Shepherding Humanity

Xu Zhi had taken advantage of the players’ complaints, and created a 10m² improvisational sandbox for magic training. It was located in a corner by his clothesline, and was where his pet stayed in the orchard.

Its time flow was a hundred years to a day in reality; four days inside was an hour outside.

The trial period was only 10 minutes in reality and seemed very short, but this was actually equivalent to 8 months inside.

“In this open-ended trial, they’ll practice magic for 8 months; enough to test the limits of their patience.” While Xu Zhi already knew how this would end, part of him still hoped that everything would work out. He sat on his chair by the entrance and intently looked at a spot a little distance away.

At this moment, 500 ant-sized creatures were gathered in front of the giant tablet, meditating in a cross-legged position.

At first, everyone was very excited. With the vastly accelerated time flow, who would say no to some fun magic training?

“Damn, I can sense the spiritual power in my body now. The soul I have within is very weak, and it took me 3 hours of training! What about you guys?”

“From what I’ve heard, if you can sense it within 3 hours, then you’re a genius Mage! You can get into the Great Magic Academies at that level! Dude, you’re amazing! (?)”

“Ha ha ha ha! I think so too. Had I been born in the Magic World, I’d have been the next Emperor of Alchemy! (?)”

“Why am I not sensing anything!? In other games, I’m always at the top of the leader boards, is there any way I can pay real money for some spiritual power? (?)”

“I can also sense it now, it took me 4 hours! (?)”

***

Everyone started to compete over this.

Because they wanted to prove themselves more talented than others, they gritted their teeth and worked hard.

Gradually, after 20 hours—about a day later, the seated players began to sense the weak spiritual power within their body one after another, and most of them could enter a meditative trance.

After another day had gone by, the sense of novelty was gone, and people were starting to get bored of the repetitive work.

“This is boring. I’ve already meditated for two days, how long is this gonna take?”

“What the hell is this shit?”

“This is so stupid. I’ve had enough!”

“Yea, what happened to the magical powers we were promised?”

“My review of this new addition to the game is that it’s a giant FAIL. No fun factor – FAIL! No sense of progress – FAIL! There’s nothing but repetitive training – GIANT FAIL! I quit, guys! I’m never doing this again! I’d have to be an idiot! The biggest idiot ever! If I go back on my words, I’ll shit upside down, then eat it! Live!”

“+1”

“+2”

***

People had a herd mentality; after the first person left, many followed.

Once the novelty was gone, people got bored and began to quit in droves.

When Xu Zhi saw this, he could only sigh. “It’s no good, huh? These guys are here to play a game; they’re not idiots. No one would want to work for me for free by doing this kind of boring and repetitive training.”

“I must come up with something else.”

Xu Zhi left his chair in the yard and went back to his room.

He couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to this improvised training sandbox any longer. It wasn’t like he had spent any effort in making it, which was why he did not care much even if he failed. At the moment, he had to take a nap to replenish his spiritual power, then carve patterns on more rubik’s cubes after waking up.

***

“This is boring, I quit!”

“Me too!”

“FAIL!!!”

“Guys, it’s time for all of us to leave!”

As this scene was taking place, Learning Medicine looked on without comment. He too felt that this was boring; there was no fun factor at all.

As a matter of fact, he had been able to sense his spiritual power after only an hour or so. According to “The Beginner’s Guide to Magic Meditation” codified by the Three Witches, this made him a super-genius Mage, but he still couldn’t bring himself to enjoy the training!

He had sat down cross-legged for over a day; no one could possibly enjoy this, right?

Let alone a modern kid like him?

But, could this game’s developers really be so stupid?

He felt that there must be some hidden meaning to all this!

The passionate fanboy was letting his imagination run wild. In reality, Xu Zhi had started this trial-run on a whim, and immediately left for his nap when things didn’t work out. There was no deeper meaning to it at all.

“Perhaps, I should be patient for a little longer?”

Even after almost everyone else had left, part of Learning Medicine was reluctant to quit.

Not only did he have faith in the developers, he was also uniquely talented at this, and had even acquired a hidden Job-Class. He really did not want to quit.

Meanwhile, although the first batch of players had meditated for two days in the game, only a few seconds had gone by in reality, and there was a long line of players in the outside world who were clicking like mad on the login button while complaining:

“I’m so pissed off. How can the server be full after only half a second?”

“There are over 10.000 people in the forum who want to login. Those 500 pricks who got in must have truly amazing hand speed! They’re probably major big-shots in the gaming world!”

“Scary!”

***

Though they were heartbroken, they kept clicking, just in case a miracle happened.

After seeing the “Server Full” notification for several seconds, they suddenly heard the message:

“You’ve successfully entered the game.”

As Learning Medicine looked on, in the huge earthen square, the several hundred characters who were collapsed on the ground due to players logging off instantly revived in peak condition.

They started looking around while shouting excitedly:

“WTF! I’ve logged in!”

“Ha ha ha, I knew I’d get lucky!”

All of them were ecstatic. They could not believe that they’d managed to get one of the 500 trial tester’s slots which were in super high demand.

“Wait a minute, your character’s appearance… aren’t you Sakura?”

Someone suddenly shouted in amazement.

“Me? Sakura? How can that be? I’m a guy!” The person in question went crazy. He patted his face, then started shouting in despair. “Nooooo!!!”

Everyone around him looked in his direction. He was indeed a very realistic looking Sakura.

They looked around some more, and found that they could name many familiar faces among the 500 characters.

“Damn, had you not mentioned it, then I wouldn’t have noticed that I’m wearing an Akatsuki Robe, along with a forehead protector. I’m Uchiha Itachi! (?)”

“My character looks like Rick Astley! Which evil bastard did this! Was it the Developers?”

“Ha ha! Start singing, bro! You’ve been rickrolled!”

***

Amidst this commotion, Learning Medicine was deep in thought. “These appearances were left behind by the previous batch of players. In all likelihood, only the first batch of players can customize their characters’ appearances, and the players after them will only be able to inherit these characters.”

Learning Medicine’s character had an ordinary appearance.

Unlike those eccentric netizens, he wasn’t capable of such absurd customizations, and had been extremely shocked when he first saw their characters after logging in. Who knew that they could be so creative!

There were all kinds of famous figures; those guys really knew how to have fun!

“But, now that they’ve started training, they should also get bored after a day or two like the previous batch and quit.” Learning Medicine muttered. He thought for a moment, then decided to keep going.

As expected, after over two days had gone by, people began to get bored and started quitting one after another.

But this was only equivalent to a few seconds in reality, and the third wave of players soon entered the game, while shouting excitedly:

“WTF! Wasn’t it already full?”

“How did I manage to get in?”

“Whoa! My character looks like Thanos. Behold my finger-snap!”

***

This process kept on repeating.

“It’s forming a cycle where the batches of players change once every few seconds in the real world.” Learning Medicine observed from the side. He silently firmed his resolve, and continued to meditate in a lotus position.

His meditation gradually settled into a certain routine, and time passed very quickly. Although it was still boring, at least he didn’t feel as if it dragged on forever. Once deep in meditation, he would enter a mystical trance, and several days would fly by.

“How would those Mages be able to endure such long periods of secluded training everyday, otherwise?”

Learning Medicine considered his options.

“But, this training period is indeed very boring. Did the preeminent figures of the Magic World, including the Emperor of Alchemy, also have to endure this? Who would have thought that their prestige had been built on such lonesome and difficult training?”

He sighed deeply. “Is this what the Developers wanted to tell us? There’s no such thing as an easy road! Every hero, every eminent figure, had to travel a long and lonely path! As expected of the considerate development team! They’re not like those shameless bastards who only care about making money; they’re focusing on education, and promoting the passion for learning… They’ve already covered Biology, Physics, Medicine, Linguistics… And now, they’re trying to improve our societal customs!”

On the fourth day, Learning Medicine started to feel hungry. After all, with his accelerated metabolism, his energy and lifespan was being spent at an astonishing rate; it was only natural to get hungry very quickly.

At that moment, grains of rice which were even larger than his body rained down from the sky.

This had been done by the orchard’s pet. 500 components of its body were scattered around this place, and it naturally did not want to starve a part of itself.

“We only have to sit and meditate, and they’ll take care of our meals?”

Learning Medicine was a little surprised. He quickly ate, then continued to meditate. “This game is so realistic, there’s even the feeling of hunger! The developers are too amazing! I’m certain that this only feels tedious because we’re missing something. That’s why everyone is saying that this is boring, and a failure of a game!”

A week, then two weeks passed by; batches of players came and went; but Learning Medicine remained in his lotus position.

At the one month and seven days mark, he felt his weak soul undergo a dramatic change.

A clear ringing sound resonated deep within him, and his soul expanded in an instant.

“After enduring for over a month, I’ve broken past the First Level of Magic!”

Ha ha ha ha!

Learning Medicine laughed like a mad man.

His exclamation attracted the attention of everyone around him, who were all newcomers just starting their training. They were still competing to see who would meditate past the “Beginner’s Stage” first, and could not help but stare at him in awe. “There’s some who had broken past the First Level? How can this be?”

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