Chapter 510: First Game Experience (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Leaning back in his chair at the restaurant, Song Ren was completely engrossed in playing on his Switch.

Especially when controlling the Prince of the Underworld in the game, dashing and then attacking, it looked incredibly cool.

Even though he often couldn't see where his character was.

But combined with the impactful sound effects and the monsters' damage feedback, it made him feel incredibly powerful.

"This lightning mark, it should be Zeus, right?"

As the monsters in the room were cleared, Song Ren thought about a symbol at the entrance of the previous room. In his mind.

After all, among the Greek Gods, only Zeus was associated with lightning, as far as he could remember.

Walking forward, Song Ren triggered it, and the Prince of the Underworld in the game also showed a surprised expression.

'Is that really him? Alright, in the name of Hades! Mount Olympus! I received the message.'

Following a flash of thunderous light, an old man holding a lightning bolt appeared.

'Hello there, young man! Listen, your father has always been difficult to deal with, and he's been estranged from us for a while now. But if you come to Mount Olympus, you'll have a warmer home! Your family here will help you on your journey, so accept my blessing.'

Listening to Zeus's words, Song Ren had a general understanding, and at the same time, he made some guesses about the plot.

A teenage Prince of the Underworld wants to run away from home, but his old man won't let him, so his relatives on Mount Olympus come to help?

However, combining it with his recent experience, Song Ren also had a feeling that this game shouldn't be a story-driven game, or at least not one with the story as its core.

Various blessings bestowed by the Olympian Gods, then combined into a series of attributes, just like embedding gems and enchanting equipment in online games, making his prince stronger—that should be the core gameplay.

"But doesn't this make me invincible? Zeus! The boss of the Olympian Gods! Invincible, I'm invincible!" Song Ren laughed happily.

He triggered Zeus's favor right at the start. Wasn't this pure invincibility?

Of course, it might also be a game setting, where all players initially trigger Zeus to let them enjoy a wave of power in the early game.

Then, they're brought back to reality. Such a tactic wasn't unheard of.

"Let me see: Thunder Dash, Thunder Shot, and Lightning Attack. These correspond to three different attack methods."

Song Ren quickly realized. Lightning Attack meant his normal attacks would carry lightning, while Thunder Shot was a throwing skill for the Prince of the Underworld, where he would throw a ruby.

As for Thunder Dash, Song Ren found this quite surprising, as he had always thought dashing in the game was purely for evasion. But now it seemed it could also be used as an attack?

Song Ren didn't overthink it and chose Lightning Attack.

After all, for throwing, he currently only had one ruby, and he had just tried it. It would attach itself to a monster when thrown, and he'd have to wait for it to drop or for the monster to die, then walk nearby to retrieve it, which wasn't very convenient.

Compared to the unreliable dash, he felt his basic attacks were more dependable.

Having made his selection, Song Ren entered the next room, but it wasn't a blessing room; it was a room resembling a key.

Inside the room were many monsters resembling skulls. Song Ren controlled the Prince of the Underworld, swinging his greatsword at these skulls.

Golden lightning burst from the greatsword and ricocheted among the monsters.

"Holy cow, this is invincible! Invincible in group fights! The more enemies there are, the more damage I do!" Song Ren exclaimed, astonished.

He saw that when his sword struck a monster, in addition to the original damage, there was an extra 10 points of electrical damage.

And this electricity would splash onto other monsters, so theoretically, if he hit 2 monsters, the extra damage would be 20. If he hit 10, wouldn't it be 100?

Wasn't this invincible?

With an excited heart, Song Ren gradually explored, and he basically had a rough understanding of the entire game's mechanics.

The rooms in the game mainly fell into a few categories: blessing rooms, item collection rooms, a room similar to a pomegranate that could enhance his blessings, a Centaur's Heart that could increase his max health, and shops where he could buy items with Gold Coins.

Also, there were only a few types of monsters on this first floor.

Witches that cast ranged attacks, charging skulls, skull piles that endlessly spawned skulls, Fatys that could charge and Strongmen who wielded maces and charged up their hits.

There was also a game mechanic where some monsters had golden armor. Until this armor was broken, these monsters wouldn't be interrupted by normal attacks, essentially being in a hyper armor state.

Additionally, environmental objects like pillars could be destroyed and could damage enemies.

Of course, the most important point was that the ground was full of various traps: ground spikes, self-exploding pots, and mechanisms that shot bullets when stepped on.

Furthermore, some rooms with skull icons would have stronger monsters, such as those all covered in golden armor, or elite monsters.

Song Ren had eaten a Centaur's Heart, and his health bar had gone from 75/75 to 11/75.

Of the more than 60 points of health lost, half were from monster attacks and half from stepping on traps.

Facing a group of monsters, Song Ren just mashed the controller, especially since dashing could also attack, which made the experience very fluid.

But while fighting, he accidentally walked onto a trap. After repeating this a few times, his health dropped. In between, he also entered an item room, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough Gold Coins to buy food for health.

"I stepped on too many traps earlier, my health is unhealthy!" Without even seeing the BOSS, Song Ren fell to two bomb-throwing, jumping monsters.

Their golden armor, combined with throwing bombs, meant that getting hit once would cost him over ten health points. And after killing a monster, it would even self-destruct, which was simply unfair.

His last bit of health was taken by the self-destruct damage of one of these monsters.

However, even though he died, Song Ren didn't feel much frustration, because the combat was genuinely satisfying.

Returning to the House of Hades, Song Ren also met Hades in the game. He was very burly, sitting at a desk handling official business, with a Cerberus by his side. At the entrance of the room was Nyx, Goddess of Night, and from the dialogue, it was clear that she helped contact the Olympian Gods.

The conversations between the Prince of the Underworld and Hades in the game were also very interesting, with both constantly bickering and making sarcastic remarks.

What surprised Song Ren the most was that he could make the game's levels more favorable through 'renovations,' such as adding healing fountains.

There was also a mirror in the room where he could increase his extra attributes.

"This can be endlessly grinded! Interesting."

He upgraded a skill called Death Defiance, which allowed him to revive once after dying in the game.

In addition, he spent some Black Crystal to allow his character in the game to dash an extra time beyond the original.

He also used a key to unlock a new weapon: a bow and arrow.

Although there was also a spear and shield-like weapon next to it, he didn't have enough keys, so he could only unlock the bow.

"This time, I'm definitely going to see the BOSS!" Song Ren once again arrived at the gates of hell, full of confidence.

(End of Chapter) <>