Mingyan then began testing the "online component" with Xia Cheng once again.
They were born in a novice hunter camp and soon received their first mission: to hunt 10 dodos—a clumsy, flightless, and non-retaliation novice bird.
After receiving the mission, the two left the camp and immediately enjoyed the scenery of the pristine grassland.
The vast expanse of green is bathed in the golden, tranquil sunlight, which lazily falls on your hands, creating a warm and tingling sensation.
The fresh scent of grass and trees wafts on the gentle breeze, accompanied by the tender chirping of dodo birds in the distance.
“Wow—” Xia Cheng said, “It’s almost identical to the real grassland, no, it should be said to be even more dreamlike.”
Mingyan smiled and said, "Yes, we reached an agreement with the supplier at the beginning of the year on a new version of the VR device. Now we have a more advanced light sensor, and the speed of human neural connection has also been improved by about 12%."
Two hunters, dressed in the leather uniforms issued to novice hunters, walked toward the grassland with great interest.
Mingyan chose a short sword and a shield, while Xia Cheng first took out the longbow from his back.
Xia Cheng drew the bow to its full extent and tried to shoot an arrow first. This relatively primitive recurve bow did not have the assistance of modern equipment, so it took him some time to get used to it, but he soon hunted his first dodo bird.
The poor little bird left a corpse behind. Mingyan took out the hunter's knife from his belt and symbolically inserted the tip of the knife into the dodo bird's corpse, quickly obtaining the corresponding decomposition products.
Xia Cheng asked, "So realistic? You have to personally dissect every single corpse?"
Mingyan nodded and said, "This is an important part of the player's sense of accomplishment. Later on, players can consider raising some pets. Most pets can help decompose corpses and carry loot, otherwise players won't be able to carry all the loot from an expedition."
"The bow and arrow feel pretty good."
As Xia Cheng said this, he couldn't stop shooting once he started, and in one go he shot up all the dodo birds that were leisurely wandering around nearby.
The two men walked and collected the bodies as they went, and soon reached the edge of a thicket.
Xia Cheng asked, "Can we go to other terrains during the mission?"
“That’s all possible,” Ming said. “There are no restrictions on that. You can accept the mission and travel around the world. At most, if you don’t have enough time, the mission will automatically fail.”
Xia Cheng eagerly said, "Let's go in and take a look!"
Mingyan thought for a moment, then said nothing and quietly followed behind him.
The ecological environment in shrublands is obviously much more complex than that in grasslands.
The grassland stretches out in all directions, where you can see dodos, some giant rhinoceros-like creatures, a pack of blue wolves hunting, and large birds circling in the sky.
But even Xia Cheng, the MVP of the wilderness survival club, was caught off guard and struck by a sudden attack in the bushes.
—Although he carefully tucked his trousers in and put on gloves as soon as he went in, he turned back to Mingyan and said mysteriously, “Be careful, there are usually a lot of mosquitoes in the woods. Doing this can effectively prevent mosquito bites.”
Mingyan: "...You mean, to prevent it from biting?"
Then Xia Cheng turned around and saw a mosquito taller than a person! Its six pairs of thin, cicada-wing-like wings flapped together, making not a "buzzing" sound, but a "whooshing" sound!
Before Xia Cheng could even open his eyes wide, the mosquito's enormous proboscis was already right in front of him.
“…” Mingyan silently drew his knife.
Fortunately, this bushland was only a one-and-a-half-star difficulty area, and the two of them dealt with the giant mosquitoes in just over a minute.
Xia Cheng knocked down a bottle of blood-replenishing medicine and started again: "Wife, wait for me here and don't wander around. I'll go and bring back some royal jelly for you to eat."
Mingyan shrugged: "Go ahead."
He silently climbed the nearest big tree, hid himself in an abandoned bird nest, opened the teammates' channel, and quietly watched Xia Cheng do something reckless.
Comrade Xia Cheng ventured deep into the woods (a combat area with a difficulty level of three stars). The first thing he saw was a giant, scarlet bullfrog. Just as he happily pulled out his knife to deal with it, he discovered that the bullfrog was engaged in a fierce battle with a mink.
Both monsters were exceptionally agile, and the chase alone left Xia Cheng drenched in sweat.
Finally, a giant python appeared out of nowhere, swallowed the bullfrog whole, and, still not satisfied, looked over here—
Without hesitation, the mink scrambled up the tree and disappeared without a trace.
Xia Cheng was left being chased relentlessly, his stamina completely depleted. Just as he was about to die, he suddenly felt a lightness in his body—
A giant eagle grabbed him and lifted him into the air within seconds.
Xia Cheng swallowed several mouthfuls of northwest wind: "Awooo! Let me down—no, no, no, don't let me down—"
However, the giant eagle's feeding method is to first kill its prey by throwing it to the ground, and then it will obediently let go.
"..."
Xia Cheng, died.
A moment later, Xia Cheng was reborn in the hunter's camp.
Mingyan first completed the task of collecting 10 dodo birds, exchanged the money for a jar of honey, handed it to Xia Cheng, and said with a smile, "This game doesn't encourage challenging opponents above your level. Be good, honey."
Xia Cheng slumped down and finished drinking the honey. He then said, "The longbow isn't suitable for that kind of terrain. It seems I still need a stronger melee weapon."
After saying that, he went to the beginner training ground and exchanged his sword for a greatsword.
The long katana, reaching a meter in length, is usually hung horizontally at the waist of the figure. The long, narrow, and gleaming blade can be seen through the leather scabbard.
One word: Cool!
Xia Cheng brandished his katana with great enthusiasm, and following the video tutorial, he even learned two more simple moves.
Mingyan couldn't bear to tell him: Honey, our design philosophy on Blue Star is this—the cooler something looks, the weaker its functionality…