"Dear user, 343 yuan has been deposited into your virtual account 5203. Current balance: 343.00 yuan."
This felt great!
Joining Blue Sea had definitely been the right choice. It was only his first day, and he'd already made over 300 yuan!
Fang Yue gazed at the notification, feeling positively delighted.
The so-called virtual account was one he'd registered on Dragon Play Platform, the country's largest professional gaming platform. It was mainly used for cash transactions in games.
As a poor man, Fang Yue never kept money in his virtual account.
He planned to withdraw today's earnings in a bit and transfer them to his bank card. Then he'd treat Sister Yuan to a nice meal and celebrate properly.
No matter what, this strong start had made Fang Yue even more determined to make it in Blue Sea.
"Up ahead is our village's core, where we keep the Soul Fire."
Just as Fang Yue was thinking this, Lord Han spoke.
Looking ahead, Fang Yue saw a huge plaza. A massive stone sphere floated above it, slowly rotating.
Many guards in crude armor stood around the plaza, weapons in hand.
At first, the guards eyed Fang Yue warily. Only after Lord Han waved did they bow respectfully and let go of their hostility.
"Our Ancient Moon Village's Soul Fire isn't very strong, and our core is small, so the village's territory isn't very large. It can only influence this small area."
That was what Lord Han said, but from Fang Yue's perspective, Ancient Moon Village was actually quite sizable. Its facilities were comprehensive, with everything from a blacksmith's shop and tailor's shop to an inn.
"From now on, come sit beneath the core for an hour every day. After seven days, the [Night Chill Erosion] in your legs will subside."
As he spoke, Lord Han called over a man who seemed to be a squad leader. He pointed at Fang Yue. The man watched Fang Yue for a while, apparently committing his appearance to memory, then nodded and left.
"Can I come back and dispel the chill later?"
"No. The longer [Night Chill Erosion] is left untreated, the harder it is to cure. Unless you want to have your legs sawn off?"
Fang Yue shook his head repeatedly.
"Good. Sit here for an hour first. I'll come get you afterward."
"All right. Thank you, Lord Han."
After watching Lord Han leave, Fang Yue went beneath the core and sat cross-legged. He immediately felt a warm current flow through the plaza's surface and into his legs.
The icy, stiff feeling from before began to fade.
Although the system hadn't given him a notification about [Night Chill Erosion], that sensation had been real, and Lord Han had no reason to harm him.
Fang Yue suspected that the system wouldn't notify him about [Night Chill Erosion] until it had caused enough damage to his body.
An hour was two hours, and sitting still was pretty boring, but Fang Yue stayed put like a good boy.
After seeing Lord Han leave, the guard captain sent the other guards away and came over.
"Brother Ye, I'm Lin Ling, the third captain responsible for guarding the core. You can come here for treatment during the next week, but after that, you can't come back without Lord Han's permission."
"Captain Lin, I know the rules."
"Good. There's something else I'd like to ask. What's your relationship with Lord Han?"
"...Uh, we're friends?"
Captain Lin smiled at that.
"Come on, Brother Ye. Don't joke around. How could someone of Lord Han's status be friends with you? I've heard Lord Han has long suffered from a serious illness and is looking for someone to inherit his martial arts, but hasn't found a suitable candidate. Could you be the one he's looking for?"
As he spoke, Captain Lin stared straight at Fang Yue, a hint of menace in his eyes.
Fang Yue's thoughts stirred. He gave a helpless smile. "Captain Lin, don't joke around. Look at me—I'm afflicted with [Night Chill Erosion], and I'm in poor shape. On top of that, I'm already this old and don't know any martial arts. How could I catch Lord Han's eye? Lord Han's just kindhearted and took pity on me, so he decided to help."
Fang Yue had learned quite a bit from Lord Han.
For example, the best age to start martial arts was eleven or twelve. That was when someone was most adaptable and had the highest potential.
At his age, even if he learned martial arts, his potential would theoretically be limited.
So when he brought this up, it was easy to fool Captain Lin.
"That's true."
The coldness in Captain Lin's eyes gradually faded. After chatting a little longer, he stopped paying Fang Yue any attention.
That guy.
Fang Yue glanced discreetly at Captain Lin, keeping one thought to himself.
He was a player.
Players couldn't possibly learn martial arts like the native NPCs. They would almost certainly have some sort of system assistance.
So age wasn't an issue at all.
Only about fifteen minutes had passed, and Fang Yue was already finding it hard to endure.
He set his character to stay where he was in that position, then chose to exit the game.
"System notification: The player has exited the game. The character will remain in the game. Please make sure the surrounding area is safe, or exit in a safe zone."
"Friendly reminder 1: Exiting the game at an inn, sect, or your own home can greatly improve your safety."
"Friendly reminder 2: Players can use methods such as formations, illusions, medicine, and talismans to create safe zones and greatly improve their characters' safety while offline."
"Friendly reminder 3: When your character encounters danger in the game, your Game Watch will alert you to return to the game in time. Please keep your Game Watch on at all times. You can also set what situations trigger an alert and how urgent it should be."
"Would you like to exit the game now?"
After confirming once more that he wanted to exit, Fang Yue opened his eyes in the real world.
He checked the time.
2:10 a.m.
Had he really played for two hours? After calculating, he figured he could log back in at around 3:40.
First, he set an alarm. Then, impatiently, he switched on his computer and opened Dragon Play, the country's largest professional gaming platform, to withdraw the money from his virtual account.
A moment later, his phone vibrated with a deposit notification.
Fang Yue happily stared at the extra three hundred yuan in his bank account, grinning foolishly for a while. Then he went to the kitchen and made himself a bowl of instant noodles, extravagantly adding three sausages and two eggs.
Once the noodles were ready, he slurped them down.
After eating, he tidied up and opened the Dragon Play Platform.
As mentioned earlier, Dragon Play Platform was the country's largest professional gaming platform, bringing together all kinds of professional gamers. Besides trading, it also had a forum.
The forum was what Fang Yue had opened.
The moment Fang Yue opened it, he froze.
The hottest post on the forum caught his eye. Its title was in huge, bold red letters, and it had been pinned by a moderator: <Night Dawn, a Professional Gamer Who Leapt Through the Dragon Gate!>
M-me, I'm famous?!
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