[System prompt: Congratulations player Seven. You now have access to Zero. Your spawn location will be Algate City. You are now considered a citizen of the Dominion Empire.]

[This is a message from VALOR. We would like to thank you for playing the game so far. We hope that you enjoyed it and will continue to. Many new options are now available to you. You will find an information booklet in your inventory which compiled all the new additions. We wish you all the best]

This was the first thing Li Wei saw after the flash. Confused, he looked around him only to find that his environment has completely changed. He was now standing on the side of a road. Around him, were mostly fields that have just been seeded. There were also some farm houses scattered around as well as what looked like a monastery far in the distance.

The first thing Li Wei noticed was not the fields, but rather the heat. Compared to Little Root Town, the temperature here was much higher. It felt like a hot day of summer. This was actually one of the differences from the Beginner's Town. Zero had different weather and season settings; it replicated the real world's conditions. These would not greatly influence gameplay but would add some dynamic elements to the game.

About one kilometer away, Li Wei could clearly see the outline of the walls of a large city. He quickly concluded that it was Agate City, the city he was assigned to, and naturally, he proceeded towards it.

While walking, Li Wei almost forgot that this world was supposed to be invaded by monsters. There were no monsters or any sort of threat in sight. Instead, around him, the endless fields looked like they would reach the horizon; it was a peaceful scene.

The environment was very calm and enjoyable, it gave similar vibes to the countryside Li Wei had visited in the past. The environment was completely different from what was described by the system when he first entered the game but there was a reason why players were spawned in this environment.

There were 12 main cities in the Dominion Empire. Each one with different characteristics. The Dominion Empire would shelter players from a part of Asia and one of the cities allocated to China was Algate city. Naturally, even if the city could accommodate millions of players, there would not be enough place for the whole population, this was why many quests directed players towards other smaller towns and villages in their respective county.

Although players were allocated to a city, they could choose to leave the city for a better one whenever they wanted. There were teleportation portals that linked the 12 main cities and the capital but there was naturally a fee was associated with that journey and not everyone could afford this service during the early stage of the game.

Algate City was as large as a mega city and its county, the Algate County, specialized in agriculture. Its production supplied the entire Dominion Empire. It could be said to be the granary of the Dominion Empire.

Players spawned at these big cities since they were the safest places of the empire. Many quests and dungeons were available for players to level up and once they reached level 20, an expansion that allowed the players to explore the rest of the continent would be implemented. The monsters and demons mentioned in the lore were the powerful enemies of mankind. With their actual strength, players had no way to defend themselves against them. As a result, the players were given a safe environment to increase their strength before the battle.

While Li Wei was walking, he could see a group of farmers tending to their fields. There were also guard towers and sentinels scattered around the city, but the guards were not particularly welcoming.

“Sigh… Maybe I should have stayed at Little Root Town and try to beat the Red Bandit Leader… I hope I made the good decision. I cannot lag behind in term of levels,” said Li Wei to himself.

He walked towards Algate City, enjoying the light breeze and the scent of the fields and after 20 minutes, he eventually reached the city gates. Li Wei took his time to enjoy the walk. He lived in the center of Beijing and rarely had the occasion to enjoy nature as such. If he could, he would like to just lie down on the grass and take a nap. However, this was not possible. He was already lagging behind several players. If he did not want to end up as a normal cannon fodder, he needed to start moving and increase his strength.

In front of the city gate, Li Wei stopped to look at the massive entrance. The city gates looked imposing, they were at least 10 meters wide and had guard posts on both sides of the gates. The wooden gates looked like they were reinforced by metallic bars and covered with weird symbols which Li Wei supposed were magic runes.

The first impression Li Wei got when looking at the city was that it was a typical medieval town. With giant stone walls having several defensive structures on top of its towers. Li Wei could see that several guards were stationed at the top of the walls looking at the horizon like statues.

The gates were large and could allow a lot of people to go through at once. However, this was only for the people leaving the city. For those who wanted to enter, there were two waiting lines. Fortunately, when Li Wei arrived, there was only one merchant caravan being checked by a group of guards. Li Wei walked towards the other empty line where two guards were standing.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He was actually surprised upon seeing the guards. They were both level 20 which was twice as much as his level. If the guards who were guarding the gates were that strong, how much stronger were the NPCs there?

Li Wei took a quick glance at the merchant in the other line only to witness the scene of the merchant stealthily placing a bag of coins in the arms of a guard.

'Even there... Corruption can really be found everywhere,' thought Li Wei.

But at least, he confirmed that even the merchant who was supposed to be weak was actually level 12.

Li Wei turned his head and walked towards the entrance, but he was immediately stopped by the two guards who lowered their spears just in front of Li Wei.

"Halt, present your identity crystal and pay the entry fee please!" said one guard.

"Huh? What are these?" asked Li Wei with a confused expression.

"Are you new here, adventurer? In that case, please follow me to the guard post. We will make a quick registration there!" said the guard before raising his spear as he started to walk towards the guard post.

Li Wei did not know what to do and so, he just followed the guard. Inside the guard post, Li Wei was asked to put his hand onto what looked to be a floating crystal ball. He immediately complied and a few seconds later, the crystal ball emitted a bright red light and a smaller transparent crystal flew out of the crystal ball.

"Take the crystal. It serves as your identity crystal. Since it is your first time here, you can enter for free but in the future, you will have to pay 50 silvers to enter the city. Also, would you like a quick introduction of the city?"

Li Wei absently took the identity crystal, '50 silvers? Isn't that too much? The living cost of a city really cannot be compared to a small town like Little Root Town,' thought Li Wei. Right now, he only had a little over 8 gold. If just the entry fee was 50 silvers, how much were the living costs?

The identity crystal was the game equivalent of identity cards in real life. It did not have much use except when doing administrative processes such as creating guilds or entering towns but were a must to have.

As for the fees, the game needed more ways to recycle the money players would obtain. The open world contained much more resources and offered more opportunities, but at the same time, the prices there were also higher. Coppers were basically non-existent there and most transactions were in gold.

The living cost themselves were not that high. As long as the player did not slack off all day, just hunting once per week would give them a few gold which was enough to live comfortably. The game developers were aware that not everyone would enjoy the game and so, they made it possible for people to easily live comfortably.

As he felt the annoyed stare of the guard, Li Wei realized that the guard was still waiting for his answer and quickly nodded.

The guard pretended to not mind Li Wei’s delay. He quickly started his introduction:

"The city is divided into 5 main districts: the North District is the residential district, the East District is the Crafting district where many craftsmen gather, the South District is the common district of the poor, the West District is called the War District. It is where many associations are located and lastly, the central district is the commercial district where almost everything can be found."

"The city is ruled by the Wind Marquis from the Raflore Family. We have several smaller affiliated towns and a dungeon just outside the city. In case you don't know, dungeons, together with the pocket worlds, are the main training grounds for adventurers like you. Since you have just arrived, I suggest that you find a cheap lodging in the residential district and register to an association. There, many quests are available..."

Li Wei calmly listened as the guard continued to explain. Most of the remaining explanations were details but Li Wei still waited for him to end. The guard was obviously only saying the most basic information that every player would hear.

'Should I also bribe him to get some useful information? Never mind... I already only have just enough to survive a few days....' thought Li Wei.

"Alright. Thank you! " finally answered Li Wei before leaving the guard post and entering the city.

With just one look, Li Wei could tell that this city was much more resourceful than Little Root Town. The streets were wider, allowing carts and caravan to easily move across the city. The main street, on which Li Wei was walking, was also paved and many small stalls could be seen along the street.

Li Wei actually entered the city through the Western gate and since he was already there, he decided to have a look at the associations. From the forums and informative posts of the developers, Li Wei already had an idea of their purpose. There were essentially 6 associations, one for each class and from them, players could obtain quests to complete. As they completed the quests, they would be rewarded by contribution points which could then be traded for resources such as skills, equipment or money.

Registering at an association was essential as they were the most common way to obtain skills. As from now, skills would no longer be obtained upon leveling up, but should instead be purchased at the associations. Players could learn an infinite amount of skills as long as they had the contribution points to purchase them and the qualifications to learn them.

Associations were essential to the players growth. However, players also had the option to register at the army. Players would, in fact, obtain more resources there but at the same time, they would have to give up their freedom to explore the world.

As Li Wei walked towards the Warrior Association, he saw many players from different guilds standing on the sides of the streets, acting like advertisers holding banners on which their enrolment conditions were written. They all noticed Li Wei and intently looked at him trying to look as friendly as possible. But none of them voluntarily tried to talk to Li Wei. The latter even saw familiar names like Exodia and The Horde along the banners.

Li Wei continued to walk but still took note of the offers of the different guilds. Many of them had similar offers to those Li Wei had already received when he was at Little Root Town. But there were 3 guilds there that had more generous offers, namely: the Gem Family, the Stone Defenders and the Fleeting Clouds Sect.

In China, the 3 VIP capsules were distributed such that the political families had one, the military had another and the hidden families had the remaining one. And these 3 guilds actually belonged to them in the same order.

They were all offering 15 gold as well as a grade 0 weapon. It was an extremely generous offer that even Li Wei was attracted to, but he did not show it.

Li Wei walked passed them but did not approach them. They were all staring at him as if they just saw an oasis in the middle of the desert. They easily spotted Li Wei who still did not belong to any guild and naturally wanted to enroll him.

The different guilds actually had an agreement to not directly invite the player unless he or she was the one to initiate the conversation. This was because on the previous day, when they first came to enroll players, a dispute broke out and the different guilds fought each other on the streets. This naturally alerted the city guards who arrested all of them. To regain their freedom, the guild leaders had to pay a large amount of gold and to prevent this from happening again, they came up with this agreement.

Eventually, Li Wei reached the Warrior Association. It was situated on a large open plaza together with the other associations. On the sides of the gates, were blue flags with golden borders on which a helmet and a sword were embroidered.

'Very fancy looking' thought Li Wei.

He pushed open the doors and directly went in.