The Fourth Disaster is Coming!

Yu Yu, one of the many struggling graduates of her generation, sat in her cramped apartment, slurping instant noodles. The faint hum of the city outside was her only company. Just yesterday, she'd paid off a hefty penalty fee, leaving her bank account with a pitiful 207.65 yuan. It was only August 3rd, and the month stretched ahead like an endless void.

Fortunately, tomorrow marked the start of her new job. If she scrimped and saved, she could make it through. The job was with a gaming company, and Yu Yu—ever the errand-runner—would handle whatever miscellaneous tasks they threw her way.

"Eternal Darkness" she muttered to herself, eyeing the mysterious invitation letter and wristband that had arrived without explanation. "So this is the game everyone's been raving about."

The timing was uncanny. The game's open beta was launching today. The wristband, a sleek weave of shimmering blue light, captivated her. She stared at it, entranced, before shaking herself out of her reverie. First things first: check the official website.

The site was a void of black, dominated by a massive countdown timer: 8760 hours, 10 minutes, 56 seconds. Yu Yu scrolled, but found nothing—no lore, no details, just the cryptic tagline: A Second Reality, an Unparalleled Experience. Not even a hint of the game's world. How had the company even gotten her address? She hadn't included it in the survey she vaguely recalled filling out.

Strange.

Game Loading…

Yu Yu blinked into the world of Eternal Darkness. Her first instinct was to glance down. She wore a rough hemp tunic and matching shorts, her feet bare against the cold stone. Nothing else. The spawn point was sparsely populated, likely due to the game's invite-only access.

A gentle breeze brushed her face, carrying a faint, decaying scent. The world felt startlingly real. Cobblestone paths, uneven and weathered, stretched beneath her. Guards in battle-scarred armor stood nearby, one with a jagged tear in his breastplate. Everything bore the weight of time and use.

"Incredible," Yu Yu whispered.

She didn't rush to grab quests. Years of gaming had taught her to check her stats first. Eternal Darkness screamed potential, and its invite-only status only fueled her curiosity.

[Yu]

Status: Townsperson

Class: None

Level: 1

Gold: 0

Reputation: 0

Spirit: 9

Will: 7

Perception: 5

Strength: 3

Agility: 5

Constitution: 4

Yu Yu tapped the interface, hoping for tooltips or explanations. Nothing. Typical. A game this secretive couldn't even bother with a proper website.

Her status bar was equally barebones:

Health: 8

Mana: 27

Armor: 0

Resistance: 0

Corruption: 0

Condition: Cold (Strongly advised to find a campfire for warmth)

Yu Yu frowned. "Eight health? Seriously?" She'd played stingy games before, but this was absurd. How was she supposed to survive? "A Second Reality, an Unparalleled Experience," she mocked, tugging at her thin collar. The chill was biting.

The sky was a dull gray, sunless, casting the plaza in a somber haze. Few players lingered. At the plaza's edge stood three NPCs: two armored guards and a woman in a flowing black robe. Their eyes tracked her as she approached.

"Name," the robed woman demanded, her tone clipped.

"Yu," Yu Yu replied.

The woman glanced up. "Write it yourself."

Yu Yu scribbled her username on the provided form.

"Race, gender, age."

"Human, female, 23," Yu Yu answered without hesitation. She found the anti-addiction measure oddly charming—an NPC handling registration forms was a nice touch. She glanced at the woman's head. No nameplate. A functional NPC, then.

Her gaze drifted to the guard's armor. The intricate engravings were unlike anything she'd seen, and that tear… it looked so real. Unable to resist, she reached out and brushed her fingers across it. The texture was shockingly authentic. She touched it again. And again.

The guard stiffened. "…"

The robed woman sighed. "…"

"What's so special about his armor?" the woman asked, exasperated.

Yu Yu grinned. "There's a tear right here! It's such a cool detail—like he's too poor to fix it. The devs nailed this."

The guard's forehead vein pulsed. "My apologies," he growled. "I forgot to mend it."

Yu Yu blinked. "You can talk?"

A background NPC responding to her actions? That was new.

"Yes, I can talk," the guard snapped, his face darkening.

The robed woman pinched the bridge of her nose. "Outsider, don't provoke the guards."

Fearing Yu Yu might cause more trouble, the woman hurriedly stamped a copy of the form and thrust it at her. "Don't lose this, or you'll be branded a rogue and expelled from town."

"No quests?" Yu Yu asked.

The woman sighed. "Try the Academy, the town hall, or the tavern."

Yu Yu took that as a quest prompt and bolted, her curiosity surging. Behind her, the plaza began to fill with new players, their hemp-clad figures materializing one by one. Faint voices drifted after her.

"What's this robe made of? It's so shiny!"

"Whoa, that armor's badass. Can you take it off so I can try it?"

"…Stop touching my armor!"

Yu Yu smirked. Tough day to be an NPC.

Half a day later, Yu Yu stood outside the town gates. She'd visited the Academy, where she'd registered as an apprentice spellcaster and learned a single spell. Through some fast-talking, she'd also convinced them to teach her three more on credit: Candlelight, Gust, Ignite, and Acid Ray.

[Candlelight]

Rank: 0 (Cantrip)

School: Evocation

Range: Close

Area: 3-meter radius centered on target

Duration: 5 minutes

Cost: 3 mana

Casting Time: 3 seconds

Proficiency: Novice (0/100)

She'd also picked up a quest from the Academy:

[Clear the Vermin (Part 1)]

Kill ten worker bugs.

(The Grand Archon of Silver Moon City will soon inspect Crescent Town. We can't let Her Excellency see these filthy pests. Exterminate them. Dispose of the remains as you see fit.)

Asking NPCs for directions, Yu Yu had found the east gate, where the bug nest was located. As one of the first players in the game, her progress outpaced most. She marveled at the NPCs' realism—they'd even let her borrow spells on credit.

Outside the town, the light dimmed noticeably. The ground, once clear, blurred into shadows. With no minimap, Yu Yu relied on her eyes to spot enemies.

[Gust]

Rank: 0 (Cantrip)

School: Elemental

Range: Close

Area: 3 meters

Duration: 1 minute

Cost: 1 mana

Casting Time: 1 second

Proficiency: Novice (0/100)

[Ignite]

Rank: 0 (Cantrip)

School: Conjuration

Range: Close

Duration: Instant

Cost: 5 mana

Casting Time: 3 seconds

Proficiency: Novice (0/100)

[Acid Ray]

Rank: 0 (Cantrip)

School: Evocation

Range: Long (20 meters)

Area: Single target

Duration: Instant

Cost: 5 mana

Casting Time: 3 seconds

Proficiency: Novice (0/100)

Beyond the gate, a pile of jagged rocks loomed under an even darker sky. Yu Yu resisted the urge to cast Candlelight. With only 8 health and 27 mana, she couldn't afford to waste resources. Ignite and Acid Ray each cost 5 mana—too steep for carelessness.

The gray-brown earth crunched softly underfoot, a faint metallic tang of blood lingering in the air. Yu Yu tensed. Though she knew it was a game, the atmosphere felt unnervingly real. She softened her steps, wary of what might lurk ahead.

A faint hiss stopped her cold.

Moving cautiously, she traced the sound to a cluster of rocks. A white, silken nest nestled among them, its strands wrapping the surrounding stones. In the dim light, the nest's depths yawned black and foreboding. Watermelon-sized black bugs skittered across the ground, hissing. Deeper within, larger, millstone-sized bugs loomed motionless.

Yu Yu froze. "Nope. Goodbye."

She fled back to the gate, heart pounding. After a long bout of self-assurance, she began strategizing. Those watermelon-sized bugs were the worker bugs she needed to kill—not the massive ones. But they stayed near the nest. How was she supposed to fight them? Rush in? Not a chance.

Her spells: Gust, Ignite, Acid Ray, Candlelight. She scouted the terrain again, soon spotting the perfect vantage point: a tall, climbable rock less than 20 meters from the nest. It offered a clear view of the nest's entrance, open sightlines, and—crucially—a height the bugs likely couldn't scale. Acid Ray had the longest range. She'd use it to pull them.

Yu Yu chanted the spell's arcane syllables, fumbling the pronunciation three times before succeeding on the fourth. A sickly green light gathered at her fingertip. She aimed at the nest's entrance, then hesitated. The spell required line-of-sight targeting. What if she missed?

The green ray shot out with a zip. The nest stirred.

Mana: 22/27 (Failed casts didn't cost her, thankfully.) Three worker bugs scuttled out, and Yu Yu exhaled. Newbie monsters, as expected. If the whole nest had swarmed, she'd have been done for. Bugs weren't supposed to be smart.

Halfway to her, the bugs veered off, circling aimlessly. Their aggro range was short—maybe seven or eight meters. Yu Yu cast another Acid Ray. Mana: 17.1/27. (She'd regenerated 0.1 mana.) The bugs snapped to attention, charging her rock. They reached the base and… circled helplessly.

Yu Yu grinned and switched spells. Ignite. One bug burst into dark red flames, shrieking as it burned. The other two skittered away from it. She tried Gust, hoping to fan the flames, but the wind had no effect. Maybe she should've chosen a fire-based cantrip from the elemental school, like Gust. Ignite was conjuration-based. A theory to test later.

The game's spell system was unique, with schools like Evocation, Elemental, Transmutation, and Universal. But the website—a black void with a countdown—offered no guidance. Arrogant devs.

The fight was straightforward from there. The bugs refused to leave, fixated on reaching her. Yu Yu kited them, recovering mana between casts. Acid Ray dealt modest damage, shaving off a fifth of a bug's health while leaving a corrosive green glow. The lingering burn from Ignite finished them off. She noted the corrosion effect for later—none of the skills had descriptions, another oversight she'd report on the forums.

After a grueling wait, she felled ten bugs. Each yielded 7-8 experience, bringing her to Level 1: 75/100. Her gaze drifted back to the nest, temptation flickering.

In the real world, a vast fog rose from the horizon, creeping over the earth, enveloping everything. Meanwhile, Crescent Town's hall buzzed with chaos.

"Archon!" a red-faced blacksmith roared. "I demand justice against these outsiders!"

He gestured wildly. "They climbed through my windows in broad daylight! Pried open my chests!" His voice cracked with fury. "And they tried to steal my pants!"