Fang Yuan had finally bound the entire Steel Ball Realm to the map, enabling it to monitor the entire realm and track the movements of the selected character, providing guidance. After configuring these settings, he took the map out of the Steel Ball Realm.
In the last ten years, while a decade passed in the Steel Ball Realm, less than ten hours had passed in the outside world. At this moment, it was 5 a.m. in Washington, the sky was dark but about to dawn.
Fang Yuan arrived at the back of a pet shop and turned the map into an LCD screen, installing it on the wall. It looked just like a flat-screen TV. With a thought, he activated the screen, and immediately, a bizarre spectacle appeared on the screen. Day and night alternated rapidly. The earth and mountains shifted colors, and the cycle of life and death was visible, with everything blossoming, dying, and rebirthing in a continuous loop. In the blink of an eye, a quarter of the year passed, snowflakes fell, melted, and everything came to life again.
This was the result of the time flow disparity between the outside world and the Steel Ball Realm. From the outside, one could not see the behavior of individuals within the Steel Ball Realm, only the changes in nature. Fang Yuan once again focused his mind and slowly adjusted the time flow of the Steel Ball Realm until it matched that of the outside world.
Finally, the time flow between the two realms synced, and a grand view of the Steel Ball Realm appeared on the screen. Fang Yuan began selecting characters within the Steel Ball Realm. If someone else were to control it, they would use the LCD screen as a touch interface, but they would only be able to control a small area. However, Fang Yuan could control the entire realm.
The screen flickered rapidly before freezing on a scene, like watching television. It showed people and the environment, with even sounds coming through.
"Nia, surrender. We only want information about the God's Scepter. Your life is not our concern."
Falling maple leaves filled the air, and a group of people surrounded a girl. One of the young men spoke coldly. The people in the scene were wearing robes resembling ancient Chinese clothing. Three of them held magic wands, one man and two women. Among them, one of the women holding a magic wand was surrounded by the group; it was a girl named Nia.
"Why don't you believe me? After the Emperor passed away, no one has seen the God's Scepter. How could I know where it is?" Nia said angrily as she looked at the people surrounding her.
"You are from the Qingyou Dynasty's direct bloodline. How could you not know? Be smart and tell us where the God's Scepter is, or don't blame us for being ruthless!" another young man said.
Nia stopped talking and began chanting a spell: "Spirit of the all-pervasive earth, respond to your loyal servant's call..."
"She's trying to escape, stop her!" shouted the young man holding the magic wand.
"Earth Escape!" Nia shouted, her body sinking as if she were submerging into water.
"Spirit of the all-pervasive earth, respond to your loyal servant's call! Earth Solidification!" The young man shouted. A beam of light shot out from his wand and hit the ground.
The ground solidified, trapping Nia's sinking body.
Another female mage acted as well. After chanting her spell, a fireball shot toward Nia like a bullet.
Nia quickly summoned a suit of earth armor, but with a loud explosion, the armor shattered.
The other three people, who were warriors, rushed forward, seeing that Nia couldn't move. They lunged with great swords aimed at her.
However, Nia slammed her magic wand onto the ground, and three earth spikes shot up from the ground, impaling the three warriors through their midsections.
"Sh*t..." Fang Yuan groaned, feeling frustrated at how cruel Nia's attack was.
"Dammit..."
"Kill her..."
"Die, you b*tch..."
Everyone was furious, and the two mages were even more enraged, releasing more magic. Flames appeared out of nowhere, burning toward Nia. The ground around her also began to form swirling mud pits, trying to swallow her.
"That girl is from Qingyou's bloodline?" Fang Yuan thought for a moment and swiped on the LCD screen. The power of the Steel Ball Realm fluctuated, and several options popped up, including: pistol, rocket launcher, missile, nuclear bomb...
Finally, Fang Yuan selected the rocket launcher and clicked to fire.
In the Steel Ball Realm, a group of nobles surrounding Nia was about to kill her when suddenly, a missile fell from the sky.
"Boom!"
With a huge explosion, everyone, including the two mages, was blasted away. Two of them were completely destroyed.
The remaining seven or eight people were all killed by a single blast.
Nia, who had been preparing to close her eyes and await death, froze in shock upon witnessing this scene.
"Who saved me?" Nia exclaimed, quickly using magic to dig herself out of the ground. She shouted in gratitude, "Thank you for saving my life. Please, come forward and meet me."
But there was no response.
Fang Yuan smiled and swiped on the LCD screen again, displaying the current ranking of mages in the Steel Ball Realm.
The magic era in the Steel Ball Realm had passed only fifty years. Through countless research, magic had become more advanced. Mages were ranked from lowest to highest as: Magic Apprentice, Junior Mage, Intermediate Mage, Senior Mage, Grand Mage, Mage Scholar, Mage Master, and theoretically, the highest rank, the God of Magic.
After showing the rankings, Fang Yuan set up a level matching function. Immediately, the screen displayed that Nia was a "Junior Mage."
Finally, Fang Yuan set a new feature: character selection. He selected Nia as the character, binding her to the system. The camera followed her movements, showing the surrounding environment, and he could adjust the perspective freely.
He then thought for a moment and, with a swipe of his hand, created a game controller and a wireless mouse using the power of the Steel Ball Realm. Taking out the controller and mouse, Fang Yuan set them up on a table, adjusting the buttons on the game controller.
The wireless mouse controlled the direction and movement of the character, while the controller controlled actions like moving forward, attacking, etc.
...
In the maple forest, Nia had been calling for a long time but received no reply. She realized the mysterious benefactor probably did not want to meet her. She spoke loudly, "I am deeply grateful for the rescue, but I must leave now."
As she turned to leave, a voice suddenly echoed in her mind: "Mission released: Find the God's Scepter. Reward: Advancement to Intermediate Mage."
Nia was startled. "Who's speaking? Is it the benefactor?"
But there was no answer.
Nia called out a few more times, but still received no response. Filled with doubt, she continued on her way...
After setting everything up, Fang Yuan began to play the game, selecting the map and finding the location of the God's Scepter. After locking onto the location, he used the game controller to press the acceleration button.
Instantly, in the maple forest, Nia found her body moving on its own. She turned around and started jogging, her feet glowing with a yellow earth light as earth magic elements flowed freely. The earth beneath her feet shifted like an elevator.
"Ah... how do I go back..." Nia exclaimed, her face full of shock.