More than six days had passed in the game, but more than a month had passed in reality.
Originally, it was expected that the one million game helmets would be sold in a month, but in the end, it was announced that it would be delayed for half a month due to various reasons.
Although half a month was only a little more than two days in the game, and in that kind of earth-shattering disaster, even if there were more than a million new players, it wouldn't be of much use.
However, that didn't stop the players from scolding the game team.
After the failure of the city defense, the players who found that they had nothing to do for the time being chose to go offline and vent their anger on the game team through the forum.
No matter what, it was right to scold the game team!
The game team was really wronged this time because the problem was with the production line, but that didn't stop them from taking the blame.
Anyway, they got used to being scolded.
The promotion of the Star Age experience store had been going on vigorously for a week.
Because all one million game helmets were sold successfully, the Xu family's liquid funds gradually flowed back, and they had spare energy for promotion.
Although, with the current popularity of Star Age, it didn't seem to need a lot of promotion.
That morning, before the experience store officially opened, there was already a long line outside the door, and many people even waited overnight.
The grand occasion was posted on various video platforms by internet celebrities who joined in the fun, and attracted another wave of attention.
When it officially opened at eight in the morning, the 100 Star Age experience stores in the country were all full in just half an hour.
Moreover, there were still countless customers waiting in line.
Each experience store was only equipped with 200 game helmets, which was a lot for a physical store, but it still couldn't meet the demand of a large number of players.
Lu Shi, a student who was about to graduate from H University, was also a Star Age enthusiast.
Unfortunately, he couldn't get his hands on the gaming helmet, and the gaming cabin was too expensive. He couldn't afford it at all. The appearance of the experience store was a pleasant surprise.
Especially when he found out that one opened near his university, he specially waited at the door the night before the opening.
There were many people who had the same idea as him, and there were already more than a dozen people waiting in front when he arrived.
It had to be said that they were a bunch of animals!
Fortunately, he also got the first batch of spots.
Unlike what Lu Shi expected, the experience store only provided the game helmet service. He had heard that the experience of the game helmet would be reduced a lot, and couldn't be compared to the game cabin.
As for the game cabin … Looking at the expression of the receptionist, it probably wouldn't be available in a short time.
This was understandable.
After all, a gaming cabin was sold for 100,000 yuan, and it was said that the supply did not meet the demand. Under such circumstances, how could they take it out to experience at a loss?
The price of the experience store was not expensive. It was only 5 yuan per hour, which was the same as the price of the internet cafe.
The interior of the shop was very high-end, clean and bright, and the fresh air made people feel very comfortable. There were many counters on the first floor, and they were filled with all kinds of Star Age character figurines.
There were also huge posters pasted on the walls of the hall. They were all popular characters from the Star Age.
When he saw His Majesty Xiao Luo and Si Sheng, Lu Shi couldn't help but take out his phone to take a picture. After he posted it on his WeChat Moments to show off, he walked up to the second floor.
When he reached the second floor, he put away his phone and looked up. Lu Shi was stunned by the neat rows of cubicles.
There were about seven to eight rows, and each row had ten cubicles. All of them were enclosed.
The partition of the cubicle was transparent, and there was a seat that looked like a massage chair inside. Beside the seat was a small cupboard, and on top of the cupboard was a gaming helmet that was charging.
Lu Shi looked at the card in his hand.
The card was given to him by the front desk. The front of the card was painted with the artistic characters of the Star Age. On the back of the card was his favorite Marshal Si Sheng, who was reaching out to catch a grenade.
On the blue lightning, there was a number written on it.
Lu Shi came to the designated cubicle according to the number. He swiped the card and entered. Although the cubicle was enclosed, the ventilation was good, so he didn't feel stuffy after entering.
When he sat down, a gentle female voice sounded. It was obviously a pre-recorded introduction voice.
"Hello, dear customer. Welcome to the Star Age experience store."
"When you use the gaming helmet to enter the game, your body will enter a state of deep sleep. Please ensure that the cubicle door is closed to prevent losing your belongings during the game …"
This experience store is quite thoughtful.
Next, Lu Shi followed the instructions and took the helmet from the charging device. It felt very light in his hand, and it felt very textured. He didn't feel any discomfort after putting it on.
After putting on the helmet, after darkness passed in front of him, a light screen lit up with words written on it.
[Duration of this experience: 2 hours]
Lu Shi wanted to experience more, but unfortunately, he could only play for 2 hours at most. He was only allowed to renew once, which meant that he could only play for 4 hours a day.
Although it felt a bit short, he should be satisfied. After all, there were many cities in the country that didn't have experience stores.
Also, he heard that Star Age was popular overseas, but the game company didn't have any plans to expand into the overseas market, so the foreign players could only sigh.
When he thought about this, Lu Shi felt a lot better.
At the same time, the buyers who received the helmet one after another also entered the game after reading the instructions.
It was also on this day that the time flow inside and outside of Star Age returned to 1: 1.
This meant that players spent more time in the game at night, and when they weren't in the game during the day, they missed a lot of game content.
Fortunately, after the defense line of the City of the Brave was lost, there weren't any urgent missions for the time being. The newbies who just entered the game also needed time to explore and improve their strength.
Lu Shi followed the instructions and entered the game.
When he entered the game with the helmet, the opening animation was the same as the game cabin, but the experience wasn't as shocking.
If the gaming cabin was 99.9% realistic, then the gaming helmet was only about 70% realistic.
However, for players who hadn't experienced the game cabin before, this experience was still novel and interesting.
Lu Shi chose to randomly choose the facial features since the system's faces were pretty. He then chose a name, talent, and so on. He couldn't wait to start.
The result …
Number of people in line: 61502.
Lu Shi:???
With the addition of a million new heroes, it would be 200,000 players evenly distributed to the five main cities. This number exceeded the capacity of the summoning circle at the spawn point, so the players had to wait in line before they could enter.
Lu Shi could understand why the new server was so crowded, but the problem was that there were still 60,000 players waiting in line. Wasn't this a bit too much?
But should he leave?
In the end, he could only choose to wait in the guidance space.
However, one thing about Star Age was that there were all kinds of functions in the guidance space, so it was convenient to do things while waiting.
For example, he could browse the Star Forum and buy things from the system store. In addition to these two, there was also a bookshelf full of books related to Star Age, and even …
There were also learning materials.
Lu Shi accidentally clicked on something, and a new interface popped up, and what was written on it were sets of mock exam papers?
There were even practice books for primary, middle, and high school exams?
"Isn't this too perverted …"
Lu Shi was stunned when he saw these learning materials. Why would an online game have such things? This can't be said to be unrelated, it can only be said to be unrelated!
"But if it's used to prevent addiction, the effect might be quite good."
He casually ridiculed.
He never thought that his complaint would be the reality.
The experience store prohibited providing services to minors, but there were many minors among the millions of users of the game helmet.
Because the game account was bound to the user's identity card, and there was a detection by the game helmet, it couldn't be faked, so there was no way for minors to use adult accounts to enter the game.
Minors under the age of twelve were temporarily unable to enter the game, and minors between the ages of twelve and seventeen, after entering the game, the first thing they would face was …
Test questions.
The difficulty of the test questions corresponded to the user's age, and only those with a score of 80 and above could enter the game.
When this restriction came out, whether it was those who secretly played behind their parents' backs or those who begged their parents to buy the helmet, they were all dumbfounded.
But what they didn't know was …
Even if they passed the test, it wouldn't be done once and for all. The system would randomly check, and once their score dropped below 80, they would be forced to go offline.
So, kids want to play Star Age?
Then study hard!
On the other hand, Lu Shi closed the learning interface and chose to browse the forum.
What a joke, he was here to play the game and relax, not to be abused or to cultivate his character.
After the time flow was adjusted back to 1: 1, players could use the forum in the game again, and the popularity of the livestream began to recover.
Now on the forum's main page, other than the various questions and reports from new players, there were also posts complaining about the lack of experience stores in the cities, and that there was not enough space, so there was a long queue.
Of course, there was also a lot of feedback about the experience stores.
It was also from such posts that Lu Shi found out that each of the 100 experience stores in the country had a different interior design.
The second floor and above were generally the same, but the first floor had different figurines and posters. In the main store, there was even a 1: 1 scale model of His Majesty Xiao Luo and Si Sheng!
[These figurines are so cute, can I buy them?]
[I think they can be pre-ordered.]
[Yes, yes, yes, I asked the front desk. The experience stores also accept custom orders, and they can even make your game character into a figurine!]
[Wow, wow, wow, can we customize His Majesty Xiao Luo and Si Sheng's figurines?]
[Ahhhh, I want one too!]
Looking at these discussions, Lu Shi couldn't help but touch his chin. Is Star Age starting to release all kinds of peripheral products?
Too bad he was poor, otherwise, he would definitely order one too!
Many people had the same idea as Lu Shi, especially the customers waiting in line on the first floor of the experience store. Many of them directly placed their orders.
It could be said that the revenue from the peripheral products of Star Age was much more than the gaming helmet experience.
After about 30 minutes, Lu Shi finally finished queuing and truly entered the game.
Fortunately, these 30 minutes did not take up much of his experience time. He was quite satisfied with this, and there was almost nothing to complain about.
As soon as he entered the game, the first thing he felt was that there were a lot of people.
There was a sea of people around him, and all he could see were the moving heads. After squeezing for a long time, he finally got out of the teleportation hall, and was then led into a hover car by an NPC.
In the end, he and the other players in the car were sent to Eastwood Town.
"Huh? Why isn't it Doha or Mercenary Town? "
Lu Shi was born in the Imperial City. In the forums, the most famous maps in the Imperial City were Doha and Mercenary Town. Even the inner city had to be ranked behind them.
But, when did Eastwood Town appear?
Eastwood Town was located on the west side of Doha. It was the fourth Lv2 district in the Imperial City, and it was still in the midst of construction.
Only when all four districts reached Lv4 could the Imperial City continue to level up. Eastwood Town's importance was self-evident.
So this time, with the addition of new players, most of the new players were guided to Eastwood Town to help with the construction and leveling.
As for the defense against the Beast Tide, that would have to wait until these players reached Lv5 and successfully changed class to Elementalists.
Lu Shi quickly immersed himself in the daily quests. He had done a lot of homework, so he naturally knew how important daily quests were in Star Age.
It could be said that you could choose to complete any quests, but not daily quests.
In the process of running daily quests, he was also quickly familiarizing himself with the game world.
He could feel the barrier between himself and the world, as if there was an invisible membrane, but if he did not think about it carefully, it seemed to be easy to miss.
When he passed by the central square, he watched the live broadcast of Star Age for the first time.
On the huge screen, the silhouette of a silver-haired youth was reflected. He wore a crown on his head, and a gorgeous cape embroidered with the national emblem of Roland. He walked step by step toward the throne.
Lu Shi could not help but stop and watch.
"Today is a day of great joy for the whole nation," the young silver-haired emperor said to the camera.
Hmm? Is it because of the arrival of the new heroes?
Lu Shi could not help but think.
Then, he heard Emperor Xiao Luo announce the three royals of Roland —
Vir the Elder Princess, the Prince of Senos, and the Elder Princess Sirene have returned!
Almost at the same time, Lu Shi heard the cheers of the surrounding NPCs almost at the same time.
"God bless, it's the Elder Prince! He's still alive! "
"And Princess Sirene! Oh, our Prince and Princess, they're back! Oh my god, they really came back alive from the Beast Tide! "
"Now it should be the Prince and the Elder Princess."
"That's great! That's great! "
Lu Shi looked at the surrounding NPCs who were crying tears of joy and hugging each other. He could completely feel their love and respect for the royals from their expressions, tone, and actions.
This kind of emotion was pure, moving, and very infectious.
Seeing this, he could not help but cheer together with them.
But after the cheers, the screen changed, and the silver-haired youth appeared again.
He said with a solemn expression,
"But, our celebration may have to be postponed."
The surrounding people restrained their excited expressions. Probably because they had a premonition, the women hugged the noisy children, and the men stopped cheering. They looked at the screen worriedly.
Then, images of the Interstellar Beasts appeared on the screen one after another.
At this moment, the faces of countless people who were watching the live broadcast drained of all color in an instant. Panic spread among everyone.
Beast Tide …
Is this the Beast Tide? Is the Beast Tide coming again?
"That's right. Just as you guessed, the Beast Tide is happening again. And this time, we finally know … everything is a conspiracy of the Bevat Empire against us!"
As Xu Sili's voice fell, the image on the screen changed. It was the image of the lizardmen setting up the equipment.
"These disgusting bugs set up equipment on Eshe that can cause the Interstellar Beasts to riot on a large scale, which triggered the Beast Tide four years ago!"
"And this time, they're trying to do the same thing again!"
The silver-haired youth's face was filled with anger and grief.
At this moment, almost everyone in Roland stopped what they were doing. They gathered in front of the big and small screens and watched their beloved king.
"Four years ago, we lost countless homes and loved ones in the Beast Tide, and all of this was thanks to the Bevat Empire!"
"The Interstellar Beasts are a problem that we need to solve, and the Bevat Empire is Roland's sworn enemy!"
"I swear in the name of the House of Roland, Roland will make the Bevat Empire pay with blood!"
All the people were boiling with excitement.
Their fear of the Beast Tide had turned into hatred and anger toward the Bevat Empire.
The Beast Tide was everyone's nightmare.
And the nightmare four years ago was a pain that almost everyone in Roland didn't want to mention. They had lost too much in that disaster.
And now, they finally knew the truth!
Lu Shi completely believed that if a Bevat Empire appeared here now, they would definitely be torn to pieces by these NPC civilians.
And because of this, he had a preliminary impression of the Bevat Empire —
This was Roland's enemy, and it was the kind that couldn't be reconciled!
On the screen, the young Emperor quickly spoke again.
"Before that, we have to deal with the Beast Tide first."
He said, "This time, we have enough time to prepare, and we have to thank the brave ones. They stood their ground at the border and bought us seven days of time!"
"Roland will always remember the brave ones' contributions to us!"
"So, I will erect a stone tablet in the central square of the Imperial City. I will engrave the 100 brave ones who made outstanding contributions in this battle on it for future generations to admire!"
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