Player 1

Chapter 12 Level 1(10)
It was a thrilling match, we held each other for longer than the first two sets combined, and the vultures were so numerous that they almost filled the screen and made us run around.The last time the lich and I came face to face, both of us knights were at the very top of the screen.We frantically tapped the buttons while shaking the joystick.But Aserilac came to the end of his life first.He descended a few microns to avoid the vulture, and more enemies surrounded him before the Stork Rider died in a tiny pixel explosion.

The words "Game Over for Player 2" appeared on the screen, and the Lich howled in pain, and angrily smashed his fist at the game console, which shattered into tens of thousands of pieces and scattered all over the floor.Then he turned to me. "Congratulations, Parsifal," he bowed deeply, "you played well."

"Thank you, honorable Aserilak." I resisted the urge to jump up and turn around and slap my ass in mockery, and returned a salute to him.At this moment, the Lich turned into a tall human mage in a black robe.God, that's Halliday's avatar, Anola.

I stared at him, not knowing what to say.Over the years a number of hunters have claimed to have seen Anola in Oasis, the elusive NPC who was Halliday's ghost in the machine.

"Okay," said the mage.I've heard that tone of Halliday countless times. "you deserved."

A symphony suddenly sounded in the room, with loud horns and strings playing in unison.It's the John Williams score for Star Wars, and it appears when Princess Leia honors Luke and Han. (Oh, and Chewbacca, of course, but he's often overlooked because he's always in the thick of it.)
The sound of the music crescendoed, and Anuo stretched out his right hand.In the palm of his hand lay the brass key that millions had been looking for for five years.The moment he took the key, the music gradually faded, and at the same time, the jingle bell rang.I just got [-] experience, which is enough to go straight to level [-].

"Goodbye, Mr. Parsifal," Anola said, "and good luck with your mission." When I was about to ask him what to do next or where to find the first door, he was accompanied by the 80s "Dragon The teleportation sound effect of the animation of Dungeons and Dungeons disappeared in a ray of light.

Standing on the empty high platform, I looked down at the brass key in my hand and gradually calmed down.As it appears in Anola's Invitation, it appears to be an ordinary ancient brass key with the Roman numeral "I" engraved on the handle.I held it in my hand and flipped through it. The light of the torch danced on the edge of the number, reflecting two lines of small characters.I read them aloud: "What you seek is hidden in the deepest rubbish heaps of Daggrass."

"Hidden in the trash" refers presumably to the TRS-70, a computer sold by Tandy Radio in the late 80s and early 80s.Computer users at the time also dubbed it "garbage 80".

What you're looking for is hidden in Dagggrass.

Halliday's first computer was the TRS-16 with 80K memory.I know exactly where to find the TRS-80 in Oasis.Every hunter knows it.

When "Oasis" opened, there was a planet called Middleton. Not only did the name come from Halliday's hometown in Ohio, but even the entire model was a reconstruction of Middleton in the 80s.People always say there's no going back, but Halliday found a solution, spending years rebuilding the map.Also, everyone (at least all hunters) knows that the most accurate replica of the whole of Middleton is Halliday's childhood home.

I've never been there before, but I've seen quite a few screenshots and videos.Halliday has a TRS-80 Color Computer II—his first computer—in his bedroom.The first door must be there.And the other words on the brass key told me how to open it:
In the deepest part of Daggrass.

Douglas is an Elvish word coined by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, meaning "battle", but Tolkien only wrote one "case" instead of two.So "Dugglass" could only be one thing: a computer game from 1982.And this game has only logged on to one platform, and that is the TRS-80 color computer.

Halliday wrote in the yearbook: It was Dag Glass who made me aspire to be a game designer.

In the reconstructed bedroom, Dagglass is lying in a shoebox next to his computer, mixing with other games.

So what I do is teleport to Middleton, open Halliday's door, sit in front of the TRS-80, fire up the game, go to the very bottom of the dungeon, and... find the first door there.

At least I think so.

Middleton is in the seventh division, far from Luders.But with the money I have now, it's not a piece of cake to pay hundreds of teleportation fees.By previous standards, I was already super rich.

I checked the time: 11:03 PM, OST (Oasis Standard Time, which is Eastern Standard Time).There are still eight hours until class starts, which should be enough time to get there.I was about to leave the dungeon, and rushed to the nearest teleportation station at full speed, teleporting directly to Middleton, so that maybe within an hour, I would be able to reach Halliday's TRS-80.

I knew I should get some sleep first, after all I'd been in "Oasis" for about fifteen hours.Tomorrow is Friday, and if I wait until after school, I have the whole weekend at my disposal.

What are you kidding?I will definitely not be able to sleep tonight, and I will not be able to sit peacefully in the classroom for a whole day tomorrow.I am anxious now.

I ran for the exit, but immediately landed in the middle of the room.Because I saw a long shadow dragging on the wall outside the door, and the sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor, constantly approaching here.

After a while, a figure appeared in front of the door. I realized that I was still holding the brass key in my hand, so I stuffed it into the pouch on my belt, and then drew the flaming sword from the scabbard, pointing the blade in the direction of the person coming. .

0009
"What the hell are you?" asked the figure, a young woman with a gentle-sounding voice.

While hesitating how to answer, the woman stepped out of the shadows and entered the room.She was well-proportioned, and her black hair was not long enough to reach her shoulders.All this makes her look like a youth who traveled from the second half of the [-]th century.As I approached, I suddenly recognized her face.We've never met, but I recognize the screenshots she puts on her blog.

Artemis.

She's wearing patina-like armor—I'm guessing it's out of some sci-fi flick—with a machete on her back and two beam pistols in holsters at her waist.As for the mitts and old-fashioned shades, it was as if she had just stepped out of The Road Warrior.But all in all, despite all the coolness she pretends to be, she still looks like a girl next door, not some cyberpunk hippie in the 62s.As for her, I can only use two words to describe her: sexy.

She continued to walk towards me, the heels of her combat boots banging on the stone.She walked up to the blade, but she didn't mean to draw the sword to confront her. Instead, she raised the sunglasses to her forehead—this was just a gesture, because the sunglasses didn't really affect the player's line of sight—and looked me up and down.

I was almost dumbfounded.In order to behave decently, I reminded myself that the person coming here may not even be a woman, and this girl I have been secretly in love with for three years may not be a middle-aged bald man who is actually picking his feet.Just imagining this scene gave me a jolt and brought my attention back to the present.Why is she here?It's been five years since the Easter Egg Hunt began, and we found the Brass Key's hideout on the same night?The probability is too high to justify.

"Can't talk?" she asked me. "Say it again: you, yes, what, ghost, thing?"

I hid my name, and so did she.Obviously, no one wants to report their family name in this situation.

"Welcome," I bowed slightly, "I'm Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez."

She raised the corner of her mouth, "The chief alchemist of King Charles V of Spain?"

"It's a pleasure meeting you," I replied.Not only did she recognize the highlander dialogue I quoted, but she also repeated the answers of the characters in the film.As expected of Artemis.

"It's fun." Her eyes swept across the empty platform behind me, and then turned back to me. "Then, I won't beat around the bush, are you okay?"

"Is what okay?"

"Of course it's Aserilak. What do you think I'm talking about?" She seemed to know already.

Suddenly, I understood.This isn't her first time here, and I'm not the first hunter to solve the puzzle and find the Tomb of Terror.Artemis was earlier than me. She knew these games and had fought against the Lich.But if she had already got the brass key, why would she want to come back?So it was obvious that she had to come back and try again because of her loss to the Lich in "Battle of the Eggs".As far as I can tell, she must have tried many times, otherwise she would not have so automatically believed that I was another defeat of the Lich.

"Hey," she stamped impatiently, "answer me."

I want to dash out from her right side and escape the maze.But in this way, she will probably guess that I have obtained the key, and then maybe I will splatter my blood on the spot to take it away.Ludes is a non-PVP area, but who knows if this tomb is part of Ludes, this dungeon is not even on the planet map.

Artemis looks like a formidable opponent.Full body armor, beam pistol, and the knife on his back might be the famous Elven Beheader.If half of the blog was true, she'd be at least fifty ranks.The difference in level between us is too big, and there is no hope for PVP.

So I have to tell a little lie.

"Fucked," I said, "Birds and Eggs isn't my strong suit."

She relaxed a little, and seemed to get the answer she wanted. "Well, me too," she said sympathetically, "The AI ​​written by Halliday is really bad, isn't it? It's super hard to fight." She glanced at the sword I was still holding, "You can put it away Get up, I'm not interested in fighting with you."

I didn't listen to her, "Can this tomb be PVP?"

"I don't know, you are the first person I saw here." She tilted her head and smiled slightly, "I think there is only one way to get the answer."

She drew her sword with lightning speed, raised her hand, and turned her wrist, the sharp edge of the sword came towards her at such a speed that she couldn't see clearly.I wanted to raise my sword to block, but our swords were blocked by some invisible force, only half a foot apart, but we could never intersect.A message flashed on the screen: PVP is not allowed here!

I breathed a sigh of relief. (I later learned that the key cannot be changed. It cannot be discarded or traded. If you are killed, the key will disappear with your body.)
"Okay, you get it." She grinned, and then danced a beautiful sword flower, putting the weapon back on her back.Really love to show off.

I also retracted my sword, but did nothing fancy. "Halliday doesn't want anyone to defeat a lich at all," I said.

"Well," she smiled, "you're lucky."

"Me?" I repeated, crossing my arms over my chest. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head towards the empty high platform behind me, "After beating Aserilak, you're pretty much injured yourself."

Ahhhhhh... so I'd have to create a new character right now if I hadn't beaten the demilich in The Egg War.

"It's nothing," I said, "my blood is so thick that the lich can't hurt me."

"Really?" she said suspiciously, "I'm already level 52, and I have to fight him with my life. Every time I come here, I will bring a few sets of potions." She stared at me for a while, " But your sword and armor, are they all from this dungeon? This means that your previous equipment is even more shabby. You are just a novice, Juan Ramirez, I think, you have some truths that you are not telling. "

Now I know that PVP is not allowed here, so I started to consider whether to tell her the truth.Why not show her the brass key?Of course, the wisest choice is still to leave directly and go to Middleton to start a new mission.For something like an opponent, the farther you throw it, the better.If I hadn't practiced "Battle of Bird's Eggs" for so long, who knows how long it would take me to defeat Aserilak, so she wouldn't be able to catch up with me in a short time.

"You have to analyze this yourself." I walked past her, "Maybe we will meet outside one day, and then I will tell you." I waved my hand lightly to her, "Goodbye."

"Where are you going?" She followed me.

"Go home." I didn't stop.

"What about the lich? Where's the brass key?" She pointed to the empty high platform, "It will be refreshed in a few minutes. If you wait here, you can fight him again immediately, so you don't have to go through the pile of traps again. I That’s why I came here in the middle of the night.”

very smart.If it were me, what would I do? "I think we can take turns," I said. "I just finished playing, and now it's your turn, how about it? I'll come back at midnight tomorrow. We'll come back every other day, isn't it fair?"

"I think," she looked at me, "you should stay here anyway. If there are two people here in the middle of the night, things might be different. Anola will take into account the unexpected, maybe there will be two people." A lich? Or—”

"I like to work alone," I said, "take turns, okay?" When I was about to exit, she suddenly ran up to me and blocked my way.

"Okay, stay with me for a while," her voice softened, "OK?"

I could have just left to find the first door in Middleton, but how?In front of me is Artemis, the goddess of my dreams.And she's even more attractive than I thought.I would love to be with her, I would love to, um, get to know her better, as the poet Howard Jones in the 80s said.After all, if we say goodbye today, we may not be able to see each other again in the future.

"Okay," she said, staring down at her boots, "I was wrong to call you a rookie, sorry."

"It's okay. In fact, you're right, I'm only level ten."

"It doesn't matter, you are also a hunter, and you are very smart, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Let me apologize for what I said before."

"I accept the apology, don't worry about it."

"Thank you." She looked a little more relaxed, Artemis's facial expression was extremely vivid, it must have been synchronized to the real person's expression in "Oasis", not a system simulation. "I'm just a little surprised," she paused. "I mean, I knew someone would find this place, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. It wasn't long before I had this secret to myself."

"How long?" I asked casually, not expecting her to answer.

She hesitated for a moment, then burst out suddenly. "Three weeks!" she said angrily, "Damn it. I've been here for three weeks! Playing his stupid game with this stupid lich every time! You know, his artificial intelligence is so freaking crazy! I I haven't played "Battle of the Eggs" before, and now I'm going to be driven crazy by this thing! Oh my god! I was so close to blowing him a few days ago, but..." She scratched her head in annoyance Fa, "Ah! I can't eat, I can't sleep, and my grades are bad. It's all because of this "Bird Egg Controversy"——"

I was about to ask her if she was also studying in Luders, but she continued to speak, and it was getting faster and faster, like a flood bursting a bank, talking endlessly, without even taking a few breaths:

(End of this chapter)