Your representative's name: Aukhman Goldstead.

"What?" Jing weakly mumbled from his kneeling posture on the ground as he glanced up, his voice still choked with the aftermath of the emotions he had been going through just a minute ago.

After reading through the notifications for a second time, he still wasn't able to comprehend what he was looking at. Although every word made sense on its own, their combination left him perplexed.

"Game? Series? Realm's Champion?" He murmured after he swiftly stood up, wariness written all over his face.

At the periphery of his eyes, he caught something that wasn't there before, a shadow of sorts. Turning his head to the right, his eyes widened.

Hovering in front of him was a diminutive red demon that wasn't larger than a man's palm, its skin textured like rough volcanic rock, with jagged ridges running down its spine from the crown of its head to its shoulder blades. Twisted horns adorned its skull, curving menacingly, while sharp spikes protruded from its shoulders, adding to its intimidating appearance.

The creature's eyes emitted an eerie purple glow, captivating Jing as its dark pupils locked onto him with an unsettling intensity. A wide, and almost sinister grin curled at the corners of its mouth, revealing pointed teeth that glinted in the dim light. Draped over its lower body was a coarse skirt-like garment, tattered and worn, but it still boasted an otherwordly quality. Long, weathered boots encased its feet.

Jing who had already made peace with the fact that he was indeed in a new world, quickly processed the existence of a demon, as shocking as it was. Their gazes still locking, he questioned with a cautious tone, "Who are you?"

"My name is Aukhman." Said he, skillfully playing around with a mysterious staff in his hand as he talked. "I come from a long family of Higher Netherglaur Demons under The Immortal Emperor Kathur. I have been preparing for hundreds of years after the last representative in my family died for this special day."

Noting the somberness and seriousness with which he spoke, Jing also mirrored the same expression. The last thing he wanted to do was to offend a demonic creature that appeared out of nowhere and who presumably lived for hundreds of years. Most importantly, from the creature's words, he knew that he was associated with the golden notifications that had appeared before him.

'Now that I think about...' He pondered as the demon was deeply scrutinizing him with shrewd eyes. 'Those words appeared exactly when I first heard his voice.'

After processing everything and readjusting his state of mind, he asked, "What kind of game is this?"

"It's simple," Aukhman said, gently caressing the staff in his hand as if it were the most precious treasure in the world. "There are 1000 players, just like you. And in the end, only one will remain standing."

The man couldn't help but gulp when he heard that, understanding that he was in some sort of otherwordly Hunger Games. "Where would this competition be held?" He asked after thinking it over. "When will it happen? And how will we compete?"

Aukhman no longer hovered, but began walking on air, as if it was a solid surface, and explained shaking his head, "You don't understand." Pausing his steps, he looked at him dead in the eyes and said, "It had already begun."

Immediate confusion colored Jing's face when he heard that, "What do you mean it had already begun?" He questioned unable to connect the dots.

"Every player is followed by a representative who's responsible for capturing the essence of that person's journey and creating a short film around it," Aukhman explained. Gently waving his staff, images began to appear in front of the human.

Jing's right hand unconsciously covered his wide-open mouth as he stared at the scene of him getting hit by a car. There was also a magical process involved that made him feel as if he was there at that exact moment. It was as if everything shown was 3D, and he found himself noticing details he had never seen before.

An old woman's terrified eyes as she screamed in fright after the crash, and her small Jack Russel Terrier began anxiously barking. A man nearby was smoking a cigarette whose smell seemed to traverse worlds and reach Xie Jing's sensitive nostrils. A group of people walked out of a Seven Eleven watching everything with a pained wince as they stared at the still bloody body on the ground.

When his eyes darted in the demon's direction, that connection disappeared and it became just a normal screen. He gestured with his eyes toward the demon, demanding some explanation, but all he got in return was a gesture to continue watching.

Soon, the nightmare he had just escaped from began playing out in front of his eyes. The loss of most of his physical capabilities, his family, the long solitary years, the way his body began shriveling up, the comparisons with his peers, the dozens of times he contemplated suicide, and then finally the surgery.

The transparent screen before him turned black, and he glanced at the demon once again, demanding some explanations. However, just like last time, he only gestured for him to continue watching.

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The black image began to flutter before it jolted open and three naked people appeared, the point of view then distanced itself from the fallen short-haired youth with emerald eyes to a more general view. What followed was something Jing was very familiar with, his wide grin as he fondled the women's breasts and the man behind him who greedily looked at him with lust all over his eyes.

"What in the world?" He mumbled and glanced at the demon once again. "What is that?"

"It's still just raw material," Aukhman explained, his eyes still glued to the video he had just launched. When it reached the scene of the human falling on the floor crying, his smile widened, and rejoiced, "Look, look, this is the good part."

As Jing was still flabbergasted, the small demon continued, "I still need to add a lot of things like some narration, and music, and it'll be a very good first episode." But then as if remembering something his voice turned low and said, "As good as it can get for a Human I suppose. What a cursed luck."

"Episode?" Jing asked.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Aukhman questioned with a serious look, "Are you slow? I have explained it dozens of times."

Jing's eyes flashed at that mocking tone, but it had indeed managed to bring him out of his continuously confused thought pattern that refused to accept the reality of the situation.

"This will be aired to people?" He uncertainly asked.

With a grin, Aukhman nodded, "A lot of people. The Realm's Champion Games are loved by billions of creatures across the multitude of worlds under the Immortal Emperor."

"What if I don't want that?" Jing questioned, his voice containing a myriad of complex emotions. To be seen and sold as a product in his most vulnerable moments, both naked and weeping like a baby didn't sit right with him.

This time, it was Aukhmann's eyes that flashed with a meaningful glint. He breathed in and out, and said with a cool voice, "This isn't a curse, it's a privilege. I don't think you comprehend how lucky you are to be chosen by the Dreamweaver's Cataclysm."

Jing was about to ask, "What's that?!"

But the demon cut him off, "It doesn't matter now. Listen..." Still in mid-air, he sat down cross-legged and deeply looked at the fearful teen before him, "I have seen your whole life. And knowing how forgetful you humans are, I can say with absolute certainty that I know you better than you know yourself."

Knowing that this would be going to some deep and unexpected channel, Jing braced himself for the demon's words.

"Your life was pointless, boring, and filled with pain. Isn't this the opportunity you've always been dreaming about?" Aukhman asked with a serious tone, nudging the person before him to look at himself.

"Yes," Jing replied. "But not like this..."

Helplessly sighing whilst dismissively shaking his head, Aukhman countered, "Your desire for privacy is so minuscule compared to the vastness of what you can get. Don't you want the power to rule entire worlds? The power to live life and experience everything that you want, from the mundane to the complex?"

A silence stretched as the both of them looked at one another, yet both of their gazes unfocused as they seemed deep in thought.

"I do want it," Jing finally said, "But maybe there is some other way."

"Humph," Aukhman furiously stood up with a snort. "You only have two choices." He said curtly. "You either do your best to try to survive, or you'll die after a week when the first event begins."

"What is that?" Jing asked, but just from the name he more or less had an idea.

"In a week,' Aukhman explained. "All of the players will be transported to the dream space where they will compete in a particular event against one another. The last 100 in the overall rankings will be eliminated from both the games and life."

Eyes widening in fear at the prospect of dying in a week after he felt like he could finally live as an able-bodied person, he asked with a terrified voice, "Life?"

"Yes," Aukhman stressed. "Don't be greedy, this life was given to you by the Immortal Emperor, to be taken away by him if you're deemed unworthy is only natural." Witnessing the man's complicated expression, he continued, "So, what do you say Xie Jing?"

"No, it's Ken..." The youth protested.

"No," Aukhmann resolutely said, "It's Xie Jing, that is how you will be known as. It's very vital that you prepare yourself mentally and sink deep into this new life of yours."

Kenneth, or as he was called now Xie Jing, didn't find it particularly difficult to adopt a new name. The fact that his previous one was associated with so much pain was merely the icing on the cake and made it easier for him to smoothly transition into a new one.

After pondering for a while, Jing asked, "Sure, but what do I need to do now?"

"You need to focus on raising your rank," Aukhman said. "And to do that, you need to have an interesting life. Something that will make people want to follow and support you."

When Jing asked what rank meant in the context of this game, all he got in response was to think, "System."

Doing that, a long blue game-like interface appeared before him.

In the top right was a portrait of his new body with a white background standing there smiling. This was the first time he had the opportunity to really see what he now looked like, so his eyes hovered there for a couple of seconds.

A beautiful smile, youthful appearance, sharp features, piercing green eyes, and soft pitch-black hair.

[~Status Window~]

Name: Jing

Age: 16

Cultivation: Qi Condensation(2)

Soul Purity: 53%

Affiliation: Wandering Abyss Demonic Sect

Rank: #863

Access Level: 0

Episodes: 0

Reviews: 0

Views: 0

Followers: 0

Favorites: 0

Game Coins: 0

Leaderboard.

Loot.

-

After a series of queries, he learned what most of the elements in the interface called Status Window were.

Other than the most obvious things, cultivation was his current strength level. In this world, the stages were separated into Body Tempering, Qi Condensation, Foundation, Core Formation, and the Nascent Soul Realm. Jing was certain that there were even more above that stage, but in his limited memories, there were only those five.

As for Soul Purity, it was the most important factor in every cultivator's life. The higher it was, the more attuned they were to Qi, and thus the faster their cultivation would be. Most importantly, most cultivation manuals and techniques had strict conditions about a degree of Soul Purity to cultivate them. It was without a shadow of a doubt one of the single most important things to measure a cultivator's talent in this world, and how far they might go.