Mo Bei woke up in darkness. Everything she could see seemed like an endless night, so black it was unsettling.
She had been playing a game just before this—a new expansion for Glorious Continent called “Age of Shadows.” She’d logged in after the update finished, but then everything went dark, and now she was here.
So, did she enter the game? Or did the game become reality?
Mo Bei didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Standing in place, she unconsciously squinted her eyes, trying to spot any unknown creatures approaching in the heavy night.
Glorious Continent was one of the hottest games in recent years. Players started with two choices: Lord or Adventurer, corresponding to two styles of play—Simulation Management and Exploration Adventure.
In the game, your class wasn’t set in stone. Through various “opportunities,” players could change their path at any time. But since the two paths were opposite, you could only choose one.
Mo Bei chose to be a Lord. In the early stages, she managed a small village. Over time, it grew from a village to a town, then from a town to a city. Finally, she gained additional territories, becoming a true “Lord” in every sense of the word.
The Glorious Continent was vast, with many different races. It was too much for any player—whether they liked being lords or explorers—to figure out in a short time. So the first version ran for three years before the first expansion pack came out: Age of Shadows.
Then things went wrong.
According to the story, humans had gone crazy trying to crush all other races. They kicked out elves, chased away dwarves, and isolated merfolk from land. They wanted to rule over the whole continent.
But their actions led to disaster. One by one, the altars that held the five shining orbs representing wind, water, fire, wood, and earth fell. When the last orb went dark, the entire Glorious Continent sank into endless darkness.
Some said it was a curse; others thought it was divine wrath. But Mo Bei and most players knew what it meant: a new expansion pack was coming.
Based on information released ahead of time on the official website, fifty-one years had passed since the continent plunged into darkness. People hadn’t evolved enough to handle living in constant night. As attacks grew more frequent, many towns were abandoned, making life even harder for the surviving races.
In this stage, “lord” type players needed to protect their territories and become safe havens in the dark for both NPCs and other players.
Meanwhile, “explorer” players transformed into Darkwalkers—able to see in darkness—and rushed across every corner of the continent. Their mission: find the five missing precious orbs, bring them back to the sanctuary with the altar, and reinstall them. This would reignite the beacon of hope for a return to light.
But here’s the problem: As a “lord-type” player, what happened to Mo Bei’s Sa City, which she had developed all the way to level 5?
Hmm, the name was randomly generated, Mo Bei recalled. Back then, she was too busy trying to get one of the first thousand spots in the game to waste time on this. She just skimmed it, saw it wasn’t offensive, and clicked ‘confirm’ without thinking.
If she were still inside the game, there should be some kind of control panel by now. And since she’d been transported to a real world based on the game’s setting, shouldn’t she at least have her city waiting for her?
[Host brainwaves detected. Establishing connection…]
[Connection complete.]
The system’s voice echoed in Mo Bei’s mind as abruptly as when she arrived here. After a few seconds of silence from the other end, Mo Bei cautiously spoke up, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
“System?”
No response.
“System?”
Still nothing but silence.
Ten thousand alpacas were galloping and leaping through Mo Bei’s heart, throwing in Thomas flairs for good measure. Just as her legs were about to go numb from standing still, the system’s voice finally arrived, belatedly refreshing several new messages.
Name: Mo Bei
Profession: Lord
Level: 50
Talent Skill: Guaranteed S-Rank Card Draw
Territory: Sa (Level 1)
Subjects: 3 (Click for details)
Stability: 65%
Prosperity: 5
Standard Buildings:
– Basic Lord’s Manor x 1
– Dilapidated Houses x 3
– Level 1 Shelter x 1
– Service Hall x 1
– Level 1 Warehouse x 1
Commercial Buildings: 0
Agricultural Buildings: 0
Altars: 0
Description: A dilapidated base with its only redeeming quality being that the sacred flame has not yet been extinguished, providing weak protective capabilities.
[Host has unclaimed newbie gift detected. Claim now?]
Mo Bei stiffened her face before selecting confirm. Whatever this is—game or cheat code—it at least gives me a chance to survive.
[Card draw opportunity obtained.]
[Obtained “Five Acres of Good Farmland.” Please promptly choose crops to plant.]
Mo Bei saw her information panel update: agricultural buildings changed from 0 to 1. After clicking on “Five Acres of Good Farmland,” she found only two default crop options available—”Wheat (Modified)” and “Rice (Modified).” Choose one, commit, and there was no going back.
After a moment’s thought, Mo Bei chose wheat. Each acre of these five acres of good farmland could provide 100 flatbreads, 100 loaves of bread, or 100 bowls of rice every 24 hours. Flatbreads and bread could be easily carried as rations for travel, while rice would need some kind of container—too much hassle.
Mo Bei was practical: someone had to go out and explore, do the work. As the lord, she couldn’t leave her territory too far, but didn’t she have three subjects now?
She had no idea how to get back to the real world; all she could do was treat this like a sick horse that might still recover. She’d follow the official guidelines, build up her city, and prepare for the next steps—constructing an altar and retrieving the orb.
[The Sacred Flame has been ignited.]
[The base is officially established.]
[The foundational spark is stored in the service hall.]
[Host, please protect it.]
As the system finished speaking, a white campfire flared to life before Mo Bei’s eyes. Bright yet gentle, it didn’t strain them even after standing in darkness for so long. Instead, looking at it felt comforting and reassuring.
“Sacred Flame? Alright then… Let’s see what the service hall looks like first. Hopefully it works just like before.”
About a kilometer outside the base, a group of ten people followed behind a tall boy. He held onto the edge of the person in front of him as they stumbled through the darkness.
The group included men, women, young, and old. They carried their belongings on their shoulders and hands, helping each other along as they silently walked forward.
Some had been kicked out of the base; others’ bases had been destroyed in conflicts, leaving them homeless. A few had lost their Sacred Flame and were lost on the dark continent.
Without help, these people would have died quickly in the darkness. Luckily, they met a leader who was also a Darkwalker—a seventeen-year-old named Ji Jingyao. Now they could follow him, searching for the next safe place.
“Big brother, we’re almost out of dry rations.”
“And water too.”
“We’ve never been here before. I don’t know where to find supplies. If we can’t locate another base soon…”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. There’s always a way when you reach an obstacle. People come up with solutions all the time. Are you tired? Take five minutes to rest right here. If you step away, remember to tie a rope around your waist so no one gets lost.”
The young man’s optimistic voice calmed everyone down. Over the past few days, they’d avoided many dangers and found food and water thanks to his leadership. Because of this, he had a lot of authority in the group, and people were willing to follow him.
In this team, only Ji Jingyao was a “Darkwalker” who could see at night. He didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing his worried expression. Despite how confident he sounded just now, truthfully, he wasn’t sure what to do next either.
Heaven knew that when creating his character, he’d accidentally clicked on the “Lord” class because his hand slipped! How did he end up in such a godforsaken place? If he’d known this game was so dangerous, no matter how much his friends begged, he wouldn’t have played it.
Now look at him—his base was destroyed. Initially, he just wanted to find a new home for his three subjects, but somehow more people kept joining, all looking to him for hope…
It’s driving him crazy!
Ji Jingyao sat on a big rock, frustratedly scratching his head. After thinking for ages, he still had no idea what to do. With five minutes almost up, he could only continue taking things one step at a time.
If only Ji Jingyao had been lost alone, it wouldn’t have mattered—any direction would’ve worked. But with so many people relying on him as their savior, even his naturally optimistic nature couldn’t shake off the suffocating pressure.
Just as he was considering whether to toss a shoe for guidance, Ji Jingyao looked up and saw something new: a beam of white light suddenly shot across the previously dark sky straight ahead.
“The base!”
“It’s a new base!”
“Thank goodness! We’re saved!”
“Boss, boss, let’s go now!”
“Yeah, yeah, we’re not tired anymore. Let’s move out right away.”
In the darkness, Ji Jingyao grinned widely, showing all his teeth. See? he thought, I always said my luck was unbeatable. How could I possibly end up in a hopeless situation? A journey with a goal, no matter how difficult, is better than wandering aimlessly, hoping for a stroke of fortune. He loved these simple missions where he could just charge ahead without thinking too much.
“Everyone, pack up quickly. Check if everyone’s here and make sure you don’t leave anything behind. No one gets left behind either.”
Ji Jingyao stepped onto a rock, continuing to play the role of “guide” during what might be their final stretch of the journey.
“Ready? Then let’s go—for the base! Forward march!”
The small group of about ten people perked up again. They shouldered their few belongings and followed closely behind Ji Jingyao, hand in hand, moving towards hope once more.
Mo Bei stood at the entrance to the base, watching coolly through the closed fence at the five people facing her. Each held a weapon like a club, their savage grins looking especially menacing in the light of the new torches at the gate.
“You there—hurry up and open the gate. We’ll let you have your stuff and be on our way. If we have to break in ourselves, don’t blame us for getting rough.”
Mo Bei silently opened the gate. She didn’t know how other bases worked, but here, no one could enter without the lord’s permission unless they broke through the fence.
The base was only level 1 right now, with a paltry 100 durability for the fence. It wouldn’t hold out long against an attack. Better to go outside herself than risk damage that would require resources to repair later.
By the way, before the “Age of Shadows” expansion came out, the highest level on the Glorious Continent was 50. The update raised it by another ten points, making the cap 60.
Mo Bei wasn’t sure if other lords bothered leveling up, but she had reached level 50 for safety’s sake long ago. With this new expansion just released, she’d probably be able to run roughshod over most things for quite some time.
The bandits outside had no idea how strong Mo Bei was. They thought she was just a scared little girl, so they grinned even wider. Their faces showed their greedy, evil thoughts clearly. It seemed all they could think about was food and other things that can’t be mentioned.
Mo Bei smiled.
Then she pulled out a huge two-handed hammer from behind her back. One by one, in front of the bandits’ terrified eyes, she smashed them into the ground near the base.
“Huh, it’s better than I expected.”
[Lord’s Hammer]
[Description: The lord’s soul-bound weapon/tool. It cannot be separated, thrown away, sold, or stolen. Only the Lord can use it.]
[A growth-type weapon. Its attack power increases with the lord’s level, and it can produce many “mind blowing” special effects at the lord’s whim.]
Satisfied, Mo Bei put away her weapon. Then she slowly turned around and made a cutting motion with her thumb across her throat at the people buried in the ground.
Her base needed people, not scum.
*
Author’s note: Starting a new story ~ Please add it to your collection!