CHAPTER 430: CHAPTER 158: THIS IS NOT THE DARK LAND!

[Payment successful, Dark Land game account has been successfully activated.]

Ding!

After the account was activated, a bank card deduction notification popped up.

Tong Xin looked at the electronic billing information on the computer, tears of joy in his eyes.

After countless days and nights of struggle, this moment has finally arrived.

The bitterness and hardship he endured have now turned into sweet rain, nourishing his heart.

He has given so much for this day.

Looking back, those sleepless nights, the lonely figure in high-radiation environments, the sycophantic smiles and nods in bars... The memories finally returned to the moment he snagged the cracked version qualification but barely missed it, weeping in the game pod.

But now, he finally got the qualification for Dark Land.

This once seemingly unattainable goal is now truly within his grasp.

"Awesome!"

He clicked download, and the download progress bar popped up in the upper right corner.

Sitting at the computer desk, Tong Xin spread his arms, imagining countless figures cheering him on from the sidelines.

At this moment, he really wanted to share his feelings.

Unfortunately, the godsons in his group were offline, making happiness feel incomplete, lacking in flavor.

During the wait, Tong Xin went to the fridge, took out a custom pre-cooked meal he usually wouldn’t splurge on, opened a can of beer, and enjoyed it heartily.

When he returned to the room, the progress bar was already at 100%.

Ding!

[Download successful, would you like to configure the game?]

He clicked configure, the game files transferred to the game pod, and the lights began to flash as the files were extracted.

Before long, the green light indicating completion lit up.

Having changed into his game suit, Tong Xin couldn’t wait to enter the game pod.

As the hatch pressed down, Tong Xin felt a surge of pride and excitement, as if thousands of troops were charging in his chest.

Past setbacks have now become the driving force towards his future.

"Brothers, your sleeping godfather has awakened!"

The scene before his eyes transitioned to the virtual desktop, and clicking the game icon, a prompt to enter the game appeared.

The gentle humming sound of the game pod operating was in his ear, and the scene before him turned into a blurry blue light screen, changing as the system booted up.

The blue light screen gradually became transparent, like morning mist blown away by a breeze, and the four dark golden letters "Dark Land" emerged from the darkness.

Just then, the screen suddenly dimmed.

Several figures emerged from the darkness, and a naming box popped up.

Using his consciousness to touch, Tong Xin entered "preschool director" in the naming box.

[Notice: The game name has already been used, please choose another name.]

"Shit!"

Seeing his favorite game name already taken, Tong Xin cursed inwardly, then replaced it with a new name: Kindergarten Director.

This time, the green prompt for successful naming appeared.

The figures in the darkness became clear, entering the character selection screen.

Dark Land offers high freedom, with no specific career choices available at the start, only gender and Talent Specialization can be chosen, and the game does not support face customization, players use their real-life appearance as the initial setup.

The only modifiable setting is "completion."

The so-called completion is specially designed for players with physical disabilities.

For example, players who have lost limbs can use the completion setting to receive adapted missing body parts.

In Talent Specialization choices, there are 18 options.

Options include Mechanical Mastery, Shooting Mastery, Weapon Mastery, Rune Mastery, Medical Proficiency, Forging Mastery, and so on.

When the game reached the Talent Specialization selection phase, Tong Xin was puzzled.

"No... The opening setup doesn’t feel right!"

Though he hadn’t experienced Dark Land, he had heard the godsons in the group talk about the game’s relevant content.

The initial player choice seems to be a kind of ability called Life Soul, which uses Star Vein Slots to combine various Life Souls into powerful Combined Skills, with the option to change Life Souls later.

So... what’s this Talent Specialization about?

Could it be a choice available only after entering the game?

Hmm, it must be.

Tong Xin, full of curiosity, automatically filled in the blanks himself, then carefully reviewed the detailed description of each specialization.

After some consideration, he chose the combat-oriented Defense Specialization.

[Congratulations player, successfully created character, proceeding with Newbie Village area allocation..., your assigned Newbie Village is: Feng Yunlan.]

[Loading Newbie Village scene, please wait.]

Shortly after, Tong Xin appeared in the Newbie Village, wearing the newbie exclusive linen clothes.

Various noisy sounds filled his ears, and looking around, the place was full of players.

Besides Human Clan players, there were also a large number of Alien Race players.

But the problem is, where did the Life Soul option go? How do I choose my stone-statue ghost Life Soul?

Forget it, let’s level up first.

Feeling puzzled, Tong Xin decided to level up first, then consider other issues, as he had already fallen behind the godsons in Level, he must strive to quickly catch up, and contact them to help level up once out of the Newbie Village.

From the initial experience, he understood the game’s background setting.

The game’s grand background begins a thousand years ago when the invading force "Horror Black Tide" descended, bringing endless calamity after sweeping over the world.

Just as the world was about to be engulfed in darkness, a group of selected Heavenly Destiny People fled to another world, where they built a new civilization.

Today, a thousand years later, the fugitive Heavenly Destiny People (players) have returned, vowing to reclaim the lost homeland.

As the group chat brothers said, the background setting revolves around Horror Black Tide as the greatest adversary.