Retrograde Gaming

Chapter 1: My Craftsmanship Is Absolutely Mind-Blowing

Translator: Henyee Translations

Editor: Henyee Translations

On a summer’s afternoon in Year 21XX, on the 24th floor of a normal residence in China’s XS city, a wave of harsh sounds resonated: ‘bin’, ‘bin’, ‘bin’, it was particularly agitating on this quiet afternoon.

In unit 2402, it was a roughly hundred square meter room. A black-haired youngster held up a sledgehammer in one hand and kept a metal frame in place with the other, he hammered down on the leg rest part of the frame. Because the size of the frame wasn’t too fitting, it couldn’t align properly, the youngster was trying hard to forcibly hammer the frame into a suitable shape.

Followed by the youngster’s fierce strike, a ‘kuang’ sound echoed within the room. the entire frame suddenly wedged itself into where it originally couldn’t fit in—the entire apparatus was basically somewhat completed. When observed as a whole, the object almost looked like a large-sized massage chair. However, its size was somewhat larger than a normal massage chair. There was even a semicircular ‘cover’ at its head, it looked a bit like the hair perm machines used in salons. However, on top of the cover, there were all sorts of densely packed wires. Of course, these wires were simply too disordered, one could easily tell that they were self-made and weren’t store-bought. In the 22nd century, these naked-wire ‘appliances’ couldn’t possibly qualify as a finished product.

Beside the ‘massage chair’ was a normal desktop computer—of course, the current computers had integrated the mainframe with the display screen. On the display screen, there were black characters on a white background—filled with rows of densely packed English letters and Arabic numerals—even someone who was specialized in computer science might not be able to understand what was on it.

“Finally done!” As the last frame was completely installed in place, the youngster wiped off some sweat, he then revealed a crooked smile, “My craftsmanship is absolutely mind-blowing, I completed a gaming pod with only three days of work. The Sky Corporation probably assumes that since I’m not at the public security bureau, I can’t play the game. I can easily make a homemade gaming pod in three days, how will you guys stop me from playing now? With some slight adjustments to the program, let’s see if I can connect to the Sky Corporation’s network.”

The youngster picked up the wireless keyboard to do a bit of programming, when suddenly, two knocks, ‘peng, peng’, came from the door. At the same time, a girl started yelling, “Open up! Li Huailin, you better open the door!”

“Uh…” Li Huailin actually recognized the voice that came from the doorway, he helplessly rubbed his nose a little. However, he still walked over to open the door.

“Say, Sister Juan, there’s no need to yell so loud, right? Other people might even think I owe you something.” Once Li Huailin opened the door, a mature woman, who looked under thirty years old, was glaring at him furiously. Although the woman’s age wasn’t young, she had large eyes, a pointy chin, and a perfect face brimming with seductiveness—in addition to a voluptuous figure, she was absolutely the type that could charm people to death. However, this beauty was now staring at Li Huailin with a furious expression, and apart from this, exhaustion was written all over her face.

“Do you know what time it is now?” The instant the beauty saw Li Huailin, she immediately scowled at him with her eyes wide open as she asked this.

Li Huailin glanced at the electric watch on his wrist, “I know, it’s 2:14 pm—say, Sister Juan, there’s no need to knock so hard just to ask for the time.”

“Don’t you know what time I go to work?” Don’t you know that I need to make up for my sleep in the afternoon?!” Sister Juan was even more furious once she saw that Li Huailin was pretending to be naive, “It’s been three days since you’ve started that incessant banging! One moment, I can hear the sound of an electric saw, and then the next, it’s the sound of a sledgehammer. How do you expect me to sleep and go to work at night?”

The beauty was called Chen Juan, she lived in unit 2401 in this building. In other words, she was Li Huailin’s neighbor. Her so-called ‘work’ was actually going to a certain nightclub or bar and then finding some rich good-looking guys—if she was lucky, her living expenses would be covered for several months or even a year. Since Chen Juan didn’t have a regular job, she usually relied on her good looks to find men to make a living. But sometimes, she would do some temporary jobs, like being a temporary model or walking the runway to make a living. Her ‘work time’ started at five in the evening, while the morning and the afternoon were both her free and sleeping time. However, during these past three days, every single day from eight in the morning, Li Huailin would start his home-made project, this disturbance already ruined her sleep for three days. Therefore, she complained for these past three consecutive days. Speaking of which, Li Huailin knew of his neighbor, but due to their drastically different daily schedules, they’ve never really spoken much. The conversation they had between these three days was more than what they had since he moved in till now.

“Today is really the last day, I’m already finished.” Li Huailin smiled helplessly, the noise he made was indeed a little loud, but since he worked during the day, it wasn’t like he was disturbing the residents with their sleep schedule. However, when you encounter a person who has a reverse sleep schedule, not to mention a woman — how do you reason with her?

“I haven’t had a good night’s rest in three days, take a look at the dark circles under my eyes!” Chen Juan pointed at her own eyes and continued in a furious tone, “How could I go to work like this? If I can’t find a man, are you going to support me?”

“Don’t joke around, one of your bags is already equivalent to a year of my living expenses, how could I afford to support you?” Li Huailin laughed. “You supporting me sounds much more realistic.”

“Huh?” After Chen Juan heard this, her anger unexpectedly waned for some reason. She sized up Li Huailin in a strange manner, she then suddenly revealed a mischievous smile. “That works too, little handsome brother, why not let this older sister support you in the future?”

“Hehe.” Li Huailin shook his head helplessly. “I have more confidence in my left hand. Sister Juan, I think it’s getting late, why don’t you go back to sleep, don’t you still have work tonight? I’m really not going to make any more noise—absolutely no more noise.”

“Don’t be like that, this older sister’s left hand is also quite impressive.” Chen Juan said as she…

“This lowly one only sells his performance and not sexual services, he doesn’t yield under might and won’t be shaken by p*ostitution1.” Li Huailin puffed up his chest as he held his head high, all the while saying this with a straight face.

“Hmph.” Chen Juan flung her head back in disappointment. “You really better not disturb me anymore, or else this sister will truly push you down.”

“That’s not called ‘pushing me down’, it’s undisguised rape,” Li Huailin corrected her.

“Right, what are you going to do about me?” Chen Juan said with a sly smile.

“Heroine, please let me live…” Li Huailin said in a dumbstruck manner.

“Humph, pay more attention in the future, don’t provoke people you can’t afford to provoke,” Chen Juan said with arrogance and conceit, “I’ll forgive you this time, as what we just agreed on, this older sister will go to sleep now, you better not disturb me again.”

“Your ladyship is so magnanimous,” Li Huailin cupped his hands and bent down to pay his respects.

“Hehe.” These movements unexpectedly made Chen Juan laugh, she covered her mouth and sized up Li Huailin once again with a playful expression in her eyes, and then she left.

After seeing Chen Juan off, Li Huailin could finally return to complete his work. He went to his keyboard again—the expression in his eyes suddenly changed—and then, his hands suddenly started typing crazily. If a normal person were to see this scene, they would obviously assume that he was typing randomly, this was because his typing speed was really too fast! However, in reality, he wasn’t just typing, he was actually programming something.

“There shouldn’t be any problems,” after seeing the white words that popped up on the display screen, Li Huailin said to himself, “Speaking of which, Sky Corporation is truly freaking filthy. A gaming pod costs 599,998 yuan! But the entire set of materials I used to make mine only cost a little over twenty thousand—only the processor was slightly more expensive, the other materials didn’t really cost much…”

As Li Huailin recalled the events three days ago, he was still somewhat indignant about it even now. Three days ago, he saw an advertisement that said that Sky Corporation, in alliance with the government, developed an online game that surpassed its time—this game was called ‘Heart of Glory’. It was said to be a virtual reality online game with a 98% immersion rating. There were servers hosted not only in China but also in other countries, and reportedly, in the near future, there would be a new version of the game where battles could be conducted across servers. In other words, there would soon be cross-server battles between countries.

Before ‘Heart of Glory’ started operating, the advertisements regarding it covered the skies and the ground, it was extremely hard for Li Huailin to not know about it. Playing online games in the 22nd century already became a profession accepted by the masses—this was the new norm in fact—however, this time was quite a bit strange. It was because the government actually publicly supported this game, ‘Heart of Glory’. Moreover, the government even encouraged people without a job to play in the online game—so long as they went online for at least 90 hours, they would be able to receive a support cost of 2,000 yuan granted by the government.

In the 22nd century, after production capability rapidly grew, the demand for manpower became increasingly lower. Farming was now done by large-scale plowing and tilling machines, raising livestock was done by large-scale cultivation factories, and new technology replaced the majority of manual labor jobs—a large company which originally had several tens of thousands of employees could now be easily operated by a few hundred people—in addition to the increasing global population, which already surpassed the ten billion mark 10 years ago, the unemployed population could only increase as time passed. The government didn’t lack money, however, with so many people without jobs, they stirred up trouble everywhere. So, in order to lessen their pressure, this time, the government attempted collaboration with Sky Corporation, this led to the launch of the game, ‘Heart of Glory’.

To be able to play a game and receive money, this was an extraordinarily comfortable thing. It was also because of this advertisement that caused Li Huailin to want to play the game. However, when he went to buy the helmet, he encountered a problem. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford it, though a gaming pod indeed cost 599,998 yuan, there was a cheaper virtual reality helmet that only cost 199,998 yuan, it was mainly bought by the majority of poor people. This actually wasn’t considered that expensive. However, the problem Li Huailin encountered was that he wasn’t allowed to buy one.

“Sorry sir, according to your track record, you have a criminal history. This is why you aren’t qualified to purchase a gaming helmet,” the customer service representative explained to Li Huailin with a smile.

“If there’s actually such a thing, why didn’t the promotion explain that someone with a criminal record can’t purchase one? I came all the way here, and now you’re telling me I can’t buy it?” Li Huailin lined up for a long time before he was told this, he was obviously going to be in a bad mood.

“Sir… these… these are the rules…” The customer service representative could only gently explain, “Take a look at the bottom right corner of the promotional flier, it’s actually written there.”

Li Huailin took a look again at the promotional flier’s bottom right corner, it was actually situated in a very tiny corner on the bottom right, he discovered the lines of words that explained his current predicament.

Therefore, Li Huailin could only sullenly return home.

The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. In this way, he set out onwards on an evil path, “This helmet is composed of some brain wave collection devices and image sensors, why can’t I make one myself? It’s just a trifling type of tech. I should be able to easily make one, and then program it so that it connects to the Sky Corporation’s network, that way I’ll be able to play.”

This was the precursor of the daily noises, he tried for three days and basically managed to complete a homemade gaming pod. In terms of external appearance, it was completely incomparable to the gaming pods manufactured by large factories. However, it still had the basic functions and installations.

“I should give it a try first, see if it can connect to the official network.” After recalling the explanation on how to do so, Li Huailin was itching a little to sit on this homemade gaming pod of his. After he manually pressed down the cover above his head, he quickly entered the connection status.

Li Huailin only saw a wave of darkness, but after waiting for 10 seconds, just as he thought it wasn’t going to work, the Sky Corporation’s logo suddenly popped out before his eyes. And then, there was another wave of darkness, after 10 more seconds, the opening animation started to play.

Li Huailin already saw the opening animation on the official website, this was why he didn’t pay any attention to it. However, after it played for a mere two seconds, the image had errors. What was originally on the video was an ancient battlefield, it featured an intense battle scene between various races. However, this was suddenly jammed by a load of inaccurate scenes—what originally had several tens of thousands of people fighting on a plain, the ground had actually become an ocean, these several tens of thousands of people just ‘stood’ on the ocean and fought there instead. And what was originally a city up in smokes, burning in the distance, had suddenly turned into a forest with trees drifting everywhere.

“Hoho? What the heck am I watching?” Li Huailin was baffled as he watched the video play out before his eyes, however, before he could even analyze what was happening, the animation had finished playing. Li Huailin suddenly felt his body lighten, and then, a white palace appeared before his eyes.

“Ah… the character creation interface… This is rather normal. What happened just now, could it be problems due to my homemade tech?” Since Li Huailin couldn’t figure it out, he didn’t ponder on it any further.

“‘Heart of Glory’ welcomes you, please create your character.” Suddenly, a very hoarse voice could be heard in front of Li Huailin. The voice really sounded strange, not to mention its hoarseness, it also felt a little like the dragged tone when a broadcast speaker lacked power.

Li Huailin looked up and was immediately startled. In front of him was a woman in white clothing—it was probably a woman… He could only see her body while two very long black streaks covered her face, it had split her face into three parts. Not to mention whether he could tell if the person was a girl or not, he couldn’t even tell if it was human.

“Where… where did this devil come from?”

“I am ‘Heart of Glory’s’ newbie attendant, I’m in charge of the character creation,” the pixelated character responded in a super terrifying hoarse voice.

“Hey, hey, creating such a terrifying character to be the newbie receptionist, are the authorities not scared that it’ll frighten children?” Li Huailin facepalmed.

“Please create your character.” Since the newbie receptionist was only a computer program, she could only repeatedly respond in a standardized way.

“Alright, alright, although it’s a little terrifying, I should get on with the character creation…” Li Huailin still continued on with what he had to do despite the terrifying face in front of him, he then started the character creation process.

“Character name,” the newbie attendant started to ask in a sequential style.

“Open-Minded Like A Forest.” Actually, Li Huailin’s father found this name in a book when he was named, Li Huailin had used this as an online name ever since.

“There is no repetition of the character name,” the newbie attendant continued on in a hoarse voice, “Confirm?”

“Confirm.”

“Please select a race,” right after the newbie attendant said this, a virtual panel appeared before Li Huailin’s eyes, the panel introduced ‘Heart of Glory’s’ six races (Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Demons, Beasts, and Undead) and each of their specialties.

Since Li Huailin already saw the introduction to these races on the official website, he glossed over it now. He quite felt that the human race’s innate skill, Intelligence, (Intellect +10%), and Diplomacy (apart from the main cities of humans, reputation in all other main cities of other races +10) was more suited for him. After all, his goal was to become a Mage. Only Humans had more Intellect amongst the six races, Since Intellect could also increase magic damage, a Human Mage would definitely be more reliable. As for the innate skill of Diplomacy, this was only an additional skill, however, it was better than nothing—he didn’t care for it either. After all, it only added 10 points of Reputation, in other words, things would be 5% cheaper if he bought them in the main cities. In order to further increase his Reputation, he would still need to do quests. This wouldn’t be that useful anyhow.

Regarding the selection of a Class, one would still have to wait until they became level 10, after leaving the newbie village, they would then find a class instructor in the main city before one could change Classes. This meant that you would directly enter the game after your race was selected.

“Selection, Human, confirm?”

“Confirm.”

“Please enjoy the game.”

Although the newbie attendant was polite with her speech, her voice was too… before Li Huailin could frown, a sudden wave of darkness covered his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he had already appeared in a small village.

Li Huailin was slightly taken aback because the surrounding scenery was genuinely too realistic. He had previously played some virtual reality online games and he could still tell that there were areas that were a bit unrealistic with those. However, this time, ‘Heart of Glory’ certainly shocked him.

There were plain but real-looking houses alongside a beautiful and mild environment. Once Li Huailin took in a breath, he discovered that even the air seemed as if it were real. After watching the players run in twos and threes, he subconsciously raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist to feel out his own body.

“It’s really awesome as expected, I didn’t expect this online game to really have a 98% in immersion, the efforts I did to make sure I could play weren’t in vain,” Li Huailin smiled in a self-satisfied manner as he continued, “I didn’t expect my homemade gaming pod to really work, Sky Corporation really isn’t all that skillful as it seems.”

With that said, according to his past online game experiences, Li Huailin muttered to himself, ‘character’, after he said this, a panel popped up.

Name: Open-Minded Like A Forest

Class: None (Not yet changed)

Supporting Class: None

Level: 1

Experience: 0/500

Attributes

HP: 100/100

MP: 100/100

Attack: 4-7 Defense 2-4

Magic Attack 4-7 Magic Defense 2-2

Strength: 7 (Affects physical attack, range of effect is related to Class, in other words, a physical Class that adds Strength will increase attack much more than a magic Class that adds Strength)

Agility: 9 (Affects attack speed, movement speed, slightly increases defense)

Constitution: 5 (Affects Health Points, greatly increases defense)

Intellect: 7 (Affects Magic Attack and Magic Critical Hit, range of effect is related to Class)

Spirit: 5 (Increases Magic Points, speed of Magic Point Recovery, and Magic defense)

Luck: 5 (Mysterious attribute, increases Critical Hit, Drop Rate, and ability to trigger quest conditions, and so on)

Reputation: 0

Skill: Heavy Attack (Level 1 0/200): A fierce attack, increases five points of attack. Active skill, consumes five Magic Points. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Upgradeable.

Race Skill:

Intelligence: Intellect -10%

Diplomacy: Apart from the main cities of humans, reputation in all other main cities of other races -10

“F*ck, what the hell?” Upon seeing his character attributes, Li Huailin was shocked.