Fireball

The spell bar had only one active icon: 【Fireball】.

【Fireball: Deals (Mana × 2) fire damage. On hit, deals (Mana × 0.5) burn damage per second for 5 seconds.】

【Mana Cost: 10 Mana】

【Effective Range: 20 meters】

As expected, the Mana attribute was crucial. Wise players had long since seen through the game's tricks.

With her current Mana attribute of 10, a single Fireball cast on herself would completely wipe out her health bar!

The glitched dialogue box finally finished loading, and lines of text glowing with a faint blue light slowly appeared:

【Welcome to 《Elderan: The Eternal Moon》】

【In an era before time had a name, the...】

【The gods created many...】

【The youngest god...】

【They were...】

【The Moon Goddess...】

The text scrolled far too slowly. Wu Yao gradually lost her patience, and after clicking through a few times, a “Skip All” button appeared.

She immediately went full skip-mode. Worldbuilding? Lore? Tell it to the “Skip” button!

As long as it wasn't an unskippable cutscene, players had absolutely no obligation to waste their time!

She skipped straight to the quest log.

【Your goal is to become the most revered—】

【Anachronism detected. The original quest cannot be completed. Regenerating main quest...】

【Prologue: New Life】

【Pre-Quest 0-1: Escape the Stake】

【Recommended Level: Lv.5】

【Quest Objectives: 1. Escape from the stake. 2. Evade at least the first wave of pursuers.】

【Quest Rewards: EXP +200, Appraisal, Territory Core × 1, Silver Coins × 20】

As everyone knew, recommended levels in games were completely meaningless.

Wu Yao didn't give it much thought. She skimmed the objectives and rewards, then closed the panel with satisfaction. 200 EXP was just enough for her to level up once.

The firewood beneath her feet was already burning. The smell of smoke rushed straight up her nose, making her knit her brows in discomfort.

Wu Yao scanned her surroundings. About a dozen villagers partially surrounded her, while two soldiers in leather armor and a white-robed man muttering charges stood at the very front. They all looked very killable.

The villagers and soldiers had white IDs floating above their heads, looking incredibly basic. The white-robed man, however, had a grey ID. He could easily be considered a mini-boss. She would kill him first.

【Fireball】 activate!

The moment she cast the spell, she felt an almost instinctual sense unlock. There was a restless presence in the air. Countless tiny particles swirled around her joyfully, trembling with excitement at her gaze like children who had finally found a playmate.

Wu Yao raised an eyebrow, recalling the selling points mentioned in the email.

She hadn't taken them seriously before—every major game marketed itself like that before release—but she hadn't expected this game to actually deliver.

The sensation of casting was incredibly realistic. She wondered what kind of sensory-link technology they were using.

The particles surged from all directions, gathering, compressing, and igniting in her palm.

Within a single breath, a fist-sized fireball hovered before her. Orange-red flames churned and surged within it, eager to destroy something.

Wu Yao didn't make it wait long. She directed it to bite through the hemp rope. The fibers charred and curled under the high heat, and the flames spread into a slithering fire serpent. She was free.

【Warning! You have used... in public...】

She closed the system warning the moment it popped up. It was just blocking her field of vision!

Her body felt heavier than she expected. Her character's stamina bar was too short; just lifting her leg, taking a step, and jumping down from the woodpile to the ground depleted a tenth of her stamina.

She grimaced as she looked at the screaming crowd around her. This was the downside of holographic games—the NPCs were so noisy they gave her a headache, reminding her of the teenage boys in her class.

She rolled her wrists. A second fireball exploded against the woodpile at her feet, sending burning wood flying in all directions. The crowd screamed and scrambled backward.

Wu Yao stood in place, smiling with satisfaction as she looked at her remaining Mana, which was still enough for eight more Fireballs.

“Stop her! She's a witch!” shouted the white-robed man, whose ID read 【Mage Association Apprentice · Corey】. He ducked behind the crowd while shouting orders.

Wu Yao's gaze bypassed the panicked villagers, locking onto him with pinpoint accuracy.

Among the sea of white names, he was the only NPC whose health bar had appeared.

【HP: 80/80】

Wu Yao flashed him an excited smile.

The crowd blocking the way fled much faster than the white-robed apprentice could. In the blink of an eye, the space in front of him was completely clear.

The fist-sized fireball, filled with the ecstatic thrill of battle, tore through the air with a howling screech, hurtling straight toward the white-robed man.

Just as the fireball was about to detonate against his chest, a pale golden light suddenly flared from his front, acting like a hastily raised shield.

The flames slammed into it. The light shield shattered instantly, and the shockwave knocked him flat onto his back.

“Tsk.” Wu Yao clicked her tongue in annoyance. How did a mere mob have an item when a prestigious player like her was completely empty-handed?

When the white-robed man scrambled back up, his entire body was trembling. The front of his robe was scorched black, revealing a cracked amulet underneath.

If not for that basic shield absorbing the blow just now, he would have been burned to a crisp.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it...” Shaking, he pulled a parchment booklet from his waist and flipped through it frantically, his eyes darting across the lines of text. “Defense, defense...”

Wu Yao looked at the laughably slow casting bar above the mob's head and chose to strike first.

A fireball coalesced in her palm. The particles were even more urgent than before, like soldiers whose fighting spirit had been ignited, anxiously waiting for the charge.

Looking down at the growing fireball, a thought flashed through Wu Yao's mind. She tried to compress the particles further inward.

Theoretically, a game's pre-programmed spellcasting sequence wouldn't change based on her whims.

But theoretically, she shouldn't have been able to feel the magic either!

As it turned out, this game's magic system was indeed built different.

Once she exerted control, the particles resisted only for a brief moment before obediently gathering toward the core. Even more particles were drawn from the air, flooding into the fireball's center and packing tighter and tighter until an unstable white light flashed.

This was enough. Wu Yao was satisfied.

The white-robed man finally found the right page and shrieked out an incantation: “Cordis monigutadori...”

The compressed fireball flew so fast its trajectory was a blur, slamming into his shoulder in an instant.

The white-robed man shrieked as he was sent flying, rolling several times across the ground before coming to a stop.

A damage number of 【-25】 floated up, followed a second later by another 【-5】.

He rolled on the ground, clutching his shoulder as blood seeped through his fingers. The damage-over-time indicator kept flashing, and cheerful little flames danced across his body.

The impact and visual feedback were incredibly realistic. Wu Yao gave the game developers another mental thumbs-up.