[Please choose your birthplace carefully!]

The bright light from above poured down, and the ground platform shimmered. Players appeared on the platform, and at a glance, there seemed to be no end to them. 

When the disorienting sensation of entering the holographic world faded, Zhou Sui noticed that his clothing had changed. He was now wearing simple robes and shoes, just like everyone around him, who also wore the initial default outfit. He looked up slightly—

[Welcome to the world of Divine Tree. Please carefully read the entry guide.]

[Please choose your birthplace wisely!]

Unlike other games that directly load the player into the game world, what was displayed before all the players was a different kind of starting area. In the virtual sky, faint tree-like lights could be seen within the shadowy void, resembling a massive divine tree standing before the players.

This enormous divine tree had five distinct branches, and at the end of each light point stood different NPCs.

“Wow, what’s this?”

“No way, bro, didn’t you check the game’s introduction before buying it? This is where you pick your class.”

“Your birthplace represents your initial talent, kind of like choosing a race in other western fantasy games.”

There were many players around, including both newbies and experienced players. A lot of players skipped the entry guide and casually walked to the end of the platform, where NPCs dressed in otherworldly clothing stood. They greeted the players with smiles and said a few simple words.

Zhou Sui’s gaze fell on them, and he saw those players disappear from the platform, entering the game world.

He felt a bit uncomfortable, avoiding the passing players. The air was filled with noisy voices, and floating virtual frames hovered in front of everyone, seemingly displaying some kind of information.

So many people… He gently moved his body, feeling the subtle difference caused by the real body data integration.

When he raised his hand, he touched something, and suddenly, a virtual screen similar to others appeared in front of him, displaying the entry guide.

It looked like a beginner’s guide.

Unlike other holographic games, which give players the option to choose a class after they become familiar with the game, “Divine Tree” skips this step, guiding players through a test area to get accustomed to the controls and then presenting the entry guide to make a choice.

Other players gradually selected their places and entered, but Zhou Sui stood still. Looking at the five starting places that appeared above, he knew these were the choices he had to make next. The five options were the Yin Yue ^[1] Hidden Moon Alliance, Tian Wu ^[2] Heavenly Warrior Bastion, Tian He ^[3] Heavenly Crane Mountain, Sui Xing ^[4] Shattered Star City, and Qi Ling Village. A total of five choices.

“Hey, buddy, why are you just standing there? New here?” A passing player noticed Zhou Sui standing still. He seemed like an experienced player and kindly advised, “Just pick a birthplace randomly. If you’re not used to it after getting in, you can find an NPC to change it later.”

The player was quite talkative, rattling off a bunch of information in no time.  

Zhou Sui didn’t respond much. The experienced player glanced at him and noticed that Zhou Sui’s virtual screen wasn’t set to privacy mode — the detailed beginner’s guide was visible at a glance.  

Noticing Zhou Sui’s gaze, the experienced player took a step back and awkwardly said, “I wasn’t trying to peek. Just remember to turn on privacy mode, or people will be able to see all your info when you’re walking down the street.”  

Worried Zhou Sui might not understand, he even demonstrated how to enable the setting.  

“Thanks,” Zhou Sui said.  

Suddenly, the noise nearby grew louder. Zhou Sui was sensitive to sounds, so he turned his head and saw a group of people crowding around a player. Quite a few onlookers had gathered to watch.  

“That guy’s probably a skilled player,” the experienced player said casually. “They’re all trying to recruit him.”  

Seeing Zhou Sui’s calm reaction, he added, “Divine Tree does have a bit of a learning curve. The early adaptation phase is pretty long for new players. Some players prefer to team up with experienced ones to make things easier during the starting phase.”  

Zhou Sui asked, “Aren’t you going?”  

“I’m waiting for my friends,” the experienced player replied. “Too many people around — no clue where they wandered off to.”  

Looking around, Zhou Sui noticed that most players were grouped in twos or threes. Solo players were surprisingly rare.  

“There are tons of beginner servers in ‘Divine Tree.’ If you don’t team up here, you might not meet anyone again until you leave the starter map. Forming a party early makes things much easier,” the experienced player explained, noticing Zhou Sui seemed clueless. “Just pick one of the popular servers — the more popular the server, the easier exploration will be. Some veteran players even create new accounts there to help newbies out. Whatever you do, don’t pick one of those deserted, low-activity servers. Just go for one with a higher number; the smaller the server number, the more popular it is.”  

Divine Tree had a massive player base, especially among newcomers, so there were plenty of beginner servers available.  

“If you’re still unsure,” the experienced player added, swiping his hand to pull up a leaderboard, “just check the rankings — pick a strong one. You can’t go wrong with that.”  

The leaderboard was something that most players who had read about Divine Tree were familiar with.  

Although Divine Tree had five major birthplaces, their popularity varied greatly. Most new players started by checking the rankings. As of now, two months after the game’s launch, the top ten ranked players were mostly from Sui Xing City, Tian He Mountain, and the Yin Yue Alliance. These three locations were the most prestigious among the five major birthplaces.  

Players from the remaining two birthplaces, Tian Wu Bastion and Qi Ling Village, didn’t appear on the rankings until spots 15 and beyond.

“If you’re unsure, just pick from the leaderboard,” the experienced player said. “The pros have already paved the way for you — you can’t go wrong with the rankings.”  

Zhou Sui suddenly asked, “Why aren’t there any Tian Wu Bastion or Qi Ling Village players in the top ten?”  

“Simple,” the experienced player replied. “Tian Wu Bastion’s talents are suited for tanks, and Qi Ling Village is best for support roles. These two birthplaces don’t get as many spots in early-game exploration teams. Every team only needs a few tanks and supports, and it takes serious skill to stand out in those roles. It’s nowhere near as easy to make progress as it is in the other three birthplaces. Fewer opportunities mean fewer points, so they rarely rank high.”  

Birthplaces with more powerful players also had more guides, plus numerous high-output playstyles and strategies.  

Besides, the Divine Tree leaderboard was full of elite players — following them was always a safe bet.  

Worried Zhou Sui might not have understood, the experienced player added, “Since you’re playing solo, your best bet is to choose one of those three. Even if you decide to become a life skills player or a merchant later, those three paths will have fewer entry barriers.”  

Zhou Sui remained where he was, flipping through the beginner’s guide that few people bothered to read. He skimmed over the early pages about Divine Tree’s history and jumped straight to the detailed descriptions of each birthplace.  

He wasn’t looking at the available class options — instead, he focused on the starting attributes for each birthplace.  

The reason players had to choose a birthplace was that each one had different starting stats.  

For example, Tian Wu Bastion had naturally high defense and health; Tian He Mountain had powerful magic attack bonuses; Sui Xing City excelled in physical attack boosts… All these details were clearly laid out in the guide, marked with precise data models.  

Zhou Sui first looked at the Yin Yue Alliance — it had the highest speed bonus among the five birthplaces.  

But where there’s strength, there’s weakness. Compared to the others, Yin Yue Alliance had the lowest defense. Examining the stats closely revealed that each birthplace was fairly balanced — if one attribute was strong, another would be weaker, and their starting panels were completely different.  

He frowned slightly and continued flipping through the guide. That’s when he reached the final entry among the five major birthplaces — Qi Ling Village.

Qi Ling Village’s highest bonus attribute was skill effect enhancement. Its defense and health were average, and its attack power was the lowest among the five major birthplaces — yet it still caught Zhou Sui’s attention.  

The experienced player wasn’t sure if Zhou Sui had been listening. He had said his piece, but seeing Zhou Sui still unmoved, he added, “Qi Ling Village, huh? Its attack power’s really low.”  

Zhou Sui moved his arm slightly, thoughtfully examining Qi Ling Village’s detailed attribute panel.  

The experienced player sighed — definitely a newbie… Only rookies would take the time to read the guide so carefully. If Zhou Sui had just looked up a few online guides, he’d know that veteran players had long since broken down the five birthplaces in detail. There were even recommended class branches based on talent tests and playstyle preferences to help players avoid wasting time.  

He glanced at Zhou Sui again — the guy was still in his starting cloth outfit. In full-dive games like this, players could customize their appearance however they wanted, and attractive characters were everywhere. Even so, this guy’s face stood out — memorable at first glance.  

That’s a good-looking face… Wonder what face data he used for that… the experienced player thought. But with that body… he really should’ve adjusted it more. His arms look like they have no muscle, and if he bumps his height up to 1.9 meters, he’ll look way cooler.  

The experienced player looked at his own 1.9-meter-tall character and suddenly felt like this handsome guy seemed a little short.  

Zhou Sui noticed the gaze. “?”  

The experienced player grinned. “Haha, nice face, man.”  

Zhou Sui paused for a moment. “…You too?”  

“Of course!” The experienced player laughed proudly. “Cost me a hundred star coins!”  

“…” Zhou Sui was speechless.  

As they spoke, lively voices rose from a distance.  

Zhou Sui looked up — the noise was coming from one of the birthplace entrances, specifically the Sui Xing City guidance area.  

“Full-time warrior looking for a dedicated support, can form a binding partnership.”  

“Any solo healers? Newbie team in server 1455 needs one! Full now, healers please stop coming.!”  

“Need DPS ^[5] DPS stands for Damage Per Second, but in gaming contexts, it is commonly used to refer to a damage-dealing role , need DPS! Sui Xing City or Tian He Mountain, only warriors and mages, need two, no tanks.”  

“Oh, they’re recruiting,” the experienced player said. “Newbie servers need teams for early exploration, so they’re pre-forming groups to balance their classes. If you’re playing solo, once you pick your birthplace, you can head over there to join a team — makes the early grind way easier.”  

Zhou Sui didn’t respond. Instead, he turned his gaze elsewhere.

Compared to other areas, there were fewer people gathered near Qi Ling Village.  

Instead of entering the birthplace, the players there were standing around chatting. A woman dressed in a healer’s robe with a medicine basket on her back stood beneath a stone monument glowing with the words Qi Ling Village, seemingly guiding players.  

A few players noticed the commotion in Zhou Sui’s direction and looked him up and down.  

One of them approached directly and asked, “Hey, brother, what class are you planning to play? We just formed a team with a warrior, mage, and healer — if you join as DPS, we’ll be good to go. Interested?”  

Zhou Sui didn’t respond, but when the player got closer, he instinctively sidestepped to avoid contact.  

The experienced player had initially assumed this guy was just some half-asleep newbie — dazed and clueless about the game’s basics. He figured Zhou Sui hadn’t even read the beginner’s guide properly. But seeing Zhou Sui’s sharp reaction when dodging that sudden approach — that was impressive.  

Even earlier, when the experienced player had casually reached out to pat Zhou Sui’s shoulder in greeting, Zhou Sui had subtly avoided contact as well.  

The player who had approached seemed irritated. “What’s your problem? Didn’t you see I was talking to him?” the experienced player said.  

The guy sneered and turned away.  

After shooing the person off, the experienced player had a sudden thought. “Hey, why don’t you pick Yin Yue Alliance? Our team still needs a DPS.”  

While full-dive games balanced players’ physical stats, certain physical habits — like reaction speed — were tied to the brain and behavioral patterns. Players with sharp reflexes adapted to the game faster.  

In the three popular birthplaces, plenty of people played just to mess around, making it hard to find a reliable DPS.  

Newbies are easier to mold, and skilled ones are even harder to come by…

A lightbulb went off in the experienced player’s head. His own team wasn’t full yet, and a newbie like Zhou Sui seemed like the perfect catch — if Zhou Sui turned out to have good mechanics, they’d be lucky. If not, well… once they were in the server, they could just kick him out.

Before the experienced player could finish speaking, he saw Zhou Sui move — heading straight toward the area beneath the Divine Tree’s glowing light, where a gentle green glow shimmered.  

“Hey? Brother? Did you finish reading? Don’t you want to…?”  

Under the experienced player’s gaze, Zhou Sui opened the selection interface.  

[Please choose your birthplace.]  

[Tian Wu Bastion, Qi Ling Village, Sui Xing City, Tian He Mountain, Yin Yue Alliance.]  

Without much hesitation, Zhou Sui ignored the popular game rankings and selected Qi Ling Village from the five options.  

The experienced player was stunned. “Wait, what? Seriously?”  

Did everything he just said go in one ear and out the other?!  

Qi Ling Village — the birthplace with the lowest attack bonus out of all five options — was best suited for healing and support roles. In gaming slang, male players who chose this path were often nicknamed “the team dad.”

But Zhou Sui had noticed that Qi Ling Village had the second-highest speed bonus, just behind Yin Yue Alliance.  

For him, this was the most suitable birthplace at the current stage.  

“No thanks,” Zhou Sui said. “I’m more used to playing solo.”