this infinite world

"Enter the pillar of light within thirty seconds, target locked, teleportation to the Dark Souls world commencing..."

On the second day, the members of the Arctic team arrived at the main god's plaza as promised. After hearing the main god's prompting, they stepped into the pillar of light one after another…

Aside from Gunnir, the rookie chef who had never entered a mission world from the God Space before, and Lu Zixue, Zhang Heng's girlfriend who had just been resurrected, the other members of the Arctic team didn't take entering the God's pillar of light seriously, not even their captain, Chu Hao. After all, practice makes perfect; in the blink of an eye, the teleportation to the "God" was complete—it was just a matter of taking a nap…

—Then, the change happened in that instant.

Half-asleep, Chu Hao suddenly woke up. At the same time, almost all the other reincarnators on the North Ice Continent team, including Nian Xikong, the strongest member of the team, and Chef Gunnir, who had just shed his rookie reincarnator status, awoke simultaneously with Chu Hao…

...And what came into their view was mist.

An endless fog.

The world before my eyes seemed to be shrouded in a thick fog that would never dissipate.

——What is going on?

As the team captain, Chu Hao instantly realized that something was wrong. He hurriedly tried to call upon Ochi, the mental controller in the team, but he immediately realized that he couldn't do so...

And around him, the same thing was happening repeatedly. It wasn't that no one wanted to cry out, but they couldn't utter a single word; it wasn't that no one wanted to move their bodies, but they immediately found that they didn't seem to have a corresponding physical presence; and neither communication, mental power, nor any other means could enable the members of the Arctic team to exchange any information, as if the fog itself could block all communication.

Surprisingly, everyone on the Arctic team could sense each other's presence, no one more or less, but that was all... Everyone present could only maintain this form, similar to a spiritual entity, silently "watching" the world shrouded in fog before them.

Of all those present, perhaps only Nian Xikong realized what was really going on. After all, her current state was very similar to when she usually trained herself through visualization, immersing her consciousness into her own spirit.

However, "understanding the current situation" does not mean "being able to do anything," so even Nian Xikong, the strongest among them, could only helplessly watch everything unfold before him.

Then, right in front of everyone on the Arctic team, the fog dissipated slightly. And what remained shrouded in the fog was a world that was "still."

There was no light, no darkness, no life, and no death.

There were only gray rocks, ancient towering trees, and an eternal dragon that ruled over everything under the protection of immortal dragon scales. It was a stagnant era, an age in which even time had lost its meaning.

This is the world of Dark Souls.

Chu Hao recognized the scene before him at a glance. Making necessary preparations before entering a mission world was a basic task for any reincarnator. Back in the God Space, everyone had thoroughly studied the background, plot, and settings of the Dark Souls world, so everything before them was familiar… This was clearly a cutscene introducing the story before the game started!
But why does it have to start here? Did we arrive before the First Flame was born? And what's wrong with our current state?

While Chu Hao was pondering, changes had already quietly taken place.

In that chaotic land later known as the "Primordial Furnace," the first flame blazed forth. It dispelled the ancient darkness and brought forth an unprecedented "difference"—

Light and shadow.

Hot and cold.

And most importantly... life and death.

Beside the embers of the first fire, several tiny figures rose from the darkness, reaching out their hands and cautiously touching the power that would change their destiny.

A figure emerged—the first of the dead, NEET. He awoke from the abyss-like tomb, seizing the power of "death." The moment he touched it, the surrounding rocks turned into piles of white bones, and the miasma of death followed him everywhere.

A figure stands there, the progenitor of magic, the witch Izaris, and her daughters of chaos. From the flames, they glimpsed the secrets of "light," and sparks of wisdom ignited in their eyes—wild knowledge that held the power of creation and destruction.

The most dazzling one was named Gwyn. He radiated a light like the sun, tightly holding the power of "lightning"—the sharp light that tore through the gray sky—in his hands. And the last one was an unknown dwarf who silently obtained the "Dark Soul" and then disappeared into the shadows of history, his fate unknown to anyone.

No one saw the Arctic team members. Even Gwyn, who had obtained the most King Souls and was undoubtedly the strongest, seemed oblivious. It was as if, in their eyes, the Reincarnators were just players watching the cutscenes.

Then, war broke out.

These newly born beings, who had acquired the "King's Soul," were no longer content with the eternal grayness. They challenged the ancient dragon that perched atop the rocky mountain, a symbol of the old order.

But the ancient dragon's immortal scales were the most impenetrable barrier in the world, impervious to swords, spears, and magic. The war seemed destined to fail from the very beginning.

Then, a variable appeared. An ancient dragon named Seath the White Dragon, born without scales and driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, betrayed its kind. It revealed a secret to Gwyn and his companions—the weakness of ancient dragons' immortality.

So Gwyn used his lightning spear, strong enough to cleave the sky, to tear apart the rocky heavens and shatter the ancient dragon's scales.

The witch and her daughters ignited a chaotic fire that swept across the land, burning the stone mountains and giant trees where the ancient dragons lived to ashes and destroying their nests.

The first dead, Nit, released a dense miasma of death, deeply embedding the new concept of "death" into the fate of these immortal beings.

The gray era collapsed amidst a symphony of flames, lightning, and death.

A new era, the age of God, has begun.

The first flame burned brightly, then gradually dimmed. Just as light and shadow are intertwined, powerful souls will eventually fade, and glorious eras will come to an end. And so, an ancient curse, like an inescapable shadow, began to spread among all living beings—

The Curse of the Undead.

Those cursed undead will be stripped of everything and imprisoned in the dark Northern Undead Asylum, awaiting their fate.

However, a legend began to circulate among the desperate immortals—

"When the bell tolls, it will be the time for the undead to leave their cages."

"They will be led to the Holy Land, Rodland—the land of the gods."

"Go and ring the bell of awakening, to rouse the ancient king."

"Only in this way can we understand the true meaning of the curse..."

"clang!"

Suddenly, a crystal-clear bell rang out, jolting all the members of the Reincarnation Squad awake. Only then did they realize that the immortal ancient dragons were gone, the ancient dragon war was over. All that remained was solid ground beneath their feet and an incredibly cramped prison cell…

"What exactly happened? What just occurred? Was I dreaming?"

"Did we just fall into an illusion? But my mental energy didn't detect anything unusual at all..."

"Did the 'main god' change the plot? An immersive experience?"

Unlike his teammates, who were recovering from their shock and starting to chatter about what had just happened, Chu Hao, after a brief moment of stunned silence, immediately looked at the God of War wristwatch on his wrist. There, only four words were displayed…

"Mission: To save the world." (End of Chapter)