Starting the Game

What had become of the original world? Had they truly crossed over?

Li Wen only discovered after joining the Strategy Group that the players at the forefront had long been debating this.

One player in the group, who had considerable achievements in the field of prophecy, published their divination results. The reading indicated that the original world's situation was likely grim—exactly how grim, no one could say.

So, faced with a game world she knew well and could roughly predict the history of, versus an original world of complete unknowns, Li Wen naturally knew which to choose.

Besides, this was the very reason she had been reborn. That was the meaning of Urd's Thorn.

Lost in thought, Li Wen still opened the game forums under an anonymous account and posted a brief explanation of the game and the crossing situation. She used a throwaway account she'd just created, and didn't try to dissuade anyone from playing "World Tree: Origins"—only reminded them to engage more with the game content, so they wouldn't end up too weak and die horribly after crossing.

After posting, she logged out and deleted the account.

As for what effect this would have, or what consequences it might bring—that was beyond Li Wen's control.

"30 minutes until class, please mind the time! 30 minutes until..."

The smart assistant M2 popped up, reminding Li Wen that she was still a student.

Li Wen immediately ordered M2 into standby mode, then thought for a moment, pulled out her phone, scrolled through her social media contacts for a while, found the unfamiliar account of her homeroom teacher, and sent a leave request.

"'World Tree: Origins' has been open for two days now, but following the trajectory of my past life, most players are still in a state of fumbling, dying over and over. With my memories of that life, even being two days late won't matter. Relying on the Strategy Group's accumulated knowledge, I should quickly become one of the top players.

"In other words, there's still time."

Li Wen thought calmly.

Ever since the great chaos right after the initial crossing, some players had fantasized about how they would start if they could return to the game's beginning—how to use foreknowledge to level up fast, acquire rare equipment, and so on.

The Strategy Group had gone much further. Especially after Urd's Thorn became known, dedicated members began compiling and summarizing strategies with the ultimate goal of resisting the Twilight of the Apocalypse.

And the only path theoretically deemed feasible was a single one.

Li Wen still remembered the exact contents of that guide.

"First, you need to create a female character..."

*

Since "World Tree: Origins" game accounts were bound to real human DNA, and the created characters were based on real appearances, easily creating a female character like in other games simply didn't exist here.

But many problems in this world could be solved with money. Although WG Corp strictly forbade game account trading, that didn't stop secondhand dealers—in fact, it only fueled their greed, since scarcity drove up prices.

Li Wen searched the largest secondhand trading platform of the era, found a seller in the same city with a high trust rating.

After some negotiation, Li Wen bought a bound game account with no character created yet for 13,999, along with GS Corp's limited edition gaming device.

The standard edition of "World Tree: Origins" was priced at 598, the deluxe at 798. The gaming device—GS Corp's proprietary console and VR headset—was under 4,000. The limited edition wouldn't exceed twice the original price.

In other words, this price was basically treating Li Wen like a sucker.

But Li Wen didn't care.

First, the seller promised the fastest shipping—delivery within an hour at most.

Second, while Li Wen wasn't from a wealthy family and was actually quite strapped for cash, she'd be crossing over in a year anyway. Money left unused was useless, so spending it was fine—wasting time was the real problem.

Finally, the original owner of this account was a pre-order buyer who had already passed away. That meant at least Li Wen didn't have to worry about the original owner reclaiming a hard-earned account. Although GS Corp's accounts were device-bound and couldn't be recovered across devices, if the original owner went to GS Corp headquarters for DNA verification recovery, that was another story.

All in all, spending a moderate amount to reduce unnecessary trouble was acceptable in Li Wen's view.

While waiting for the delivery, feeling a bit hungry, Li Wen threw together some food. To be honest, she hadn't enjoyed the taste of tech-processed instant food in a long time.

By the time she finished eating, the package arrived right on time—just as promised, within the specified window.

Li Wen opened the package. Inside was a small silver box with GS Corp's logo on the surface.

The box didn't contain much: a bare-bones console, a head-mounted VR device, and a few cables of unknown purpose.

"The console, the VR—they're all just smokescreens."

Li Wen shrugged, then connected the console to her computer and hooked up the VR. That counted as setup.

She checked the time: 08:24 AM.

Li Wen took a deep breath, lay down on the bed, put on the VR, pressed the start button, and began to wait quietly.

It didn't take long. Everything her eyes could see was replaced by darkness. She felt as if she were being pulled out of some muddy pit or other place, then injected into a vast, cold but not unpleasant unknown ocean.

[Welcome to our company's product. Authenticating, please wait.]

[Authentication complete. Confirmed citizen ID: TH437***18, Name: * Liang, Gender: Female.]

[Launching game...]

[Program starting. Loading into game in ten seconds. Enjoy your experience...]

A sliver of light appeared in the pitch-black world. By the time Li Wen registered it, a radiance beyond description was blooming before her eyes.

When the light faded, a colossal tree stood before her, nearly taller than the sky itself.

"The World Tree... Yggdrasil..."

Li Wen's heart wavered. Her steadfast conviction faltered for a moment—but the hesitation was quickly cast aside.

She looked up. Above her head were cosmic stars and galaxies rarely seen in reality—a vast, boundless, and dazzling sight hard to look away from. Li Wen was already used to it. She turned her gaze beyond the World Tree.

At the boundary between heaven and earth, something enormous could be faintly seen circling the World Tree, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't make it out with her naked eyes.

Li Wen withdrew her gaze. A mirror appeared out of thin air before her. When she saw her reflection, even she—someone who had weathered so many storms—couldn't help but feel a small shock.