effects were potent: upon consumption, it would cleanse all negative status effects of intermediate level or lower, and grant 75% immunity to such effects for five seconds. The cooldown period was five minutes, shared among similar potions.

‘Not bad at all,’ Lin Shenyue murmured to herself.

In the early stages of the game, negative effects could only be dispelled by the ‘Purify’ skill obtained by Level 15 Priests, or through potions like the Verdant Clarity Potion Lin Shenyue had just created. Otherwise, encountering afflictions such as poison proved quite troublesome.

Since the majority of players hadn’t yet reached Level 15, Priests with ‘Purify’ were a rarity. Later expansions would introduce Shadow Priests of the demonic faction, capable of inflicting debilitating debuffs that could make players cough up blood. At that time, such potions would undoubtedly skyrocket in price. Of course, Lin Shenyue had no knowledge of this future.

Lin Shenyue saw a private message from Ye Jue, asking her to come out for a walk. After a moment’s thought, she put away her items and exited.

Upon stepping out, Lin Shenyue found Ye Jue lost in thought. She greeted him, rousing him from his reverie. “What are you doing?”

Ye Jue was slightly startled to see Lin Shenyue, then smiled. “Nothing much. Just wondering why I came to this world in the first place.” ‘Was it merely to atone for the regrets of my past life?’ Ye Jue pondered inwardly.

Lin Shenyue fell silent as well after hearing his words. This very question plagued her too. After all, as a transmigrator, she felt utterly lost, especially given the change in her gender.

Noticing the same bewilderment in Lin Shenyue’s eyes, Ye Jue felt a strange sense of shared troubles. He immediately shook his head, casting away such improbable notions. His own rebirth was already illogical enough; how could there be another person like him?

Lin Shenyue, naturally, had no idea what Ye Jue was thinking. Her nature was somewhat carefree; if she couldn’t comprehend something, she simply stopped pondering it. Thus, she quickly regained her composure. “Never mind that. Did you call me out for something?”

Ye Jue replied directly, “Even though you’re not good with directions, in a major city filled with teleportation arrays, you shouldn’t get lost anymore. I’ll take you to some places I frequent. Once you familiarize yourself with them, even if you take a wrong turn later, you can always find a teleportation array to come straight back.”

Lin Shenyue felt a slight blush of embarrassment. However, Ye Jue’s intentions were clearly for her benefit, so she couldn’t bring herself to get angry. She simply gave a muffled assent.

****

As Ye Jue led Lin Shenyue through the city, a large-scale meeting was underway among the core members of the Heaven Guild in the outside world. More than a dozen key executives were present.

“What are your thoughts on our Heaven Guild being targeted in the new game?” the man seated at the head of the table asked in a deep voice.

The subordinates exchanged glances. Hades then stepped forward and stated, “I don’t know where Fantasy Pavilion got their information, but they believed we didn’t have enough people stationed in the new game. So, they secretly contacted many smaller guilds we’d previously suppressed, all to collectively ostracize our Heaven Guild. I believe this new game will undoubtedly dominate the entire gaming market in the future. Our immediate priority must be to gradually shift our focus to the new game, rather than clinging to the old game that is slowly becoming obsolete.”

Hades’ desire to deploy personnel to the new game met with displeasure from those managing the old game. “Hades, aren’t you exaggerating a bit? No matter how many guilds unite, they are merely a swarm of ants. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until the gaming market situation becomes clearer before making our choice?”

Hades seemed somewhat anxious. He argued, “The new game does not allow power leveling. Unlike our past practices where we could hand high-level accounts directly to core players, Divine Realm requires self-leveling. Once we fall behind in levels, catching up will take a significant amount of time. By the time our core players grow, the guild’s resources might already be stretched to their limits.”

Another person spoke up, “If the new game’s development prospects are limited, then deploying such a large number of us would be meaningless. On the contrary, we would suffer suppression in the old game due to personnel loss, a consequence we cannot afford.”

…………

The man at the head of the table listened to the arguments below, growing somewhat impatient. These individuals were all driven by their own interests. While each of them possessed considerable ability, and they could certainly discern the game’s promising future, they disagreed with deploying personnel because it would harm their personal gains. Although he was the main decision-maker, he couldn’t completely disregard the opinions of the majority of managers. Therefore, he adopted a compromise.

“According to the information I’ve received, this game is already being promoted and released in six other countries besides Z-Country, and will gradually spread worldwide. The game’s prospects are truly excellent. Furthermore, we dare not touch the people from this game company, so we cannot use other means to gain entry. The best course of action at this stage is to send a portion of our people into the game. This will both alleviate pressure and allow us to prepare for the future. Even if the game’s development doesn’t go well, it won’t be a major issue, as we’ve only deployed a fraction of our forces.”

Upon hearing this, everyone expressed their agreement. They then argued for a long time over the exact number of people to deploy. Eventually, the man at the head of the table grew impatient and decided to deploy one-third of their forces. Although the managers of the other games felt this number was somewhat high, the person before them was their boss, and they naturally had no choice but to comply with his decision.

Ye Jue, at this moment, was unaware that his preemptive actions against the Heaven Guild had already caused them to deploy personnel ahead of schedule. He likely never imagined that his mere catalyzing effect would lead to such a significant change.

In Vermilion Bird City, the population was still sparse. Players were distributed across eighty-four cities, and even though Vermilion Bird City was one of the four main cities, with the current low number of Level 10 players, it wasn’t overly crowded. Moreover, upon entering Vermilion Bird City, players were further distributed into various regions, making it sheer luck to even encounter another person.

However, Ye Jue had already discovered some clues to hidden quests.