Wind the clock back to 40 minutes ago.
Nochi Village.
The village was a little different today compared to other days. Many of the villagers who were working in the village were multitasking, secretly peeking at the completely unfamiliar faces of the young men who had just come out of the village head's house.
This was not surprising. Just from their appearance alone, they looked incompatible with the poor and remote Nochi Village.
One of them was wearing well-made leather armor with a wooden longbow hanging on his back, while the other was even more impressive. He was wearing a long robe that was rumored to only be worn by the big shots who could use "magic power".
The villagers secretly guessed that these two foreigners must have come from the Fire Codex City. They just didn't know why they had come to their poor rural village.
But in reality, all the villagers had guessed wrongly. Not only did these two people not come from Fire Codex City, but they were also people racking their brains on how to enter Fire Codex City.
That's right, if Liao Zixuan were here, his eyes would definitely shine and he would exclaim that the classics in novels hadn't lied to him. He would be extremely excited!
This was because, on the heads of these two "foreigners", there was a line of words that the natives of this world couldn't see.
[One Big Watermelon Per Mouthful]
[Mage God of Close Combat]
The players' unique "nickname" system!
Yes, these outsiders in the eyes of the villagers were… closed beta testers from an alternate world!
And the reason they came to Nochi Village was actually very simple…
They… really had nowhere else to go!
"Watermelon, it's already been so many weeks, but our activity range is still within these outer villages. There's only half a month left until the closed beta ends. If we don't hurry and explore more, we won't have a chance anymore!"
The robe-wearing player who was probably of the "Spellcaster" Class complained to his companion with a frown.
On the other hand, the Hunter player with the bow on his back—also known as "One Big Watermelon Per Mouthful"—sighed helplessly.
"Hey, isn't everyone else the same?"
"I've been browsing the gaming forums every day for the past few days. I've also chatted with people in the industry a few times, but no one has come up with anything. They're all saying that it was deliberately designed by the game developers!"
It turned out that the widely-anticipated immersive virtual reality game, "Fallen God", finally released the first batch of closed beta testing qualifications a month ago.
All the broadcasters, studios, video creators and tens of millions of gamers were like sharks that smelled blood—the few closed beta testing qualifications were all snatched up.
Everyone wanted to seize the opportunity to try out this transcendental masterpiece first. After all, anyone who wasn't blind could see its immense potential and influence.
If one could make a name for himself within the game, they would be set for life.
Of course, there were also many who truly loved games and wanted to experience the legendary 100% immersive virtual reality world that had absolute intelligence and a "god".
Therefore, many people cherished their closed beta testing qualifications. They wished they could split up one second into tenths so that they could have more time to understand and explore this new world as much as possible.
Even if it was just a "closed beta" where their accounts would be cleared and their basic data would be deleted.
After all, data was dead, but the person experiencing it was alive. Just based on experience gained during the closed beta test, one would be able to avoid many detours and win over others by a huge margin.
Perhaps the game designers realized this too. Hence for fairness' sake, although it was said to be an "open-world" free exploration, all beta testers were spawned at the edge of the map in remote villages far from the city.
Which was what was commonly known as… the novice village.
This was one thing, but what was even more extreme was what happened to a very skilled player. He had managed to make his way from the novice village to the Fire Codex City against all odds, only to be informed that the entire city was currently in a critical period and foreigners who didn't have permission to enter the city weren't allowed in.
"Isn't it obvious that they are restricting our activity range!"
The Mage God of Close Combat muttered unhappily.
However, at this moment, the "One Big Watermelon Per Mouthful" beside him smiled mysteriously. He first looked around furtively like a thief, then he leaned a little closer while he secretly said to his companion,
"I felt the same way a few minutes ago, but now I don't."
"What? What do you mean? Do you have a way?" The Mage God of Close Combat's eyes lit up as he asked anxiously.
"Do you still remember the mission we just accepted?"
"Mission?"
The two of them had just arrived at Nochi Village from another place. Naturally, as all players do, the first thing they did was wander around the village to see if there were any NPCs that could give out missions to them.
When it came to such matters, they were experienced veterans. In a short while, they had managed to acquire three or four missions. But they were all very ordinary missions such as hunting low-level monsters, helping to make tools, finding lost little girls, and so on…
But the problem laid in this last mission!
[Search for the girl who has not returned from picking medicinal herbs in the Dreadclaw Forest]
[Mission Description: Nochi Village's Surly Old Man An Lu has a son that had fallen seriously ill and is bedridden. His eldest daughter, Vivian, risked her life to enter the Dreadclaw Forest alone to look for medicinal herbs to treat her younger brother. However, she has not returned even after a whole night out. An Lu, who was anxious, would like to request for you to enter the Dreadclaw Forest to look for his missing daughter.]
[Mission Reward: 15 bronze coins and 60 EXP]
At first glance, didn't it look like those common daily missions?
Coincidentally, Big Watermelon was cautious. After accepting the mission at An Lu's house, he curiously went towards the house to check up on his bedridden son.
Watermelon was shocked when he saw him.
Because…
[Andy]
Level: 5
Status: Deeply Poisoned (???)
Main Class: Apprentice Mage
Sub Class: Villager Level 1, Fire God Believer Level 1
What the f*ck!
Apprentice mage?!
Even among the closed beta testers, this profession would cause a huge commotion. This is because there hasn't been a player that has managed to become a Mage yet.
Although the "Mage God of Close Combat" gave himself the name of the Mage God and even pretentiously put on a long robe, he was far from even approaching the title of an "Apprentice Mage".
A Mage who could be considered a "noble" among the "professionals" actually appeared in a small village, and he was even the son of a gambling addict.
This…
This was too abnormal!
Also, what kind of sub class was "Fire God Believer"? Why were there three question marks behind the status bar of "Deeply Poisoned"?
This was the first time that Big Watermelon had seen a "?" used in a message displayed in "Fallen God" after so many days of closed beta testing.
The youngest son, Andy, was giving off a weird vibe from head to toe. He was only lacking a sign saying "I have a big secret" on his forehead.
And the key to uncovering this secret must be on the corresponding mission, [Search for the girl who has not returned from picking medicinal herbs in the Dreadclaw Forest]!
Big Watermelon speculated internally that it was very likely that this was only a primer mission that would trigger an even bigger hidden mission chain later on!
From this, one could tell how a high-end player was different from others.
Ordinary players would have gone straight to the Dreadclaw Forest in excitement, but Big Watermelon did not do so.
He had suppressed his excitement. That was how the scene of the two of them walking out of the village chief's house came about.
Big Watermelon pretended to make small talk, but his real motive was to gather intelligence and understand An Lu's family better.
Upon understanding more about An Lu's family, he found out another piece of news that was even more important than the appearance of the "Mage" class previously!
Surly Old Man An Lu had declared bankruptcy because of his gambling debts and his son's strange illness. To get money, he had contacted a butler of a large family in the Fire Codex City that he knew and had planned to sell off his eldest daughter, Vivian, as a servant!
Big Watermelon could not care less about other people's family matters, nor did he care about how miserable this little girl called Vivian was to be sold as an item by her biological father.
Anyway, these were just some early cannon fodder NPCs.
In comparison, Big Watermelon was more concerned about the information transmitted by this mission. That was, through this mission, he might be able to find a…
A way into the Fire Codex City!
This time, even Big Watermelon couldn't sit still any longer. After briefly explaining all of this to the Mage God of Close Combat who was still a little confused, the two immediately rushed towards the Dreadclaw Forest.
Not long after they entered the forest, a sudden loud noise from the depths of the forest attracted their attention.
They looked at each other and their hearts skipped a beat. They quickly approached the source of the sound!