Chapter 4: The First Batch Of Players

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

According to Bei Li, the settings of the character class templates were similar to that of the distribution of soul power absorbed when the player kills a being from the underworld.

For instance, when the player has chosen a character class, say, a berserker, the soul power collected when a being is killed will increase the abilities of a player, mostly by their strength.

Same goes to Wang Damang. The terminator he has chosen mainly focuses on strength and agility.

After picking which character class to go with, the surrounding Yin energy merged to form a dagger and a rough cloth, which appeared magically on Wang Damang’s body.

Although the new combat equipment was nothing fancy, they required no soul power to function. Lu Wu solely relied on the players to kill as many creatures from the underworld as possible to collect soul power.

Lu Wu’s heart suddenly skipped a beat as a message emerged in Wang Damang’s head.

[New Quest: Slaughter the ten-headed Wandering Soul. The reward is 5 soul coins.]

Wang Damang was excited when he received the quest. He was already becoming addicted to this well-made game.

He followed the instructions, opened the map, and saw that he was currently in the [Underworld of Beiqi] which was encircled by the field boundary of the [Ghost Mountains]. However, the land further away was shrouded by a dense fog. Meanwhile, the top right corner showed Exploration in Beiqi 0.01% complete.

Standing tall, he gripped his dagger with a heroic spirit and headed to the outskirts.

As he followed the map, he was also scouting his surroundings. He was still in awe of the game’s simulation, as the graphics were so fine and detailed that it felt almost impossible.

As he explored further down the path, Wang Damang suddenly heard a muffled whimper coming from afar. It sounded cold and eerie, sending chills down his spine.

Although he knew that it was merely a game he was playing, Wang Damang still walked with wobbly legs toward the direction of the sound.

Out of the blue, a white figure appeared right in front of him.

Wang Damang’s presence had also given quite a shock to the Wandering Soul, but with a piercing scream, it pounced toward Wang Damang.

Wang Damang’s heart was hammering against his chest when he saw all of this, but after all, he was just a character in this game. With this thought comforting him, he gripped his dagger tightly and threw himself back at the Wandering Soul as well.

“Pow!” he struck the Wandering Soul with his dagger. At that moment, a ‘-5’ in red appeared on top of the Wandering Soul’s head, showing the amount of damage inflicted, which was unmistakably set up by Bei Li.

The place where the dagger had landed was replaced by a dark colored stab wound.

Since there was no health bar available, Wang Damang had no idea how many more strikes he would need to successfully kill the Wandering Soul. He moved sideways and dodged the Wandering Soul’s attack, then moved to the opposite side and stabbed the Wandering Soul yet again. This time, a value of ‘-6’ emerged.

“Judging from this burning sensation that I’m feeling, the creator of this game must be a total genius!” Wang Damang exclaimed out loud.

The cry of the Wandering Soul turned shrill, but the injuries to Wang Damang had fully healed. He even dared to provoke the Wandering Soul by beckoning it closer.

Relying on his flexibility, Wang Damang excitedly slashed the Wandering Soul repeatedly. The Wandering Soul became more and more transparent, as if it was going to disappear at any moment.

“Take this!” he raised his dagger after dodging yet another attack. Taking big strides forward in the direction of the Wandering Soul, he stabbed it from behind.

At that very moment, Wang Damang’s leg had tripped on a stone. His whole body was suddenly falling abruptly and he landed hard on the ground. A bloody ‘-3’ appeared on top of his head.

“Damn it! Does the game have to be that realistic!” Wang Damang was in shock.

The fact that he had to also take into account the environmental factors while fighting had left Wang Damang rather speechless.

He looked up and before he could pick himself up, he saw the Wandering Soul pouncing on him again, it’s almost-transparent sharp claws tearing him apart.

Bloody numbers popped up one after the other on top of his head, then everything went pitch-black.

[You have been killed by the Wandering Soul]

Lu Wu and Bei Li buried their faces in their hands when they saw the pathetic ending.

Wang Damang took off his virtual reality headset and slammed his fist on his computer desk, “That son of a bitch dares to kill me, I have to go back and have my revenge!”

Wang Damang whose nostrils were flaring reached straight for the button and re-launched Battle Online.

[You have died in the game, please wait for 3 hours to respawn.]

Wang Damang took off his headset once more, his face ashen.

There’s even a timespan for respawning, and the creators charge no fee for this! How does the creator of this damn game earn for a living?

Wang Damang had gone through this scenario before, but he had hopes for this game. He searched for the game’s release date on the main page, and the date stated was in fact that very same day. He had a hunch that this game was going to go worldwide soon.

A notification popped up at the bottom right corner of his screen, reminding him that the update for Atlantis was completed, but he no longer felt engrossed by it.

As a professional player, he had a sixth sense for gaming. At that moment, he decided to go all-in for the game, betting that it would be definitely be astounding to play.

At this time, the notification from his chat app rang. It was from the members of his clan prompting him to go online, inviting him to tackle the boss stage together.

Wang Damang hesitated, then finally wrote a few words in the group chat: “I’ve found a super fun game to play, so I’ve decided to quit playing Atlantis (tears_of_joy.jpg)”

Strike_Gold: “(ConfusedCat.jpg) Bro, is there a mistake, how can there be a game that’s better than Atlantis?”

Young,Wild&Free: “Don’t talk nonsense. Damang, hurry up and join us in the boss stage, otherwise the ship will sail without you (BloodyKitchenKnife.jpg)”

Wang Damang stared at the lively group chat, he hesitated before sharing the Battle Online game link with the group.

“It’s called Battle Online, if you don’t experience it, you absolutely can’t imagine how fun it is.”

Seeing that Wang Damang had recommended the game himself, a few of them clicked on the link and after going through all of the introductions, the group chat became active once more.

Strike_Gold: “Authentication complete. If Damang isn’t drunk then he’s gone mad!”

Young,Wild&Free: “Only 800MB?? I thought I had gone blind when I mistook the MB as TB.”

Wang Damang’s eyes grew larger as he read the messages sent by his teammates. Then, he went ahead and ran his fingers through the keyboard: “Stop bro-ing me, hurry up and try out the game, if you all are not satisfied with it, I’ll personally make it up to each and every one of you by giving you guys 10,000 gold coins each!”

Strike_Gold screenshotted the text.

TheAlmightyBerserker screenshotted the text. “Downloading right now! We’ll be back in five, and will be waiting for the cash to come in (smiley_face.jpg)”

Under Wang Damang’s persuasion, the new batch of players began entering the game.

……

This time, Lu Wu gazed steadily at Bei Li, making her feel shy as she lowered her head.

“Little one, why did you set up a timespan for respawning?” Lu Wu asked curiously.