1 Beta Tester Recruitment

It was the 21st Century.

Human civilization was at its finest moment thanks to technological advancements.

This was especially true for video games. Virtual reality was a technology that had been highly sought after in the market from the moment it had been developed. 

Thanks to the latest developments in technological advancement and accumulated experience, Storm Inc, the largest gaming company in the world, had finally launched a new game based on virtual reality called Lord of Europe and was now recruiting Beta Testers. 

Ye Chen was one of the Beta Testers of this game. 

Lord of Europe was a different virtual reality game. Instead of being the usual action genre game, this was a game that made the player the Lord of a virtual world. 

Players would enter the game as heroes and command various armies. They would then invade different areas of Europe with said armies and build their own cities. They could even build their own countries if they were capable enough.

Thanks to the latest technology developed by men, Lord of Europe felt even more realistic compared to other games on the market.

In this game, players could freely choose which race they wanted to be. They could choose from a selection of races, including humans, beasts, dwarves, and even giants.

Furthermore, the developers of the game had added aliens from other planets into the game. Therefore, players had to continuously work to enhance their offensive and defensive capabilities in order to protect their land!

Of course, that was a topic for another time.

Today, Ye Chen had woken up early. After briefly packing and cleaning up, he grabbed his Beta Tester invitation and rushed to the headquarters of Storm Inc.

20 minutes later, he presented his invitation to a staff member and was guided to the company's development room.

The moment he stepped into the gaming room, he saw two rows of gaming bunkers neatly lined up. At the same time, he saw several other people who were Beta Testers like him standing in front of their respective bunkers. Ye Chen walked to his gaming bunker, which corresponded to the number he had.

The moment they were instructed to begin, each person entered their own bunker and connected to the game. 

Suddenly, everything in Ye Chen's line of sight began to change. 

When the screen was stabilized, Ye Chen found himself standing in a temple. 

It was a magnificent temple that exuded a rather intimidating aura due to its majestic environment. 

Players would receive the blessing of the Gods in the temple in order to become Lords and command thousands of soldiers.

"Ding! Character creation commencing…"

"Ding! Unknown error occurred. Kindly exit the game."

"Warning! Warning! Warning!"

"Please exit the game immediately!"

Ye Chen instinctively tried to exit the game upon hearing the system's repeated warnings.

However, he immediately realized that no matter how hard he tried to leave the game, his attempts were futile. 

Everything around him turned dark and Ye Chen soon lost consciousness.

At the same time, in the development room of Storm Inc...

A red light was flashing on all the gaming bunkers, signalling the impending danger. 

All the Beta Testers swiftly got out of their gaming bunkers.

Ye Chen was the only one still in his gaming bunker. He lay in there with his eyes shut and did not move an inch.

The staff members immediately noticed this and tried to forcefully remove him from the bunker. 

Ye Chen showed no signs of life by then. 

…

Meanwhile, in the game...

Ye Chen slowly opened his eyes. 

He thought he had been dreaming while he was unconscious. 

In his dream, the Lord of Europe had merged with Earth and formed one entity and an alien race from another planet had invaded Earth by possessing the Lord of Europe and massacred all the humans on Earth. 

Humanity's haven had been repeatedly destroyed by the aliens until everything was in ruins. 

There was only one way to prevent all of this: The alien race's presence in the Lord of Europe had to be stopped.

"Danger resolved. Player creation successful. Special reward Lord System has been obtained."

"Ding! Lord System linking in progress…"

"Ding! Lord System successfully linked. Sole owner: Ye Chen."

Ye Chen's mind was filled with confusion as he heard the system's notifications ring out.

Were there other systems within the game?

As he was feeling confused, Ye Chen suddenly realized that the game's exit option had disappeared!

A shiver ran down his spine at that revelation.

Could that mean that he was going to be stuck in the game without a way out?

…

Meanwhile, back at Storm Inc...

After this incident, the staff members immediately called the medic team over to help.

Upon detailed inspection, the doctor announced that Ye Chen was dead. 

As a result, the official launching date of Lord of Europe had to be changed. The launch would be postponed from one week later to one month later.

…

Back in the game...

After a long mental struggle, Ye Chen finally accepted the reality in front of him.

He thought that there would be no difference between living in the game Lord of Europe and in the real world, as he had also been living alone on the other side anyway.

Apart from that, Ye Chen had also made a decision upon recalling the events that had happened in his dream.

It did not matter if his dream was real or fake. He had to be prepared for anything. 

He could not let the aliens destroy Earth and annihilate humanity's natural habitat. 

Ye Chen's eyes glimmered with life when he made this decision. 

At the end of the day, Lord of Europe was still a game and Ye Chen was considered a veteran at it. 

"Open Character Status!" 

As soon as he shouted that order, a screen appeared in front of his eyes.

Player: Ye Chen

Level: 0 (0/100)

Stats: 

Attack: 1

Defense: 1

Strength: 1

Intelligence: 1

Basic Damage: 3-6

HP: 200

Class: None

Skills: None

Army: 0/10

Hidden System: Lord System

After comprehending his character status, Ye Chen came to a conclusion.

He was currently extremely weak.

Increasing his personal stats was the most important and urgent thing he needed to do.

Although he had a Lord System, whose functions he currently had no idea about, Ye Chen knew that it would be better for him to rely on his own effort.

With that thought in mind, Ye Chen scanned the temple and walked toward the exit.

The moment he walked to the exit, a sudden force hit him. Ye Chen immediately felt as though he had lost control of his movements and everything had turned black.

A second later, he opened his eyes when he felt that there was light in front of him. He realized that he was in the wilderness.

There was a small town behind him called Silver Falls.

Based on the introduction of the game, Silver Falls would be his town to command.

However, he still had to grow stronger in order to gain the townspeople's acknowledgement and respect. 

Of course, there were specific missions so that the players would not blindly try to increase their stats.

The townspeople would eventually grow to respect and acknowledge the Lord as the players completed each given mission based on the respective criteria.

How the town proceeded to develop and grow stronger later on would solely rely on the Lord's capabilities.

Ye Chen did not know what he was at the moment. Was he a player? Or was he a human in the game Lord of Europe?

Ye Chen was currently more convinced that he was the latter. He was a part of the game now and did not have the option to leave the game despite having ownership of the game's system.

"Ding! Character creation complete. Sending beginner's reward…"

"Ding! Player received an army reward and a bronze footsoldier."

"Ding! Lord System initiated. Beginner's reward multiplied by 100 times!" 

Ye Chen was shocked.

Multiplied by 100 times?

Could this be the Lord System's function?

"Ding! Multiplication complete. An enhanced army and a heavy footsoldier have been obtained!"