"I beat it?"
Zhang Tao stared blankly at the corpse of the Extinction Dragon before him for a moment, then came to his senses, filled with both surprise and excitement: "I beat it, I really beat it!"
Immediately, Zhang Tao took off the virtual reality device and turned his head, excitedly shouting, "Zhou Yang, look, I beat the Extinction…"
His words stopped abruptly halfway through.
"Huh?"
Zhang Tao paused, realizing that a large group of people were standing behind him, staring intently at him.
Some he recognized, others he didn't, but they looked familiar, and he knew they were all students from the academy. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why are you all here?"
He then saw the group of students already speaking with expressions of admiration.
"Senior Brother Zhang Tao, you're too amazing!"
"That's right, even the Ancient Dragon that Senior Brother Zhou Yang has been fighting for so long without success, Senior Brother Zhang Tao actually managed to defeat it!"
"Truly amazing!"
"Senior Brother Zhang Tao, you're awesome!"
"Senior Brother Zhang Tao, you have to teach us how to play this game later!"
Although Zhang Tao modestly responded to the crowd's praise and adoration, he was quite pleased in his heart.
After all, even though he was a student of the Heavenly Court, his family background was only slightly better than others; he had never received the treatment of a star student on the Heavenly Ranking like Zhou Yang.
But now, he had become the "gaming expert" in everyone's eyes, and his sense of accomplishment immediately doubled. He became even more determined in his heart that he must practice his gaming skills more in the future.
However, Zhou Yang, who was standing nearby, felt as if he had a thorn in his back.
He, who was usually proud and never one to admit defeat, saw that the Extinction Dragon, which had stumped him, had actually been defeated by Zhang Tao.
While shocked, he also felt a bit unconvinced.
He clearly remembered that before Zhang Tao went to find the boss, Zhou Yang had seen his combat situation, which wasn't much better than his own. How could he have defeated it so quickly upon returning?
Zhou Yang couldn't help but ask, "Zhang Tao, did you also go to the boss to buy a game guide?"
"No!"
Zhang Tao denied, "I told you I'm tight on money recently, I don't have that much!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yang felt even more surprised, precisely because he believed Zhang Tao wasn't lying.
"Then how did you defeat it so quickly? Don't tell me it was because of the boss's guidance. I remember you've sought guidance from the boss many times before!"
"That's not it either!"
Zhang Tao shook his head, then said with some suspicion, "But the boss did ask me to do one thing!"
"What thing?"
"Just to sit in the rest area for a while!"
"Huh?"
Zhou Yang didn't understand: "What do you mean?"
"Actually, I didn't understand at first either. When I went to ask the boss for advice, he just told me to go rest in the rest area."
"At that time, I was feeling annoyed from playing, and there was no one queuing at the Internet Cafe, so I didn't have to worry about my spot being taken. So I did as he said. Actually, when I was sitting there, I didn't feel anything special!"
Zhang Tao continued recalling, his expression subtly shifting: "But you know what, now that I think about it, after I finished sitting and came back, I actually felt my state was much better during combat. My mistakes decreased, and I got more and more into the flow, which is why I finally defeated the Extinction Dragon!"
"Do you think this might be related to that rest area?"
It was better that Zhou Yang didn't ask; once he did, Zhang Tao thought about it more and more, and felt that the matter was indeed a bit miraculous.
"It must be related!"
Zhou Yang asserted, "Let's go ask!"
"Okay!"
Zhou Yang had previously thought there was no need to consult Su Ran, but now seeing that even Zhang Tao had defeated the Extinction Dragon while he was still stuck, he couldn't help but give in a little.
Saying that, the two walked towards the counter.
As for the students behind them, they exchanged glances, their expressions blank, indicating they completely didn't understand, but they still followed out of curiosity, planning to join the fun.
At this time, there were also some players at the counter, asking Su Ran to write guides or for guidance on problems.
"Boss, does that rest and waiting area have the same effect as game guides?"
Zhou Yang asked directly as soon as he approached.
"Not the same!"
Su Ran answered while writing the guide, "The rest and waiting area is for restoring your game state, not for improving your strength."
"Restoring state?"
"Is there a difference?"
Zhang Tao and Zhou Yang were even more puzzled.
"Although playing games can improve your cultivation, you should also have felt that there's a limit each day!"
Su Ran suddenly stopped writing, looked up, and patiently explained, "After that, you will experience game fatigue. This fatigue is more reflected in your spirit, which will affect your game state!"
"Especially when you experience more and more deaths in the game, this situation will become even more obvious!"
At this moment, not to mention Zhang Tao and Zhou Yang.
Even the other players nearby who were asking Su Ran for guides and advice were surprised.
"No wonder I felt like I've been playing worse and worse recently, and my progress has been getting slower and slower!"
"Me too, the more I played, the more irritable I became!"
But some couldn't help but ask, "But Lord Wu and the others have been playing much longer than us, so why is their progress still so fast?"
"Everyone's game state and endurance are different!"
Su Ran shook his head: "Besides, how are they fast? They've been stuck on the Three Ancient Dragons for so long, and you're catching up after only a few days. Are they fast, or are you too rushed?"
"Uh… it seems so. So boss, what should we do about this?!"
Su Ran smiled: "Of course, get off the machine and rest in the rest area, play a few hours less!"
"Ah?"
Everyone was surprised.
Someone immediately cried out, "No way, I feel like even the current time isn't enough to play, playing less, how can that be!"
The others nodded in agreement.
"Let me tell you, this kind of game fatigue will accumulate daily as your game time continues."
Su Ran reminded them, "It might not have a big impact now, but later your state might get worse and worse, and even if you continue playing, your progress will get slower and slower!"
"This…"
Upon hearing this, the players roughly understood.
If their state was too poor, their progress from playing for several days might not be as fast as someone who only played a few hours a day, with most of it being meaningless death time.
No wonder they had been saying that more people were getting off the machines in the afternoon and evening recently; they probably also felt their state declining.
This made them a bit depressed.
However, the only good news was that resting in the rest area seemed to accelerate state recovery.
As soon as Zhou Yang finished listening, he rushed to the rest area.
And some people told the other players in the Internet Cafe about this, and it quickly spread throughout the Internet Cafe.
As for those new students, although they didn't quite understand and initially thought it sounded like bad news.
However, they soon noticed that many people in the Internet Cafe started getting up and leaving their machines, then heading to the rest area in the center of the Internet Cafe.
Suddenly, many seats became available.
Even some players who only came in the evening, intending just to watch others play and thinking it was impossible to get a spot, were delighted.
They seemed to realize that this wasn't entirely a bad thing.
This state recovery mechanism could allow those waiting in line for a spot not to have to rely on luck as they did before.