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It was a black bikini with a cartoonish watermelon design drawn on the panties. The contrasting color made Shaelyn’s fair skin stand out even more.

Additionally, the bikini was only supported by ribbons so thin it felt like they could loosen up and fall down. That kind of visual assault was too much for Lamont to bear.

Even if he was used to seeing pretty girls in revealing outfits on the internet before, it still couldn’t compare to the feelings of seeing a real girl showing off their assets right before his very eyes.

It momentarily caused his brain to crash.

“You still there?” Shaelyn had a meaningful smile as she walked towards Lamont and waved her hand before his face.

Surprised, Lamont took one step back, “Y… You… Why are you wearing that—”

“It’s a game outfit, of course,” Shaelyn stopped teasing him and pulled some distance from Lamont before she explained, “When you first log in, you will be given 100 game points. They can then be used to change your outfit. In the armoire setting, you can make your own outfit and consume some game points to exchange the item.”

“Ah… Is that so…” Lamont was still a bit out of it.

It was at this time Shaelyn gave him a bit of a heads-up, “With my family connection, I was able to get some confidential information regarding the game. If you have something you don’t understand, feel free to ask me.”

If she explained her knowledge of the game like this, even Lamont wouldn’t think twice about it, especially with his eyes almost glued to her chest right now. She could probably trick him with this for a while.

As long as she could raise their relationship to become inseparable before he noticed something was fishy, she would have nothing to worry about.

But honestly, this guy’s body sure is honest… He didn’t even blink once as he stared at my chest.
Tsk. How distasteful.

After a light cough, she asked, “Should we go clear a dungeon? Or do you want to play here for a while longer to get used to it?

That voice pulled Lamont’s consciousness back to reality, then he turned his eyes away awkwardly, “Ah… let’s go to the dungeon. There’s no point in staying here any longer. This place really does feel the same as reality…”

If he didn’t know ahead of time, he would really have thought this place was real. There wasn’t the slightest indication around here that proved this was within the game world. Even the character model looked so real you couldn’t tell them apart from the real deal. These frighteningly accurate precision and technology made him doubt if this game was really a product of this era.

That’s why there wasn’t a need for a tutorial for one to get accustomed to the game.

“Okay, let’s give it a try then,” Shaelyn nodded, then a layer of light suddenly covered her body. By the time the light dissipated, she had already changed her outfit, from a bikini to a practical outfit, the type that didn’t show much skin.

That allowed Lamont to relax a bit.

The Hidden Zone was the end-game area of this game, it was also the final battleground where Shaelyn met her maker. This area was sealed off in the early-game until all the players reached a certain level.

The Safe Zone was the most basic dungeon in the game. The difficulty was on the low side and the pain level was only set to 10%. Moreover, the player’s strength would be buffed upon entering the dungeon. As a result, clearing the dungeon didn’t yield many rewards. The players were only given very few game points, though there was no penalty for failure.

The Battle Zone was the primary area of the game. The difficulty was unusually high and players wouldn’t get any buffs from the system. The pain level was at 70% and the players wouldn’t be able to enter the Battle Zone again for three days after death.

However, the rewards were extravagant. Upon clearing the dungeon, not only were the players awarded with a magnanimous amount of game points, they could even take the spoils from the dungeon back with them.

And more importantly, the players could only unlock their true powers after clearing the Battle Zone at least once. This was the starting point where the strong and weak were divided.

During her past life, many players still didn’t manage to clear the Battle Zone after the Hidden Area was unlocked. They didn’t have an ounce of power to fight back against the first wave of monsters, leading to catastrophic casualties for humankind.

As for why so many players didn’t manage to clear the first trial, while the high difficulty was indeed part of the reason, the main reason was that too many players were afraid of death.

The pain level was scaled up to 70% to prepare the players for what’s to come, it wasn’t just a game anymore at that point. Because of this, many of the more timid players stopped advancing at that point. None of them was willing to experience the fear and the pain before death for the second time.

However, there were some players who specialized in clearing the Battle Zone. Even though they didn’t know what the future had planned for them, the fact that they could exchange game points for cash was too attractive to pass up. If they were strong enough, it wasn’t a pipe dream to become a millionaire from playing a game.

Only god knew where the money came from.

But that was the least of the player’s concern.

Lamont was currently troubled by the choice before him, “Why don’t we try the Safe Zone first? The penalties of the Battle Zone seem a little scary. I feel that it’s better to test out the game in the Safe Zone first before we tackle the Battle Zone.”

“No need, we will challenge the Battle Zone,” Shaelyn’s voice was very firm, “It will be all the more satisfying to challenge a high difficulty instance. There’s no sense of accomplishment if the difficulty is too low, don’t you think?”

Back then, she was afraid of the Battle Zone’s penalties so she played in the Safe Zone for a long period of time. Only until she became aware that she couldn’t get any stronger in the Safe Zone did she finally decide to endure the pain and challenge the Battle Zone.

She couldn’t let Lamont walk down the same path as her. Pain was scary, but what’s even scarier was cowardice.

And with her experience backing her up, she was confident that she wouldn’t let Lamont experience death so early on.

However, Lamont was still a little hesitant.

He also liked to challenge the highest difficulty instance back when he was playing games. Borrowing Shaelyn’s words, it was more satisfying to clear a high difficulty instance. However, in those games, he wouldn’t receive any penalties upon death. No matter how gruesome the death, no harm would come to his real body.

In this game, however, they could feel the pain.

Was it really a good idea to challenge high difficulty instances right off the bat?

“Lamont, you aren’t… scared, are you?” Shaelyn suddenly moved closer to Lamont and said disappointedly.

“Of course not!” Hearing those words, Lamont ceased thinking at once and tossed away all of his misgivings, “Fine! To the Battle Zone we go! If anything happens, I will protect you!”

How could a man admit their own cowardice?!

At most, they’d just die! But it wasn’t like they’d die for real anyway!

Seeing Lamont getting excited all by himself, Shaelyn narrowed her eyes unscrupulously.

Easy peasy.

After successfully forming a party, the two selected the Battle Zone instance and started the matching process.

The matching ended pretty quickly. It only took a few seconds before the two were enveloped in bright light and teleported away from where they stood.

When their vision returned, they found themselves in a white space.

Other than the two of them, there were eight other players. There were players of both genders, one more beautiful than the other as though this was a general assembly before a beauty pageant.

……Actually, one of them looked a little out of place here. He was a 2 meters tall muscular man who seemed capable of killing someone with a single punch.¹

Lamont’s face scrunched up a little when he noticed that guy, “Will our physical appearance affect our stats?”

“No, in the Battle Zone instance, your stats will be reverted back to your original values in reality. Even if you change your avatar to look like a muscular tank, you’ll still only be as strong as you are in reality,” Shaelyn glanced at the muscular man as though she was looking at an idiot, then she continued in a whisper, “Other than inhibiting your own movements by making an avatar like that, it’s basically pointless.”

Hearing that, Lamont felt slightly relieved, “That’s good to know…”

“Don’t worry,” Shaelyn suddenly leaned closer to him and whispered into his ear, “You cannot harm another player in the instance. If you do, be prepared to face a serious penalty. That’s why you should just mind your own business.”

“A-Ah… So that’s how it is…” Lamont stuttered a bit.

He really was weak against close contact with the opposite sex.

Especially so when the girl in question proclaimed herself to be his girlfriend.

1. Silva: ONE PUNCHHHH! Sorry, just had to do that.
   Fire: I don’t blame you. That’s what I thought of as well…