Other than the sleeping Fairy, the 30th Voidwalker; Charlatan, the 31st Voidwalker; Oracle, the 4th Voidwalker — who almost never joined the others to play; Druid, the 8th Voidwalker, who was unable to join them, and Baiyi himself, every other Walker had gladly signed up for the game. Even those who normally avoided these games entered the scene. There were 28 players in total.
Baiyi divided the Voidwalkers into seven small teams, placing four players in each team.
The Archmage’s team consisted of himself, three beautiful maidens, and a group of poorly designed NPCs, who all had the most generic facial features that NPCs could ever have. One of the poorly-designed-NPCs, who seemed to be the leader of the NPCs in the team, began to brief the team members dutifully, reminding them to always keep an eye on their watch.
What this poorly-designed-NPC was referring to was not an actual watch, as the Archmage soon discovered, after looking down at his wrist. What he really saw was a black pixel block, which had a screen in its middle, to display text.
Looking around, the Archmage feasted his eyes on the group of poorly design NPCs, who could only be found in budget B-list animation movies. Some of these poorly designed NPCs possessed faces that were shaped more like polygons than spheres. Then, the Archmage examined the room he was in; it was a small room, which had only four white walls. There was a glowing sphere hovering in the middle of the room, and apart from that, there was absolutely nothing else in the room. That made the game seem like a very sloppily-made game.
“Pfft, this apprentice of mine! At least put some more effort into the details!” The Archmage pouted his lips in disapproval, obviously displeased. After all, realism — or the lack thereof — affected one’s gaming experience in major ways.
When Baiyi heard that feedback, he was rendered speechless. ‘What am I supposed to do? I’m already stretched thin here!’
This time, more Voidwalkers had joined Baiyi’s game than usual, and the game being a very complex one did not help him, either. In order to set up the game, Baiyi had exhausted every inch of his computing power — as well as recalling the remote scouting ball of consciousness that was inspecting his future vacation realm — just to create this new game world. Almost all of his concentration was on this game, except a little bit of consciousness that was left behind, in reality, to guard himself against sudden harm.
However, all that was only good enough to construct a basic, overarching world design, with the details that were much more… frugal. There was really nothing he could do to fix the dramatic absence of realism in the game’s visuals and graphics, due to insufficient consciousness power. Therefore, a certain someone just had to make do with what he already had 1 . It was not like he could challenge the designer.
However, no matter how mighty a Voidwalker was, they still could not defeatGod 2 …
Fortunately, someone else took pity on Baiyi’s plight. A cool, clear voice rang out from behind the grumbling Archmage., “He has put a lot of effort into this, and I can see that he is currently strained from the complexity of the game. You, sir, are being too demanding of him.”
Another voice, which sounded cuter than the previous one, chimed in. “Uh-huh! Hope is very dedicated in his craft; he doesn’t even slack off despite this being just a game!”
“Sir Archmage, if I may be so bold… I need to remind you that the original intention of our exercise is to accrue education materials for his future classes. Ergo, it is fine to be parsimonious in terms of graphical details.” This voice of support was also feminine one; it was interlaced with an air of wisdom and grace.
Baiyi felt his heart warm the instant he heard them. ‘At least someone still cares!’
“Hmph!” The Archmage turned around in displeasure and looked at the three gorgeous maidens standing behind him. The maidens all sported different styles, but they shared the same mindblowing degree of beauty. The Archmage muttered in a low voice, “You placed me in a team with these three? You brat; you’re just trying to sabotage my success, aren’t you?”
‘Hey, that’s just unfair!’ Baiyi had only put the Archmage in a team with those three because he could not bear to see the Archmage lose again; after all, the Archmage’s prowess at games was so appalling, Baiyi could not save him, even if he bent the rules to his advantage. This time, the Fifth Walker had deliberately placed the Archmage in a team with genuinely skilled players — the Warrior Walker, the Assassin Walker, and the Scholar — just so that he would not lose so embarrassingly, which would cause him to end up sleeping on someone’s pity couch.
As the four players bantered, the leader of the team’s poorly-designed- NPCs finished briefing the team about the rules of the game. A white light shone down on the team, signifying the start of the game.
As per custom, the first level pitted them against… zombies.
The players in the Archmage’s team froze after they were teleported to the new arena. Apparently, in order to minimize computing power and resources, Baiyi had cut corners on every NPC that he deemed “insignificant”, and this included the zombies. Every NPC in the game was just composed of a spherical block for a head and a few lines connected to it, completing a matchstick person. In order to help the Voidwalkers tell the matchstick characters apart, there were helpful texts inscribed on their spherical heads: Civilian, Zombie, Kinda Stronger Zombie…
‘There is zero terror and excitement in this!’ Comparatively, the leader of the poorly-designed-NPCs on the Archmage’s team actually seemed more realistic…
“Well, at least Baiyi didn’t do a sloppy job when it came to designing game bosses…”
“Well, just ignore the issues and play, maybe?”
The Archmage decided to make the game more eventful in his own way. When a kind poorly-designed-NPC passed him a handgun, to use against the zombies, the Archmage called that NPC aside; then, he pulled over some more loitering poorly-designed- NPCs and began to tell them all the game’s plot, spoiling every part of the story to them.
The leader of the team’s poorly-designed-NPCs frantically tried to stop the Archmage, warning him that such actions would bring forth the wrath of the’King of Gods’ 3 .
To this warning, the Archmage candidly replied, “Nah, he wouldn’t dare because he’s my student!”
The poor leader could not compute any information that was not meant for its character. Thus, the NPC glitched, suffering a serious bug which effectively kicked it out of the game.
Baiyi, on the other hand, was pissed. He ignored the Archmage’s team and turned his attention to the others.
Although the Archmage was trolling the game because he had a personal connection with its ‘King of Gods’, other Voidwalkers had, at least, adhered to the rules of the game. They ignored the pitiful graphic design and played the game with the seriousness it deserved.
One of the most outstanding teams was the team containing the Knight Walker, the Caveman Walker, the Hitman Walker, and the Sorcerer Walker. These four were renowned for their prowess in direct combat; they each boasted their own personal fighting styles, vast experience, and guts made of steel. They floored the zombies and became the first team to complete the objective of the first level, earning themselves a massive number of reward points.
The zombies could pose a threat to normal humans, but they were not able to boss the Voidwalkers around, even though the Voidwalkers had been handicapped to make them similar to ordinary humans. The best weapon each Voidwalker in the game wielded was their experience, and with that, none of the zombies could hope to threaten them, let alone zombies that did not look scary.
As the Shonen Shoguns — which was the name that Baiyi decided to christen the Knight Walker’s team — began to upgrade their stats, a second team completed the first level: the ‘Axis of Evil’ team. This team contained the Lich Walker, the Devil Walker, the Incubus Walker, and the Shadow Walker.
The Axis of Evil was just as energetic as the Shonen Shoguns, even though they had not managed to finish the first level as fast as the Shonen Shoguns did. However, their techniques were very subtle; they easily manipulated the poorly-designed-NPCs in their team to fight each other, and by the time the objective had been completed, all the NPCs had died along with the zombies, dropping their items in the process. After plundering the loot dropped by the deceased, the Axis of Evil’s EXPs rose tremendously, earning them the path to becoming Team Killers 4 .
The third team to complete the first level was only slightly less impressive. This team, ‘ the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 5 ‘, consisted of the Cleric Walker, the Paladin Walker, the Engineer Walker, and the Astrologer Walker. They had turned out to be a pretty solid team; the Paladin Walker and the Cleric Walker were actually powerful fighters in their own rights, while the Engineer Walker had useful knowledge about battles such as these. The only member who did not contribute significantly was the sole theorist among the gentlemen, the Astrologer Walker; he had no actual battle experience or important knowledge to share. Regardless of that, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen had the potential to brace against oncoming challenges.
However, their team was not the only one to display amazing potential. The Raw Rangers — which contained the Dragon, the Monster, the Soul Armature Practitioner, and the Blacksmith Walker — showed as much promise as the previous team. The Soul Armature Practitioner acted as the chief strategist; the Monster and the Dragon’s — who both had pure, unbridled forces — served as the team’s tanks, and finally, the Blacksmith Walker had taken on the role of technical support. The division of roles within this team showed exceptional understanding of rapport and given some more time, the Raw Rangers was sure to rise to the top, in later levels.
Some teams did not really inspire the same amount of confidence, however. One such team consisted of the Alchemist Walker, the Charlatan, the Merchant, and the Apprentice Walker. In this team, only the Apprentice Walker had been useful in battle, and that was just disheartening. The team had only managed to clear the first level. The Charlatan charmed the NPCs in his team to be completely loyal to the players, and the other three members of the team upgraded the stats of these NPCs using their own attribute points, hoping that these NPCs could do battle with the zombies all on their own. Because of this, Baiyi christened this team ‘the Support Team’.
Apart from the Archmage’s team, who Baiyi had chosen to ignore, there was one team left; it was the team formed by the Explorer Walker, the Thane, the Bard, and the Painter —’Team Cliche’. This particular team was very traditionalist; they employed the classic way of assigning roles. The roles of tanks were taken up by the Explorer and the Painter, while the Thane fulfilled the role as the leader; he had to drag the Bard— who was also the team’s resident Casanova — around. A team like this seemed very apt for a novel like this.
The game that Baiyi had created was perfectly tailored for the Voidwalkers. The first level contained zombies, but it was not difficult for the Voidwalkers; all the teams had managed to pass the level without any casualty. While the players were sorting out their pre-mission upgrades, Baiyi was finally able to relax a little, and he used that time to turn his attention back to the ‘Connection Cronies’— the team the Archmage was a part of.
Three members of this team made upgrades and stats modifications that were useful to them; these modifications granted them some of the abilities that once commanded in real life. Only the Scholar decided to find a slightly different power for herself, choosing to get an ability related to psychic energy; she probably wanted to become a psychic this time.
After making his upgrades and stat modifications, the Archmage used what was left of the team’s reward points to get a pair of black-rimmed glasses. He pushed the glasses up his nose and muttered, “Hmph. Mortals and their wisdom.”
‘Uhh…’ Their team now consisted of a fighter, who was very adept in martial arts; a bewitchingly beautiful assassin; the glass-wearing Archmage, who had claimed to be the brains behind the team, and a female psychic. Had anyone seen this sort of team-up before? Maybe if the Warrior’s gender was flipped…
The game continued. In the first level, every team had to fight zombies. However, in the second level, each team encountered different scenarios. Some were sent into space to fight alien women; some were in the desert exploring the pyramids, and some were sent back into the past to bully dinosaurs.
Due to the differences in the flow of time within the game and reality, Baiyi felt that second round ended just as quickly. The fastest team to finish the second level was, once again, the Shonen Shoguns. They were closely followed by the Axis of Evil, who believed that there was no method too reprehensible to reach their goal. The team which had been built as it was to give one its members an unfair advantage — and had also received secret help from the gamemaster himself — the Connection Cronies, could only settle for third place.
‘I feel like there really isn’t anything that can carry my teacher,’ Baiyi sighed quietly.
However, in the second level, there was a casualty! The deceased was a member of Team Cliche, which was led by the Thane Waker. This team lost a member because the Bard had flirted with an NPC that was instrumental to the plot progression. That was against the rules, and so the Casanova was briskly executed…
‘I can’t believe you actually felt sexually-aroused by pixel blocks!’ Baiyi thought, his voice failing him.