Chapter 1: Ancient God's Curse
Three years of pandemic, global conflict, unemployment rates climbing in every country, and the world economy sinking into unprecedented hardship.
Then, out of nowhere, a mysterious, era-defining game called "Star Realm 3.0" burst onto the scene — and received massive joint promotion from governments around the world. Speculation swept across every online platform.
"Guys, they're saying this game is 100% holographic full-immersion. Is this something straight out of a novel? They actually pulled it off?"
"Who cares — it goes on sale tomorrow and I've already placed my order. A gaming headset for only 999 yuan. If it's even half as good as they say, that's a steal!"
"Exactly! With every government on the planet backing it, 'Star Realm 3.0' is absolutely the next big economic frontier — it's going to be the next wealth explosion after new-energy vehicles! Don't miss out, brothers. Anyone looking to team up, join the group: axc121237#280..."
"Spare us the spam. I've never seen every government in the world push a single project this hard — let alone a game. Apparently major universities are even handing out headsets for free. They're clearly going all-in on this thing!"
"It really is beyond imagination. Today the gaming sector on global stock markets took a nosedive — practically a market crash. Whether the game delivers or not, with this level of backing, no other game company stands a chance."
"Ha, so is this about relieving unemployment pressure, or cleaning up the gaming industry? Have all the world's governments gone crazy? I just can't wrap my head around it."
"If you can't figure it out, stop trying. Just follow the country's lead — you can't go wrong! The people at the top aren't stupid. If there weren't absolute benefits, they'd never push something on this scale!"
"Hey guys, dumb question: why is it version 3.0? Did the government eat versions 1.0 and 2.0?"
"Ha, I'm wondering the same thing."
"Never mind that — what really gets me is that this game launched with zero background lore. Our guild has no idea how to prep a strategy guide in advance!"
Chen Mo woke up from a drunken stupor to find his social feed completely flooded with "Star Realm 3.0," leaving him utterly bewildered. Had the world changed overnight?
Every group chat, every video platform — all of it was wall-to-wall discussion about this mysterious game. Chen Mo half-wondered if he'd drunk bad liquor the night before. Governments around the world were actually joining forces to promote a game?
Wasn't this all a bit of a joke? Weren't they worried about their citizens losing themselves in entertainment?
If everyone was off playing games, who would drive development? Who would build anything?
The online economy that had grown over the past few years had already hollowed out a generation of ambitious young people. Throw a game on top of that, and wouldn't everyone just be completely done for?
Honestly, Chen Mo couldn't make sense of it — why would every government in the world unite to promote a single game, almost as if they were herding people into it?
Could it really be as the internet masses said — that they were using this game as humanity's "second world" to ease employment pressure and redirect the energy fueling wars and conflicts?
No matter how he looked at it, Chen Mo found it a stretch.
That said, as someone with rich experience in both entrepreneurship and bankruptcy, he also understood perfectly well: even if he couldn't figure it out, he couldn't deny that this was absolutely a golden opportunity. Grab it right, and a comeback wasn't out of the question.
The reason he'd gotten drunk last night was simple enough — three years of entrepreneurship, total bankruptcy, a breakup thrown in for good measure, back to being single. Might as well celebrate with a drink.
A new opportunity, a new beginning. Staring at his bank balance — just barely enough to cover next quarter's rent — Chen Mo gritted his teeth and ordered a gaming headset online anyway.
February 10, 2024, 10:00 AM. "Star Realm 3.0" officially went live.
After a full month of waiting, Chen Mo was beyond eager. He adjusted his posture, put on the headset, and entered the game.
A wave of dizziness washed over him, and then he found himself in a breathtaking space glittering with stars. Before he could even marvel at the game's terrifyingly realistic technology, a pleasant System chime rang in his ear.
Ding. "Welcome to Star Realm 3.0. Please name your character."
"Buyu."
Ding. "Name is unique. Naming successful. Scanning your biometric data — please stand by."
Within a few seconds, Chen Mo watched in astonishment as a human model nearly identical to himself slowly took shape — facial features, height, even the proportions of his limbs perfectly replicated — before being draped in an extremely plain set of clothing.
This game was absolutely insane.
Though it was a bit of a privacy invasion, wasn't it?
This was definitely going to stir up controversy.
But it was undeniably real.
Those loli-playing middle-aged men and beauty-filter addicts were completely out of luck now!
Ding. "Biometric sampling complete. Game character template generated. Please confirm whether the bound citizen information needs to be modified."
"Name: Chen Mo
Country: Dragon Nation
ID Number: 3607***53
Primary Bank Card: 6208***110
Confirm?"
"Confirm."
Ding. "Basic character information setup complete. Please wait patiently for the game to officially activate."
Ding. "Each registered player represents one activation point. Current activation progress: 589,900,022 / 1,000,000,000. Please do not go offline during the wait."
Chen Mo stared at the long activation progress bar in front of him and was instantly speechless.
One billion?!
Suddenly, things started to make a little more sense. This was why every government in the world had to jointly promote this game — without the active participation of citizens worldwide, they couldn't even get enough activations to launch the servers. What kind of insane design was this?
Still, it proved the game was truly going to be massive. It had only been online for a few minutes, and already over five hundred million people had completed registration. That was genuinely terrifying.
You could easily imagine global simultaneous online players exceeding one billion. As long as the game's design didn't fall flat, there was no way it wouldn't explode in popularity.
Ding. "Activation progress: 1,000,000,000 / 1,000,000,000. Star Realm 3.0 activation successful. Enter the game?"
"Enter."
Ding. "Default pain sensitivity is set to 30%. Please refrain from self-harm."
With that confirmation, his field of vision shifted in a moment, and in an instant he found himself in a densely crowded environment.
All around him were players dressed in nearly identical outfits — men and women alike in plain cloth shirts, cloth trousers, and straw sandals, distinguished only by their varying heights and appearances. Everyone was frantically trying out different movements.
"Holy crap, this is way too realistic!"
"Why does my body feel even more agile than in real life?!"
"Huh, it actually hurts a little. Getting bitten by a monster is going to be wild."
"Hey! Whose hands are those — don't let me catch you, pervert!"
Listening to the chaotic chatter all around him, Chen Mo raised his left hand, then his right, flexing and moving them in wonder. He jumped in place a few times with complete ease — no stiffness, no lag whatsoever. Truly 100% full immersion!
If not for the System chime in his ear, he wouldn't have been able to tell whether he was in the game or reality.
Ding. "Player Buyu has successfully entered Starter Village 1000191. Drawing player talent — please do not go offline!"
Ding. "Beginner's Manual has been distributed. Please check it at your convenience."
Ding. "Talent draw successful. Player attribute panel has been automatically generated. Please check it at your convenience."
Chen Mo immediately opened his attribute panel.
Player: Buyu
Level: 1
EXP: 0 / 1,000
HP: 100 / 100
Energy: 100 / 100
Agility: 10
Physical Defense: 10
Magic Defense: 10
Physical Damage: 10
Magic Damage: 10
Free Attribute Points: 0
Note: HP and Energy attributes receive a 10× multiplier from free attribute points.
All players' initial Seven-Dimensional Attributes are distributed uniformly.
Talent: Ancient God's Curse
Rank: Black Iron (Upgradeable)
Blessed by a supreme ancient god, enemy targets struck by the player's attacks will have an additional stack of Ancient God's Curse applied.
Base Effect: Deals -1 True Damage per second for 100 seconds. HP cannot be recovered while under the curse.
Hidden Effect: Killing Elite-tier or higher monsters continuously increases True Damage. Killing Boss-tier monsters continuously upgrades the talent's rank.
Even though it had been years since he'd seriously played a game, Chen Mo immediately sensed that his character's talent was anything but ordinary.
The Black Iron talent's stats might look like garbage at first glance, but in the late game, as True Damage kept stacking up, it would become absolutely terrifying.
After all, True Damage ignores all defenses!
And the nastiest part was that HP couldn't be recovered while under the curse — the target could only watch helplessly as the curse slowly drained them to death, powerless to stop it.
Hiss — brutal.
Moreover, the talent rank had "(Upgradeable)" noted right after it. As long as the talent's hidden effects were triggered, not only would the base stats keep improving, but the rank itself would continue to rise — who knew what other surprises might be waiting.
This game had serious potential!
The only question was whether other players' talents were also upgradeable, or fixed.