Chapter 536: Turn Back!
After confirming his class, he officially entered the game.
The camera descended from high to low, giving a close-up of an unnamed grave. Suddenly, the coffin lid was pushed open, and the knight character he had just customized stood up from within.
Then, the camera shifted to the knight, as if possessing him, and Qiu Hengyang began playing the game from a first-person perspective.
Qiu Hengyang first observed his surroundings. This was a desolate, ruined graveyard, littered with broken debris, crumbling walls, and ashes everywhere. The only color in sight was gray, devoid of any other brilliance.
"Sure enough, it's a dark fantasy game. The scene design is pretty good," Qiu Hengyang remarked.
He tried out some basic operations, like moving and attacking.
Although it was largely similar to other VR games, Qiu Hengyang keenly sensed a difference.
Under the influence of the Pangu Engine, every object in the game actually possessed real mass.
Swinging a sword wasn't a simple action; it was the result of calculations involving multiple mass and force parameters. So in the game, the sword-swinging motion was far more realistic than in any previous VR game. This wasn't a matter of the art team's skill in animating character actions—the underlying technology simply wasn't on the same level.
Qiu Hengyang even had the illusion that the longsword in his hand truly had weight, like a real object.
He tried slashing at a wall. The sword sparked against the stone and bounced back slightly, while a clear vibration traveled through his right hand.
The sensation was incredibly lifelike.
Qiu Hengyang couldn't help but marvel. It seemed the Pangu System was truly invincible. He was already eager to see what it would feel like to cut into a minor monster or a boss with this sword.
Continuing forward, he noticed many clear markings on the ground. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be lines of indecipherable text.
But as he approached, Chinese characters automatically appeared over them.
These were introductions to game mechanics, including things players could do, like switching between one-handed and two-handed grips on their weapon.
There were also instructions for moving, jumping, sprinting, and other actions, which players could gradually familiarize themselves with.
These operations weren't executed through button presses, but through the player's thoughts. In other words, while players could figure them out on their own, the process would likely be quite convoluted.
Qiu Hengyang found this method of newbie guidance quite interesting. It felt like graffiti scrawled on a wall.
He walked on and soon encountered the game's first minor monster—a tattered, hideous-faced zombie lunging at him.
Qiu Hengyang charged forward and cut the monster down with two swift slashes.
"Mm, the damage is decent. Just like in Diablo, the early monsters are a breeze to take out."
Some items dropped on the ground. Qiu Hengyang picked them up without a second glance, focused solely on pushing forward.
But at a fork in the road, he spotted a message written on the ground: "Turn back."
Qiu Hengyang was puzzled. "Does that mean there's a tough enemy ahead? Is this just atmospheric storytelling, or is it serious advice?"
After cutting down two minor monsters, his confidence was temporarily inflated, leaving him conflicted.
"Let's go take a look. It can't be that hard."
Qiu Hengyang was fairly confident in his skills. After all, when he played Diablo, he never encountered enemies that were too difficult.
He pressed on and noticed that there were almost no minor monsters along this path. After wading through a stream of water, he saw crystalline formations sprouting from the ground ahead. Among the crystals, there seemed to be a massive creature.
"What... what is that thing?"
Qiu Hengyang took a couple more steps forward, and the creature suddenly rose to its feet, letting out a roar in his direction!
Only then did Qiu Hengyang get a clear look at the monster. It was a giant, lizard-like creature, its entire body covered in gleaming white crystalline spikes.
The moment this Crystal Dragon spotted Qiu Hengyang, it charged at him at full speed, then reared its head and spewed out a blast of frigid breath!
Caught off guard, Qiu Hengyang took the full force of the icy blast, and his health plummeted instantly.
"Whoa, this monster is tough!"
Qiu Hengyang was shocked. He instinctively rolled to the side, but the Crystal Dragon leaped high into the air, its four massive claws lunging down at him, slamming him into the ground!
In the first-person VR perspective, Qiu Hengyang could even clearly see details on the Crystal Dragon, including those gleaming white crystalline spikes.
Uh, and some indescribable parts too...
He didn't get a good look. He wondered if Chen Mo had added any details...
Powered by the Pangu Engine, the Crystal Dragon pinned Qiu Hengyang to the ground. Although his armor provided some damage reduction, the impact from such a heavy blow was still extremely high under the physics engine's calculations, and Qiu Hengyang's health bar bottomed out instantly.
"Crap, I'm done for!"
Panicking, Qiu Hengyang rolled backward.
The game was quite convenient in this regard. Normally, a person in a prone position like that couldn't immediately roll backward, but the game allowed it, probably to reduce difficulty.
But the Crystal Dragon had no intention of letting Qiu Hengyang off. It chased after him and delivered a final slap, cutting off his escape!
Three bright red words—"You Died"—appeared in Qiu Hengyang's field of vision.
As the screen faded to gray, Qiu Hengyang found himself back at the spawn point.
"...Alright, this monster clearly isn't meant to be fought now. This is probably one of Chen Mo's malicious jokes."
Qiu Hengyang had no choice but to give up on this cool-looking elite monster and continue forward.
It seemed Chen Mo wasn't lying. When he said to turn back, he really should have turned back...
This time, Qiu Hengyang let his guard down a bit, and on the way to the first bonfire, he actually got slashed a few times by minor monsters.
He hadn't paid much attention at first, but when he glanced at the health bar at the edge of his vision, he realized he had unknowingly lost half his HP!
And looking down, he could see visible damage to his armor at the spots where he was hit, with blood seeping through the weaker areas!
Clearly, this was thanks to his class. If he had chosen a cloth or leather armor class, those slashes might have dealt even more damage!
Qiu Hengyang, who had previously overlooked the damage from minor monsters, began to sense something was off. Earlier, those monsters had been one-shot kills, so he hadn't felt any real threat.
A foreboding feeling suddenly rose in Qiu Hengyang's heart.
Something felt... wrong, didn't it?