Chapter 876: God of War First Experience, The Beginning

"Ah—!"

"Awoo—!"

Inside the cultivation room, Boss Fang could be seen controlling Sun Wukong in a chaotic flurry, when suddenly the entire sky seemed to darken, shrouded by a dense canopy of black clouds, and looking up...

Rumble!

You have been crushed beneath the Five Elements Mountain. Cultivation ended.

"Ow, ow, ow—!"

"This cultivation... is truly slow..." After it ended, Boss Fang glanced at his progress once more.

Following Fang Qi's consumption of the Flat Peach, no bottlenecks would arise for a short while, yet it was clear that even within the cultivation room, the speed of his progress had decelerated significantly.

As Fang Qi's cultivation level grew increasingly higher, spending a year or two in the cultivation room and emerging several realms higher, as he once did, was naturally no longer possible.

"Ah, let us use a... Cultivation Room Double Voucher! Now that is a stroke of genius." Boss Fang recalled that a previous reward had granted him a double voucher with a five-day limit, which equated to five years inside the cultivation room.

He figured that during these five days of real time, translating to five years in the cultivation room, he ought to reap double the rewards...

Though judging by his current pace, doubling it would still not be exceptionally fast, it would, at the very least, be much better than now.

After all... cultivating in the room currently meant being thoroughly thrashed in every imaginable posture; utilizing the double voucher meant he would at least endure fewer years of being pummeled.

"Would you like to use the Double Voucher?" On the system panel, Fang Qi quickly selected the option to use it.

"Activation successful. Doubling successful. Five years of cultivation time has been increased to ten years. Real-world time remains five days."

Fang Qi: "???"

"What do you mean, five years to ten years? Where is the double yield?" Before his words could fully leave his mouth, a massive palm resembling a colossal mountain came pressing down once more...

"Ah—!"

...

Meanwhile, at the Canglan City shop.

"Why haven't we seen the boss at all lately? Who knows what he is busy with." A few elves, along with a group of knights and assassins, sat huddled together in a small section to the left of the entrance.

The booth-style seating featured plush, soft sofas that offered immense comfort, and a cup of cappuccino rested beside each person.

"Heh~ I feel like the gold in my pockets is never enough to spend; I need to take on more quests." The elves possessed long lifespans alongside exceptional talents for combat and art, meaning they were seldom as busy as humans, and yet...

"Why does it feel like funds have been so tight lately..." The elven maiden, Thera, wept silent tears.

...

Those sitting in twos and threes within the private booths were figures akin to imperial nobles and officials, whereas Saint-level powerhouses like the Sword Saint Wilson and the World Mage Hermadon often took whatever seats were available due to arriving late, and it was no rare sight to see them occasionally sitting beside the local residents of Canglan City.

It was proven that the truly wise would abide by the rules of this establishment's master, while those who lacked such wisdom did not even require the master to lift a finger—there were plenty of people eager to handle them.

Fang Qi also strove to maintain harmony within the shop, and it appeared that every branch was running in an orderly fashion.

...

"Did you guys buy that newly released God of War?" In the booth along the aisle, Thera and Lorleen sat in one row, facing their captain and another male elf.

Thera leisurely completed quests with her little Blood Elf warrior in the Borean Tundra, enjoying the lore and scenery along the way in an exceedingly relaxed manner.

"Not yet..." Lorleen replied from beside her.

"The person across from us is playing it right now." The Elven Queen, Kellyanbel, sat unceremoniously beside Thera on the sofa, cradling a bag of potato chips in her arms as she peered across the aisle at the opposite screen.

"Eh? Lady Kellyan, were there no seats left?" Thera took off her virtual reality headset and glanced around.

"Really, the boss won't even add a few thousand more computers. I have things to attend to in a few hours, and now I still have to wait in line..." Kellyanbel angrily tore open the bag of chips, "I will just watch for a bit, but... why does the God of War they are playing seem so different from one another?"

"There is God of War 1 and God of War 2, so they probably aren't playing the same one," Lorleen remarked as she played World of Warcraft.

Across the aisle, half of a dark, scaly dragon head wearing a virtual reality headset could be seen protruding from one seat, while other seats were occupied by a white-haired old man in a mage robe and a middle-aged man dressed in formal, solemn attire that exuded a noble aura.

These were none other than the Saint-level powerhouses: the Black Dragon Guttungs, Wilson, and St. Leyton.

Some were indeed remarkably idle, like a certain black dragon, while others... well, they simply stole a moment of leisure amidst their busy schedules.

For Saint-level individuals like Wilson, this game... was perhaps indeed more suited to them than works like the Journey to the West.

Naturally, there were also youths no older than fourteen or fifteen, like Ruan and Joseph, who were trying out this new game nearby.

"This person is so ugly..." Kellyanbel sat beside the elves, munching on her potato chips as she watched the person opposite her play God of War.

A monstrous sea of fire blazed across the entire screen, resembling... a scene of apocalyptic destruction.

There was also the partial face of a mighty, grim man with pale skin and a strange red marking across his countenance.

Beyond the brooding aura he cast, there followed a bloody, fierce vigor and overbearing dominance.

Evidently, quite a few people were playing God of War 1.

Kellyanbel wondered why this protagonist looked so completely unattractive, and why he was bald to boot?

Moreover, why was he so dripping with murderous intent?

As peace-loving elves, they naturally harbored no fondness for such a game, but with absolutely nothing to do while waiting in line, she continued to spectate.

"Let us select a new game," St. Leyton chuckled; as a knight, a protagonist who clearly favored close-quarters combat was precisely his favorite type.

"Nonsense, could you possibly choose to continue a game?" The World Mage Hermadon glanced over from the side.

"Is this the 'God of War'?" several young players cried out in astonishment, "He looks incredibly powerful!"

The imagery before them gradually faded, the roaring fires slowly transforming into a bleak, grey mountain range, yet the man before them remained the same.

Perhaps this scene, even long after, would remain... unforgettable to these players.

"The gods of Olympus have abandoned me."

Accompanied by a deep, low voice, the view gradually widened to reveal the peak of a towering mountain range, where Kratos stood alone at the edge of a lofty precipice, a hero at the end of his days.

"There is no hope."

Kratos cast himself down from the mountain peak.

He did not resemble a deity, but rather... a mortal driven to the brink by the gods, embarking on a final journey to bring an end to everything.

(Note: Kratos was initially a mortal)

Following the narration, the scene shifted: "But it had not always been this way. Kratos was once a warrior who served the gods..."

Time rewound to the past; in a mere dozen seconds, an aura of tragic solemnity and indignant grief enveloped the hearts of the players, and from mortal to God of War... they seemed to witness the curtain rising on this man's life.

.