```
In 20XX, the global economy was sluggish, and the unemployment rate was climbing, leading to instability.
The two superpowers, China and the United States, decided to join forces to lead the world out of its difficulties. The United States also began a series of major initiatives to cut military spending and generate revenue. Among these, the holographic simulation environment supercomputer training system of the U.S. Marine Corps, codenamed "Final Battle with Aliens", was repurposed for civilian use. In partnership with the European Union, Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, and major game companies from China, they developed a holographic virtual reality super game called "Heroic Creation Era", which players from all over the world could join. It was a super game that integrated elements of fantasy, adventure, war, trade, territory construction, navigation, competition, leisure, and more.
During its development, gaming companies from various countries had already started global hype campaigns.
In the spring of 20XX, "Heroic Creation Era" was simultaneously released worldwide! Young people all over the planet were insanely captivated by it! In the China Region, the Chinese agents of Heroic Creation Era bombarded every corner with advertisements!
—Do you want to compete on the same stage as world-class players? Do you want to soar freely through a fantasy world? Do you want to become a hero admired by tens of thousands? Do you want to own your own castle and lead your armies with passion? Do you want to become a highly-paid professional gamer? Come on! "Heroic Creation Era" will fulfill your dreams of crossing into another world!
.......
Da Fei, a thirty-year-old freelancer in the construction and logistics industry, and a former casual gamer, saw the endless business opportunities in Heroic Creation Era and decisively joined the huge queue to purchase a client machine.
Where's the business opportunity? This is a game hyped up to the max, a money-making game, a game where the rich lead soldiers to war and build castles. Where do the soldiers come from? What happens when the soldiers all die? Gold Coins! You know what I mean.
Today is actually the third day since the game officially launched. If not for waiting for his year-end salary to buy the hardware, Da Fei would have certainly been queuing up at the sales point with his bedroll on the very night of the release.
As a professional gamer, to start off losing to tens of millions of people by a whole three days is such a failure! No choice now, just have to catch up by leveling up quickly.
Da Fei thought for a moment, then gave his college-going little sister a call: "Little Li, your brother has quit his job and found a new one with a high income, so I'm not coming back for the New Year. Tell mom and dad for me."
For a skilled individual like Da Fei, quitting was easy, and finding jobs wasn't hard. Because actually, the world wasn't short of jobs, it was short of people who were willing to do them.
A surprised and efficient female voice came from the other end of the phone: "What? You're not coming back for the New Year, brother, are you kidding?"
Da Fei replied helplessly: "Do you have any idea how many jobs are understaffed during the New Year? The pay for covering shifts during that time is three to four times the usual! That's it, I'll call you during the holidays to help you send your luggage to the station!"
"No need, someone is sending me."
Da Fei's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked: "Who? Is it that Liu Dawei again!? Have you kissed? Have you slept with him? Are you pregnant? Tell that poor schmuck to scram! Thinking about getting laid instead of making money in college, I'll beat him up every time I see him!"
Little Li exclaimed in a hurry: "What are you talking about! He's just a regular classmate of mine!"
Da Fei angrily retorted: "Just a classmate my ass! Back when I was in university, I hooked up with all the girls in my department, knocked them up and walked away! Now they can't even get through the door to apply for a wedding with a rich guy!"
Little Li angrily responded: "You've blown it up out of proportion!"
Da Fei perked up: "Ah, right! It's because I blew it out of proportion!"
Little Li, annoyed, said: "I won't talk to you anymore, hanging up now!"
Da Fei sighed inwardly, I'm just looking out for you!
As the oldest sibling at home, having spent the family's limited funds on his university education only to ultimately become a disappointment and the butt of the joke in his hometown. In contrast, his little sister was smart, agile, scored excellent grades, got into a prestigious university, and even received scholarships and grants, never becoming a burden to the family—which made this older brother feel quite inadequate. When he got into university, his little sister in middle school used to admire him so much! But now, alas...
More importantly, Little Li was beautiful and the department's belle. If she could snag a wealthy husband in university, our family would be set! She was truly the family's hope! But she's blind to it, ignoring all the wealthy heirs and instead falling for a penniless wretch! What's so good about that poor guy? Just because he's a tall, white-faced guy from the track team and writes some sappy poems and plays some guitar—those things are worthless! No money, no skills, that's just crap!
As long as I'm breathing, I won't let the two of you be together! So what about the track team? I've worked in construction for so many years and I'm well-trained, I could crush him with a brick! I'll call her dormitory tonight to check their schedule! Hmph, I hope Little Fang picks up the phone!
The queue was gradually shortening. The large screen on the wall outside the sales store kept scrolling and playing the game advertisements, and Da Fei's passion was ignited along with it!
This is the world of heroes, a world without those complex attributes that players can't understand, like strength or agility; nor any whirlwind buttock-piercing guns. All attributes are simplified to just Attack, Defense, and Damage, easily understandable and straightforward for the player to calculate.
What is Attack? What is Defense? What is Damage?
Human strength has its limits, but the potential for destruction is limitless. Smashing a wall with all your might with just your fist won't even scratch it! But if you were to use a sledgehammer with the same effort, the wall would be instantly demolished! The same strength yields completely different destructive effects with different tools.
The limited strength is Damage, the hammer is Attack, and the wall is Defense; Attack and Defense are always relative, different levels of each yield different effects of Damage.
Heroes function to elevate their own Attack and Defense, thereby enhancing the entire army's Attack and Defense, unleashing the army's limited Damage to achieve unlimited destructive power! And the roles that players play are such blood-pumping heroes!
```
Just you wait and see! Back in my gaming days, I was a widely-respected internet addiction treatment specialist throughout the entire server! I achieved so much by simply playing casually, imagine what I could do if I went all out? The national service is too small for me, it's the world-class games that are my true stage! For this day, I had already done my homework early on, perusing the forums and official data from the public tests. I have all the races, units, and building information down pat! I'm gonna make it big! I'll have a house, a car, and even a wife! Wahahaha!
At that moment, the large screen abruptly switched to an advertisement.
——"Hello dear gamers, it's time for Hero News live broadcast again, and today we have invited Ms. Deng Jiayi, the spokesperson for China from Heroic Creation Era and a famous professional esports player from Star Team, to join us in the studio. Let's give her a warm welcome!"
——"Hello everyone! I am Deng Jiayi!" A fresh and pretty face appeared on the large screen.
"Wow!!! The otaku goddess!!!" The queue of players burst into loud exclamations!
Da Fei's eyes bulged out even more! The otaku goddess Deng Jiayi, also known for her gaming ID Bu Feiyan, who doesn't know about her? She's the rich and beautiful woman of my dreams!
The host said, "We just received a piece of news. A player from Japan has drawn a Hell Race hero with the attribute of Mobility Master from the random lottery system. After the Hell Gate Master, this is the second rare attribute hero in Japan, bought by Mitsubishi Team for eight million US dollars. Miss Deng Jiayi, could you please share your professional opinion on this matter?"
Eight million US dollars!!! The entire street was shaken to its core! Da Fei felt a huge tremor in his heart! This was more than a business opportunity; it was like winning the lottery and changing your life overnight! And what's this lottery about, you ask? In this money-guzzling game, just be willing to spend money on top-ups, and you'll get a chance to draw awesome accounts when creating your character!
What? Unfair? When has competition ever been fair? Asians can't outrun black people, black people can't swim faster than white people. Are you going to blame God?
Plus, countless facts have shown, the more unfair and cash-hungry games are, the more popular they get! They breed a vast number of "service industry" workers and solve unemployment problems plaguing various countries! But those who don't spend money needn't worry; in the later stages, you can still grind out good attributes.
The screen switched to introduce the hero's rare attributes:
——Mobility Master: Every three levels the hero gains, both the Attack Speed and Move Speed of the hero's troops increase by 1%!
The entire street erupted again!
While hero skills can be obtained through players' leveling efforts, hero attributes are innate talents and the sole criterion for determining hero strengths and weaknesses!
Deng Jiayi forced a smile, "This is an unbelievable strategic talent! In the late game, it's like the hero's troops come with a built-in Great Frenzy Skill and Great Acceleration Technique, and since the main troop type of the Hell Race is generally fast, this is just icing on the cake! You can imagine, with Japan owning two rare heroes, they must be fully committed to developing the Hell Race, and once the National War comes, China Region will face immense pressure!"
The host asked, "Could such a hero be called a Divine-level Hero?"
Deng Jiayi helplessly smiled, "Divine-level Hero is just what ordinary players called them during the test phase; the game only has ordinary heroes, Epic Heroes, and Legendary Heroes. However, this Mobility Master truly surpasses all known Legendary Heroes, so it's not an exaggeration to call it a Divine-level Hero. For now, I can't think of how to counter such a hero in the later stages!"
The host laughed, "With so many players in China Region, if all participate in the lottery, we should also be able to draw some powerful heroes, right?"
Deng Jiayi laughed, "If we draw such so-called Divine-level Heroes, I'm sure the club owner wouldn't hesitate to buy the account for millions! But the lottery often results in ordinary or even strange talent heroes, which is not conducive to the development of ordinary newcomers. I do not support players participating in the lottery; it's better to customize your hero according to your own preferences. After all, in the later stages, players can still level up and improve their abilities through hard work."
The host chuckled, "So far, Heroic Creation Era has been in operation for three days. Now we have the list of publicly known rare heroes from various countries. Let's take a look at the big screen —"
Rare Talent Hero Ranking:
1. Death Lord — Any Undead creatures in the wild will join the hero's team unconditionally. Owner: Swedish player Vurtne, hero estimated at 10 million US dollars.
2. Hell Gate Master — As the hero levels up, the effect of the Demon Lord Hero profession skill "Hell Gate" increases. Owner: Japan Mitsubishi Team, hero estimated at 6 million US dollars.
3. Unicorn Girl — Every two levels the hero gains, improve the Unicorn troop type's Attack, Defense, and Life by 1 each. Owner: U.S. Supernova Team, hero estimated at 3 million US dollars.
4. Siege Master — Every two levels the hero gains, improve the Attack and Defense of Crossbows by 1 each. Owner: Russian Battle Angel Team, hero estimated at 3 million US dollars.
5. Knight Model — As the hero levels up, the effect of the Knight Hero profession skill "Blessing Ceremony" increases. Owner: British Royal Ark Team, hero estimated at 3 million US dollars.
6. Vampire Princess — Every two levels the hero gains, improve the Vampire troop type's Attack and Defense by 1 each. Owner: French player Natasa, hero estimated at 1 million US dollars.
7. Griffin Breeder — Every two levels the hero gains, improve the Griffin troop type's Attack and Defense by 1 each. Owner: China Star Team, hero estimated at 1 million US dollars.
....
Gazing at the long list of estimated hero values, the entire street was electrified! Da Fei's heart leaped wildly! Although he knew the game was hyped up, he never imagined it would be to this extent! This feeling was just like opening a lottery website, as if everyone in the world has won except for yourself!
Should I also give it a shot? Although their intention to cajole everyone into spending money is clear, isn't it just about recharging a thousand bucks? I've spent thousands on the lottery over the years, not to mention ten thousand! Plus, with my skills as a pro, even if the lottery draw fails and I get just an ordinary account, I can still make it work!