The Closed Beta Player Takes Action!

Time rolls back forty minutes.

Nuoqi Village.

The village today felt different from usual. Many of the villagers working in the fields were distracted, stealing glances at two unfamiliar young people who had just stepped out of the Village Chief's house.

It was hardly surprising. Just by looking at them, the pair seemed utterly out of place in this poor, remote village.

One wore finely crafted leather armor with a wooden longbow slung across his back. The other was even more striking—clad in a robe that, according to rumor, only those who wielded "magic" were worthy to wear.

The villagers whispered among themselves, guessing that these two outsiders must have come from "Huodian City." They wondered what business such folk could have in their rundown little hamlet.

But in truth, they were all wrong. These two weren't from Huodian City at all—in fact, they were racking their brains over how to get into Huodian City.

If Liao Zixuan had been here, his eyes would have lit up, and he'd have shouted in excitement that the classics in novels hadn't lied to him after all!

Because floating above the heads of these two "outsiders" in the village were words invisible to the natives of this world.

[One Bite, One Big Watermelon]

[Close Combat Mage God]

The unique "nickname" system for players!

Yes, these two, seen by the villagers as strangers, were none other than the closed beta testers from another world!

And the reason they'd come to Nuoqi Village was simple.

They had nowhere else to go!

"Watermelon, don't you think it's been weeks, and we're still stuck in these outer villages? The beta's only got half a month left. If we don't hurry up and explore more content, we'll miss our chance!"

The player in the robe, likely a "Spellcaster" class, was grumbling to his companion with a worried expression.

The hunter player, the one with the bow—aka "One Bite, One Big Watermelon"—let out a helpless sigh.

"Hey, we're not the only ones. Everyone else is pretty much the same."

"I've been browsing the game forums every day, chatting with people in the circle. Nobody's got a solution. They all say it's intentional design by the devs!"

It turned out that a month ago, the highly anticipated immersive virtual reality masterpiece, "Fall of the Gods," had finally released its first batch of closed beta keys.

Major streamers, studios, content creators, and millions of players on the waiting list had swarmed like sharks drawn to blood, snatching up the limited keys.

Everyone wanted to get a head start on this groundbreaking, cross-era blockbuster. After all, anyone with eyes could see its immense potential and influence.

If you could make a name for yourself in it, you might never have to worry about food or drink for the rest of your life.

Of course, there were also those who genuinely loved games and wanted to experience the legendary 100% immersive virtual reality—a world with absolute intelligence, a world with "gods."

So many treasured their closed beta keys, wishing they could stretch every second into ten, trying every way possible to learn and explore this new world.

Even though this was just a "closed beta," where accounts would be wiped and basic data deleted in the end.

But data was dead, while people were alive. Just the experience gained from the beta alone could save countless detours and give a huge lead over others.

Perhaps the devs realized this too. For the sake of fairness, although it was advertised as an "open world" for free exploration, they had set all the closed beta testers' spawn points on the map's edges, far from big cities, in remote, isolated villages.

In other words, the so-called "newbie villages."

That might have been tolerable, but what really stung was this: some top players, after fighting tooth and nail all the way from the newbie village to the gates of Huodian City, were told the city was in a special period and that Outlanders without entry permits were forbidden to enter.

"Isn't that just blocking off our entire range of activity?" Melee God of Magic grumbled discontentedly.

But just then, "One Bite, One Big Watermelon" beside him flashed a mysterious smile. He first glanced around like a thief, then leaned in and whispered to his companion:

"I thought the same a few minutes ago. But not anymore."

"Huh? What do you mean? You've got a way?" Melee God of Magic's eyes lit up, and he pressed eagerly.

"Remember that quest we just picked up?"

"Quest?"

The two had just arrived in Nuoqi Village from elsewhere. The first thing they did, as players always did, was wander around looking for NPCs who might hand out quests.

They were old hands at this. Before long, they'd picked up three or four quests, but all were the usual sort—hunt low-level monsters, help craft tools, find a lost little girl, and so on.

But the problem lay in that last quest!

[Find the girl who entered the "Claw Forest" to gather herbs and hasn't returned]

[Quest Description: Recently, the village's old scoundrel Anlu had his youngest son fall gravely ill, bedridden. His eldest daughter, Vivian, ventured alone into the Claw Forest to find medicinal herbs to cure her brother, but she never came back. Worried sick, Anlu learned of this and asks you to enter the Claw Forest to find and bring back his missing daughter.]

[Quest Reward: 15 Copper Coins, 60 Experience Points]

At first glance, doesn't it look just like one of those everyday, run-of-the-mill quests?

But as luck would have it, Big Watermelon had been sharp. After accepting the quest at Anlu's house, he got curious and tossed a reconnaissance skill at the sick little boy lying in bed inside.

And what he saw made him jump.

Because—

[Andy]

Level: 5

Status: Deep Poisoning (???)

Main Class: [Apprentice Mage]

Sub-Classes: [Villager Lv1], [Fire God Follower Lv1]

Holy shit!

Apprentice Mage!?

Even among their batch of closed beta testers, this class alone would cause a huge stir, because so far not a single player had found the path to the "Mage" class.

Never mind that "Melee God of Magic" went by a godly name and even put on a robe for show—in reality, he hadn't even touched the threshold of "Apprentice Mage."

And yet, here was a Mage, a class that could be called an "aristocratic profession" even among Professionals, appearing in a rundown little village, on the youngest son of a gambling deadbeat.

This was...

Way too abnormal!

And what the hell was "Fire God Follower" as a sub-class? Also, why were there three question marks after [Deep Poisoning] in his status bar?

This was the first time in all these days of closed beta that Big Watermelon had seen information displayed with "?" in "Fall of the Gods."

From top to bottom, the youngest son Andy reeked of strangeness, practically screaming "I have a big secret" on his forehead.

And the key to uncovering that secret had to lie in the corresponding quest: [Find the herb-gathering girl who hasn't returned from "Claw Forest"]!

Big Watermelon speculated that this was very likely just a lead-in quest, one that could trigger a much larger hidden quest chain!

This was where you could see what a high-end player looked like.

An ordinary player would probably have lost their cool by now and rushed straight to Claw Forest in excitement, but Big Watermelon wasn't in a hurry.

He suppressed his excitement, which led to that opening scene of the two of them walking out of the Village Chief's house.

Big Watermelon pretended to chat casually, but his real goal was to gather intel and learn more about Anlu's family.

And what he learned—well, if he hadn't asked, it would've been fine, but once he did, holy shit, it was an even bigger bombshell than the "Mage" class!

The deadbeat Anlu, deep in gambling debt and with his youngest son struck by a strange illness, had gone completely bankrupt. Desperate for money, he'd used his connections to contact a steward from some big family in "Huodian City," planning to sell his eldest daughter Vivian into servitude!

Big Watermelon didn't care about someone else's family affairs, nor how miserable this girl named Vivian was, being sold off like goods by her own father.

After all, they were just early-game Cannon Fodder NPCs.

What Big Watermelon cared about more was the information this quest conveyed—that through it, he might find a way...

To reach "Huodian City"!

Now even Big Watermelon couldn't sit still. After briefly explaining all this to the still-confused Melee God of Magic beside him, the two of them rushed straight to Claw Forest without a moment's delay.

But they'd barely entered the forest when a sudden, thunderous roar from deeper within immediately caught their attention.

They exchanged a glance, their hearts skipped a beat, and they quickly moved toward the source of the sound!