“She got hit a few times… does it really affect her that much?” Curious, I searched carefully and sure enough, found a collapsed option tucked away in an inconspicuous corner: a **[Hidden Status]**.
The moment I clicked it open, my breath caught:
• Sensitivity: 10 / 100
• Wetness: 0 / 100
“??? Sensitivity? Wetness?? Holy…” I couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.
“No wonder she was moaning so beautifully—the goblin hits built up 10 sensitivity points!”
These numbers were clearly visible only to me.
Yulin herself couldn’t see the values.
She could only feel her body acting strange, completely unaware that she was being systematically “developed” in data form.
A strange intuition made me whip my head around to look at the real-life wife lying on the sofa in my study.
In that moment, the boundary between reality and the game seemed to blur completely.
The “real Su Yulin,” lying unconscious on the sofa with her eyes shut, her usually pale cheeks… had also taken on a faint blush.
Her breathing was slightly quicker than normal.
The way she looked… subtly overlapped with that in-game form whose sensitivity had just increased.
“Could it be…” I swallowed hard.
The audacious theory forming in my mind filled me with both terror and excitement: *Are the sensory stimuli from the game being fed back into her real body in real time?*
I went back to turn in the quest, and my wife learned her first active skill as an Exorcist Apprentice: [Thunder Rune]
• Cost: 2% mana (extremely low, excellent value).
• Effect: Summons a thunder talisman to be thrown at the enemy.
• Drawback: Non-homing skill; requires manual targeting and locking.
Its power couldn’t compare to the world-shattering [Dragon’s Roar Flash], but it had the virtue of sustainability.
At only 2% per cast, she could fire off 50 shots without needing that “embarrassing passive.” As long as she aimed well, we finally wouldn’t have to risk flashing everyone just to do damage.
Since we were out of mana, I brought my wife to the Novice Village’s welfare spot: the Restoration Hot Spring for beginners.
Calling it a hot spring was generous.
It was really just a recovery zone—there was no actual hot spring.
Technically, you could also meditate to recover outside of combat in the wild, but that was slow.
Inside the Restoration Hot Spring’s radius, recovery was many times faster.
(Think the home base effect in *Honor of Kings*.)
While sitting in meditation to recover, I took the opportunity to re-familiarize myself with the worldview of this third-person game.
Simply put, it was a hybrid of modern society and cultivation fantasy.
When a meteor from space crashed down, it not only brought a monster invasion, but the resulting electromagnetic storms rendered modern weapons useless.
The people of this world (players) trained their own abilities to fight the monsters.
The world’s social order had collapsed; only certain safe zones could guarantee your security.
Outside the safe zones—to put it bluntly—might made right.
It was a lawless land.
As for why this game was newly opened yet already had so many players—the answer went beyond its gorgeous graphics and lifelike character models.
It was also because of its unique R18 system design.
Upon reaching Exorcist Master rank (or equivalent in other classes), one could unlock Dual Cultivation.
It wasn’t mandatory, but Dual Cultivation greatly boosted character stats and progression speed.
Beyond that, being defeated by monsters could lead to… violation under certain circumstances.
Of course, all of this had been introduced in the promotional trailers.
As a semi-noob, I had no idea how it actually played out.
However, in the explanation for that still-locked Dual Cultivation option, one line of small print made me break out in a cold sweat after reading it:
*When spiritual energy accumulates to a certain stage, meditation alone can no longer break through the body’s limits.
The spiritual energy within becomes violent, saturated with “yang-heat” or “yin-melancholy” energy.*
• Breakthrough Method: [Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation]
• Unlock Condition: Must find one partner of the opposite sex (any class).
• Ritual Details: Both parties must conduct a deep merging of body and soul (R18) in a location rich in spiritual energy.
Spiritual circulation is guided through the exchange of bodily fluids.
• Effect: Upon successful Dual Cultivation, all attributes +50%, skill power doubled, and unlocks “Combined Techniques.”
• Warning: If Dual Cultivation is neglected long-term, the character will be unable to advance further, and may even fall into a state of “heat/qi deviation” due to spiritual backlash.
While I was still agonizing over the question of my wife’s future Dual Cultivation prospects, my wife’s voice pulled me back into the game.
“Honey, I’m fully recovered. Let’s go out and get familiar with the new skill!”
I felt like my wife sounded… a little excited?
Well, fair enough.
Since we’d learned a new skill, we obviously needed to get used to the controls.
Because her motor skills weren’t the best, we’d reached an agreement: I’d control her body for positioning, dodging, and movement, while she’d handle locking on and aiming the attacks at monsters.
At first, our coordination was… “not great” would be generous.
Let’s be honest—it was a disaster zone.
“Honey, hit the one on the left!
The low-HP one!” “Which one?
Oops, missed!”
I dodged attacks perfectly several times, only for her to sling a Thunder Rune into empty ground, wasting that precious 2% mana.
Fortunately for us, the Novice Village had welfare—when we ran out of mana, we just headed back to recover.
And so, after killing a few dozen wild monsters, our coordination gradually became fluid.
I’d sidestep and slide out of the way of a monster’s claw swipe, and Yulin’s Thunder Rune would slam precisely into its forehead.
Honestly, this “I carry you through the air, you get the kills for me” dynamic was way more fun than playing alone.
Time flew by playing with my wife.
Before we knew it, it was evening.
“Honey, it’s late. Time to rest.” I said gently.
On screen, I guided Yulin into the Novice Village’s only safe zone—the [Inn].
After paying a few copper coins, she entered a simple but completely safe private room.
“Mmm… honey…” Her timid voice came through the mental link, carrying a hint of instinctive fear of the dark and solitude.
“It’s so quiet in here… I’m a little scared being alone…”
After all, for me, closing the computer meant going to sleep.
For her, it meant being left alone in this unfamiliar otherworld for an entire night.
“Be good, don’t be afraid.” I softened my voice, soothing her.
“I’m right here with you. Whether in the game or in the real world, I’m here.”
I cut the game feed and got up, walking over to the living room sofa.
The real Su Yulin still slept soundly, breathing evenly.
Her white silk slip dress gleamed softly under the lamplight.
I bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her warm forehead.
“Good night, wife.”
Then, carefully, I scooped her up in my arms.
Her skin was smooth and warm to the touch.
The familiar weight and body heat filled me with reassurance—this wasn’t just a body.
This was the anchor connecting to that world.
I laid her gently on the bedroom bed, tucked the blanket around her, and lay down beside her.
At the edge of my consciousness, I could almost hear her contented murmur: “Mm… good night, honey.”
Looking out at the pitch-black night through the window, I couldn’t help but feel grateful for our living situation.
Yulin was a stay-at-home wife—no clocking in or out for work.
We lived abroad, far away from the complicated web of extended family back home.
On top of that, the time zone difference meant neither set of parents would suddenly video call to check up on us.
This “cut off from the world” state felt a little lonely under normal circumstances.
But in the face of an absurd incident like this, it was the perfect cover.
Otherwise, I honestly had no idea how I’d explain to my mother-in-law why her daughter had turned into a pile of data lying in my bed…
Author’s Note
The pace will be a bit slow at the start—after all, I want to flesh out the basic rules of this wild, whimsical game world as much as I can.