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Chapter 113: I Found a Great Treasure
With harsh words on his lips and his hands on the keyboard and mouse, Mike officially began his journey to pass on the flame. He was very excited. Nebula Games was one of his favorite video game companies.
While its games were a bit annoying, like Overcooked, which had him washing dishes until today, and Valiant Hearts: The Great War, which recently made him cry a lot, it was undeniable that these games moved players.
Dark Souls, Nebula Games' first major title, he was looking forward to it. The idea of spreading the flame of hope in a world of despair was incredibly exciting. Even if it might make him cry a lot, what did it matter? He was ready.
On the game's path, there were many incomprehensible symbols that looked like bloodstains. Mike knew this unique system, as Alex had previously introduced it during the online live stream. Players could also leave comments in various places on the game map.
This was an important feature of Dark Souls: essentially a message board. Of course, there are certain formatting restrictions for leaving messages, and the content is even subject to special moderation. Leaving offensive comments will result in a warning, and repeated violations will lead to an online access ban.
Observing the game's system warnings, Mike followed the prompts and performed several actions. Rolling, normal attack, strong attack... unlike the flashy attacks of other games, Dark Souls felt very forceful. Rolling, slashing, and even the response to hitting a stone directly were quite powerful.
The only thing that bothered Mike was the rapid exhaustion of his stamina bar. One roll, a few slashes, and it was gone. Even running consumed stamina. It was a bit unsatisfying!
However, Mike didn't care, thinking it would improve later or he would get equipment that would increase his stamina bar. After all, right now he was just a blank slate.
Soon, on his way forward, he encountered his first small monster. It was a creature called a zombie, similar to a skeletal soldier. However, it was quite easy to control. With a couple of hits from the chicken drumstick in his hand, its health bar was instantly depleted.
"This little monster is so easy! But doesn't this game have a minimap?" Sarah, beside him, opined from time to time.
Mike, who was playing, was also a little bewildered. Because, although he had just started, he felt that Dark Souls was different from other games. There was no difficulty adjustment before entering, and this small monster was too easy to control, right? It posed no challenge.
As for the minimap, although he wasn't used to it, he also had an idea. "We haven't reached the key point of the plot yet. We should meet an NPC later and they'll give us a map," Mike thought.
Moving forward, he saw a corpse in a fountain-like place. Mike extracted a blue medicine flask from its body.
"Elemental Flask? Orange for health, blue for mana, and fruity orange for legumes," Mike said, looking at the flask's presentation.
"Is there anyone who changes names like you?" Sarah, beside him, was speechless, but she had to say that it sounded quite catchy and vivid.
Continuing to advance, there were some instructions on the ground that taught players knowledge like holding a shield. It was basically a beginner's tutorial. There he learned combat skills, dual-wielding, and some basic operations. There were some small soldiers along the way, slow, rigid, and particularly fragile.
The useless ones had their own chicken drumsticks, which practically split in two, and there was also a very useful small wooden shield for defense.
"How can this game be considered difficult?" Sarah, beside him, looked at Mike, who was massacring zombie monsters, and felt a little depressed thinking about the high difficulty tag on the store interface.
'He wouldn't sit there all afternoon, would he?'
Hearing his girlfriend's complaints, Mike chuckled: "I can't do anything! My skills are limited. It's hard to even die!"
He massacred all the minions, and the souls in the bottom right corner continued to grow. He didn't know what they were, but he assumed they were in-game money or experience bars. He still had no idea what they were for.
Continuing forward, under the cold sunlight, the rugged mountain path forked into two. One led directly to the edge of the cliff, with a huge stone door ajar. The surrounding buildings were in ruins, clearly showing their age. The path to the right led to a narrow trail.
"This side of the cliff should be the path to the main story, and this narrow trail should contain collectibles."
As a veteran gamer, Mike quickly analyzed the different characteristics of the two paths. After all, all those years of gaming had not been in vain; he had the necessary experience.
"My intuition tells me there's a treasure here!" Mike said smugly, looking at his girlfriend.
Sarah, standing beside him, rolled her eyes. "Cool treasures usually have accompanying spirit beasts. With your tiny arms and legs, you would probably die on the spot."
"How is that possible? Even if there is a monster, it's probably only a little more powerful than the zombies we saw before." Mike felt relaxed; his previous experience of completely defeating the zombies gave him immense confidence.
As he advanced, the rugged path was filled with withered vines. He saw a warning on the ground. He pressed it and it said: "Go back!"
'Go back?'
He couldn't. Since he had come this far, he might as well go in and take a look. Ignoring the warning, Mike continued on his way. He crossed a puddle of water and arrived at a cave-like area. Not far away, a giant crystal lizard lay crouched.
Upon seeing it, Mike's eyes widened. It was truly massive.
"It looks like you've found a great treasure," Sarah said, hitting the nail on the head.
At that moment, the crystal lizard seemed to have discovered that an unexpected guest had arrived in its territory. It got up from the ground and looked at Mike in the game with a fierce glare.
"It's not that bad. It must be a small elite monster. Its health bar on its head is very short. Look, I'll crush it with two chicken drumsticks!" Mike took a deep breath, but as he spoke, he began to believe it.
'Yes, the health bar is very short! It must not be a BOSS. Maybe it's just strong in appearance, but weak on the inside?'
Thinking about this, Mike bravely lunged forward with a small chicken drumstick and a broken wooden shield.