[Music Recommendation: "Happy Journey” by Yu-Peng Chen (Genshin Impact OST)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

Tan-tan… Tan-tan-tan…

The background music changed as soon as I went to “Open World” mode. I had to admit, this game had lots of great music—especially the mellow ones. Upon entering, I was asked to either edit my avatar, create a new one, or skip and choose a “job”. I still liked the avatar I created so I just went ahead and skipped.

“Swordsman.”

“Mage.”

“Thief.”

“Archer.”

“Acolyte.”

“Merchant.”

I stared at the screen mulling over what to choose. But after a few minutes, my inner girly self decided with the job that had the most beautiful costume—Mage. The Acolyte’s costume was cute too, but it was too demure for my taste. I preferred the Mage’s sexy but stylish, and magical-looking dress instead.

On the next screen, I was given a bunch of freebies including a low-level wand. Then it asked to proceed to a certain portal which I did, and the screen loaded to another page.

“Wow!” I gaped upon seeing the open world. There were a bunch of players everywhere!—and with weird usernames.

“ABC-123”

“acertainhumanbeing”

“0_0”

“Asdfgh”

“LaLaMon”

Indeed… such weird usernames. I was under the impression we’re supposed to use our names—like real names. Or if someone wished for privacy, then maybe some other generic human name, you know? But looking at them, some even had numbers on their names, and some were just emojis? I raised my eyebrows in shock. And here I am who named my avatar “Senara Lee” like my real name. I felt so stupid. Maybe this was how it’s supposed to be.

Aside from the weird usernames, I noticed that some had better costumes than the others, better weapons, and other stuff—probably high level players. Then, there were those standing close to each other in a group. Ken mentioned those to me. Was it guilds? Or a party? I forgot. Anyway, I walked on towards the gate leading to town.

“Town of Beginnings,” the town signage wrote. How very unique. I think the creator of this game and I would get along when it comes to naming things.

One thing I discovered about myself when I played through “story mode” was that I quite liked exploring. Whenever I entered a new village or place, I always ended up exploring the whole map and I wouldn't stop until I unlocked them. So when I went inside the town, the first thing I did was explore.

It was a pretty town, and medieval. The merchants and shops were all lined up near the town’s gate. Houses were scattered in different directions. At the center of the town was of course, a Town Square, with water fountains, bushes and trees, and benches to sit on. At the far corners were different guild houses, and towers. There was also a Cathedral that was elevated from the rest by a long staircase. Behind it was a cemetery which looked spooky despite the scenery being morning. I could have sworn I heard a cry when I passed by it.

While I was wondering at every nook and cranny of the town, checking if there was any treasure box or free items I could find, my screen suddenly became pitch black.

“Oh no! What happened? Did I break it? Is it a glitch?”

My heart beated loudly and I could feel my palms getting cold. I tried to control my avatar by making her run around the whole screen. Maybe I entered somewhere wrong like a glitched place or something. I did breathing exercises to calm down but I couldn’t. I was so worried that I broke Ken’s console and his game because if I did, then all of the records of the games he played before would be gone, too, right? And he was so nice to me, lending this console so I could have some fun. But now I broke it! Waaa… What should I do?

“A light!” I immediately shouted as I saw a glimpse of light at the corner of the screen. “Oh my goodness!” I sighed of relief and quickly ran over to the side of the light.

[Music Recommendation: "Legend of Wind” by Yu-Peng Chen (Genshin Impact OST)-available in Youtube or Spotify]

Whoosh…

The background music changed into a mystical tone with angelic voices humming to the tune like sirens. Ahhh… such a beautiful song. I could stay here for an hour and never get bored just listening to this kind of music.

It wasn’t only the music that was beautiful—even the whole place was enchanting! I somehow got transported to a heavenly garden with soil covered in white grass and pastel colored flowers. Considering this was still 1080p graphics since 4k, 8k, and HDR wasn’t available yet, this whole place was just WOW! I applaud anyone who thought of creating such beautiful scenery.

And at the far end of the “Secret Garden”, as I decided to call it, was a shining golden treasure box.

“Did I hit the jackpot?” I asked myself. I was frantic a moment ago but it turns out, it was actually a hidden passage towards this secret treasure box.

I ran towards the treasure box and opened it—lucky I didn’t need to have a key. I guess finding it was a miracle in itself. Once I opened it, I received a lustrous staff made of gold and silver, covered with different colored gems in the handle and a big crystal at the top of the scepter. I equipped it to my character and good thing it didn’t have a level restriction.

I checked my status and the perks of the beautiful staff.

“Woah! Oh my goodness! This is one over-powered staff!” I couldn’t believe my eyes. Why wouldn’t it be? It just gave me +100 on ALL of my character’s attributes! From strength, magic, vitality, dexterity, etc, even my luck increased by a hundred! “Is this what they call beginner’s luck?”

As I marvelled on my findings, someone appeared from the bushes nearby. My attention from the magical staff was taken in an instant… Why wouldn’t it?

Amidst the colorful garden, stood a man clothed in nothing but pure darkness…

“Grim Reaper” was his name.