March 12, 5th year of the federal calendar

The world is far more complex than I could have imagined, and some frightening changes are happening at an alarming rate. I don't know exactly how to describe my feelings, it's like landing on a game that has just been released and the operator makes an announcement that they have made a huge expansion overnight.

It sounds like an April Fool's joke, but how do I take it lightly when I'm in the middle of it?

Here's how it happened.

Last night, probably because I was so tired, I went to bed and fell asleep very quickly. However, the uneasiness of being in a strange world soon set in, and I woke up several times in the night until dawn, when I was no longer sleepy. So I got up, washed up, and prepared to leave the hotel to continue exploring this new world.

Walking on the old staircase, the creaking sound of the tooth-aching wooden planks attracts a few glances. I was slightly stunned, because I subconsciously sensed that there seemed to be something unusual about those gazes.

The boss of "Wild Lily" hurriedly greeted him, and his fat face was filled with a warm smile: "Sir, did you sleep well last night?" ”

"Also...... Not bad! I was a little stunned, but I replied politely. Truth be told, the beds in the hostel weren't very comfortable, but I've experienced worse conditions. What's more, after something like this, a safe place to stay has made me very satisfied. The reason why I got up early was more because of my spirit.

Strange to say, since I came to this world, I feel that my physique has improved by leaps and bounds, and even my energy has become extremely energetic.

No, that's not what it should be about right now!

Is this slightly flattering boss in front of you still the dull robot dude from yesterday? The dull brain of the early morning finally began to work slowly at this time, why did those stares make me feel weird? Because there is some scrutiny and curiosity in it, that indescribable sense of agility, as if the program script has become a living human being overnight.

"Sir, do you need a meal? Breakfast was just a knife and very affordable. The fat man still had a sincere smile on his face.

I did need a moment to sort through my confused thoughts, and nodded and replied, "That'...... Let's have a try! ”

"Sir, please sit over there and wait a moment." The middle-aged man with the general's belly smiled even brighter, and after taking a few steps with one hand, he happily ran to the kitchen.

"Life is not easy!" Looking at this man who wears many hats, such as waiter, accountant and boss, I can't help but shake my head and sigh.

On the left side of the lobby on the first floor of the hotel, there are several wooden tables where two young couples are dining. I sat down in the corner avoiding them, waiting for breakfast as I vaguely observed the men's movements. They didn't speak loudly, but I could still faintly hear some words. I don't want to peep into other people's privacy, but I don't care about the minutiae at this time. It can be heard that these people's choice of words and sentences is impeccable, and it seems that they are no different from real human beings, and the fly in the ointment is that the tone and mood of their speech are too smooth, and there is no change from beginning to end.

This is clearly not the state of a normal human being.

"They seem to be learning human behavior patterns!" This thought crossed my mind. A good example of this is the innkeeper, who still follows his original persona, but expands his behavior pattern.

Many of the doubts from the previous day have not been satisfactorily answered, and now there are more questions, which makes me even more troubled. Thoughts were running rampant in his mind like a wild horse, and his right hand was just mechanically feeding the food that the boss was serving to his mouth, and he didn't even know what the food tasted like.

Probably because I looked lost and depressed, the honest boss asked me a little worried about whether the food was not to taste. When I came back to my senses, I responded with a smile on my face, saying that it was just my personal problem and had nothing to do with the taste of the food.

In fact, the innkeeper's reaction suddenly made me understand one thing, whatever the reason was, but this change is not a bad thing either. After all, the more human they appear, the more ways I can ask for information.

I spent the morning wandering around the hotel, and with deliberate attention, I noticed that the people in the city were still changing. Especially in the middle of the day, I noticed that some people were finally experiencing mood swings. I was talking to a peddler when he suddenly told me in a very impatient voice not to disturb his business anymore. But just a minute ago, he would just smile and answer the same question over and over again in different words.

I had a casual bite to eat at a street restaurant, and after a short break, I came back to another corner of Eagle City. The layout of the bazaar is not much different from that in the east of the city, and there is nothing special about the items on sale. But here, I've met people who make me so happy.

Thanks to the grace of Lady Luck, I saw two unusual figures in the sea of people. It was a young man and a woman, who walked freely around the bazaar, stopping to say something to the people around them, but never touching a single item.

I vaguely saw those dancing points of light again, and two words popped up in my mind, "hesitation" and "confusion and anxiety". The emotions wrapped around them, just like me at this time.

With a hint of excitement, I quickly stepped forward to talk to the two of them.

After a few brief exchanging words, the muscular young man was the first to laugh, and the shadow that hung over me finally dissipated. Like me, these two are gamers who were also sent to this world for unknown reasons.

The three of us left the market and found a clean lawn nearby to sit on the ground, exchanging our origins and experiences.

The two of them are not much different in age from me, the strong young man is named Qi Xin, from Jiuxi in Chu State, and he is still a student, but because he works part-time as a fitness coach, he has developed an enviable good physique; Another very delicate girl is named Xia Ying, from Yan Guo Dasong, the youngest of the three of us, who just entered the university in September last year.

From the two of them, I learned that the players who were accidentally sent to Eagle City were not only the three of us, but also some other players, but everyone was currently scattered in groups of two or three, and they did not act together. According to them, there are already people running around trying to get all the players together.

I asked my two new friends what they had been concerned about: Did they have a vague memory before they woke up? After answering in the affirmative, I was almost certain that what happened during that time was the key clue to our coming into the world.

Qi Xin also told me that yesterday afternoon a reckless player went out to explore the city, but was attacked by some kind of monster outside the city. The player's physique did get a huge boost, but he was so flustered that he had never had combat experience, and he died in the claws of the monster a moment later, before he even had time to see what it looked like. This is not a sad story, as the player is then resurrected near the fountain in the center of Eagle City, and the punishment for death is a state called "Death Gaze", which requires the player to collect an item called a soul crystal and sacrifice it to the Grim Reaper within ten days to remove this state.

At the moment, they don't know exactly what a soul crystal is, or what the consequences will be if they don't pay tribute on time, but the concept of resurrection is enough to lift my spirits. After all, the threat of death is eliminated, and there is no need to tremble in other actions.

……

Bidding farewell to the two new partners, Du Qi's face obviously had a little more smile, although the confusion in his heart could not be completely cleared, but the existence of his compatriots made him feel much more at ease after all. He wandered around the west of the city for a while, and found shops separate from the bazaar, some selling potions of all kinds, others with various weapons. He also noticed that these stores sell not only in-game adventure items, but also a lot of things related to daily life.

For example, a shop specializing in leather clothing sells well-made fur coats. Duzi was certain that these coats had no protective abilities other than the function of keeping out the cold, and were only sold as luxury goods. But it was in this shop that he saw a local resident, after hesitating for a long time, buy an expensive and gorgeous dress. Walking from the back door of the leather shop into a slightly narrow alleyway, he also saw a caravan pulling truckloads of supplies into the backyard of a certain trading house.

Duzi understands the significance of these things, and if the bazaar is not just a decoration, and it is not just for the players, then it is a large, constantly operating business chain. And then from there, it is a living society.

Walking a little south towards the bazaar, another building caught the attention of the Duzi. The houses within the courtyard walls are all made of fine timber, and the style is very quaint, and the area is very large, and it seems that it has a long history. At the top of the courtyard gate hangs a large signboard with two large characters written on it. Du Qi did not know the writing of this world, but with his calligraphy skills, these two characters were sharp and chic, as if they had been written by some master swordsman. This sounds a bit of a godly chatter, but he does have a collection of calligraphy and calligraphy masters in his home, and the artistic conception is somewhat similar.

Thinking of this, Du Qi suddenly felt that he might also be influenced by that character, so he joined the club to learn swordsmanship in college, although it was not for a long time. The memories that were hidden in his heart welled up, and he was suddenly full of interest in this martial arts hall, thinking that he was going to venture out of the city tomorrow, and it didn't seem to hurt to go in and have a look.

Thinking of this, Du Qi walked over quickly and opened the wooden door of the martial arts hall.

The interior of the compound is not as deserted as imagined, and when you enter the main entrance, you can see a wooden sign, pointing to a small one-story wooden house more than ten steps away.

This place is indeed as Du Qi guessed, it is a swordsmanship dojo, and there are seven or eight people inside, judging from the attire, two of them are probably swordsmanship masters, and the other few are holding wooden swords and meticulously following the instructions to practice.

The swordsman was not surprised to see the unfamiliar face, but welcomed the guests very warmly. After a brief conversation, Du Qi received individual guidance from another master in the hall at the cost of a silver thread coin. Changing into a more sports-friendly outfit, he began his studies.

I don't know if it's because I've learned swordsmanship, or because the strengthened body has superhuman talent, the whole learning process is a little amazingly fast. After about an hour of guidance, Du Qi had already figured out the basic routines of this set of swordsmanship, and by the way, even the sword and shield in his hand became much easier. After that, Du Qi practiced for another two hours under the watchful eye of the coach, and he did not stop until the translucent attribute realm automatically popped up.

Finally, the first icon appeared in the originally blank skill column.

"Frostblade Flow Swordsmanship - Novice: After repeated practice, you have been able to use the weapon in your hand without worrying about hurting yourself. Keep up the good work, and one day you will be known as a world-famous master of swordsmanship. ”

Duzi also inadvertently notices that his stats screen has changed since then. Although the quality of the swords and shields provided by the martial arts hall is quite ordinary, those stats do have some improvements.

"Is that what it is...... Proficiency? Only by truly mastering how to use the weapon can you activate the relevant stat bonuses. "After thinking about it, I can only come to this conclusion.

"Frostblade Flow Swordsmanship? Could it be that the two words on the signboard at the door are 'frost blades'? It looks like this martial arts hall still has some origins. Thinking about it like this, Du Qi decided to take advantage of the rest time to talk to the swordsman master and learn some relevant background.

The process of the cliché went very smoothly, and the swordsman was unexpectedly enthusiastic, and even happily took out a booklet from the small room on the side and handed it to him. "I'm ashamed of your ability to learn, and when you understand your current moves well, you can come back to me." The master added mysteriously, "We don't usually tell ordinary students, but with your talent...... In short, Frostblade Flow is more than what you see today. ”

Du Qi wanted to ask more clearly, but the other party shook his head with an inscrutable face, telling him that this was only an indescribable idea. However, he didn't know the words of this world at all, and he refused to tell the fact that he was illiterate out of face problems, so he could only say goodbye to the swordsman helplessly.

At this time, it was getting late, and Du Qi found a restaurant nearby, and while waiting for the food to be served, he flipped through the booklet that seemed to be a book from heaven. Knowing what was going on, he inadvertently seemed to trigger the translation function, and the garbled text on the paper became recognizable.

It turned out that what was recorded in the booklet was the history of the Frostblade School, and after roughly flipping through it, the story recorded on just a dozen pages of paper could only be described with words like brilliant.

The founding patriarch of the Frostblade School is named Bingyu, and throughout history, he is also one of the most legendary figures. According to the booklet, this master of swordsmanship is a native of the Wuxun Kingdom, a legendary figure who was active six hundred years ago. In historical records, Bing Yu was born in a noble family, not only for a natural beauty, but also showed extraordinary swordsmanship talent since childhood, and was accepted as a disciple by the swordsman Ayaka at the age of six, and grew into a swordsman with a national reputation in just ten years.

It is conceivable that Bingyu's beauty and the temperament of the sword fairy have created a desirable face. At that time, the marriage requests of princes and noble children of various countries were sparse and commonplace, and what was even more eye-catching was Fu Hu, a talented man who was known for his arrogance at that time. It is said that he closed his door for a month after meeting Bingyu, during which time he composed three beautiful poems that have been sung to this day, and then closed his pen and stopped writing.

This may sound like a genre's way of boasting about its heritage, but after Duqi casually asked the diners on the side, he realized that both the official version and the folklore were as good as the descriptions in the pamphlet. Even, a writer adapted a famous romantic romance novel based on this story, describing the story of Bing Yu and Fu Hu, two equally arrogant strange people, who went from strangeness to a love ending, which is still a bestseller.

Of course, the story of folklore is not credible or not, and there are not many records about Bingyu in the official history, only that she made an amazing decision at the age of twenty-one in order to get rid of the troubles of the world. In order to break through the shackles, she abandoned everything she had learned in the past and entered the Yuzhu Snow Mountain alone, repeating those most basic sword moves in the ice and snow, in order to comprehend her own path from them.

It is said that when Bingyu was twenty-seven years old, there was a blizzard in the north. In the midst of the strong wind, a fairy dressed in white plain clothes stepped through the snow.