The Internet-Obsessed Girl is Clueless When it Comes to Love. - Chapter 3

In the new calendar year 2100, on November 1st, the cross-era ultra-holographic online game “Otherworld” officially commenced public testing.

However, on this day, Bai Xia did not, like countless players eagerly anticipating this cross-era game, wait early in front of the login device, prepared to be the first to experience the game’s charm.

Staying up late to watch anime had caused her to sleep until two in the afternoon before she slowly woke up. After washing up and eating, more than four hours had passed since the midday public test launch at twelve o’clock.

Fortunately, she wasn’t in a hurry. After eating, she returned to her room and checked the login device again. After confirming everything was correct, she took off her Tianxun glasses and fastened the connecting device to her head.

The game’s login device was composed of multiple components. The connecting device looked a bit like oversized metal aviator glasses; its appearance was very cool and stylish. Unfortunately, because her face was too small, after putting it on, it instantly covered more than half of her face, making Bai Xia feel like a masked superhero.

Fortunately, after putting it on, the internal connecting device automatically adjusted its size, otherwise, she really wouldn’t have been able to wear it. For this thoughtful design, Bai Xia silently gave Huanmeng Company a big thumbs-up in her heart, giving it a perfect score.

With the connecting device on, because she had already connected to the external device according to the instructions, all she needed to do now was choose a comfortable position and then click the switch.

Of course, because it was her first time playing with this kind of high-tech thing, Bai Xia still felt a little uneasy. However, in the end, curiosity overcame her apprehension, and she gently flipped the external switch.

“Beep.”

The instant the switch was flipped, the previously dormant connecting device immediately lit up, followed by a series of crisp and pleasant electronic sounds.

This lasted for about three seconds, before a slightly metallic female voice was heard in her ears: “Welcome to Huanmeng’s product. Smart assistant Xiao Meng at your service. Detecting this device as first-time login use, do you wish to proceed with authentication and binding?”

“Authentication and binding?”

“Confirmation received. Initiating detection system, information collection commencing, data comparison…complete, one hundred percent match, confirmation successful. Initiating binding system, connecting…binding complete!”

What? It’s already finished? I haven’t even finished speaking! The smart assistant’s incredibly fast speed left Bai Xia speechless. Before she could think further, the slightly metallic female voice rang out again.

“Welcome to the cross-era holographic online game ‘Otherworld’ login device. Do you wish to log in to the game, Ms. Bai Xia?”

“Eh, you actually know my name?”

To Bai Xia’s somewhat surprised voice, the smart assistant calmly replied: “This is a limited-edition release; purchase requires a personal identity document, and after purchase, it binds to the buyer; others cannot use it before the binding is released. Therefore, your name, Ms. Bai Xia, is naturally recorded in the data.”

Should I say it’s truly a smart assistant? If it weren’t for the slightly stiff manner of its response, Bai Xia would have suspected it was disguised human service.

However, she only remained stunned for a moment before she reacted.

“Alright, then let’s start the game!”

“Command received. Because this is your first login, please wait patiently for 30 seconds.” The smart assistant responded, and then a mechanical, cold voice filled her ears: “Mainframe connection complete, device activation complete, synchronization commencing…”

After the voice fell silent, a moment later, Bai Xia felt the world before her eyes suddenly go dark, and in a moment of mental disorientation, she fell into a completely black realm.

But the next moment, this dark world was torn apart by light, revealing a huge white platform at the end of her vision.

“Synchronization complete, synchronization rate 99.9932%, within safety parameters, safety system no feedback. Login successful, detected as first-time login, initiating character creation module.”

Then, the distant white platform rapidly drew closer in her vision, like watching an immersive movie from a god’s-eye perspective. The indescribable feeling was incredibly shocking to Bai Xia.

As she drew closer, she discovered that seven gigantic humanoid sculptures stood around the circular platform.

The sculptures had varied poses and attire.

Some raised swords in a shout, some stood with shields, some had drawn bows fully, some wore magnificent robes, some were imbued with killing intent, some were surrounded by beasts, and some had light wings on their backs.

Without needing a system introduction, Bai Xia, having played many games, roughly understood that these sculptures represented the initial game classes selectable during character creation.

The one wielding a greatsword in light armor was naturally a Warrior; the one holding a huge shield was probably a Tank; the one with the taut longbow was an Archer; the one lightly grasping a staff with flowing robes was naturally a Mage; the one whose figure was dark and exceptionally dangerous was an Assassin; as for the one behind whom countless monsters were crouching in the darkness, that was a Summoner; and the last one, with hands clasped to her chest and a saintly expression, was undoubtedly a Healer.

Only…

“Why are they all female?”

That’s right, the seven sculptures representing the seven classes were all female figures without exception!

Could it be that this game only had female characters!?

Obviously, that was impossible.

“In response, to prevent potential online fraud and emotional deception, it is explicitly stipulated by treaty that the creation and development of characters of a different gender from the user are temporarily unavailable. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.”

Well, Bai Xia had originally wanted to re-experience the feeling of being a true man in the game, at the very least to regain her masculine dignity, but now, before even starting, her plans had completely fallen apart.

However, thinking about it, their approach seemed quite reasonable. After all, anything could happen online. If a 200-jin (approximately 440-pound) otaku created themselves as a beautiful girl to deceive others, the financial loss would be secondary; the main issue would be how disgusting it is!

Furthermore, if the world constructed by the holographic online game was truly as powerful as advertised, in severe cases, it might even cause irreparable psychological trauma.

Therefore, the gender option clearly couldn’t be left for players to freely manipulate; otherwise, in the future, it might truly become a chaotic mess.

Knowing this, while Bai Xia felt somewhat disappointed, her interest in “Otherworld” didn’t decrease in the slightest. She began to look at the seven sculptures on the platform under the system’s guidance.

As her gaze swept across them, the seven sculptures lit up one after another, and text introductions and skill videos for each profession appeared.

Bai Xia patiently opened and watched each one. Information about the various professions was also available on the official website; each profession was extremely gorgeous and interesting.

However, after hesitating for a while, she immediately ruled out the tank-type Shield Warrior and the Healer. After all, she had absolutely no interest in being a tank, and with her figure, carrying a shield would also look strange. Whether or not the shield would obstruct her vision during combat was secondary; if she were to gain titles like “Ghost Shield” or “Invisible Shield Warrior” because of this, it would be incredibly hilarious.

While the Healer was an indispensable profession in the mid-to-late game for group play, they had almost no effective attack methods in the early stages, and cultivating one required far more effort than other professions. Obviously, Bai Xia didn’t have that kind of time or energy.

Then, after a little thought, she also ruled out the Archer and the Summoner.

She rejected the Archer simply because she couldn’t use a bow; the reason for giving up the Summoner was similar to that of the Healer—it was another role with insufficient early-game abilities that required a lot of time and effort to cultivate.

Therefore, only the Warrior, Assassin, and Mage remained as options. The Warrior was a melee combatant, with a small attack range and moderate damage, but they were the most balanced of all professions, capable of both offense and defense.

The Mage pursued wide-area sustained damage and the application of negative states, such as burning flames, freezing ice, blinding darkness, and corrosion, etc. Though fragile, their comprehensive abilities were the most versatile of all professions.

Compared to the above two, the Assassin did not have many flashy skills. They pursued one-hit kills, their physical constitution wasn’t much stronger than the Mage’s, but they possessed the highest movement speed and burst damage of all professions.

Looking at the three professions, Bai Xia fell into a state of decision paralysis.