Chapter 2: The World of the Game

"This is not a game..."

"This is not a game..."

Amidst such voices, the man transformed into a faint purple shadow and was forcibly dragged into the void. Upon closer inspection, one could see a fist-sized crystal fragment within the man's shadow. This fragment appeared quite worn, with occasional flashes of purple lightning sparking across it, stimulating the man's shadow.

Until an unknown force pulled the man away and he vanished into a burst of white light.

[Player: DS-54370681-157, Gender: Male, Affiliation: Sun City High School, Class of 42973, Level: Lv0 (8 Stars)]

[Attributes: Strength: 4, Agility: 3, Constitution: 5, Spirit: 6, Status: Good]

[Affinity: shadow Attribute Magic/Force Affinity, Nature Attribute Magic Affinity, Water Attribute Force Affinity]

On the wall of a room less than two square meters in size, this string of text suddenly appeared. The white wall opposite instantly became as smooth as a mirror, and the young man referred to as DS-54370681-157 stepped out from the other side of the mirror, completely unaware of what had transpired in the void.

This young man was named Leon Reed, a student at Sun City High School. He was 22 years old this year and also a prospective player in Sun City.

The reason for this particular identity was that in the world before his eyes, the game had already become the main occupation starting forty thousand years ago.

After every human was born, they were not allowed to engage in the game until the age of 18. They needed to learn various knowledge and engage in a special kind of meditation. At the same time, they would be indoctrinated with a certain concept: This is not a game; it is a way of life, a mode of survival.

After the age of 18, they would enter high school, test their game affinity, learn everything about the game, and under the guidance of teachers, participate in internal training and missions in the game.

As long as they could successfully become an official player before the age of 60, their lifespan would increase from about 100 years to directly 300 years.

Of course, one could also become an official player after the age of 60 and enjoy 300 years of life. However, such players would be considered untalented, unable to advance to higher levels, and could only serve as the most ordinary workers in the game world, or act as bait or cannon fodder for high-level players.

Leon Reed had decent talent, reaching the level of Lv0 (8 Stars) by the age of 22. As long as he continued to work hard, taking that final step before the age of 60 would be quite easy.

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However, precisely because of his decent talent, his pressure increased. His parents were ordinary people who only became official players after the age of 60. Their current work involved playing mining games, farming games, and joining city patrols, and their daily income was only enough to cover the family's living expenses.

As for Leon Reed's tuition fees, they were all covered by compulsory education funds, which is the most basic welfare in the world, enough for everyone to study until the age of 60. If one wanted to become a player at Lv1 in a short time, either they had some money at home to attend a private school or they had to earn it themselves.

However, Leon Reed's choice for his future career path was somewhat difficult.

All players, when they first enrolled in school, would undergo an affinity test, the results of which would determine their future occupation.

Generally speaking, most players have three types of affinity, arranged in order from high to low. Leon Reed was special in this regard.

Regarding Leon Reed's affinity, it was quite unique. To explain, even Leon Reed himself didn't know why. At first, his family thought his primary affinity was for nature attribute magic because, when he was young, he loved to be around flowers and plants at home. His mother even believed he would become a qualified plant druid.

However, at some point, Leon Reed began to have strange dreams in the middle of the night,

Dreaming of a man whose face he couldn't see clearly demonstrating a relatively ordinary set of martial arts. At first, he didn't pay much attention to it, but later he found that his body had memorized this set of martial arts. Whenever he engaged in physical training, he would unconsciously practice this martial art set, and even the breathing and visualization during the practice were flawless. The only thing he couldn't recall was the name of the martial art.

On the day he enrolled in school, when his attributes were measured, his affinity for shadow attribute magic and force surprised his parents. Only he sensed that this change was brought by the martial arts set.

Due to Leon Reed's primary affinity being both for shadow attribute magic and force, choosing his primary affinity was more troublesome than for a typical player.

For normal players with shadow attribute affinity, if their affinity is for magic, they could take up professions like Necromancer, Death Mage, or Daoist. If their affinity is for force, they could become Death Knights or shadow Soldiers.

For someone like Leon Reed, whose affinity was for both magic and force, choosing a profession was much more troublesome. Although he could become a Necromancer or Death Knight, as his teachers put it, that would be too much of a waste.

Leon Reed could totally aim for a dual-magic and force profession.

But was it really that easy to pursue a dual-magic and force profession? Not to mention the need for more effort and training, just the relatively rare career paths made Leon Reed spend an entire year in the library before finally choosing a relatively reliable profession in which he had confidence he could sustain.

Not to mention the various materials needed for the profession, the skills he had to give up for the profession, and so on.

While studying, the shadow in his dreams changed once more, seemingly related to the knowledge Leon Reed learned. Often, knowledge about necromancy, death, and the undead or shadow attributes would trigger some memories that didn't belong to Leon Reed.

These memories weren't as complete as the martial arts set at the beginning but rather fragmented. Sometimes they were just a thought, sometimes they were a complete system of knowledge. Regardless of how fragmented or incomplete these memories were, once they appeared, they would become an instinct for Leon Reed, influencing his life.

At the same time, the shadow in his dream seemed to change with his death in the game, sometimes becoming clearer, sometimes more blurred, and sometimes affected by external objects, which made Leon Reed speechless. It made him more cautious in the game, unlike other players who didn't care about dying in the game.

Even so, sometimes, in order to obtain materials that someone of his level couldn't get, Leon Reed would still take on missions to act as various kinds of bait.

This time was no different. After exiting the game, Leon Reed placed the recently acquired unit of magic mercury card on the left wall.

The wall was already covered with many cards, forming something similar to a tech tree. It recorded the various professions Leon Reed could pursue in the future, along with the materials and knowledge required for those professions. However, Leon Reed was not very satisfied, as too many places on the wall still had the words [Vacant], and some areas had strange question marks.

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that Chapters 1 to 40 are available for free on my Patreon! You can find them in the {Tier 0} section, in collections

Plus, starting from October 4th, I’ll be releasing daily Free chapters after Chapter 40

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