Dark Magician Isekai: Return and make Fantasy World into a VR Game

First day of open beta, 8 p.m. Earth time. Three hundred players were all logged in.

Yang Qiu, stationed in the Town Hall, sensed the connection from the souls of Earth inhabitants represented by the 300 glowing light spots. He could feel his mental limit greatly elevated, and a sense of peace came over him.

"I definitely wouldn't have been that miserable then if I had this current state when resisting the incursion of the elder god's tentacle."

With much satisfaction, Yang Qiu made himself a cup of milk tea and rested comfortably in his armchair, relishing the rare tranquility of his mind.

While he had narrowly made it through back then, it didn't mean that the elder god's tentacles were easy to deal with. These tentacles, which carried a portion of the elder god's will from the void, were also known as "elder god's seeds"; beings that couldn't resist the contamination of an elder god's will would be assimilated and become "divine envoys" of the elder god. Unable to control themselves, these "envoys" would spread fear and wreak disaster on behalf of the elder god as they turned into mindless walking corpses.

Wise men of this world refused to acknowledge these twisted wills lost in the void, the ancient dominators, and deities that were isolated beyond dimensions. Thus, positive connotations like "divine seeds" or "divine gods" weren't used to associate with elder gods. Instead, these were referred to as "elder god's tentacles" to distance them.

In any case, regardless of what it was called, Yang Qiu didn't pay much attention. He was largely indifferent toward those legitimately recognized gods, let alone elder gods…

"A pity we can't stop players from being reckless, nor can we keep them online 24/7… Even Ou Huang, who has the highest mental power, can only stay in the game for about 12 hours before needing to log off and rest," Yang Qiu sighed.

As for increasing the max number of players… That wasn't possible at present.

The imprint matrix was already full of complex miscellaneous functions and was at its limit, with the souls of 300 players and 19 natives connected to it. Yang Qiu's mental power wouldn't be able to sustain the matrix if more imprints were added to it.

Even essential game features like chat channels, private messages, and friend lists could only be activated when the majority of players had advanced to level 1, and these operations on the matrix could be sustained by harvesting the mental energy of players…

"Elder god's tentacles aren't common and probably won't appear for the time being. Having a minimum of 50 players online as anchors should be stable enough for now."

Yang Qiu then observed the light spot representing the mind link to Charlie Rex and confirmed that the latter, whose mind had been on the verge of collapse, was now much more stable after a large number of players joined the matrix. His light spot was brighter than before, and Yang Qiu felt more at ease.

If someone at such dire straits could be rescued, then there was no doubting the effectiveness of the imprint matrix's anchor points.

"Now, it's time to verify the effect of the matrix on me." Yang Qiu set down his milk tea, calmed his mind, and entered a state of meditation.

"Magic Technique: Meditation" was a commonly used technique to concentrate the mind and open up all of one's senses to quickly absorb magic factors. The threshold to use it was really low, and ordinary people could use it normally with the assistance of runes.

And precisely because of its low threshold to use, the rune of "Meditation" was mostly a strictly forbidden magic, whether it was in the realm of humans or the realms of orcs and elves.

The reason for it was simple. Even without invoking evil gods or conducting occult rituals using certain forbidden ancient texts, the act of simply activating a meditation rune and coming into contact with magic would cause the user to come into contact with the "madness" within, which an average person's mental power was unable to resist.

When the gates to perceive magic were opened with the assistance of runes, what was gained wasn't just immense power but also a terrifying mental storm that could instantly cause fragile minds to be lost…

Legitimate spellcasters were extremely cautious when it came to using meditation to absorb magic, often relying on potions to maintain their sanity. So, what about ordinary beings whose mental prowess was far inferior to spellcasters?

Yang Qiu had little knowledge about the races from other territories, but in the Navalon continent, where humans were the predominant race, there were always rumors every year about some idiots indulging in mysticism and misusing runes, only to end up sacrificing themselves, their families, and even their neighbors…

In short, in a world where gods walk among mortals and the exceptional are insignificant, power comes at a price.

Moreover, this was often a heavy price that was difficult to bear.

Ten minutes later, Yang Qiu opened his eyes, revealing a joyful expression.

"All the hard work wasn't in vain. The matrix anchor is indeed strong!"

Absorbing magic quickly during meditation was burdensome for Yang Qiu. Even though he wasn't as worried about losing control as other native spellcasters, he still had to expend significant mental effort to resist the contamination within the magic.

Put in a simple analogy, a spellcaster absorbing magic was like a thirsty man enduring the continuous punches of a strong man while drinking water in pain.

As for Yang Qiu's case, it was like being beaten by a group of mischievous kids with pillows while trying to drink water and suppressing the urge to spit it out… While it was much easier than what regular spellcasters experienced, it was still uncomfortable, and there was still a risk of choking if he wasn't careful.

And when Yan Qiu meditated with the support of the anchors of the matrix, it was akin to having a glass barrier put up between him and those crazy kids. He would be able to drink in peace while observing their ugly antics…

"After a prolonged delay of 60 years, I can finally make the spurt to Archmage!" Yang Qiu clenched his fist and began another round of meditation…

Then another…

And yet another…

After four consecutive rounds of meditation, Yang Qiu's magic was so abundant that it enveloped him in a faint blue light as if he was about to ascend on the spot.

"That's enough, I can't be too excessive." Yang Qiu shook his head, suppressing the urge to meditate again, and withdrew a finely polished bone fragment the size of a fingernail from his spatial ring.

He concentrated with his mind and diligently inscribed runes on it…

The basic runes of "Basic Meditation," "Basic Battle Roar," and "Basic Windwalk" that players could unlock at random upon reaching level 1 and completing the job advancement task were engraved on such bone fragments. Once players were qualified to learn these "skills," these bone chips would be loaded into the players' "game characters" as skills.

That's right, even though "Job Instructors" had been arranged, Yang Qiu didn't expect these players to learn legitimate combat skills of their particular job through guidance from the instructors. If players were forced to spend years in real time to learn a skill, they would definitely curse the development team to no end.

Thus, Yang Qiu could only resort to this cheating method of physically adding hardware to the "game characters," allowing these players to have an easy "one-click" power-up…

Runes were the most straightforward and destructive way to utilize power. Players that "grew" with this approach would be akin to alchemical puppets, though it would require about 10 players to take on a legitimate professional powerhouse.

But this didn't mean that players couldn't fight. They were unafraid of pain and death—an army of unlimited resurrections with a one-hour cooldown!

More than an hour later, Yang Qiu finished inscribing the bone fragments, and his dissipating magic power was nearly all used up.

After making himself another cup of milk tea, Yang Qiu, who was taking a breather, vaguely sensed that something was off and hurriedly immersed his mind into the imprint matrix…

"Not a single player has died in nearly two hours of game time? Have this bunch changed their ways?!"

Yang Qiu curiously peered at the light spots representing the Fourth Crisis…

Then, he discovered that apart from a few unique players who sought individuality, 90 percent of the Fourth Crisis were engaged in diligent work at the various construction sites.

While it was something that Yang Qiu had orchestrated, witnessing such a spectacular surge in construction activity filled him with a great sense of accomplishment.

"To reach a friendly status with an advanced NPC, one needs 5,000 reputation points, which translates to a solid 50 hours of intense labor.

"Even if the most hardcore players pushed themselves to the limits, spending the full 12 hours (real time) online every day solely on reputation grinding, it would still take them at least three days to meet the initial bidding requirements."

The maximum daily usage time of 12 Earth hours was clearly displayed on the helmet. If a player exceeded this daily limit, they would be disconnected from the game and be unable to log back in.

The reason for imposing such a restriction was mainly due to Yang Qiu's concern about encountering stubborn players refusing to log off and rest despite being mentally drained… The game itself was designed to be played on the edge, pushing boundaries for players' enjoyment. However, if incidents with casualties were to occur, it would undoubtedly attract scrutiny and lead to investigations or bans.

Within three days, those who can achieve the bidding rights will find ways to get the copper coins produced by players, which in turn, motivates idle individuals to engage in labor-intensive activities… Looks like there's no need to worry about online rates until the end of the National Day holiday.

Once this frenzy subsides, it will be time to release hidden quests.

Via the imprint matrix, Yang Qiu leisurely scanned through the players online, focusing on 26 individuals with a Potential value of 40 or above.

The majority of these 26 individuals, including Yang Qiu's older sister, Yang Ying, were engaged in hard labor.

Yang Ying seemed to have made two friends in the game, spending most of her time online with them. At the moment, all three of them were diligently completing quests near the fourth NPC on the southeast side of the town.

"Looks like Sis has befriended some wise players," Yang Qiu surmised, seeing that the trio had selected this NPC for quests.

It wasn't that Yang Qiu thought his elder sister lacked intelligence; rather, she was the type of person that wouldn't pay attention to details unless they involved matters of principle…

The quest assigned by the fourth zombie NPC was to clean the river, which was similar to quests given by other zombie NPCs and was basically hard labor. However, as the one who personally set repetitive tasks for these zombie NPCs, Yang Qiu was well aware of the intricacies involved. The gravel and silt produced during the quest "River Cleaning" could serve as quest items for the "Collecting Building Materials" quest, which could be submitted in turn to the sixth zombie NPC a short distance away.

In other words, the trio could complete three quests in the time others took to complete two.

Seeing his sister chatting happily with her two newfound friends while working diligently on quests, Yang Qiu felt somewhat relieved and shifted his gaze elsewhere.

Even the three veterans of the closed beta were also involved in hard labor. Give Me Medicine was grinding his heart out at Tuttle's side, while Vanilla Pudding, who had originally been farming Warrior Instructor reputation, had switched to grinding zombie NPC quests, along with Blossoming Strokes.

Vanilla Pudding was quite the player too. Not only did he find a zombie NPC for questing that was as cost-effective as the fourth zombie, but he had also gathered a group of gamers, probably a bunch of his casual fans, to do the same quests as him.

Just as Yang Qiu was about to shift his attention to others, he heard one gamer pledge his loyalty to Vanilla Pudding, saying, "Don't worry, Boss Vanilla. We'll only sell the copper coins we earn to your friend, never to anyone else."

Yang Qiu. "…"

Alright… This Qin Guan fella might have a slightly lower Potential, but he did possess the charisma of a leader among players. Yang Qiu speculated that if guilds were implemented, Qin Guan would definitely be the first to form one.

"But, in this world, organizations formed by the skilled professionals aren't called guilds… Perhaps, after the conditions are met, it would be better to call the formed player group an alliance. It's best to act according to the customs of the land we're in."

Organizations that used "group" in their name were usually mercenaries or thieves, while those using "association" linked with criminal activities or cults; legitimate and upright organizations (or those that pretended to be upright on the surface) tended to avoid using these two naming conventions.

Take, for example, the Alchemist Association formed by alchemists, which was actually an organized crime syndicate…

The legitimate organization formed by righteous spellcasters was called "Mage Tower."

And the organization of righteous wanderers was called "Shadow of the Gale."

The various armed forces established by individual countries were referred to as "armies" for larger ones and "squads" for smaller ones. Legally recognized private armed forces were referred to as "alliances."

While it might seem a bit unconventional to refer to player leaders as "alliance leaders" in a fantasy-themed game, Yang Qiu had taken on the self-proclaimed title of "Lord of the Taranthan Wasteland." This title positioned him as the leader of a player group that was considered a legitimate civilian armed force within his territory.

Taranthan was situated between the Rhine Kingdom to the west and the Duchy of Shiga to the east. As the game progressed further, players would be bound to come into contact with these two nations. If Yang Qiu's group of players were identified as a "group" or "association," it wouldn't be conducive to diplomatic relations.

As for whether the neighboring human nations could accept this group of undead gamers, Yang Qiu wasn't worried the least.

As long as the Fourth Calamity could give the Radiant Sun Church, which would eventually come bearing down on them, a hard time, his legitimacy of being Lord of Taranthan would be easily resolved; whether the neighbors were undead or not wasn't really a problem at all…

After observing how Qin Guan enthusiastically recruited players to join him in gold farming, Yang Qiu finally turned his sights to the third person that piqued his interest.

Number one player, Ou Huang, had initially started with a Potential of 54 which had increased to 56 after a day of gaming. Right now, he was active in a concealed basement in Exile Town.

"You even managed to find this place, no wonder you are the number one player," Yang Qiu remarked as he observed Qu Huang meticulously rummaging through the basement.

This player had logged in half an hour after the server was launched, and besides time spent offline for meals and rest, he had logged nearly 20 hours of gameplay, yet only completed a solitary beginner equipment quest.

Someone capable of climbing Mount Everest at the age of 18 was definitely no ordinary person, so Yang Qiu could understand his disinterest in doing mundane tasks for petty rewards. However, it was quite baffling that Ou Huang hadn't even raised any reputation with the various job instructors. His approach was rather unconventional.

And while he hadn't been doing quests, Ou Huang had been far from idle. He had explored every nook and cranny within the 1.5 square kilometers of Exile Town and also paid a visit to the giant rat in the south that prevented players from escaping the valley. Well, he also contributed quite a few defeats to that giant rat…

At present, that giant rat had killed slightly more players than all the NPCs combined.

When Yang Qiu had used discounted frozen chicken breasts to lure this giant rat into town and trap it at the southern entrance using black magic, he hadn't expected this demonized rat to be such an adept killer…

In any case, the player named Ou Huang had a completely different play style, unlike others who were interested in increasing their states. He, on the other hand, had a passion for seeking out things that other players had yet to discover.

He was indeed the perfect candidate to gradually uncover the "deeper game background" that Yang Qiu intended to showcase through a hidden quest.

However, Yang Qiu had no intention of letting Ou Huang become the trigger for this hidden quest.

It was because Ou Huang didn't quite embody the "player" archetype. How could he let a player that didn't mindlessly do mundane tasks trigger hidden quests? If others were to believe that triggering hidden quests was based on some other mysterious factors, then who would Yang Qiu rely on to help with the reconstruction of Exile Town?!

This sort of play style trend mustn't be encouraged. Only a mundane culture of hard labor would reap benefits!

Yang Qiu once again shifted his gaze and turned his attention to the most diligent quester in the entire game.

Without a doubt, that title belonged to the studio owner, Mo Shu, with the ID "Eight At Once." But such a choice would also be… impractical.

Yang Qiu felt that allowing a studio to dominate the game wouldn't be good for fostering the gaming culture here.

Once again, Yang Qiu's sights shifted to the most active non-studio questing player. Give Me Medicine, one of the three closed beta veterans who was diligently laboring away at Tuttle's construction site.

While Vanilla Pudding was busy recording videos for content and organizing other players, and Blossoming Strokes ran around all over the place, neither of them showed the same level of enthusiasm as Give Me Medicine.

"Alright… You, then." Yang Qiu's eyes narrowed. "If you can maintain this level of enthusiasm for questing even after this bidding event ends, you will be the first to trigger a hidden quest."

Without feeling any shame for his covert actions, Yang Qiu calmly stood up, left the Town Hall, and summoned the Undead Horse.

And then he got on the Undead Horse and leisurely rode around the various construction sites.

Wherever he went, awe-struck exclamations were elicited from gamers all around, regardless of whether they were busy with manual labor or chatting and strolling around.

To be able to stand out among the countless skeletal creatures from the Dimensional Realm and be chosen by Yang Qiu, a high-level black mage, as a means of transportation meant that this Undead Horse, clad in black iron armor, with its flesh zombified and eyes emitting a cold purple glint, was incredibly visually alluring.

When Yang Qiu arrived at the construction site overseen by the Knight Instructor, several players who were diligently farming reputation were practically drooling from their eyes…

If not for the fact that Undead creatures couldn't produce saliva, these players who intended to play as Death Knights would probably have drowned in their own drool.

Knight Instructor Jerome was a handsome man with a full beard that still revealed his refined features. He wasn't just handsome but humble and polite too. As soon as he saw Yang Qiu, the black mage who provided for them, he immediately stood up, took off his straw hat, and bowed, "Good day, Mr. Yang."

"Good day, Jerome." Yang Qiu returned a smile and nodded as he dismounted from the horse's back and handed over the reins. "I'll entrust the Undead Horse to you. I hope you find an excellent new owner for it."

After handing over the reins, Yang Qiu untied a crystal bead from his wrist, which was bound with sinew, and handed it to Jerome. "This is the crystal for summoning the Undead Horse. With it, even those who don't know summoning spells can easily summon this horse."

Jerome gulped and accepted the reins and the summoning crystal…

Summoned creatures appearing on the trading market weren't that uncommon, and the creatures from the Dimensional Realm that most people rarely encountered weren't considered unique for a high-level black mage who could freely traverse the Dimensional Realm.

However, Jerome still couldn't understand why Yang had entrusted him with the task of distributing this horse…

He could tell that Yang, who wanted to claim ownership of the Taranthan Wasteland, was an ambitious person. It appeared like Yang intended to train these rebellious but unexpectedly intelligent undead to become a more reliable and combat-ready undead army.

But the question was, why didn't Yang do it himself? Why had Yang delegated this task, which was a form of demonstrating strength and winning the loyalty of the undead, to him?

Although he couldn't comprehend it, Jerome, who was adept at understanding how to pander to those in power, still tied the reins of the Undead Horse to the notice board.

Yang Qiu looked approvingly at this bearded handsome fella. Jerome understood he had purposely ridden over so that the undead could appreciate the magnificence of the mount and wouldn't just use the summoning crystal to send the Undead Horse back to the Dimensional Realm.

"Your work will be slightly harder these few days, but do your best. I have faith in you." Yang Qiu patted Jerome's shoulder, then added, "Come over to the Town Hall later. I have some matters that need your opinion."

In Jerome's mind, he automatically translated Yang Qiu's words as, "Come to the Town Hall and receive rewards after work." Thus, he grinned shyly and nodded.

After Yang Qiu left, those players farming Knight Instructor reputation immediately rushed in to take screenshots of this magnificent black steed from all angles.

There weren't that many players interested in playing as a knight. Most of the players that were farming the Knight Instructor's reputation were doing so to qualify for bidding rights and to sell it off afterward.

Now, the more attractive the Undead Horse was and the more potential buyers there meant that these players could take advantage of the opportunity to earn a significant profit!

Time gradually passed, and it very quickly reached 11:00 p.m. on Earth. Some hardcore grinders, who had been online for nearly 12 hours straight (Earth time), pinged with incessant disconnection notifications, rushed back to the respawn point to log off.

Since it was also time for the advanced NPCs to finish their work, the Knight Instructor and Ranger Instructor stopped issuing quests. Grinders eager to farm reputation and win the bidding rights but hadn't yet reached the maximum online limit also logged off, preparing to rest and gather their strength for the next day.

Hal gave quest rewards to the final two players of the day and collected all the quest items back into his tent before grabbing some food and heading to find his most trusted friend Tuttle.

Players in Tuttle's area had already dispersed, and when he saw Hal approaching, he waved and greeted, "Is it quiet over at your side?"

"Yeah, it is. Compared to the nightmarish experience yesterday, today was much easier," replied Hal.

The two of them sat down in the open space in front of Tuttle's tent and set up a pot over a flame, which they threw instant noodles, dried vegetables, and starchy ham sausages into.

Before long, Finley, the Treasure Expert overseeing the planned construction site for the Wanderer Guild, came over with a bag of food to join the "communal meal."

After the usual small talk, Hal lowered his voice and said, "Did you guys know that Yang gave that Undead Horse to Jerome?"

"Yeah, those noisy undead have been talking about it incessantly for the past two hours. Oh, how I wish I could smash those constantly chattering jaws to pieces," grumbled Finley irritably.

Hal and Tuttle had been relatively idle all day, but Finley had been the only one still constantly being bothered by those undead who, despite having no tongues, continued to chatter endlessly.

Tuttle remained silent, hesitant to speak.

"Don't misunderstand me, old friends. I don't think Jerome will betray us. He is our brother, and I trust him," Hal immediately defended himself.

"Of course, Hal." Tuttle quickly nodded.

Finley paused for a moment, his gaze shifting between his two compatriots, but he didn't complain any further.

Despite his somewhat irritable nature, Finley wasn't foolish, and he couldn't have become a Treasure Expert without some brains. In just these few sentences, he realized that their leader, Hal, was anxious because he felt his position of authority was under threat by the black mage, Yang.

Silence fell upon the three sitting around the campfire.

This peculiar atmosphere made Hal feel really uneasy… Back when the Sacred Crows were on the verge of losing their last stronghold, he had indeed considered finding a strong backing to seek shelter, and was even prepared to bow down. However, what he could accept was the Sacred Crows attaching themselves to a reliable powerful backer, not having this backer extend their influence into the Sacred Crows.

After a moment, Tuttle broke the silence and muttered, "I think… I believe the Black Mage Yang is much more interested in those undead than us."

Hal was taken aback.

Then, even if his jaw was tightly clenched, this neatly trimmed former bandit leader couldn't hide the embarrassment on his face…

It did seem so. Arranging them to take on inexplicable responsibilities for those undead, whether issuing tasks, distributing money, or releasing the "Orbs of Deception" through Finley and the Undead Horse via Jerome—all of it was Yang's elaborate plan to win over and subdue those filthy skeletons that emerged from the underground!

Compared to that, these former bandits were merely given accommodation, food, and assigned tasks that even children could handle without much difficulty. Every step was clearly arranged in the matrix, and they didn't even have to use their brains!

"Oh, it's done. Let's eat." Finley picked up a plate.

"Mm, it smells delicious," Tuttle tried to change the topic and divert Hal's attention as he eagerly picked up a fork and started eating the instant noodles.

Hal struggled to hide his embarrassment and forced a smile. "Yes, it smells great, real great…"

A few players, who were heading to log out at the respawn point, got a whiff of the familiar aroma and looked in surprise at the NPCs gathered for a meal.

"Hey, hey, is there something wrong with my olfactory settings? Why does it smell like the NPCs are having instant noodles?"

"You smell instant noodles too? What the heck, is it really the smell of instant noodles?!"

"For real? NPCs having instant noodles?"

These bunch curiously changed direction and approached the NPCs that were dining together.

The three NPCs, who appeared to be leisurely sitting, eating, and chatting, simultaneously turned their heads. Six bloodshot eyes glared ferociously at this group of players.

Players: "…"

"Why does it feel like we'll get cut down or something if we go over, huh…?" Player A remarked. "What's going on? Why do these NPCs have such great murderous intent?"

Player B came up with a wild idea. "Could it be that what they're cooking in that pot is something that cannot see the light of day? I definitely don't think it's instant noodles."

"Let's take a look, come on! We are going to log out anyway. So be it if we die!" Player C suggested nonchalantly.

Several seconds later.

"Die, you filthy undead scum!"

"The f*ck! NPCs are really having instant noodles! What is wrong with this game?!"

A few other players heading out to the respawn point to log off witnessed the three NPCs chasing after players and wisely kept their distance…

———

Earth time, October 6, 2019, second last day of the National Day holiday.

At six o'clock in the morning, quite a number of people struggling to get out of bed either unlocked their phones or turned on their computers to log into the same website.

"Damn, I can finally download the screenshots and videos I took yesterday!" players from all over the country exclaimed in unison.

Soon after, within just two hours, various screenshots and short snippets of the game "OtherWorld" were uploaded on a host of social networking apps by these players that had been itching to share them for a whole day.

A few days ago, Vanilla Pudding's video had gone viral and gained attention, along with much criticism. This time, with the explosive release of screenshots and videos, even netizens that weren't gaming enthusiasts also took curious looks… and the hype quickly escalated.

The initial hype was somewhat comical because VR games were really niche, and it was difficult for the average person to connect this wave of realistic screenshots and videos. A popular question that emerged first was, "What sort of movie is 'OtherWorld'? Is it a domestic film? That's impressive CG."

Several "OtherWorld" players would probably have spat out their breakfast when they saw this popular question.

However, these players didn't have that much patience to explain to netizens what exactly "OtherWorld" was. Most just posted on the forum before returning back to grinding, completely unaware of the flood of posts from casual netizens who misunderstood it as a movie promotion campaign.

It wasn't until noon that a well-known online writer with the pseudonym "Blossoming Strokes" posted an essay along with screenshots on Weibo, which quickly spread across the entire Internet due to her reputation in the online literature community, that finally cleared up the misunderstanding.

"Hello everyone, this is Blossoming Strokes.

"A certain financial blogger's post, 'Fraudulent black technology game deceiving Chinese people's emotions & scalping foreign stockholders,' released a few days ago caused quite a stir, leading to many uninformed onlookers criticizing the unscrupulous development team and vilifying my friend Vanilla Pudding as an accomplice to fraud. At that time, I didn't have strong evidence to defend my friend, so I chose to remain silent.

"Today, I can finally present solid evidence to prove to all netizens that my friend Vanilla Pudding is by no means an unscrupulous money-grubbing streamer and has never had any dealings with fraudsters or economic criminals.

"'OtherWorld' is a real and revolutionary VR online game developed by a Chinese production team. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it cutting-edge technology. Below are screenshots of my own in-game character and screenshots of human NPCs within the game. These images have not undergone any post-processing. Recorded in-game videos are attached to the appendix of this article as well."

Below this passage, Blossoming Strokes posted several first-person perspective photos.

The first was a "mass group photo" of over two hundred players crowded together at the spawn point during the launch of the open beta. The realism was outstanding, and the skeleton frames with distinct characteristics of age might not show expressions, but there was lively motion, indicating that this screenshot wasn't taken from a static scene.

Next, there were photos of players experiencing the immersive holographic game, running rampantly on the streets of Exile Town. Blossoming Strokes even had a special screenshot of a player that had fallen apart and was awkwardly picking up his own bones, which made for an extremely eerie picture.

Finally, there were a series of frontal screenshots of advanced NPCs. Blossoming Strokes had spent half of the previous day capturing the clear faces of these NPCs and couldn't spare enough time to complete her own quests.

"Players can only create Undead characters, perhaps it's on some sort of insistence by the development team. I believe that once the main storyline quests are released, the development team will provide us with a reasonable explanation of the game's background. Based on the currently released super-detailed advanced NPC models, the development team is fully capable of creating character models that meet players' expectations.

"It's not just character modeling, but the attention to scene details, day-night cycles, and even the details of NPCs' daily life are also well crafted by the development team. If players didn't know for sure they were playing a game, they might really think they had traveled to some other world and turned into undead beings.

"I, too, can be considered a veteran gamer who has played games for over a decade. I've played numerous PC and console games, both domestically and internationally, and 'OtherWorld' is the most meticulously crafted, immersive, and well-developed game I have ever seen.

"The reason I believe that the game engine was created by the development team is that there isn't any other game even remotely similar to 'OtherWorld' anywhere in the world.

"I believe that actions speak louder than words, and with the increasing openness and transparency of 'OtherWorld's' content, there shouldn't be anyone insisting that it's a scam anymore. I also believe that no one will unjustly attack my friend anymore without any basis unless such a person has ulterior motives."

At first glance, Blossoming Strokes' essay might seem like it didn't say much, but on careful consideration, it was possible to see the numerous implied meanings of this online literary bigshot.

Why was a domestically produced VR game, made with such dedication by a Chinese development team, relentlessly criticized across the Internet? Carefully ponder on the true essence.

Blossoming Strokes had taken five minutes to type up this essay during her offline lunch break, and before heading back into the game, she checked the responses on Weibo.

Many people were mentioning@ the financial blogger in the comments, hoping to catch his attention. However, the financial blogger didn't reply.

Blossoming Strokes smiled in satisfaction, closed Weibo, put on her headset, and entered the game.

———

Two hours later. Ke Jingguo, an academician of the Chinese Scientific Institute of Neuroscience, was busy in his laboratory when he received a phone call from his superior.

"Old Ke… Has neuroscience progressed to the point where we can play games using brainwaves?" The tone of his supervisor on the other end of the call was rather uncertain.

"What kind of joke is this!" Academician Ke didn't show any courtesy just because the other person was a superior.

There was a moment of silence before the superior said, "Take a look at your email."

"I'll check it later."

"Go look at it now."

Academician Ke had a straightforward temperament, but he couldn't confront his superior over such a trivial matter. After hanging up the phone, he reluctantly opened his computer impatiently and checked his email.

The email sent by the secretary on behalf of the superior contained a compilation of recorded videos titled "Brainwave-controlled game," which featured different perspectives and was uploaded by multiple players.

Academician Ke. "??"

He quickly took out his phone and dialed back his superior's number. As soon as the call connected, he shouted, "Who created this? Which country's scientists did it?!"

On the other end of the call, his superior was silent for a long time…