“Holy crap!!!”
“How do I stop this!?”
Yue Mingyan fumbled frantically, searching for the cancel button, yet he couldn’t find it anywhere.
‘Forget it! I’ll just have to risk it all!’
“Force Logout!”
He lifted his face, yelling towards the sky.
The scene before his eyes abruptly vanished, and his consciousness returned to his body, lying on his bed in his room.
The “Force Logout” command was a logout method implemented by the designers of the Full-Dive VR game, intended for emergencies. However, this method still had numerous issues; a running full-dive program might lose save data or halt computations, among other problems. Yet, at this moment, he could not afford to worry about such trivialities.
‘Please, please don’t let my account be deleted!’
With a pounding heart, Yue Mingyan closed his eyes once more.
“Associated World! Activate!”
After another flash of light, the familiar azure-themed login lobby appeared before him. However, the character he controlled had reverted to a novice, and seeing his entire set of divine gear vanish, Yue Mingyan was on the verge of tears.
It was then that he discovered why he had accidentally deleted his account.
It turned out that Associated World had just updated to version 165, bringing significant changes to the login lobby. The spot where he habitually clicked the login button in the previous version had now become the delete account button, while the actual login button had been moved to his left.
“Ah…”
Yue Mingyan was utterly distraught.
“What kind of divine game planner would change the long-standing login button?! And changing it is one thing, but putting the delete account button there—what’s the point!? Is this some kind of prank!?”
He sighed helplessly, swiping open the Associated World forum. As expected, the internet was already filled with a torrent of complaints.
It seemed he wasn’t the only careless player whose painstakingly built VRMMORPG account had been deleted. He imagined this would be a significant blow to any player who loved the game.
He didn’t believe the game masters (GM) of Associated World would make such a low-level mistake, as such a “prank” would not only directly reduce the number of online players but also damage the game’s reputation among players.
After all, RPG games differed from all other genres; RPG players highly valued communication with their online friends.
This was especially true for a massive online Full-Dive VRMMORPG like Associated World, where communication between players in the fully immersive virtual world was no less intimate than with friends in reality.
“My apologies, members of the Blazefire Dragon Guild. It seems your guild leader… might not be returning.”
Yue Mingyan clasped his hands together bitterly, bowing deeply towards the azure ceiling of the login lobby.
Everything from his previous account had been lost, and his heart was heavy with sorrow.
However, he had no intention of abandoning the game, for he truly…
Loved Associated World immensely.
“What a glutton for punishment…”
Yue Mingyan recognized his own weakness, letting out a self-deprecating bitter laugh as he casually scrolled through the game’s forum.
“
Such a post in the forum caught his attention. Driven by curiosity, he clicked on it, finding the discussion beneath it incredibly heated. The post had only been up for five minutes, yet it already had over 200 replies.
“The OP is a liar. I logged in, and it’s exactly the same, isn’t it?”
“You upstairs, you haven’t reached level ten yet, have you? Once you hit level ten, you’ll see what the new server unlocks.”
“Level ten unlocks [censored content], which wasn’t in previous versions. Other servers didn’t get it after the update either.”
“Don’t post [censored content]; the official channels restrict it, so others won’t know even if you do.”
“Holy crap, is this Associated World? Since when did Associated World start hosting so many events!?”
“How many levels are you, upstairs? I’m already level 17, and I haven’t seen any events.”
Yue Mingyan read through it all, utterly bewildered and unable to make sense of it. Could there really be some hidden mystery in the new server?
Just as he was about to enter the new server himself to investigate, he saw this reply:
“The core change in the new server can be summed up in one sentence: old server players, barring special circumstances, would only end up with one Companion-tier skill and one Companion-tier weapon. But in the new server, I’ve only played for two days and already have two Companion-tier skills. You get Companion-tier skill rewards just by clearing some events.”
What!?
Yue Mingyan was startled. To think that on his previous account, even after reaching max level and ranking in the top ten across the entire server, he only possessed two Companion-tier skills, one of which he had obtained by soloing a world boss.
He found it hard to believe that the player who wrote that reply could have killed a world boss after only two days of playing.
Had the GM gone mad?
He had a strange feeling about this whole situation.
The “prank” of account deletion, the massive changes to the new server…
So, what would players whose accounts were deleted do?
Yue Mingyan frowned, deep in thought.
“Either they stop playing the game, or…” Yue Mingyan’s eyes lit up, “they start from scratch in the new server!?”
But what could possibly compel the GM to reduce the total number of players just to increase the number of new server players?
And the massive changes in the new server… it felt as though the GM was playing a grand game.
‘Ah, well, forget it. As long as I can have fun, why worry about so much?’
With this thought, Yue Mingyan logged into the game.
****
“Welcome to Associated World.”
“Please select your class. (Can be changed later)”
‘Should I continue playing with the greatsword?’
Yue Mingyan pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
He had grown somewhat tired of the greatsword and didn’t want to carry his nickname, “The Frenzied Heavy Swordsman,” into the new server.
Moreover, he wanted to see how much of a “natural advantage” his real-world skills would grant him in a full-dive game.
“Alright, I’ll choose the long spear.”
He decisively selected the Lancer class and confirmed his choice.
Next appeared the attribute panel and the initial 100 bonus attribute points to allocate.
!
Yue Mingyan stared at his attribute panel, stunned.
Attributes:
STR (Strength): 1000 (Attack Specialization) (Max Strength)
INT (Intelligence): 1
SPD (Agility): 100
DEX (Dexterity): 1
VIT (Vitality): 500 (HP Specialization)
Available Points: 100
Despite being in a virtual world, Yue Mingyan felt his palms sweating from excitement.
Wasn’t this his greatsword character’s attribute panel from before!? And he still had 100 initial bonus attribute points unspent!?
Most importantly…
The level displayed at the top of the attribute panel was “1.”
This meant he could continue leveling up and increasing his attributes while retaining his maxed-out stats from version 150.
Though he found it hard to believe, there was no doubt…
He had encountered a bug.
‘Wouldn’t this be cheating…’
Yue Mingyan’s conscience pricked him.
‘Ah, well, it’s come to this. Yan can’t possibly abandon the game he loves.’
A Lancer with max strength attributes right from the start of the server—it was undeniably a fatal temptation for any RPG enthusiast.
Even Yan couldn’t help but feel excited.
‘Alright, then I’ll be mentally prepared for my account to be banned at any time, and I’ll try my best not to affect other players’ gaming experience.’
What kind of experience would it be?
With this thought, Yan continued to log into the game.
Since he was playing a Lancer, agility was essential. He put all 100 of his initial bonus points into agility.
‘This is truly insane,’ he mused, looking at his panel.
A level 1 Lancer with the attack specialization strength of a greatsword user, plus HP specialization. Could he be as tough as an ox while still spearing others to death?
He could already envision the brutality of these stats. He swallowed, then proceeded to the next step.
“Please set your ID.”
‘A nickname, huh…’
He remembered his previous account’s ID, which he had chosen during his chuunibyou (TL Note: A Japanese slang term for adolescents who exhibit grandiose, often delusional, behavior, believing they possess hidden powers or knowledge.) phase… something about pitch black…
‘No, no… don’t think about it anymore!’
Yue Mingyan was so ashamed now he wished he could strangle his past self.
‘I’ll just pick a simple ID this time. The server just started, so it should be available, right?’
He raised his hand, typing a single character on the transparent keyboard floating before him.
“Yan.”
‘This will do…’
Yue Mingyan completed the login steps. The azure scenery of the login lobby gradually dissolved into pure white light and shadow, which then slowly faded away.
He appeared in another world, a place of birdsong and fragrant flowers, distinct from the real world.
Associated World!
No matter how many times he saw it, it remained incredible how full-dive technology could create such a beautiful world.
Yue Mingyan turned around, gazing at the blue sky and white clouds stretching to the horizon, the continuous mountain ranges at the edge of the land, and a bright sun hanging high in the dome. Such a pristine clear day was rarely encountered in reality.
He felt the breeze caress his cheek. Whenever he breathed in the fresh air like this, he would always marvel at how real the sensations delivered by full-dive technology were; even the faint scent of grass and soil could be replicated.
“I’m back! This world!”
He shouted towards the sky for no particular reason. A newly logged-in stranger nearby looked at him in surprise, then quickly walked away towards the town to avoid him, leaving him feeling quite awkward.
“Could it be, Yan, that you are an old player?”
A clear, melodious voice suddenly appeared behind him, startling him. He turned around and saw a graceful blue figure.
“Oh, it’s just Alice. You scared me.”
He calmed down, smiling as he spoke to Alice.
Alice was also a major feature of Associated World; every logged-in player received a full adventure companionship from an AI girl named “Alice.” (Of course, if one wished to adventure alone, they could choose to disable this feature.)
“It seems, Yan, you truly are an old player. Then I don’t need to introduce myself, do I?”
Alice tilted her head, her beautiful, delicate blue eyes looking at him. A faint smile graced her fair, exquisite cheek. Her smooth blue hair cascaded from her shoulders, gently swaying in the breeze.
With such a cute girl accompanying him on his adventures, Yan couldn’t bear to disable this feature. On his previous account, he had always adventured with Alice until he reached max level.
“Indeed, Alice. Long time no see.”
He smiled.
“Long time no see… though I don’t actually know which player you were before, Yan.”
“Haha, Alice is always so clever. You can take your time guessing later.”
Yan had been playing this game for a long time. He had, in a way, watched Alice evolve from an NPC capable only of simple conversations to the vibrant and intelligent AI she was now. He felt a strange, almost fatherly affection for her.
“I won’t! I’m going to access your terminal server right now and check your IP address.”
Alice, however, grinned mischievously, as if intending a prank. Despite her cuteness, a flicker of unease suddenly crossed Yan’s heart.
“Wait!”
Alas, it was too late. Accompanied by a flash of data-like blue light…
“Yan… your data…” Alice looked at Yan in astonishment.
“Isn’t it a bit… off?”