Warcraft

As a Warcraft fan, Rex could hardly have been unaware of the Warcraft strategy games. Although his skills were limited, he still knew the game, which could be played alone or against other players online. Unlocking this cheat filled him with joy. Azeroth was not a world where one man could fight a thousand, or where personal strength alone could defeat an entire nation.

In this world, even heroic powerhouses, or demigods who stood above them, could be surrounded and killed by an army.

If Rex wanted to change the fate of Gilneas, personal strength would not accomplish much. One man alone had too little power. But this Warcraft system was different. It was a strategy game built around constructing bases, recruiting troops, and advancing technology.

Rex gently placed his hand over the blood-red birthmark. The scene before his eyes began to distort and blur, and his surroundings shifted. When his vision cleared, a brown-haired man appeared before him. The man looked about twenty, with rugged features. He was not handsome, but he looked mature. At the moment, however, his gaze was vacant and his eyes lifeless, as though he were in a vegetative state. The instant Rex saw him, he understood what was happening. The man before him was unmistakably Rex himself.

As Rex stared, darkness spread before him. When he regained consciousness, he was no longer on the bed where he had been reclining. He had even left Stormwind City.

He was on a plain, with green grass carpeting the ground beneath his feet. Yet his surroundings felt desolate and eerily quiet. There was not a sound. Listening carefully, he could not even hear the wind, only his own slow breathing. He stretched his stiff limbs, looked at the road beneath his feet, and strode forward without hesitation. There could be no danger here. This was a transmigrator benefit bestowed by the Transmigrator Alliance—his cheat. If he ran into danger here, that would be a joke.

Rex also worked out his current situation. He probably had not been transported here, but had instead possessed a body, like the exact duplicate of himself he had seen earlier. As he walked, he kept surveying his surroundings, but he was disappointed. Everything around him was blurred and concealed by white mist that he could not see through. When he abandoned the road and tried to head off to either side, he discovered an invisible wall blocking his way. He tried several directions. Unwilling to give up, he even walked a few steps forward before trying to retreat, but nothing worked.

After several attempts, Rex gave up. He was being made to follow the road; every other direction was inaccessible. This left him rather disgruntled. They might as well have transported him straight to his destination. Why make him walk there step by step? It wasted both energy and time.

About half an hour later, the unchanging road ahead finally showed something new. A building appeared in Rex's field of vision.

It was a tall, red hall, enclosed by stone walls. Directly in front of it, however, a series of steps led up into the hall.

It was the Town Hall. Rex recognized the building at a glance. He had played plenty of Warcraft matches against other people and had used all four races. Although he had favored the Undead because their Frost Wyrms looked cool and flashy, he had played the humans too. On a computer screen, the Town Hall had looked squat and small. Now that it stood before him, it was breathtaking. At least three stories tall, it rose there alone, exuding a lonely, aloof grandeur.

The entire building looked gray and hazy, shrouded in gray light. As Rex approached, he instinctively reached out to touch the gray barrier. At his touch, the barrier enveloping the Town Hall began rapidly receding at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, it vanished, and the Town Hall, which had seemed slightly illusory, stood solidly before him.

Rex climbed the white stone steps one at a time and reached the doors of the Town Hall. He pushed hard with both hands. With a creak, the wooden doors swung open, revealing the interior. It was spotless but rather bare. In the otherwise empty hall, a basketball-sized orb of light floated in the center. It shone in seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet.

This should be the Control Platform, Rex thought. He walked up to the orb in a few strides and plunged both hands into it. His eyes involuntarily half closed, and a digital interface appeared before him. Images of buildings materialized one after another: the Blacksmith, the Barracks, the Workshop.

Rex was most interested in the Barracks. At his mental command, the images of the other buildings shattered into motes of light and vanished. Meanwhile, the image of the Barracks expanded until it filled his view.

[Barracks; level: 1; can summon Infantry Spirits; construction cost: 200 gold; upgrade available!]

A faint look of disappointment crossed his face as he studied the image of the Barracks. It could not recruit infantry directly. He had originally imagined that once he had enough gold and other resources and built the Barracks, this cheat would let him summon elite infantry into the real world, fully armed and carrying swords. Clearly, however, it was not as powerful as he had imagined. The Infantry Spirits it summoned could not be used directly in battle either.

With a sigh, Rex browsed the descriptions of the various buildings and finally understood what his cheat did. It was not meant to fight directly, but to provide support. An Infantry Spirit, for instance, could be summoned and then merged with a chosen host in the real world. Merging meant the death of that Infantry Spirit. Nor would the host who absorbed it instantly leap several levels, suddenly rising from a Tier One Warrior to a Tier Three Warrior. Instead, it increased the host's potential strength. To become a Tier Three Warrior, the host would have to undergo rigorous training to fully absorb the Infantry Spirit's power. Any carelessness would prevent complete absorption.

That dashed Rex's plan of simply throwing gold at an elite army and sweeping across Azeroth. He felt a little let down, but soon rallied. Even as a support tool, this cheat was extremely powerful. He had not been very confident about training an elite force himself. In his previous life, he had merely been a homebody. The modern military training methods circulating online were of no use to him. This world was filled with magic and all sorts of other powers: warriors' rage, paladins' holy light, and mages' mana. These were not things one could achieve merely by standing at attention, shouting slogans, and running laps.

With the Warcraft system's help, Rex was confident he could train an elite force.

Checking his remaining resources, he found he had 300 gold. Without hesitation, he chose to build the Barracks. He wanted to construct it and see exactly how it worked, and what these Infantry Spirits really were. Once he made his choice, a building even grander than the Town Hall began rising outside, taking shape rapidly before his eyes. Strangely, although Rex was not outside, he could still see the Barracks being built. The first building was exempt from construction time, which was why he witnessed this astonishing scene. A whole building appeared from nothing in just a few seconds. The next time he chose to build something, he would not enjoy such favorable treatment. He would have to endure a long wait.

Rex left the Town Hall and slowly entered the Barracks. It occupied a sizable area, with enough room inside for an army to train. After searching for a while, he soon found another orb of light here. Its color was relatively plain, without the dazzling multicolored brilliance of the one in the Town Hall. He slowly inserted both hands. There was only one option inside: recruit an Infantry Spirit. Each Infantry Spirit cost ten gold.

As Rex selected it, a phantom image appeared before him. As the progress bar beneath it advanced, the image gradually grew clearer. When the bar filled, a fully armed infantryman stood before Rex, looking utterly lifelike.

(End of chapter)