1: Chapter 1 Rebirth and Escape

(Early stage: adventure and journey; later stage: conquest and empire. Deposit your brains here!)

When Richard woke up, it felt as if someone had struck the back of his head with a sledgehammer, and he felt incredibly dizzy.

"Where the hell did this land me?!"

Richard only remembered his last memory: in order to retrieve a 50-million-yuan lottery ticket that had been blown away by the wind, he had dashed straight into the middle of the road, and then had a fierce "kiss" with a large truck.

He struggled to open his eyes to check his surroundings.

Above him was a rough rock wall, and a few crooked wooden support pillars held up the mine tunnel in the darkness, looking like they could collapse at any moment.

Richard propped himself up, his palms pressing against the cold, gravelly ground.

He was wearing a tattered, coarse cloth garment, and his pants were no better, covered in mud and dried blood.

On his feet were a pair of broken leather boots, and he looked even more miserable than a beggar.

Lying beside him was a broken wooden spear, and the remaining half of the shaft was stained with blackened blood.

Before he could figure out what was going on, a torrent of memories flooded into his brain—all belonging to the original owner of this body.

Richard Baimon, from Red Leaf Fishing Village, a farm boy who had just turned sixteen and come out to seek his fortune.

A week ago, he had joined the Adventurers Guild in Blackwater City, becoming a lowest-tier Black Iron-rank adventurer.

His temples throbbed, and images continued to flash through his mind:

Several young adventurers around his age had walked into the mine tunnel, excited and nervous, clutching inferior short swords, shields, and sharpened wooden spears.

They naively thought that clearing out Kobolds was an easy job.

The girl who posted the quest at the guild even said:

"According to the mission information, there are at most a dozen Kobolds in the mine, all of them old, weak, sick, or disabled—perfect for beginners to practice on."

Once they entered the abandoned mine, a spike trap skewered Geno, who was walking in front, like a candied hawthorn, and poisoned short arrows flying from the shadows took down two more.

Then those short shadows surged out from the darkness, sharp barking came from all directions, and they brought their pickaxes and stone axes down upon them.

Even more terrifying, there was a Kobold Warlock who could throw fireballs, and several of his companions were turned straight into lumps of charcoal.

Richard was quite speechless; were these Kobolds supposed to be old, weak, sick, or disabled?

This bunch of newbies had just come here to line up and get themselves killed!

As for the original owner of this body, he had been cornered by three Kobolds, kicked until he couldn't get up, and then received a solid blow from a pickaxe to the back of his head, kicking the bucket just like that.

Richard rubbed the back of his head; there was a large bump, but the skin was intact, and the wound had completely disappeared.

A modern soul had been stuffed into the body of a recently deceased unlucky guy; fortunately, they shared the same name.

Richard was a laid-back person; since he had transmigrated, he would just have to accept it. He decided to live his life using this identity from now on.

"Since I've already transmigrated, the least I could get is a golden finger!" he muttered to himself.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a flash of light suddenly appeared before his eyes.

A phantom of a parchment scroll emerged out of thin air and slowly unfurled before him.

The texture of the scroll looked like a treasure map from an old movie, with scorched edges, and in the center, it was written in beautiful italics:

"Ohoho~ Reborn adventurer, accept the gift of fate and begin your journey!"

Richard excitedly slapped his thigh and hurriedly continued to read. The text gradually changed, displaying a string of information:

# Richard's Adventurer Log #

Class: Level 1 Warrior (0 / 100)

Strength: 6

Agility: 5

Constitution: 5

Intelligence: 5

Basically all 5 points. Fine, I guess these are standard values for an ordinary person. Nothing much to say, though it seems Strength is slightly higher for now.

The skill bar appeared on the parchment scroll again:

Skills:

[ Powerful Strike Lv2 (0 / 100) ] Your attack deals more damage and has a chance to slightly knock back the enemy.

[ Appraisal Lv0 (0 / 10) ] This skill is a gift of fate; it can appraise any equipment or item. The higher the level, the more information you obtain.

Richard raised an eyebrow. The first skill was learned by his predecessor from a retired veteran in the village; it was said to be a low-level military combat technique.

To put it simply, it was gathering all one's strength into one point and then attacking the enemy in the most direct way. No frills—it was considered one of the straightforward combat techniques.

But for this country boy, it was already a treasure. He practiced until he was drenched in sweat every day; he was certainly very diligent.

As for Appraisal...

"Appraise any equipment or item..." Richard's breathing quickened slightly.

In his past life, he had played plenty of games and read many web novels, so he knew that this kind of skill was extremely useful.

Picking up bargains, treasure hunting, discovering hidden equipment—if this skill was used well, it wouldn't just be about getting rich!

This skill gifted by the system was truly awesome!

He closed the panel and stood up. The top priority was to leave this damn place immediately.

Richard began to examine his surroundings. The mine tunnel was very dark, but not pitch black.

Some kind of moss that emitted a faint fluorescent glow grew in the crevices of the rock wall, casting a pale blue light that made it barely possible to see his feet.

Richard picked up the broken half of the wooden spear and weighed it. It looked very dilapidated, but it was better than nothing.

He began to move in the direction he remembered coming from.

To the left of this mine tunnel was a deeper mining area, and to the right, about two hundred steps away, was a fork in the road. Turning right again would lead to the main mine tunnel; following the main mine tunnel all the way would lead back to the surface.

The premise was that there were no Kobolds blocking the way.

Richard took a deep breath, lightened his footsteps, and moved to the right, sticking to the shadows of the rock wall.

The mine tunnel was quiet—too quiet.

Occasionally, water droplets seeped out from the rock crevices and hit the stones, the sound amplified in the narrow space.

Every time a drop of water fell, Richard's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't know how long he had been walking when he suddenly stopped; a knocking sound came from ahead.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Richard stopped and slowly poked his head out, sticking to the mine tunnel wall.

Ahead was a slightly wider mining spot, with simple wooden frames hanging on the rock wall and mining slag scattered on the ground.

Two Kobolds were working there.

Dog-like heads, dark red scaly skin, a row of bone spurs standing up on their backs, and their height reached about Richard's chest.

They had candles on their heads, stuck to their foreheads with melted wax, and were holding old pickaxes, knocking on the ore vein one by one.

Their attention was entirely on collecting ore, and their backs were turned to him.

Richard's gaze swept back and forth between the two Kobolds, confirming that no other Kobolds were present.

And he was all alone, with only one broken weapon in his hand.

But Richard knew he had to fight his way out; if he kept stalling, he would most likely be caught by the Kobolds.

He gripped the broken wooden spear in his hand and took a deep breath.

Richard suddenly exerted force with his legs, charging out from the shadows like a madman, the jagged end of the wooden spear aimed at the heart of the Kobold on the left!

Activate skill—Powerful Strike!

A surge of heat flowed from his shoulders to his arms, causing his speed and strength to suddenly increase by a notch.

"Puchi!" The spear tip made a muffled sound as it plunged in.

The Kobold didn't even have time to cry out; the spear tip pierced through its scales and skin until it impaled its heart, and its body collapsed forward, limp.

The candle on its head rolled into the gravel, the flame flickered, and then went out.

The other Kobold turned around, a flash of shock in its yellow eyes, which then turned into anger.

"Wuga—!"

It roared and raised its pickaxe, pouncing toward Richard.

Richard didn't have time to pull out the wooden spear. When two enemies meet in a narrow path, the braver one wins; he lunged straight at it!