"Is it really that ridiculous?"
"No, but what on earth happened at home while I was away at school?!"
He pushed open the basement door, which had changed beyond recognition. Before him stretched a cold, narrow corridor.
The door behind him slowly closed.
Before Xiao Yang could even finish marveling at the sight, a skeleton wearing armor and holding a great axe slowly rose from the ground at the far end of the corridor.
Two ghostly blue flames danced inside its bony skull. Amid a series of discordant creaks, the Great Axe Skeleton slowly fixed its gaze on Xiao Yang, who stood frozen at the end of the corridor, utterly dumbfounded.
It was obvious that it hadn't come to exchange pleasantries with him.
What the—where the hell am I?! Isn't this my house?! Isn't this my basement?!
As Xiao Yang watched the Great Axe Skeleton stride toward him, he let out a piercing scream.
He tried to retreat, but the door behind him wouldn't open. The Great Axe Skeleton was already close.
Xiao Yang could hear the whoosh of its great axe slicing through the air.
There was no time to think. Giving up on the door, Xiao Yang threw himself forward in a clumsy dive. The enormous rusty axe swept over his head.
The Great Axe Skeleton's movements seemed a little stiff. After swinging once, its entire body let out strange creaks, like an old machine that hadn't been oiled.
That was good news for Xiao Yang. Without that stiffness, the Great Axe Skeleton probably would have split him in half!
He raced along the wall and slipped past the Great Axe Skeleton, avoiding a close-quarters fight—but in doing so, he let it block the door he'd come through.
Xiao Yang could feel his face turning red and his whole body heating up. It was the adrenaline.
There was no more time to hesitate. Xiao Yang scrambled toward the other door at the end of the corridor.
He grabbed the doorknob. Behind him, the heavy footsteps drew closer and closer. Fortunately, the door opened without a hitch!
He yanked it open and darted into the room, then slammed it shut behind him. Through the barred window in the rusty iron door, the two ghostly blue flames in the axe-wielding skeleton's eye sockets still flickered faintly.
Xiao Yang gasped for breath. At that moment, he stared at the axe-wielding skeleton through the door. Luckily, it didn't seem to intend to break in. After meeting Xiao Yang's gaze, it slowly walked away.
"Safe!"
Just as Xiao Yang had finally made it to safety, a notification chimed. A stream of characters appeared before him, accompanied by a panel.
God Game officially begins. You have entered the early access phase as an internal tester ahead of the scheduled time. Probe Skill acquired. Personal Backpack unlocked. Daily Challenges disabled. Plane Battles disabled. Divine Bounties disabled. Plane 33214 server is now online. Further content will be available at the official launch. Please look forward to it. Player panel loaded. Player: Unnamed Number: 1 Affiliation: Plane 33214 Race: Normal Human Level: 1 Health: 10 Strength: 3 Defense: 3 Agility: 3 Talent: Not awakened. A weakling with a combat power of three. Please choose a name as soon as possible. Your newbie benefits will be issued once you have named yourself. Current location: Skeleton Dungeon. Your level is too low; challenge with caution. Congratulations, player! You have entered the Supernatural Realm, Skeleton Dungeon, and completed the achievement: First in the Supernatural Realm. Reward: one Talent Awakening Scroll. Keep up the good work!
The barrage of notifications left Xiao Yang sitting on the floor in silence. The words themselves were familiar, but somehow, strung together, they were hard to make sense of.
As a recent college graduate who'd spent three months failing to find a suitable job, he'd finally decided to return to his hometown and take it easy. While cleaning, instead of meeting a kind, friendly village chief who would start him on a peaceful ranching life, he'd wound up in a Skeleton Dungeon as Player One in God Game.
Huh?
Obviously, this turn of events was pretty outrageous. But he had to admit that Xiao Yang didn't seem to have any choice now.
He pressed close to the iron door behind him. In the corridor, the tall axe-wielding skeleton wandered silently.
If Xiao Yang wanted to go home, he'd probably have to defeat the towering creature first.
There was more than one door in this bright room. On the other side, Xiao Yang spotted another one. When he cautiously approached it, he saw a similarly dim corridor. Then, looking around the room, he noticed some things on a long table against the wall.
Xiao Yang opened his Personal Backpack. Inside lay a golden scroll.
What else could he do? He could only accept all this.
After a brief pause, Xiao Yang came back to his senses. Now that he was gradually accepting reality, he decided to claim his newbie benefits from God Game first and awaken his talent.
Maybe he should choose a name first. That sounded a little strange, but it was true: in any game, choosing a name was always the first step. Yet that thought changed when he saw the golden scroll.
Awaken his talent first!
As a recent college graduate who was well versed in all sorts of games, Xiao Yang was a classic gacha addict. He silently chose to use the golden scroll, and a notification appeared.
Your talent cannot be changed after awakening. Continue?
Without a moment's hesitation, he selected Confirm.
It was time to pull. So, what would Xiao Yang's talent be?
At that moment, under the guidance of the Talent Awakening Scroll, streaks of light appeared before Xiao Yang, each accompanied by a name.
Gray: Osteoporosis, Hemorrhoid-Prone
White: Quick Thinking, Photographic Reading, Keyboard Artist.
Green, blue, purple—after a mass of lights swirled around, a golden glow finally appeared. The lights slowed, and Xiao Yang's eyes widened.
Understand Forever (Gold): Understand knowledge, languages, writing, and art directly without appraisal. Just as the name says—Understand Forever!
It was almost stopping. Xiao Yang nearly held his breath.
Understand Forever sounded ordinary, but just a moment's thought was enough to reveal how powerful it was.
Stop, stop already. This one was great—this one was good enough!
The golden light inched along, about to stop, but sometimes fate just liked to play little tricks.
In the final second before it stopped, Understand Forever vanished before Xiao Yang's eyes.
In its place appeared a dazzling, multicolored light, even brighter than gold.
Xiao Yang let out a howl like a wailing ghost in the dim dungeon.
"Rainbow!"
Before you continue