The house has the same old scent of apple pies. Lu Ming slowly makes his way to the kitchen and peeks inside. His mother, Yu Tian, is cooking at the stove with her back turned. Tears swell up in Lu Ming's eyes.
She had always cared for Lu Ming. Even when he had strayed off with Li Xuan, Yu Tian still looked out for Lu Ming and put her son first. Eventually, she suffered from overwork after caring for his drunk dad. Yu Tian passed away early, but Lu Ming didn't find out until he visited his family years later.
"This time, mother, I will protect you."
At that moment, Yu Tian turns. She smiles at Lu Ming, "Welcome back, Lu Ming. How was school today? Would you like something to eat? "
Lu Ming nods his head silently. He tried not to stand up and hug his mother. His regret deeply touches his heart. Yu Tian sets the table and lets Lu Ming eat before returning to cooking. The whole time Lu Ming is sober. He cannot bring himself to accept his circumstance. He has a chance to turn this all around.
After finishing up his food, Lu Ming goes upstairs to his bedroom. He nearly forgets where his room is since it has been so long. After closing the door to his bedroom, Lu Ming lies on his bed and starts to think.
Lu Ming's father, Lu Shan, owns a consulting firm. With years of experience, Lu Shan has encountered potential goldmines. These companies struggled with financial problems, but they could become successful if set on the right track. For example, Lu Ming's father discovered that Conquest was a significant game to invest in a few months after it was released. He proceeded to hire professional players to establish a foothold in the game. However, the various competitors far out financed his father's firm, and eventually, the company crumbled…
Knowing the game's capabilities and the prosperous future it holds, Lu Ming's next plan is to convince his father that Conquest is a worthwhile investment. He has to let Lu Shan prepare before the game's official release. Lu Ming sighs satisfyingly. This is killing two birds with one stone! If only life was like this all the time.
Lu Ming spends the rest of the day searching for appealing articles that could help convince his father. Finally, in the evening, when Lu Shan arrives home, Lu Ming is ready. After sitting down for dinner, Lu Ming initiates plan A.
"Father. Have you heard of the new game Conquest that's being released?"
He hands over his phone, containing various articles about the game.
"Mhm, I've heard of it a bit. What about it?"
"I think this is a good opportunity to invest in a video game because of its large industry. The game is also played during the night, so more people can play it despite working in the day."
"What makes you say that? The video game industry has declined since the beginning of this year. As for playing during the night, don't the games that have tried to incorporate it fail miserably? I remember the time when God's World ended up a complete failure because people couldn't rest properly."
Okay, Plan A failed. Time to initiate Plan B.
"Well, I heard that the graphics for the game are great, though. And the headsets used are extremely promising."
Lu Ming shows his father another video of the game's headset.
"That still doesn't make a difference if nobody is interested. As for headsets, doesn't every other game use headsets nowadays?"
Okay… Plan C. Lu Ming is getting desperate.
"The price isn't that high for its quality. So I'm sure there is a potential market to invest in."
"That still doesn't change the fact that it costs $1500. I might have invested in another potential start-up company if all this money was used elsewhere."
Lu Ming grows exasperated. There has to be a way for him to convince his father!
Lu Ming sighs after just eating food for the next 5 minutes.
"Guess I have to do that then."
He stands up and faces Lu Shan. Determination fills his face.
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"Father, I will prove this is worth the money invested. If I don't fulfill my promise, I will go there for university."
His father looks up; curiosity plasters his face. What makes Lu Ming so determined to play this game? Lu Ming has been adamant about staying away from there for years. So why did he suddenly change his mind about a game?
"Okay," Lu Shan says after a moment of thinking. Either way, things come out as a benefit. He has nothing to lose.
Lu Ming is elated. The fact that he can convince his parents about this game is impressive. And now he receives funding too! His hopes are through the roof. But, just as he thinks this, Lu Shan brings him back to reality.
"I will only give you two weeks to prove this game worthwhile."
These words splash a bucket of cold water on Lu Ming's face.
Earning money in a video game is no easy task. Many games focus on enticing players to spend more on the game, not the other way around. This is especially true for Conquest. The tax on conversions between currencies was 30% in and out of the game! This prevented large corporations from whaling on the game. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough. When the game was first released, currency exchange rates were even higher!
"I guess nothing is free in this world," Lu Ming smiled bitterly. "At least I have a goal to reach."
"Deal." Lu Ming says to his father as they shake hands. His mother is shocked. "Since when have those two been on good terms?"
And so, Lu Ming plans for the day the game is released.
A week passes by, and Lu Ming's schoolwork proves outstanding. His recent achievements have placed him in a trendy spot.
The Trojan horse! The boy who has been hiding his talent spreads his wings! Lu Ming has become a celebrity of everyone. Even the teachers are talking about him during lunch break.
However, Lu Ming stays oblivious to everything around him. He is too busy preparing for his plan to earn money.
Conquest is a highly complex game. Unlike its predecessors, the servers are managed by an AI program that decides how the game runs. In addition, every server is separated into continents, and players from the respective continents can only enter and exit their continents.
Of course, the game doesn't completely oppose crossing servers. After the third major update, Conquest released its multi-continental map, causing the competition to grow fierce. However, even before the major update, players still had a chance to cross continents when doing quests or during events.
Players could not change servers simply by resetting their accounts. The game system uses advanced retinal recognition and logs it into their system. Likewise, players cannot just reset their player IDs to avoid penalties. The AI will punish the users for crimes previously committed in-game.
Conquest is a game of freedom. There, one can do whatever one wants as long as one faces the consequences of their actions.
Each continent has four primary races: elves, dwarves, fairies, and beastmen. The fifth, and smallest race, is the humans. They do not even makeup 10% of the game population.
Each race has its benefits. For example, elves gain more agility, fairies get wisdom, dwarves gain endurance, and beastmen gain strength. Humans, however, don't get any buffs. That is why they are considered the weakest race.
Mu Ling knows this isn't true. As the game progresses, humans eventually gain an overwhelming advantage. This is because they have an ability that other races don't have: fluid genetics.
The human race has many attributes. Being a long-time player of such a low-class race, Mu Ling understood the difficulties starting with the human race. But as time goes on, the different evolutions humans undergo far exceed the benefits the other races gave in the beginning. Plus, humans are the only neutral race on the continent. This will allow much more freedom when it comes to traveling around.
The world of Conquest has two main factions: light and dark. The Light faction focused on bringing peace to the world continent, while the Dark faction's goal was the destruction of the continent.
In his previous life, Lu Ming had joined the Temple of Light, thinking that making the game a better place for players would be satisfying. But who knew that the reality was far from the truth?
Not only was the Temple of Light corrupted with greedy officials, but they were also debatably more evil than the Dark faction. The misdeeds of the Temple of Light include causing mass destruction to neutral human cities and pillaging everyone, all in the name of "purifying the sinned land."
The worst part was that Lu Ming did not get a chance to change his faction. When players first choose a faction, they must sign a contract to serve that religion. Leaving the faith is the same as crippling one's account. They are also made traitors of the faction and have an even harder time joining another coalition. As Lu Ming couldn't bring himself to reset his account, he had no choice but to follow along with the Light Temple's deeds. Unfortunately, his friends, including Jin Yu, were also caught up in the mess.
Lu Ming has also not forgotten about his friend, Jin Yu. Therefore, Lu Ming has to make sure that he can repay the debt he owes to Jin Yu in this life.
Although Jin Yu is hesitant to play at first, he finally gives in after Lu Ming's constant pestering gets into his head.
Finally, school ends, and Lu Ming rushes back home. A large truck is parked outside his house, and a man in blue overalls drops a package at the front door.
"Finally," Lu Ming thinks.
He rushes up to the package and tears the box open, styrofoam flies everywhere. Yu Tian comes out running, hearing a commotion at the front door. Lu Ming In front of him is a sleek, white, brand-new headset with the name Conquest written on the side of it.
Lu Ming immediately rushes to his room and plugs in the headset. Then he puts it over his head. The familiar tone of the system can be heard.
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