When Zhang Tai entered the gate, he did not see the skeleton soldiers from before.
In the center of the circular plaza, which resembled a gladiatorial arena, knelt a giant clad in silver armor. Although it was now motionless, as if petrified, just looking at it, one could feel an incomparably majestic aura. A spiraling longsword was deeply embedded in the chest of this armored giant. At the junction of the longsword and its chest, several black whiskers swayed intermittently, adding to the eerie feeling.
"Pull it out… and then challenge it."
Seeing the writing beside him, Zhang Tai understood that he was being told to draw the sword. He gripped the hilt and, with all his might, finally pulled the sword out. As he moved, the petrified giant gradually began to awaken, slowly rising from the ground, its armor gleaming. Suddenly, two dark red beams of light shot out from the area beneath the helmet where the eyes were.
[Gundyr the Ashen One]
Accompanied by upbeat music, a long health bar appeared below the name. But Zhang Tai didn't care at all. It was just a casual game, and he had only been playing for a short time. How could the Lord of Pleasure possibly present a huge guy right from the start? At best, it was just a tough minion—the kind you slaughtered!
He smiled broadly, even putting away his weapon and crossing his arms to watch the animation of Gundyr's awakening.
"I must say, the visuals of the Lord of Pleasure's divine kingdom are really well done; it doesn't look like a new god at all."
Seeing the giant finally break free of its restraints, Zhang Tai's lips curled into a smile. He drew his sword and stepped forward.
"Come on, let me see…"
With a piercing whistling sound, a halberd pierced straight through Zhang Tai's body.
With an incredulous look on his face, Gundyr exerted only a little force, and Zhang Tai's thin body was thrown against the wall like a broken sandbag. As the sand churned, Zhang Tai's vision gradually turned black and white, and two large, blood-red characters appeared before him.
That's it?
Zhang Tai's face instantly changed from white to red, then from red to black. Even though a strong wind was blowing around him, he still felt feverish. The vow that was originally made casually had now become a sharp knife piercing his heart. Looking at the words, he seemed to hear a faint laugh coming from the void.
The next moment, he was back by the bonfire at the city gate, and the gate leading to Gundyr was now surrounded by a thick layer of white mist.
"What just happened?" Zhang Tai asked in disbelief, sensing that something was wrong.
"No, no, I was careless just now and didn't dodge. I'll be more careful this time," he comforted himself, thinking it was just a momentary lapse in concentration.
Just as he was regrouping and ready to take on the challenge again, a notification suddenly came to his ears:
"Your faith power is insufficient. Please recharge in time."
Wow, that was fast! Five Faith Power should last at least half an hour! He checked and realized that exactly half an hour had passed.
"I didn't expect this work called 'game' to be so interesting." Recalling the scene just now, Zhang Tai stroked his chin. In his past twenty-odd years, it seemed no god had ever created such a novel work.
But…
Looking at the "relaxing and stress-relieving cute" tag under Dark Souls, Zhang Tai felt something was off. Even the Lord of Pleasure's warm smile seemed somewhat mocking at this moment.
Never mind. Seeing that there was still plenty of time, Zhang Tai simply poured in 20 Faith Power, since the God of Storytelling wouldn't miss out on that. After renewing his subscription, he excitedly returned to the game, sword and shield in hand, and headed toward Gundyr.
On the other side, Lin Xuan sat blankly in the dimly lit divine kingdom, watching as faith power flowed into him through the panel. His face lit up with joy.
Especially just now, a wealthy player had actually recharged 50 Faith Power, which directly raised his ranking on the New God Ranking by several places. Lin Xuan thought to himself with satisfaction that he had indeed done the right thing. His previously flickering body gradually stabilized.
He summoned his control panel:
Lord of Pleasure: Lin Xuan
[Divine Power: 1 (Demigod)]
[Power of Faith: 68]
[Divine Kingdom Range: 50]
With a thought, Lin Xuan noticed some white specks of light appearing on the bare ground; these were the power of faith he had acquired. The next moment, he carefully integrated these points of light into the divine kingdom, and like earth nourished by spring rain, the dark environment of the entire kingdom instantly became brighter.
Checking the panel again:
[Divine Power: 1.06 (Demigod)]
[Power of Faith: 8]
According to the rule that 1,000 points of faith power can be converted into 1 point of divine power, as long as Black Soul could gain another 9,400 points of faith power, he could return to the ranks of those with weak divine power. By then, he would be able to create even more games.
The Dark Souls that had been released so far seemed flawless, but in fact, it had many bugs. Several were fixed just a few days ago, and the version finally released was still incomplete, only reaching the Gundyr stage. At first, Lin Xuan wasn't sure either, since having a boss in the beginner village was something most people couldn't accept. But judging from the data, quite a lot of people were playing it. He didn't know if they were after the game or the promotional image they had created.
Thinking of that little cat-eared, red-eyed, white-haired loli, Lin Xuan couldn't help but blush. He never expected that this classic anime character from his previous life would cause such a sensation in this universe. But since he was just a mosaic, ever-changing, no form counted as deception.
Sensing the intense emotions within the power of faith, Lin Xuan couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
"At worst, we can just make a few more second tours for them in the future."
...
"Holy crap!" Zhang Tai, who had almost been sent flying by Gundyr's punch and elbow, crawled awkwardly between its legs and took a swig from the Element Bottle during the gap in its attack.
"Is this a casual game?" He felt like he was going crazy; in just one hour, he had died dozens of times. The best he had managed was only to take away a third of Gundyr's health.
This time, he had just discovered that rolling could actually dodge Gundyr's attacks, but the constant rolling drained his stamina rapidly, let alone allowing him to counterattack.
After being cornered by Gundyr, Zhang Tai realized that even rolling around wouldn't save him, so he simply gave up resisting and let Gundyr ravage him. After being killed once again, he sat blankly by the fire, unwilling to move an inch. At this moment, even the flames could not warm his ravaged heart.
The wind howled past his ears above the cliff, making the sea of clouds below look like flowing wool. Looking at the crackling flames rising from the campfire, Zhang Tai suddenly felt that life might not have any meaning. He gazed at the fire-starting area obscured by thick fog and muttered to himself:
"Who said this is a casual game?"