Chapter 161-3: Official Site Goes Live, World Craze (3) |
6 p.m, Yelan City.
Tong Xin sat on his computer chair, staring at the quiet group chat interface on the screen, a little dazed.
Outside, the sky gradually darkened. In the room only the screen’s faint glow remained, casting his absent face in light.
His chest felt blocked by something. His breathing was unusually heavy, and a sourness rose in his throat.
“If at that time… if at that time I had been a bit more decisive…” he murmured, his voice so low it was almost inaudible.
But reality had no if.
Every time he opened the group chat and saw the teammates’ chat content, he did not dare look for long, afraid that envy and regret would surge over him like a tide and drown him.
He turned off the screen, and the room fell into darkness.
In the dark, he closed his eyes, and flickering memories played.
Endless regret wound around his heart like countless threads, tightening and tightening until he could hardly breathe.
What hurt was not that there had been no opportunity, but that he had originally had two chances to have it.
But now he could only sit in the dark and let the sadness and powerlessness devour him bit by bit.
Just four days ago, he had thought he obtained salvation, that the bitterness had ended and sweetness had come, that he was about to reach the peak of life.
He still clearly remembered himself with one hand on his hip, high-spirited, pointing at the screen and saying ‘handled.’
But the happier he had been when he had just snatched the game qualification, the more miserable he felt now.
Only then did he realize that his brothers were eating better than he had imagined, and that what they were playing was not Dark Land at all, but the Lunar Eclipse race’s next-generation game: Monster World.
What they had obtained was a closed internal qualification that even Lunar Eclipse race players could not acquire through normal channels, issued only at random by the Starnet AI core.
At the saddest thought, tears slipped unconsciously from the corners of his eyes.
Once, a rare game qualification had been placed before him, and he had not cherished it. Only after missing it did he regret it bitterly. If heaven would give him another chance, he would say three words to that qualification: I want to play. If he had to add a deadline, he hoped it would be right now.
An opportunity that had once been within easy reach was thrown away by his own hand, and he felt infinitely remorseful.
At this moment, how he wished time could flow backward to the first encounter with the Monster World closed beta qualification.
He would surely cherish that hard-won blessing, then firmly click ‘Download’, and call to the Welfare Officer, ‘stepdad.’
But time would not flow backward, and the qualification would not be reissued.
He had watched the Lunar Eclipse race’s briefing.
The No. 1 governor had made it clear that when Monster World qualifications would be fully distributed was entirely unknown.
Judging from the number of qualifications distributed, it was far fewer than Dark Land.
Now the link had already spread all over the internet. The whole web knew that through the link one could download Monster World.
The difficulty for him to obtain a game qualification was even harder than winning the lottery. It was simply not something that staying up late and grinding could give him a chance at.
“Twice… I once had two chances to get the game qualification, boo hoo.”
He sobbed until his eyes were red and swollen, yet still could not dispel the sadness in his heart.
Just then, the computer screen lit up automatically, and a news alert popped out from the lower right corner of the screen.
Tong Xin wiped away his tears and looked, discovering it was a notification sent by the Human Federation’s largest news media.
He opened the news and scrolled down. His heart pounded.
Monster World’s official website had gone live.
At the end of the news was a link address to enter the official site.
Without hesitation, Tong Xin clicked the link, and the page jumped immediately.
As the screen entered the Monster World official site, it suddenly darkened, and then a deep starry river background spread across the screen like a night curtain.
At the center of the page was a vortex, with the two words Monster World faintly appearing at the center. The font had sharp edges and corners, as if carved by blades. The edges glowed with a scarlet light like flickering flames, and faint runes shimmered around the vortex.
In Tong Xin’s eyes, the production of Monster World’s official site was nothing less than a work of art, every detail exuding incomparable refinement.
Opening the webpage, the deep dark-toned background instantly pulled him into a mysterious and dangerous domain.
The giant vortex at the center of the page slowly rotated as if it could swallow everything. The logo at the center of the vortex was presented in scarlet flame lettering, bringing a strong sense of pressure.
The official site’s background music was low and deep, with organ melodies interwoven with faint choral voices, creating a mysterious otherworldly atmosphere. The sound design was the finishing touch. Wind, whispers, the clash of metal, every sound was just right, bringing a strong sense of immersion as if one were in another world.
Clicking the words Monster World at the center, the screen jumped to the Monster World official site homepage with a scarlet background.
At the top of the page a line of text was printed: Dance with death, accompany fear, your legend begins by facing the Black Tide head-on.
When the mouse hovered over the navigation bar, the text would glow with a blood-red halo.
There were eight options above, namely:
World Map (Explored), Monster Compendium, Inherited Soul Compendium (Contained), Spirit Plant Compendium, Spiritual Ore Compendium, Territory Nodes, Honor Album, Player Forum.
With curiosity, Tong Xin’s gaze focused on the first one, the World Map.
He manipulated the mouse to click the World Map option on the webpage, and the screen was instantly swallowed by a deep darkness.
The scene switched, and a tattered sheepskin scroll unfolded before his eyes. It was a dynamic map.
The map presented a vast dark continent as the backdrop, shrouded in dense fog. Faintly visible were shattered mountain ranges, deep forests, and winding rivers. Printed on it were four large characters Pale Continent. The edges of the map were outlined by a faint blood-colored glow, as if this land were being eroded by some invisible force.
Three regions on the map were clearly visible.
They were, respectively, the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range at the very bottom of the map, the Colorful Mist Coast located at the western edge of the continent, and the Rimewinter Snowfield region to the east of the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
The displayed map was not static on the screen.
When he moved the mouse over the three explored regions, the fog would slowly disperse, revealing hidden details.
For example, when he zoomed in on the Colorful Mist Coast region and the cursor slid over a forest, the branches of the trees would sway slightly as if wind were passing through. When the cursor paused over a lake, ripples would appear on the water’s surface.
A large number of areas on the map were marked with flashing light points of different colors. Clicking a light point would pop up detailed information about that area, such as monster distribution, monster types, resource types, and so on.
Tong Xin found the map design to be very meticulous. One could intuitively see the progress of players exploring and developing the world.
In the lower right corner of the map there was also a zoom toolbar designed in the shape of an ancient stone tablet carved with mysterious runes. When the mouse hovered over the runes, they would glow faintly accompanied by a low sound effect, and inside was a search box.
By entering the name of a small area or coordinates, one could automatically locate the specific position.
“What an awesome map design.”
After a preliminary look at the map, Tong Xin was immediately convinced by the detailed design.
Exiting the map function, he clicked the Monster Compendium function.
The page switched, the screen was engulfed by scarlet flames, and rows of monster cards were neatly arranged on the page. Each card’s background was the monster’s habitat, such as a dark cave, a skeletal battlefield, a coastal forest, and so on.
When the mouse hovered over a card, it would slowly enlarge, and a 3D model of the monster would appear with lifelike detail. For example, a monster called Iron Shell Bug had a thick carapace on its body, the cracks on it clearly visible. Its eyes were like two burning embers, and when its mouth opened, sharp fangs were revealed as if it might leap from the screen at any moment.
Below the card, brief text introduced the monster’s habits and weaknesses. The font was slender, the color scarlet, looking very cool.
After looking through introductions of several types of monsters, Tong Xin was full of curiosity and anticipation for this game, Monster World.
Closing the monster page, he clicked open the Inherited Soul Compendium.
After the screen switched, what appeared before his eyes was a containment wall, with each containment slot imprisoning a monster.
Moving the mouse over a contained monster, the ability introduction information appeared.
After viewing it, Tong Xin realized that this was the Primordial Containment Wall the brothers in the group had mentioned. Each monster represented an ability trait.
One could choose a single monster growth route, or combine different primordial traits to form a Star Vein build.
“You really deserve it.”
Thinking of how the brothers had been having a great time for months already, Tong Xin could not help clenching his fists.
Sadness surged from his heart, and he forcibly pressed it down.
He planned to finish browsing the Monster World official site before continuing to be sad. Curiosity now held the high ground, so sadness would step back first.
After viewing the Spirit Plant Compendium, Spiritual Ore Compendium, and Territory Nodes in turn, Tong Xin clicked the seventh category page: Honor Album.
After the page switched, what appeared before Tong Xin was an ancient book wrapped in chains. The chains were forged from scarlet metal and engraved with complex runes. At the center of the book burned a mass of flickering Emperor’s Sign fire.
He clicked the book with the mouse. The chains shattered, and the book opened automatically.
The background music changed at this moment, as if announcing that a long-sealed history was about to begin.
As the page unfolded, a scarlet glow overflowed from the book pages. Then text and images floated above the pages as projections.
On the preface page were printed two lines of brilliant golden text:
In the long river of years, every player writes their own story in their own way, and some stories are enough to be recorded in the chronicles of history becoming legends.
Here, we record only the exciting milestone moments on the growth path of the player legion.
—
Turning the preface with golden stripes branded along the edge, the first page of the album recorded screenshots of the high-adrenaline moment when the player legion, after a bloody battle, purified the Shadowed Cavern.
The specific time of the campaign was also printed below.
But the video could not be clicked to view. The prompt indicated that a game pod was required to view the specific videos.
Curious, Tong Xin flipped through page by page.
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