Chapter Five: Experience

Holding the gaming helmet in my hands, I could clearly feel my heartbeat quicken. Half a year had passed, and in the end, I found myself returning to the old path of gaming after all.

Unlike before, this time I was playing an online game. Though I’d heard that whether one could thrive in “Moon Eternal” depended on personal gaming talent, I felt uncertain. Gaming talent? That was as intangible as a mirage.

I put on the helmet, and a cool sensation swept through my mind. When I regained my senses, I found myself standing on the edge of a cliff in a cold night. Looking down at my hands, the lines were sharply defined—this must be my in-game reflection.

Clad in ancient, simple clothes, I felt somewhat awkward. Yet the cold wind at the cliff’s edge made my garments flutter, lending the moment a unique charm. Gazing askew at the sky, I saw a blue-tinged moon casting its light over the earth, while the void beneath my feet transformed into a harrowing scene of battle.

Amidst the blare of horns, formations of human cavalry charged fearlessly ahead. Knights swung their lances and sabers, their pale gleaming arcs chilling to behold. A group of mages, guarded by knights, advanced slowly, chanting obscure incantations, sending waves of searing flame surging into enemy lines, illuminating the black night as if it were day.

In the firelight, I was startled to see that these human legions were facing none other than—massive frostbone dragons!

The dragons’ blood-red wings were smeared with pitiful scraps of flesh—some from dragons, some from human knights. Fireballs struck the dragons’ bones with a “sizzle” before vanishing.

Beneath the dragons, a dense mass writhed. Only upon closer inspection did I realize they were skeletal warriors devoid of flesh, brandishing bone shields and rusty steel swords, locked in a desperate struggle with the human knights.

The cavalry’s powerful charges broke gaps in the skeleton ranks again and again, only for an endless tide of skeletons to fill them each time. Knights who plunged into the horde were immediately isolated, yet they continued fighting valiantly, thrusting their lances through ribcages time and time again. When their horses fell, they drew their swords and fought on. Blood slowly trickled down their bodies as they battled, while the skeleton warriors seemed inexhaustible. Whenever a human soldier fell in a pool of blood, his flesh would silently slough off, and a faint light would flicker in the hollow sockets of his skull, after which he would join the ranks of the skeletal warriors.

A tangible ripple spread through the air, and within several meters, skeletons collapsed into heaps of bone. Immediately, a milky white light descended upon the wounded knights, their bleeding wounds healing swiftly—the human priests had finally arrived!

In the distance, behind the skeletons and bone dragons, dozens of necromancers lurked, orchestrating the carnage on the battlefield.

A few blurred figures appeared beside the necromancers. They had been waiting for a chance, and finally, as the necromancers concentrated on summoning a second bone dragon, a streak of blood-red light flashed across a necromancer’s filthy neck—a dagger hidden in black cloth revealed its chilling edge.

Agonized screams echoed; the power of the undead began to wane. Human rogues had tipped the balance of victory!

Far behind the human ranks, a group of elderly villagers and the weak watched the slaughter unfold with wide eyes.

So this was what the warriors swore to protect—their homeland.

The words “Moon Eternal” shimmered faintly across the sky as the battle below neared its end.

“Phew—”

I couldn’t help but exhale. This promotional video was simply breathtaking!

The scene gradually faded away, and I found myself at the edge of a quiet forest. Various operational prompts appeared in my field of vision. To be honest, a game with 70% virtual reality was much harder to operate than a keyboard. Fortunately, I did possess a certain knack for gaming. After nearly two hours, relying solely on the keyboard and brainwave commands, I could already perform every action with ease. By the time the game officially launched, I figured fighting monsters would pose no problem at all.

Apparently, the official website said that most people would adapt to “Moon Eternal” after three days. I only needed two hours—could this be what they called gaming talent?

Then again, when I played AR3, I could click six times per second—anyone with that level of skill would adapt quickly to a new game. I just wondered if my old friends could handle the controls as fast. Ye Qiu was even quicker than me—if he ever gave up “Warcraft” for “Moon Eternal,” he wouldn’t be far behind.

“Ding! System notification!”

“You have been online for eight hours, please take a break!”

“This is your first time using this helmet. Would you like to enable iris lock?”

I quickly clicked confirm. It was well past midnight—when I took off the helmet, it was already three in the morning. I hurried to wash up and get to bed. If Xu Lin saw me awake at three, she definitely wouldn’t be pleased.

Lying in bed, my mind still lingered on the game’s realism—a truly immersive experience that left me eagerly anticipating what was to come. Many features, like pain and taste, were currently disabled before launch, and I didn’t yet have a truly personal character. Apparently, the game’s character face was generated by scanning the player’s actual face with the helmet, allowing minor modifications, but you couldn’t turn a dinosaur into a beauty.

That was probably for the best. Still, women as shameless as Xinyu would surely tweak their looks to be even more attractive, making it easy to seduce men. But she was already stunning enough to make a crowd of simple-minded men swoon without any edits. As for Liu Xuehan, she was the type whose beauty would make any man drool.

Xu Lin was beautiful too, but compared to Liu Xuehan, she had a more mature, alluring charm. If the game scanned bodies, she’d probably pick a night elf character and have half the wealthy young heirs in the game trailing after her.

To be honest, even after half a year, I still had no idea who Xu Lin really was. She never took customers, no matter how many regulars requested her, always turning them down gently. She treated her staff well, never shorting anyone’s wages or commissions.

With these thoughts swirling in my mind, I finally drifted off to sleep. By the time I awoke the next day, the sun was already high, but it seemed the others had played just as late—I was the first to get up.