The First Thing When Entering a Holographic Virtual Game

After choosing his race, detail adjustment options appeared on the panel.

Appearance adjustment? Raise everything! Optimization level: 100%! What? It could only be adjusted by a maximum of 20%? Then max it out! After a series of extremely practiced operations, Jiang Heng finally looked at the Elf Youth, whose looks seemed to have a beauty filter applied, with satisfaction—then felt a little regretful.

What was the first thing to do upon entering a fully immersive virtual game? That's right, make a female character! But after searching through every option, he still could not find where the gender selection was.

Jiang Heng swore that once he logged off, he would definitely report this serious, stupid, pathetic, unforgivable bug to the developers!

After character creation was complete, the panel displayed the available starting regions: Gloria Empire, Saint Messiah Empire, and Iter Kingdom Federation. Each region had a background description beneath it as well.

At the bottom of the panel was a character name input field and a die, along with two notes beneath them.

'The character name is how NPCs address players in the game. It may be changed in-game after registration.'

'※Note: Overly unusual character names may draw the attention and dislike of NPCs. Random registration is recommended.'

Attention and dislike? Were the NPCs really that intelligent? Jiang Heng paused. Out of a Professional Player's habit of trying new things, he withdrew the hand that had been about to register randomly and instead entered a character name himself:

Laboratory Dragonborn

He selected the Gloria Empire as his arrival region. After pressing confirm, the Crystal panel dissolved into drifting motes of light.

Everything before his eyes began to blur, and a pleasant notification tone came last.

"Thank you for playing and experiencing 'Mysterious Era.' We wish you a pleasant life~~~"

When his vision returned to normal, Jiang Heng was standing beside a flat white stone road, dressed in a gray hooded burlap commoner's outfit.

Exquisite brick-and-stone buildings stretched into the distance along both sides of the road, with lush green vines climbing beside antique lattice windows.

Pale cyan and magenta tiled rooftops gleamed brightly, while Black Iron weather vanes slowly turned atop the ridgelines.

The sky was an impossibly pure blue, dotted lazily with a few clouds so white they were dazzling.

Four-wheeled carriages belonging to nobles rolled slowly down the center of the road, while Professionals in armor walked along either side. Vendors occasionally wandered through the crowd, hawking snacks and miscellaneous handmade goods.

A towering city wall stood some distance away, its mottled gray stone surface covered in Moss.

Guards patrolled beneath the wall. The morning sun was blocked by the wall, casting a vast shadow that enveloped Jiang Heng.

The clamor of the crowd echoed in his ears, and the air carried the distinctive scent of a medieval city.

Staring around in amazement, Jiang Heng unconsciously walked over to the wall of a nearby building and reached out to touch the slightly rough brickwork. He even tried licking it.

His fingertips felt a cold, coarse texture, no different from touching real stone.

From this close, he could even smell the distinctive astringent scent produced by stone baked in sunlight.

"My god... If I didn't already know, I'd think all of this was real!"

A passing commoner happened to overhear him and could not help giving the elf a look reserved for idiots.

The Last Dragonborn, immersed in his amazement, did not notice the minor incident. He raised his hand and summoned the panel. The crystal-like panel appeared before him, its style unexpectedly fitting the surrounding medieval setting.

In fact, the game's panel was entirely controlled by thought. The Last Dragonborn only operated it manually out of habit from playing too many VR online games.

--Time until the end of the closed beta: 14 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes [Real Time]
Closed Beta EXP Reward: 100x

During the closed beta, main quests are temporarily locked. The beginner's gift pack has been distributed to the player's inventory.

Player ID: Last Dragonborn (Laboratory Dragonborn)
Level: 1

Race: Elf (Nature)

Health: 120/120
Mana: 80/80
Stamina: 100/100
EXP: 0
EXP Required to Level Up: 1000

Strength: 9(-3)

Agility: 11(+3)

Constitution: 9(-3)

Intelligence: 11(+2)

Perception: 8(+3)

Charisma: 10(+5)

Willpower: 8(+1)

Traits: Extraordinary Bloodline—Elves are naturally highly attuned to Magic. The difficulty of learning and mastering spells is reduced, while spell effects are enhanced.

Skills: Archery (Lv. 1), Dexterity (Lv. 1), Climbing (Lv. 1)...

Besides the various attributes, the mailbox icon in the lower-right corner of the panel suddenly flashed, and an email automatically popped up.

A new message? The Last Dragonborn curiously opened it and found that it was a game guide and gameplay notice sent by the developers to new players.

"Mysterious Era" Player Notice: Dear player, thank you for purchasing and registering this game.

...This game is a 98.25% realistic immersive game. Pain sensation may be adjusted between 1% and 10%, with 10% as the maximum... Please note that due to the high level of realism, NPCs in the game possess intelligence and emotions no different from real people. Do not let your guard down around any NPC!

...To ensure authenticity, the game's communication system takes the form of carrier pigeons. All new players may receive one Basic Carrier Pigeon for free.

Carrier pigeons and the System Panel are indestructible and cannot be seen by NPCs. Players may type text using a keyboard or write letters directly by hand.

Depending on the distance between the sender and recipient, each message delivered by a Basic Carrier Pigeon requires between one hour and three days of in-game time, and it cannot enter or leave Special Maps.

Players may purchase Intermediate and Advanced Carrier Pigeons from the in-game store. Top-tier carrier pigeons are occasionally auctioned in the auction house.

As he read on, Last Dragonborn's expression gradually changed.

...Each character initially has five Resurrection Crystals. One will be consumed each time you die. If you die with zero crystals remaining, your character will permanently disappear.

Players may create a new character through the reincarnation system. Each reincarnation costs 648 yuan.

Resurrection Crystals cannot be dropped, traded, or discarded. They can be purchased from the in-game store for 888 yuan each, with each character limited to one purchase.

(During the closed beta, purchases and reincarnation are unavailable.)

...Under the above conditions, "Mysterious Era" reserves the right to interpret, modify, and add to the game rules. Interpretations, modifications, and additions to the rules shall take effect upon announcement. Players are requested to keep track of these rules at all times.

If you object to any of the above terms, please exit the game immediately. Should you choose to continue playing, it will be taken as confirmation that you have read and accepted all of the above terms.

I have read and accepted all of the above terms.

Exit game—?

Wasn't this game a little too predatory?

By the time he reached the end, Last Dragonborn's brows had drawn together slightly, his expression shifting uncertainly.

After hesitating for a while, he ultimately tapped the option above in resignation.

There was no helping it. The world's only fully immersive realistic game had a monopoly. The developers truly had the confidence to say, "Dear players, I'm your daddy."

Of course, the game designers' families probably wouldn't survive this wave of backlash.

After thinking it over, Elf did not rush to close the Panel. Instead, he clenched his right hand into a fist and slammed it hard into his left forearm.

His arm felt as though someone had given it a hard shove, but the pain was extremely faint—no worse than being flicked by a finger.

At the same time, the health value on the Panel dropped by 1, becoming 119/120.

So this is pain dulling? What incredible technology...

"Big brother, are you here fleeing from disaster? How pitiful."

Just as Last Dragonborn was marveling to himself, a soft, childish voice suddenly rang out beside him.