Chapter Sixty-Six: The World of the Violet Moon

"Where is this place?"

"The Purple Moon! It's huge. Am I dreaming? Just what kind of strange place have we ended up in?"

"Gods above, please don’t play tricks on me like this!"

"Why are we here? Someone explain this to me!"

"Enough noise! Everyone, stay alert. And do your best not to let the moonlight touch you!"

...

Compared to everyone else, Simon was the first to regain his composure, though his heart was still deeply unsettled.

After all, anyone would feel fear and unease if they were suddenly transported to a desolate wilderness.

Fortunately, it wasn't just one or two people who had come to this wild land, but a whole group.

Three hundred or so were doctors, nurses, and soldiers brought by Vanny Campbell. Another two hundred were the armed tribespeople Simon had brought.

Including the more than five hundred priests and clansfolk native to the tribe, over a thousand people were now gathered here.

As for the tents, the woods, and the patients—they had all vanished, or rather, had not been transferred to this strange place.

Yet Simon and the others were not the only ones here.

Behind them in the wilds towered a gigantic oak, standing tall.

In its lofty branches, over a hundred mutated birds shrieked as they fled from the treetop, hiding beneath the dense canopy.

This was a wilderness, surrounded entirely by grass as tall as a person.

Standing among it, only their heads showed above the waving blades.

Above them, a bright moon hung high in the sky, and its very presence intensified their terror.

The Purple Moon: a round orb many times larger than the Blue Star’s moon, shining with a dazzling light, boldly proclaiming its existence.

Its immensity was more staggering than words could convey, so vast that it felt as though it hovered on the edge of this wild world.

Amidst the collective fear, Ji Yu too was caught in a peculiar awe.

Just moments before, he had only reached out with the oak’s roots to touch what seemed like a phantom purple portal in the air, and the instant the roots brushed it, the ethereal hole abruptly spread outward.

It enveloped nearly six hundred meters around the oak, and then—nothing more.

He felt an inexplicable pull, and when Ji Yu’s senses returned, he found himself in this uncanny wilderness.

A world shrouded in darkness, bathed in glaring purple moonlight, surrounded on all sides by endless, towering grass.

---

It was deathly silent here, so silent it chilled the bones.

The level grass swayed constantly in the wild wind, and beneath the shifting blades, over a thousand people huddled within the shadow cast by the massive oak’s canopy.

Everyone watched their surroundings with anxious, fearful eyes.

"Mr. Simon, there is some unfortunate news I ought to share," Vanny Campbell said, her face pale with terror, though she struggled to suppress it.

"I think we may have arrived in another world. How we got here, I cannot say. But I believe you should calm your people immediately and keep a close watch on the area."

Another world? Did that even need saying?

Anyone could see the enormous Purple Moon. And this wilderness made their situation all too clear.

A heavy, indescribable weight settled in Simon’s heart.

"Professor Vanny, I think once we return, you owe me an explanation about what you really know."

"Yes," she replied, drawing a deep breath and nodding slightly.

"But only if we manage to make it back alive."

"Still, since the Mysterious Tree has come with us, perhaps there’s a way home. But it all depends on what the Mysterious Tree can truly accomplish."

"The situation here is very different from what I know. In any case, we should prepare for the worst."

From everything Vanny Campbell knew, this was the first time she had heard of arriving in this world without passing through a domain.

Moreover, as far as Simon’s situation was concerned—or for all the nations of the world—no one had ever entered a domain and reached this world.

Every nation’s policy for the heavily polluted and transformed domains was always containment and blockade.

They built fortifications outside the domains and did their utmost to eliminate any bizarre creatures that escaped.

This was the greatest effort the world could muster.

As for exploring the domains?

Just think about the Purple Moon’s contamination. Its mere projection on the Blue Star was headache enough—entering would be suicide.

Until a solution to the Purple Moon’s pollution was found, all countries maintained strict blockades.

This sudden, unheralded event, where everyone was transported to this world, was something Vanny Campbell simply couldn’t grasp.

But whether she understood it or not, reality had happened. All she could do now was pray.

---

Looking at the Sacred Tree, then at Vanny Campbell, Simon finally, feeling a headache coming on, shouted to those around him:

"Everyone, gather at the edge of the Sacred Tree’s shadow! Ready your weapons! You do not need to wait for my command—if you see any movement in the grass, open fire immediately! Understood?"

"Understood!" Simon’s armed tribesmen responded in unison.

Though not as professionally trained as the soldiers Vanny Campbell had brought from West York, Simon’s people were no strangers to bloodshed.

Their fighting spirit remained, and they would not be cowed by mere fear.

Among Vanny Campbell’s group, a military officer was issuing orders to the soldiers, and the well-equipped America soldiers appeared all the more fierce.

Beneath the oak, Barton the priest began fervently praying to the tree, hoping for new guidance.

Ji Yu noticed everything happening at the tree’s base, but his attention was caught by a series of belated game notifications:

[Game system calibration in progress...]

[Scanning world environment...]

[...]

[Game system upgrade loading...]

[...]

[Game upgrade complete.]

[Guide mission initiated]

[Guide Mission One: Survive.]

[As player has unlocked a new map, a special reward is granted: Oak Avatars receive Targeted Trait: Negative Resistance (Medium)]

[Negative Resistance (Medium): Moderately resists all harmful negative energies from outside sources; effectiveness scales with strength.]

[Detected new map rule repulsion. Player avatar and Blue Star lifeforms will return to original Blue Star coordinates in one hour, twenty-two minutes, and seventeen seconds.]

The interface offered only simple prompts, but Ji Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Along with the game reward, the negative resistance appeared on the oak, and instantly, the tree’s canopy countered and pushed back the Purple Moon’s corrosive rays, reclaiming some distance.