stjorthotic Chapter 2, "Astral Plane: Descent," has begun!
Chapter 2, "Astral Plane: Descent," has begun!
With nothing else to do, Jiang Shuzhou started browsing Weibo to watch the excitement.
Weibo is China's largest gossip platform, covering everything from major entertainment industry scandals to trivial matters.
Human nature is on full display here, with netizens holding different opinions attacking and insulting each other, which can be described as a spectacle of the modern Internet.
While Jiang Shuzhou was eating the gossip about a male celebrity being exposed for cheating, he watched the various factions fighting each other in the comments section. He felt like a cyber emperor, with his ministers cursing each other to make him laugh, even abandoning their own families.
Ding dong ding dong.
Just as I was enjoying the gossip, the doorbell rang, and I received a notification on my phone.
Your package has been temporarily stored at your doorstep. To prevent unnecessary property loss, please retrieve it as soon as possible.
"What is it? My package has arrived?"
Upon opening the notification, Jiang Shuzhou discovered that the package contained the game pod he had just purchased, and he was about to lose his composure.
"Why was this gaming pod delivered so quickly? Did they build one right downstairs in my building? And I spent almost 20,000 yuan on it, why wasn't there even any installation service?"
After making a casual remark, Jiang Shuzhou still opened the door, intending to take the package home first before thinking about anything else.
Upon opening the door, a gaming pod stood alone in the hallway. There was no delivery person, and the gaming pod didn't even have any packaging; it was as if it had been directly transported there.
this…?
Jiang Shuzhou was speechless. 20,000 yuan worth of stuff, and it didn't even have any packaging? Could this game even be played? Could this be a scam?
If it really is a scam, then this is a very serious matter.
Just now, Jiang Shuzhou glanced at the official website again, which showed that the total sales of the game pods had exceeded 3400 million units.
Put aside your distractions. What can you do now that you've already bought it?
Jiang Shuzhou dragged the game pod into the house. Luckily, there was a small trailer underneath it, otherwise he doubted he could have lifted it at all.
Huh? There are free gifts too?
Jiang Shuzhou accepted the cart without hesitation.
I checked the time, it was already 10:30. The game had been running for half an hour, and the progress was a bit slow.
After glancing briefly at the instructions, Jiang Shuzhou lay down directly into the gaming pod. The power was already plugged in, and everything was ready.
Looking at the luxurious interior, it would be nice to sleep here if you weren't planning on playing games. It just feels a bit like being a vampire, since you have to open and close the lid to sleep. If it were a sliding lid, it would feel even more like one.
"Astral Descent! Activate!"
"Welcome, you who are favored by the stars."
Upon entering the game, Jiang Shuzhou finds himself in a strange space.
Looking down, there is deep darkness; looking up, there is a vast starry sky, with stars scattered throughout, seemingly endless.
This is what a groundbreaking game should look like!
Jiang Shuzhou sighed inwardly, now he had completely dispelled his previous concerns, this could absolutely not be a scam.
"What should I do now?"
No one responded.
Jiang Shuzhou was a little confused. Was this game being praised too much?
I had no idea what to do once I entered the game; this tutorial is even better than Paradox Interactive's.
As if hearing Jiang Shuzhou's thoughts, a voice rang out. This voice sounded neither male nor female, neither old nor young, and was very strange.
"Keep moving forward and find the mirror."
As long as there were instructions, Jiang Shuzhou didn't pay much attention to the sound. After all, it wasn't impossible to achieve this with reverb technology. Many games use similar sounds to appear sophisticated.
After taking a few steps forward, a mirror suddenly appeared in front of me, even though there had been nothing there before.
"People often hide their true selves for various reasons, and many have even forgotten who they really are. Through a mirror, people can rediscover their true selves; this is the 'real self reflected in the mirror.'"
Go and see your true self.
What are you babbling about? Why is this game so complicated? Why don't you just let me look in the mirror?
Despite inwardly complaining, Jiang Shuzhou still followed the instructions and looked at himself in the mirror.
Standing at 1.75 meters tall, rounded up to 1.8 meters, with handsome features, Jiang Shuzhou has no flaws except for being somewhat effeminate. He gives himself a score of 99 out of 10.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Jiang Shuzhou felt something was off, and upon closer inspection, he discovered the problem.
Is it possible for the human eye to resemble the starry sky?
The person in the mirror looked almost identical to Jiang Shuzhou, except for his eyes.
Those eyes, like the starry sky above, were dazzling and captivating. If you looked closely, you could see the stars shifting and countless stars extinguishing and reigniting.
"To become one with the 'real self' reflected in the mirror"
How can they be combined into one?
Looking in the mirror, Jiang Shuzhou suddenly realized something, placed his hand on the mirror, and joined it with the hand of his true self reflected in the mirror.
Suddenly, the person in the mirror disappeared, and the mirror became blank. Even though Jiang Shuzhou was standing in front of the mirror, there was no image in it.
"Keep moving forward and accept the gifts from me and the stars."
The mirror disappeared the instant the sound rang out.
A beam of light appeared ahead, and a person wearing a cloak stood there. Based on what the voice had just said, this seemed to be the owner of the voice.
"Can I refuse the gift?"
Jiang Shuzhou was already a little frightened. How could playing a game be so bizarre? First, he was sent to this place without making a sound in the game pod, and then after logging in, he was made to look in the mirror and merge with some "real self in the mirror".
Now they're doing this again. This game is so weird, could it be made by some cult?
"Unfortunately, no. If you want to continue rotting, if you don't want a brilliant life, then you can refuse."
After a moment of silence, Jiang Shuzhou decided to move forward, not for any other reason than for the sake of that phrase, "a brilliant life."
Jiang Shuzhou was quite self-aware; before, besides eating, drinking, and relieving himself, he spent his days playing games and acting as a game trainer.
I have no friends, and my only interaction with people is chatting online.
My biggest hobby every day is going online to watch gossip and stir up trouble for fun.
Such a life is okay occasionally, but if it were like this every day, wouldn't it just lead to decay?
Standing before the cloaked figure, Jiang Shuzhou stopped, now wanting to see what kind of gift he had received.
"Very good. Hold firm to your beliefs, and I will grant you an opportunity. You will have five talent options; choose three to begin a new chapter in your life."
What? Dude, so it turns out it's talent selection? Why are you making it sound so high-class?
It made me think I had traveled through time; a talent selection process was being made to look like some kind of mystical ritual.
However, receiving a reward is always good. Although Jiang Shuzhou scared himself so much that he was terrified, he felt quite embarrassed when he thought about it now. He probably just read too many novels and was acting like a teenager.
Now it's time to choose your talents. There are five options, what will they be?