Chapter 1078: I Choose the Tauren (First Update)
"Why isn't the server open yet? I can't wait!"
"One more minute, it's almost time."
"Almost there, almost there. Look, the Dark Portal is lighting up!"
Zou Zhuo pointed excitedly at the distant Dark Portal. Lin Xue and Old P both looked over as well, seeing a faint green light screen beginning to appear within the massive Dark Portal. The brightness of the light screen was gradually increasing, and the scene behind the Dark Portal was faintly visible.
"Hurry, let's go in!"
Lin Xue jogged straight into the Dark Portal, with Zou Zhuo and Old P following closely behind.
After crossing the Dark Portal, everything around them began to warp rapidly. The three of them felt as if they were caught in a temporal rift, traveling to another world.
Zou Zhuo found that he had lost his physical form, floating in the air, arriving in an independent space.
Judging from the surrounding environment, this was probably Hillsbrad Foothills, a map contested between the Alliance and the Horde. Chen Mo had directly used it as the scene for choosing races and classes.
Directly ahead were eight portals, through which the main cities inside were faintly visible.
Zou Zhuo recognized the main cities within these portals: Stormwind, Darnassus, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Undercity...
Above the portals, different servers could be selected, all named after places in the world of Azeroth. The name of the first server was [Deathwing]. Without even glancing at the others, Zou Zhuo, Lin Xue, and the others directly chose this server.
Hmm, judging by the name, this server had great potential!
Standing in front of the portals were the different races. On the left side, the Alliance flag was planted, featuring Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves, and Gnomes. On the right side, the Horde flag was planted, featuring Orcs, Undead, Tauren, and Trolls.
Next-generation VR games discouraged players from choosing characters of the opposite gender, so all the races Zou Zhuo saw were male.
However, this wasn't a mandatory requirement. If a male player insisted on playing a female character, they could change a setting in the Thunder Game Pass to log in as a female character.
Zou Zhuo mentally selected the Tauren. The bull automatically stepped forward, and four class icons appeared before him: Warrior, Hunter, Shaman, and Druid.
At the same time, some explanations about factions, races, and classes appeared on the right side of Zou Zhuo's field of vision.
Before Zou Zhuo could look closely, he heard Lin Xue complaining in the party voice chat: "Even though I was fully prepared... the Horde's female characters are really ugly. Can a Troll even be considered the face of the faction? Seriously?!"
Zou Zhuo couldn't see what the female characters looked like, but just imagining it made him think... yeah, it was probably as terrifying as it sounded.
Lin Xue had originally thought the female Tauren would be like that cute one from the show, but after entering the game, it was completely different!
Those thick limbs, that bull head with barely any feminine features, and that playful little tail...
And the female Undead and Orc characters weren't much better either.
Actually, Lin Xue didn't know that Chen Mo had already beautified them... After all, foreign aesthetics were quite different from the tastes of domestic players.
"Why isn't there a Blood Elf?" Old P was also puzzled.
Zou Zhuo thought for a moment: "I heard it hasn't been unlocked yet. New races and classes will be added as the world line progresses."
Lin Xue was still agonizing over the appearance: "Is it too late to defect to the Alliance now?"
Zou Zhuo was speechless: "You were the one who insisted we choose the Horde..."
Lin Xue said, "Alright, alright, let's stick to the original plan. I'll choose this cow."
Zou Zhuo kindly reminded her: "Actually, if you really think it's that ugly, you could choose a female Troll. Look at that character from the show, isn't she a female Troll? Her looks are barely passable."
Lin Xue said, "No way, I'm picking the cow. The cow has big boobs!"
Zou Zhuo: "..."
Alright, so that was her real reason...
Zou Zhuo also chose a Tauren, planning to play a Warrior. Lin Xue played a Shaman, while Old P chose an Undead to play a Mage.
Zou Zhuo hadn't expected that he would have to customize his character's appearance in this game...
In most previous games, like *Dark Souls*, *Monster Hunter*, and *Bloodborne*, the character creation step could be skipped entirely, using the character model from *Oasis* directly.
But *World of Warcraft* was different. They weren't even the same species, so how could they reuse the model...
Fortunately, the character creation system was quite comprehensive. The more Zou Zhuo customized, the more he felt he was wasting his time. No matter how he tweaked this bull, it still looked pretty clueless...
He could change the shape and color of the horns, the style of the beard, the fur color...
After two minutes, he hastily finished. Since he had already chosen a Tauren, why bother with the face...
After finishing the customization, Zou Zhuo directly entered the name "Aimooti," and the system immediately prompted that the name was invalid.
Zou Zhuo was baffled. Obviously, the name wasn't taken; it simply couldn't be used.
It seemed Chen Mo was well aware of the players' tricks. Names like Aimooti, Guild Leader, Dumb Thief, Rhonin, Jaina, Thrall, and other famous figures were definitely off-limits. Players would have to use their own creativity to come up with names...
Zou Zhuo thought for thirty seconds, then typed in the name box: "Play It for Me."
There was no duplicate name.
Zou Zhuo's vision instantly merged with this bull, and he crossed through the portal, arriving in a brand-new scene.
"Wow, a vast prairie!"
Zou Zhuo's vision floated in the air, allowing him to see the entire panorama of the surrounding area.
On the vast prairie grew a few towering trees. Nearby was a Tauren village, or rather, a camp. The buildings in the camp were full of Tauren style, constructed from wood and animal hides, along with various towering Tauren totems.
All kinds of Tauren were inhabiting, or rather, living here.
There were patrolling guards holding spears, merchants with their own duties in the camp, and quite a few players.
Actually, it was hard to distinguish NPCs from players at a glance, since they were all bulls with no obvious visual differences. However, the players were all busy running around doing quests, so they were relatively easy to spot.
While Zou Zhuo was taking in the beautiful scenery of Red Cloud Mesa, a deep voice echoed in his ears, narrating the racial background of the Tauren.
"As a nomadic people, the Tauren roam the vast plains of the Barrens, hunting the mighty Kodo beasts."
"The Tauren were once scattered across the land, but they united against their common enemy, the Centaur. To counter the threat of the Centaur, they formed an alliance with the Orcs, fighting side by side to drive the Centaur back..."
"Cairne Bloodhoof built a city on Thunder Bluff and united the Tauren tribes. As a hunting race, you must..."
Zou Zhuo was completely focused on this bull, so he didn't really pay attention to what the background introduction was saying.
Anyway, the Tauren were a race that roamed the great prairie. Hmm, that description should be clear enough, right?