Although Xie Mingzhe was a complete newbie, he was an intern at the studio after all. Brother Chen introduced Xie Mingzhe to the other members of Nirvana Game Studio during this team activity: "Chi Qing's game ID is Green Grass, Pang Yu's ID is Galaxy Stars, Jin Yue's ID is Golds, and my ID in the game is also Brother Chen. All four of us are here now."
"Hello, everyone," Xie Mingzhe introduced himself, "I'm Xie Mingzhe. I just started playing this game. My ID in the game is: Uncle Chubby."
"…Hello." The others responded vaguely, clearly puzzled by his strange ID. They hadn't met a newbie like him in a long time. What was Brother Chen thinking? Why bring in a newbie as a booster? Was Xie Mingzhe reliable?
Almost speechless, Chi Qing texted Brother Chen privately: "Brother Chen, are you sure about bringing him along?"
"He said he's an experienced booster. I'll explain the mechanics of the Boss fight to him. It'll be fine. Let's let him join us for the fun," Brother Chen replied, trying to convince himself. He then glanced at Xie Mingzhe's character in the game.
He remembered that Xie Mingzhe, who was more than 1.8 meters tall in real life, looked quite handsome with a bright smile. But his character in the game was the complete opposite—a short, chubby man under 1.7 meters tall with the ID "Uncle Chubby." It looked so ridiculous.
A lanky guy called "Uncle Chubby"? Was he joking?
Brother Chen shook his head and waved at the others: "Let's go."
The "Lands of Illusion" in the World of Star Card were similar to instances in online games. Players could earn many rewards by completing these, which ranged from one star (easiest) to seven stars (hardest). The Misty Forest on Jupiter was a seven-star instance designed for a five-member team.
As soon as Xie Mingzhe entered the instance, he knew he shouldn't be there. The enemies all had more than ten thousand HP, but his Thunder Bird only had 100 attack points. It was killed in seconds—how could it possibly damage the enemies? The Icy Snake and Thunder Bird were dead as soon as they entered the instance, and their "Available Times" dropped from 1/1 to 0/1. Additionally, he needed materials to repair his cards. Feeling bad for his cards, he immediately put them away.
Xie Mingzhe thought his level was so low that, in this high-level instance, he could just hold his ground but not contribute much. But after his two cards died, his character "Uncle Chubby" was still alive. Maybe the game's mechanics were based on the cards, and since the player's character didn't have any attack power, maybe his character would live forever?
Confused, Xie Mingzhe followed the group and watched them fight.
As soon as they entered the instance, Pang Yu summoned the [Rhinoceros]. The rhinoceros rampaged through the Misty Forest, breaking the silence. When the little treants saw the intruder, they screamed and rushed at it.
The rhino charged ahead, and Brother Chen and his teammates followed. The little treants scattered, making it hard to see where the rhino was going.
At that moment, Chi Qing summoned two cards.
— [Storm Goddess]: The graceful goddess flapped her wings, creating a tornado that swept up all the scattered treants, gathering them in an instant!
— [Ice Goddess]: The crystal-like goddess descended from the sky, covering the treants in heavy snow, freezing them on the spot!
Brother Chen called out, "Fire!"
Brother Chen and Jin Yue began throwing their skills at the treants.
Xie Mingzhe was shocked by their fighting tactics and hid behind them.
The holographic game was so realistic that when he saw the Storm Goddess and Ice Goddess, it felt like watching a 3D fantasy movie. The goddesses seemed so vivid and close, with the sound of the wind and heavy snow filling the air. The visual and sound effects were perfect.
"666, the game's effects are amazing. The engineers who developed it deserve a thumbs up."
Xie Mingzhe sighed, watching them defeat the mobs.
The four well-coordinated players cleared the instance efficiently, killing all the treants in 30 seconds. Brother Chen then collected the dropped materials into his personal inventory and led the group deeper into the forest.
Since Xie Mingzhe's cards were dead and damaged, he decided to watch intently.
As expected, the materials they obtained in the forest instance were all wood-based.
After seven rounds of mobs, they finally encountered the Boss.
Xie Mingzhe noticed the Boss in the distance—a flower over a meter tall. It resembled a lily, but its five petals were colored red, green, blue, gray, and gold.
Brother Chen stopped and said, "A'Qing, explain to Xiao Xie how to defeat this Boss."
Chi Qing, still indifferent, explained, "The flower monster is a Five-Elements Boss. When fighting it, players must stand on different patterns. Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth correspond to gold, green, blue, red, and brown. When the Boss generates a certain color pattern beneath it, players need to stand on the corresponding color pattern on the outer edges to restrain the Boss. This makes it easier to defeat. The order of restraint in the Five Elements is: wood overcomes earth, earth overcomes water, water overcomes fire, fire overcomes gold, and gold overcomes wood."
A novice could hardly remember all this information after hearing it just once, but Xie Mingzhe was talented at games. When an e-sports scout had once talked to him, he had immediately grasped the key points. He then asked, "How can I help? Should I step on the right pattern?"
Chi Qing spoke quickly, but Xie Mingzhe listened carefully. She had seen him as a burden before, but now she seemed a bit more relaxed in her tone. "When the green Wood pattern appears under the Boss, its HP will recover. The red pattern, on the other hand, will kill all players instantly. We need to step on specific patterns to restrain it. It doesn't matter if we miss other patterns, as we can still defeat the Boss with enough firepower… Do you understand?"
Xie Mingzhe nodded. "I get it. When a Wood pattern appears, I should step on the Gold pattern; if it's Fire, I step on Water, right?"
"...Yes," Chi Qing said, somewhat surprised. It took her a while to recite the elemental relationships, but Xie Mingzhe understood after just one explanation. Really?
"Let's get ready," Brother Chen said. He had no idea whether Xie Mingzhe could step on the right patterns, but he was sure that the newbie might step on the wrong ones and cause the Boss to wipe them out.