Chapter 4: Spawn Point of the Fourth Calamity

Yang Qiu sat amongst the group of "internet cafe gods" asleep in various poses and didn't look out of place as he turned on the computer and logged onto the Internet.

He entered the keywords and searched for a bunch of "transmigration gameworld" web novels he had heard his classmates discussing before he had first transmigrated. With a serious look on his face, Yang Qiu opened each chapter and studied them to gain experience.

That's right, even though Earth was indeed his rear base, obtaining followers that could be used as anchor points via brainwashing, like how it was done in the magic plane, was practically impossible.

Of course, it wasn't just followers that could serve as anchor points. Any intelligent being with a strong soul and mind could open a "back door" to each other as an anchor if there was sufficient trust between them.

For example, spellcasters who were taught to not pray to any god would anchor themselves to their disciples, spouses, or comrades which increased their resistance to mental corruption.

From this perspective, Yang Qiu could consider becoming a magician or something similar and work to improve his social status and reputation, gaining loyal fans who trusted him to a certain degree. These fans could then become his anchor points.

And when encountering an elder god's flow of mental contamination, his loyal fans, as anchor points, could enhance his mental resistance, allowing him to maintain his rationality for a longer period of time and preventing him from losing control from a mere glance of the elder god.

However, while this deduction seemed great, implementing it would be rather difficult. Firstly, he couldn't produce an identity that could withstand scrutiny. Secondly, relying on strangers to be so-called loyal fans who loved him for his talents was unreliable.

Just like how Yang Qiu had devoured the elder god's tentacle with himself, an anchored individual could also self-remove, release, or even destroy an anchor point.

Why were all manner of gods, both good, evil, and elder gods, so enthusiastic about assimilating and brainwashing their followers? And why did spellcasters persist in "cultivating their own bodies" despite being able to anchor with one another?

It's because non-assimilated and non-brainwashed followers were too unstable.. not to mention relationships based on trust, or even cheaper feelings like "like" or "love."

Given these difficult circumstances, the most feasible method that was easy to reference was the genre of web novels popular among Yang Qiu's classmates—"transmigration into a gameworld."

By using a "mental imprinting" magic technique and combining it with the power of spatial law he had absorbed from the elder god's tentacle, Yang Qiu could "borrow" the souls of Earth's people to that magic plane.

While the souls of Earthlings were active in that magic plane, their mental backdoors were wide open and defenseless toward Yang Qiu, who served as a "time-space intermediary." Thus, this would make the most reliable anchor points.

If Yang Qiu could use the guise of "playing games" to keep more Earthling souls in that magic plane and maintain a high online rate, then he would be more secure..

After spending an entire morning in the internet cafe referencing the operations workings of various web novel authors, Yang Qiu thanked the bro who provided him with a seat and left.

Then, he visited a stationery store to purchase some small apparatus before heading to the commercial district's pedestrian street near Sequoia Estate to perform street magic.

With his current appearance apt for being a wandering artist, and the fact that street magic performance was no challenge given his mastery of magic, a large number of youngsters gathered around him.

Taking advantage of opportunities in his performance to touch his audience, Yang Qiu easily collected sample data of the soul strength of ordinary Earthlings.

The "mental imprint" technique could open up a consciousness channel with the soul of an intelligent being, separate from the laws of the material world. The principle being somewhat similar to the transmission of electromagnetic waves, but having much simpler operating rules.

However, there existed an issue of consumption rate when the essence of the soul and mind was transferred via the consciousness channel to any place. In other words, there would be a state of continuous consumption of a being's mental strength during this process.

This sort of consumption could be ignored if it were a spellcaster, as the mental power that a spellcaster naturally recovered was more than sufficient to deal with the consumption.

However, ordinary people's mental strength surely wasn't strong enough to compare with a spellcaster..

If Yang Qiu wanted to "sustainably develop," he had to weaken the strength of "mental imprint" and at least reduce the consumption rate during the transmission process so that it wouldn't affect ordinary people.

Once he felt that he had collected enough samples, a smiling Yang Qiu bade farewell to the reluctant audience.

Before he left, he wanted to return back to Sequoia Estate for a look.

Before he even reached his block, he noticed that his mother and older sister had come rushing down.

Yang Qiu quickly turned around, pretending to be an insignificant passerby, only stealing glances at his two relatives with his peripheral vision.

"Did Yang Qiu call back at all?"

"No! I called a few of his classmates, but he isn't at their places! His school also said that he didn't show up! It's making me so anxious!"

Yang Qiu's heart felt warm and fuzzy, and he itched to run over to them and reveal himself.

"A crazy fellow showed up at our door yesterday morning claiming to be Yang Qiu! How infuriating! I should have called the police had I known. That lunatic might have known where Yang Qiu has gone! It makes me so angry!"

Yang Qiu's head drooped weakly.

He felt both touched and embarrassed as he watched his mother and sister run out of the estate anxiously. He had been "missing" for two days, and even his sister, who usually hit him at least three times a day, was worried sick..

But even if he stood before them, Yang Qiu doubted that his mother could even recognize him.

With a sigh, Yang Qiu silently left Sequoia Estate. Never mind.. I'll figure out a way to let them know I'm safe, or at least so they don't have to keep worrying.

He found an inconspicuous corner to "open the door" and returned back to the magic plane. Yang Qiu summoned his undead horse, and as he rode, he began modifying "Magic Technique: Mind Imprint."

He was currently located within the Rhine Kingdom, east of the Navalon continent. The Rhine Kingdom wasn't a vassal of the Holy Church, so the influence of the holy faith wasn't that significant here.

But the god that the Rhine Kingdom worshiped was Lady Gold Coin of money and trade.. In other words, from top to bottom, this country was unscrupulous. As long as the crazy zealots from the Inquisition paid the toll, the Rhine Kingdom would open their doors for these foreign holy knights and even allow them to spend the night.

Even if Yang Qiu wasn't afraid of being harassed by those crazies from the Inquisition again, starting an "Earth Player Game Field" within this country wasn't a good idea. The reason was still the same as before—the Rhine Kingdom really lacked morals.

Just imagine the sort of chemical reaction if the Fourth Calamity unleashed on this world—Earth gamers, treated this world as a playground and hooked up with these unscrupulous local "NPCs"..

Just the thought of it made Yang Qiu shudder.

Take Steward Barff (in the context of this world) who had bought the old clothes for Yang Qiu at an extremely low price. Despite being just a steward managing land for rural landlords, he would sell the village, inhabitants included, and abscond with the money if given the right price.

If Earth gamers treated this as a way to acquire in-game strongholds and NPC "followers".. Well, then a hapless Yang Qiu would have to prepare for territorial wars with the local nobilities.

He had been a former gamer himself and definitely didn't underestimate the professional spirit of players exploiting loopholes in a game!

Over ten hours in this magic plane later.. Yang Qiu finally arrived at his destination after hundreds of miles traveling under the cloak of night.

—Taranthan, an unregulated three-way borderland between the Rhine Kingdom and its neighboring countries, consisting of hills, swamps, and primitive forests.

Besides its official name, Taranthan, this wasteland was also known as the Ancient Battlefield and the Land of Exiles.. In short, it was a wilderness that no official country nor organization had declared ownership of, and where the Fourth Calamity could be freely created.

"This is it." Yang Qiu eyed the valley before him, recalled his undead horse, and proceeded forward.

In this valley surrounded by mountains on three sides, several hundred scattered, dilapidated wooden houses still remained.

There were dried up wells, broken clay jars, and overgrown vegetation that nearly squeezed the wooden houses out of their foundations. Regardless of how one looked at it, this place was just like a magnified version of Closed Doors Village. [T/L Note: Closed Doors Village is an abandoned village that a Chinese horror film was based on]

Of course, compared to Closed Doors Village, this place was much worse.. At least there wasn't rubbish all over in Closed Doors Village and the houses were still sturdy and could serve their purpose of shelter from wind and rain.

As for these wooden houses.. tearing them down to be used as firewood wouldn't be a bad idea.

Asking players to build their own "spawn point" seems a bit too much.. Oh well, let's keep it. In any case, players wouldn't be actual people and wouldn't mind a spawn point that's slightly crappier.

Yang Qiu went through the remains left by the army of exiles, chose a central point, and took out his dragon bone stuff.

Magic power surged out from Yang Qiu's body, gathering around him to form a magic circle with a diameter of about five meters.

"Forbidden Art: Death & Decay."

With a wave of his staff, a surging black mist poured out of the large magic circle around Yang Qiu and spread out in all directions.

As the corroding black mist spread, the lush vegetation that obstructed all paths and nearly covered the entire valley floor withered and died at a rapid rate. Leaves and vines turned yellow and rotted, eventually turning into black mud that merged into the ground. Finally, the branches and tree trunks broke apart and fell.

After the black mist dissipated, only the wooden houses, mud walls, and other inanimate objects were left standing in the approximately 1.5 square kilometers of the valley.

"That's about it for the 'spawn point,'" Yang Qiu nodded in satisfaction. Next up was creating a respawn point. historical

Yang Qiu took out a bag of magic powder, grabbed a handful, and tossed it into the air.

Besides commonly used spells, when a spellcaster wanted to use magic of a different type, magic powder was required as an auxiliary material.

Yang Qiu was a black magician, so he could easily cast black magic spells. But if he wanted to use earth magic, even the simplest spell of gathering earth into an array required magic powder.

"Modify: Mind Imprint Core."

The magic powder fell to the ground, causing the earth to shake slightly, and some of the soil floated up, forming a large circular array.

"Reinforce with a semi-permanent resurrection spell and use it as a respawn point.. Hmm, bake it into a ceramic state and seal it with an additional protective layer."

Behind Yang Qiu, the large circular magic array floated and slowly rotated while emitting a hot stream, enveloping the soil that formed the magic array.

Black magic could also generate heat.. which could help save some magic powder.

The circular array made of soil solidified, and more soil floated up from the ground, forming the shape of an inverted giant bottle cap above the Mind Imprint Core.

"Done." Yang Qiu clapped his hands and dispersed the magic array.

The "spawn point" was ready, but vessels had to be prepared for the Earthling players' souls to attach to.. in other words, "game characters."

Had it been any other place, Yang Qiu might not have the "materials" even if he had any ideas. But in this place, "materials" weren't lacking.

As he stepped out of the valley's "spawn point," Yang Qiu summoned the undead horse and searched all around for auras.

After searching for about an hour and riding for about 10 kilometers, Yang Qiu arrived at a vast swamp that seemed endless.

Stopping at the edge of the swamp, Yang Qiu summoned a magic circle and raised his staff.

"Forbidden Art: Resurrection of the Dead!"

The swamp's murky water began to churn.

After about 20 seconds, human heads with varying degrees of decay emerged from the churning, muddied water.

Incomplete and damaged skeletons, dragging various tattered cloth strips, strings of aquatic plants, and damaged armor, crawled out of the swamp..