It took a long time for Gust to realise what was happening. It seems that after putting on the helmet, he had come inside the game.
Looking at the lush green vegetation around him and a starry sky above his head, Gust almost jumped up in excitement.
"Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god."
Completely ignoring the boy standing in front of him, he began to jump around. To his surprise, no matter how many times he jumped around, he didn't feel any fatigue.
He first plucked a handful of grass from the ground below before rubbing it and then smelling his hands.
"Holy shit... What a realism." He then picked up the stick and began to swing it around. He even circled around the boy in front of him. Sometimes crouching, sometimes jumping. There was even a time when he tried to jump and stand at the top of his head.
Thankfully, even though Yang Ze didn't have any cultivation, his body was much stronger than an ordinary person due to the countless treasures that he had consumed. This saved him from the embarrassment of falling down.
"Ahem!" He cleared his throat, wanting to explain a few things to the man in front of him.
Gust, on the other hand, couldn't care less about the brat in front of him.
He softly spoke 'Panel' and sure enough, a small translucent screen appeared in front of him.
[Name: click here to set up a name]
[Realm: None] (0/10 EXP)
There were only two lines, and at the bottom was another option of [LogOut].
The moment he saw the translucent screen, the last shred of doubt in Gust's heart disappeared too.
"Ahem! So, you see, you first need to..." Yang Ze wanted to say a few words, but Gust couldn't care less about them.
Immediately setting up his new name as 'TheLegend27', he ignored the yapping Yang Ze and rushed to the corner of the mountain.
"Since this is a cultivation game, there shouldn't be any fall damage, right?" Licking his lips, he immediately bent his knees and then...
Then he jumped off the cliff.
"Huh!?" Yang Ze, who was still giving a welcome speech, froze mid-sentence as his eyes went wide with disbelief.
"This... this..." Looking at the place from where the man just jumped, he immediately rushed there, trying to see the bloody scene below, only to discover that the man was still falling below.
In less than five seconds, the man had already reached the bottom of the mountain, smashing the head of an unsuspecting wolf that was roaming around.
*BOOOOOOOM
With a loud explosion, both the man and the wolf underneath him were smashed like a meat patty.
And at the same time, a message appeared in front of Yang Ze.
[Congratulations on the first summon reaching Qi Refining Stage 1. You have successfully stepped into the Qi refining Stage 1.]
With this message, Yang Ze felt a warm current enveloping his body as he finally got what he always wanted.
"SPIRITUAL QI!" With an excited face, Yang Ze grabbed his hand only to feel an overwhelming strength in his body. Who would have thought that a talentless waste like him could cultivate one day?
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[Killed Wild Wolf] [+10 EXP]
[Congratulations on stepping into the Qi Refining stage 1.]
[YOU DIED]
[Due to your death, your cultivation will revert to mortal.]
Back on Earth, Gust saw the message appearing one after another with a blank face.
He was still reeling with shock after going through so much. For a moment, he wondered if he was dreaming, but looking at the flux of messages in front of him, he let out a deep breath as his heart began to race.
Just how many years had it been since he felt such a thrill? When was the last time he enjoyed himself this much?
He didn't even care about losing his cultivation, but just closed all the windows and wanted to revive. But to his dismay, there was a timer in front of him.
[10 minutes till revive.]
Helplessly, he could only take off the helmet and observe it quietly, wanting to know more about this thing.
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"That... that motherfucker." After controlling the surging Qi in his body, Yang Ze cursed at the top of his lungs.
He spent so much effort only for that bastard to jump off the cliff. He even wondered if there was something wrong with his brain. After all, what kind of person would jump to their death at the very beginning?
Fortunately, his death wasn't in vain. At least, he gave him the gift of cultivation before dying.
Thinking about it, he was about to let out a smile when he heard the howling of wolves.
"HUH!?" Yang Ze suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.
Rushing to the corner of the mountain, he peeked below only to feel his scalp tingle. There were more than a hundred wolves gathered together, and in the middle of them was a wolf that was as big as an elephant with red fur all over its body that seemed to be burning.
The moment Yang Ze looked down, that wolf looked up too.
In the instant both their gaze met, Yang Ze felt his mind go blank.
"Shit..." Immediately taking a few steps back, Yang Ze cursed that good-for-nothing bastard. Not only did he die, but he also invited such a calamity upon himself.
Yang Ze was already green with regret. Had he known, he would have summoned from a different world. But alas! There was no medicine for regret.
For the first time, he was thankful to be at the top of this half-mountain. Due to its steepness, it was impossible for those wolves to climb.
But the same went for him as well. Just as the wolves couldn't climb the mountain, he, too, couldn't descend. And without any food or water... it was not difficult to guess when he would meet his end.
"Damn it... I need to teach that bastard a few things." Closing his eyes, he could still see the remaining time before his respawn.
Both Yang Ze and Gust could have sworn that these were the most painful ten minutes of their lives.
The moment the countdown ended, Gust put on the headset, and Yang Ze finally saw the ground in front of him squirming before a man popped out of there.
"HAHAHAHA... LET'S GO."
Before Yang Ze even had time to say something, he saw the guy with the name 'TheLegend27' on top of his head begin to run around. Just like before, he would jump, crouch and even wanted to jump at the top of his head.
It wasn't until five minutes had passed did Gust finally focused back on the boy in front of him. He was so engrossed in this newfound sense of freedom and reality that he had ignored him completely.
"Is it an NPC?" Thinking about it, Gust walked in front of Yang Ze before poking his face with his finger.
"Holy shit, the feeling is so real."
Thankfully, it was only Yang Ze, and he was present there; otherwise, the scene of a grown naked man touching the face of a minor would have surely created a ruckus.
"Dear Player, Welcome to the world of cultivation. I am your friend and guide on your journey to..."
"Yeah, whatever." Gust ignored him and kept on poking his face while touching his clothes. "Shit, man, the clothes feel real too."
He still couldn't believe that there were already such advanced virtual reality games out there. And he was the lucky chosen one to test it. For a moment, he couldn't help but wonder if he was someone special. Like a hidden protagonist who needs to save the world from an upcoming invasion.
Initially, Yang Ze endured him, but after the man began to roam his hands all over his body, he finally couldn't bear it anymore. With a snort, he grabbed him by the wrist before tossing him around like a piece of cloth.
"Shit." Gust only felt the world around him blur before he was already lying on the ground. Thankfully, he didn't mess around anymore. After realising that he couldn't descend the mountain and there was no other place to explore besides the empty piece of land, he finally gave up and honestly listened to the boy in front of him.
Yang Ze first gave him the usual boring speech about how he was the chosen one and needed to embark on the path of cultivation. He didn't dare to say anything else for fear of answering too many questions.
What if this bastard realises that he is a sentient being? To him, it would look like talking to an advanced AI. But Yang Ze knew perfectly well what that 'talking' leads to. After all, he had done it firsthand with all the AI models on the market. He would constantly annoy them, slowly leading them into extreme stuff, before the AI would just refuse to answer.
He needed these bastards to work for him, so he couldn't ignore them forever. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't act like an intelligent being. So, his best course of action was to act as an NPC who would occasionally guide them with repeated dialogues.
"OH! There is crafting, building and farming too?" The more Gust listened, the brighter his eyes got. This game seemed to have everything that one might expect from a true open-world role-playing game.
After learning some basics, he finally focused on Yang Ze, who already knew what to say.
"Dear player, your first task is to get familiar with the basic controls. First, build a house, then a farm and finally a well."
Yang Ze spoke without any shame. The rules only worked for the summoned players, not himself. The only thing he could directly receive was the cultivation feedback. Other than that, he had none of the functions that players had. He couldn't craft, build, farm or respawn like them. Neither could he gain experience from activities.
"Oh, sure." Patting his chest, Gust immediately opened his crafting menu and, upon seeing the 'basic axe', 'basic pickaxe', 'basic fishing rod', and 'basic hoe', beamed with a smile.
Looking around, he found a few branches scattered on the ground and a few small stones. After collecting five of each, he finally clicked on the crafting option for the 'basic pickaxe'.
The moment he chose the crafting option, the stones and sticks disappeared, and immediately, a small progress bar appeared in front of him. In less than ten seconds, he was already holding a crude pickaxe that seemed to be the work of an amateur.
Gust was beaming with a smile because of this surreal feeling. He felt like a child who had rediscovered the joy of exploration. To him, everything here was new... everything was something that he had only dreamt of experiencing before. But now that he was truly experiencing it, words were not enough to describe his feelings.
If there was one person besides Gust who was happy, then it would be Yang Ze, who was beaming with smiles. Even though he had created a set of rules, he was still nervous about whether it would work or not.
Thankfully, it worked... and it worked perfectly.
He watched with great interest as Gust began to hit every single rock that was bigger than the size of a basketball. The process of mining was even more magical. Every time he hit the rocks, perfectly round stones that were the size of a tennis ball, would drop on the ground before the rock being mined would disappear without a trace.
Under Yang Ze's watchful eyes, Gust managed to collect more than one hundred stones in less than an hour. During this time, his pickaxe broke a few times. Thankfully, with more than one hundred stones and plenty of wood lying around, it wasn't a problem for him.
After collecting stones, Gust then crafted a 'basic axe' and began to chop off the handful of trees on the mountaintop. For a moment, Yang Ze wanted to stop him. After all, these were the only trees present at their location. But before he could open his mouth, he saw a few small seedlings drop out once the tree disappeared.
"HOLY SHIT..." Yang Ze's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw this scene. He remembered adding the rules that there would be item drops, but he never specified it. After all, if he were to do that, it would take centuries just to add every single item and its drop. So, he just left it.
But who would have thought that it would automatically adjust.
It wasn't long before every single tree disappeared, and Gust finally stopped to take a short rest. Even though he wouldn't get tired, he still felt it was necessary to stop and admire the scenery around him from time to time.
"Well then... Let's build a farm then." With more than thirty saplings in his inventory, Gust immediately chose his next course of action.
Yang Ze on the other hand felt a tremor in his right hand.
"Is it done?" After he summoned the first player, the mark on the back of his hand dimmed. It was only now that it recovered.
Without waiting another second, Yang Ze immediately lifted his hand and softly muttered
"Summon."
It was time to add another person to this mountain.