Internal Testing Begins

Internal Beta Begins

Meanwhile, bearing the Duke's warrant, Anvis withdrew some Void Sinking Silver from the treasury and had Leonard craft a chain for the book.

Void Sinking Silver was a metal the color of dim stars, likewise emanating an indescribable aura. It matched the style of the Old Days Secret Scripture perfectly.

Naturally, its price was equally fitting.

Void Sinking Silver: a spatially attuned enchanted metal material, an exceedingly rare magical metal produced only in powder form in certain special areas of spatial instability, with an annual yield of merely a few grams.

This metal was generally used to craft high-tier spatial Magic Equipment and construct spatial rule Runes. It was also an essential material for cross-continental Teleportation Arrays.

Even in the treasury of Moonrise Fortress, this metal was considered an absolute top-tier material, with only a few hundred grams in stock.

The chain Anvis made for the book consumed several dozen grams—enough to create a high-tier spatial accessory.

For this reason, Leonard had initially hoped Anvis would reconsider.

But after Anvis specifically emphasized "the Duke's orders" and "a high-tier spellbook," Butler still helped him refine the book chain.

"Come to think of it, perhaps I should alter its appearance."

Anvis gently stroked the Dark Green cover. That familiar, bizarre sensation came from his fingertips. By touch alone, he even suspected that what he was caressing was not a book, but the tentacle of some unknown creature.

Spell Trick—

A faint gleam of Mana flashed between his fingers, and the dark green tome immediately became a brilliant silver-white, as though cast from silver.

While Anvis was delighting in obtaining the Old Days Secret Scripture, in another world, the scene he had eagerly awaited for so long before his transmigration was now taking place.

Blue Star, at the launch event for the game "Mysterious Era" in a certain surface city.

"...This is the world's first fully immersive virtual online game. Set against a medieval backdrop of swords and magic, it provides Players with a 98.25% immersive experience..."

"...The game uses the independently developed Fantasy II Engine, along with the supercomputing core—Eternal—in an effort to present all Players with a genuine fantasy world..."

"...Equipped with a unique thought-acceleration system, the ratio of in-game time to real time is 12.5:1..."

"...And now, from all applicants who signed up for the data-wipe closed beta, we will randomly select 250 lucky warriors..."

"Five, four, three, two, one!"

"Ding—your system has arrived~~"

Noticing his message notification, Jiang Heng took out his phone and gave it a glance.

The next moment, despite being in the noisy venue, he felt as though the entire world had fallen silent.

Yes! I got one of the 250 independent-player closed beta slots for "Mysterious Era" across the entire continent! My application was approved! As a former professional player who had already left his Club, he had not held out much hope. Yet unexpectedly, absurdly good fortune had suddenly dropped right onto his head!

This was a fully immersive game! A game that required sci-fi-grade equipment like a Game Pod and Nutrient Solution!

It even had thought acceleration, practically equivalent to suddenly gaining 12.5 times more lifespan! Compared to that, all those flashy VR games should be swept straight into the trash! As one of the 250 lucky people selected from 658,436 warriors, Jiang Heng strode out of the venue with the swagger of someone who recognized no relatives, heading to an official store to order his exclusive Game Pod.

Of course, such good news could not be enjoyed alone. The more, the merrier.

At the store, Jiang Heng took a selfie leaning against his Game Pod bearing his exclusive serial number. After applying level-five beauty filters, he attached a screenshot of his qualification confirmation and sent it to all his friends.

"Just casually applied for the beta slot. The Probability really is high—"

Three seconds later, replies from his friends flooded in.

"Fuck! You damn bastard!!! 🖕"

"Please, just be a decent human being—"

"I'm done. People really can't compare themselves to dogs."

"Endless European thieves, endless African tears!"

Having received his friends' heartfelt and affectionate blessings, Jiang Heng cheerfully closed his social media app, feeling as though his body and spirit had ascended in an instant.

Of course, when sending the mass message, Jiang Heng had avoided the few friends who were still active players in Clubs.

As some of the largest esports Clubs in the country, obtaining a few closed beta slots reserved specifically for Clubs was no difficult matter.

In other words, even if he sent it to them, he would not get the reaction he wanted, so he simply did not tell them.

Among all professional players, Jiang Heng was something of an oddity.

Because he found training too exhausting, after serving as captain for two and a half years, he directly refused a lucrative contract renewal and instead applied for retirement.

After signing an agreement promising never to join another Club, Jiang Heng peacefully terminated his contract with his old team. Then, with the tens of millions he had saved over several years, he lazily holed up at home and lived the standard salted-fish life.

Oh, and he was still single.

After the Game Pod and a six-month supply of Nutrient Solution were delivered to his home by the staff, Jiang Heng happily took a shower, then lay down inside the Game Pod and put the built-in sealed sensor over his head.

A soft beep sounded. A red beam and a blue beam lit up inside the pod, slowly sweeping across his body. Cool Nutrient Solution flooded into the chamber, and the chill against his skin made Jiang Heng shiver.

The Nutrient Solution seemed to have a mild sleep-inducing effect. He almost immediately felt drowsiness wash over him, and the world sank into darkness.

The next instant, the darkness was scattered by a sudden burst of light.

Jiang Heng curiously looked around and discovered that he was now in a void-like space radiating White Light.

A blurry human figure stood in the center of the space, with no points of reference anywhere around it.

"Honored warrior, please begin creating your identity."

A voice from nowhere echoed by Jiang Heng's ears. It was impossible to tell whether it belonged to a man or a woman, yet he instinctively found it exceptionally pleasant.

As the voice faded, a crystal-like panel appeared before Jiang Heng. It displayed a blank ID input field and matching letter keys, followed by a line of text: Please enter your player nickname. Raising his hand, he entered the nickname he had already chosen. After pressing several letters, a familiar text selection box appeared before him.

Oh? It was even using the Smart Sogou Pinyin Input Method! Jiang Heng felt inexplicably annoyed, but silently pressed Enter anyway.

"Last Dragonborn. This nickname is available. It cannot be changed after registration is complete. Confirm?"

"Confirm."

This nickname came from an ancient yet classic game. What Jiang Heng found especially regrettable was that, even now that fully immersive virtual games had already entered the market, that game still had not received a sequel.

Once the nickname was confirmed, the panel abruptly expanded, displaying a series of race options. Beneath each race was a corresponding background description, racial talents, and attribute bonuses.

Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Beast-man, Dwarf, Random (Note: Rare races have a small probability of appearing). After reviewing the attribute descriptions for every available race, Jiang Heng ultimately chose Elf.

The other options instantly shrank into the corner of the panel. The icon representing Elves enlarged, and two more detailed racial divisions appeared beneath it.

Elf (Nature), Elf (Dark). After carefully comparing the differences between their talents, Jiang Heng chose the Nature Elf.

Although it did not have the Dark Elf's racial talent of tricks, the Nature Elf's Charisma bonus was the highest among all available races at 5, two points higher than the Dark Elf's.

The figure in the center of the space suddenly began to transform. Its body became slender, its skin fairer and more delicate, and its ears lengthened and sharpened.

Its handsome features still vaguely resembled Jiang Heng's, but its eyes had turned a pale green, like a pool of crystal-clear water.

Its hair also became light green and slightly longer, adding a touch of flowing elegance.