Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The New World of Sword and Magic

***

The world’s first next-generation virtual reality game — 《Floating Island: Fragments of the Stars》.

This was the name of the game.

Unfortunately, 2024 did not see the birth of 《Sword Art Online (SAO)》.

But then in 2035, the release of this game made up for that disappointment, becoming a virtual reality game infinitely close to SAO. Players could completely immerse themselves in the game, personally experiencing every blade of grass and tree in this world of sword and magic, and even the sense of pain in the game could be adjusted to a certain degree.

Many people believed that the creator of this game was no different from a god of creation.

From Jiang Yuxuan’s experience during the beta test, this statement was undoubtedly true. The creator of 《Floating Island: Fragments of the Stars》 had created a world with a completion level that was exaggeratedly high, with a content volume so vast it was unimaginable — any place visible on the map could be reached.

All map buildings and scenery, even the ecosystem, were so real that it felt like being in another world.

So, let’s begin, log into the game.

Along with countless players, he would conquer and enjoy this fantasy-filled world, his second life.

He had prepared to start playing only in the evening, and by now there would definitely be quite a few players who had entered the Floating Island. Their expressions must be just as stunned as his own when he first saw the game world’s scenery.

Perhaps some guild teams had already cleared the second layer of the map.

Compared to the beta test period, the number of players in the public test would certainly increase exponentially, and the progression speed would definitely be much faster than before.

Jiang Yuxuan lay down on the bed, suppressing his eagerness, and put on the VR game helmet. After pressing the button, a blue startup light flashed by. He closed his eyes, and a brilliant light instantly obscured his vision.

【Game Character: Nolan (Created)】

【Player Gender: Male, 19 years old】

【Iris authentication passed, identity binding successful】

【Do you confirm entering the game with the current character information? Yes or No】

Everything proceeded according to the usual login process, and Jiang Yuxuan activated the character he had previously created.

But… hmm? Strange.

Suddenly, looking at the semi-transparent blue fluorescent screen that appeared before him, he felt a bit confused.

Although this frame popped up every time he connected to the game, the 【Player Gender】 line below the game character usually didn’t exist, but this time the system had directly extracted his identity information.

Was it because the public test was different from the beta test?

After all, during the beta test, the randomly assigned game character was quite special — he was a vampire princess with the default character name Tilia Scarlet. He later learned that “Scarlet” seemed to be the surname of the vampire royal family in the setting.

And it was with the vampire princess Tilia’s account that he had reached the fourth layer area by himself during the beta test.

Even the 25-player dungeon floor BOSS, with the vampire princess’s overpowered character, could be soloed using various special skills and combat techniques as long as the equipment and level were sufficient.

The only thing that made him feel a bit uncomfortable was that in virtual reality, being a female character — and a stunningly beautiful vampire girl with explosive charm at that — having fangirls chasing behind him shouting things like “step on me, sister” was really hard to deal with.

Moreover, all kinds of luxurious and glamorous dresses and ribbons, elegant high heels and stockings, were difficult to master in a short time, especially since the physical sensation of being a girl in virtual reality was too real and intense.

Unfortunately, beta test accounts could not be kept, otherwise he might have thought his sister would be more suitable to play it.

Although his sister didn’t seem like the type to enjoy online games, virtual reality had an attraction that was distinctly different from ordinary games, so perhaps it was still worth experiencing.

After reminiscing for a while, he seemed to have lingered on the interface for too long. Jiang Yuxuan’s moving gaze was dynamically captured by the system, and he selected “Yes” in the login options just now, entering the game.

With the crisp sound of the interface, the game’s progress bar had gradually loaded to 100%.

【Login successful, welcome, Starforgers, we look forward to you continuing to write this fragment of the stars…】

After the system’s AI prompt sounded, he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, a strong white light shone in front of him. At the moment of logging into the game, a vast world suddenly appeared before him!

Snow-white city walls extending to the horizon rose abruptly before his eyes, each brick seemingly flowing with liquid daylight.

The main city was like a crown dropped by a deity, with pure white spires piercing through the lead-gray clouds. Giant magic crystals embedded at the top of the towers were exhaling rainbow light, while floating islands slowly rotated around the main city like satellites, with waterfalls pouring down from the island edges, yet being frozen into crystal chains by invisible forces in mid-air.

This was a magnificent sight that could not possibly exist in reality, appearing only in a world of fantasy colors.

The Pure White Holy City, the starting point for all newcomers.

Jiang Yuxuan — or rather, now Nolan in the game.

He was standing on a circular platform surrounded by countless white relief pillars, and he knew that like other players who had just logged in, he had arrived at the circular plaza of the new character creation point with a flash of light.

“Holy crap! Is this really a game!?”

Soon, a rather burly man beside him exclaimed in amazement. This man, almost a head taller than him, seemed to have logged into the game at the same time as Nolan.

As a first-time player, exclamations of shock could be heard everywhere.

It wasn’t until Nolan’s gaze met his that the bronze-skinned burly man said in surprise, “Brother, are we in the game or in reality? Look! Even stomping on the ground gives feedback vibrations!?”

“It’s the game,” Nolan said, turning his head to look forward.

A world of sword and magic that was almost indistinguishable from reality.

The entire circular plaza was filled with players like this burly man who, upon logging in, immediately looked down at their virtual bodies, breathing the air of this world in shock, and making many experimental movements to prove they weren’t dreaming.

This was the typical reaction when entering a fully immersive game for the first time. He had already experienced this once during the beta test, so he was already familiar with this feeling, making his expression appear much more composed than anyone else.

This was the core appeal of this game.

An unparalleled, immersive game that allowed exploration in a fantasy world as if one were really there.

While others were still spending time marveling at the connection between their bodies and this world, Nolan had already skillfully opened the semi-transparent game panel floating in the air, checked his character panel showing only Lv.1, and planned his initial goals in his mind.

First, go to the general store to buy a set of novice equipment, then head to the Wild Boar Plains, a level 1~5 area, and start grinding monsters to collect materials and level up, just like during the beta test, and this time try to reach areas higher than the 4th layer as quickly as possible.

“Wait a minute! Brother!”

Seeing Nolan walking directly toward the distance with a clear goal, the burly man called out to him in a rough voice, “I’m also playing this game for the first time, let’s be friends! Take me with you wherever you’re going!”

Hearing this, Nolan paused and stopped his steps, “Oh… then shall we add each other as friends first?”

“Sure! My name is Lan… wait, wait a minute! What name did I choose again!”

Halfway through speaking, as if suddenly realizing something, the burly man choked on his words. A big man suddenly seemed as flustered as a little girl, frantically opening his character information to check.

A burly man with a rough voice behaving like this was quite a humorous sight.

“Above your head, you can see it yourself,” Nolan pointed to the space above his head.

“Ah, it’s Croft!” Croft quickly nodded, embarrassedly rubbing the back of his head, “Haha, I just randomly chose a name and came in — wait! Even the feeling of rubbing the back of my head is the same as in reality!”

Ignoring Croft’s constant amazement, Nolan added him as a friend and sent him a party invitation.

As a closed beta player, helping a newcomer was certainly not a difficult task for him. Moreover, the efficiency of gaining experience in team battles was higher, and making friends was also an important part of MMORPGs.

However, Nolan had previously conquered the game alone, so this was his first time partying with someone.