2: First time playing the game

As time drew near, night fell, and a bright moon quietly hung in the night sky.

Lin Yue thought for a moment, put on his helmet, and lay on the bed, preparing to enter the game. From his experience in the gaming industry, Lin Yue knew that the first batch of players to log into the game would have a significant advantage!

Upon entering the login interface, he found only one option: Create Account. Lin Yue selected it.

“Detecting nearby identity chip. One identity chip detected. Please enter your real name:”

“Lin Yue.”

“Identity input correct!”

“Conducting facial recognition...”

“Facial recognition successful, recorded in database!”

“Detecting your iris...”

“Iris recognition successful, recorded in database!”

“Account creation complete. The game defaults to the Great Xia Region and cannot be changed. We wish you a pleasant game!”

The three-in-one game login system, ever since its official implementation twenty years ago, had drastically reduced account theft. Lin Yue only learned this from a professor during a university lecture. The professor had mentioned it in a casual chat with students, advising against skipping the facial and iris recognition for convenience. He noted that all recent account thefts involved accounts that hadn't recorded facial and iris data. Although Lin Yue didn't play games often, he always took good advice to heart.

Lin Yue then returned to the main interface, which now displayed five options: [Start Game], [Continue Game], [Game Settings], [Bind Online Banking], and [Exit Game].

However, the [Start Game] option was currently locked.

At the top was a time reminder, showing 00:02:11 until the game started. Lin Yue focused intently, watching the time change second by second.

Outside, the electronic big screen on the building had switched to the Spring Festival Gala broadcast. The streets were no longer crowded, as families gathered in their homes.

At the same time, the countdown turned to 00:00:00, and the [Start Game] option was enveloped by a golden dragon!

Lin Yue immediately clicked confirm, and the interface jumped, prompting him to enter a game name. The name 'Lin Yue' was pre-filled in the name field.

Lin Yue didn't want his real name exposed in the game and tried to change it, but there was no response. He then looked at the small text after the name field.

“According to the Great Xia Empire... this game... all based on identity ID..., cannot be changed!”

“Damn it!” Even he, usually a good-natured man, couldn't help but curse.

All this happened in a flash, but he didn't have time to think much and directly proceeded to the next option.

“Please select your birthplace. Birthplaces are designed according to certain historical contexts. Different birthplaces have different climates, terrains, landforms, special events, etc. Please choose carefully.”

“Hedong, Taiyuan, Shangdang, Sanchuan, Dong Commandery, Yingchuan, Nanyang, Nan Commandery, Jiujiang, Si River, Julu, Qi Commandery, Langya...”

“Liaodong Commandery!”

Lin Yue chose without hesitation. Liaodong Commandery, historically a horse-producing region, could be used to build an excellent cavalry force, which was incredibly important in a game with a hundredfold map area. Furthermore, in the cold weapon era, it was easy to descend from the north but difficult to ascend from the south; besides Emperor Taizu of Ming, he hadn't heard of anyone else succeeding, which showed how challenging it was.

Most importantly, his hometown was there. Even though it was a game, he wanted to choose his homeland.

“Player has chosen Liaodong Commandery. We wish you a pleasant game.”

Then the scene shifted, and Lin Yue felt as if he was suspended in mid-air. Before him, on a massive altar, stood a man in a black dragon robe. The man was imposing, wearing an imperial crown, with a bronze longsword hanging from his waist. Just his back alone exuded immense pressure!

Lin Yue was deeply shocked and couldn't help but praise it as a good CG, then chose to skip it. He had already wasted two seconds, and sometimes even two short seconds were enough to do something.

Then Lin Yue's vision went dark again. After a brief blank in his mind, he gradually regained consciousness. The surroundings slowly brightened. Lin Yue tried to get up but had no strength. Then a magnetic voice reached his ears.

“Congratulations, Player Lin Yue, for being the 9527th player to enter the game!”

“Received reward for being among the top ten thousand in the Divine Land Region: Special Talent Card!”

“Received game title: Pioneer (One of the first to enter this world, exploring it for other players. This adventurous spirit is favored by the Main God. Martial Power +5, Intelligence +5, Reputation +500)”

“Received Newbie Gift Pack × 1”

“Received Lucky Small Treasure Chest × 1”

He guessed correctly, there really were rewards! Lin Yue suppressed the joy in his heart and directly chose to open all the gift packs!

“Player used Newbie Gift Pack, obtained: One Qi Gathering Pill, Mortal-tier Martial Art: <Basic Cultivation Method>, Small Axe (no grade) × 1, 100 copper coins!”

“Player used Lucky Small Treasure Chest, obtained: Enhanced Engineer's Shovel, digging speed increased by 3 times!”

“Player used Special Talent Card, drawing... Congratulations, player, you have drawn the special talent: Amiability! (Makes NPCs unconsciously feel a sense of closeness towards the player, NPC favorability +30)”

Lin Yue looked bewildered. Increase NPC favorability? In games, increasing favorability usually involved giving money, jewelry, or completing quests given by NPCs. It was a talent that saved money and effort, he supposed, but in his mind, it was far less practical than Pioneer.

Lin Yue sighed, and with a thought, his attribute panel appeared before his eyes.

“name: Lin Yue

Identity: Refugee

Title: None

Position: None

Honorific: Pioneer

Martial Power: 28

Intelligence: 30

Command: 21

Politics: 22

Charm: 99

Reputation: 500 (Unknown)

Talent: Amiability”

(A normal adult male is around 20. You're not bad!)

Looking at the attributes on the panel before him, Lin Yue fell into thought.

His Martial Power and Intelligence were relatively high due to the title Pioneer, but his Command and Politics were at normal levels.

Only his Charm was very high, but could handsomeness feed him?

Could he be more handsome than the readers in front of the screen?

Moreover, this game had no experience points or leveling system. Lin Yue really couldn't understand how the game was designed. Was this the grand vision of a great nation?

Lin Yue looked at the lone piece of coarse linen clothing in the equipment panel and struggled to stand up, but found himself powerless.

“Hand over your money, and we'll leave you a whole corpse!”

A series of cackling laughs came, and Lin Yue's body suddenly tensed!

“It can't be that unlucky, can it?” Lin Yue thought to himself. The sounds of a chase and a fight reached his ears, getting closer and closer.

Lin Yue turned his head and found himself in the tall grass. The sounds came from not far to his side. He looked over and saw two Mountain Bandits, armed with long blades, chasing a young man in linen clothes. The young man stumbled and ran towards him!

Is this a newbie quest?

Lin Yue suddenly thought of this, but he hadn't received any prompts?

He then pulled out his enhanced engineer's shovel and gripped it. In a blink of an eye, a scream rang out, and the young man fell in front of him. His back was a bloody mess, a long blade piercing through it.

The young man collapsed in the grass and found someone lying there. The two exchanged glances. The young man used his last bit of strength to push Lin Yue, his mouth opening and closing, signaling him to leave quickly.

“Oh? There's another one here. Today is truly lucky!” The two Mountain Bandits' eyes lit up when they saw Lin Yue. They exchanged a smile and then walked towards Lin Yue with their blades.

“It's been a long time since I've seen such a handsome young man. Come into my arms, little one.” The two men grinned lecherously.

Lin Yue's body tensed again. The thought of such a scene sent a chill down his spine.

He then struggled to stand up. As the saying goes, 'a longer blade is a stronger blade.' He suddenly raised his engineer's shovel and swung it at the Mountain Bandit, but his body suddenly stumbled. Instead, he was struck by the experienced Mountain Bandit's long blade. After a scream, Lin Yue was cut down to the ground!