Chapter 12: Danger and Opportunity Beneath the Night Sky

“Why are you back as well?”
Seeing White Day and Black Tea appear behind me, I was slightly surprised.
White Day sighed helplessly, glanced at the sky outside the city that was growing darker, and said, “There’s nothing we can do. If we don’t return now, it’ll be nightfall soon, and then it’ll be impossible to get back safely.”
I was a bit stunned, just about to ask more when Black Tea interrupted:
“小麟, how did you level up so fast? You reached level three in less than two hours?” On the way back, she had clearly seen the Slime Prairie crowded with players...
...
I didn’t hide anything and told them everything that had happened to me.
A level 0 player snatching monsters from level 5 players... That sounded almost unbelievable!
Yet, the situation on the Slime Prairie did seem to confirm it... While White Day and Black Tea were forced to believe, they were also filled with emotion.
Who would have thought that an ordinary short dagger could have such a wonderful use!
Secondary damage.
A simple technique easily suppressed players five levels higher, and even made a level 6 Lion player with a strength talent admit defeat.
More importantly, at this rate, Xiaolin could easily reach level 10 within twenty-four hours, breaking free from the status of a commoner!
At that point, I remembered what White Day had said earlier, and quickly asked:
“By the way, Big Brother White, you just mentioned... that once it’s dark, you can’t return. What does that mean? Can’t you level up and hunt monsters at night?”
As soon as I finished speaking, I noticed White Day and Black Tea’s faces darken slightly.
White Day forced a smile and replied,
“Yes, outside the city at night is more dangerous than during the day. The two of us can’t stay out there, so we had to come back...”

“You two? What about the rest of your team?”
I sensed that things weren’t as simple as White Day made them sound.
At that moment, Black Tea, ever straightforward, snorted:
“We were just kicked out of the team, what’s there to hide? No need to conceal it from Xiaolin.”
With her blunt revelation, White Day blushed, scratched the back of his head, and awkwardly explained what had happened...
It turned out that White Day and Black Tea had originally agreed to level up together at night with several others from their group.
Later, two players at levels 34 and 35 joined, both from the same mercenary guild as the others, and quite close with them. So they wanted to push out the two outsiders in the team.
They were too embarrassed to say it outright, so all twelve people left their planned leveling spot—the Blackwind Forest—and went to the more dangerous ‘Bloodshed Cavern’.
White Day and Black Tea, who struggled even against tier-two monsters, found themselves facing level 30 and above monsters with terrifying defenses—‘Blood Corpses’ and ‘Blood Beasts’—which left them with little combat ability and even greater danger.
Infuriated, the two withdrew from Bloodshed Cavern and returned to the city.
After hearing their story, I felt nothing but contempt for those people—unable to keep their word even in a game; one can well imagine how low their character must be.
Thinking back, the Lion Madman I met on the Slime Prairie, though bossy, at least kept his promises—unlike the people White Day and Black Tea encountered, who changed with the wind, utterly despicable.
“All right, don’t waste your anger on those scumbags. Just find new people for a team...”
I was about to comfort them when White Day gave a bitter smile and said:
“It’s too late. We’ll have to wait until sunrise if we want to level up again...”
“Why?”
I looked at him in astonishment.
“Xiaolin, you don’t know how dangerous it is at night. Usually, very few people level up after dark. The few who rush to do so generally find their teammates early and settle in fixed spots. My mercenary guild is full, so even if we go now, there’s no team that’ll take us in... With too few people, you simply can’t survive outside.” Black Tea said gloomily, her mood very downcast:
“Ugh, I was planning to take advantage of the weekend to really push my level. Didn’t expect to get played by those jerks. Damn it!”
Now I finally understood a few things:
They seemed to mean that leveling up outside the city at night requires a team, and you must stay at fixed leveling spots, or else it becomes extremely dangerous!

Still, I couldn’t quite grasp...
What exactly is the danger at night? The darkness? Or something else?
If it’s the darkness, there’s an item in the game called ‘Magic Candle’, apparently made for players who level up at night.
At this moment, White Day and Black Tea noticed my puzzled expression and began to explain...
...
Ten o’clock in the morning on most civilian planets in the real world marks the arrival of night in “Age of Magic.”
If daytime in “Age of Magic” belongs to countless players, then night... is absolutely not a world they can control!
Besides needing extra hands for lighting, the dim moonlight hides endless dangers and deadly threats...
Among them are high-level monsters that rarely show up during the day; advanced bosses with intelligence close to, or even surpassing, humans; and mutated monsters of various forms with even more formidable bodies and abilities... All proliferate and surge in this silent hour!
Even more terrifying!
The proliferation rate of monsters at night is astonishing...
Thus, some low-level, social monsters are sometimes more terrifying than advanced bosses!
As a result, not only does leveling and treasure hunting become more difficult at night, even large mercenary teams must stay alert at all times—because you never know when a group of monsters with gleaming fangs, or a high-level monster too powerful to handle, might suddenly leap out from the darkness at your side.
In fact, this is largely designed for players who have jobs...
Thanks to this, they can maintain a normal schedule, and only enter “Age of Magic” after work or late at night.
Then “Age of Magic” is clear and bright.
Yet, despite the extraordinary dangers outside the city at night, it still draws countless players.
Because the bosses, mutated monsters, special monsters, and their refresh rates far exceed those during the day, promising enticing high-level equipment, weapons, treasures, and even more opportunities and experience.
These things are irresistible temptations for every player!