Pay-to-Win Game

Pay-to-Win Game. "This is ridiculous." After running the E-Level Simulation Exam once, he had only gotten one Electric Eel, and Electrical Energy Control had only gone up by 1!

Yang Bo was thoroughly annoyed. If it only increased by 1 each time, it would take dozens of attempts to reach the advanced level. Each attempt cost four thousand points, so it would take nearly a year to save up that many points.

"Forget it. I'll try out the Mecha Game first." Yang Bo decided to relax.

The original owner had played Mecha Games before, but he had failed the initial Simulated Assessment and never obtained a Pilot License. That was right—before playing this game, one first had to prove their hand speed.

This Mecha Game was called Mecha World. It was said to be the most pay-to-win game around, though some called it the most profitable game instead. If a mecha was damaged and the player lacked enough in-game currency, they had to pay real money. But players with good skills could earn plenty from the loot they obtained.

Most importantly, the game did not require identity verification or real-name registration. Anyone could play it. Unlike piloting a mecha in reality, players did not need to be Gene Evolvers.

Reality required Gene Evolvers for two reasons. First, physical strength. Mechas fought on the ground, and their maximum ground acceleration could instantly exceed 15 Gs. Even with a pressure suit, anyone whose physique was not strong enough would burst apart in an instant. Second, mechas had far too many commands.

Some might ask, weren't there automatically controlled mechas?

Mecha combat involved close-quarters engagements, with severe interference and suppression between opponents. Besides, computers operated according to programmed routines. In the early days, mechas had been fully intelligent, but once someone cracked your algorithms... every mecha was finished.

After that, human mechas became human-operated.

After entering the game and creating an account, Yang Bo randomly gave himself a nickname: Nagging Eighth Master.

Yang Bo did not pay much attention to the strange nickname. What if he failed the assessment? Then he would not even be able to enter the game.

The assessment began. It tested hand speed, with a minimum requirement of 120 inputs per second. With all ten fingers flying, Yang Bo unleashed a flurry of frantic moves, yet he only managed 65 inputs per second. He failed the assessment.

However, the game offered simulation training, and Yang Bo entered without hesitation. As an Earthling from his previous life who had come to this Interstellar Era, would it not be a wasted trip if he did not get to experience mechas, even if only in a game?

Wearing virtual sensory gloves on both hands, Yang Bo's fingers danced continuously. Training again and again, he grew more familiar with it, then more familiar still.

The hand-speed assessment was also related to the mecha model assigned in the game. Since their birth, mechas had gone through more than a dozen generations and branched into many different types. Once his simulation training met the requirements, Yang Bo entered the game again.

"Congratulations, Nagging Eighth Master. You have obtained an E-Level Pilot License. Please choose a mecha type." A message flashed across the virtual screen.

Yang Bo then looked over the mechas. There were three forms. The first resembled a giant spider, with twelve legs. Different legs carried different weapons: laser emitters, plasma cutters, and so on.

The second was a beast form, designed to imitate beast combat. Its tail was a Laser Cannon...

Yang Bo did not even look at those two. He turned to the third option, a humanoid mecha that looked somewhat like a Transformer.

The mecha's code name was Blade. It was the most classic assault mecha produced three hundred years ago. It came with a Laser Sword, an Energy Shield, and a Rocket Pack on its back. It used a Nuclear Battery, but could only burst at full power for twenty minutes at a time, followed by a half-hour cooldown. In other words, it could only sustain full power for twenty minutes before its output had to be reduced.

Before allowing him to enter the game, the official guide gave a detailed explanation: take good care of your mecha, because any damage would require expensive repair fees. It also stated that this was not an ordinary game. Each IP address could only create one account, and to delete that account, the mecha had to be repaired back to its initial state.

"No wonder people online are cursing it nonstop." Yang Bo was dumbfounded. If someone entered the game, accidentally damaged their mecha, and had no money to repair it, registering a new account was impossible. That IP address would be useless. The only option was to pay for repairs.

Next came simulated combat training: mecha versus mecha, and mecha versus monsters.

The Mecha Cockpit was like a C-shaped office desk, with a 270-degree domed full-screen display showing the outside view across 270 degrees. There was voice-assisted control. The left hand controlled the mecha's posture—walking, running, jumping, sudden acceleration, and so on—while the right hand handled its various functions.

Looking at this Virtual Game, Yang Bo felt that it was fucking realistic. If he had not turned his head and seen the sofa behind him, he would have thought he was actually inside a Mecha Cockpit. Of course, the virtual image projector provided in this dormitory was also quite good.

"I'll continue tomorrow." Unfortunately, Yang Bo failed the combat training over the next hour.

The official recommendation was not to enter the game. Put bluntly: you're trash, so stop playing.

That night, Yang Bo even dreamed that he was piloting a mecha. As a native from a backward civilization experiencing this kind of game for the first time, he felt as though he were addicted.

When Yang Bo woke up the next morning, he realized it was Saturday. He had originally wanted to rest, but then he thought of the double pay.

"Damn it, in my previous life, forget double pay—even not having the boss dock my wages on some pretext would have been cause for celebration." He hurried off to work.

"Garden Task." When he arrived at the company, he discovered that Saturday's assignments actually included a Garden Task. He quickly accepted it. The fee was as high as 1,600 Credit Points, and with the company's 500-point attendance bonus, double pay would bring the total to 3,700.

The Garden that needed cleaning covered 1,200 square meters. He had no idea what else was there, and there were no pictures. That was how this line of work went—until you arrived, you had no idea what was inside the Garden.

He collected his equipment, then the client came to pick him up. After arriving at the destination and completing the inspection, he removed his wristwatch.

Yang Bo looked at the Garden beside a lake and immediately spotted at least several kinds of endangered red-listed plants inside. If ordinary people so much as touched those plants, they might end up behind bars for life. But to these powerful and wealthy people, they were merely trash they had grown tired of looking at.

The Garden covered 1,200 square meters and had a long pool filled with various aquatic plants. Aside from facilities such as flower beds, the Garden had roughly 800 square meters of open area.

Of course, this was only one part of the enormous Garden. The entire Garden covered at least hundreds of mu and surrounded an ancient-looking building. It looked somewhat like a temple, with vermilion walls, glazed roof tiles, ornamental figures along the ridges, and hollowed wooden windows...

Yang Bo began by clearing the plants. He pulled them out by the roots. The plants in the Garden were not particularly large, so after pulling them up, he packed them into garbage bags and used specialized equipment to turn over the flower beds. As for whether there were grass seeds or pests in the soil, sorry, that was the planter's responsibility.

"Let's see whether there are any surprises in this fish pond." Yang Bo saved the fish pond for last. He changed into another protective suit and began by clearing the plants from the pond.