Foreigners—people from the Otherworld who had suddenly visited the Tartarus Continent two years ago.
Although they looked however they wanted, chose whatever gender they pleased, and loved wearing bizarre outfits—or even no clothes at all—they wielded mighty power comparable to the Deities.
The Deities might have created this world, but the Foreigners were its masters.
Blaze had once seen a Foreigner dressed as a plush Pink Rabbit tear off the head of a Titan Giant with bare hands. The Evil God’s blood gushed from the torn neck, transforming into three Blood Rivers, and the Foreigner who defeated the Titan Giant became a legendary Hero passed down by word of mouth.
"Ah, Pink Rabbit, the great Hero who defeated the Titan Giant." Blaze, who was buying an apple at a fruit stand, couldn’t help but praise the Hero’s name to two passing Foreigners.
"Eek! Why is the Black Beast Knight in the city?!"
The female Foreigner, dressed in light Armor as a Ranger, screamed in fright at Blaze’s sudden remark. She immediately executed a back roll, then a left roll, tumbling continuously around Blaze. Her smooth and seamless movements, as if dodging some fatal attack, made Blaze subconsciously applaud the Ranger Stranger.
"What are you doing? This is just a city NPC with the same name." The male Foreigner, dressed as a medieval Heavy Knight, crossed his arms. Despite having the appearance of a burly man, he spoke with a female voice.
Blaze was used to it; the gender of Foreigners had always been a mystery.
With a CLANG, the Ranger Stranger crashed into a wall. Sprawled on the ground, she immediately started cursing.
"Damn it! Who has such a sick sense of humor to give a random NPC the same name as the newbie killer? I got a stress reaction from the scare!"
"It’s said to be a bug from the early days. By the time they found out, their data had already mixed together and couldn’t be fixed," the Heavy Knight Stranger patted Blaze on the back. "Who knows, maybe the model under the Black Beast Knight’s helmet is exactly the same as this guy."
"The Black Beast Knight, a tragic Lost Home Knight. Only God’s Blessing has not left him. Rumor has it that he still wanders the west to this day." Blaze crossed his arms, sighing over the Knight who had fallen into darkness. He knew that Foreigners loved hearing these bizarre anecdotes the most.
However, the Heavy Knight Stranger completely ignored him and reached out to pull the Ranger Stranger up.
"By the way, your rolling combo is a bit too well-practiced."
"I have no choice! That guy’s first strike aims straight for the neck, the second strike is a diagonal Chop, and the third strike is a reverse slash that no Human could possibly execute. One tiny mistake and you get instantly killed!"
"No, no! For the third strike, you have to roll toward the Black Beast Knight. That’s the only chance to interrupt him in this combo. Official statistics say this guy has a cumulative kill count of 400 million players, and the vast majority were insta-killed by this exact combo."
The ignored Blaze helplessly threw his hands up. Clearly, the Foreigners only liked hearing obscure anecdotes that nobody else knew. He had some, but the Foreigners hadn’t asked.
"Hey, don’t even think about getting revenge on this Blaze. Even if you rob him, you’ll only get 3 Copper Coins. On a bad day, he might have already spent those three Copper Coins on an apple."
"Eh? Hasn’t the price of an apple been patched to just one Copper Coin now?"
"Probably because, just like the Black Beast Knight, he has never received any data updates or maintenance."
As the two Foreigners chatted, they gradually walked farther away. Blaze turned his head to look at the fruit stand boss opposite him.
This smelly old man had actually been silently overcharging him two Copper Coins for every apple!
"Refund!"
Although they haggled until the Sun began to set in the west, when Blaze threatened to use his secret channels to report him to the Royal Knight Order, the boss honestly refunded the money.
"To think he embezzled two Gold Coins from me." Looking at the two shiny Gold Coins in his hands, Blaze’s mood brightened.
Without realizing it, Blaze strolled to the city gates. Usually at this time, he would finish the apple in his hand, turn around to head home, and wait until the next day to use the three Copper Coins in his pocket to buy another apple, continuing his day of idle wandering. Ever since he could remember, he had always lived in this place called Balkan City, living out this repetitive life.
But today, his unchanging life had gained an extra two Gold Coins.
He could go to the city’s most luxurious restaurant and feast for days. He could also go to the opera house; he heard that a very famous Songstress had recently arrived here.
Or... he could take a look at the world outside the city.
Leaving Balkan City required a toll fee. Two Gold Coins.
"Is this the outside world?"
Blaze stood on a small hillside and gazed into the distance. In the past, his vision had always been blocked by the city walls. Now, he could see Giants walking among the mountain ranges, a giant tree of Gold that seemed to hold up the sky, and a Great Dragon roaming through the clouds.
The world was actually so vast.
"Although I don’t have the Deities’ Blessing to defeat enemies and absorb souls, being able to see scenery like this leaves me completely satisfied."
The Sun set, night fell, and countless stars lit up the sky. Tonight’s wind was filled with the scent of freedom.
"Leaving the city requires two Gold Coins, which is two hundred Copper Coins." Blaze scratched the back of his head. Taking one last longing look at the seemingly boundless horizon, he briskly turned around and waved goodbye.
"See you in a hundred days."
CLINK—
The hair-raising sound of scraping Armor felt like a scythe pressing against Blaze’s neck. It was so bone-chillingly cold that he couldn’t move.
"Finally, I have found you."
It felt like descending night, yet also like a ferocious Wild Beast. The black, dilapidated Knight tainted the peaceful night breeze with the stench of blood.
"The... the Black Beast Knight?!" Blaze was startled. He had actually been so immersed in the beauty of the distant scenery that he unconsciously stepped into the area where the Black Beast Knight roamed.
"Crap!"
Blaze couldn’t see the Black Beast Knight’s movements at all; to him, it was just a blurry Shadow. By the time he realized what the Black Beast Knight had done, his head might already be rolling on the ground.
But he knew his death was imminent. An emotion called fear—something he had never felt since birth—made him remember that Ranger Stranger.
Back roll.
He heard the sound as the Twist blade Cut Off his hair, but he didn’t stop.
Left roll.
The Giant Sword Chopped down diagonally, grazing his cheek. The frigid air from the blade turned his breath white, blurring the fearful expression reflected on the weapon.
Finally, it was time to...
Lunge toward death!
A gruesome sound of shattering bones echoed from the Black Beast Knight’s right arm. Like a whip, he fiercely swung the descending Giant Sword back up, leaving a massive scar on the Earth.
And Blaze arrived right in front of the Black Beast Knight.
"Eat this!"
Blaze shouted as he leaped up, slamming a vicious Headbutt straight into the Black Beast Knight’s jaw. The heavily cracked helmet instantly shattered.
For Blaze, who didn’t even know how to spell the word "combat," a Headbutt was the most powerful attack method he could imagine. But to someone who possessed a Blessing, this amount of damage was barely a scratch.
The Black Beast Knight let out a muffled grunt. Letting go of the Giant Sword, he clutched his face and staggered back a few steps. Just as Blaze was planning to Escape, he saw the Black Beast Knight’s face.
It was exactly the same as his own.
In that moment of shock, Blaze realized he was doomed. To think he had actually gotten distracted in front of such a battle-hardened Warrior.
But the Black Beast Knight didn’t attack. Instead, he convulsed in place and roared in agony as countless red fragments, flowing with digital numbers, endlessly spilled out from his body.
"Too much slaughter... the Foreigners’ Memory... this body has already burned out... Ah, this hateful, fake world...
"To dare Twist... my oath..."
Reaching out a hand, the Black Beast Knight staggered a step toward Blaze. On that completely identical face, an expression of sheer hatred and despair contorted.
"Damn it... just a little more... a new body...
"Princess..."
The Black Beast Knight stumbled and collapsed to the ground, shattering like a mirror. He left behind only a dilapidated set of Armor and a burning cluster of Flame.
Those were the fragments of his soul, and also the Blessing that Black Beast Knight Blaze had accepted.
"What’s going on?" Blaze clutched his face with a throbbing headache. He had actually defeated the Black Beast Knight in a single blow, but it also looked as if the Black Beast Knight had self-destructed. And what was it that the Black Beast Knight had muttered before dying?
"Princess... was it? Although I don’t know what happened, at times like this, I just need to tell the Foreigners my doubts." Blaze gave up on thinking. Those who possessed a Blessing had Undying Bodies; the Black Beast Knight would soon undergo resurrection. He figured he should head back first.
The moment Blaze turned around, the Flame of the Blessing pounced violently onto his body as if triggered by something, igniting his entire being in an instant.
Countless waves of Memory flooded into his mind, but before he could even process them, he fainted. With nowhere to go, that Memory began to compress itself one by one, locking away and arranging itself in sequence. This process was exceptionally long.
The last thing Blaze saw was the warmest part within that Flame.
A Princess of Gold.
In the year 2100, the phenomenal masterpiece, the immersive VR game Gedelock, took the world by storm upon release, maintaining a terrifying activity level of tens of millions of concurrent online players.
It was deeply loved by players for its medieval style, Western fantasy and mythological background setting, and over a thousand Profession choices. In the two years since its release, the game’s popularity had only grown year by year, and the players’ pursuit of special storylines and special items had become increasingly fanatical.
But today, all accounts received a system notification.
"The conditions to open the Golden Country have been met."