Julian Thorne was having a seriously bad day.
As a staunch atheist, he'd never considered the possibility of becoming a frequent flyer in the interdimensional travel club. Yet, here he was, having transmigrated not once, but twice in the span of just over two years.
Two years ago, a seemingly ordinary night of heavy drinking had landed him on Blue Star, a world similar to Earth but laughably backward in the entertainment department. Instead, they were obsessed with gaming. Forget Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, or even Marvel... This world was a blank slate, ripe for a literary copycat to make a killing.
It was a plagiarist's dream come true. Except, the readily available and dirt-cheap Personal AI, along with a virtual reality game called "Apocalypse," had quickly derailed his ambitions.
At first, he had just wanted to dip his toes into this new world's tech. But he had quickly become addicted. Even though he was a latecomer to the game, his superior gaming talent allowed him to quickly catch up. He'd even managed to build a powerful guild, establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with among the players.
But his good fortune had run out. Just a moment ago, he had been gathering a large group of players, preparing to tackle a level 70 Heroic-difficulty dungeon in Apocalypse called "The Jasonath Haunted Mansion." While waiting for his teammates and casually opening a newly downloaded mini-game on his Personal AI to kill some time, he was engulfed in a blinding light. Next thing he knew, he was here.
Dilapidated window frames, a gloomy atmosphere, shadowy figures, flickering candlelight... Visibility was less than two feet, but he could still tell he was in a run-down room.
Cold sweat trickled down Julian's back.
He realized his hands were bound behind him, tightly secured with rope. He was surrounded by soft whimpers and sobs, indicating he wasn't alone.
The scene was straight out of a horror flick. Julian felt a surge of panic. He shifted closer to the flickering candlelight, seeking a semblance of safety, only to jump back in fright at the sight of a contorted, chubby face next to him.
Upon closer inspection, he saw it was just a young, overweight kid, his face a mess of snot and tears. The kid was blubbering, "We're done for! We're totally done for..."
"I don't want to die! I want to go home!"
The kid's blubbering was surprisingly loud and repetitive, like a broken record stuck on those two lines. Even a normally calm guy like Julian couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Two minutes later, a door creaked open in the distance, letting in a sliver of light. Three men, hooded and cloaked in black robes, entered the room. Julian felt the chubby kid next to him shudder violently. The kid instantly shut up, his sobs reduced to intermittent gasps.
By the light filtering in from the doorway, Julian recognized the black flame insignia on the left breast of the robed men. He was stunned. "That mark... isn't that the Curse Cult?"
The lead cultist pointed to a teenager in the distance and said coldly, "You. Come here."
"No, no, I don't want to die... Help me..." The teenager's face was a mask of despair. Before he could struggle, the other two cultists dragged him out, his cries echoing behind him.
The door slammed shut with a resounding bang, plunging the room back into darkness and silencing the pleas for help.
Julian shivered. No doubt about it, those three were definitely cultists from the Curse Cult in the game Apocalypse.
These guys went around proclaiming the end of the world, spreading plagues, and had a sick obsession with sacrificing living people in all sorts of twisted rituals, trying to summon their Evil God – though they usually failed miserably.
So, he had actually transmigrated into the game and had the misfortune of becoming one of their sacrifices.
Holy crap, no wonder this place looked familiar. This was the very dungeon he was about to raid just minutes ago: The Jasonath Haunted Mansion! The first promotional trailer for Apocalypse was based on this dungeon.
The normal difficulty setting for The Jasonath Haunted Mansion had a simple premise:
A few Curse Cult members had captured a group of people and taken them to their stronghold, The Jasonath Haunted Mansion. They planned to use the incantations from The Book of Ithanway to perform a ritual sacrifice to appease their Evil God. The players' goal was to stop the sacrifice.
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As an introductory dungeon, The Jasonath Haunted Mansion wasn't particularly difficult. Most of the Curse Cult members were ordinary people. Only the priest, Niram, possessed supernatural powers.
But here's the problem: that was a game. In reality, there was no guarantee anyone would come to the rescue. What now?
"This is insane!" Julian could only lament to the heavens.
As mentioned before, Apocalypse was a globally popular Fully Immersive Online Game. When Julian first transmigrated to Blue Star, Apocalypse had already reigned supreme as the top immersive game for three consecutive years.
The game blended countless elements from fantasy games and novels, creating a vast and intricate world. It was powered by a new generation of Super AIs that controlled and evolved the game world, making it impossible for humans to interfere. Most importantly, the environments, characters, and storylines were incredibly realistic, making it feel like a genuine alternate reality.
Based on the dungeon's background, this should be the early stages of the game. Supernatural beings were rare, and the Curse Cult hadn't officially surfaced yet. Most of its members were basically acting like clowns, running around with a handwritten copy of The Book of Ithanway, kidnapping people for their rituals. But for two whole years, their success rate had remained at a solid zero percent.
Yet, these so-called clowns now posed a lethal threat to Julian.
And according to the dungeon's storyline, if they weren't stopped, this particular sacrifice would actually succeed.
Just then, a line of text flashed before Julian's eyes:
[Sacrifices have died. Current progress: 26/36.]
"This is... a dungeon prompt?" Julian's heart skipped a beat. It seemed like the ritual was nearing its completion. He was running out of time.
"Status!" To Julian's relief, when he focused his mind and tried to call up the menu as he would in the game, a familiar interface actually appeared before him.
Character Status
Name: Julian Thorne/Wayne Stilwell
Race: Human
Template: NPC [Beta Testing Countdown: 48 days 3 hours 42 minutes]
Age: 23
Level: 2
Class: Assistant Instructor [1/10]
Natural Force Affinity: 0
Arcane Affinity: 0
Talents: Hidden
Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 8, Constitution 8, Willpower 8, Intelligence 9, Charisma 98
HP: 80
Willpower (Stat): 7/8
Mana: 0
Life Skills: Basic Alchemy
Normal Skills: None
Personal Feats:
* Nimble Fingers (Basic) - Your hands are extremely dexterous, allowing you to perform tasks requiring fine motor skills.
* Well-Read: Your knowledge base is far greater than most, granting an additional +1 to Intelligence.
* Extreme Calm: You can maintain a calm and collected mind in any situation, granting a +10% bonus to learning speed.
Family Motto: None
Influence: None
Renown: 0
[A completely unremarkable commoner with no talent for cultivation whatsoever. Utterly useless, except for his looks.]
Having a status screen was a good thing, but these stats... were a complete mess.
According to Apocalypse's attribute system, Natural Force Affinity was a prerequisite for becoming a warrior. A score of zero meant that was out of the question. Zero Arcane Affinity meant he was also barred from becoming a mage.
As for his attributes, 10 was considered the average for commoners. His Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution were all below average. The 9 in Intelligence was shocking in a bad way. The description in the brackets about having no talent for cultivation was definitely not an exaggeration.
As for his highest stat, Charisma... that had to be a beautiful mistake.
If he had to guess, all his initial attribute points must have been dumped into this one stat.
In Apocalypse, 100 was the maximum for Charisma. Anything above 70 was considered high, 90 was considered super attractive, and a freak like him with a starting Charisma of 98 was practically unheard of.
But what good was being handsome in this situation? In this world, power was everything. Otherwise, he might get kidnapped and forced into a life he didn't want, with no chance to even cry for help.
Also, based on his NPC status, he probably didn't have the same respawn privileges as players. If he died here, it might be permanent.
This was ridiculous. Apocalypse had been running for three years, and he had never heard of anyone disappearing while playing the game. Why was he so unlucky?
"Huh, what's this?"
Julian suddenly noticed an option labeled [Transmigration Simulator] in the lower right corner of his status screen. Wasn't that the mini-game he was about to play before he transmigrated?
Could this mini-game be the reason he got Sword Art Online'd?
He mentally "touched" the option, and a series of prompts appeared:
[Welcome to the Transmigration Simulator. Game resources are downloading... 95%... 96%... 99%... Loading complete.]
[Transmigration Simulator is starting... This game is also known as "A Thousand and One Mes." We hope you enjoy your experience.]
[You currently have 2 Transmigration Coins. You will receive a daily stipend of 1 Transmigration Coin at 12:00 AM. You may also purchase more coins through the in-game shop.]
[Death in the simulator does not result in real death. It may simply be a segment of your life in a parallel timeline.]
[Upon completing certain special Achievements or influencing the world, you will receive corresponding rewards.]
[The simulator will protect your mental well-being, but please remember that moderation is key. Excessive gaming can be harmful.]
"This looks incredibly sketchy." After carefully reading the introduction, Julian turned his attention to the game interface.
As a veteran gamer, his assessment was: this interface is way too simplistic, right?