Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

On the first day of the long National Day holiday, 1:00 p.m. 𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗻𝐨𝐯𝗲𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The first batch of 300 (actually 299) closed beta slots available on the official website had all been claimed.

Yang Qiu, who had been busy writing quest text, took a moment to see the 290 helmets that had been ordered, then observed the only three players frolicking about the "game world"…

After some thought, he used the real-time transmissibility provided by the Mind Imprint Matrix to issue an announcement to the three "online" using the role of an online GM.

The three players, who were exploring Exile Town after picking up the dropped items, saw two rows of yellow text appearing simultaneously before their eyes.

[The closed beta will end in 10 minutes of game time. Players online are requested to return to the respawn point in the safe zone and log off promptly.]

[Player's data (equipment, tools, etc.) may be lost if the log-off isn't done at the safe zone.]

All three players cried out in unison.

"What the hell?!"

"We've only just started and the server is shutting down already…? No way!"

"We've been playing for almost six hours??" Hardcore gamer Qin Guan had just shouted out in frustration, but a quick glance at the game time left him startled. "Have we been online for that long? How's that possible? Why does it seem like it's only been a while?"

"Yeah, it feels like we've only played for three or four hours, and I haven't even gotten enough fun yet," said Give Me Medicine, also a hardcore player, discontentedly.

"Umm… we have indeed been playing for quite some time," casual player Blossoming Strokes spoke objectively. "After we died and logged back in, it took us over half an hour to avoid the rat to retrieve the clothes. Then, we went around the beginner town, completed four quests given by zombie NPCs, and we're now on the fifth."

"Ah, makes sense." Give Me Medicine nodded. "My Potential increased a little, it's 43 now."

"Yeah, mine has increased to 49 too." Blossoming Strokes was especially pleased with this particular advantage of hers. "When we re-logged in after the death, there was new information showing that reaching a Potential of 50 would allow us to reach level 1. I'm nearly there!"

"Both of your Potentials have increased, but mine hasn't! I'm still at 37! I can't believe it! This is so unfair!" Qin Guan stomped his feet in frustration.

"Don't fret, your Potential will surely increase if you do more NPC quests." The other two swiftly reassured their unfortunate companion as they proceeded toward the revival point, still holding on to their quest tools from an NPC. "Once the server is back up and running, let's make a pact to log in and quest together. Even if we reach level 1, we'll accompany you till you catch up."

Qin Guan and Give Me Medicine, not to mention Blossoming Strokes, who was a more casual gamer, had all experienced numerous games on the market. When it came to regular games, most players would exhibit impatience with completing quests—controlling on-screen characters to repeatedly run around and engage in monotonous monster battles would get incredibly tedious. Regardless of how compelling a storyline a game was, players would get tired of it.

However, "OtherWorld" was an exception. This full-immersive black technology game captivated their senses, igniting a sense of novelty with every unexplored vista and unfamiliar encounter.

Had it not been for that colossal rat scaring them, the trio might have already ventured beyond the confines of Exile Town, reveling in boundless exploration…

When they returned to the platform serving as their spawn, revival, and log-out point, the trio bid their farewells, having already exchanged real-world contact information, and logged out in succession.

Yang Qiu waited for the three players' skeleton avatars to descend into the subterranean tomb… uh, space, before promptly deactivating the Mind Imprint Matrix and sealing the spatial rift that bridged the servers on both ends.

After which, he hastily departed to distribute helmets to players that had made their payments.

The Mind Imprint Matrix can be activated anywhere, but establishing a physical connection between is much more troublesome… But if they aren't connected, players won't be able to download game screenshots or videos from Earth.

Yang Qiu contemplated the challenges that would arise upon the game's official launch amid the flurry of helmet deliveries.

The servers he procured didn't require computing power for the game's operation; they solely served as relay hubs for uploading and downloading screenshots and videos. However, for this relay hub to facilitate instantaneous file transfers, the spatial rift had to remain open.

The spatial rift was something that couldn't be revealed or discovered by anyone else. Yang Qiu needed to remain in close proximity to the spatial rift during the periods when it was accessible.

And so, the same old issue arose once more. He had merely disguised the magic plane as a game and not truly turned it into one. In order to increase game content and expand the exploratory space for players, Yang Qiu had to personally lay the groundwork and ensure a good enough guise. How could he spend all his time squatting in the server room?

…Let's use the plan I considered before. Screenshots and recorded videos taken by players in the game will be categorized within the "Mental Imprint" disguised as the "Personal Log" panel. When players return to the respawn point and log off, the data in their "Personal Log" will be synchronized and uploaded to the server over there.

If they don't log off at the respawn point, then I won't care… Mmm, we can regard this as falling under the category of "data loss resulting from irregular log-out," which is ultimately the player's own responsibility.

Downloading on Earth… requires a day's delay before being allowed to do so… So, I'll open the spatial rift once daily and use the physical connection to transfer the data on that server to the one here. Less frequent opening of the spatial rift would also minimize the risk of being exposed.

Being unable to download their screenshots and videos at any time was bound to result in some disgruntled players, but that wasn't a major issue. After all, there didn't exist any game in the world that could achieve 100% user satisfaction.

Yang Qiu spent over half the first day of the National Day holiday dispatching the 290 helmets via courier. It was already dark by the time he returned to his server room in the suburbs.

Yang Qiu mulled over the sparse game content, imperfect quest system, and the absence of functional NPCs that had been revealed during the closed beta. Then, he decided to end this initial closed beta and schedule the next one to begin in two days.

After posting an announcement about the second delayed beta, Yang Qiu packed some daily essentials into the spatial ring before opening the spatial rift and heading forth into the magic plane.

Elsewhere, the first three beta testers, along with the additional six players that missed the initial session, finally received the announcement of the delayed launch at 8 in the evening and couldn't help expressing their disappointment in unison.

Deflated, Qin Guan couldn't muster up any strength to even edit the second video and went to bed early out of frustration.

Perhaps due to playing the game for over seven hours (in-game time), or because of the anticipation that had been building throughout the whole afternoon, Qin Guan enjoyed a remarkably restful night's sleep and didn't wake up till the next morning.

A groggy Qin Guan, still lying on his bed, reached for his phone, and upon unlocking it, he was surprised to find that all his social media apps were showing 99+ notifications…