Outside the town limits lay a forest.
In gaming terms, it was the wilderness, a place for grinding monsters.
This was one way to grow stronger. In the virtual forbidden zone, defeating monsters yielded experience points, which led to increased strength.
It was also a method for tackling bosses, or perhaps a sliver of hope for those trapped here, suggesting there was a way to leave.
However, Bai Ye, having experienced this before, knew well that attempting this without sufficient strength was ill-advised.
The reason was simple: the strength gained from grinding monsters in this place, directly translated to physical attributes, became void upon leaving the game.
Physical attributes were not among the items that could be taken out of the virtual forbidden zone.
Therefore, to put it more bluntly, grinding monsters in the virtual forbidden zone was a waste of time.
In his past life, many had come to regret this decision.
Simply put, some believed that since the virtual forbidden zone could enhance strength, it was better to do so here, aiming to clear as many floors as possible, even managing to bring out three golden-quality items from the virtual forbidden zone.
And then...
When this person left, the war in the central area had already erupted, and aside from those three golden-quality items, they had nothing else...
This was a true story, about an executive of the Cang Long Association named Xiao Hua, who was originally among the top tier of the Cang Long Association, but ended up becoming a laughingstock.
Staying in the virtual forbidden zone to grind monsters was a choice made out of desperation, only possible when trapped within.
Walking deeper into the forest for about half an hour, a treehouse appeared before everyone.
The treehouse didn't look large from the outside, but upon entering, they discovered it was quite spacious, around three hundred square meters, a stark contrast to its external appearance.
However, in a game, such discrepancies weren't considered miraculous.
Gao Ming pushed open a room and said, "All the collected items are here."
"Alright, I need time to think when I pick things," Bai Ye said. "Don't disturb me."
Gao Ming nodded, not particularly suspicious. After all, each person could take out three items per floor. Whatever was left here were things they didn't need, meaning they wouldn't be taking them out anyway. Thus, Gao Ming wouldn't care even if Bai Ye claimed he wanted to take everything.
What use were things that couldn't be taken out of the virtual forbidden zone?
Gao Ming said, "Our other members should be on the third floor right 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.
"Quite a lot!" Bai Ye clapped his hands excitedly. "We've made a profit this time."
Bai Ye had only one goal...
The Gate of Babylon!
Bai Ye didn't need to bring items out of the virtual 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 repeatedly engraving weapons sold by vendors in the Chosen Market.
However, this strategy was only theoretically feasible and practically impossible.
This was because engraving had a process, taking about three to five seconds to engrave the original weapon and then transfer it into the Gate of Babylon.
If this engraving were to be done in public, the process would undoubtedly be witnessed by others.
Although engraving didn't affect the original weapon, the other party would still need to believe it.
Even if they could confirm through the screen that the weapon was indeed unaffected, without a clear explanation of the process, they would still be suspicious.
And as for explaining it clearly...
Why would they help him?
Furthermore, 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 forbidden zone, Bai Ye knew his opportunity had arrived.
According to the rules of the virtual forbidden zone, each person could take three items out per floor. So, how were these three items to be chosen?
Since the quality was fixed, the basic standards were not significantly different.
At such times, one could only choose what was most suitable for them, or what catered to their needs. This required careful selection, and to select, they had to gather as many items as possible, pick through them one by one, and then proceed to the next floor.
Therefore, it was safe to assume that the Evil Spirit Group had hoarded quite a lot of good stuff.
And his opportunity had presented itself!
Bai Ye first piled all non-weapon items aside. After selecting all the weapons, he began to frantically engrave them using the Gate of Babylon.
The final result was a total of seventy-nine weapons, but it wasn't over yet.
Theoretically, through synthesis with the Steel Slime, this number could be multiplied by more than ten times.
However, Steel Slime synthesis required the items to be considered one's own possessions, so Bai Ye couldn't synthesize them yet. But Bai Ye could select three blue-quality and three black-quality weapons. Once he cleared the first and second floors, they would become Bai Ye's.
With the continuous combination of six weapons, even accounting for the probability of failure, at least twenty more weapons could be added.
And...
Even without considering synthesis, after seventy-nine weapons, the weapon storage capacity of the Gate of Babylon had successfully surpassed the two-hundred mark.
Gate of Babylon (Noble Phantasm) (Black): The treasury of King of Heroes Gilgamesh, containing endless treasures. Its quality increases based on the number of weapons engraved within the Gate of Babylon (no upper limit for quality improvement).
Currently engraved weapons...
Current quality improvement: 236/300
After the number of weapons in the Gate of Babylon surpassed two hundred, its quality reached Black.
However, this was of little significance.
Three hundred weapons would bring it to Red, five hundred to Gold, but 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, making quality somewhat irrelevant for it.
But regardless, with the addition of seventy weapons, the power of the Gate of Babylon had instantly surged significantly.
Bai Ye walked out of the room and said to the others, "You guys go pick."
Bai Ye instructed the other members of the Evil Spirit Group to pick their items, then turned to Gao Ming and asked, "Have you made contact?"
Gao Ming replied, "Contact has been made. 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 behind this!"
Gao Ming explained, "We're afraid of an ambush by the Cang Long Association. To be honest, we sent someone in midway, not intending to contend with the Cang Long Association, but to gather twelve people to clear the third floor and leave with the items smoothly..."
Gao Ming trailed off and then shrugged.
The gesture spoke volumes, clearly indicating that the person sent in had been eliminated by the Cang Long Association again.
This was good news for Bai Ye. The Evil Spirit Group actually preferred peaceful development, because bosses could be challenged repeatedly, so there were no inherent conflicts.
Everyone could gather their own items and take turns challenging the bosses.
However, the Cang Long Association clearly did not wish for peace.