Blue Star Digital Plaza, the recently emerged digital business district in the area, was something I had heard about for a while. The plaza wasn't far from where I lived, only a twenty-minute jog away!
So, I had to run there, as my bicycle had been confiscated by the city management uncle.
By the time I arrived at Blue Star Digital Plaza, it was already late morning. The employees here had already started work, and the plaza was bustling with people, mostly students.
I quickly went to the back and asked for directions to the Development Department, then walked right in.
The office was on the top floor of the mall. When I saw the nameplate of the Development Department, I was startled by the sight before me.
In the small room, there were four stunningly beautiful girls sitting!
On two large sofas, several girls were chatting happily while holding a stack of magazines. What was even more surprising was how lightly they were dressed, with low-cut tops and short skirts.
At this moment, a girl dressed more formally in a suit and tie walked over, looked at me, and said, "Are you the one Emma introduced, what was it... Silas Reed?"
I nodded, "Yes, that's right. Is this the Development Department Emma mentioned?"
This girl smiled, extended her hand to shake mine, and said, "Welcome to the Snow Moon Studio! I'm Celine, one of the members of this studio!"
Celine looked poised and pretty. I was slightly taken aback, "Snow Moon Studio?"
Celine smiled, "Yes! Our studio was established specifically for 'Ethereal Surge'. We're currently under the Development Department of the Blue Star Group. In the future, we'll be the gaming elite for Blue Star Group's entry into 'Ethereal Surge'!"
I suddenly realized that Emma had introduced me to such a studio!
At this time, the other girls also came over. A girl wearing a blue mini skirt blinked her eyes and said, "I'm Summer, you can just call me Summer. What should we call this handsome guy?"
I glanced at this pretty girl, whose legs under the short skirt were smooth and alluring. So I said, "Uh... call me Silas..."
Summer giggled, "Nice to meet you, Brother Silas!"
Next to Summer, a very quiet girl looked at me and said, "My game name will probably be 'Silent Rain', but you can call me Aria."
I nodded, then looked at the girl in a pink dress next to Aria. She was also looking at me and smiled softly, "I'm Luna, nice to meet you!"
I wasn't used to this way of talking, so I waved my hand, "No need for formalities!"
Celine pointed to a chair nearby and said, "Have a seat!"
Clearly, Celine must be the person in charge of this studio, as the other girls seemed to respect her. So I sat down, but I couldn't see Emma anywhere.
Seeing my confused look, Celine smiled and said, "Don't be surprised. We were all originally players from Moonlight Eternal. Now that Spirit Grief is about to launch, we've been hired by Blue Star Group as professional players and also as the company's pioneers. In the future, when the company wants to invest in the game, we'll all have our roles!"
I nodded and said, "So from now on, I'm a member of the Snow Moon Studio?"
Celine couldn't help but smile, "Of course. Currently, Snow Moon Studio has six members, and with you, it's seven!"
I counted, there were 5 people present, all beautiful and sexy girls except for me. I couldn't help but feel excited inside, "The days ahead will be spent among flowers!"
However, I still didn't see Emma. I had dinner in the company cafeteria and brought some pastries as a midnight snack. After all, Ethereal Surge was officially launching worldwide tonight, and staying up late was inevitable!
Before leaving, Celine dumped a pile of documents on the table and announced loudly, "Orders from above, all members of our studio are to enter the Ethereal Surge game tonight. By tomorrow morning, everyone must be at level 10 and have earned two gold coins to be handed over to the Operations Department!"
I said, "Two gold coins? I heard it's quite difficult to make money in the early stages of the game..."
Celine smiled, "Even if it's difficult, we still have to complete it. Silas, you don't know yet, our company's boss, Jack, has decided to take advantage of the strong launch of 'Ethereal Surge' to develop our virtual industry in the game and do something big!"
I was stunned, "Is that so? This Jack really has vision..."
Celine smiled knowingly, "Indeed!"
As for how the company's operations would work, I didn't bother to ask much. Reaching level 10 in one night shouldn't be difficult, but two gold coins might be challenging. Everyone knows that in the early stages of Spirit Grief, low-level monsters only drop copper coins. 100 copper coins exchange for one silver coin, and 100 silver coins make one gold coin. Two gold coins would be 20,000 copper coins, who knows how long that would take!
Never mind, I believe with my years of experience as a veteran player, I certainly won't be worse than the other girls in the studio!
Carrying my midnight snack back home, it was already late. Looking at the time, there was still half an hour until Ethereal Surge's launch. I was extremely excited!
Back in my room, I locked the door and carefully installed the game helmet. Hehe, this helmet was given to me by Emma, although the way I received it wasn't very glamorous.
Putting on the helmet, the system immediately scanned my iris, confirmed my identity, and entered the game login interface!
In a vast void, a petite elf girl flew around in circles and landed on a branch in front of me. She smiled and said, "Hello, I'm the guiding elf of Ethereal Surge. Welcome to the login interface for the first time! You don't have a character yet. Would you like to create one now?"
My heart skipped a beat, I almost forgot that you could create characters an hour before the game started!
So, I quickly confirmed and still chose the standard human race. I scanned my facial features without much adjustment, confirmed the character appearance, and then entered the character name: MAGA!
Just kidding, I'm very patriotic!
Confirm!
"Ding!" —
"Sorry, this game name is already taken!"
"Night Exploration of the Brothel!"
"Sorry, this game name is already taken!"
"Innocent Little Duck!"
"Sorry, this game name is already taken!"
Damn! Taken again!
I concentrated, alright, let's think of something with personal character!
So, I quickly entered a new game name: "The Most Handsome Scholar in History!"
"Ding~!"
"Sorry, this game name is already taken!"
Damn! Let's try another one: "Scholar Doesn't Eat Today!"
The system voice was very calm: "Sorry, this game name is already taken!"
With no other choice, I gritted my teeth, stepped on the Big Dipper, walked like a dragon and tiger, and steadily entered: "Frivolous Scholar!"
Finally, after a ding, the system prompted —
"Congratulations, your game character has been successfully created! The game will start in twenty-one minutes, please wait patiently!"
Then came the boring wait. I had never felt time pass so slowly!
Originally, we all played together as students, but now it's just me, entering Spirit Grief alone. I wonder if I'll be able to meet old acquaintances!
Twenty minutes later, a pleasant bell sound rang in my ears, and the countdown finally started from 60 seconds!
According to rumors, in some games, the players who enter first get equipment and lottery chances, so I must seize this opportunity!
So, I stared intently at the countdown, ready to enter the game at any moment!
"Ding!"
"System prompt: Dear player, please note that there are 10 seconds left until the game starts!"
"9!"
"8!"
"7!"
...
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"System prompt: The game is officially open!"
I had already ignored the system bell sound. At the instant the countdown hit 0, I used my mind to operate and entered the game!
The scene before me brightened, and I appeared in a small village that looked like it was from the Stone Age. The buildings were so crude it was almost maddening!
"Ding!"
"System prompt: Hello, you are the 6th player to enter the game. You have gained 100 experience points!"
I was stunned for a moment, but then I felt a warmth all over my body as golden light fell, and I directly leveled up!
Opening the character attributes, I found that the experience value was 0. It seems that it takes exactly 100 experience points to level up from level 1 to 2!
I was slightly disappointed that there were no divine weapons or attribute bonuses, but leveling up to 2 directly wasn't bad either. At least it saved a few minutes!
Checking my inventory, I only had a crude wooden stick and a piece of cloth that could barely cover my body.
[Damaged Wooden Stick] (Crude Item)
Attack: 0-1
Required Level: 0
[Coarse Cloth] (Crude Item)
Defense: +1
Required Level: 0
...
Well, two decent pieces of equipment, let's put them on first!
So, holding the wooden stick and wearing the cloth, I set out to level up. At this time, the teleportation array was flashing with white light as a large number of newbie players came online. I had to quickly leave the village, otherwise, I might not be able to kill any monsters at all!