Otherworld Realm Divisions: Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Emerald, Lord, Epic, Legendary, Sanctuary, Demigod, God.
Magic Realms: Magic Apprentice, Magic User, Magician, Great Magician, Magister, Grand Magister, Titled Magister, Saint Magister, God of Magic & Witch.
(Brain Depository: Please deposit your logic here (´ཀ`» ∠)_ )
"No! Old Wang! I asked for an explosive discount, not a literal explosion!"
That was Luna Belle's final thought as she watched the second-hand VCR she'd spent half a month's salary on explode right before her eyes.
As a loyal Zenless Zone Zero player who hadn't missed a single daily check-in for ten years, Luna Belle had been lucky enough to win the world's only limited-edition videotape during the game's tenth-anniversary event. To perfectly recreate the experience of watching tapes in-game, she had scouted a second-hand flea market and scavenged a "like-new" classic VCR from her neighbor, Old Wang.
At the time, she thought Old Wang was a pretty honest guy. She'd just casually asked for an "explosive discount," and he enthusiastically gave her twenty percent off, even throwing in a clunky, heavy CRT television.
"I just wanted twenty percent off... Now look at this, I've been blown in half..."
Facing the flying debris and the oncoming flames, Luna Belle could only subconsciously close her eyes. Her consciousness came to an abrupt halt at that moment. After an unknown amount of time, Luna Belle opened her eyes again.
"I'm not dead? An unfamiliar ceiling... Wait, no!"
Luna Belle opened her eyes, and what met her gaze wasn't the hospital ceiling she'd imagined, but a vast, boundless night sky.
"Where the hell did I end up? Is this even still Blue Star?"
(Just another name for earth, apparently Chinese writers aren't allowed to use real names for many stuffs like Bear Country(Russia) and Sakura Country(Japan))
Luna Belle looked at the two excessively large moons in the sky and scratched her silky hair. If she remembered correctly, Blue Star only has one moon, right? She struggled to sit up and looked around, finding herself sitting on an unfamiliar grassland. The night wind brushed past, and the waves of grass rose and fell like ink-colored billows, stretching all the way to the horizon.
One of the twin moons in the sky was as white as snow, while the other glowed with a faint blood-red tint. They were countless times larger than the moon on the Blue Star she remembered, so large they seemed to be right in front of her.
"This scenery... would actually make a pretty good phone wallpaper."
Luna Belle instinctively reached into her pocket for her phone, but found nothing.
"Wait a minute..."
Luna Belle realized a serious problem. Since she wasn't dead, why was she in this strange grassland?
"Who moved me here? And they swiped my phone! I haven't done my dailies today!"
She let out a wail, and before her voice could fade, a low growl echoed from behind her. Luna Belle's entire body stiffened, and she slowly turned her head.
"Are you kidding me..."
A massive Magic Wolf was crouching about a dozen meters behind her. Its amber eyes glinted with murderous intent under the moonlight, and saliva dripped from its parted jaws, making a slight 'hissing' sound on the grass as if it were corrosive. Its muscles were bulging, covered in dark blue fur, and its claws glinted with a metallic cold light. Every breath it took carried a faint black mist; this was definitely not any natural creature she knew of.
"Was I blown into some fantasy work... or is this just my memory malfunctioning before death?"
Luna Belle felt the intense sense of threat from the Magic Wolf. Her heart pounded violently, almost jumping out of her throat.
"Haha... It's beating so fast... Looks like I really did transmigrate..."
She instinctively took a step back, but immediately felt her foot slip. Several pebbles tumbled down the rock face, and no echo returned for a long time. She stiffly turned her head to glance back; behind her was a bottomless abyss. A frigid night wind whistled up from below, making her whole body go cold.
A Magic Wolf in front, a dead end behind.
"No way... the Transmigration Bureau is so unprofessional... Why put me in a place like this and make me face something like that..."
Luna Belle felt like crying but had no tears. She felt like her transmigration journey was about to end with her becoming a "loot box" on landing. The Magic Wolf seemed to see her predicament. A threatening rumble issued from its throat, and its hind legs bent slightly, clearly preparing to pounce. Those sharp claws, glinting with a cold light, dug deep into the grassy mud.
Run? Run where? She could only fight! But with what? She was empty-handed. She wasn't an Agent from Zenless Zone Zero, capable of easily tearing Ethereals to pieces with such slender wrists.
"It's all over now..."
Watching the Magic Wolf push off and pounce with a gust of foul wind, its claws aiming straight for her face, all she could do was instinctively cradle her head and close her eyes, waiting for the pain to arrive.
"Staff of the Transmigration Bureau, if you can hear me. I'm about to become a loot box for this giant wolf. I hope you'll give me a compensation round next time..."
Luna Belle began to mutter to herself, trying to transmigrate again. However, the expected sensation of being torn apart didn't come. A tooth-aching sound of metal grinding reached her ears, so sharp it felt like a rasp was violently scraping her eardrums.
"What's going on..."
While she was dazed, something heavy seemed to appear out of thin air, landing on the grass in front of her with a 'thud'. Trembling, Luna Belle slowly opened one eye in disbelief. The sight that met her eyes made them widen instantly, her mouth hanging open as her brain completely stalled.
"Huh?!"
Blocking the Magic Wolf's fatal claws wasn't some sudden savior she'd imagined, but that... that second-hand VCR that had just exploded in her house and blown her to this hellhole! At this moment, it stood there so abruptly, so incongruously, yet so incredibly solidly between her and the Magic Wolf. The wolf's claws, capable of tearing through steel, were deeply embedded in the VCR's dusty metal casing, kicking up fierce sparks, yet failing to even scratch its surface.
"I must still be dreaming..."
Luna Belle murmured to herself. She began to suspect she was actually dreaming. After all, what kind of VCR could fly up and block a Magic Wolf's claws?
The Magic Wolf also seemed confused by this sudden iron box. It let out a bewildered growl, withdrew its claws, and cautiously backed up half a step, its amber beast eyes staring fixedly at this uninvited box.
Watching the standoff between the box and the wolf, Luna Belle finally had a chance to examine the heavy object at her feet. It was the CRT television that Old Wang had "generously gifted" her. It sat quietly on the grass, its screen now glowing with a faint light.
In the center of the screen, a familiar Zenless Zone Zero UI dialog box appeared. A line of characters emitted a soft and steady white light, looking incredibly welcoming:
"Dear Proxy, we've detected that you still have one unused Encrypted Master Tape. Would you like to start a Signal Search?"