Chapter 3  : Intermission (1)

 Sigma  Editor: Sigma

The timing could not have been more perfect. Feng Bujue raised the sword and slashed. Since he did not feel the sting at all, he managed to maintain his calm composure even at a time like that. His actions and reflexes were not affected at all. As he leaned backward to avoid the claw, in one smooth motion, he slashed the sword in a beautiful arc.

Feng Bujue found that cutting through the zombie was no more difficult than cutting through tofu. As the blade tore through the monster’s chest and bones, blood sprayed out like fountain, and it splashed all over Feng Bujue’s face. The taste of iron and rot covered his mouth and nostrils, along with the stickiness of blood. He was impressed by the game’s authenticity… because it was as disgusting as you might imagine.

He only cut the zombie once, but the latter instantly started howling in pain. His body started to decay from the wound, and the zombie soon disintegrated into a pool of pus and blood. Feng Bujue then had the chance to inspect the attributes of the blade in his hands.

———

Item Name: Zombie-Must-Die

Item Type: Weapon

Quality: Excellent

Offense Points: Slightly Powerful

Elements: None

Special Effect: Its attack can melt a zombie instantly.

Can be taken out of the scenario: No

Remarks: One of the earlier products made by the legendary dwarf blacksmith, Orr All-Must-Die. A cunning goblin merchant used several bottles of Sorghum Wine to trade for the sword. Half a month later, Orr forged another blade called ‘Goblin-Must-Die’.”

———

Feng Bujue was still looking through the blade’s attributes when the system audio said, “You have completed the tutorial. You’ll be automatically teleported out of the scenario after sixty seconds.”

After that, another area of the menu was unlocked. A countdown for sixty seconds was shown, and next to it was an option that read ‘Instant Teleportation’. Feng Bujue selected that option. His body morphed into a white light, and he was immediately removed from the scenario.

From his perspective, all he saw was a white glow before he reappeared inside the elevator. The sword in his hand had disappeared as did the blood stains on his body. Everything appeared normal inside the elevator, just as it had when he first logged into the game. The light was on, and there was only his reflection in the mirror. It felt like the tutorial that he had experienced was nothing more than a brief nightmare.

“The scenario has been completed. Calculating the reward.

“Obtained EXP: 70. Game Coins: 700.

“Obtained Equipment: None

“Completed/Accepted Quests: 0/0

“Completed Special/Hidden Quests: 0. Unlocked World-building: None

“Time of Terror Points Increase: 0. Highest Terror Points: 0 %. Average Terror Points: 0 %

“Your Terror Rating is: Embodiment of Valor. Extra reward obtained, can be selected later.

“Obtained Skill Points: 30

“Additional Rewards from Skill Point Modifier: EXP: 30, Game Coins: 300

“Scenario Cleared Reward: 1 Beginner’s Backpack

“Calculation complete. Please continue.”

All this information was shown on the screen, and then the system audio said, “Congratulations, you have reached level two. The maximum value of your Stamina Points has been increased to 200.”

At the same time, Feng Bujue noticed that the mastery tab on the menu had been unlocked. There were six masteries, and five of them were still shaded. Next to them was the level, which was N/A. Only the mastery ‘General Ability’ was unlocked, and the current mastery level was F.

Mastery was the most important setting for Thriller Paradise’s players; this was something that Feng Bujue remembered from the game manual. N/A’s meaning was not available while F was extremely bad, close to zero. When you reached this mastery level, you could utilize the ability within this school, and the success rate was twenty percent.

While that was showing, the elevator door opened again. This time, it did not lead to a corridor but a square room with four metallic walls. The space was about three times larger than the elevator. The light was embedded inside the ceiling, and there were two empty cylindrical glass columns in the middle of the room.

Feng Bujue had no comment for his current Terror Points. After fear was quantified, he saw three zeros. His rating did not mean much to him. According to the game manual, there were five different kinds of ratings depending of the player’s Terror Points. They were Embodiment of Valor, Praiseworthy Courage, Seized by Panic, Trembled with Fright, and Scared Witless with Fear.

A player with Feng Bujue’s results, all zeros, was something that the game designer did not anticipate, or else they would have come up with a special rating, such as Absence of Fear.

For a tutorial, Feng Bujue’s results were theoretically already the best of the best. This was because Life Points and Stamina Points had nothing to do with the rating; escaping unscathed or with just a breath left had no difference in terms of reward.

For Feng Bujue, there was nothing that he could have done better. However, he did not appear too joyful. All he did was sigh as he walked over to the glass column on the left. Instantly, a new option floated before his eyes.

“Please select the type of backpack.” On the virtual menu, two types of backpacks showed up. One was the sling bag that stuck close to one’s back while the other was more like a waist bag that was tied around the waist. He contemplated for a few seconds before picking the first one. Then, the backpack materialized in a pool of white light inside the glass column. When the process of materialization finished, half of the column slithered open, and Feng Bujue reached in to grab his reward. At the same time, the backpack and inventory slots in the menu were unlocked.

“Your backpack is a storage space, and the current maximum storage space is ten. You can store the items by placing them into the backpack. Living creatures can be stored inside the backpack, provided that the player has ownership of them.

“Remark: Players cannot be placed inside the backpack. Do not attempt that.

“You can inspect your equipment by perusing the equipment tab on the menu. Everything that you can wear or put on is considered equipment. There is no limitation on number of pieces of equipment and equipment spots. For example, you can hold a sword in your left hand and a baseball bat in your right while wearing brass knuckles on both hands. Your outfit is not considered equipment, and it is tied to your character; it cannot be destroyed or removed. You can only change the outfit setting in the log-in space, and extra outfits can be purchased at the trading post.”

Even though the trading post was mentioned, currently, there was no way of accessing it. The closed beta players could only play the game with the default outfit.

Nowadays, many gaming companies were keen for quick results. During open beta or closed beta, the content of the game would be seventy percent complete, but the in-game economy with microtransactions would already be online. Many limited-edition items, outfits, skins, and so on would be on sale. Beyond that, some would be unscrupulous enough to have their employees go onto third party websites to sell rare equipment or pets.

However, Dream Inc’s tactic was different. The focus of their closed beta was on the sale of hardware. The game completion rate when it was in closed beta was already more than ninety-five percent. With the fourth-generation photon computer, there was actually no need for players to test for bugs—that could all be completed with an AI—so the closed beta was actually a pretext to sell the gaming hub, the NL2055, that was unique to Thriller Paradise.

For trading of virtual items and currency, Dream Inc. banned it completely. They not only kept the official trading center closed, they even screened the use of the trading post in-game to stop the players from accessing it. On top of that, the company did not open the function for trading of in-game currency, and thus, trading within the player base was very hard.

This was a show of confidence that was almost on the level of conceit. Dream Inc. seemed confident that as long as the game went through closed beta and started operating, it would receive massive success. There was no need for them to be so urgent to earn money; the closed beta was mainly to expand the player base and get people talking about the game.

“Please select your additional reward. One, a randomized piece of equipment that fits your level. Two, two thousand Game Coins. Three, 80 EXP.” This notification appeared when he walked up to the other glass column.

Feng Bujue ruminated silently. Today is the first day of the closed beta, and the Game Coins are not going to be of much use for quite some time. The EXP…

He looked at the menu. He was currently level two, and the progress to the next level was 0/200, so this third reward would provide him with forty percent of the progress to the next level. Even so, his level was still too low, and he did not think that it was worth it. Therefore, he chose the equipment.

After he made his choice, the white light gathered in the glass column, and his reward was…  a rock.

Feng Bujue was baffled. His first thought was that perhaps this was a magical rune stone, but once he picked it up to study its attributes…

———

Item Name: Rock

Item Type: Weapon

Quality: Trash

Offense Point: Slightly Weak

Elements: None

Special Effects: None

Remark: A stone with an irregular shape that can be picked up from the side of the road to be used as a makeshift weapon. Even though you can take it into any scenario, normally, people will use it and then drop it. Only an idiot would carry it inside a backpack or take it with them.

———

Inside the empty room, Feng Bujue’s roar echoed.

“What the f*ck is this‽”