Xia Ya was awakened by the chirping of birds outside the window.
Upon waking, he habitually opened the panel.
Character: Xia Ya
Race: Half-Elf
Status: Civilian Lv1
Health: 100/100
Mana: N/A
Attributes:
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Constitution: 5
Intelligence: 5
Perception: 5
Charisma: 5
Level reset, inventory emptied.
The collected items and artifacts returned to their respective places.
Waiting for Xia Ya to collect them again.
Like concubines in ancient times waiting for the emperor's favor.
In short, a brand new beginning lay before Xia Ya.
"The 177th closed beta cycle is over? Since it's over, Orinshiru's sword must have killed Synlos, right? Finally saw it, truly beautiful... It's a pity that Orinshiru in that state is no longer human, but a god. It seems the Holy Sword Narsil isn't a good thing, forcibly implanting divinity into its user. Poor Orinshiru, what was thought to be the best BESTENDING turned out to be a TRUEENDING, might as well have become a fallen Valkyrie after turning dark..."
Murmuring to himself, he lay back down and stretched lazily.
"177 cycles..."
Xia Ya sighed deeply.
He had been trapped in this broken game by some mysterious force for so long that he couldn't remember the time.
So he used the number of times the closed beta data was reset as a count.
177 cycles.
Each time starting from this bed in the small wooden house, as a civilian, becoming a hero, leveling up by defeating monsters, experiencing seven expansions, spanning two to three uninterrupted decades, and finally defeating Synlos, ending a test cycle.
From start to finish, he was the only one.
Clearly an online game, but it felt like a single-player one.
At first, Xia Ya was excited, having such a vast open world all to himself, freely interacting with NPCs, recruiting people to fight bosses, collecting a full set of artifacts, how delightful!
It was paradise!
The first time, the second time... by the tenth cycle, Xia Ya was no longer happy.
He began to realize this was a cage, not paradise.
He started to grow weary of everything, became passive, stopped trying to save the world, stopped being a hero, spent his days in the Starter Village flirting with married women and the village chief's daughter, re-conquering the female NPCs he had ignored while leveling up, and even became the village chief, deliberately doing nothing to show the system.
Then, the world was destroyed by monsters.
He escaped responsibility but couldn't escape fate.
The taste of a bad ending was very unpleasant, so from the twelfth cycle, no matter what, Xia Ya would push the main storyline to a certain progress before starting to explore the world.
Fortunately,
Illusory Realm
was vast enough, with humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, underground demons, dark elves, cave dwellers... so many races, each with its own culture, beautiful women never tiring to look at, and unique stories, Xia Ya gradually washed away his restlessness and focused on the game's vast worldview.
He experienced 177 cycles of closed beta, lived 177 different lives, accumulating thousands of years of time.
Even the most knowledgeable scholars in the game would be crushed by his knowledge.
Fortunately, if not for the vastness of
Illusory Realm
, he might have gone mad long ago.
But even so, Xia Ya gradually lost his sense of self.
What exactly was he?
He had a panel, could see system prompts, level up by defeating monsters, equip gear, and resurrect from the grave after dying.
Was he a player?
But he couldn't log out, and could build friendships with NPCs beyond the constraints of data.
So was he an NPC?
Clearly not.
He had never seen an NPC that could infinitely resurrect.
A piece of corrupted data, a virus?
But why wasn't the virus deleted during the closed beta data wipe? Instead, it persisted? Isn't that what the beta cycles were for?
He didn't know, had no idea.
Every time a closed beta cycle ended, Xia Ya would ask himself this, then shake his head with a bitter smile.
No answers.
So he stopped thinking about it.
"I hereby declare, the 178th closed beta cycle begins!"
Xia Ya cheered himself on.
What to play this time...
No matter what combination of professions and skills he chose to explore in the future, whether selling swords, wielding arrows, or holding a staff, he had to leave the Starter Village.
Like a MOBA game, no matter how glorious the late-game team fights, it always starts with laning and farming.
After so many cycles, maximizing the use of Starter Village resources for the fastest start had become his personal challenge, like his solo time record against Synlos.
People need some pursuits, otherwise, they'll become more and more wasted, eventually sinking.
He opened the door, and diagonally across, Miss Sennia, who had just given birth, was hanging a quilt on a rope. Xia Ya went over to help, being very careful not to touch her.
"Thank you, Xia Ya," Sennia said, clutching her chest.
She wore an old crew-neck wool sweater, had a delicate doll-like face, a voluptuous figure, and if not careful, would reveal an alluring view. Originally a youthful beauty with a mature and voluptuous aura after marriage.
"A small favor," Xia Ya smiled, keeping a reasonable distance between them.
Sennia seemed like a gentle housewife, but she was actually one of the few former adventurers in the Starter Village.
And she wasn't a healing priest, but a level 14 female swordsman with a fiery temper, and any slight touch would be mistaken for taking advantage, causing her favorability to drop drastically.
Her husband, Enke West, was a handsome blond priest, currently sleeping soundly with a tavern girl.
West had been unfaithful since Sennia got pregnant, a real scumbag, yet Sennia, being naive and sweet, never suspected him.
"Mrs. West," Xia Ya said directly, "Did the priest not come home last night?"
Sennia was stunned, "Eh, how did you know?"
Having gone through this strategy countless times, Xia Ya knew every word she would say next.
Just as Xia Ya was about to speak, Sennia laughed, "Oh, you heard the stories of those wandering heroes too?"
Huh?
Xia Ya was stunned for a few seconds.
The lines changed?
Wandering heroes?
New plot?
"Wandering heroes... what heroes?" he murmured.
"The guards brought back over a dozen wounded wandering heroes from outside last night, they're receiving treatment at the monastery. They seem to be blessed by the gods, recovering quickly, expected to wake up this morning. Enke spent the whole night at the monastery treating them..."
Before Sennia finished speaking, Xia Ya heard hurried footsteps and a conversation behind him.
"Is this the place? The priest asked us to bring flowers to his wife, hinting we could get a free healing spell."
"That housewife? A youthful beauty with a voluptuous figure, who can resist... I'm so envious of West."
"There's someone in front, is he a player or an NPC? Someone faster than us?"
"He seems to be looking at us, shh, shh, lower your voice, he seems to hear us..."
...
Xia Ya looked at the three people dressed in the same starter clothing as him.
They wore uniform coarse cloth clothes, deerskin boots...
Their steps were light, their eyes curious...
They were three faces Xia Ya had never seen before!
They were...
Players?
Living people!?
Xia Ya couldn't suppress his whole body from trembling!
They were players!
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Players other than himself!
This damn game finally had living people!
He wanted to laugh, to laugh loudly, to laugh while cursing, "I'm so envious!"
Finally, finally, he was free from this damn closed beta cycle, 177 cycles, his life reset 177 times, now finally there was a change, a glimpse of escape! How could he not be excited!!
177 complete game lives, he knew every beautiful NPC's preferences and the fastest strategy, knew every BOSS's weaknesses and solo techniques, knew every artifact's origin and whereabouts...
He had saved the world 176 times in various ways, been a savior and a great villain. Even all the scholars combined didn't have his wealth of knowledge...
But!
He forgot his own name.
Was Xia Ya his real name or a nickname?
Where was he from? Where were his parents? What year was it outside?
What was Illusory Realm all about? How did he get in? Could he be truly saved?
He didn't know any of it.
He didn't even know what he was.
A player? Or a piece of data?
Just by asking, he might get the answer immediately.
But not yet.
Not now.
From this moment on, these were taboo, he had to find the answers himself.
The NPCs in
Illusory Realm
seemed like real people, and the 177 lives here were valuable life experiences, though deviating from normal people, the general principles were the same.
Xia Ya wouldn't easily trust any stranger, whether player or NPC.
In his younger days, he was deceived by elite monsters several times, but later he could trick elite monsters into giving him equipment.
His mindset had long been tempered into steel.
This was the only time he lost composure, and it would be the last.
Never again.
"Xia Ya?" Sennia waved her hand in front of him.
"Ah, sorry, I was distracted." Xia Ya quickly recovered, bowing slightly, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Well... there is one thing, help me move that sword over here."
Sennia said with a smile.
Xia Ya also showed a subtle smile.
Here it comes!
Because of the three players' wanton and lewd gazes, Sennia was angry!
Proofreader & Editor: Lyra
Vol.1 - Chapter 2 – Public Test!?
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