What the Heck Is "Spend Six Yuan on Your First Charge and Get a Legendary Weapon"?

"Manager Lin's got a pretty nice personality! She seems easy to talk to!" Wang Qianduo said thoughtfully, watching the spot where Lin Qimeng had left.

"Quit staring before your eyes fall out!

Easy to talk to, huh? You have no idea! When that she-devil first came to our department, she tore into everyone from top to bottom!

She chewed out all of us department heads so badly we couldn't even lift our heads.

She's got her eye on you now. I suggest you watch yourself!"

After Wang Jun finished speaking, he gave Wang Qianduo a sympathetic look. Wang Qianduo had been fairly calm before, but now he was suddenly feeling a little nervous.

Still, it was only a minor interlude. After chatting for a while, the two returned to their workstations.

As for what he thought of that woman, he could only dream about it. A woman of her caliber wasn't someone Old Wang, a "total noob," could even hope to get.

After giving his game nickname to the department clerk, Wang Qianduo got back to work.

When the workday ended, Wang Qianduo returned to the home that had left him buried in debt.

After less than three years of hard work, he had finally escaped the "996" grind and become an "ordinary person" with a nine-to-six schedule.

He threw together a quick meal, put on his headset, and logged into the game.

Gaming was one of the few hobbies this homebody had. He'd given it up before for the sake of making a living.

Now life had forced him to pick it up again. What a twist of fate! He had to make the most of this opportunity.

Although he knew the odds of catching up to those who'd started earlier were slim, he was still going to struggle and give it a shot.

After putting on his gaming headset, Wang Qianduo entered the room in his virtual city, selected the game Mecha Era, and went straight in.

"Identity confirmation in progress..."

"Iris scan in progress..."

...

After a loading bar filled, a flash of light appeared before him.

The next moment, Wang Qianduo found himself in a high-tech laboratory. His pajamas had disappeared, replaced by a combat suit that shimmered with flowing light.

Before he could take a good look around, a tall, stern-looking man approached him and said:

"Recruit, congratulations on passing your physical examination. But don't get too excited. You still have a lot to learn before you can become a proper Mana Mech pilot.

"Now come with me. I'll take you to the next stage of your training."

The man turned and walked off. Wang Qianduo hurried after him, knowing his beginner storyline had begun.

He'd seen this scene on the forums. If he didn't follow right away, the NPC named Yue Ming wouldn't wait for him.

Then he'd be left wandering around the base like a headless fly. The next part of the story wouldn't begin until he found Yue Ming.

"This is so realistic!"

As he followed Yue Ming toward the next quest point, Wang Qianduo took in everything around him.

He had to admit, a game that could bring items into reality felt incredibly lifelike. Wang Qianduo had played virtual games before, but none of the others felt anything like this one.

Their graphics were certainly realistic, but there was still a sense of separation—you could tell at a glance that you were in a virtual world.

This game was different. It felt exactly like the real world, almost like humanity's second world, the Virtual World.

The beginner storyline was single-player, so he was all alone here.

Wang Qianduo soon reached the first quest point with the instructor. According to the guide on the forums,

this was where he would activate his virtual control interface and his six-slot Spatial Backpack.

"This is your virtual interface controller. It can merge with your body. Choose a spot to bind it to.

"Don't pick anywhere too unusual. This is where your Mana Mech will be kept, and it may need to come out often."

Just like in the forum guide, Instructor Yue Ming handed Wang Qianduo a disc-shaped object that looked like a watch face.

It was the game's virtual control interface. Almost everything in the game was operated through it, making it roughly equivalent to a computer game's game window.

Wang Qianduo took the "watch face" and pressed it to his wrist. A flash of light passed, and the "watch face" disappeared.

In its place was a six-pointed star-shaped mark on his wrist.

He had no interest in sticking it somewhere else.

He only had one chance, and the "brave souls" who'd tried binding it to private parts had already deleted their characters and started over.

After the "watch face" merged with his body, Wang Qianduo followed the system's instructions and opened the virtual control interface.

But the moment it opened, he realized his interface was a little different from everyone else's.

"Normal attribute button,

normal backpack button,

normal shop, VIP, and First-Charge buttons..."

"Wait!"

"Normal my foot!

"What the heck is 'Spend Six Yuan on Your First Charge and Get a Legendary Weapon'? Is this some pay-to-win mobile game? Did I enter the wrong game?

"I never heard that this game let you spend money!"

Wang Qianduo took a closer look at his virtual interface and finally spotted the anomaly.

"Could the game be bugged?"

Wang Qianduo repeatedly logged out and back in to check. He even opened a livestream and looked at other people's virtual control interfaces. His really was different from everyone else's.

"My golden finger has finally arrived after lying dormant for twenty-five years!"

He opened the First-Charge Pack. It said that spending six yuan on the first charge would get him a Legendary Weapon Gift Box, from which he could choose a Legendary Weapon. It also included a Weapon Enhancement Stone Pack and a Rare-grade Random Material Pack.

Wang Qianduo was all too familiar with this interface. The classic first-charge deal—he'd played countless games like this in his previous life.

"But does this take money from this world?" Wang Qianduo opened the first-charge page and tentatively tried adding six yuan.

As soon as the payment went through, an email arrived. Wang Qianduo opened it and saw that the items had already been delivered.

A "V1" appeared beside his character portrait, showing that he'd become VIP 1.

After claiming the items into his backpack, Wang Qianduo quickly accepted the new reality.

Then, impatiently, he opened the VIP page. If he remembered right, there were things to buy when you leveled up your VIP rank.

Sure enough, when he opened the VIP page, a glittering Claim button caught his eye.

VIP 1 could claim an Equipment Material Chest and a 16-slot Backpack Expansion Device.

The equipment materials were nice, but the 16-slot backpack was exactly what Wang Qianduo needed, so he claimed it right away.

Then he checked the rewards for the higher VIP ranks and saw that they were all amazing items he'd seen mentioned on the forums.

Some were so rare that he couldn't find any information about them. No one in the entire game had ever seen them!

"This is an instant takeoff!"

Wang Qianduo looked at the items and exclaimed.

Without a moment's hesitation, he spent 5,000 yuan to reach VIP 10 and claimed all the rewards.

The highest VIP rank was actually V15, but it cost 50,000 yuan. Wang Qianduo didn't have that much money...

That was reality for you!

After all, he'd only been out of college for a little over three years, and he'd just bought a house. Forget 50,000 yuan—even coming up with 10,000 was a struggle.

And the place he lived was Magic City, a top-tier city on Earth Star!

Still, V10 was enough for now, since VIP 10 came with a Special Starter Mecha:

"Unit Zero."

As soon as Wang Qianduo claimed the starter mecha, a flash of light passed through the six-pointed star on his wrist, then slowly faded.

"You have a starter mecha. Are you from the Academy?" Yue Ming asked, having seen what happened.

Wang Qianduo: "??"

"What's the Academy?"

"Never mind. It seems you're special!

"In that case, you don't need to take the rest of the training. Here's a manual with what you need to know. Take it and read it at your own pace.

"Normally, you'd choose your Mana Mech after completing the recruit's mission.

"But since you already have a Mecha, and a person can't have two Mana Mechs at once,

"how about this? I used to use this when I was young, but it stopped matching my style, so I'll give it to you.

"Consider it compensation. I'll send you out now!"

After realizing that Wang Qianduo wasn't from the Academy, Yue Ming rattled off a whole lot of information.

Before Wang Qianduo could ask what the item was, Yue Ming kicked him out of the Tutorial Mission Map.

Light flashed again, and Wang Qianduo appeared in the middle of a vast plaza surrounded by high-tech buildings.

Beneath his feet was transparent glass. Below it lay white clouds and a lush green forest.

This was clearly a fortress hidden in the sky.

"What's going on? Weren't the beginner missions supposed to take two or three days to complete?"