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“1 minute and 30 seconds left until the game begins. Please name your character.”
Hearing the system notification sound again, Wu Shaochen shook his head and stopped overthinking it. After all, this was a revolutionary game—there were bound to be many things he couldn’t comprehend. Steadying his mind, he spoke:
“Chen Feng.”
“Naming successful. The appearance used in-game will be based on the player’s real-life appearance and cannot be altered. Players may purchase masks or veils in the in-game store to conceal their looks. To help players adapt quickly, pain sensation in the game will start at 5%. Every 10 levels, the system will automatically increase pain sensitivity by 5%. All other senses will match reality.
After entering the game, the system will randomly assign each player a lifelong talent based on their overall characteristics. Every talent has its unique traits—make good use of yours. When selecting a class, try to choose one that aligns with your talent.”
“Alright, enjoy the game! Game is starting in…
10…
9…
…
3…2…1″
As the voice faded, a flash of light blinded him. When Wu Shaochen opened his eyes again, he found himself already standing in the starter village. Around him, flashes of light kept appearing—new players constantly materializing—until it was so crowded he could barely move.
“WTF, this is a game?”
“Damn, it’s way too realistic!”
“This is exactly like real life!”
“Who the hell just groped my butt?!”
“Uh, sorry, I was just testing the tactile feedback—I thought I was dreaming. This really is 100% realism.”
“Screw you! Then let me test it too—see how real you feel!”
“No no no! I’ve already verified it, it’s very real!”
The countless chaotic voices around him made Wu Shaochen begin to question whether this was reality or just a game.
“Welcome to Oracle. You have been placed in Starter Village #8365. The system has issued you a newbie gift pack. Your talent has been generated—your talent is [Source of Deadly Poison]. Please check your character panel for more details.”
“Source of Deadly Poison? What the heck is that? I’m such an upstanding guy—what’s it got to do with poison?” Wu Shaochen was utterly confused. He knew that talents were based on the individual’s traits, but he really couldn’t figure out what connection he had to poison.
Let’s rewind a bit—back in the real world. After Wu Shaochen’s consciousness entered the game, his skin started turning slightly greenish as toxins began invading his bloodstream. Moments later, during a blood sample collection, the game helmet detected the presence of toxins. Using the blood sample, the helmet ended up absorbing most of the poison from Wu Shaochen’s body.
“Open character panel,” Wu Shaochen mentally commanded.
Name: Chen Feng
Level: 0
HP: 50
Mana: 50
Physical Attack: 10
Magic Attack: 10
Physical Defense: 5
Magic Defense: 5
Movement Speed: 5
EXP: 0/100
Strength: 5 (Affects physical attack. 1 STR = +2 Physical Attack)
Intelligence: 5 (Affects magic attack. 1 INT = +2 Magic Attack)
Constitution: 5 (Affects HP. 1 CON = +10 HP)
Vitality: 5 (Affects defense. 1 VIT = +1 Physical and +1 Magic Defense)
Spirit: 5 (Affects Mana. 1 SPR = +10 Mana)
Agility: 5 (Affects movement and attack speed. 1 AGI = +1 Movement Speed and +0.2% Attack Speed)
Everyone starts with base stats of 5—pretty fair—unless their talent gives bonus stats.
Skill: Insight – Allows viewing of monster information up to 10 levels above your current level.
Talent: Source of Deadly Poison – Basic attacks and melee skills apply a deadly poison to the target (does not apply to ranged attacks). Deals 1 point of true damage per second for 60 seconds and is stackable. While poisoned, targets cannot heal.
Trait: Killing a monster 5 levels higher than you increases poison damage by 1. Killing a boss at or above your realm increases the max poison stack limit by 1 (can only trigger once per realm boss).
Wu Shaochen stared blankly at his talent. At first glance, it looked kinda trash, but once he saw the trait description, his heart started pounding. With his gaming experience, he could feel just how terrifying this talent could become if properly stacked.
He felt like he was about to take off! House, car, cash, girls—everything was beckoning to him. At this point, he didn’t care whether he was “poisonous” in real life or not—this talent was too damn good.
He quickly opened his backpack and unwrapped his newbie gift pack. As expected, inside were a wooden sword and a cloth shirt.
Wooden Sword: +2 Physical Attack (Newbie Equipment)
Cloth Shirt: +1 Physical Defense (Newbie Equipment)
Not great, but better than nothing. He equipped them right away—his attack became 12, and his defense went up to 6.
Looking around at the chaotic crowd and the constant flashes of newcomers spawning, he estimated that this starter village alone probably had over ten thousand players. According to official info, there were 10,000 starter villages just in Huaxia Nation. That meant—if they were all this packed—there were already over a hundred million players in-game. Insane…
After finally squeezing out of the crowd, Wu Shaochen wanted to find an NPC to see if there were any quests. But he quickly realized that all the NPCs in the village were surrounded—three layers deep—by players.
“Ugh, forget it. Early-game quests probably don’t give much anyway. Better to go grind mobs,” Wu Shaochen muttered.
He followed the village path out to a grassy field, where countless rabbits were hopping around. But the field was already full of players. Occasionally, flashes of light would indicate a player’s death.
Can these adorable little rabbits really kill people? Wu Shaochen was dumbfounded. He approached a rabbit and used Insight.
[Green-Fur Rabbit]
Level: 1
HP: 100
Physical Attack: 12
Physical Defense: 7
Speed: 6
Skill: None
He looked at the rabbit’s stats, then glanced at his own. Wu Shaochen twitched slightly. Now he understood why people were dying—this damn game really was hardcore.
Before level 10, all players had roughly the same stats. With the wooden sword, he had 12 attack; with the cloth shirt, only 6 defense. That meant each hit he dealt shaved 5 HP from the rabbit, and each hit the rabbit landed took 6 HP from him. And the rabbit had 100 HP, while he only had 50! Attack speeds were the same too—meaning it was a straight-up trade. On top of that, the rabbit was faster than players. So if you couldn’t kill it, you couldn’t even run!
Was this game serious?
“FML, this dev team is savage. I’ve already been killed by a rabbit twice, can you believe that?!”
“You think that’s bad? I was the first out here and already died three times. I’ve played games for years and never imagined I’d get wrecked by a rabbit. Shameful!”
Despite all the deaths, there were just too many people. Every time a rabbit spawned, a whole gang would rush it. Without a party system, only the last hit got EXP. As for drops? Whoever grabbed it first got it. So far, lots of rabbits had died, but all they dropped was the occasional copper coin or some rabbit fur. No equipment yet. Oracle‘s drop rate was tragic.
“Damn it! One rabbit only gives 1 EXP! I finally managed to KS one, and I still need 99 more? How long’s that gonna take?!”
Someone complained nearby. Wu Shaochen’s mouth twitched. Was this game really that hard?
Looking at the chaotic battlefield and the sea of players, he realized there was no way he could farm properly here. That rabbit he’d just scanned had already been swarmed and slaughtered by a mob.
Sighing, Wu Shaochen muttered to himself, Guess I’ll have to find another spot.