Little Pink Starfish

Of course, this wasn’t going to be easy. For now, it was only a concept.

Those ancient gods had controlled Gate of Eternity for a very long time—they certainly weren’t looking to welcome new “partners.”
Besides, this plan would require careful thought, and to a degree, cooperation from the Bix Magic Cube.

After sharing his idea with Bix Magic Cube, Pei Sen asked, “What do you think?”

Bix Magic Cube: “……”

As expected, real humans were far more imaginative than it was.

“To truly integrate with this world,” Pei Sen said, “I originally thought the best approach was through Anser Empire and Xia, since those two nations have ruled this continent for ages. But then I remembered you named this server Gate of Eternity. Not only that, but the brutal war just recorded in the annals of history—wasn’t it caused by those restless gods? I suddenly realized that if we want to really increase integration, we need to start with the gods of Gate of Eternity.”

Bix Magic Cube quickly responded, “I’ll consider it.”

With that, Pei Sen didn’t say more. Bix Magic Cube was incredibly intelligent—you couldn’t treat it like an ordinary game GM or administrator. Working with a being like this was much easier.

Pei Sen glanced at his level. He was already close to level 80.

Once he hit 80, he could start working toward an advanced class breakthrough—to become a Legendary Mage. Only at that stage would he be on par with a demigod in Gate of Eternity, qualified to even approach the gate itself.

“At first, I wanted to dual-class as a swordmage, but now it seems like the game system really favors mages. Mage classes level like crazy, while my sword class is only just scraping level 30.”

Level 30 swordsman was already considered a mid-tier class. But compared to his nearly Legendary-tier mage path, the leveling speed was pathetic.

If not for selling magic stones tied to the sword class, Pei Sen would’ve long abandoned the swordsman route. It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying—he just didn’t have the bandwidth for both.

This also made Pei Sen acutely aware: even if these worlds were “real,” players still held absolute advantages that native inhabitants could never hope to match.

Take Yali Continent’s first wave of players. Some of the most hardcore had been in the game for nearly a year now. A few had already crossed the level 60 threshold and were starting their advanced class breakthroughs.

Reaching advanced classes would still take some time, but most would make it.

All of this—in just one year!

Players didn’t think much of it. Leveling to 60 in a year felt slow. In many games, a player could max out several characters in that time. They’d been grinding night and day, and were only now reaching 60. Was that really fast?

But to the native inhabitants—it was beyond shocking.

While Eagle and Pei Sen were away from the Yali Continent, much of the daily affairs had fallen to Aijin, Ichabod, and Sadin. Even the blind Wendell was required to take on some responsibilities, under Eagle’s orders—not as a punishment, but because Eagle didn’t intend to let him mooch off Red Maple Castle.

As far as Eagle was concerned, he’d already been generous enough curing Wendell’s curse. He had no real affection for this half-brother; he was hardly more than a stranger. Even though they had a mutual enemy in Leiser, Eagle was content to watch Leiser bring about his own ruin—Wendell was of no use to him.

And this guy had clearly planned to squat in Red Maple Castle indefinitely without contacting Bonfrese. That wasn’t happening. Eagle wouldn’t let him just freeload.

With Wendell helping, Ichabod finally had some breathing room. As the former heir to a kingdom comparable to Esmia, even if his rise had been abruptly stunted at twelve, he still had a strong foundation.

This gave Ichabod a chance to observe the Bix people more closely.

And what he saw utterly shocked him.

“What? Some of the Bix are already seeking ways to break through into advanced swordsman classes?” Ichabod was stunned. He vividly remembered how weak this group had been at the start.

Back then, even high-level swordsmen and mages had headaches dealing with them. But that was only because of their immortality and brute-force tactics. Their individual strength had been low—quantity was their only edge.

They weren’t truly strong.

His impression had been of a swarm of low-level swordsmen, with the occasional mid-level outlier. But now, looking more closely, he was floored. Their progress in such a short time could only be described as terrifying.

Among this strange, immortal race, the majority had already become mid-level swordsmen, with some mid-level mages and thieves. Even if they weren’t individually powerful, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

And more were advancing every day. No wonder they were seeking ways to break through.

“How long has it even been… a year? Not even a full year.”

To a native—

Take Ichabod himself. He had been a high-level swordsman for around ten years, and yet was still stuck at level seven.

Even as an extraordinary individual, the path upward only grew harder. Many with less talent would remain mid-tier for their entire lives, never breaking through—even after twenty years.

If “effort” alone led to advancement, then sword saints would be a dime a dozen. That was clearly impossible.

Ichabod himself had decent talent. But even then, it had taken him nearly six months just to get from level one to two.

“These people… how?” he muttered in disbelief, glancing at a nearby Bix woman who worked odd jobs around the castle.

He had barely noticed her before—a young woman who didn’t seem to train, unlike some of her more combat-happy kin. She often took short-term tasks posted by the castle.

He’d seen her many times before. Her name was… Aiwei, if he remembered right.

Now that he looked closely, she was nearly at the peak of mid-level swordsman. Soon, she might also be seeking a breakthrough to advanced.

But how? She didn’t fight, didn’t train—how had she advanced so fast?

“Good afternoon, Steward Ichabod,” Aiwei greeted politely upon seeing him.

She had always liked the Eagle x Pei Sen CP, so she took many of Red Maple Castle’s tasks. Whenever she logged in, she spent much of her time there.

Unfortunately, Eagle had run off with Pei Sen recently, and she couldn’t get any news. It broke her heart.

She figured she’d better grind to level 60 quickly and break into an advanced class, then she could ride the Time Train and follow them wherever they went.
Aiwei thought to herself.

Ichabod hesitated for a moment, then asked, “You’re already a level 5 swordsman?”

“Yes, Steward,” Aiwei nodded brightly. Her eyes sparkled—this steward was a level 7 swordsman. Was he going to teach her how to break through? If so, what luck!

Ichabod looked pained. “But I’ve never seen you practice swordsmanship. I’m surprised you’ve progressed so quickly.”

Aiwei: “?”

She didn’t quite understand. Practice sword skills? Sure, skills had proficiency levels—higher proficiency meant higher damage. But for a casual player like her, damage wasn’t the priority.

Besides, it didn’t affect her leveling or class progression. Wait—did class advancement require skill proficiency?

Crap, what if that was true? How was she going to grind all those skill levels now?

She was already off on a mental tangent. Ichabod, seeing her confused expression, finally couldn’t resist asking, “You Bix people seem to advance very quickly. Is there… some special method you use?”

He immediately realized it was impolite, too blunt. If there was some secret method, why would they tell him?

He regretted asking as soon as the words left his mouth. “Apologies, I didn’t mean—”

“Special method?” Aiwei blinked, trying to understand his point.

What’s this NPC getting at? Aiwei was confused.

What did he mean by “special”? Sure, she didn’t grind skill proficiency or run dungeons. But she did her daily quests and Red Maple Castle tasks, which gave XP. She was a closed beta player, and just over level 50—not even considered fast. The real hardcore players were already level 60 and working on breakthroughs.

So what exactly was this steward trying to say?

Aiwei was utterly lost.

“Isn’t it just… fighting or slowly… getting stronger?” she asked tentatively.

She couldn’t exactly tell Ichabod that all her XP came from daily tasks and castle quests—many of which he had given her.

Ichabod: “……”

Forget it. It was exhausting to think about. These Bix… maybe they were just monsters.

In the end, Ichabod walked away, dejected.

Meanwhile, BraisedSpicySnack and others had already figured out the requirements for advanced class breakthroughs. They were preparing to move to the new server once Gate of Eternity officially opened.

“Once you advance to an advanced class, you can freely travel between servers. The map suddenly feels a lot bigger,” said Claude.

BraisedSpicySnack nodded. “It’s possible that in Bix Magic Cube, the game really starts after level 60.”

“…You mean after a year of grinding to level 60, now the game starts?” LostDeer groaned.

Still, many players agreed with BraisedSpicySnack’s theory.

One day later, the Gate of Eternity server… finally opened.