CH 1

Upon the towering Longshou Peak, a black dragon gazes out over the vast, black, carbon-like plain below. The dragon’s scales gleam like obsidian in the dim sunlight, while its majestic wings unfurl, casting a colossal shadow upon the ridge. Its neck is slightly bent, giving it the appearance of a statue as it contemplates some profound question.

The dragon’s eyes flutter open, revealing vertical pupils unique to reptiles that glimmer with a flame-like luster. This is Morpheus, also known as the “Shadow of Death,” the Black Dragon Lord, a level 80 disaster-level boss and the leader of the Dark Dragon Nest Dungeon. One of the thirteen Black Dragon Lords of the Black Dragon Legion.

Behind the black dragon, an army of monster servants—goblins, gnolls, kobolds—crowd together, bustling about their tasks. A few huge ogres and bugbears drag big wooden sticks and yawn lazily. Though they possess little patience for waiting, they make no move to protest under the oppressive influence of the black dragon’s aura, known as Longwei.

Several black young dragons stood shoulder to shoulder on the cliff’s edge, mimicking their uncle’s posture as they gazed into the distance. In the horizon, where the dark plain meets the emerald forest, tiny black dots could be seen gradually approaching.

At first, the young dragons were quite interested, but they soon grew bored with the arrival of the adventurers, who were brave, fearless, greedy, and all too familiar.

One dragon stepped forward from the crowd and cautiously asked, “Master Morpheus, the enemy has appeared. Shall we go down and prepare?”

The black dragon did not answer. Its wordless silence made the curious dragon’s forehead sweat, and it dared not ask again, retreating soundlessly.

The black young dragons whispered amongst themselves.

“Master Morpheus’ dragon power is growing stronger by the day.”

“Yes, but what do you suppose is on Master Morpheus’ mind?”

“I believe Lord Morpheus may be praying to the gods. It is said that powerful dragons can communicate directly with the Dragon God. Perhaps the Dragon God is revealing an oracle to Lord Morpheus,” suggested one of the dragons.

“I believe Lord Morpheus is contemplating whether to unleash a new dragon calamity. Our lair has been established for nearly half a year, and those adventurers come to cause trouble every now and then. It’s time to eradicate them and seize their treasures!” proposed another.

“You’re all overthinking it. Maybe Mr. Morpheus is just thinking about what to eat tonight. I, for one, crave some roast lamb…” joked a third dragon.

However, none of their guesses aligned with what the black dragon Morpheus was truly thinking.

“What the hell? Is it some kind of holiday or game event today? Why are there so many adventurers here? And why are they attacking from the front of the dark plain? Don’t they know how I earned the nickname ‘Shadow of Death’? Well, the more people who come, the bloodier the slaughter. As long as there are no heroes leading the team, these adventurers are doomed. Speaking of which, the live streaming room is about to open, and I’ll need to work hard to earn my rewards.”

As it turned out, Black Dragon Morpheus was not just a dragon, but also the gamer and livestreamer Murphy.

In the game “Firmament World,” it is not unusual for players to assume the role of a BOSS. They have the freedom to choose any role they wish, ranging from a mouse in the sewers to a deep-sea monster lurking in the ocean depths, or even the gods in the realm of the divine can be played by the players.

In the game “Firmament World,” the traditional time cards and premium items have been replaced with template-based pricing.

Throughout the game, players have dozens of character templates to choose from, which can be broadly categorized into three types based on the pricing model.

The first type is a free template, where players can play without having to spend any money.

The monster templates allow players to assume the form of various creatures such as skeletons, zombies, birds of prey, goblins, murlocs, ooze monsters, piranhas, and other strange beings.

The soldier template lets players play the role of ordinary soldiers from different kingdoms. They guard cities, patrol the countryside, eliminate monsters, participate in inter-kingdom wars, and serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield.

The civilian template doesn’t have any combat capabilities, but players can travel around, learn skills, do business, open shops, and experience civilian life in the fantasy world.

The second type is the paid template, where players need to use point cards to buy game time.

The adventurer template is the closest to the traditional game mode. Players fight monsters and upgrade their characters, kill bosses to obtain equipment, accept missions, and earn reputation. This type of template has the largest number of players.

The explorer template lets players delve deep into ancient ruins, explore ancient secrets, and unearth legendary treasures.

The vassal template allows players to own their own manor, cultivate land, develop their properties, or lead troops to fight and serve their lord, participating in wars.

The third type is the VIP template, which is the most enjoyable and the most expensive way to play the game.

The lord template has gameplay similar to that of a real-time strategy game. Players take on the role of a lord who owns a castle and territory. They can farm and develop wasteland, form an army, battle against other kingdoms, expand their territory, lead an army to resist the attacks of orcs, undead, and demons, perform meritorious deeds, and even establish their own kingdom.

The hero template allows players to play as a legendary hero with noble blood, significant life experience, and a remarkable life. They can take risks with adventurers, defeat powerful BOSS demon kings, call kings their brothers and sisters, fight side by side, and play between towns’ taverns. They can also talk about love with elves and drink with dwarves.

The hero template has the highest degree of freedom and five times the attribute growth of ordinary adventurers, making their attacks five times more powerful. The coolest feature is that heroes can participate personally in various epic plot events and even directly change the plot’s direction. For example, the player who killed the orc chief Blackhand at the Dark Portal a month ago was a hero template player. Stormwind Kingdom even set up a statue for this player for the world to admire. When this player walks into the city, the guards of Stormwind will kneel down on one knee to show their respect.

In the BOSS template, players can build their monster forces, sweep villages and towns, fight against kingdoms, create dungeons, and battle against greedy adventurer teams. The BOSS template’s single combat effectiveness is the strongest, and some world-class big BOSS can even destroy a country with one person.

However, even the most formidable BOSSes are unable to destroy the entire sky world as each time they attempt to do so, heroes emerge to prevent their plans from coming to fruition.

Rumors abound that a god template exists on the VIP template, but it remains closed to players for now. Many speculate that this is a tool used by the game company to control the game plot, much like the existence of a GM. However, this remains nothing more than speculation.

Despite the thrilling prospect of playing in this mode, the VIP templates come with an exorbitant cost. The levels of lords, heroes, and even bosses are all divided, and even the weakest skeleton-level bosses or bronze-level heroes require an investment of more than 100,000 RMB to unlock. As a result, only the wealthiest of players can afford to play this mode.

Murphy played the boss template, and it was a disaster-level boss. (The hierarchy of boss levels in this game is divided into five grades: skeleton level, horror level, disaster level, world level, and world destruction level.)

Although Murphy is not a wealthy player, his Black Dragon BOSS has grown from a small black dragon whelpling and was upgraded little by little.

In this game, there is a design where a low-level template can be advanced to a higher-level template as long as certain conditions are met. Small soldiers can be promoted to vassals, vassals to lords, monsters to elites, elites to bosses, bosses to big bosses, and so on.

However, advancing the template is no easy feat. One misstep can lead to becoming a stepping stone for others to advance, and Murphy has faced countless deaths in the process of upgrading. His success is a combination of both luck and skill, and a testament to his gaming prowess.

In the “Firmament World” section of the entire Xingyao live broadcast platform, Murphy has firmly established himself as the first brother in the monster area, and has become a celebrity in the entire game circle of “Firmament World.”

However, fame has its downsides. Every now and then, players form teams to attack him, seeking to destroy his equipment, conquer his dungeons, and gain notoriety.

There was even a lord player who arrived with an army to trigger a “story campaign,” hoping to use his leadership to earn reputation and story points.

Since he established his dragon lair in the Dragon Flame Mountains three months ago, this situation has become increasingly frequent. At its peak, three waves of adventurers came in one day.

Murphy fought every day, battling over 20 times in three months, killing countless adventurers, including an elite team led by two hero players.

That battle was fierce and bloody, and ended with the heroic deaths of the two heroes.

Since that tragic battle, no organized players have visited for a full week.

But as soon as Murphy logged on today, he noticed an unusual activity in the Burning Plain. His heart raced with excitement at the prospect of encountering some reckless adventurers. “Tsk tsk tsk, when will these greedy adventurers ever learn?” he thought to himself. “Are they just here to offer their equipment and heads again? Well, today I will teach them a lesson. A boss cannot be defeated by sheer numbers alone.”

Slowly turning around, Murphy surveyed the monsters beneath him, his gaze finally settling on the dragon warlord, Borax. “Go and prepare, Borax,” the Black Dragon Lord commanded. “Meet me at the usual spot with all of your servants. Don’t let a single adventurer escape. Don’t disappoint me.”

Borax, the Dragon Warlord, replied with obedience to Lord Morpheus’s command, promising not to disappoint him. “Did you all hear that? Move quickly, you lazy slackers, or I’ll flay you alive if you miss Lord Morpheus,” he shouted at the monsters.

With a swing of his flame whip, Borax drove the monsters down the mountain, eager to carry out his mission.

Murphy, on the other hand, remained calm and composed. He had the ability to fly and could easily join the battle at any moment, but he decided to wait for the monsters to make the first move. As an anchor, he knew that it was important to stay focused on the task at hand, even though playing a black dragon was a cool job.

As the time approached, Murphy switched on the live broadcast system, adjusted the viewing angle, and began broadcasting today’s game.