Chapter Three: Thirty-Seven Players, One Sparring Session

The stream captured their exchange. For the first time, the chat stopped demanding that he use his cheat. A single sentence began repeating across the screen: DON'T BURN YOURSELF OUT. WE WANT TO SEE YOU WIN AS YOURSELF. The gold upon the Crown brightened, but its agitation subsided. The final ten hunters realized that infighting only helped Lin Jin. They formed a standard professional formation back-to-back: tank blocking the route, mage controlling space, twin assassins in stealth. Cold Edge rose again in the glow of a resurrection item. “Good at running, aren't you?” His face twisted. “But this hidden dungeon lasts eight minutes. When time expires, the Time-Eater digests every low-level player. We have Deathless Crests. Do you?”