As a mixed-race individual, Theresa’s family background was somewhat complex. Her mother was said to be a noble from Country Y, though by her maternal grandfather’s generation, the family had already lost its title. However, their wealth remained substantial.
Her grandfather’s family operated a large-scale farm that combined agricultural cultivation and livestock breeding. Every summer vacation, Theresa would spend time at her grandfather’s farm with her brothers, where she learned horseback riding and archery. All three siblings were quite skilled in both riding and archery.
As for swordsmanship, it wasn’t Western fencing but authentic Chinese martial arts.
Both of Theresa’s maternal grandparents were enthusiasts of Chinese culture. Under their influence, her mother also developed a deep appreciation for Chinese traditions. During her university years, she chose to study abroad in China, where she met Theresa’s father. The two married shortly after graduation.
When Theresa was young, her striking cuteness nearly led to her being abducted by human traffickers. Though she escaped unharmed, the incident left her family deeply shaken.
After discussing the matter, the adults decided that all three siblings should learn some form of self-defense.
Given their mother’s side of the family’s fascination with Chinese culture and their admiration for Chinese martial arts, it was unanimously decided that Theresa and her brothers would learn Chinese martial arts.
However, no one expected Theresa to ultimately choose swordsmanship.
It wasn’t that swordsmanship was undesirable, but learning it required a sword, didn’t it?
In modern-day China, bladed weapons are regulated items and cannot be carried in public, which contradicted their original intentions.
Nevertheless, because Theresa was passionate about it, her family ultimately granted her wish and allowed her to pursue swordsmanship. They would find a solution for the weapon issue separately.
In the end, they did resolve the problem.
Only sharpened blades are considered regulated items; unsharpened ones are not. After Theresa had mastered her skills, they commissioned a custom-made, unsharpened sword for her.
Additionally, since the sword’s length made it impractical to carry around, it was designed as a collapsible longsword that could be freely extended and folded. Though unsharpened and inconspicuous when stored, its effectiveness was no less than that of weapons like steel pipes or crowbars.
The sword was made of a special material, and despite its lack of sharpness, its offensive power was considerable. Theresa had used it to bravely take down numerous wrongdoers.
She had grown accustomed to her sword, and though she couldn’t bring the actual weapon into the game, when customizing her character’s appearance, she decided to test a potential bug by having the game scan her longsword. To her surprise, it worked. The sword hanging at her waist now was a replica of her own.
Without exaggeration, given the material and craftsmanship of her sword, it could undoubtedly be considered a divine weapon within the game’s world setting.
Aside from the abilities gained through her character’s backstory, Theresa discovered that she had also brought her wood-based supernatural ability with her when she crossed over.
Earth, having entered the 28th century, had once teetered on the brink of an apocalyptic scenario back in the 24th century.
At that time, a meteor shower brought a miraculous substance to Earth. Fortunately, this substance was not as destructive as depicted in novels. On the contrary, it unlocked the potential of Earth’s living beings, not only extending the lifespan of all organisms but also enabling some humans, animals, and plants to evolve supernatural abilities.
However, these abilities were not as powerful as those portrayed in movies or novels. Except for a very few individuals, most ability users could only do things like lighting a cigarette with fire or conjuring a cup of pure water to quench their thirst—quite trivial and impractical.
By the time Theresa lived, the ability to awaken supernatural powers had become widespread among Earth’s population, though the power level remained the same—essentially useless.
Theresa’s ability was of the wood element, but she couldn’t even command plants to fight for her. At most, she could perceive a plant’s growth habits and uses upon touching it. Otherwise, her family wouldn’t have specifically urged her to learn self-defense skills.
That’s not to say her ability was entirely useless. Though lacking in combat effectiveness, it had excellent auxiliary applications, especially after Theresa chose to study agriculture in university. This ability proved incredibly useful. Thanks to its enhancement, while other agricultural students were either worrying about post-graduation jobs or striving to stay on for postgraduate studies, Theresa, just in her senior year, had already secured a spot as a graduate student.
However, Theresa’s graduate advisor was currently abroad attending a seminar with several students. Having already completed her credits ahead of schedule and defended her graduation thesis, Theresa was now in a state of being left to her own devices.
This was also why she had the time to play games.
—If only she had known, she would have preferred to stay idle.
She couldn’t imagine how heartbroken her family would be when news of her disappearance reached them.
Of course, Theresa wanted to return home, but she didn’t even know how she had crossed over, let alone how to get back. As for whether dying could send her back, she dared not attempt such an irreversible method.
Though saddened, Theresa had been independent and strong-willed since childhood. She knew very well that now was not the time to wallow in sorrow. The priority was figuring out how to survive here.
After packing her luggage and resting for a while, her door was knocked on—the butler had come to invite her to dinner.
As the new Countess’s first meal in Goldenburg, the kitchen had gone all out to prepare this feast meticulously. It included fish and meat, as well as fruits and vegetables. The white bread served as the main course was paired with jam and honey, accompanied by a bottle of wine from the old Count’s collection. It was as lavish as it could possibly be.
However, the background of this century was modeled after Earth’s Middle Ages. Although the names and terrains of the countries were deliberately set differently from historical ones, and no specific time period was explicitly indicated.
Based on research by some players, they believed the game’s main timeline should be set in the early Middle Ages, roughly from the late 5th century to the 10th century. However, many others disagreed, as the game contained many elements not from that period, such as food and clothing.
It could only be said that such research was essentially useless. The game developers paid no heed to historical accuracy, adding whatever they deemed suitable to the game. As the game’s official statement put it, “This is a fictional world—anything is possible.”
——Players unanimously believe they said this just to make it easier to sell skins and outfits.
In the game’s setting, the Atlanta Empire is precisely such a timeline that has abandoned history—a wondrous nation surrounded by numerous bizarre delicacies.
Here, you can taste herring meat that shares the same flavor as surströmming (fermented herring); blue cheese with an angelic appearance but a devilish taste; haggis (a savory pudding made from sheep’s offal wrapped in a sheep’s stomach); and the star-gazing pie, hailed as the originator of bizarre delicacies, among others.
Moreover, within the Atlanta Empire, many of these bizarre delicacies are considered “gourmet treats” that only nobles and the wealthy can enjoy.
According to the game’s official explanation, this setting allows players to win over NPCs with various delicacies in the game, following a path of conquering the world through food. However, most players agree that this is merely the developers’ twisted sense of humor, because when Atlanta nobles host banquets, they always prepare at least one or two bizarre dishes. To avoid being impolite, guests are expected to finish all the dishes served by their host.
Thus, many players are forced to try bizarre delicacies in the fully immersive game—complete with flavors that are 100% faithful to their real-world counterparts.
——No wonder players love to curse the developers as inhuman; they truly are dogs!
And now, among the table of “delicacies” Theresa faces, there are several famous bizarre dishes. As for the others, due to ingredient limitations and simplistic cooking methods, Theresa can hardly bring herself to praise them.
In the end, Theresa only managed to eat until she was about seventy percent full before stopping. Then, adhering to the principle of not wasting food, she distributed the remaining feast—enough to feed over a dozen people—to the servants.
While this delighted the servants, who in the past only the most favored ones could enjoy some leftover scraps from their master’s table while the others had to make do with black bread and boiled beans, it was a heavy blow to the kitchen staff, especially the cooks responsible for the cooking. It meant their new master did not appreciate their skills, and they might very well lose their jobs because of it.
Fortunately, before they could worry for too long, the butler arrived with the Countess’s meal request—complete with cooking instructions.
Theresa’s mother was a foreigner, and half of their family’s daily meals consisted of Western cuisine. As a result, Theresa herself knew how to prepare many Western-style home-cooked dishes. What she now instructed the butler to relay to the kitchen were dishes she personally enjoyed and could prepare with ingredients and seasonings available in this era. After all, she needed to eat well to have the strength to face other challenges.
On her second day residing in Goldenburg, Theresa was about to face a brand-new challenge.
——She had to figure out all the industries and wealth of the Gorden Family and take them over.
Although the Gorden Family had dwindling numbers and their territory was not particularly prosperous—even considered a remote countryside—Theresa only realized after taking over the family’s industries that the Goldens were not exactly poor.
The territory owned by the Gorden Family brought in an annual income of nearly two thousand gold coins for the family. While this amount might seem small, during this period, a Count’s annual income typically ranged from 700 to 3,000 gold coins. With an annual income of two thousand gold coins, the Gorden Family was already at a moderate level.
Of course, this figure only represents the territorial income and does not reflect the actual annual income of most nobles.
Many nobles engage in other businesses and investments, and some even prefer risk-free ventures, which bring in more money and faster returns.
Fortunately, Golden does not engage in such risk-free ventures, at most, he has some investments.
The territory of the Gorden Family exceeds that of a standard earldom (8,600 acres), totaling approximately twelve thousand acres. However, two-thirds of it consists of forests and mountains inhabited by wild beasts, making them difficult to access and of little productive value.
It is precisely because most of this territory is useful only for hunting and serves little other purpose that, despite the Gorden Family’s territory being much larger than that of a typical earldom, it rarely attracts the envy of other nobles.