《World of Spirits》 Chapter 1: The Beginning Alexthrew himself onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. His heart felt heavy with a suffocating pain. He had just been dumped. They had been in a serious relationship for six months, and he had thought it would last forever, but it had ended without a trace. He had been dumped, and the other person had broken up with him very suddenly, takingAlexby surprise. He tried to win her back, putting aside his pride and going down on his knees, but the other person''s attitude was very firm, leaving no chance of reconciliation. The reason given was that they had grown apart while they were together, and that was the end of it. They owed each other nothing, and they were both better off. Better off? The other person might be better off, butAlexjust felt miserable. It was now the third day since he broke up with her, and he still felt depressed and suffocated. He had truly loved her, but in this world, the more you love, the more you lose. There is a saying circulating on the internet: "There is a type of guy who doesn''t smoke, doesn''t drink, isn''t unfaithful, doesn''t go clubbing, has a good temper, always replies to messages immediately, and is even willing to give everything up for a girl, regardless of the consequences. I used to think that this type of guy should be very popular with girls, but I have only just realized that this type of guy is the most unloved." Alexnever imagined that this sentence would come true for him. Alex, male, 27 years old, 173 cm tall, quite good-looking, graduated from an ordinary undergraduate university inZenia, full-time writer, monthly income 10,000. Because his work is different from other traditional jobs, and he has more freedom in terms of time and space,Alexdid not choose to stay in the big city, but returned to the small county where he was born ¨CRiverdale. Before,Alexwas the type of person who preferred to stay at home. As long as he had a computer and a mobile phone, if there was nothing to do, he would spend his time alone creating, reading novels, watching movies, playing games, and staying at home without ever going out. Until about a year ago, perhaps because of his growing age, or perhaps due to the pressure from his parents and relatives, he suddenly realized that he gradually had the idea of finding a partner. And so began his nightmare. From childhood to adulthood, he had a blank slate when it came to relationships. He was a typical straight man who didn''t know how to chat with girls, get along with them, or what they liked. He had no idea what their personalities were like either. In the year that followed, apart from being rejected and making a fool of himself, he had achieved nothing. And this recent breakup can be said to have dealtAlexanother heavy blow. Alexjust lay there on the bed, doing nothing, and soon it was dusk in the afternoon. ¡°Son, come down to eat,¡°Alex''sfather''s voice called from downstairs. ¡°Coming,¡±Alexanswered.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. After lying on the bed for another five minutes,Alexslowly got up and walked down the stairs to the second floor. His family owned a small building inRiverdale, with four floors and 50 square meters per floor. It wasn''t spacious, but it was enough for the family to live in. It was built 20 years ago whenAlex''sfather was young. At that time, you could buy land and build this kind of whole building. Now that the policies inZeniahave changed, if you want to buy a house, you can only buy the kind of commercial housing developed by real estate developers. At the dinner table,Alex''smother looked at her son with some concern. ¡°Son, just let it go. What''s done is done. That girl has no ability, a bad temper, and is so arrogant. To be honest, I don''t even look down on her. If you miss this kind of girl, you''ve missed her, there''s nothing to be sorry about.¡± ¡°Yes, your mother is right, just let it go,¡° the father chimed in. ¡°I know, I''ve let it go, I''m not sad,¡±Alexsaid with a smile, his face relaxed. Of course, he was just pretending. In front of his parents,Alexalways put on an expression of confidence and optimism, he didn''t want his parents to worry too much about him. How could one forget and let go of a relationship that they had truly invested in? His rational mind told him that he should forget everything that had happened and pick himself up again, but the truth was that he still couldn''t help thinking about the girl who had given him such pain, and then he couldn''t help feeling miserable. After dinner, as usual,Alexaccompanied his father for a walk. His father''s blood pressure was high because he loved to drink, and half a year ago,Alexstarted to take his father for a walk along the river after dinner if he was not doing anything. Walking along the riverside of the small town,Alex''sfather gently patted his son''s shoulder: ¡°Son, you don''t have to pretend in front of your father anymore. I know you''re sad inside. Just let it go. Your mother was right. This kind of woman really isn''t worth it. Our family''s situation isn''t bad, and neither are you. You''ll definitely be able to find someone better in the future.¡± ¡°Dad, I know,¡±Alexnodded. ¡°I just need a little time. In time, everything will be fine.¡± Alex''sfather nodded and said no more. After returning home,Alexlay back on the bed again. After half an hour, he slowly sat up and picked up the phone that was lying next to him. The most effective way to get over a relationship is to find something to do and distract yourself, so that you don''t have time to think too much. Time is also the best healing agent. As long as enough time passes, no matter how strong the emotions are, they will fade away. Alexhas three ways of killing time: watching movies, reading novels, and playing games. After watching a movie for a while, he still couldn''t get into it. Watching the people in the movie laugh and smile,Alexjust felt like they were from a different world, and there was no emotional resonance. After turning off the movie, he read the novel again. In this novel he was reading, the male protagonist was omnipotent, loved by everyone, charming everyone he met, and attracted countless beautiful women.Alexused to read it with relish, but now it seemed that the gap between the novel and reality was even more distracting. The gap between the novel and reality was really too big. Forget it, I''m not going to read it anymore. I''d better play some games. Alexhadn''t played games for months. The reason was that she didn''t like him playing games. For her sake, he could compromise and change himself, but she had never made any compromises or changes for him. Now that he thought about it, it was really laughable. He had thought that by doing so, he might be able to move her, but now he thought about it, he could only move himself by doing so. There were still a lot of games in the mobile game mall, with a dizzying variety of games, numbering at least tens of thousands. Among them, stand-alone games only account for a very small part, and the vast majority are online games. As for games,Alexdoesn''t have a particular favorite genre. Whether he is reading novels or watching movies, or playing games, he is an omnivorous creature. As soon as he opened the app store app that came with the phone, a top recommendation on the homepage caughtAlex''seye. ''Want to understand the true meaning of life? Want to live a wonderful life? TheWorld of Spiritswelcomes you to join! '' Chapter 2: The World of Spirits Along with the promotional text, there was also a promotional illustration. The illustration depicted a large city nestled among mountains, with magnificent buildings and black tiles on the roofs, full of the style of ancient Zenia. The sky was like blood with the setting sun, and a man with fluttering clothes was riding a crane and soaring above the nine heavens, in the style of a proper immortal. ¡°Want to understand the true meaning of life? Want to live a wonderful life?¡± Alex muttered these words, but there was no fluctuation in his heart. In addition to being an author, he is also an old bookworm with more than 10 years of reading experience. Isn''t the promotional text in this industry just borrowing the words of the founder of the infinite stream novel school? I do want to understand the true meaning of life and live a wonderful life. Show me, but don''t let me down. As he thought about this, Alex extended a finger and casually tapped the screen. Alex was still quite interested in games of the fairy-tale genre. Every man who has read a fairy-tale novel has a fairy-tale dream in his heart, dreaming of being able to slay demons, fly through the sky, catch stars and the moon, live forever, and laugh at the mortals. However, this is ultimately just an unattainable dream. Most of the fairy-tale mobile games on the market have crude graphics, and the game modes are almost all carved out of the same mold, with no innovation. The recharge port is placed in the most conspicuous position on the phone screen, shining with light and color! The meaning is clear: if you want to become powerful, just recharge! As long as you recharge enough, VIP 15 is not a dream, and equipment, wings, mounts, and gems are all not a dream! You can definitely dazzle the titanium alloy eyes of those idiot players! Alex has seen too many of these mobile games with fairy-tale themes. Therefore, although he is quite interested in fairy-tale games, Alex doesn''t really have high expectations for this game called ¡°World of Spirits¡±. He just desperately wants to change his current situation and find something to pass the time. As Alex''s finger pointed at the screen, the question ¡°Download this game?¡± appeared. Yes. Downloading the game for you... The download interface appeared, and the game was being downloaded at a speed of 5MB/S. Alex looked at the size of the game, a full 3.15G! Generally, xianxia mobile games are only 200-300M in size, so this was the first time Alex had seen a mobile game of this size. 3.15 gigabytes of game data is relatively common in PC games, but in mobile games, this is considered a major production. This made Alex''s heart secretly feel a hint of anticipation for this ¡°World of Spirits¡±. After waiting patiently for a moment, the game finally finished downloading. ¡°Game download complete.¡± ¡°Game installation complete.¡± ¡°Do you want to run it now? Yes, No.¡± Alex clicked on the ¡°Yes¡± option. The game was launched, and after the screen went dark for three seconds, a line of golden text appeared on the dark screen. ¡°The World of Spirits will officially open at 9 pm, so please be patient.¡± Below is a countdown, 11 minutes and 39 seconds. It''s only 11 minutes, not 11 days, so just wait. Switch to your browser and search for ¡°World of Spirits¡±. What comes up is a novel that has been left unfinished for a long time, with only seven chapters. As a professional author, Alex is disgusted by this kind of unfinished author and unfinished novel. I said, big brother, don''t you know how difficult it is to come up with a title for a new book these days? If you write a few hundred thousand words, it''s fine to take up a good title, but if you get carried away and write a chapter or a few chapters that take up a title, it''s just like taking up the toilet seat and not pooping. Apart from this eunuch novel, Alex also found some random stuff, but there was not a single piece of news about the game ¡°World of Spirits¡±. This shouldn''t be the case, right? After all, it is a game that occupies the recommended position on the app homepage, and it doesn''t even have this much heat? The 11 minutes passed quickly. The countdown on the black screen finally cleared to zero. A line of big, gold letters appeared: ¡°Welcome to the World of Spirits!¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The screen went dark, but soon some light appeared again. It was very dark, and he could only vaguely make out some nearby scenery. A prompt popped up: ¡°Please align your face with the front camera of the phone.¡± Alex did as he was told and aligned his face with the phone''s lens. He was curious. He had played so many games, and none of them had required this when the game was ¡®initialized¡¯. Prompt: ¡°Character information collection is complete. In the future, when you log in to the World of Spirits, you will be able to do so without an account or password.¡± Before Alex could react, another prompt popped up: ¡®Please enter your in-game name.¡± ¡°Alex.¡± Alex typed in his in-game name very fluently. The name ¡°Alex¡± was similar to his real name, and he had always used it when playing games. After clicking to confirm, no other prompts popped up. The world in the game was a little dark, so Alex tried sliding his finger across the screen a few times. As his finger slid across the screen, the night scene displayed on the screen smoothly changed along with his finger. This was actually a first-person 3D game! If you look closely, you will notice that the screen is rendered in a realistic style, very detailed and three-dimensional, without any sense of roughness. In terms of graphics alone, it is definitely among the top-notch mobile games Alex has ever played! Not to mention anything else, just the graphics of this game are quite satisfying. At least Alex is very satisfied with it. Alex immediately perked up, braced himself, and began to adapt to the game. For an experienced gamer like Alex, it doesn''t take long to get used to a new game. Soon, Alex had mastered the basic controls. This really is a first-person 3D game. At this point, the environment in the game, like reality, is at night. A full moon hangs high in the sky, spreading its bright light across the land. The surrounding vegetation is lush, and from it you can hear the clear chirping of insects and the slight rustling of leaves in the evening breeze. In front of you is a winding country path that winds into the distance. In the distance, you can faintly see glimmers of light, the lights of thousands of homes. Obviously, in that direction there is a small human settlement, probably a village. Following this forest path, I should be able to go to that village in the distance, right? Alex thought to himself. Under his control, his character began to walk step by step along this narrow forest path. The screen image began to shake, and at the same time, Alex could hear the distinct sound of footsteps as his character walked. Everything seemed so real. As the character walked, lifting his feet and swinging his arms, Alex saw that his character was not only unarmed, but also barefoot, with no shoes on his feet. Walking step by step along this path, it took almost 20 minutes before Alex got close to the place that was glowing with a little light. This was indeed a village, and at the entrance of the village stood an old stone tablet. The words ¡°Peace Village¡± were engraved in red paint on the stone tablet. The moonlight in the game was very bright, so Alex could see the three characters on the old stone tablet very clearly. Peace Village, Alex''s previous guess was not wrong, this is indeed a village. Alex controlled the character and continued to walk forward. A paragraph of text flowed across the top of the screen: ¡°Successfully entered Peace Village, character attribute interface opened.¡± After the text had passed, Alex noticed that at the bottom right of his phone screen, where there had been nothing before, there was now a small icon ¨C character attributes. Alex casually clicked on the icon, and suddenly a translucent interface popped up. On the left side of the interface was a 3D character model that could be rotated left and right. The character model looked lifelike and had a very realistic feel. It was a young man with empty hands, bare feet, and wearing only a pair of grey underpants. The young man was generally thin, and his face was almost exactly the same as Alex''s...exactly the same! Alex couldn''t help but be shocked. He couldn''t believe it, and rubbed his eyes with his hands, moving closer and continuing to look at the screen of his phone. This was not an illusion; this face was indeed exactly the same as his...exactly the same! Why was this happening? Alex was first shocked, but soon he felt relieved. He remembered that before entering the game, the game had asked him to align his face with the front camera of the phone, and later there was a prompt saying ¡°character information collected¡±. Obviously, his appearance had been collected by the game. When the game created the character, it created a character for him based on his real appearance. After figuring this out, the shock in Alex''s heart turned into wonder. This is incredible... Is this some kind of black technology? This is much more interesting than face-smoothing. Have games come this far? On the left is a 3D character model of the character that looks exactly like Alex, and on the right are some of the character''s most basic data: Name: Alex Gender: Male Race: Human Title: None Strength: Average Attributes: Constitution 67, Strength 68, Dexterity 74 Skills: None Bloodline: None Note: Constitution affects physical fitness, endurance, and resistance to negative states. Strength affects destructive power, explosive power, and instantaneous explosive power. Agility affects speed and reaction speed. These stats are pretty normal, and compared to similar games, there''s nothing special about them. Alex wasn''t in a hurry to enter Peace Village, so he quit the game and clicked on the app store app that came with his phone. He was curious to find out which game company had designed this game. The game company behind a game with such exquisite graphics and a lot of black technology is definitely not some unknown small company, it must be a big company. Unfortunately, the game interface of ¡°World of Spirits¡± is really simple, and even when starting up, there is no information or logo from any game company. So Alex wanted to look for some information about the game ¡°World of Spirits¡± in the app store app. After opening the app store app, ¡°World of Spirits¡± was still on the homepage as a top recommendation. Alex tried clicking on the promotional image of ¡°World of Spirits¡±. A prompt popped up: ¡°You have successfully downloaded the game, no need to download it again.¡± No matter how Alex tried, he could not enter the game area of ¡®World of Spirits¡¯. When Alex tried the other games at the top, he could access their game areas by clicking on the promotional icons at the top. In the game areas, he could see a series of information about the games, such as their sizes, version information, game company names, screenshots, game packages, and game reviews. However, this was not possible for World of Spirits. Alex tried a different method. In the app store app, he tried searching for the words ¡°World of Spirits¡±. To his surprise, he was unable to search for the existence of ¡°World of Spirits¡±! A game that is on the homepage but not searchable in the app store app? What''s going on? Is there a bug? There must be a bug. Although this is rare, it is not unusual for this to happen, so there is no need to panic. Alex exited the app store app with some regret, opened the browser that came with his phone, and searched the internet for information about ¡°World of Spirits¡±. The reason why he couldn''t find any information about the World of Spirits before was because it hadn''t been launched yet. Now, perhaps he could find some information about it online. Chapter 3: Peace Village Chapter 3: Peace Village As Alex had expected, some information about the World of Spirits did appear online. There was even a forum dedicated to the game World of Spirits. Many players were amazed at the exquisite graphics of World of Spirits. After creating a character, the character''s appearance, height, and body type were strikingly similar to the real-life player, which also sparked widespread discussion among players. Some players find this interesting. They think that the fact that the character looks exactly like themselves allows the player to feel like they are the one venturing out into the game world and becoming stronger, and that it is full of empathy! However, some players don''t think so. They think that this function of the game is indeed quite interesting, but can the game company be a little more humane and give players more options? What about players who like to play male characters as female and female characters as male? What about players who like to pinch their faces? What about those who like to pursue beauty? Life is already so difficult, so don''t we players even have the right to make ourselves beautiful and handsome in virtual games? The two sides with different opinions just started a heated discussion on the game-exclusive forum of the ''World of Spirits''. At first, it was okay, and both sides were relatively restrained, but then the players sort of ''discussed'' the real fire. The discussion turned into a war of words, with neither side giving way, and the atmosphere was full of hostility. Alex watched with interest. He did not choose to get involved, but instead became a bystander. Before he knew it, the night had deepened. The verbal battle continued, but it was only a few unproductive swear words. Alex, who was getting a little sleepy, could not help but yawn. Forget it, go to sleep. He turned off his phone, lay down on the bed, and covered himself with the quilt. He realized that after his attention was diverted, he really didn''t miss her that much. Tonight, he might be able to get a good night''s sleep, and he wouldn''t be suffering from insomnia like he had the past few days. In this way, Alex fell asleep without realizing it. He is an online author, which is a relatively free occupation. He had just finished writing his last novel not long ago, and he had planned to take a break and use that time to go to her city to find her. However, before he could go, he was already broken up. The next day, just after 6 o''clock, he woke up. He couldn''t sleep, and he still felt depressed, uncomfortable, and empty. If you really love someone, it''s not that easy to forget them. Sitting on the bed, lost in thought for a while, Alex picked up the mobile phone he had thrown on the side of the bed, then held out his finger and tapped on the icon for "World of Spirits". The game started instantly and very smoothly. The world in the game, just like the real world, had become daytime, with the sky just beginning to lighten. His character was sitting at the entrance to the village of Peace Village, and in front of him was a pile of campfires that had not yet completely gone out. Alex remembered that before, his character was standing, and there was no campfire in front of him. Alex manipulated his character to stand up, walked around the campfire, and continued walking along the path at the edge of the village. Alex rotated the screen and surveyed the surroundings. The village was surrounded by a one-meter-high wooden fence, and there were still several watchtowers inside the fence. These watchtowers were manned by strong villagers wearing gray clothes. Looking through the wooden fence, Alex could see that this was a very ordinary village. It was not large, and the sides of the village''s stone slab road were dotted with houses with green tile mud walls. Alex could even faintly hear the sounds of some chickens crowing and dogs barking. Alex manipulated his character and arrived at the village gate. Before he could make a move, the gate creaked open. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.An old man wearing grey clothes, with a thin body and grey hair, appeared in front of Alex. He looked to be in his 60s or 70s. The old man looked at Alex with some pity and said, ¡°I am the village head of Peace Village. You can call me John. Young man, it is not easy to escape here. Come in.¡± Next to the old man stood a burly man who was a head taller than the old man. The burly man said, ¡°Young man, last night you stood outside the village like a fool, as if you had lost your soul. You couldn''t be woken up no matter how hard we called out to you. If it wasn''t for the village head''s mercy, and if he hadn''t built a bonfire in front of you to keep you warm, you would have frozen to death last night.¡± This must be the NPC in the village, and the identity the game has assigned to him is that of a poor man who fled here and is now reduced to wearing only his underwear. Alex wanted to communicate with them, but no matter how many times he tapped the screen, he couldn''t find a place to enter text or voice. So Alex followed John and the strong man into the village. After that, Alex spent about an hour familiarizing himself with the game. He discovered that in order to communicate with these NPCs, there is no need to look for a place to input text or speech at all. You just need to speak into the screen, and they can hear you. He discovered that unlike other games, where the NPCs only say the same few things over and over again, these NPCs in the Peace Village can answer whatever you say. Could this be a new generation of intelligent NPCs? In addition to this, Alex also figured out the general situation of the Peace Village. The Peace Village is a small village with more than 300 households and a population of more than 1,000. The Peace Village is located in the middle of the village. The previous one was located next to the village, a middle-aged strong man who was a head taller than the village, called Mike, is the captain of the Peace Village patrol team. Mike is a martial artist, a martial artist with nine stages of post-birth. In addition to the captain Mike, the patrol team of the Peace Village has more than 20 people, all of whom are martial artists. Among them, the strongest is the captain Mike, who has reached the post-martial level 9. As the only armed force in the Peace Village, this patrol team is usually responsible for maintaining the peace and security of the village, as well as expelling and hunting those beasts and ferocious beasts that dare to approach the village. If they encounter attacks by bandits and robbers, they also have to take responsibility for defending the village. ¡°It seems that in this game, if you want to ''transfer'' from an ordinary person to a martial artist, you have to work hard with this patrol team in the peaceful village.¡± ¡°The post-nine-dan, post-martial-artist should be the innate martial artist, and this should be a world of martial arts and immortal cultivation,¡± Alex thought to himself. He also discovered that he was not the only new player to arrive in this peaceful village. In the past hour, he had already encountered several players in the village just like him. There were no special markings on either the villagers or the players, but it was actually quite easy to tell who was a player and who was an NPC villager. At least it was easy to tell right now, just by looking. Because these new players were just like Alex, they were all barefoot and barehanded, wearing only simple grey pants. The NPC villagers, although simple, could at least afford to wear clothes and pants, and they had shoes too. Alex felt a little disappointed that the players he met were all male, and there were no female players. If there were female players, they would have some ''equipment'' other than underpants to protect their vital parts like their chests, right? In the next few days, apart from eating, sleeping, and walking with his father along the river after dinner, Alex devoted all his time to the game called ''World of Spirits''. Alex was so absorbed in the game that his father, Alex''s father, and mother, Alex''s mother, saw it all. Although they were worried, they didn''t say much about it. Chapter 4: The Bulls Strength Technique On the first day he entered Peace Village, Alex spent his time getting to know the environment. He explored the entire village, chatting with all the villagers he encountered and all the players he encountered. The World of Spirits was a bit different from other games. In other games, although the NPCs don''t talk much, they usually give the player small tasks to do, like delivering letters, gathering medicine, looking for cats and dogs, and so on. After completing these small tasks, the player not only gains experience for leveling up, but also gets some money and items like weapons and armor. These NPC villagers in the peaceful village are really just ordinary villagers. Players who chat with them and fail to receive a quest can just let it go. Even if they do receive a quest and work hard to complete it, running back happily, all they get in return is the two words ¡°thank you,¡± and that''s about it. Fortunately, Alex did not gain nothing. During the chat with John, he successfully gained the latter''s favor, and John gave him a gray old suit and a pair of somewhat worn-out straw sandals. Although the clothes and shoes were not new, they were very clean and tidy. According to John, these were his son''s clothes. His son moved to the county seat with his daughter-in-law a few years ago, and these old clothes were left behind. After repeatedly thanking John, he put the clothes on the character and put the straw sandals on his feet. He immediately felt much more comfortable. Having grown up in a civilized society, he was not used to running around naked and felt secure when he was wearing clothes. Alex became the first player in the village of Peace Village to wear clothes, which made the other players envious. These players followed suit, hoping to use their smooth tongues to get clothes from the NPC John and the others. As a result, all of these players, without exception, failed. One grumpy player even tried to rob it by force. As a result, he met a tragic end. He was chased over by members of the patrol and his head was smashed with a club. His corpse was dragged out of the village, and the bloody trail that stretched out of the village looked shocking, even through the screen, Alex felt creepy. The villagers here are really... they have a fierce folkway, and they will kill at the slightest disagreement. After this incident, no other players had the idea of robbing by force. One after another, new players arrived in Peace Village and joined it. It was clear that this Peace Village was the legendary newbie village for players. On the afternoon of the first day, Alex and several other players joined forces and found Mike, the patrol captain of Peace Village. They wanted to learn from Mike how to break through from ordinary people and become martial artists. Mike consulted with John in the past, and after some deliberation, Mike came back and said, ¡°I do have an acquired skill that can enable ordinary people to break through and become martial artists, called the ¡®Bull''s Strength Technique¡¯, but you all don¡¯t have enough strength yet, and are not qualified to practice my acquired skill.¡± A line of text floated past the top of the screen like running water. Prompt: ¡°The ¡®Bull''s Strength Technique¡¯ is a power-based post-natal skill. The training requirements are: a strength attribute of 100 points or above.¡± Prompt: ¡±The three attributes of physique, strength, and agility can all be improved through some basic training. The training methods are...¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.After such a long time, the game''s system prompts finally appeared for the second time. Alex clicked on his character attributes screen. His strength attribute was only 68 points, which was a long way from the 100-point strength attribute requirement of the ¡°Bull''s Strength Technique¡±. ¡°Looks like I''ll have to use those training methods the system just prompted me about to increase my strength,¡± Alex thought to himself. The ¡®World of Spirits¡¯ was very realistic. The player¡¯s character would not only get hungry and thirsty in it, but also need to defecate. After a long day of struggling, more text flowed across the screen. Prompt: ¡°You are thirsty, you need to drink water.¡± Prompt: ¡®You are hungry, you need to eat.¡± Prompt: ¡®Character hunger and thirst levels are now activated. When you reach a certain level of hunger or thirst, your condition will worsen. If this continues, you will die.¡± As these words floated across the top of Alex''s screen, a faint grey outline appeared around it. ''I''m hungry and thirsty. Where should I go to find food? ¡¯ Alex was a little worried. He had to know that his game character was now penniless and had no one to turn to here, so where was he going to find food? It was clear that the other players also had this concern. Fortunately, their worries did not last long. John pitied these poor people who had fled here, and specially cooked a big pot of rice in an open space in the village to entertain them. Each player was given a bowl of steaming, grey, mushy food. Alex zoomed in on the screen ten times to enlarge the contents of the porcelain bowl, but he could not tell what the mushy food was. But it doesn''t matter, as long as it fills his stomach, he''s not picky. To be precise, his in-game character is not picky. After all, it''s just a game. Even if they were to serve him a whole table of Manchu Han Imperial Feast in the game, he wouldn''t be able to taste anything through the screen. The in-game character, perhaps very hungry, eats quickly and with relish, making slurping sounds. There was only one bowl of food, but there was plenty of water. After eating the bowl of food and drinking several mouthfuls of water with a wooden spoon, the game character let out a long satisfied sigh. That night, the players spent in the open space of this village. John pitied them as homeless people and lit a large campfire in the open space. The temperature of the campfire could dispel the cold of the night, and sleeping close to the campfire would keep you warm. The bright moon shone down, and Alex counted that, as of now, including him, there were a total of 17 players in the village of peace. Among them, 16 were male players and only one was a female player. As expected, the female player was treated much better than the male players. Not only did she have a pair of trousers, but also a grey short-sleeved shirt. However, this female player was quite plain in appearance and had an average figure. The male players, including Alex, only gave her a few curious looks before averting their gaze. By the burning campfire, some players had ¡®fallen asleep¡¯, while others had gathered together and started chatting. Alex also joined in the conversation. He had always been easygoing and had a good temper. He could generally get along with people of all ages and both genders and never made people feel uncomfortable. The only person with whom he has nothing to talk about and who always cuts the conversation short is probably his ex-girlfriend. Why is that so? He has been struggling with this question for a long time. Chapter 5: Strength Training and the Game Forum Alex immediately lost interest in talking when he thought about his ex-girlfriend. He quit the game and lay on the bed. He couldn''t help but start thinking about her again, and wondered how she was doing... WeChat had been deleted by both of them, and he had no way of knowing what was going on with her. His phone had nothing left except for a few of her photos and her shipping address. No, there''s still the phone number, he still knows her phone number. It''s just that Alex no longer wants to contact her. Although he really wants to contact her, he will bury this urge deep down in his heart. He no longer has the right identity to get close to her. She told me when we broke up that she was a little tired and didn''t want to fall in love with anyone anymore, not with anyone... Still can''t forget her... After having given your heart, it is not easy to forget someone. I still remember when I was in college, a friend of mine in my dormitory broke up with his girlfriend. Late at night, he yelled that he wanted to go downstairs to buy some wine to drink. But the dormitory gate was closed, so there was no way out. He then rushed to the water tap and poured a bellyful of cold water into his stomach, and then lay on the bed sighing and lamenting all night. He also wrote his ex-girlfriend''s name on the walls and wardrobes of the dormitory, muttering and sighing as he wrote. At that time, everyone in the dormitory was laughing at this guy, and Alex was the same. If you''re heartbroken, just be heartbroken. What''s the big deal? You don''t need to act like this. You''re not acting like a man at all! What a womanly attitude, so pathetic! A real man doesn''t need a wife! For this reason, they laughed at the guy for a long time. He still remembers this incident to this day. This is the difference between a bystander and the person involved. Without having experienced it, you can never understand how it feels. Now that he thinks about it, Alex can understand the guy''s feelings back then. His current state may be slightly better. He is just silently suffering alone in his heart, and there is not much unusual about it. From the perspective of outsiders, he was still the same person, and there had not been much change compared to before.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Alex tried not to think about her, but instead focused on thinking about the game. Before he knew it, Alex fell asleep like this. Another new day had arrived. It was still early in the morning, and Alex woke up at about 6 o''clock. He still felt a little chest tightness, but compared to yesterday, the degree had slightly eased. As expected, distraction and time are the best healing agents. Alex logged into the game ¡°World of Spirits¡±. Young people in modern society are basically night owls, and not many people can get up this early like Alex. In fact, Alex was also a member of the night owls in the past, but after a breakup, he lost interest in many things, and staying up late was one of them. Looking around, he saw that the players were lying all over the place next to the extinguished campfire. Alex was the first one to wake up. Those dozen players, wearing only their underwear, were now hugging their chests with their arms around their waists, huddled on the ground, looking like shrimp. Alex didn''t try to wake them up. These were just the roles of the players, and he couldn''t wake them up even if he wanted to. While manipulating the character to leave the place, Alex wondered how he was going to train the character''s strength. The system had already reminded him that only those with a strength value of 100 were eligible to learn the acquired skill ¡°Bull''s Strength Technique¡± from Mike, the village patrol captain. Alex is a serious and persistent person. Since he has already decided to play this game, he will play it seriously. Even if he is playing this game, it is just a means to distract him from his broken heart and to take his mind off it. The methods of strength training are actually very simple and not difficult. For example, push-ups, squats, and weightlifting can all build a person''s strength. In a secluded corner of the village, Alex began to control his character and perform sets of push-ups, squats, and weightlifting. Push-ups and squats don''t require any props, but weightlifting does, and fortunately, it''s not hard to find the right kind of weight. Alex just needed to find a heavy stone nearby. Controlling the character to perform this set of strength training is actually very simple. Alex only needs to stretch out a finger and click on a small icon on the phone screen. The character in the game was doing push-ups one after the other, breathing heavily and sweating profusely, while Alex only needed to place the phone in front of him and click on the small icon on the screen every few seconds. It was easy, but the process was a bit boring and tedious. It would have been nice to have a training hang-up system. It was surprising that such an advanced game didn''t have a training hang-up system. While clicking the screen every few seconds, Alex opened his computer and used the search engine to search for ¡°World of Spirits¡±. As a qualified player, it is very necessary to learn to search the Internet for information and strategies related to the game. On the Internet, the official website of the game ¡°World of Spirits¡± is like air, and it has never appeared. Instead, the exclusive forum for ¡°World of Spirits¡± is even more lively than it was at the beginning. The number of posts in this exclusive forum is about to break 10,000. The flame war over the character''s appearance was still going strong, but Alex was too lazy to click on it. He looked at the other posts. ¡°What an amazing game! The game map is so big, you can''t see the edge at a glance. My character is already completely lost in the forest outside the village. Is this really just a 3G game?¡± ¡°I''m in Southwood Village. Anyone else here?¡± ¡°This game is so hard, not to mention the main quest, there''s not even a side quest, it''s a pain in the ass.¡± ¡°This is bullshit, this ¡®Falcon''s Flight Technique¡¯ actually requires 100 points of agility to practice, and I only have 71 initial agility points. My character has been doing agility training for over an hour, my hands are sore, and I''ve only gained 1 agility point. This is too much of a rip-off.¡± ¡°I''m going to ask weakly: I''m in Northmoor Village. Would any young men from the same village be willing to take me under their wing?¡± ¡°Where''s the recharge channel? Why isn''t there a recharge channel? I want to recharge! I want to get stronger!¡± ... Alex clicked on the screen of his phone every few seconds while browsing the game forum of ¡°World of Spirits¡± on his computer. He discovered that the game ¡°World of Spirits¡± was still quite popular, and there were still many players attracted to it. Chapter 6: Attribute Point Increase
By browsing the game''s exclusive forum, Alex really did gather some information about the game. For example, in the world of ¡°World of Spirits¡±, there are many novice villages like the Peace Village, but as far as is known, there are only three types of acquired skills that can be learned in these novice villages. They are the physical type ¡°Turtle''s Resilience¡±, the power type ¡°Bull''s Strength Technique¡±, and the agility type ¡°Falcon''s Flight Technique¡±. Only one type of acquired skill can exist in each Novice Village. Of course, the information is limited, so it is not impossible that there are hidden Novice Villages and hidden acquired skills in the game ¡°World of Spirits¡±. For example, there is an invisible air wall outside the Novice Village. A helpful player, after arriving at the Novice Village, did not choose to stay in the village, but took an unusual route and left the Novice Village on foot, wanting to explore the world outside the village. As a result, after hiking for several hours in the mountains outside the village, an invisible air wall blocked his path. His character could see the grass and trees ahead, but could not take another step forward, and the same was true in other directions. It is speculated that this is because the game is still in beta, and only these novice villages have been opened. The world outside the novice villages has not yet been opened. Brother, you are lucky. You have not encountered any danger after walking this far. I was thinking the same thing as you. However, as soon as I left the village, I was bitten to death by a calf-sized wolf before I had walked for half an hour. Someone on the forum has also announced what happens after a game character dies. When a character dies, the system will prompt: ¡°You have died. You are banned from logging in to the World of Spirits for 1 day. After 1 day, you will be reborn near a random village. Everything the character possesses, including strength and bloodline, will be cleared, and personal items will drop at the death location.¡± This is the penalty for death in the game ¡°World of Spirits¡±. It is indeed a heavy punishment. However, some players have analyzed the game and found a loophole in the rules. Before the character''s strength grows, they have nothing to lose. Players can take advantage of this to choose the type of acquired skill they like. For example, if a player likes the agile ¡°Falcon''s Flight Technique¡±, but the village he was born in has the ¡°Turtle''s Resilience¡±, then he can attack the villager NPC in this way to die quickly, and then be reborn, and he may be born in a village with the ¡°Falcon''s Flight Technique¡±. This method is a bit troublesome, but it is not a bad option.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The only thing that makes people feel a bit fucked up is that after the character dies, they are banned from logging into the game for 1 day, and the character can only be reborn after 1 day, which is a bit of a waste of time. Time passed quickly while browsing the forum, and before he knew it, an hour had passed. At this time, Alex¡¯s phone vibrated gently. Alex took his eyes off the computer and looked at the phone screen. He noticed that a line of text prompts was flowing like water across the top of the screen. Prompt: ¡°Because you worked hard to build up your strength, your strength has increased by 1 point.¡± Alex hurriedly opened the character¡¯s attribute panel, and sure enough, the character¡¯s strength had increased by one point, reaching 69 points. Just as the guy on the forum said, it takes more than an hour of tapping the screen to increase one''s attribute value by one point... Alex didn''t resent this. It''s good to make progress after working hard, even if it''s slow. At least he can clearly feel that he is making progress. It''s not like falling in love, where there''s no progress bar to show what''s going on. A woman''s heart is a bottomless sea, and everything has to be guessed, especially for someone like him with no emotional experience, sometimes he really doesn''t know how he''ll die. Alex let out a bitter laugh, and continued to browse the forum while continuing to tap the small icons on the screen of his phone, controlling his character to continue a series of strength training. After tapping for about another hour, the phone vibrated slightly, and the system prompt appeared again: The prompt: ¡°Because you have been working hard to build up your strength, your strength has increased by 1 point.¡± After two hours of strength training, the character''s strength attribute had increased to 70 points. Half an hour later, the phone vibrated gently, and another line of system prompts appeared: The prompt: "Because you have been working hard to build up your strength, your physical fitness has increased by 1 point.¡± Alex was a little surprised. He was building up his strength, so why had his physical fitness increased as well? Upon thinking about it, it made sense. After all, a person''s constitution and strength are not isolated from each other, but complement each other. The game''s treatment of this detail is still very appropriate, and Alex praised it in his heart. At the current pace, he estimated that it would only take him 2 days, or at most 3 days, to increase his strength attribute to 100 points, reaching the standard for learning the acquired skill ¡°Bull''s Strength Technique¡±. It''s unbelievable that it takes two or three days to learn the simplest and lowest-level post-acquired skill in this game, the ¡°Bull''s Strength Technique¡±. In this era of fast-food games, 999-level fast food games can be found everywhere. In this era, a game that can already reach level 3 in three days at this initial stage can no longer be described as rare. Everyone is busy these days, and games are supposed to be a way to relieve stress after work. Who has the time or patience to waste so much time on a game that isn''t that important? Of course, that''s just for everyone else. Alex, for one, was playing the game to kill time. In fact, he had an unspoken expectation for this kind of slow-paced game. However, it didn''t take long before a faint grey outline appeared around the screen of the phone. Prompt: ¡°You are thirsty now and need to drink water.¡± Prompt: ¡±You are hungry now and need to eat.¡± It''s not even 9 o''clock in the morning, is it? Is the character already thirsty? Already hungry? This is too fast, isn''t it? Alex suddenly realized that intense physical training requires a lot of food to support it. This game is different from others in that it has a ''hunger and thirst level'' setting. It seems that he still took it for granted. In theory, in a maximum of three days, he could prompt the character''s strength attribute to 100 points, reaching the standard for learning the acquired skill ¡°Bull''s Strength Technique¡±. But this is only the ideal state. If the character''s hunger and fatigue levels are also taken into account, 3 days? It is estimated that in 10 days, he may not be able to increase the character''s strength attribute to 100 points. Chapter 7: What if I Get Hungry?
It''s okay, 10 days is 10 days. I''m single now, I don''t have to live for anyone, I can afford to spend this little time. Alex had reserved one month for himself. One month should be enough for him to get over it. By then, he would be ready to write his new book, say goodbye to the past, and start a new journey. Thirst is a relatively easy problem to solve. There are more than ten wells in the village, and not far outside the village there is a clear stream. It is relatively easy to get water. Relying on his memories of Peace Village over the past two days, Alex went to a public well and used the wooden bucket next to it to draw water. After some manipulation, he brought up a bucket of clean water from the well, and then controlled the character to go up and guzzle some, and the thirst quickly subsided. The problem of food is not so easy to solve. At this time, most of the hardworking villagers have already gone out to work, and those who are left behind are basically the elderly and children. Alex tried to contact these elderly people who stayed behind, wanting to beg some food from them to quench his hunger. As a result, after saying all the nice things he could, and with his throat smoking, these elderly people just looked at him indifferently, with an expression of indifference. Not everyone in the Peace Village is like John, who feels pity for the refugees. Most people in the village, especially the elderly, are actually quite wary of these sudden strangers, and even hostile. Especially after several players caused trouble in the village and were expelled or killed by the village patrol, the villagers'' guard against the players has become even stronger. They feel that these outsiders are all unstable factors, and that their presence will be a scourge that will affect the peace and stability of the Peace Village. After repeatedly asking several elderly people for directions, Alex received nothing but cold stares. He went around the front door of the John family, which was locked and unoccupied. He then went to look at the extinguished bonfire in the village. Most of the player characters were still ¡°lying dead¡±, and only a small number of players had risen. Among the players who had risen, a few, like him before, were doing simple strength training and were sweating all over. Some were just wandering around the village, not knowing what they wanted to do. Prompt: ¡°You are very hungry now and need to eat.¡± This system prompt will appear every few minutes. The character also experiences corresponding symptoms, with his stomach rumbling, his walk unsteady, and even his walking speed slowing down a bit. Forget it, since I can''t find food in the village, I''ll go look outside the village.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Alex controls the character and passes through the village gate, leaving Peace Village. Outside Peace Village, there are fields, vegetable gardens, and orchards. Looking around, you can see many people working in them. These are all the villagers of Peace Village. They work from sunrise to sunset. These farmlands, vegetable gardens, and orchards are their source of food and their lives. When Alex walked past them, these villagers would temporarily put down their work and coldly stare at Alex. The look in their eyes was like they were guarding against a thief. Under this kind of gaze, Alex wisely kept his mouth shut and didn''t ask for food. After this experience, he no longer had any good feelings towards these villagers in the Peace Village. He wanted to take advantage of their inattentiveness to go to the orchard and steal some fruit or vegetables to satisfy his hunger. After all, this was just a game, and he would not have any mental burden. The problem was that no matter where he went, there would be different villagers following him from a short distance away, leaving him no choice. Forget it, if I can''t find food here, I''ll go look further away. If that doesn''t work, just wait until nightfall. At nightfall, the kind-hearted John will arrange a communal meal for the players. The farther away, the closer to the mountains and forests. In the mountains and forests, apart from wild beasts and ferocious beasts, there should also be wild fruits and other things that can be used to quench hunger, Alex thought to himself. After Alex stumbled into the mountains and forests, the villagers stopped following him. Alex began to search for food in the mountains. Previously, through the forum, he learned that there would be wild beasts, and even ferocious beasts, in the mountains outside the village. Novice players are not strong and unarmed, and are simply no match for these wild beasts and ferocious beasts. Therefore, Alex is very cautious and dares only to grope in the outermost forest, not daring to go too deep into the mountains. Tip: ¡°You are hungry and need to eat.¡± Ignoring this tip, Alex continued to search for his food. After ten minutes, he found a kind of berry, red and very similar to a cherry. Should this wild fruit be edible? Alex controlled his character and picked off a wild fruit and ate it. He was very cautious and only ate one wild fruit, not the whole bunch in front of him. Naturally, Alex could not taste the wild fruit through the screen, nor could he even smell it. He began to wait, and he was prepared to wait for 20 minutes. If there was no problem, he would eat the remaining wild fruit. As it turned out, it was less than 10 minutes before the character began to vomit, tears and snot flowing together, and even yellow bile was vomited out. Because the character''s eyes were blurred by the tears, Alex''s phone screen also became blurred. There was no doubt that the wild fruit was poisonous. Alex sighed inwardly. Thinking about it now, he realized that he had been negligent. This was only the outskirts of the forest, very close to the village. If such a large bunch of wild fruit was edible, it was estimated that it would have been picked by the villagers long ago, and it would not have survived until now. It took the character a full 20 minutes of struggling before the situation improved, and Alex''s phone screen once again became clear. Alex controlled his character and continued walking forward with a weak pace. The character walked even more slowly than before, and from time to time it would stop without being controlled, gasping weakly for a few breaths. With a resolute heart, Alex controlled his character and ventured slightly deeper into the mountains. It was obviously impossible to find wild fruits and other food at the outer edge of the mountains. Even if there was any here, it would have been plundered by the villagers. If you want to find food, you have to go deeper. After another ten minutes, Alex found a palm-sized mushroom under a bush. The mushroom was greyish-yellow in color, not bright at all and completely inconspicuous. Alex began to rack his brains, recalling some common knowledge about mushrooms. As far as he knew, mushrooms with bright colors were basically poisonous. As for mushrooms that are not very bright in color, some of them are edible, but some are also highly toxic. So, is the mushroom in front of him an edible mushroom or a poisonous one? He has a serious lack of knowledge about surviving in the wild, so he simply cannot tell. This is too difficult. Chapter 8: Ethan and Emma
Looking at the palm-sized mushroom on the screen, which was not brightly colored, Alex was caught in a dilemma. Prompt: ¡°You are very hungry and need to eat.¡± The system''s prompt tone has changed from once every few minutes to once every minute. It''s all the fault of the poisonous red wild fruit. Although the red wild fruit failed to poison Alex''s character, it also drained half of his health, leaving him weaker and hungrier. In his current state, if he doesn''t eat in the meantime, Alex''s character is unlikely to survive until the communal meal at night. Just as Alex''s character stood hesitatingly in front of this mushroom, a female voice sounded behind him: ¡°This mushroom is poisonous, you can''t eat it.¡± Alex used his finger to rotate the screen, manipulating his character to look behind him. He discovered that not far behind him stood a girl who looked to be eleven or twelve years old. The girl was wearing patched grey clothes that didn''t fit well. Her skin was a little dark, she was skinny and small, but her eyes were big and distinct in black and white. Seeing Alex''s character turn around and look at her, she pointed at the palm-sized grey-yellow mushroom and said seriously, ¡°Doctor Liam said that this mushroom is called a snake-swallowing mushroom. If you eat it, you will get a lot of red bumps on your body and you will die.¡± ¡°Emma.¡± A young boy, also wearing a patched grey cloth, ran out from behind a large tree nearby. He pulled the girl behind him and then looked at Alex warily. The young boy was about 15 or 16 years old. He held the little girl with one hand while clutching a short, black blade in the other. Alex was also watching him. His character was actually very weak, and he was barely able to stand. After the two men stared at each other for a while, the young man slowly backed away while holding the girl, still keeping a vigilant watch on Alex. ¡°Hurry up and go!¡± After backing up a few meters, he shouted, pulling the little girl and turning to go. ¡°Wait...¡± Alex couldn''t help but speak up at this time: ¡®I''m going to starve to death. Can you two kind people give me something to eat?¡± The character on the screen also spoke up, but his voice was hoarse and weak. Alex was treating a dead horse as a live horse.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it When the girl heard this, she couldn''t help but stop. ¡°Hurry up and go, ignore him,¡¯ the young man said lowly, trying to pull the girl away from here. This time, however, the girl broke free from the boy''s grasp. ¡°Brother, he looks so pitiful. Let''s help him, okay?¡± Without waiting for the boy to say anything, the girl trotted up to Alex and took out a cloth bag from her body. From the bag, she took out a dark, flat, bread-like object and handed it to Alex. ¡°Thank you,¡± Alex took the food and thanked her. After thanking her, he manipulated his character and stuffed the food into his character''s mouth, chewing it up in large bites. ¡°Emma, this is your lunch ration, and you just gave it to him?¡± The young man also returned. ¡°Brother, he''s really pitiful,¡± the girl said. ¡°Hey,¡± the young man sighed helplessly, glaring fiercely at Alex, who was still munching away, but not doing anything. He didn''t want to take back the food his sister had given away. ¡°You''ve given him the food, Emma, can we go now?¡± the young man said again. ¡°Mm,¡± the girl nodded lightly. The young man looked at Alex with some disgust, then took his sister by the hand and prepared to leave. ¡°Wait...¡± Alex spoke again, and because he was still chewing, his voice was a little indistinct. ¡°Outsider, what is it now?¡± The young man turned around, his face showing both vigilance and disgust. The girl, on the other hand, looked at Alex with big, black and white eyes, a little curious. ¡°Well, kind sirs, I still don''t know your names.¡± Alex spoke while rapidly spinning ideas in his head. Upon hearing this, the young man''s face eased a little. The girl opened her big black and white eyes and said, ¡°My name is Emma, my brother is Ethan, big brother, what''s your name?¡± ¡°My name is Alex,¡± Alex said. ¡°Little Emma, let''s go,¡± Ethan, the young man, wanted to pull his sister Emma away again. This time, Alex did not say anything to ¡®persuade¡¯ them to stay. After eating a piece of bread, the annoying system prompt finally disappeared. Alex didn''t want to stay in the forest anymore. There were indeed wild fruits, mushrooms and other things in the forest, but he was not able to tell if these things were poisonous or not. Eating them was really just a matter of luck. What Alex disliked most was taking chances, so in that case, he might as well go back and stay put. Ethan and Emma, a brother and sister, are supposed to be villagers from Peace Village. Having lived here since childhood, they can tell whether the wild fruits and mushrooms here are poisonous or not... Ethan, like the other villagers, is disgusted and repulsed by players like me, and it''s not easy to get in touch with him. However, his younger sister, Emma, doesn''t seem to dislike me... Thinking about this, Alex''s face showed a thoughtful expression. After I go back, I can ask John about the situation of these two siblings. Alex thought to himself. After returning to Peace Village, John''s house was still locked. After playing the game for a few hours and feeling a bit tired, Alex ''placed'' his character in an abandoned empty house and then lay down on the bed and took a nap. When Alex woke up, it was already noon. After having lunch with his parents, Alex logged into the game again. After entering the game, Alex controlled his character and went to take a look at the extinguished campfire. He found that half of the players were still ''zombie-like'' near the extinguished campfire. These player characters may never wake up again. Because, these players have probably abandoned their characters. This situation is very common even in other games. In this day and age, there are just too many games to keep track of. Players have a lot of choices. No game is suitable for everyone. When a new game comes out, as long as the publicity is done properly, players will flock to it, but most players are only interested for a short period of time. A few days or even a dozen days after the game is launched, most players will lose interest. Those who remain are the loyal players of the game. Chapter 9: Not a Burden
For a game like ¡°World of Spirits¡± that is not at all user-friendly and has an upgrade speed slower than a snail¡¯s pace, if it weren''t for the exquisite graphics, the huge map that is beyond the reach of other games, and the intelligent NPCs, it is estimated that after a day, the number of players would be less than 10%. Even with these things to support it, Alex estimates that in a month at most, the players in the ¡°World of Spirits¡± will have all but disappeared. There are definitely people who can persevere in the game, but there should be very few. In this era of fast food games, everyone is very busy, and a game with a pace as slow as a snail is destined to have no chance of survival. So many advanced black technologies have been combined to create such a failed game. I wonder which NC school the game planner for ¡°World of Spirits¡± graduated from, and he has ruined such a good hand. If it were a more normal game planner, or even if he let Alex, an amateur, take on the role of game planner, with the help of so many black technologies, he would also be confident that he could create an epoch-making hit game! When he thought about this, Alex in front of the phone screen couldn''t help but shake his head. It''s actually useless for him to think about these things. These are all matters for the game company. He is just an ordinary player. Even if the game company goes bankrupt due to mismanagement, it''s none of his business. He plays games to kill time. Even if the game company goes bankrupt due to mismanagement, he will not lose much. He can just switch to another game. After all, he has no intention of paying to upgrade his account. Besides, even if he wanted to, there is no way to recharge in this game for the time being. This is very suspicious... When he thought about this, Alex couldn''t help but frown slightly. Could it be that this ¡°World of Spirits¡± is just a test server? Is the test server incomplete, and is it just a ¡°venue¡± used by the game company to test some game data? Is that why it seems so inhumane? Is that why there is no recharge channel? That''s not right either. If the game hasn''t been completed and is still in the testing phase, it can simply recruit a small number of elite players to conduct closed beta testing, and there''s no need to make such a big fuss and carry out large-scale publicity like this. Alex was at a loss for words. Forget it, just play the game. Why think so much? That day, one after another, some new players wearing only a pair of grey underpants arrived in Peace Village.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. That''s how the game goes, people come and go, and a new generation replaces the old. They are all destined to be transient, so Alex has no interest in talking to these new players. As dusk approached in the afternoon, Alex once again controlled his character and performed some simple strength training. After tapping the screen for about an hour, the prompt appeared: ¡°Because you worked hard and seriously to build strength, your strength has increased by 1 point.¡± Alex''s character now had 71 points of strength. After this prompt, Alex tells his character to stop strength training, finds a flat stone in the corner of the village, and sits down. Not long after, the prompt appears: ¡°You are hungry now and need to eat.¡± His character is hungry again. So be it, I don''t have any other ideas, so I can only wait for the big pot of rice for dinner tonight. His parents downstairs are already calling him to eat. Alex quits the game and goes downstairs to have dinner with his parents. After dinner, Alex accompanies his father for a walk along the riverbank, as usual. After returning from the walk, Alex logs back into the game. It is completely dark in the game world, and the campfire in the village square has been rekindled with fresh firewood. The large iron pot was steaming, cooking the big pot of rice. Almost 20 players gathered around the campfire, half-naked, like refugees waiting for soup in a period drama. As for the characters that had already ''died'', they were thrown far into the corner to save space. Alex was again given a steaming, dark, mushy-looking food in a porcelain bowl. This time, Alex did not bore himself by enlarging it tenfold and examining it in detail, but instead directly manipulated his character and buried his face in it and began to eat. After finishing the bowl of food, the annoying sound of hunger finally stopped. John was directing several villagers, telling them to take down the iron pot and add new firewood to the bonfire to prepare for the players¡¯ overnight stay. Alex approached to ask John about Ethan and Emma. Before Alex could get close, a burly villager stood in his way. This villager¡¯s face was both vigilant and contemptuous. Can a refugee like you just approach the village headmaster at will? ¡°Let him come over,¡± John said, seeing that it was Alex who had come over. Only then did this villager reluctantly make way for Alex. Alex walked up to John and asked about the siblings Ethan and Emma. ¡°This pair of siblings are also unfortunate people.¡± John sighed and said, ¡±About six years ago, their parents were working in the fields when they were suddenly bitten to death by a ferocious beast that came out of nowhere. After that, Ethan brought his younger sister Emma with him and they have been living together ever since. Alex, why are you asking about them?¡± John knew Alex''s name. Alex said, ¡°I met them in the forest outside the village. I was starving, and Emma was kind enough to give me a piece of bread to fill my stomach.¡± ¡°I see,¡± John sighed again, saying, ¡°Ethan, after his parents were bitten to death by the beast, determined to become a martial artist and kill all the beasts outside the village to avenge his parents. However, it is not so easy to become a martial artist. What is needed is persistent physical exercise, and a lot of food. He is at an age when his body is growing, and he also needs to take care of his younger sister. The output of their family¡¯s land is simply not enough for them to eat. So he takes his younger sister with him to forage for food in the mountains and forests outside the village, picking wild fruits and hunting small animals to supplement the consumption of food. This child is persistent. According to Captain Mike, this child still has great hope of becoming a martial artist after he comes of age.¡± Alex was a little puzzled: ¡°Why did Ethan bring his younger sister with him when foraging for food in the mountains outside the village? Wasn''t he afraid that his younger sister would be in danger if she followed him?¡± John shook his head and smiled: ¡±Don''t underestimate this little girl Emma. This little girl has an almost instinctive sense of danger, and she is also very careful, much more so than her brother Ethan. With her, she can find more wild fruits and small animals. She is not a burden.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Alex gave a thoughtful expression. Chapter 10: Working with the Siblings
The next day, by the extinguished campfire, Alex was again the first man up. After more than an hour of strength training in a secluded place, his phone vibrated gently. Prompt: ¡°Because you worked hard and seriously, your strength has increased by 1 point.¡± Alex¡¯s character¡¯s strength increased from 71 points to 72 points. After about half an hour of continued training, his phone vibrated again. The prompt said, ¡°Because you have been working hard to build your strength, your strength has increased by 1 point.¡± Alex stopped training. He was not going to continue training. From yesterday''s experience, if he continued training, in another hour, his character would experience hunger. He must not repeat yesterday''s mistake, and he must conserve his energy for other things. He controls his character to go to a public well, draw up a bucket of water, let his character drink all at once, draw up a few more buckets of water, and let his character wash himself. After doing all this, Alex controls his character and leaves the village. According to the village elder, Ethan and Emma¡¯s fields should be in this direction. Following this direction, Alex soon found the two siblings in a crop field. The two siblings were busy in the crop field, catching insects and weeding the vegetables in the field. Alex couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief in his heart. It seems that his assessment was correct. It was still early, and the brother and sister were still busy with farm work, and had not yet entered the mountains. Alex¡¯s approach attracted the attention of the brother and sister. ¡°Outsider, what are you doing here?¡± Ethan straightened up and looked at Alex with a face full of vigilance. Emma, on the other hand, was staring at Alex with big black and white eyes. Some villagers not far away also paused in their work and glanced over. If Alex dared to do anything to harm the brother and sister, they would take action against the outsider, expel him or even kill him. Yesterday, a few more outsiders who had fled from trouble had caused trouble in the village, and a village child had been seriously injured by an outsider and had not survived, dying. Although the outsider who attacked the child was killed on the spot by a member of the village patrol, this incident made the villagers of the Peace Village even more disgusted and vigilant towards these outsiders who had fled.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Alex stopped about two meters away from the crop field. He thought about the wording in his heart and said, ¡°I came here this time to specially thank you both.¡± ¡°You already thanked us yesterday, you can go now,¡± Ethan, the young man, said coldly. Alex did not move, but stood where he was and continued, ¡°Ethan, don''t be in such a hurry to send me away. I think there could be a collaboration between us.¡± ¡°Collaboration?¡± Ethan was taken aback at first, then laughed out loud, ¡®I don''t think there is anything between us that we can collaborate on.¡± ¡°There is,¡¯ Alex said, ¡±I can follow you into the mountains, and you and I can work together to hunt wild animals.¡± Ethan laughed and said, ¡°I can hunt wild beasts without you.¡± ¡°It''s different,¡± Alex had already thought of a good response. He said, ¡°You are indeed capable of hunting wild beasts, but you can only hunt small ones. It will be different with me joining in. If we cooperate, we can hunt some large wild beasts.¡± Ethan finally stopped laughing when he heard this, and instead, he looked thoughtful. Alex continued to strike while the iron was hot: ¡°The meat on a large beast is several or even ten times more than that on a small one. It would be difficult for you to hunt one alone, but with me, it would be different. The probability of success would definitely increase...¡± As it turned out, as a young man of the new era, Alex was well-informed and knowledgeable, and it wasn''t difficult to fool a young country boy. Under Alex''s smooth tongue, in the end, after some consideration, the young boy Ethan reluctantly agreed to cooperate with Alex. Half an hour later, Ethan had organized his equipment and, with his younger sister Emma and Alex, entered the forest outside the village. Ethan was holding a short black blade in his hand. It was a short black iron blade, about 20 cm long, with a dark black body and a sharp edge that glinted with a cold metallic light. Alex was assigned a bone spear polished from the leg bone of a ferocious beast. The bone spear was about 70 cm long, and on top of that, he was carrying a crude wooden shield on his back. The bone spike and wooden shield were left behind after Ethan''s grandfather died. It was said that when he was alive, he was a warrior in the village patrol. However, Ethan never met his grandfather because he died before he was born, dying in a battle between the village and bandits. The short black blade in Ethan''s hand was also a relic of his grandfather. This character background is really well-written, Alex thought to himself with emotion. As for the girl Emma, she was carrying food and water on her back. She walked in the middle, Alex in front of her, and her brother Ethan behind her. Although they had reached a cooperation, the young boy Ethan was still very defensive. He insisted that Alex walk in front, and Alex had no choice but to do as he was told. In order not to alert the wild animals in the forest, the three walked very quietly while traveling through the forest, rarely spoke to each other, and only spoke in a very low voice when they did converse. After walking around in the forest for about half an hour, Alex had completely lost his way in the mountains and forests. It was the girl behind him, Emma, who was softly guiding him. During this time, this attentive girl also picked some wild fruits in the forest, which were shared among the three. These wild fruits more or less also replenished some energy for Alex''s role. ¡°That horned sheep should be active in this vicinity,¡° the girl Emma whispered as she stopped and scanned the surroundings. Three days ago, the siblings Ethan and Emma found traces of a horned sheep in this vicinity, but as they were not sure if they could kill the horned sheep, they did not want to alert it. ¡°Found it.¡± After about 10 minutes, the girl Emma led Ethan and Alex to the horned sheep. Alex looked through the screen and found that it was indeed a goat, a goat with gray fur, the size of a calf, and two sharp black horns growing on its head. This was the first time Alex had seen such a large goat. At this time, the horned goat was grazing and did not notice the three people approaching it. ¡°Wait, I''ll attack it first to attract its attention, and you, Alex, will intercept it when it runs away,¡± Ethan said in a low voice as he tightened the black short blade in his hand.
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