Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

Earth time, November 11, Monday. An ordinary workday for most.

Qin Guan found himself immersed in the weekend dungeon event over the weekend and hadn't edited a single bit of the several gigabytes of video material he had recorded. Early in the morning, he sat down at his computer, hastily working on voiceovers, editing, and adding humorous effects to his footage.

After finally uploading the delayed weekend video by noon, Qin Guan, realizing he hadn't eaten anything all morning, frantically searched for his phone to order takeout.

While waiting for the life-saving delivery, he casually browsed the OtherWorld forum on his phone, and his jaw dropped…

"Got my helmet! Ahahahahaha! OtherWorld, here I come!"

"Fresh out of the box! Live unboxing of the helmet for everyone!"

"Helmet in hand, leave taken. Vanilla waifu, I'm coming for you~"

"Stoked! Just got my helmet delivered by SF Express. Check it out, everyone!"

"About to enter the game, any wishes to say anything?"

"Tears from selling my helmet for 88 yuan. Now I bought it back for 188. Absolutely no selling this time!"

"What the…" Qin Guan was baffled and quickly called a friend who had also applied for an account. "Brother Wang, did they start distributing helmets today? Did you get yours?"

"Got it!" a jubilant, deep voice responded from the other end. "All three applications from my family got approved! The SF Express delivery just arrived. We paid on delivery, and my wife, sister-in-law, and I all got our helmets! Thanks for notifying me so promptly, Xiao Qin!"

"All three of your applications got through? It's so easy this time?" Qin Guan was surprised.

"I'm not sure. We applied on the website and didn't hear back for ages. I thought there was no hope, but the courier showed up this morning," the man replied happily. "I'm still at work. My wife and sister-in-law have already logged in to the game. If you run into them, please look after them, Xiao Qin. Their IDs are the same as when we used to play Warcraft together."

"No problem," Qin Guan assured him.

The man he was talking to, Wang Jianguo, was a post-'80s gamer, over a decade older than Qin Guan and a veteran Warcraft player. Qin Guan had met him online before becoming a popular content creator. Wang Jianguo was a notable figure in the online gaming community a decade ago and a pioneer among gaming enthusiasts.

After discussing when to log in and agreeing to continue developing their blood alliance (guild) together, Qin Guan hurriedly called other online friends to check if their applications had also been successful…

He soon realized that the official distribution of gaming accounts was utterly random. While Wang Jianguo, his wife, and sister-in-law all got their applications approved, less than a third of Qin Guan's other close online friends, fans, and college classmates had received accounts. When he called to ask, most were cursing the devs for alleged favoritism, frustrated that they, among the earliest applicants, had received nothing.

While Qin Guan sympathized with his friends' disappointment, their complaints seemed somewhat bothersome to him. After offering brief consolations, he ended the calls.

Just then, the delivery guy arrived with his life-saving bowl of cold noodles. Qin Guan wolfed it down and, wiping his mouth, immediately donned the gaming helmet and lay down on his bed.

He logged in and was greeted by clear skies and the pleasant autumn breeze of Exile Town.Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn N(o)vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.nᴇt

As Qin Guan materialized at his login point…

"Woohoo! What familiar scenery!"

The entire Crossroads beside the spawn point and the streets visible in the distance were packed with unclothed skeletons!

These new players, regulars on the forums, had seen plenty of videos and pictures posted by veteran players. Yet, once they actually logged in to this fascinating full-immersive holographic game, they acted no less mature than the first batch of players upon entering the game.

They ran around haphazardly, jumping and shouting, crashing headfirst into walls and disassembling, and shrieking when encountering zombie NPCs at street corners.

Qin Guan surveyed the chaotic scene of newcomers, casting a disdainful glance at those who screamed and fled from the zombies, wondering how they would fare in more perilous locations like the Spider Cave and Poisonous Marshlands or face the player-favored "gift monsters" like the demonic clams.

"Vanilla! Vanilla!" A few players waiting near the spawn point seemed to be fumbling with their beginner Identify skill. Spotting Qin Guan's equipped character, they excitedly waved him over, recognizing his ID. "Over here! It's us!"

Qin Guan expertly cast Identify and saw the IDs of these new players, immediately walking over with a cheerful greeting, "Er Gou, Old Nine!"

Well-known in the online gaming world, Qin Guan always played as a "female" character, using the ID "Vanilla Pudding" across different games. His friends, whom he met in other games, had the same habit. Their IDs in "Otherworld" were "Lin Er Gou" and "Nine-Tailed Fox."

"This game is really incomparable!" Lin Er Gou exclaimed with a thumbs-up. "Old Nine and I have been on for a while. We went exploring, watched Ou Huang in Life Alley, and even saw the rat at the southern exit. It's like being in a movie set!"

"Why haven't you guys done the beginner quests to get some clothes?" Qin Guan asked.

"Do you think we want to be naked? It's impossible to get a turn," replied Nine-Tailed Fox, pointing toward the zombie NPC that assigned beginner quests on First Street. "That quest has a limit of 30 persons and takes 10 minutes each time. Hundreds are queuing up; we can't get in."

Qin Guan slapped his forehead, realizing the situation. With three thousand new accounts activated and most players logging in during their lunch break, the beginner quests were inevitably overcrowded.

"Do them later then, when the working and schooling crowd logs out. The queues won't be as bad then," Qin Guan suggested. "Right now, there are plenty of newbies running around without clothes, so it doesn't matter much. Have you guys decided on your classes?"

"Definitely warrior, heh," Lin Er Gou declared enthusiastically. "Isn't it said that warriors are in high demand? Your blood alliance needs warriors, right? Train me up quickly."

"A warrior with your skills? Haven't you seen the video released by Unceasing Entropy? Warriors require skillful gameplay; don't embarrass yourself," Nine-Tailed Fox mocked Lin Er Gou for his notorious lack of gaming prowess.

"What do you mean? This game is different from traditional ones. Just because I'm not great with a PC doesn't mean it will be the same here," retorted Lin Er Gou, refusing to accept the criticism.

Qin Guan, knowing too well the struggles of being a warrior player that wasn't too skillful, interjected thoughtfully, "Er Gou, you might be better off playing a mage. Mages are even rarer and more in demand than warriors."

"A mage? Really? He'll be stuck at the job advancement step alone," Nine-Tailed Fox dismissed the suggestion.

"F*ck you, Old Nine! Are you looking down on me? If I don't get stuck at the job advancement step, what would you say then?" Lin Er Gou, initially hesitant about playing a mage, was triggered and became determined to prove his doubter wrong.

"My sis and I will be playing as wanderers. If you can become a mage within a month after I advance to wanderer, I'll call you 'Big Bro,'" Nine-Tailed Fox taunted, confident in his friend's likely failure.

"You've got yourself a deal! I'll take that title!" Lin Er Gou slapped his chest confidently.

"Haa? And if you fail, you'll be my son!" Nine-Tailed Fox added with a smirk.

"Dream on!"

"Then you still think you can be my brother-in-law? Look in the mirror and stop dreaming!"

"Enough of this," Qin Guan intervened. "Come on, I'll show you guys around the Town Hall and Wanderer Guild."

The three arrived at the unassuming town hall on First Street, where Qin Guan pointed at "Old Yang (illusion)," the player's faction leader NPC, sitting behind a desk.

"That's Old Yang. Er Gou, once you've leveled up from hauling bricks, come here for quests to earn reputation. The advantage of the mage instructor is that he doesn't casually kill players, but still, take care not to offend Old Yang.

"I heard that Phantom, from Brother Lahong's side, says that if you enter the Town Hall and mess up the place, Old Yang will deduct your territory prestige, which is required for exchanging better gear at the Undead Merchant Association. Without territory prestige, you'll only have white gear."

Lin Er Gou nodded in understanding. "Got it. I'm not one to seek trouble. I won't provoke Old Yang."

Next, they visited the Wanderer Guild on Second Street. Leading them into the large hall that the first batch of players had painstakingly built from the ground up, Qin Guan pointed at the NPCs seated inside. "These few are new instructor NPCs. Remember the Weisshem defense quest last week? They were part of the opposing merchant caravan that was captured. Old Yang reformed them to serve as job instructor NPCs."

Kenn, who had been clearly uncomfortable for the past few days ever since two rows of strange green characters started floating above his head, glared at the trio of undead that were pointing and even talking about them right in their faces.

"Eh?" Nine-Tailed Fox asked in surprise. "Is that instructor NPC Kenn staring at us? Can the NPCs in this game actually understand what players are saying?"

"Did you think I was joking with you guys?" Qin Guan said proudly. "Not only can they understand us, but these NPCs' actions are also influenced by their character designs. Being captives in their backstories, these wanderer instructors in Exile Town have a much more agreeable temperament than those in Weisshem. They certainly won't chase after players with a sword at the drop of a hat like Hal and his crew."

"Awesome!" Nine-Tailed Fox and Lin Er Gou simultaneously raised their thumbs in admiration.