Player 1

Chapter 13 Level 1(11)
"—I was still wondering if I could get it tonight and get the brass key, only to find that the entrance had been pried open. The worst thing happened, and someone else found the tomb. So I Running all the way in, going nuts. I mean, I'm not too worried, I don't think anyone can kill Aserilak the first time, but—" She paused and took a breath.

"I'm sorry," she paused for a second, "I'm prone to gibberish when I'm nervous, and I do when I'm excited. And now I'm excited and nervous... I want to find someone to talk to, but it's obvious that I can't Spread the word, can't I? I can't mention myself in a chat—" She closed her mouth, "God, so much gossip! I can't control my mouth!" She bit her lower lip and made a The action of locking, and then with a wave of the hand, the imaginary key to the lock was thrown aside.Without thinking about it, I bent down, pretended to pick up the key, and gestured to her to unlock it.It amused her—the laughter was genuine and hearty.I laughed too.

She is so cute, and this incoherent natural dumb is exactly the same as Jordan, the most popular character in "Genius Strikes Back".I've never felt so close to anyone, not even Edge, either in reality or in the oasis.My mind went blank.

It took her a while before she stopped laughing, "I need a plug-in to filter my voice."

"No need," I told her, "you have a nice smile, really." I hesitated for a moment, but added, "I have an idiot smile too."

Very well, Wade, I said to myself, you just described her laugh as "idiot."Awesome.

But she just smiled shyly and spit out the three words "thank you".

I suddenly had the urge to kiss her.So what in the virtual world!I don't care about that!Just as she was about to muster up the courage to send her a friend request, she stretched out her hand first.

"Forgot to introduce myself," she said, "My name is Artemis."

"I know," I held her hand, "I've actually been reading your blog for years."

"Really?" She blushed.

I nodded, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Parsifal." Realizing that I was still holding her hand, I quickly let go.

"Parsifal, huh?" She tilted her head, "The Knight of the Round Table who found the Holy Grail, right? That's pretty cool."

My feelings for her grew stronger.In the past, every time I met someone new, I had to take the trouble to explain the origin of my name. "Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, right?"

"By the way, but the common wording 'Artemis' has already been used by others, so I can only use homonyms instead."

"I know," I said, "you blogged about it once, maybe two years ago." I almost recited the exact date, but that would make me look like a stalker, "You still Say you hate it when people mispronounce your name."

"Yes," she smiled at me, "I did write that."

She held out her hand, and a business card rested in her open palm.The card design is up to the player, and Artemis's one looks like a poster for a limited-edition Kenner Star Wars toy[63] (with the card covered).But the figure in the painting has her hair, face, clothing and weapons.Above the picture is her introduction:
Artemis

Level 52 Warrior/Mage
(Spaceship Trader)

On the back of the card are links to her blog, email and phone number.

God, this is the first time I have received a business card from a girl, and it is also the first time I have received such a cool business card.

"I, never, have seen such a cool business card." I said, "Thank you!"

In exchange, I also gave her my business card.My business card is like an Atari 2600 game cartridge, only the label says:

Parsifal
Level 10 Fighter

(Game Maniac)
"It's amazing!" She flipped through it, "The design is great!"

"Thank you." I knew my face was flushing under the mask.I almost wanted to woo her.

Seeing her business card appear behind the brass key after being stored in the inventory, I suddenly woke up a lot.What the hell did I do, standing here talking nonsense to girls and forgetting about the first door ahead?I glanced at the time, and it was five minutes to midnight.

"Okay, Artemis," I said, "I'm really glad to meet you, but I have to go, this place will be refreshed soon, and I want to leave before these traps and undead creatures reappear."

"Oh... well," she looked disappointed, "It's time for me to prepare for "Battle of Bird Eggs", but before saying goodbye, let me give you a big healing spell."

Before I could speak, she put her hands on my chest and said a spell.Because the blood tank is always full, the big healing has no effect.Of course Artemis didn't know about this, she thought I had fought a lich.

"Farewell." She turned and left.

"Thanks," I said, "but it's not the right thing to do. We're competitors."

"Even so, we're still friends, right?"

"It would be nice to be able to do that."

"The third door is still far away. It took us five years just to take the first step, and from what I know of Halliday, it's only going to get harder," she lowered her voice. , "Hey, you really don't want to stay? We can fight a Lich each, and we can help each other, I have found that his methods are a bit rigid—"

Now I'm starting to regret lying to her. "It's a pleasure to be with you, but I really have to go." I found a suitable excuse for myself, "I have to go to school tomorrow morning."

She nodded, but there was a skeptical look on her face.Suddenly, she stared at the void in front of her eyes, as if she saw something, her eyes widened, even her pupils dilated.I realized that must be some kind of web page.After a few seconds, she flew into a rage.

"You liar!" she yelled, "Liar!" She visualized the web page and turned it towards me.is the scoreboard on Halliday's homepage.In my excitement, I forgot to check it.

It's still exactly the same as it was five years ago, with one change: My character's name is at the top of the list, with 10000 points written next to it.The other positions are still empty.

"Shit!" I cursed.When Anola gave me the brass key, I was the first man to score in the game.Because the scoreboard world is open, I'm probably a household name by now.

Sure enough, the headlines were full of my name.For example, "The Mysterious Man Parsifal Makes History", "Winner of the Brass Key: Parsifal" and the like.

I stood there in a daze, almost forgetting to breathe.Artemis pushed me, and even though I took a few steps back, I still couldn't fully recover from the dizziness. "You killed him in one go?" she yelled.

I nodded, "He won the first set, but was overturned, and I almost didn't lose."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She clenched her fists, "How did you do it? Just once!!" I faintly felt that she wanted to beat me up.

"It's just luck," I said, "I used to play this game with my friends a lot. I'm sure if you just practice a little more—"

"Okay!" her voice turned from growl to whine, "don't comfort me, okay? Unbelievable! Don't you know I've been spanking for five fucking weeks?"

"Before you said three weeks—"

"Stop!" She pushed me again, "I've been practicing "Battle of Bird's Eggs" for a whole month! Even my dreams are full of vultures and ostriches!"

"That's really annoying."

"And you'll get it done as soon as you come!" She tapped her forehead, and I realized she wasn't mad at me, but at myself for not fighting.

"Okay," I shrugged, "it's really just luck and caught up with an old game I like to play. You're not Rain Man, so stop beating yourself up like that, okay?"

She stared at me for a moment, then sighed, "Why not Invasion of the Swarm or Pac-Man? Burger Age would work too! If I had those, I'd probably have passed the first door !"

"You're talking about things I'm not good at."

She glared at me for a few more seconds, then broke into a smirk, casting a spell with a few subtle gestures towards the exit of the room.

"Hey," I said, "wait a minute, what are you doing?"

Before I finished speaking, I already knew the answer, and a huge stone wall appeared out of thin air, blocking the only exit.Damn it!Obstacle spell.I'm stuck here.

"Hey!" I yelled, "what are you doing?"

"You look anxious to get out of here. I assume Anola told you where to find the first door when she gave you the brass key?"

"Yes." It's pointless to deny it now.

"So, unless you can break my magic - I bet you can't, you're only level ten and a warrior - you'll have to stay here until the midnight dungeon respawns. Those traps will slow you down .”

"Exactly," I said, "yes."

"Because you are busy avoiding the trap, so when I defeat Aserilak, I will be able to catch up with you immediately."

I crossed my hands, "You have been trying for five weeks, why do you think you will win this time?"

"The pressure of competition can make me burst out of my potential," she replied, "I have always been like this, but this competition..."

I glanced back at the magical barrier she had set up.In the hands of part-time fighters/mages over level 15, the effect of this magic will be maximized, that is, it will last for [-] minutes.And the only thing I can do is sit and wait for it to go away. "You know what? It's not ladylike to do that," I said.

She shook her head with a smile, "This is a woman's nature. Ladies are all pretending, baby."

I smiled back, "I am the one who gets the key first, and I will be the one who opens the first door first."

"Perhaps," she said, "but it's only a beginning, and there are two keys and two doors. I've got a lot of time, and sooner or later I'll throw you off."

"Just wait and see, beauty."

She pointed to the scoreboard window on the screen. "You're famous now," she said, "you know what that means?"

"I don't have time to think about it."

"Well, I thought about it for five weeks. A name on the scoreboard will change everything. People will rekindle the enthusiasm for this game, just like it did at the beginning of the game. Believe me, tomorrow Parsifal will be known everywhere. Got it."

The dizzy feeling came back.

"You can be famous in the real world," she said, "if you're willing to reveal your real name."

"I'm not stupid."

"Fine, because it's hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, and now everyone thinks you know how to find that easter egg, and a lot of people are willing to take risks for it, I mean they can kill you without hesitation."

"I know," I said, "thanks for your concern, but I'll be fine."

But am I really going to be okay?I never thought about it, never thought I would be the first to score.

We are relatively silent, waiting for the moment when the minute hand and the hour hand coincide. "If you win," she asked me suddenly, "what do you want to do with the money?"

Edge and I have been obsessed with this for a long time, and made a ridiculous list of bounty uses.

"I'm not sure," I said, "if nothing happens, I will build a big house, buy a lot of things, and say goodbye to the poor life."

"Oh, big dreamer. What about the remaining $300 billion after all this is done?"

I didn't want her to think that I was a waste, so I was stimulated and told all my thoughts, all the things I had never told anyone.

"I'm going to build a nuclear-powered starship in low Earth orbit," I told her, "with all the food and water I need for this life, a self-sufficient ecosystem, and a computer with all the movies, books, , songs, videos, and drawings, and of course it has to be able to run the Oasis system. Then I'll invite a few of my best friends aboard, bring a team of doctors and scientists, and we'll get out of here. Get out of here Solar system, to find other terrestrial planets."

I haven't thought through this plan carefully, and many details are not right.

She raised her eyebrows. "It's a lot of ambition," she said, "but don't you know? Half the people on this planet are starving." I could hear her scorn, as if she thought I didn't care about the world.

"Of course I do," I replied a little rudely. "I also know that the cause of the famine is that humans have destroyed their own planet. The earth is dying, and it's time to leave it."

“What a negative,” she commented. “If I were a winner, I would feed everyone on the planet. After the famine passed, we would start to gradually restore the environment and solve the energy crisis.”

I looked away, "Yes, after completing this miracle, you can also use genetic engineering to create some fairy dragons and unicorns to celebrate the unity of the world."

"I'm not joking."

"You really think it's that easy?" I asked her. "You really think writing a check for $400 billion can solve these global problems?"

"I don't know, maybe not, but I'll try."

"If you win."

"Yes, if I win."

At this moment, the oasis' twelve o'clock bell rang.The throne reappeared on the high platform, and Aserilak sat there with a blank expression, just like when I first entered this room.

Artemis glanced up at him, then turned her gaze back to me.She smiled slightly and waved to me, "Goodbye, Parsifal."

"Well," I replied, "bye."

When she was walking towards the high platform, I stopped her: "Artemis?"

She turned and looked at me.I knew it was irrational, but for some reason I really wanted to help her. "Try to use the left side, that's how I win, feel like he's easier to play with the stork."

She stared at me for a while, probably to see if I was playing her tricks, and finally, she nodded and stepped onto the ledge, Aserilac revived as she took her first step.

"Welcome, Artemis," he said in a low voice, "what are you looking for?"

I didn't hear her reply, but soon the throne was turned into a console.Artemis said something to the Lich, and they switched sides.Games start.

I watched from a distance for a while.After a few minutes, the stone wall finally disappeared.So I took one last look at Artemis and ran out.

0010
It took me over an hour to leave the crypt and return to the surface, and as soon as I was outside, a lot of messages flashed on my screen.Halliday must have made the tomb a shielded zone, no one could send or receive videos, code words, or emails.This is probably to prevent people from asking for help inside.

I checked the messages and saw that Edge had been trying to reach me since my name was on the scoreboard.He made dozens of calls and sent countless messages asking what happened and asking me to call him back immediately.I had just deleted the messages when the audio request signal came back on.It was Edge again, I didn't get through, I just sent a text message and promised to call him as soon as possible.

While running out of the woods, I put the score board in the corner of the screen so that I can know whether Artemis won the game in the first place.It was just past two o'clock in the morning when I jumped into the nearest teleportation room.

I typed the information on the screen, and the destination was set to Middleton Station [-].

When Halliday created Middleton, he recreated a full 250 six identical towns that took up the entire surface of the planet.I didn't think any of them were particularly different, so I just picked the last one at random and clicked confirm to pay the delivery fee.

(End of this chapter)