His character is probably the most physically realistic among everyone—he was already exhausted after just a bit of exercise.

"Each character must have different attributes... though I have no idea how this thing determines them." Abbot scratched the back of his head, thought for a moment, and said, "But I do have a theory."

"What theory?"

The three players were quite interested in his discovery.

Anyone who’s spent some time at the Cattle and Horse Club knows this guy is a member of several single-player game strategy teams, and he has the largest Steam game library in the group.

Whether it’s FPS, RPG, or SLG, there isn’t a genre he doesn’t play.

"You guys probably noticed too—we woke up in a silvery-white pod. Considering the theme of this game, there are two possible settings. One, we slept from before the war until now using cryogenic hibernation technology. Two, we’re all clones."

"Of course, personally I think the latter setting is more convenient, since that way the issue of resurrection is easily explained—they just synthesize a new body using the DNA stored in the incubation pod."

Seeing the players exchanging glances, Long continued.

"I bet later on they’ll add attribute panels and level systems, and the differences in our physical abilities are probably a hint at that!"

"I’m really looking forward to the dev team creating a unique game mechanic, like... combining DNA with the class system, distinguishing between strength-based and agility-based players, and setting different attribute growth curves. That way, you get both freedom and richer gameplay."

"Too bad the characters are random. It’d be great if we could choose our starting attributes."

After talking himself hoarse, Long finally stopped.

"Enough rambling. When I log off later, I’ll talk to Mr. Carter."

He remembered Mr. Carter said he was the game’s planner. Going straight to the planner about this is definitely better than them just speculating here.

At this moment, Ethan Reed, who had been staring off into the distance, suddenly spoke up.

"What do you guys think—how big is this map, anyway?"

"No idea."

"What if I just keep walking in one direction..."

Seeing Ethan Reed itching to try, Gale, who was resting on the side with his axe, hesitated and said,

"Most likely there’s an invisible wall, or maybe a plot kill... But either way, I suggest you don’t try it."

"Did you forget? The administrator told us not to stray too far from the sanatorium."

"Come on, he’s just an NPC. You’re going to listen to him?"

"But he can log us out, and even revoke our closed beta access," Gale reminded.

Long also chimed in.

"Yeah, and I suspect, given the intelligence level of this game’s NPCs, there might be a hidden favorability system. You can actually notice that its attitude toward each player isn’t exactly the same—there must be some hidden algorithm at work."

"Alright, alright, I won’t try it."

Hearing this, even the most unruly Ethan Reed settled down.

There was no helping it.

That warning was just too powerful.

Anyone with eyes could see the value hidden behind this game.

A fully immersive virtual reality...

Once this technology comes out, it will revolutionize not just entertainment, but even the way people live in modern society!

Even if you don’t want to play games, who would mind having 8 to 12 more hours in a day than everyone else?

According to what Mr. Carter said in the group, time spent in the game world is equivalent to sleeping in the real world.

In other words, even if you spend the whole night here, it won’t affect your work the next day!

It’s really hard to imagine that a game destined to take the world by storm would start its closed beta in such a "hasty," even silent, way.

Doesn’t that company need to make money?

But no matter what, since this opportunity had landed in their hands, not a single one of them was willing to give it up easily.

Just as Ethan Reed gave up on exploring the map’s edge and was about to obediently go back to chopping trees, a strong sense of danger suddenly swept over him.

His hands and feet went cold.

Cold sweat seeped down his back.

He had no idea where this sense of crisis came from, but it was as if he could foresee his own tragic death—

His legs gave out, and Ethan Reed staggered backward. But it was precisely this stumble that let him dodge the shadow that swooped down from the sky.

Rip—!

Wood chips flew everywhere.

Three claw marks, each half a foot wide, were gouged into the tree trunk beside him!

"Screech—!"

Like a wailing ghost!

The giant bird that had dived down missed its strike, and using the rebound from kicking the pine tree, flapped its wings and climbed back up, disappearing into the treetops.

Staring at the black feather that had fallen, Ethan Reed, sitting paralyzed on the ground, was completely stunned, instinctively touching his head.

What the hell?

Chapter 8: You Can Actually Eat in This Game!

[Active Substance Extractor User Manual:]

[1. Active substances are the main raw materials for synthesizing clones, including but not limited to the minerals required to form the human body, 20 common amino acids, and 2 rare amino acids, etc.]