I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

Li Wu stood on the empty street, surrounded by magnificent yet silent buildings. The steam pipes of Ironforge still hissed, but the vibrant atmosphere that used to mingle with the aroma of ale, the clanging of anvils, and the clamor of players had vanished without a trace.

A vast, unsettling silence enveloped the mountain town.

"Impossible..." Li Wu muttered to himself, his brows furrowed.

He doesn't believe it.

The [Myth] guild, under his leadership and Hua Zitong's management, has just risen to prominence with lightning speed and is currently enjoying great popularity.

Our ally, [Sword and Rose], is incredibly powerful, and our business empire, [Thousand Gold Pavilion], is raking in money every day. The twenty newly recruited genius players will be the core pillars of our future.

Even if the Ironblood Alliance, the Rise of the Storm, and the Blood Wolf Guild joined forces to suppress them, it would be impossible to make the entire guild disappear in such a short time, or even turn Ironforge into a ghost town.

This is illogical.

He opened the guild channel again, but it was empty. The last message was a congratulatory message from Lin Hai a few days ago for successfully passing the recruitment assessment.

He tried to chat privately, but every name was followed by that glaring gray "(offline)" icon.

A chill rose from the soles of my feet.

He felt like the whole world had abandoned him.

In that isolated Tower of Trials, what exactly did he miss in his quest to become stronger and gain that elusive luck stat?

Or is the flow of time there abnormal, and a long time has actually passed outside?

He began to sprint through the city, his exceptional agility making him like a black lightning bolt, cutting through street after street.

In the forging area, only a few NPC blacksmiths were listlessly hammering away.

The inn was empty except for the owner wiping the dusty wine glasses.

The entire Ironforge seemed to have been put on pause.

At first glance, all you see are NPCs; there isn't a single real player.

Li Wu's heart sank deeper and deeper.

This phenomenon cannot be explained by guild feuds.

This is more like a huge, unknown disaster that affects all players.

"Hey! Stop right there!"

Just as Li Wu was about to head to the city gate to check the situation, he finally spotted a player at the corner of an alley.

It was a young-looking rogue player, not very high level, and with ordinary equipment. He was furtively peeking out, observing the situation on the main road, his face filled with fear and unease.

Li Wu dodged and blocked the alley entrance.

"what!"

The rogue player was startled and instinctively tried to go into stealth when he saw Li Wu suddenly appear.

"Don't move."

Li Wu's voice was cold and devoid of any emotion.

The thief player froze, feeling an indescribable sense of oppression emanating from Li Wu. It was an absolute crushing of power, a superior over a subordinate.

He recognized Li Wu.

"Fog... Fog-seeing-flowers-in-the-fog master?" The rogue player's voice trembled.

"Where are the people in the city?" Li Wu cut to the chase, getting straight to the point. "Where are the people from my guild, [Myth]?"

"They...they've all logged off," the rogue player stammered. "Not just your guild, everyone, almost everyone's logged off!"

"Why?" Li Wu pressed, her voice unconsciously rising a few decibels.

"You...you don't know?" The thief player's face showed an expression of even greater shock than when he saw Li Wu, as if he were looking at a caveman who had just come out of a mountain cave.

"You're still staying in the Origin Realm? My god, you're incredibly audacious!"

"Get to the point!" Li Wu said impatiently, grabbing the rogue player by the collar.

"No...don't do it!" The rogue player was terrified and cried out, "Something's happened! Something terrible has happened in the real world!"

"Reality?"

Li Wu's pupils suddenly contracted.

These two words struck him like a heavy hammer blow.

His worst fears came true.

"What exactly happened?" His voice became hoarse.

"I...I can't explain it either!" The butler was on the verge of tears. "It's just...just a day ago, television and the internet all over the world suddenly started broadcasting...that many people, many ordinary people, suddenly have...have special abilities!"

"Some people can conjure fireballs, some can jump incredibly high, and some... and some have grown scales! The whole world is in chaos!"

"Everyone's terrified! Who's even thinking about going into the Origin Realm anymore?! Everyone's logged off to check things out! I'm getting ready to log off too; if I don't, I'm afraid my neighbors will tear my house down!"

The thief player finished speaking in one breath, looking at Li Wu with the eyes of someone looking at a monster.

"Master, you... how come you're not surprised at all?"

Li Wu did not answer him.

He let go, his mind a complete mess.

Special abilities?

What exactly is going on?

Could it be...?

"I...I have to log off now, boss. Take care!"

Seeing that Li Wu hadn't reacted for a while, the thief player didn't dare to stay any longer. After saying that, his figure turned into a white light and disappeared from the spot.

In the alley, only Li Wu remained.

He looked up at the gray sky over Ironforge, and a sense of urgency he had never felt before welled up inside him.

He thought of his mother and sister.

What if something happened inside the hospital? If all the patients suddenly turned into "superheroes" who could conjure fireballs and demolish walls with their bare hands, how dangerous would their situation become!

Can't wait any longer!

Li Wu took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

He then opened the panel and clicked to leave the Realm of Origin.

The next moment, his vision was instantly engulfed by a white light.

The moment his consciousness returned to his body, Li Wu suddenly opened his eyes.

There was no sense of disconnect between the virtual and reality that I had experienced before; instead, I felt an unprecedented sense of fulfillment.

He could clearly feel a faint energy permeating the air, flowing into his limbs and bones with each breath.

This feeling is exactly the same as in "The Realm of Origin"!

He didn't have time to examine his body's changes; he immediately jumped out of bed, grabbed his phone, and called his mother.

"Mom! Are you alright? Is everything alright at the hospital?"

"Xiaowu? What's wrong? Why are you so startled?"

A mother's voice came from the other end of the line, "What could possibly happen to me? What could possibly happen at the hospital..."

Before their mother could finish speaking, Li Xiaoyu, the younger sister, took the phone. "Brother, something terrible has happened! Many people around the world now have special abilities. You have to be careful..."

Li Wu learned some information from Li Xiaoyu: not everyone has special abilities; it seems that only those who have awakened their profession can have special abilities.

He went to the balcony and looked out the window; the streets were in complete chaos.

The fruit vendor, who would usually argue for ages over a few dollars, was now staring in horror at his hands. Tiny flames were flickering from his fingertips, like a cheap lighter.

Not far away, a thin man leaped three or four meters high, easily clearing a tricycle blocking his way, before crashing heavily to the ground, drawing gasps of surprise.

Further away, a piercing metallic scraping sound came from the distance.

Li Wu stared intently and saw two hooligans who usually idled away their time fighting.

One of them had a faint metallic sheen on his arm, which blocked the steel pipe swung by the other person with a crisp "clang".

"A warrior's [hardened skin]?" Li Wu's pupils contracted slightly.

These supernatural scenes perfectly matched the description given by the thief player.

Moreover, these abilities are clearly from the Origin Realm.

In other words, the power of the Origin Realm has truly leaked into the real world!

Or rather, the two worlds are beginning to merge in an unknown way!