Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 275 The Adventer, Advent! (5k2)

Morning, January 768, 1 in the Tianqi calendar.

Fanor continent, within the territory of the Nolan Empire.

Songyuan Territory - on the outskirts of Hongfeng City, dozens of blurry figures suddenly appeared on the sandy plain that was originally sparsely populated.

Their figures were translucent at first.

Spiritual threads glowing white swirled and bound, interweaving their outlines, gradually "stitching" them into complete bodies like puppets.

Eventually, they became no different from normal people. Their originally cloudy and lifeless eyes gradually lit up, and they looked at everything around them with a kind of confused and curious emotion.

……

"..."

"What the hell are you doing to me?"

"Is this still domestic?"

Thomas, whose full ID is the "Advent" of "Thomas the Tank Engine", felt a strong sense of shock in his heart and looked around.

He still remembered it, just ten minutes ago.

I should be lying in a fully immersive cabin, enjoying the official version of "Mount and Blade III" that was finally released after thirty years of delay, and is about to unify the Calradia continent that has been divided for many years.

However, just as he led his eighteen wives and one hundred and eighty biological sons to capture cities and finally reached the capital of the Western Empire, he suddenly saw a deep darkness before his eyes.

The screen of "Mount and Blade III" disappeared, and the semi-real feedback touch also became silent and cold, but Thomas' consciousness remained quite clear.

He wanted to get out of the "deep dive of consciousness" - according to safety regulations, the fully immersive cabin launched by the "Next Generation Black Technology Company" in 2077 should have early warning and emergency avoidance devices.

But the situation before Thomas was undoubtedly a bug - the somatosensory cabin should have cut off all connections with himself inside the cabin and "awakened his consciousness", but nothing happened.

Thomas, who was originally a little panicked, was in a constantly changing and beautiful scene the next second.

At the same time, a brand new game interface appeared in front of him.

【Traveler in a foreign land——】

【Welcome to the world of "God's Destiny"...】

[Congratulations, sdeam user "Thomas the Tank Engine", you have obtained the internal testing qualification]

[This internal test is a closed deletion test - duration: 7 days]

[Please create your "Advent" template]

【…】

"...?"

"... "God's Destiny"? Internal testing?"

It was a completely different UI from Mount & Blade III. The interface with a medieval fantasy style appeared before Thomas' eyes, confusing and shocking his young mind.

He had a vague suspicion that this was some kind of usurpation virus planted in the basic logic code of Mount & Blade III by some game manufacturer in order to compete for players.

For example, when it is detected that the player has played for a certain period of time or performed a certain action, the current game process will be terminated, and another game will cover the touch permissions of the somatosensory cabin, forcibly pulling the player into another game...

Thomas once heard from his grandfather that when they were playing PC games in their era, "XX Blue Moon" and "OO999" would suddenly pop up in the lower right corner of the screen. These were the originators of this type of game... But it was the first time that Thomas had seen such a "black technology" coverage method, directly bypassing the control authority of the somatosensory cabin. This kind of viral game was simply unheard of!

"Why make virus games with this kind of technology..." Thomas complained in his heart, but he couldn't help but feel curious about the game maker that made "God's Destiny".

There was an option for "Developer Details" on the UI interface, so Thomas reached out and touched the bar that was flashing brightly.

The scene in front of him changed quickly, and a new interface emerged, recording a new content -

[The core system of "God's Destiny" is the "Matryoshka Brain" developed by a next-generation black technology company. It evolves and maintains its operation... All NPC characters in the game have independent consciousness and have intelligence that is almost equal to or even higher than that of modern people...]

"..."

"Oh, it turns out to be our own game." Thomas suddenly realized.

"Next-generation black technology company", in the gaming circle that Thomas has been involved in for more than a decade, he remembers that it was a technology company that emerged about ten years ago.

But this company has always remained quite mysterious. Until now, no one knows where their headquarters is. Although they do hire employees to participate in social activities, the identities of their core senior management have always been an unknown mystery.

What made this company suddenly famous was the birth of real "black technology" - they suddenly demonstrated the so-called "full consciousness deep diving" technology through mainstream media. Since then, things like "immersive somatosensory cabins" and "immersive helmets" have come into being, which caused quite a stir at the time.

But it did not attract too much attention from the upper echelons. Because in the era when black technology companies entered the public eye, similar technological products had already been invented, and the immersive cabin was still a relatively niche luxury product due to its high cost.

Thomas now understood what kind of game had such amazing technical means.

It turned out that the state official set the fire! .jpg
Thomas was complaining in his heart. Although he was a little unhappy about the forced interruption of the game progress of "Mount and Blade III", he did have some interest in "God's Fate".

Thomas gave the instruction to return to the previous interface, and with the mentality of giving it a try, he clicked the option of "Enter the Game".

The scene around him changed again, and Thomas felt as if he was suddenly at the bottom of the sea. Strands of silk threads emitting strange light were lingering and circling in his body, but he did not feel suffocated.

New content also appeared on the panel in front of him.

Thomas took a look and found that the content was actually very simple - it was the standard three-piece set of "your name", "your gender", and "your model".

After entering "Thomas the Tank Engine" and confirming success, he knew that no one else was competing with Thomas for the same ID, so he could proceed with the next operation with confidence.

Considering that this might be an open world online RPG game with a first-person perspective, and a "closed deletion" test, Thomas first honestly chose "male" and quickly completed the modeling according to his ideal appearance and figure.

Afterwards, he couldn't wait to click "Done", and buzz - the scene in front of him changed again.

……

【Welcome to the world of apocalypse, Thomas the Tank Engine. 】

[According to the intelligent allocation, your landing place is Fanol Continent, in the Songyuan Territory of the Nolan Empire. ]

【I wish you a happy game——】

……

Fanor continent, within the territory of the Nolan Empire.

Thomas felt that after he had finished tinkering with the model and gave the "done" command, he was suddenly plunged into complete darkness. From time to time, he could hear the whistling of the wind in his ears. His body felt like it was stuffed into the back of a car and was bumping along in a long, dark tunnel.

This made him feel a little uncomfortable. At least in his physical perception in the real world, he knew that being "abused" like this would cause severe dizziness and nausea.

It was not until these strange feelings disappeared that Thomas's tightly closed eyes seemed to capture some penetrating light, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Miraculously, he did not feel the discomfort that existed in his habitual memory. And when he opened his eyes, he did see a brand new world.

A fortress-like city with its towering walls stood at the end of Thomas's vision. They were now in the gravel field outside the city, which was full of potholes and scars, as if it had experienced many wars over and over again.

Thomas looked around curiously, and at the same time he saw dozens of people around him in civilian clothes also looking around curiously.

Some of the "civilians" had excited expressions on their faces, and shouted as if no one was around:

"Oh my god, this game is too real!!"

"Ah... this wind! This grass! This air!"

"…This is really not a time travel? Really?"

No, man... this is just a game... Thomas complained in his heart, but he also knew that those "commoners" were actually players like him.

But the shouts of those players did catch Thomas' attention. He then turned his attention to himself, and was surprised to find that he really felt like he was in the real world.

The slight squeezing and cool feeling when the wind blew across his cheeks, the heavy feeling when his feet touched the ground, the vague feeling of hunger in his stomach, etc. Thomas raised his arm, pinched his face, and felt a very real pain!
Oh my god, this is so real...Thomas exclaimed.

This game... is really no different from the real world!

While sighing about this, Thomas suddenly heard a rustling noise coming from the other side and turned to look.

They were a group of players who were pulling at their pants. As they pulled at their pants, they said with anger and grief on their faces:

“——Bad review! How come you can’t even take off your pants in this game!” “…” Thomas held his forehead with his hand. He subconsciously moved away from the group of players and walked towards the fortress city at the end of his sight.

He walked towards the target for about a minute, but no guiding prompts or tasks were triggered.

This game doesn't seem to have any guidance... Is it a bit like a classic soul game? There will be some hints of landmarks on the visible map, and we have to find ways to reach that "landmark" to trigger the corresponding plot or mission... Thomas guessed.

The only obvious thing that could be called a "landmark" was the fortress city with only an outline in front of him. That might be the "novice village", where basic buildings such as the Adventurer's Guild, shops, blacksmith shops, etc. should be, Thomas thought.

This was the intuition of a veteran RPG player. He followed his intuition and moved towards the target while trying various commands to see if he could trigger something else.

Soon, Thomas discovered that when he gave the "system" instructions in his mind, the previous game UI would appear in front of him, and the option of "Exit Game" was optional.

Fortunately, it wasn’t Kayaba Akihiko... Thomas thought thankfully, and then tried other commands.

After giving the "panel" command, the panel in front of Thomas changed again, revealing new content.

【Thomas the Tank Engine (lv.1, Advent)】

[Race: Human]

[Rank: Enlightened]

[Health: 50/50, Mana: 25/25]

[Physical Attack: 10, Spell Attack: 10, Defense Reduction: 5]

[Attributes: Strength 5, Constitution 5, Agility 5, Wisdom 5, Divinity 5, Perception 5, Resistance 5, Luck 5]

[First destiny: None]

[Main occupation: None]

[Destiny Skills (0/8): None]

[Professional Skills (0/8): None]

[Character Specialties: None]

[Status: None]

【…】

Uh... Is this my dashboard? Thomas looked through it carefully and got some information.

His level is lv.1, which should correspond to some kind of extraordinary strength - "destiny", which is the extraordinary system of this world.

But no matter it was destiny, craft, skill or expertise, Thomas's panel was still empty at this moment, with nothing in it.

This made Thomas more certain of his goal, and he walked towards the fortress city at the end of his sight.

At this time, the players who "landed" nearby with Thomas also began their own attempts.

Soon, Thomas also discovered that the panel also had the functions of "Player Forum" and "World Channel".

[Player Forum] is a place for players to post exchanges or guides. But now that players have just arrived, there are very few contents, most of which are sharing of some feelings at the beginning of the arrival.

[World Channel] is a "chat room" where players can communicate in real time. But the real "World Channel" has not yet been opened. Thomas saw that currently only players who have landed in the area of ​​"Fanor Continent - Nolan Empire - Songyuan Territory" are communicating enthusiastically in it.

But through the sharing of players who landed in other birthplaces in the "Player Forum", Thomas roughly knew that in addition to the "Fanor Continent" where he was, there were also players who landed on the "Storm Continent" and the "Broken Continent".

It is said that the players who landed on the "Storm Continent" and the "Broken Continent" have come into contact with the local giants and dwarves respectively.

On the "Fanor Continent" where Thomas is, there are also players who have landed in the "Golden Country Trade Federation", "Holy Tower Kingdom", "Elf Forest" and "Dark Principality", and they seem to be exploring the content of the game in full swing.

This made Thomas look forward to entering the fortress city in front of him even more, looking forward to what kind of NPC he would encounter and what kind of tasks would be triggered.

While he was thinking about this, he discovered that most of the players were also moving towards the fortress. The consensus of the "Novice Village" had gradually been established in the minds of the players.

Just as Thomas and the other "Adventers" were getting closer to the fortress city, suddenly, a thick cloud of dust rose in the players' field of vision.

Then, they heard the sound of horse hooves, and several figures in white robes were galloping towards them quickly.

Thomas saw this scene from afar and a bright light flashed in his eyes.

Natives! That might be the first contact with the NPCs in this game world! Is this the guide to the main quest? Thomas looked forward to it.

The group of people in white robes quickly rode up to the players on horseback, tightened the reins and stopped the horses.

At this moment, Thomas saw clearly that these people in white robes seemed to have some kind of sacred religious patterns on their robes. Their identities should be clergymen of a religious organization in this world?
Thomas' mind moved slightly, and according to the game habits, he detected the NPC in front of him.

The "detection" function did exist, and Thomas's panel quickly gave him feedback.

[Maiyev Seville (lv.?, elite NPC)]

[Race: Human]

[Rank: Extraordinary]

[Health:?, Mana:?]

[Physical attack:?, Magic attack:?, Defense reduction:?]

【property:?】

[First Destiny: Glorious Destiny (?)]

[Main occupation:? ]

【…】

Damn, I can't see almost anything! This means that the gap in strength between me and this human NPC in front of me should be quite huge... Well, the only thing I know is that he is a transcendent with the destiny of [Glorious]?
Thomas analyzed this, and then he heard the extraordinary person named "Maiyev Seville" in front of him say:
"Sure enough, what the great priest said is correct. There really are suspicious refugees here."

...Suspicious refugees? Are they talking about us? Thomas was a little confused when two figures suddenly passed by him.

They were two players who picked up a handy wooden stick from somewhere and attacked the extraordinary people in front of them!
Mayev's pupils shrank slightly. As a "Paladin", he did not draw his sword, but stretched out his hand and drew in the air, and a bright golden circle appeared in front of him.

——Dang! The wooden stick seemed to be attracted by some strange force, and then it hit the circle drawn by Mayyev. The circle burst out a series of tiny sparks, and the two attacking players were suddenly rolled back.

All the players' attention was immediately drawn to the two players who were seeking their own death.

They landed heavily on their buttocks, seemingly knocked unconscious by the recoil. From the detection of other players, they lost a quarter of their health, while the extraordinary person named "Maiyev" on the other side was unscathed.

The two players who were looking for death then rubbed their buttocks, stood up, with some inexplicably excited smiles on their faces, and ran back to the player team.

"According to the instructions of the High Priest before his departure and the rules of the Holy Court that civilians must not be injured, I did not attack them."

Maiev said calmly, "They were injured by their own strength."

Yeah, we all saw it... Thomas nodded secretly. He knew that there were always players who liked to do such suicidal things. As a veteran RPG player, he was not surprised by this.

However, the ability of this man named Mayyev to draw a golden circle and counterattack is the skill of [Glorious] Destiny? Oh... it seems quite powerful?

"But," Thomas then heard Mayev say:

"It is their actions just now that make you more suspicious... However, I will forgive you. This is the divine mercy of the High Priest."

"It's a war time now. The place where you are now is the main battlefield where we are fighting against the Dark Principality."

"It is forbidden to stay here. This is also the decree of the Imperial War."

After a pause, Mayyev dismounted and walked to the front of the "civilians" on the opposite side.

"So, in compliance with the order of the High Priest, please follow us into the city."

Mayev said:

"The Red Maple City Church will provide you with safe shelter."

……

(End of this chapter)