When Shen Bing woke up again she saw that everything around her looked like pixelated squares.
They were more black and blue, looking like the initialization of a game.
Not far away there was a child?
She recognized that even without the mask and with the increased size.
Her pink hair and wings were still recognizable.
Who else besides Sister Ellie, but she had a doubt.
Shen Bing: "Hello Sister Ellie, before anything didn't you say you couldn't take off the mask?"
Ellie smiled: "Actually you will forget what my face looks like later so it doesn't matter."
"And besides that maybe when you gain the shop's trust you might see their faces."
"But if his sister ends up going outside and she lets you see her face, don't forget."
"Never ever let others see it, no one."
Shen Bing became confused so she asked directly.
Shen Bing: "Is there some special reason?"
Ellie: "Yes, actually there really is a very important one."
"You should understand this in just a few words, so there's no need to explain it in a long way."
"Whether the owner or his sister, they don't follow cultivation in the traditional sense, they evolve in all directions."
"Thus their charm or beauty also increases along with their strength."
"The owner before traveling wasn't ugly to the point of being a monster but he also wasn't handsome."
"He had low self-esteem because of that, and it's a normal thing in adolescence."
"That almost disappeared when he became an adult, but it still existed."
"It disappeared completely when he started increasing his strength."
Shen Bing didn't understand why she was telling this, weren't they talking about his sister?
"You might be confused but the reason for the warning is that thanks to the great gains we had."
"He and his sister are going through a great transformation."
"Before ****** didn't focus on charm or beauty since the secondary gains from increasing strength already increase beauty."
"Just not as much as specialists on that path."
"Now with this evolution the two of them will become so, so beautiful that if lower-level beings aren't careful they could be in danger."
"A saying the master knew would be."
[Beauty capable of bringing disaster to the country and the people]
"This is a saying among mortals for very beautiful women, but the master's beauty after the transformation would be 100x greater than this saying."
"His sister is obviously included in this."
Shen Bing was shocked and remained silent.
"But don't worry this beauty doesn't mean he will become feminine."
"It's an increase in masculine beauty."
"So with the warning given shall we play?"
Forcing herself out of her shock she nodded.
Shen Bing: "Yes Sister Ellie."
Ellie: "So do you want to create a game or play the ready ones?"
Shen Bing: "Could you explain."
"Based on your imagination the console creates a game world just don't create something of too high level."
"The master said it wasn't pleasant for you to start playing and be hit by a hand through the river of time."
Shen Bing felt a residual taste of personal experience in that information.
Shen Bing: "Let's first look at the available ones and then decide."
Ellie: "Ok, we have many."
Then Ellie showed all the categories mystery, action, mythology…
Shen Bing: "What is this Chinese mythology it looks very similar to my previous world?"
Ellie: "Actually you could say it's another representation of your country?"
"Just like the Xia Empire looks similar but isn't the same thing."
With her doubts cleared she chose the game.
Shen Bing: "Then can we go to a cultivation world?" Shen Bing asked timidly.
Ellie: "Ok, we can go, but how do you want to play story mode or create character of course you can also go with your real strength."
Shen Bing: "Character creation, right this is so realistic, is there a way to reflect the cultivation level?"
Ellie shook her head: "Unfortunately it still doesn't have that function, but in the future the master wants to add it."
With the answer received, Shen Bing created her character.
Someone identical to her but the only difference is that her hair became silver white just like in the apocalypse.
With the start of the game she saw herself in a sect with no one and according to the information she was a girl adopted by the former sect master.
But he passed away and only left her a basic sect technique.
Shen Bing would have to use her own methods to gain spirit stones.
Whether by stealing, through commerce or accepting missions.
To increase her cultivation, talent or evolve techniques.
It looks a lot like points, she thought.
So this is her mission, since she is the only one in the sect she left after saying goodbye at the grave of the deceased master.
We start with a character at Qi Refinement level 1.
So she could only run, she felt that the body was a little better than when her talent awakened in the apocalypse.
But when she was leaving the sect's area a huge dark rift opened in the sky.
She felt immense pressure as if she could be killed instantly without resistance.
Shen Bing: ???
"Is this some kind of boss fight at the beginning, seriously???"
Then a beautiful young girl with pink hair appeared, she had the same height as Shen Bing and the same body shape.
The only difference would be the wings on her back.
The next moment she appeared in front of Shen Bing.
Shen Bing got startled but when she looked again it was familiar.
She recognized who it was but had a long doubt.
Shen Bing: "Ellie, why are you like this?"
Ellie: "Hehe tell me am I not pretty?"
"The master drew me in chibi form outside, but inside the game I can be whoever I want."
Ellie: "Ah, that's because I wanted to surprise him, but he only scolded me because in his mind I'm still a child."
Shen Bing remained silent for a long time….
She felt like she heard a lot of information in this simple conversation.
Calming down and ignoring this for now she asked.
Shen Bing: "Then why did you appear here?"
Ellie: "Actually it's because I wanted to give you some spirit stones enough for you to raise your cultivation realm."
"At the same level as your final attack in the apocalypse."
Shen Bing: "Really?"
"Yes, I am the maximum realm of the mortal world, I just can't ascend because of the console's limitation."
"We can only simulate the large planetary level safely."
"If it's the immortal realm well…"
"It's not that it's impossible, it's just not advisable."
"Even your realm combined with your final attack normally released would only be Nascent Soul at the peak stage."
"So it's easy."
While she spoke she summoned a spatial ring.
Shen Bing looked at the enormous amount of spirit stones inside and swallowed dryly.
If this were points she could fly freely in the real world.
"Thank you sister Ellie!"
With that she bowed because it would really take a long time to earn this alone.
"Ok, ok you can play now when you advance to the same realm as me we'll meet again."
"Oh and a reminder the NPCs don't have self-awareness but they are very intelligent."
With a wave she opened a hole again and entered it.
Shen Bing watched with envy.
And regarding intelligence she didn't understand much but in her mind NPCs without consciousness wouldn't be very intelligent.
That was the basic rule of games.
But she forgot that this game was very different.
So she spent all the stones to raise her cultivation and it began to rise.
She felt her strength returning to her peak and greatly surpassing it.
Foundation, core formation, nascent soul.
Nascent soul intermediate, advanced, peak.
Shen Bing felt herself surpass her own former peak by huge margins.
Inside her body another version of herself appeared it was her nascent soul.
She found it incredible.
But looking at her spirit stones and at her lack of talent and the fact that she was still with a basic technique she fell into deep thoughts.
She had a brilliant idea.
What does a player do when they are without money in an open world game?
What is the fastest method naturally it is robbery.
So with her cultivation at the maximum even better than her previous level naturally she went to test it.
She could do everything she could at her peak she didn't think she was inferior to mere NPCs.
With that she directly robbed a commerce chamber in a small city.
And quickly accumulated spirit stones she saw that her method worked and thought herself incredibly intelligent.
She continued this life according to the game's time for 1 month.
She was so happy accumulating stones and increasing all her talents and abilities that she didn't notice.
The changes around her.
If she paid attention she would see wanted posters in the main cities the price was enormous.
Naturally the NPCs want this fat meat but she is very strong.
After a month of killing and robbery , Shen Bing advanced 2 major realms becoming a powerhouse at the void refinement level.
Only 3 realms until the world's peak.
So well….
Shen Bing looked at the game's entrance lobby and fell into deep thoughts.
Not far away Ellie was laughing until she couldn't take it anymore.
"Hahahahahaha"
"I warned you that the NPCs were intelligent but you didn't listen."
"You didn't even consider second generation rich kids or that you let someone escape and spread the news."
"You didn't even hide your face hahahahahaha"
Shen Bing felt her face turn red and covered it with her hand.
How was she supposed to know this game was so real.
You reap what you sow.
She thought it was a game about robbing banks and farming easy money but it wasn't.
She clearly remembered going on a routine robbery.
Then she heard someone shouting.
Random NPC: "Demonic old Shen eat my sword!"
She only saw a black sword bigger than a mountain range invading her field of vision.
She felt the screen turn black and woke up here.
Ellie: "You were mistaken for a heretical cultivator or a rogue cultivator hahahaha."
Shen Bing: "Well I think that's enough games for today"
Ellie stopped laughing:
"Yes you also need to eat you've already been here for half an hour."
Shen Bing: "Half an hour?"
But she realized that time passed very differently from reality.
This world is so real that if you're not careful it could become a second life.
Shen Bing: "Ok see you tomorrow sister Ellie"
"See you Xiao Shen Bing" Ellie waved her hand in farewell.
With Shen Bing disappearing the silence returned to reign in the console only with the background music playing.
(End of chapter)
[Xiao means small or little in Chinese I always thought the pronunciation was cool so I added it]