Inside the library.
Although the Christmas season has arrived, there are still some days until the end of December, so not all of these students are on holiday.
For students with busy schedules, these days are particularly hectic.
Linus casually flipped through a thick UNIX system overview book, overhearing the whispers of the two men beside him.
"Hey, today's lesson was really easy."
"You can't argue with that, I really want to get back to my dorm right away."
"Me too, my [Astrology] skill is still active, it's probably around level 20 by now. Time to go back and craft some equipment and clear new maps."
"Holy shit!"
The person couldn't control their emotions and screamed, the sound drawing considerable attention in the quiet library.
Seeing countless eyes gathering around him, he sheepishly made an apologetic gesture, lowered his head, and whispered, "I forgot to activate my skills! I unlocked higher-level trees today, and I was planning to activate them and chop them down all morning, but I completely forgot."
As he spoke, he regretfully slapped himself several times in the face.
This whole morning!
It's all such a waste.
I was hoping to get some offline rewards and have some fun when I got back, but now look what happened, my hopes were dashed.
"Ha, you pig-nosed brat, I reminded you this morning."
Linus was flipping through his book when his attention was unconsciously drawn to the two people's discussion, and he was momentarily distracted.
It's not uncommon for people to discuss the content of video games.
This is a common topic of conversation among gamers.
But this time was different for Linus.
Because he could understand it.
The whole "astrology" and "logging" stuff stuff is just like ZorkIDLE!
He suddenly felt a strong urge to show off in front of the two of them and others.
He's been studying ZorkIDLE for quite some time now.
He's already reached level 50 in astrology alone.
Don't be fooled by the low level; the experience and resources required for each level in this game increase exponentially.
To exaggerate a bit, one level at level 50 is equivalent to dozens of levels above.
Linus pursed his lips, gently closed the book, and sat a little closer to the two of them.
He finally couldn't resist putting on an act.
Are you two talking about ZorkIDLE? I've been playing it recently and my progress is pretty good. Want to check it out later?
"Uh... thank you."
The man paused, glanced at Linus, and then smiled awkwardly. "But we've already agreed to play the Sims later. We'll definitely do it another time."
Perhaps this is what it means to be an extrovert for one lifetime and an introvert for the rest of your life.
Linus had hoped to use this opportunity to strike up a conversation with people in the gaming community.
Because he doesn't play games and always studies IT-related content, he's usually quite sullen and a typical nerd.
This resulted in him having almost no social circle on campus.
Especially since I have just started school, I haven't yet formed a stable social network.
His solitude is partly a personal hobby, but partly out of necessity.
Linus returned to his room, looked at the game still loading on the screen, and quietly sat down in front of the screen, picking up the controller.
He suddenly felt a little tired.
With no one to share with and no one to compare himself to, he suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of boredom.
"Hmm? Leaderboard?"
He suddenly noticed something he had previously overlooked, and his eyes lit up.
This is great stuff!
Even if I don't make it onto the leaderboard, seeing other people's progress can still motivate me to keep grinding.
[Please wait, connecting to the NEXUS network----]
A full minute passed, and the game still hadn't loaded the leaderboard properly.
[Connection timed out!]
Please check your Nexus Network Mod.
[For inquiries, please call GAMENOVA customer service: (+1) 213--]
It won't load.
Linus frowned slightly, stood up, and leaned towards the back of the NovaXeno.
There is a telephone line that runs out from the junction box and is connected there.
This was a product that came with the NovaXeno when he bought it; he couldn't possibly have left it uninstalled.
"GAMENOVA's servers are in North America —requires a dedicated network cable, and early access is only available within the United States."
It was all for nothing.
I can't play on the European server!
NEXUS's business doesn't even cover the Europe continent.
Even other games need to use international long-distance lines to connect to the United States.
The phone bills they incur are no joke.
"International long-distance calls—just checking the rankings, the call costs shouldn't be too high."
Linus pondered, his desire to connect to the leaderboard had surged to a point he could no longer ignore.
He thought about it for a moment, then gritted his teeth and plopped down in front of the PC.
Linus suddenly had a bold idea.
As a hacker who had already dabbled in the field in his youth, Linus's IT skills are definitely among the best in Helsinki.
This allowed him to use some underhanded tactics—borrowing school resources—to help him accomplish this task.
He rapidly typed commands on his PC, connecting the system to an Emulator entirely written by himself, and accessing the university's backbone network.
For Linus, the research network at the University of Helsinki is like his backyard.
To make it easier to operate, he even wrote a disk driver and file system specifically for it.
He can freely read and write files on the campus network without anyone else noticing.
Then he picked up the receiver again and dialed a number.
"Mr. Backpack? I'd like to order a high-speed GAMENOVA Mod. I know, I know we don't have Nexus service access here—"
A week later, a strange thing happened in the gaming community at the University of Helsinki.
By bridging NovaXeno to a PC using a telephone line and entering a series of commands on the PC, one can access the ZorkIDLE data relay server running on the school's backbone network.
Although the latency was alarmingly high, it was actually possible to connect to GAMENOVA's information server using this method!
After just a few minutes, the game will successfully load the latest real-time leaderboard.
No one knows who did it, not even the school authorities were aware of it.
This link directly utilizes the campus's backbone network, connecting to Western Europe via high-speed rail, and finally reaching the Eastern United States via international long-distance routes.
Linus's name also began to appear on the regional charts, with a noticeable rise every day.
A quirky tech geek achieved his goal using incredible technical skills.
The students at the University of Helsinki probably never imagined that the avid gamer who accomplished all of this was a weirdo who never played video games.