Closed Beta (Part 1)

[Closed beta commencing soon. Fetching data...] [Data retrieval complete. Closed beta duration: 365 days.] [Countdown until closed beta launch: 3 days.] "The closed beta." "It's finally coming." Cassius stared at the information on his panel, puffing a jet of flame in anticipation. He vaguely remembered that in his past life there had indeed been a closed beta event, though he had never known the exact dates since he wasn't among the lucky few who drew a beta account. Furthermore, Elezerg had been completely obscure at the start. The developers hadn't run any commercial advertising at all, merely posting a purchase link for the gaming pods on their official website. Only later, propelled by its sheer, peerless quality, did it break into the mainstream and ultimately blow up across the globe. This closed beta release, dubbed *Starfall Origin*, had only a thousand slots. Players spawned in the tiefling refugee camp without any main storyline quests, free to choose their faction—whether aiding the tieflings, defecting to House Lackman, or venturing off to other northern nations. The final outcome had concluded with players exposing Duke Brad's conspiracy, after which the tieflings, led by Mezrolash, returned to Northwind Keep. And that was precisely why Cassius had deliberately taken in the tieflings. In Cassius's eyes, Mezrolash was a pragmatist through and through, which suited Cassius's tastes quite nicely. In his past life, after the players appeared, Mezrolash had quickly recognized the immense potential of this emerging power and put it to work, leveraging them to expand his own strength and stand against the burgeoning House Lackman. Yet Cassius remembered clearly that the open beta began just a few months after the closed beta wrapped up, not remotely matching the timeline displayed on his NPC panel. *Time in Elezerg doesn't run parallel to Earth.* *The two sides only sync up when players enter, and time passes four times faster in Elezerg than on Earth.* *In my past life, when the players returned after the first major update, over a decade had already passed in Elezerg.* Cassius pondered in silence. Still, this was just as well. It wouldn't do if he took a dragon's slumber for a few decades, only to awaken to players already walking the path of legends, clad in divine gear and queuing up to slay him. How embarrassing would that be? [Fetching data... Data retrieval complete.] [Player Interaction Interface unlocked.] Evidently, this was the template for interacting with players. Although the players had yet to arrive and the functions weren't active, Cassius should be able to issue quests, sell merchandise, teach skills, grant classes, and even adjust his disposition toward them. Cassius knew all about that from firsthand experience. In his past life, dealing with those fickle, moody NPCs was always a gamble: one moment their affinity bar was maxed out, and the next, a single misplaced sentence would reset it to zero or have them drawing swords on you. That was practically routine. [Faction Interface unlocked.] [Player Forum unlocked.] "This is open to me too?" Cassius was genuinely surprised. In his past life, the player forum had been a hub for players to chat and pass the time. While waiting on respawn timers, players would invariably browse the forums, spewing nonsense like "Getting crushed by a rock doesn't count as dying," or "What do you mean one-shot? I was tanking the hit!"—or seriously debating class builds and gear setups. On the forum, you could be a spectator enjoying the drama, or step up and become the laughingstock yourself. There were even clownish posts confessing romantic feelings in-game, drawing hordes of ridiculing onlookers. Cassius clicked into the forum. Sure enough, it was completely desolate, with not a single post in sight. "Figures. I'll have to wait until the players log in." "Still, before that, I need to have a little talk with the others..." With that thought, the red dragon strolled out of the cavern, intending to instruct his retainers and teach them a few tricks for taming players. The core strategy: "Lure them with profit, cow them with might." Commonly known as the carrot and the stick. As for "reasoning with logic, moving them with emotion"? Don't even bother. It was utterly impossible and would only trigger rebellious contrarianism in certain players. The players' initial arrival was bound to stir up plenty of unpleasant incidents. Cassius understood this lawless bunch all too well. In his past life, he had been just the same—poking here, slashing there, until he had unknowingly drawn maximum aggro. Afterward, they'd put on an innocent act on the forums, whining, "I didn't even do anything! Why is the entire town's NPC population hunting me down?" It was both infuriating and ridiculous. ... [Username: Let Me Eat a Steamed Bun] Mantou was a gaming content creator whose videos primarily focused on live playthroughs and first impressions of new titles. As a semi-wealthy second-generation heir, he never had to worry about food or shelter. His house was packed with over a dozen of the latest gaming pods, and his daily job was scouring the internet for new games to try out—titles like *My Virtual Girlfriend*, *The Lord of the Rings: Gollum*, *King Kong vs. Qin Qiong*, *Scavenger Simulator*... Quality was beside the point, so long as the views and engagement spiked. "Sigh, what a decadent, materialistic era." In this era where full-dive VR games reigned supreme, new titles poured out endlessly, yet Mantou could feel himself suffering from a bout of gaming burnout. Even with interactive beauties placed right before him, he felt nothing, unable to recapture that raw thrill he once got from tapping and swiping away on his phone as a kid. By sheer chance, he had stumbled across a promotional video—or rather, live gameplay footage—of *Elezerg*. It had no unnecessary voiceovers or marketing lines, showing only a vivid, authentic world of swords and sorcery: dragons soaring through the skies, knights raising sharp blades high. It couldn't help but remind Mantou of why he had started playing games in the first place: fantasy. Who didn't want to be a great hero who saved the world? So, without hesitation, he placed an order, happily welcoming a brand-new gaming pod and an account balance of minus eight thousand. "Huh, no character customization?" "It's an automated facial scan? That's going to turn away so many players who love sculpting their faces." "Not to mention the players who like using female avatars for online dating... Er, don't ask how I know that." In an era dominated by full-dive gaming, virtual romance was deep and murky water. Mannerisms, voice, and appearance could no longer distinguish a man from a woman. Mantou knew this from bitter personal experience and involuntarily recalled a certain painful memory he kept hidden from the world. "Well, since it's a face-scan game, I guess I can't sculpt an eldritch abomination of a body." [Connecting to neural hub...] [Scanning physical data...] [Generating character...] [Character generation complete.] I'm Off to Eat a Steamed Bun (Note: Standard human attribute score is 10) Strength: 10 Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 11 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 9 "While I appreciate the nod to my intellect..." "Why the hell is my Charisma only 9?!" Inside the gaming pod, Mantou wept bitter tears once more, reminded of that time he was blocked immediately after sending a real selfie to an online date. Perhaps the gaming pod hadn't made a mistake at all; perhaps the fault lay with himself. "There goes my immersion," Mantou complained dutifully. [Confirming your starting location... Confirmation complete!] [Closed beta starting location, coordinates 17834.4524.455, City of Baator.] [Preparing for spawn...] [Welcome to Elezerg!]