Chapter 13: Chapter 13: When Will the Quality of Players Improve
[Jing Bao Tian V: Hey everyone, I’m Jing Bao Tian. For those of you who are gamers, I’m sure most of you have heard of me.]
[Today, I discovered a new game—one that is enough to change my life. I’ll even go as far as to say that as long as the game "Starting with a broken sect" is around, I probably won’t review any other games. Because once you’ve played a game with 99% full-dive immersion, you’ll find every other game you’ve ever played becomes utterly tasteless.]
[You can’t take screenshots or record footage in this game yet, so I can’t post any pictures to prove what I’m saying. But that’s alright. This is just the first wave of the persistent beta test; they’re bound to open up more spots sooner or later.]
["Starting with a broken sect." The only thing I can tell you is that this is an Immortal Cultivation Game. Or rather, you can truly begin a second life in it. If it weren’t for our bodies’ physical needs and the fact that we have to work, I’m sure every player in there with me would wish they never had to log off.]
[I don’t know when the next wave of beta spots will be released, but I wish you all the best of luck. I’m going to go ahead and start my Cultivation journey now.]
The moment Jing Bao Tian’s post went live, it caused a massive stir in the gaming community.
It was no surprise—he was genuinely famous, with several million followers on Weibo, at least tens of thousands of whom were active fans. He had a substantial following.
All of his previous review posts had been well-reasoned and substantial.
But he had never posted something this shocking before.
The comments below his post exploded instantly.
[Are you insane?]
[Your account must’ve been hacked. I can’t believe these words came from a professional game reviewer. It’s so cringey, my toes are about to build a three-bedroom apartment.]
[Full-dive simulation? Do you even know what that means? If you said screen mirroring, I might believe you, but a game dares to claim it’s a full-dive simulation?]
[Jing Bao Tian must have played too many games and lost his mind. Can someone call his family and get him to the ER, stat?]
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, so your gaming community is full of morons, huh? Daring to spew such idiotic nonsense about full-dive simulation, LMAO.]
...
Mockery, schadenfreude, and disbelief.
It was all within Jing Bao Tian’s expectations.
He was very calm. After all, if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed the world’s technology had advanced enough to create such a game either.
While he still had time, he called a well-connected friend in the industry. "Can you do me a favor and investigate this game company, Longevity Sect? Find out who’s behind it."
Such powerful, even paradigm-shifting, technology was definitely not something an ordinary game company could achieve.
’But is the country really that advanced now? And they’d choose to use this technology to develop a game first?’
Jing Bao Tian was also lost in doubt.
At the same time, Chen Miaomiao pinched the bridge of her nose.
She began to consider how to explain this whole situation to her academic advisor.
’That I’ve witnessed a true second world?’
And her name wasn’t fake; in real life, she was actually Chen Miaomiao, a famously outstanding student at the College of Agriculture.
She usually played games to unwind, mostly competitive mobile games. Getting into "Broken Sect" was a complete accident, all because of her younger sister.
Her sister had sent her a VR headset a while back, but she only used it once before setting it aside. She still found VR to be too artificial.
Tonight, her sister was just extremely bored and insisted on dragging her along to see what this new game, which claimed to be a full-dive simulation, was all about.
She still remembered what her sister said before they entered the game: "It’s just a gimmick to trick us into playing. But Cultivation games are pretty rare in VR, so let’s check it out."
And then, after they went in, both sisters fell silent.
Although Chen Miaomiao was an agriculture student, she knew perfectly well that this was absolutely not something that could be achieved with current technology.
But the fact was, this game really did exist.
Jing Bao Tian’s description wasn’t wrong.
This was an era-defining game, one that could shock the entire world.
The materials that reacted exactly as they would in reality, and every single thing that appeared, left Chen Miaomiao shaken and were impossible to forget.
So how was she supposed to convince her advisor to give her a leave of absence so she could pour her time into this game?
Because according to Han Tian, the Sect didn’t have many ways to earn money in the early stages. Spiritual Medicine was the Longevity Sect’s only source of income, and since Chen Miaomiao had proposed a change, she was now the one everyone was relying on. ’The game needs her, and the Sect Master needs her.’
Most importantly, the three-hour-long talent buff made her not want to sleep at all tonight. She was willing to pull an all-nighter just to get back in and see.
The old saying about losing your ambition to idle pursuits really had a point.
Now, the mind of a top student like Chen Miaomiao was completely filled with the game "Broken Sect."
While the gaming world outside was in an uproar, with no screenshots to back up the claims, most people still thought it was all just empty hype.
Players like Wu Dahu didn’t feel that kind of pressure.
An hour and a half was up!
He could log in.
That damn game’s hour-and-a-half cooldown was actually based on Blue Star time. They had to wait a real, solid hour and a half!
He’d never been so antsy to play a game before. Even though it was now midnight, who wanted to sleep?
Pulling all-nighters is a gamer’s instinct. And even though Wu Dahu had to work tomorrow, he absolutely had to get on tonight and test his Spirit Root talent!
As he logged in, his vision brightened.
[You have successfully Opened your Spiritual Root. Please find the Sect Master to receive the introductory Cultivation Heart Method.]
Wu Dahu felt a jolt of energy.
He could feel a distinct change. Compared to when he was in the game over an hour ago, his vision was clearly better. With every breath, he could faintly feel a gaseous substance flowing within his body, a substance he felt he could control. The feeling was incredibly natural, as if it were an innate ability.
It was also nighttime on the Yunzhou Continent, but the Longevity Sect had streetlights hung up.
In any case, Song Jiulai was too broke to use Spirit Stones for lighting.
Actually, the lanterns weren’t even necessary. The moonlight was as bright as day, and the sky, glittering with countless stars, cast down a brilliant glow.
Even now, at night, you could faintly see the clouds and mist.
How strange and wondrous.
Wu Dahu couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen such a beautiful view.
Looking closely, he could even faintly make out thumb-sized mosquitoes flitting about in the moonlight. He could almost discern the very arc of their flapping wings.
He remembered being able to see the stars at night when he was a child.
"It’s so beautiful..."
Wu Dahu murmured. If for no other reason, the game’s scenery alone was beautiful enough to bring a moment of peace.
Not to mention the ubiquitous Spiritual Energy. Wu Dahu had never felt his mind so clear. Even the dread of having to go to work tomorrow seemed to have faded significantly.
Just as Wu Dahu was savoring this moment of tranquility,
"FUCK, I’ve opened my Spirit Root! I can do Cultivation now, HAHAHAHA!"
Wu Dahu: "..."
’When will the decorum of us players ever improve?’
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