Hall of Creation

Hall of Creation

That afternoon, Zhao Xu did quite a bit of homework. Accounts were bound to irises, so once he logged in, the seller would have no way to back out.

After finishing all that, Zhao Xu returned straight to his dorm.

In recent years, VR simulation helmets had completely taken over the mainstream market, even replacing laptops as standard equipment for university students.

Not to mention that VR helmets now allowed people to carry out several hours of activity while in shallow sleep, sending sales soaring across the board.

Zhao Xu had bought one for that very reason—to make use of his sleeping hours.

His mind filled with thoughts of the game, he wolfed down his delivery food in a few bites. All his attention was on online guides and insider information, as well as memories of his past gaming experiences.

As the server opening time approached eight, his two roommates who played games had already put on their VR helmets and lay motionless on their beds.

The remaining roommate, who was focused on preparing for graduate school entrance exams, had gone to the library early to study, avoiding the gaming atmosphere in the surrounding dorms.

The entire floor was quiet. Everyone had prepared early and was waiting for the game to launch.

With two quick kicks, Zhao Xu climbed onto his single bunk and put on his VR helmet.

Over the past decade or so, VR helmets had evolved from visual imaging to neural imaging.

Zhao Xu was no stranger to TC's games. In just a few moves, he logged into the TC gaming platform, found Arthur, and launched it directly through neural control.

After entering the activation code the Xianyu seller had given him and passing verification, Zhao Xu successfully entered the game's launch screen.

The servers had not opened yet, and there was only a countdown displayed.

For players who had paid 299 or 599, the system would automatically enter their game activation codes on the verification screen.

The successful verification of Zhao Xu's activation code made him breathe a little easier.

Seeing that there was still time, Zhao Xu opened the account menu and began reading the instructions.

After skimming through them, he flipped straight to the final page and began reading the test account terms.

A few seconds later, Zhao Xu could not help but laugh.

No wonder he had still been able to buy an account today. So this was where the catch lay.

What players hated most about Arthur was its extremely severe death penalty—

Players in Arthur would not lose levels upon death.

However, every death consumed one Resurrection Stone.

Once the five innate Resurrection Stones were used up, and the player was not revived through other means, the character would truly die.

The player could only use the account to create another character from scratch, starting at Level 1.

This brutal death penalty kept the overall level of Arthur's player base relatively low.

Many people used up all five Resurrection Stones bound to them and incapable of being traded before even reaching Level 2.

What was more troublesome was that each account had certain restrictions on character creation.

Each could create only one character with 28 Talent Points, three characters with 22 Talent Points, and unlimited characters with 15 Talent Points.

Once a player used their chance to create a 28-Talent-Point character, they could only use the remaining three 22-Talent-Point chances and the unlimited 15-Talent-Point options to create characters.

In other words, if you wanted to create another game character with 28 Talent Points, you had to pay another 299.

Test accounts were even harsher in that they only had one chance to create a 28-Talent-Point character.

Once the character died, a new character could not be created. The account would be reclaimed directly by the system.

Zhao Xu might not have had exceptional gaming talent, but he was thoroughly familiar with how to avoid sudden death.

No matter how foolish he was, he still had one more year of gaming experience and nine more years of real-world experience than the other players.

After everyone crossed over, all Resurrection Stones would be reclaimed. As long as he did not die more than five times within the year, he would be fine.

As the numbers on the game's countdown decreased,

Zhao Xu's heart clenched tighter and tighter.

Would he become a god or turn to dust? It would all be decided by this one year.

The instant the final second reached zero, Zhao Xu's entire vision was suddenly engulfed in white light.

"Honored adventurer, welcome to the Hall of Creation."

As the white light gradually faded, a familiar scene appeared before Zhao Xu. He stood within an incomparably magnificent palace. Directly ahead was a Heavenly Ladder piled from countless crystals, passing through the hollowed-out ceiling of the palace and stretching toward an unseen sky.

All around the palace were statues and murals of the gods, their gazes focused directly upon him.

Unlike the noisy excitement and casual attitudes of the current players, Zhao Xu hurriedly lowered his head toward the statues of the gods to express his respect.

Only after he had fully lowered his head did he feel a little stunned.

He was no longer in the real alternate world of Arthur.