Soul of Searing Steel

[Thanks for playing Continental War, a product of the Moldavian Union Trust!]

[Spirit terminal serial number: 2379]

[Username: Priest Omni] 

[Closed Beta player label confirmed, spirit tethering commencing]

[No abnormal magical signature detected. No abnormal spirit deviation rate detected. Commencing deep spirit link]

[Spirit link stabilizing and completed. Player's present ability class: Gold-intermediate. Highest accepted accelerated timing: x64]

[—Do you wish to experience the rise and fall of civilizations? Do you wish to understand… the meaning of life?]

[—Yes/No]

In a small mansion at the Moldavian South City, Priest was blanking out in his own room, sitting on his bed and stroking his cheek puzzledly while staring at the 'Yes/No' button in his mind.

"Why do I feel that his choice has a deeper meaning…"

"What are you doing, Priest?"

While Priest muttered to himself, an elven girl's ghost who had been using mana to carry a sprinkle to water the magical plants and normal potted botany poked her head curiously through the wall as she passed by Priest's room. "Napping at home in the afternoon… could you be exhausted from sparring in the arena?"

Sol was X years old when she passed on (A maiden's age is a secret). Her ability was Silver-advanced, her spectral spirit especially strengthened because she could directly touch elements and control mana.

As for the arena she spoke of, it was a famous public sparring stage at the outer east city zone. Winter Fort Academy students often used it to resolve personal difference or compete. There were some mercenaries who trained there as well so that they would not fall out of practice due to long periods of idling. Priest was a frequent guest there.

"No, it's something else. Go do your own thing, Sol—and don't simply poke through the walls next time, I need my privacy too.

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The elven girl threw her tongue and made a face, withdrawing her head back from the wall. Her interruption, however, allowed Priest to make up his mind. "Well, it's fine," he shrugged. "

When he had discovered the new thing in his spirit terminal, Priest quickly decided to go home and study what the 'Full-Dive game' known as Continental War actually was. After he had settled a pile of complicated spirit assessment, he was finally cleared to join the closed beta test server.

Either way, he had a lot of time. He could try it, and if it was not fun, he could just stop.

With that in mind, Priest simply clicked 'Yes' in his spirit space.

Nonetheless, in that single instant that Priest touched 'Yes', he felt a great force transcending the Mana Net to completely engulf his spirit.

Soon after, darkness arrived, and all color diminished in the spirit terminal space, leaving only the icon which was flowing with blood floating over thin air. A broken longsword and a magical staff were crossed in front a shield, the metal chain that encircles it whirling without stopping, dragging along burning black flames as if those were sins.

A deep, masculine voice that Priest was extremely familiar with rang beside his ears.

"Welcome to Continental War."

At those words, the extreme hypnosis spell that the Mind Lord who did not reveal his name activated, and Priest hence quickly descended into 'deep-dive' mode.

***

When he woke up and realized that he had entered the so-called deep-dive mode and began the game, the darkness around Priest had all vanished, with the azure sea appearing around him.

On the sea's surface was a fiercely burning sun. There was no cloud or mist over the sky, nor was there any islands or waves. He could easily see the end of the horizon… and a silver menu that hovers before his eyes.

[Please set your character before starting the game]

Since he often browsed the forums on his spirit terminal and purchased items on the Mana Net, Priest was not unfamiliar with menus and character settings—it was simply molding a face, and who would enter trade on the Mana Net with their real face? Not to mention that the game itself actually provided that function!

Hence, Priest had a good feeling about it even before he started playing. After enjoying the beautiful sight of the seas, he decided to mold himself so he was better looking—so that his sister and Sol would not complain that he always made himself resemble monster of Chaos, leaving everyone with upset stomachs on sight.

But Priest's brow furrowed in seconds and he growled, "What the hell?"

How is this character setting?!

What appeared on the screen in front of Priest was not the virtual character settings often seen on various forums and merchant sites. In fact, there was basically nothing, with only a single insignificant dot that would be missed if not viewed seriously.

It was a small dot no matter how Priest magnified it, and its minuscule complex constitution… any normal person would be at a loss, but because his party had Alchemist who was passionate about biology, Priest could almost see that the dot was not a simple dot, but a 'cell' from a certain perspective.

And the so-called character setting was nothing other than checking what form of cell it was.

"Carbon-based… amino-group… silicon-based… eh, niche too? Plant or animal-class, or hybrid?"

Frowning, Priest turned the menu, suddenly finding the setting rather interesting. The young warrior also realized that the constitution and introduction of the cells were real and had existed. "Wait. There are elemental lifeforms as well? Natural rune composites of flame elementals, and psionic cluster forms?!"

Priest could not help but be astonished. Thanks to his tutelage under Count Radcliffe, he had learned that elemental creatures were actually physical beings like humans and elves, owning their own body constitution and was not simply a body of soul energies. As for the constitution of 'natural rune composites' and 'psionic cluster forms', those were what cells of physical beings were to the elementals and psionic beings—their fundamental makeup of existence.

At once curious why he could choose from so many different types of cells, Priest, a battle-hardened veteran with much knowledge gained from exploring otherworlds naturally could tell that those constitution was not made-up nonsense. All of them were real, and which was why he became expectant even if he did not know how to play Continental War. "If that's the case, I will pick something I'm familiar with… physical being 'cell'."

After clicking 'Yes' again, Priest had more choices such as appearance, innate ability, birthing place, and difficulty. Despite being rather interested in the game's contents, Priest no longer had the patience to calibrate each setting. Quickly clicking 'all-random', he then simply picked 'start game' on the silver menu.

[Settings complete, randomization commencing...]

[Randomization completed: Carbon-based lifeform, adapted to continental realm, innate talent 'elemental affinity', dungeon difficulty 'intermediate']

[Random race 'Elemental-affinity cellular lifeform'. Commencing upload of new player copy…]

After making his choice, Priest was left in that unusual darkness again. This time, however, the microscopic cells enlarged until it simply swallowed Priest and leaped into the sea at once.

And before the cell completely consumed Priest, he saw a line of text that flickered in the silver menu.

[First Phase: Spore]