What Other Options Are There Besides Getting Beaten to Death?

"Welcome to the real Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing world. Here, you can truly play through campaigns—more real than you can imagine. Here, you can become a criminal and get beaten to death. You can become a hero and get beaten to death. Of course, you can also become an obscure passerby and possibly get beaten to death. The future is not fixed. Every world is different, with different rules. Even the simple and honest local natives might beat you to death. All you need to do is survive. Of course, how you choose to survive is your own problem. So, let's go over the rules first."

Lin Yun did not know when he had come to stand in a place surrounded by darkness. Only an area roughly two meters in radius around him was white. Before him stood a figure that looked like a mass of Mosaic, speaking to him in a teasing tone.

"Why do I feel like all I heard was getting beaten to death, getting beaten to death, and getting beaten to death? Is there an option where I don't get beaten to death?" Was Lin Yun's heart really that big? At a time like this, he still wanted to make snarky remarks.

"Oh, not bad. You have the best psychological resilience of any newcomer I've seen. Shouldn't you be despairing and saying, 'Mom, I want to go home,' or, 'Hahaha, infinite worlds, I knew it! Sure enough, I'm the protagonist,' or something like that?" Mosaic said with a smile.

"Whatever. I'm just here to play a game." Lin Yun spoke with an impatient expression.

"Oh? Did I forget to tell you that getting beaten to death means really getting beaten to death? Once you die, you really die. There's no resurrection option. Well, not exactly. If you can find some Big Shot capable of resurrection to bring you back, then it's possible. In short, everything here is real to you. If you get beaten to death, you really get beaten to death. I once saw a guy who refused to listen to advice and thought this was just a game. He ran into a cult, convinced he was the protagonist, and ended up being sacrificed alive. That scene... tsk, tsk, tsk. His arms and legs were chopped off, his fingernails were pulled out, his heart, eyes, and little brother were all removed, but they somehow kept him alive. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Mosaic thought Lin Yun truly believed this was just a game and was therefore far too relaxed, so he wanted to scare the guy a little and see something different.

"Wha... what? How could that be? This is fake, right? No, I want to go home." Lin Yun now looked like some helpless little victim, clutching his body as though he were about to be violated. It was just... so exaggerated that Mosaic felt as if he had been talking to a cow.

"Can you be any more exaggerated?" Mosaic sounded speechless, though Lin Yun could not see it.

"That depends. I'm thinking about how to make my acting better." Lin Yun returned to normal, speaking calmly with a hint of anticipation, as though everything just now had merely been an act.

In truth, it was not only that which had been an act. Lin Yun had no idea whether this inexplicable fellow was friend or foe. Maybe he was the sort who saw someone as an idiot—or the sort who saw someone pretending to be clever as an idiot—and then looked for a chance to screw them over. So the only thing Lin Yun could do was avoid letting anyone figure out what kind of person he really was.

"Looks like you can now claim the title of the strangest newcomer I've ever seen." Mosaic felt like making a snarky comment. "But whatever. Whether you really are like this or just pretending, it doesn't matter. Anyone can talk big. When the real thing comes, no one knows what they'll do."

"So hurry up and explain the rules." Lin Yun had the feeling this guy was stalling for time.

"Fine, since you're in such a hurry. First, you need to understand that this is a very special world. Since you appeared here, you should know some of the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, right? Of course, whether you do or not doesn't really matter. You can just experience them with your life." Mosaic said something utterly irresponsible.

All Lin Yun could do was secretly bare his teeth, while maintaining the same attempt at a blank expression.

Dungeons & Dragons, or DND, was actually a Tabletop Role-Playing Game called Dungeons & Dragons. You could create a character, treat yourself as that character, and then, under the guidance of a DM—the Dungeon Master—enter a scenario created by them or someone else and play through it.

The setting of such characters was basically the stuff found in early Western fantasy novels. One could even say that Dungeons & Dragons was the ancestor of all that. Normally, because it was a Tabletop Role-Playing Game, people had to gather at a location to play together, which was why it was also called running a campaign. Of course, with the development of the internet, online campaigns had also emerged.

As for Lin Yun, he was the owner of a board game shop. Since he did not know what job he ought to do and only knew how to play games, he gave it some thought and opened a board game shop. He specifically brought in Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts to run campaigns, then charged table fees, scenario fees, and various other fees. His life was barely manageable, but most importantly, he got to play. That was what mattered most.

Of course, although he owned a board game shop, Lin Yun's knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons was really only at the level of an experienced player. He had never expected that today, after pulling up the shutter of his shop and walking inside, he would end up here instead.

"Second, just like in a normal Dungeons & Dragons campaign, you need your own character sheet. This character sheet will belong to you permanently. If you die, your sheet gets torn up. Nothing more to say about that. But you should know that this character sheet represents you. Oh, right, the Inspiration system works here. And if you engage in Super Play, there will be penalties as well." Mosaic continued.

To participate in a game, one naturally needed a character that fit the setting or some other requirements. Of course, there was nothing wrong with making a Wizard who said, "I'm a Wizard, but I prefer casting Flash and then charging in with a sword to chop people up."

Still, generally speaking, every character sheet had a trait, an ideal, an interest, a bond, and a flaw. These things did not have any particularly concrete effects, but they helped players roleplay with more of a sense that the character truly existed and kept them from breaking immersion too badly. Of course, some players created characters that were inherently immersion-breaking, and there was nothing to be done about that.

As for the Inspiration system, when you made certain difficult choices and the DM felt you had roleplayed exceptionally well, or when you successfully accomplished certain things—for example, in a battle royale, your master's wife had been separated from the group—a normal player would theoretically choose to run away.

But that would not do. Your character setting was that of an exceptionally loyal person. So if, at such a moment, you chose to face an army of thousands with the attitude of though thousands stand against me, I shall go, and even described it—or rather, carried out your character's actions—especially well, the DM would give you an Inspiration Point.

This so-called Inspiration Point had the power to defy fate and change one's destiny.

As for Super Play, simply put, it meant acting beyond the game. For example, I knew what was going on, but my character sheet did not. Yet if I then used my character to perform actions that this character should not possibly make, that would be Super Play.

"It's that realistic?" Lin Yun's eyes widened, making him look like a complete idiot. In reality, because of campaign experience and general knowledge, players often knew many things their character sheets should not know. Although they pretended otherwise, they would often reveal it, or even say it outright. The DM could not make too much of an issue over it, or the game would become impossible to play.

"It's exactly that realistic. Oh, and you must not reveal the existence of this place to anyone in the current world by any means. Of course, if you think you're skilled enough to avoid being detected, then good for you. Oh, and if someone reads your mind, controls you, forcibly extracts intelligence from you, or anything like that, it still counts as you revealing it. So be careful. Also, every world will have an unspecified number of players. And as always, you know the infinite-world genre, right? The more players there are, the higher the difficulty. Next comes your character creation time. Goodbye." Once Mosaic finished speaking, he vanished completely.

"All right. Boiled down, there are three key points: stay alive, roleplay, and keep it secret." Lin Yun watched Mosaic leave and briefly closed his eyes. Of course, he did not say that aloud—especially the last point.

Lin Yun had no idea whether that Mosaic fellow had been an experienced player guiding newcomers or a DM. There were plenty of chaotic evil DMs and veterans these days who took pleasure in screwing over players. Lin Yun had once seen a DM, for reasons unknown, arrange for a party of level-three Adventurers to encounter a level-fifteen Archmage. Then the DM had seriously spouted nonsense about how the place those Adventurers had arrived at just happened to be an Archmage's territory, and they got beaten to death...

So, just to be safe, Lin Yun decided it would be better to stay quiet and stop talking to himself. Then he began looking at the translucent window before him.

The window displayed Lin Yun's current data.

Unnamed

Strength 13, Dexterity 7, Constitution 17, Intelligence 9, Wisdom 16, Charisma 15.

What the hell kind of stats were these? They were way too damn bizarre. Generally speaking, 10 was the stat of an ordinary person. However, it should be noted that this was not the stat of an ordinary person in the modern world, but that of an ordinary person in a fantasy world like Dungeons & Dragons. If they were talking about modern people, then aside from Intelligence and Charisma, the normal values for everything else were probably around 8.

The total was only 77. These stats felt rather strange.

He did not know whether they had been enhanced or whether these were his actual stats. Still, his strength really was greater than that of ordinary people. At the very least, among everyone he knew, no one could beat him at arm wrestling. As for Dexterity, Lin Yun felt that besides raw speed, it probably reflected reaction speed as well. All he could say was that Lin Yun... well, this was not fat. This was good fortune...

As for Constitution, if Lin Yun claimed second place, no one would dare claim first. Although he was one of the Guangdong People, winter's magical damage was still quite high. Yet Master Lin could easily handle short sleeves even then. He was just that handsome. On top of that, he had rarely been sick since childhood. Even when he did get sick, it would somehow get better after he sweated a little. So having such high Constitution really did not seem like a problem.

It was just... you bastard, come out here and tell me why my Intelligence is only 9. I might not be a genius, but I at least graduated from a proper university... Fine, forget it. Don't sweat the details. But why did it have to be that magical number, ⑨? And why did it have to be Intelligence?

As for Wisdom, Lin Yun did not quite understand it. Maybe he was just sensitive. In any case, as long as there was a mosquito in his room, he could sense it and would become extremely annoyed. Did that count as high Wisdom? Though Wisdom also included insight and other things like that.

As for Charisma... based on his years of research as a board game shop owner, this was probably personal charm, or perhaps something like presence. Lin Yun was the sort of person who, when standing in a photograph, could be spotted at a glance. That was probably the reason. Yes, it was definitely not because he liked crew cuts and was broad and fat—ah, no, blessed with good fortune.