Before the competition, Lily logged into the StarNet on time.
Corinna, her instructor, didn't say much, just told her not to continue overdraining her mental energy like she did in the previous match.
"Contestant Lily, you have entered the StarSea Dreamweaving Live Competition, the third official round."
"The official round will last for seven days. Contestants are to explore independently, advance progress, and complete the competition. Your identities for this round have been distributed."
The venue's prompt was the familiar mechanical voice, but every word after the first sentence made many StarSea viewers watching the live stream widen their eyes.
Wait, did they hear that right?
What did the competition system just say? Explore the competition independently? Is that how it's going to be?
[What's going on?! Is it a theme-less competition?]
[Distributing contestant identities, seven-day duration... I'm confused. What is the exam committee up to?]
[Hahaha, I actually think this will be interesting. Suddenly a bit excited.]
[Could this round be story-driven? Placing contestants to integrate into the local area? Yes!]
When Lily opened her eyes, the competition scene was completely different from before. The first round was in a vast white fog, with no villages or shops around, nothing visible.
The second round dropped her directly at the foot of a garbage mountain; the moment she opened her eyes, she was exposed to garbage pollution.
But this time, looking at her surroundings, she found herself in a room—clearly a young person's room.
A projection of a StarSea game was constantly displayed on the silvery-white wall. Beside the bed was a miniature world landscape ornament, and the entire room was filled with a sense of life.
Lily looked at the smart brain on her left hand. Good, it wasn't her old second-hand one. If she didn't know she was in a competition and had heard the system prompt, she would have almost thought she'd traveled through time again.
"Beep—beep—"
"At 9 o'clock sharp today, you need to attend the on-site employment assessment at StarSea Game Company's Production Department. There's one hour left until the assessment. Please depart promptly."
A stiff voice came from the smart brain. Lily raised an eyebrow. It was indeed impossible to have no hints at all.
She quickly checked her identity information and all surrounding details, while viewers in the live stream room began excitedly discussing.
[It's actually an identity disguise theme. Suddenly a bit excited. Also, how much sponsorship did StarSea Game Company give to the live competition?]
[To be honest, the room Lily woke up in is very similar to mine. I almost thought I had to log off to check.]
[So it seems the competition venue is the game company. Now I strongly suspect how much the game company sponsored to get a single round to screen contestants skilled in game architecture and scene crafting. Could this round be for them to select talents?]
Lily was unaware of these discussions. She successfully found her identification, the assessment notice from StarSea Game Company, and an employee card in her portable smart brain.
Her eyes flickered, forming a rough guess about the round's theme.
After the second round, the base had given contestants the opportunity to choose exclusive instructors, which, in a way, was a hint for subsequent competitions.
Since Dreamweavers would eventually be categorized by their specialties, how else would their specific strengths be identified?
Through competitions, through exams.
An hour wasn't much time. Lily directly used her smart brain to navigate to StarSea Game Company and re-read the employment assessment instructions.
Everything checked out. Time to go.
As Lily stepped into the floating, highly futuristic building, she noticed a progress bar appear in the upper right corner of her vision.
[Current progress: 5%]
Just finding the company counted for 5%? Lily's eyes glinted. She wondered how much completing the employment assessment would contribute.
On the way, unsure if the competition would set obstacles during travel, she'd chosen the floating train—fast, crowded, stable, less prone to accidents.
This made Lily realize an obvious fact: the competition venue, this virtual city, was populated. There were Wood Elves, Dream Clan, Humans, and other races.
It was just like a normal planetary city—people coming and going, conversations filling the air, everything incredibly realistic. It seemed entirely designed for contestants to integrate into this world.
The first round had only had beasts, no people.
The second round also had no people—except contestants, only spawned creatures for earning points. When Lily and Xiaohua had entered that large farm, there hadn't been a single NPC.
But this time, looking around, there were quite a few passersby getting off at the same station as her, heading to the game company.
Bringing up her employee card on the smart brain, Lily smoothly entered StarSea Game Company as instructed. She was directed to a large conference room to sit anywhere.
Once inside, Lily discovered many "people" were already there—Dream Clan, Wood Elves, Humans, Shadow Clan.
[I see some other contestants I recognize! That Wood Elf boy—I've experienced his dreamweaving!]
[??? You actually experienced other contestants' dreamweaving? And you dare say that in Lily's live stream?]
[Wait, that's not the point. I also see a contestant from my hometown—the one with the big shell ornament in the row to Lily's left. That's definitely a Blue Clan member.]
[Hesitantly saying... I also recognize some contestants (though I'm a loyal Lily fan). It's not strange to know multiple contestants from surfing the net, right?]
Lily noticed something too. Since entering the spacious conference room, many eyes had turned to her.
Not curious stares from strangers, but looks of wariness, recognition, and shock.
As soon as she sat down, the person next to her silently moved two seats away, creating distance.
Lily: ...
Was she really that intimidating?
Lily recognized several contestants too, but with everyone posing as new hires for the assessment, no one spoke
Watching the large conference room gradually fill up, she wondered how many Dreamweaver contestants were present? Or were half of them NPCs?
Or perhaps everyone here was a contestant?
Lily narrowed her eyes. Whispers had started around her. Most people stayed quiet, but some couldn't help chatting—after all, the competition hadn't explicitly forbidden talking.
"The game company's employment assessment... Some contestants used to work at game companies, right?"
I remember there were. Wonder if they can guess what's going on in this round?"
Lily checked the time on her smart brain. The moment it struck the hour, the conference room doors closed completely, and a humanoid projection lit up at the front.
"Welcome all new employees to StarSea Game Company."
"On behalf of the company's Human Resources Department, I extend our sincere welcome."
"Now, enough pleasantries. Let's get to the point."
The projected figure was concise, proceeding to the next step before the new hires could react.
"Your assessment will take place within your assigned project teams. I know many of you want to join the Planning Department, Architecture Department, Ethnic Affairs Department, or Technical Department."
"Unfortunately, your batch of new hires has been claimed by the Landscape Department. That's correct—every new employee in this room is currently a non-staff member of the Landscape Department."
"Pass the new employee assessment, and you'll become official Landscape Department members."
"I'm sure you've heard about landscape departments at major game companies—constant business trips, field scouting. That's why we're short-staffed, and taking this opportunity to recruit a large batch."
"Enough talk. Activate the optical brain in front of you and randomly select your Landscape Department project team."
"Don't think about cheating or any tricks. This is StarSea's most advanced game company—we won't tolerate any favoritism. Once selected, take your optical brain and report to your team as instructed. That's all."
With that, the projection vanished, giving no chance for questions or interruptions.
Lily had no issues. Clearly, despite the new format, the goal was straightforward.
From the information so far: the competition venue was StarSea Game Company, the content involved game projects, and the scores would undoubtedly relate to landscape projects.
Unsurprisingly, this round tested scene crafting.
Without hesitation, she activated the optical brain in front of her and selected a project team.
Text flashed across the screen before settling—StarSea Games All-Projects Scouting Team, Number 1829. Please take the launch lift to the 16th floating floor for reporting.
All-projects scouting team? Lily picked up her optical brain and stood. The conference room doors had reopened, and contestants were rising to leave with their devices.
[Ah, suddenly remembering the painful experience of working as an outsourced scouting guide. Sigh, don't want to remember .]
[So this round is about scene crafting. But friend above, care to explain? Why does everyone hate the scouting team? Shouldn't scouting work only Dreamweavers can do be a good job?]
[Long business trips with overtime pay, but scene-crafting Dreamweavers are either scouting or returning to craft scenes. Months of hard work often get rejected—tiring with little achievement. Honestly, all major scenic spots are already online. Finding novel, sensory-stimulating locations now usually means going to remote star systems and planets...]
"New recruit Number 1829?"
Upon arrival, just as Lily exited the launch lift, she was stopped by a Zerg supervisor who checked her information on their optical brain.
"Yes, I'm Lily." As she answered, the Zerg waved a hand dismissively.
"Too many new hires. I don't need to know your name—just remember your number."
"Your project details have been sent to your optical brain. Now you can start scouting. Bind your company account for travel expenses. The team has a medical room, mental energy recovery room, and scene-crafting area—locations sent to you. Complete project scouting and scene crafting within seven days. Dismissed."
The Zerg supervisor spoke extremely quickly, then moved past Lily to call the next contestant, Number 2015, without another glance.
[Hiss, this company's style is just like O Corporation.]
[I thought the same about the projection supervisor last round—this efficiency, no wasted time, mass recruiting then filtering. Tsk, did the exam committee get sponsorship from O Corporation?]
[So next, Lily needs to check the project, find locations, return within seven days, and complete the scene crafting?]
Lily checked her optical brain for the assigned project, noting her progress had updated: [Current progress: 10%]
Looking around, this project team seemed to have no workstations. With the lift still delivering people, Lily stepped aside to study her assigned game project.
The project was called Lonely Traveler. From what Lily saw, its settin was extremely simple, as was its gameplay.
The entire game involved a protagonist who, after a storm leaves them stranded in space, crash-lands on an unknown planet and travels alone across it.
Upon entering the game, players could only select pre-set races and genders—no character customization.
Gameplay consisted of traveling, stopping occasionally, camping, finding food and shelter. The goal was simply to experience the scenery along the way.
If Lily had to describe it, it was basically virtual tourism.
In the StarSea, such games belonged to the travel-scenery genre, once popular among netizens and players. After all, real interstellar travel required significant credits and time.
But games made it easy—with just a little money, people could "travel" through a game featuring various interstellar landscapes.
However, scenery-focused games had their heyday long ago.
With advancing spacecraft technology, frequent interstellar communication, and popularization of interstellar public transport, people could view all major racial attractions online. These single-player, time-consuming games had become niche, struggling to attract players without truly novel scenery.
Lily didn't know what scene-crafting projects other contestants received, but this one's challenge was innovation—avoiding scenery already featured in popular StarSea attractions. Which suited her perfectly.
She happened to be unfamiliar with StarSea's popular landscapes. In her mind were the 9.6 million square kilometers spanning 63 longitudes and 52 latitudes—her homeland.
There were polar ice fields, oasis in deserts, and the magnificent scenery of Shenzhou celebrated in countless poems throughout history.
As she thought quietly, viewers in the live stream chatted animatedly.
[I nominate—tired of Stellar Tides scenery. No matter how spectacular, seeing it daily gets old. Not that my opinion matters.]
[Hasn't the Dream Clan's wilderness been done? I remember a game sponsored by a Dream Clan royal once became popular.]
[Wood Elf forest planets in every variation, Human high-tech modified planets, virtual landscapes... enough already.]
[I heard someone once dared to simulate black hole and vortex scenery... reportedly their mental energy couldn't handle it, and they died.]
[Seven days for scouting? Impossible to go far. What good scenery can they find? I hear major projects now start scouting years in advance, going to lower civilizations and primitive planets. Scene-crafting Dreamweavers work so hard.]
This competition might stump all other contestants, but not Lily.
She studied the project materials carefully, lost in thought as she formulated ideas.
Spring had flowers, autumn had moon; summer had cool breezes, winter had snow.
Should she craft by seasons, or by regions?
For a rare moment, Lily felt indecisive.
A touch of choice paralysis
But when she noticed the game's setting allowed the protagonist to "check in" at scenic spots and collect special landscape cards, Lily made up her mind.
As a scout, without altering the game's architecture, she could add or modify content based on her scouting.
Especially since this was fundamentally a scenic journey game.
Lily first visited the medical room to get mental energy restoration potions, then entered the scene-crafting area. Lonely Traveler's basic framework only had vast space, a protagonist, and initial progression.
Glancing at the standard initial virtual player, Lily made no changes. She closed her eyes, as if only then could she project the images in her mind directly before her.
Where to begin?
From desperation—from a desert.
Viewers watched as Lily entered the scene-crafting area, seemingly with no intention of scouting first.
[What's happening, everyone? Isn't A Zhao going to scout?]
[Quiet. Every time Lily does something different, she pulls off something big.]
[Maybe she's just checking the scene-crafting area first? Seeing the game's architecture before scouting?]
The tinkle of camel bells, colorful veils shielding from sand, scorching desert heat, elusive water sources, shimmering mirages, sudden sandstorms, treacherous quicksand, wind-eroded rock formations, parched, cracked lips... scenes flashed through Lily's mind.
In the next moment, the scene-crafting area filled with endless yellow sand.
It was a desert—sand dunes stretching endlessly. Under the blazing sun, shadows stood stark. The virtual figure crawled strugglingly from a sand pile.
He carried only a shabby backpack. His escape suit was tattered, shoes filled with burning sand. The coarse grit stung his face like knives.
[? This is scene crafting? Is Lily joking? What kind of uninhabitable terrain is this?]
[Is she trying to win through shock value?]
As far as the virtual figure could see was yellow sand. Spotting tall dunes ahead, he trudged forward. Lily followed behind.
Climbing the dune brought a broad view, but all directions showed only varying shades of yellow.
Desert winds carved sinuous patterns into the sand. The eroded textures seemed mysterious, unpredictable.
Beneath a vast sky, not a soul in sight. Heat engulfed the traveler, yet he pressed on relentlessly.
Until night fell. The virtual figure found shelter and set up camp, wrapping his protective suit tightly around himself. Eating from a ration capsule, he looked up.
Night had arrived, stars scattered across the plains.
Moonlight spilled over the endless desert, turning the darkening sand into what seemed like snow—veiled in a silvery mist, as if in a snowy wilderness.
Looking up slightly, a curved crescent moon hung high. Below it, mountain shadows seemed close enough to touch.
This restless desert night revealed mountain silhouettes against the crescent moon, which in turn bathed the "snowy" sand.
In that moment, the entire live stream fell silent, captivated by the beauty.
When the virtual figure took out a camera to take a photo, Lily waved a hand.
A travel landscape card appeared before everyone, with scenery above and words below:
Desert sand like snow, Yan Mountain moon like a hook