Game Maker: Starting by Healing the Players

"The warring states period, wildfire sweeps across the land."

Hurried footsteps could be heard. Zack found the scene set in a blood-red maple forest. In the distance, a tattered, blood-stained deserter was limping towards the depths of the woods.

"Even the Land of Ashina, nestled deep in the mountains, has fallen into the flames of war."

Rustling…

As maple leaves rained down, the deserter finally passed through the forest. But what greeted him was still like hell.

Sounds of fighting echoed from all around. Not far away, a soldier was holding another soldier down, beheading him with his weapon.

Bright red blood sprayed from the neck, staining the grass a deep red, just like the falling maple leaves.

Terrified, the deserter sat on the ground, watching as the soldier slowly approached him and raised his knife.

But in the next second…

"Whoosh… Slash!"

A sharp arrow shot from afar, piercing the soldier's neck.

With a thud, the soldier's body fell before the deserter.

"Is… the war finally over?"

The camera slowly panned into the distance.

In the distance, smoke billowed, and the setting sun cast a crimson hue over everything.

The scene abruptly shifted. On the twilight grassland, two generals were locked in a fierce battle.

One general, wearing a red ghost mask, wielded a halberd, tall and imposing.

The other general was a gaunt man whose face was covered in blood.

They clashed violently on the battlefield, the halberd sweeping with immense power, appearing incredibly ferocious.

Yet, he couldn't touch the gaunt general's body at all.

After two rounds of fighting, as the halberd swung towards him, the gaunt general dodged to the side. In a flash, his blade gleamed.

Seizing his opponent's opening, his sharp weapon pierced the ghost-masked general's foot.

In pain, the ghost-masked warrior lost his balance, swaying precariously.

Seizing this chance, the other general climbed onto his back and drove his blade through the ghost-masked general's throat.

Then, he yanked it hard.

"Pfft…"

Blood spurted out of the wound like a fountain.

"Enemy general Tamura has been slain by this one!"

At the same time, the narration revealed the identity of this general.

It was the Sword Saint from the preview video—Isshin Ashina.

"This is Isshin Ashina? What does the 'War of Reclamation' mean?" While looking at the narration, Zack in the game wondered.

The next scene shifted to a desolate wasteland littered with countless corpses.

A burly samurai found a lone survivor, an orphan, on the battlefield.

"A lost stray dog, perhaps?"

"Oh? You want to come with me? Thirsty wolf."

The protagonist's childhood origin was revealed. Trained by his adoptive father, Owl, the wolf became a formidable ninja. His face was half-lit through a crack in the door.

At the same time, the wolf saw the master he would serve his entire life.

Then came Owl's teachings.

"Do not forget the ninja's creed, second only in importance to your parents."

"From today on, he is your master."

"You must protect him with your life. If he is taken, you must rescue him."

"Do you understand, wolf?"

The screen then went black. From the narration, he received the subsequent plot.

Twenty years after Sword Saint Isshin Ashina launched the "War of Reclamation," the Land of Ashina weakened, and the Wolf's ninja had lost everything.

Both his adoptive father who raised him and his master.

Until one snowy night, a mysterious woman with a red umbrella tossed a letter into the dried-up well where the wolf resided.

"Ninja… For your master's sake, please awaken."

As the letter fell, the wolf, leaning against the wall at the bottom of the well, slowly looked up, his gaze fixed on the letter on the ground ahead.

At the same time, the game officially began, and the game's UI interface appeared before Zack.

He picked up the letter and glanced at the mission displayed on it.

It was to head to a place called the Moon Viewing Pavilion, but he was unarmed at this moment.

Just then, Zack thought of something and paused for a moment.

Because he discovered something serious.

There was no difficulty setting in the game!

After watching the story, he was directly thrown into the game?

He opened the settings and confirmed this.

Even more importantly, the way this letter was highlighted, how familiar was that?

It felt like he'd seen it in some unforgettable game before.

At the same time, a voice communication request popped up in the VR gaming pod. Zack glanced at it and saw it was from Ben.

"Zack, did you notice?" Before Zack could answer, Ben spoke first.

"No difficulty, and doesn't this quest item's yellow highlight feel a little familiar?" Zack said, swallowing.

"And I don't know if you noticed, but the game doesn't seem to have a minimap!" Ben's voice sounded a bit dry, completely lacking the gruffness he had some ten minutes before entering the game.

No map, no difficulty options, and currently unarmed.

Dark Souls, Bloodborne… The painful memories of the past rushed back.

Why the hell does this game feel so familiar?

These settings, to say they weren't very similar to Soulslike games would be an understatement, they were identical.

"Maybe it'll be different later? After all, based on the promotional video, it doesn't look much like a Soulslike game. And haven't you noticed, even though there's no difficulty choice, no map, and the item highlighting is similar, this game really doesn't have a stamina bar. Without a stamina bar in a Soulslike, how can it be difficult?" Zack said to Ben, also trying to comfort himself.

In the dried-up well, Zack didn't follow the prompt but figured things out himself.

He discovered it was very different from Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

The most direct manifestation was its extreme flexibility. He could even cling to walls for a double jump. Besides that, the most significant aspect that made Zack feel it wasn't a Soulslike game was the absence of a stamina bar.

Thinking about it, if Dark Souls and Bloodborne didn't have stamina bars, then bosses like Orphan of Kos, Laurence, Ebrietas, Sister Friede, and Gael would all be pushovers.

Let alone beating them on the first try, but he was confident he could defeat any boss within 30 minutes.

Thinking about it this way, maybe he was just overthinking things?

After all, Nebula Games had games that, while not having difficulty selection, weren't inherently difficult.

Moreover, perhaps the difficulty selection would be related to items obtained later, and the same for the map. They would be gradually unlocked and integrated into the game's world-building, much like in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild?

It wasn't impossible!

(End of Chapter)

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