Chapter 191: Newbie Enters the Pit, New Scene Exploration

"Hahaha, the qualification is mine."

Opening the red envelope, a flash of golden, dazzling light vanished in an instant.

The red envelope shell dissolved into specks of starlight, and a golden paper strip appeared in Tu Bai's hand, printed with the two characters "Qualification."

A game prompt also rang out in his mind:

【Event Prompt: Congratulations on obtaining the Challenger Qualification. Activate and use within 24 hours (expired qualifications will vanish).】

Facing the hysterical wails and curses of the tourists from various races nearby, Tu Bai's face beamed with a brilliant smile.

Participating in this event, he hadn't held out much hope.

After all, the number of tourists participating in the event was huge, and the probability of him drawing it was too low.

More importantly, he had participated in the event too late.

The event opened on the night of New Year's Eve, but at that time he was watching players battle in the arena in the Monster World official website live stream, watching for several days straight, completely unaware that the officials were distributing qualifications at that time.

To better immerse himself, he would close the comment section and danmu when watching live streams, experiencing it immersively from the first-person perspective of a game streamer.

What the tourists in the live stream chatted about during this period, he simply didn't know.

Later, because the several streamers he followed hadn't caught the Ancient God bus at the Colorful Mist Coast, he thought about logging off to order a batch of new nutrient solutions.

As soon as he logged off, he noticed something was wrong.

He was surprised to discover that the Monster World officials had actually distributed game qualifications.

Facts proved that one still needed a few good friends in reality; otherwise, when there were welfare events, no one would remind you.

The event had been open for three days, and he hadn't been able to participate for a single day.

Usually shouting for qualifications, but when qualifications were actually distributed, he wasn't even there.

This made Tu Bai pound his chest and stomp his feet; even though the probability was already slim, he still felt he had missed out on a hundred million.

Actually, compared to a hundred million, he wanted the Monster World game qualification more.

Things a hundred million could buy, he could basically buy in reality.

As for cars and houses, commodities pursued by Old Era humans, they were no longer applicable to this era.

Cars driving on the road were basically driverless vehicles controlled by city smart brains.

Showing off the value of a car would only be considered stupid.

In comparison, Old Era cars were a matter of face; whoever drove a luxury car had face wherever they went.

But now cars were long gone from that vibe; driverless technology was ubiquitous, cars had become "shared bicycles," you could call one with an app, didn't even need to touch a steering wheel, didn't even need a driver, and didn't have to worry about parking difficulties or traffic jams.

Everything was handled by the smart brain, always giving the optimal route.

The only thing to do was sit inside, scroll on a phone for a while, and wait to arrive at the destination.

Even many cities had cancelled taxi fees, changing to free use of driverless vehicles.

Cars truly achieved the attribute of a travel tool, with no other attached value whatsoever.

Houses had a bit more presence than cars, but they weren't any better.

No one cared how big or luxurious a house was in reality; after all, everyone lived in the virtual world, who still cared how many houses you had in reality?

If someone showed off real estate in reality, everyone would just think it was boring, or even think this guy hadn't even figured out the virtual world.

In an era where most members of various races spent the majority of their time in the virtual world, there were quite a few who showed off virtual real estate, but very few who showed off real estate in reality within the virtual world.

The era's way of showing off wealth had long changed; the virtual world was the main stage.

This was also the reason why members of various races invested huge amounts of funds into the virtual world every year.

So comparing the value of a hundred million and the Monster World game qualification, the vast majority of people leaned towards the Monster World game qualification.

Especially those tourist players who watched live streams every day.

Every day they would praise the Star Net in different live streams, trying to obtain the game qualification bestowed by the Star Net through this method.

Whether doing this had meaning was uncertain.

But what could be confirmed was that the Star Net, which monitored the entire network, could receive all information on the internet.

Who knows, it might just give a qualification.

As long as there was a tiny possibility, this group of tourist players didn't want to miss it.

Tu Bai was also this type of player.

Every day upon entering the live stream, he would first say "Praise the Star Net," then block the comment section and danmu, and start watching the streamer explore the Monster World immersively.

His favorite live stream category was the arena; he just loved watching the hot-blooded battles.

This time, logging off and discovering the Monster World qualification distribution event had already been open for three days, while feeling regret for acting too late, he decisively participated in it.

The result was something he hadn't expected; in the red envelope grabbing event at 12 AM, he secured a game qualification with just one attempt.

He originally thought about accumulating event points to draw for a game qualification, but the highest prize came directly into his hands.

It was like just preparing to run a marathon, but the champion's medal was given directly.

It felt like instantly becoming the chosen one.

This made him happier than winning a lottery jackpot; he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Facing the disdainful glances from all around, Tu Bai smiled and raised the golden paper strip, turning in a circle to show it off:

"Friends of the various races, see you in the live stream next time."

Before the members of the various races could start blasting, Tu Bai decisively summoned the system panel and chose to log off.

After the game pod opened, Tu Bai, excited in his heart, didn't bother changing out of his game clothes and went straight to the computer desk.

He woke the pitch-black screen and entered the Monster World official website.

He saw that a "Download" option had appeared on the official website interface.

Facts proved this wasn't a hallucination derived from his endless longing; he really had obtained the game qualification.

But he didn't rush to click download.

He picked up the phone from the computer desk, turned the camera to the front-facing lens, leaned his face close to the computer screen, raised his left thumb, grinned, and took a selfie with the download prompt on the official page.

Click!

"Upload to Moments!"

The Moments that hadn't been updated in ten thousand years finally had some flex material.

The gold content of this screenshot is more valuable than posting a lottery win.

The title is: Invincible, Lonely.

Caption: About how I casually clicked a red packet and accidentally became the Chosen One.

After pressing publish, Tu Bai put down the phone and turned his gaze to the Monster World official website.

"Monster World, start!"

Click, he pressed the left mouse button and clicked download.

One hour later.

Tu Bai's figure appeared in a glowing white space, and four large characters flashed before his eyes.

Di Ku Shi Jie.

As for this new spatial node, he had seen challenger tips while watching the livestream.

But what kind of place the Di Ku Shi Jie actually is, he did not know.

Nearby were members of various races crowding together; from their clothing, it was clear they were all newbies who had just gained qualification through the event, just like him.

Summoning the spatial map, he walked straight toward the exit direction.

Leaving the newbie village space, a vast wasteland presented itself before his eyes.

Time here seemed frozen; the sky was gray-blue, the earth had been worn pitted and uneven by years of wind and sand, and on the gray-brown land, one could occasionally see a few clumps of withered yellow wild grass; within sight, machine wreckage was everywhere.

A large number of newbie players gathered near the exit, making the regional chat channel of the scene exceptionally lively.

"Looking for people to form a party, DPS only, efficient leveling."

"Any veteran players willing to carry newbies to level up? Please carry, I don't want my first death to be too hasty."

"Looking for a Stone Statue build fixed party; there are several young and beautiful ladies in the party, no potion fees required, fair distribution of rewards and resources."

"Fixed party missing one support build player; preferably a support with virtual game experience."

Although newbies only had one initial Painful Painful Minghun on them, having watched many livestreams and forum guides, many players knew the importance of forming parties when exploring the Monster World.

Many fixed parties had already started looking for the rarest tank-type players.

Although Tu Bai played a melee build, his initial Painful Painful Minghun choice was the Forceful Axe, not a tank build.

Having watched many livestreams, he felt the melee build looked incredibly cool in the arena.

Magic, support, and tank, these three builds did not perform strongly in the arena.

Magic builds are glass cannons and die very easily.

Support and tank builds have too low damage; most of the time in the arena, they just get beaten up.

Only the melee build's performance was bright enough.

After all, the arena is a 1v1 environment; the version's darling magic builds are very strong on the battlefield, but they fall far short in the arena.

Scrolling through the party list in the regional voice channel, he found a party and sent a party request.

Not long after, a party acceptance notification sounded in his mind.

Then a middle-aged man's shout rang out in the party voice channel:

"Brother, come over quickly, we found a monster."

Following the blue teammate markers on the map, Tu Bai rushed toward the nearby location.

Crossing a small hill piled with machine wreckage, he saw countless players fighting various types of robots on the wasteland.

His small squad had four members, all uniformly wearing the black cloth clothes exclusive to newbies.

The squad leader was a member of the Hearing Hei Yu race, with a head black enough to shine, and his skin was deathly pale.

The entire squad consisted of two Human race members and two Hearing Hei Yu race members.

Summoning the Forceful Axe that shimmered with Jin Guang, Tu Bai decisively joined the battle.

His gaze turned to the robot currently fighting his teammates.

Its body was rounded, like a large metal tray flipped over onto two flexible mechanical wheels, its silver-white shell covered in fine textures.

After Analysis activated, relevant information floated into Tu Bai's mind.

【Cleaning Robot T1】:

Hunting Level: 2

Target Introduction: A cleaning robot crafted by the Guardian race, responsible for cleaning, organizing, and collecting machine wreckage; equipped with an advanced cleaning program, it can accurately identify various types of trash and sort-process them, especially skilled at cleaning stubborn stains.

Seeing his teammates fighting so fiercely, he had thought it was a very formidable target.

It turned out to just be a Level 2 Hunter housekeeping robot.

With disdain in his heart, Tu Bai shouted loudly, lifted his battle axe, joined the battle, and swung down at the robot:

"Move over."

Hearing this, the squad leader decisively sidestepped to make space, but before Tu Bai's battle axe could strike the housekeeping robot, two metal rods popped out from beneath the robot's shell and smashed heavily at his ankles with a sweeping motion.

His legs shifted sideways, his head went down, and he fell solidly to the ground, knocking out a front tooth.

While feeling the pain, he felt he had made a huge fool of himself.

He had actually been sanctioned by a housekeeping robot.

"Brother, are you okay?" The captain helped him up, then stepped forward, only to be swept down by the vacuum cleaner robot's rod as well.

This robot seemed weak, but once the fight began, it turned out to be far from the case.

Having watched countless players in the livestreams perform heroically in the arena, the first real clash with a monster revealed that melee combat truly hurt like hell.

After just one heavy blow, a thought surfaced in his mind.

Actually... magic users aren't bad either.

But the battle wasn't over; after the captain fell, Tu Bai immediately stepped up, only to be knocked down again.

Compared to the two magic users behind them, who dealt stable damage with a scatter-shot bow, he and the captain were like two unfortunate souls, standing at the front and taking constant hits.

After being knocked down once more, soft bristles plowed back and forth over his head, followed by a suction cup being placed on top of his skull.

Tu Bai felt as if his very soul was being sucked out; when the captain pulled him away, he discovered all the hair on his head had been vacuumed clean.

Leaving behind a bald head polished to a brilliant shine.

Tu Bai's miserable appearance caused his teammates to burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, Tu Bai's future vision of "slaughtering everywhere" after entering the Monster World was shattered by the vacuum cleaner robot.

Facing this predicament, Tu Bai gritted his teeth, got up, and continued the attack.

The vacuum cleaner robot's attack methods were divided into four types.

First were the sweeping attacks from two metal rods, which seemed to be the robot's arms used for moving heavy objects.

Second was the powerful suction cup, obviously used for vacuuming dust and absorbing trash.

The third attack method was a high-speed rotating brush; the damage was low, but the humiliation was extreme.

The final attack method involved spitting out a chemical substance, seemingly used for dissolving stubborn stains, and this was also the most damaging attack.

Gradually figuring out the vacuum cleaner robot's attack patterns, Tu Bai seized an opportunity and finally managed to strike the robot with the war axe in his hand.

He left a dent on its silver-white shell, only to be knocked down again by the robot, its brush washing his face.

Although the battle was arduous, Tu Bai had already felt the joy brought by a truly immersive game.

During the fight, the teammates' loud chatter felt like pushing a boss, and the strangeness between him and the new teammates quickly faded away in the process.

After more than ten minutes of effort, the vacuum cleaner robot, now missing both arms, finally could not hold on; the lights flashing intermittently on its surface suddenly flickered at high frequency before going out, leaving it motionless.

Immediately, an invisible force decomposed the core inside the robot, and a game notification rang in the minds of Tu Bai and his teammates.

The remaining wreckage of the robot was sacrificed to Beneath Di Zhao, and the Shou Shou Jili obtained was divided equally among the team members.

Compared to monster-type lifeforms.

The vacuum cleaner robot gave very few evolution points, far less than the level 2 monsters of the Colorful Mist Coast, but the Shou Shou Jili reward given after the kill was significantly higher.

Sitting on the ground, Tu Bai panted heavily and unconsciously touched his bald head, causing his teammates to burst into laughter again.

"Phew, melee is way too hard; I'm starting to regret it."

Sitting beside him, the captain, covered in sweat, nodded with a smile:

"Before entering the game, I realized this issue. Only players with faith can persist in melee combat; melee in this game is a completely different concept from melee in other games. The high proportion of magic users isn't without reason, but I still chose melee because I have faith."

What the captain said was exactly what Tu Bai was thinking.

Watching and playing are two completely different things.

Perfect sensory feedback makes the experience of melee combat especially thrilling.

Facing the vacuum cleaner robot's sweeping attack, before it even hit him, he instinctively bared his teeth, sensing the pain a step in advance, and his body would instinctively dodge.

This intense sense of immersion is something other games do not have.

Secondly, the muscle soreness and even muscle strains during combat are real.

In comparison, the importance of the health bar is not as high as imagined.

This differs essentially from traditional games.

In other games, players rely on the health bar, a visual representation of status, to perceive their own condition.

As the health bar gradually decreases, players know they are in danger and need to take measures such as consuming potions or dodging attacks.

During combat, players must focus their attention highly on the changes in the health bar's numerical value; the thin bar is the sole indicator of a character's life or death.

But in the game Monster World, the health bar is more like an optional decoration, merely a statistic of the body's overall condition.

Fatigue, pain... various factors all affect combat power, with no difference from reality.

For example, even with a healthy health bar, a muscle strain caused by overexertion can drastically reduce combat power.

As the strategy-focused players on the forum said, in intense battles, status is the most important core indicator; players don't even need to look at the health bar, as veterans can judge whether they are low on health by feeling the changes in their body's condition.

Therefore, the health bar is merely a vague statistic of body condition, far less direct than real sensory feedback.

This is the most cruel aspect of the game Monster World, yet also its most thrilling setting.

It brings a sense of immersion that other games cannot match.

So it is not difficult to understand why ranged damage-dealing schools in the game far outnumber melee schools.

This phenomenon can be summarized in two words: fear of pain.

From a technical standpoint, the skill requirements for melee players also far exceed those of magic users.

Precise positioning to dodge, control of attack rhythm, environmental observation, distance management... in the ever-changing battle, the time given to melee players to react is very short, requiring them to maintain a state of high concentration at all times.

The currently recognized strongest technical school, the "Assassin School," represents the technical players.

Most importantly, melee players are the scapegoats for party wipes.

Taking beatings, bearing the blame, wasting money on potions, high pressure... no wonder a saying circulates on the forum: Melee? Even dogs won't play it.

You rush up to aggro the monster, and if you die unexpectedly, teammates will say: "What are you feeding?"

If you hesitate for a moment, teammates will say: "What are you cowardly about?"

Being stuck between a rock and a hard place is the daily reality for melee players.

"Captain, why do you play the Golem School?" While panting heavily, Tu Bai looked at the captain and asked curiously.

"In other games I've played, I've always gone with melee combat. I've watched a lot of Monster World livestreams, and I think melee fighters are the real warriors!"

"They use their flesh and blood to build a defensive line for their teammates, using their lives to show what 'if I don't enter hell, who will' really means… Sure, taking the blame is the norm, but as long as you perform well, you're the most dazzling presence on the field. I felt this strongest when watching Divine King command — after all, without the melee fighters' sacrifices, where would the back line's comfort come from?"

"I like the feeling of being the core of the team."

Tu Bai listened, then gave a thumbs-up:

"Captain, what you just said gave me the motivation to keep going."

"Mm, try to stick with it. If you really feel like you can't adapt, you can switch to support or the magic system. Our team was just formed, we're short on everything, and we'll support whatever style you want to switch to."

After chatting for a while, Tu Bai, having recovered his stamina, rose with his teammates and headed forward to explore.

All along the way, the area was full of newbie player figures — the exploration phase right after a scene opens, full of fun.

Facing low-hunting-level robots, the nearby newbie players fought them like they were pushing a boss. Amid the constant gasps, cheers of successfully killing robots were mixed in, and the atmosphere on site was as heated as a grand carnival party.

This feeling can only be described with one word: awesome!

(End of chapter)