Li Yao held the gaming glasses in his hand and dazedly stared at the electronic calendar on the wall. Even now, he still couldn't bring himself to believe it. He had been reborn, back to ten years ago.
At that moment, his wrist vibrated. As Li Yao tapped with his finger, a palm sized holographic screen appeared above his wrist. On the light screen, there was a pretty young girl who looked no more than a teenager.
"Bro, you forgot to call me again, mom and I are missing you."
Listening to his sister's innocent voice, Li Yao felt a bit dazed.
Memories of his past life flooded back in torrents. Yao was born into an ordinary family, he had graduated from the best university in China after high school, and he had always been the pride of his parents.
However, after he graduated from college, Li Yao's parents had tried to arrange for him to become a civil servant. With his qualifications, it wouldn't have been difficult for him to land such a position, especially with the help of a distant relative. But he had fallen in love with a different career. He was passionate about gaming. He dreamed of becoming the most popular livestreamer and commentator in all China, even the world.
Li Yao's father strongly disagreed with him pursuing this seemingly futureless career. Neither father nor son could convince the other. In the end, Li Yao had left his family behind and started his career as a livestreamer, releasing game guidance materials online.
Since then, several years had passed without him going home.
One time, Yao partnered with the gold farming team of Shengshi Guild to run dungeons. While livestreaming, he exposed how the Shengshi Dynasty's Second Team leader was selfishly hoarding gear. This incident was widely broadcasted online, it was even deliberately used by rival guilds to tarnish Shengshi's reputation.
The Shengshi Dynasty directed all their anger at him. They targeted and sabotaged him both in-game and in reality by employing all sorts of despicable means. This caused him unbearable misery.
It didn't just stop at him either; it eventually lead to his sister and his parents having to help him pay off his enormous debts, causing terrible damages to his family.
Even now, he could remember the despairing look in the elderly eyes of his parents, and recalled how each passing moment had felt like his heart was being pierced with pins and needles.
"Bro, what's wrong? Are you having a hard time outside? You should just come home. You know, dad may act the toughest, but he actually cares for you the most. He always beats around the bush to get news of you from me."
Li Yao took a deep breath to steady his emotions, then said with a smile: "I'll come home, I'll be back soon."
"Really? Bro, you're not short on rent again, are you? I have saved up some pocket money. Why don't you use it first? But, you mustn't tell mom and dad." Li Jia knew Li Yao very well. She knew that he wouldn't easily admit defeat unless he encountered some problems.
"Would you look at that–you don't think highly of your brother at all, huh? You should keep your pocket money for your dowry." Li Yao said, shaking his head, "Just focus on your studies for now. I'll be home by the end of the year at the latest."
"Hehe, alright then, remember what you promised and don't lie to me. Oh yeah bro, you should check your account. I'm going to go have dinner, bye."
Before Li Yao could say anything, Li Jia's image had disappeared. Li Yao clicked on his wrist communicator and saw an extra five thousand credit points added to his account. A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"In this life, I won't let you worry about me again. I will also ensure that you live a good life. Definitely."
After being reborn, it became very clear to Li Yao what he truly wanted. In his past life did he really not want to become a civil servant? Did he really want to become a livestreamer or commentator? The answer was no in both cases. All those decisions were influenced by his narrow-minded pride. He felt that since he was adult, his parents shouldn't be able to control his every move. His decision to leave was just a burst of pride.
Looking back now, it all seemed incredibly naive. Standing by the window of his fifty-plus floor apartment, gazing down at the never-ending stream of levitating cars below, Li Yao cleared his mind.
Li Yao decided to return to "The Ancient God World" and start anew. After all, in his previous life, he was a quasi-god-level player. Because he had been forced to make a living by writing game walkthroughs after being framed, he was familiar with all sorts of game guides in order to avoid repetition. Even now, he had a vast amount of game strategies in his mind.
In addition, the entire world was now interconnected, even the several planets within the Solar System had been developed and this system became a single nation.
"The Ancient God World" was a VR game planned and released by the Solar System government. All the continents and administrative regions were in a single server, purportedly to promote integration within the system.
The deeper implications were to prepare for humans entering the interstellar era, with the game being designed to be incredibly difficult and brutal to reflect the harsh realities of stellar development.
The official goal was to prepare humans to face the imminent, fierce and brutal interstellar era. The server could accommodate nearly twenty billion people from the Solar System, ensuring a normal operation.
As someone who had been reborn once, Yao knew these statements were true.
Thanks to the push from the government, nearly a hundred million players joined the game on the day it was launched. Within five years, "The Ancient God World" became the true second world.
With numerous strategies in mind and a quasi-god level of skill, why would he choose any other path after being reborn?
Based on his previous experiences, he would have to leave this place in five days because he wouldn't be able to afford the expensive rent and would have to move to a slum.
Now, the most critical issue that Yao faced was not revenge, but earning three months' rent to pay to the landlord. Otherwise, He would have to pack up and leave.
After sorting out his thoughts, Li Yao put on his glasses and activated the virtual device.
"The Ancient God World" has been online for two days, and Li Yao already owned a level two rogue character.
Having been reborn, he chose to become a hunter. Not to say of his plans, but in terms of strength alone, he was only a minor expert after playing as a rogue for two years in his previous life. Forced to delete his account, he then played as a hunter. After eight years of playing as a hunter, he had become a quasi-god-level player. Given this, he wouldn't choose to play as a rogue.
"System: Citizen Li Yao still has two opportunities for character rebuilding. "
"System: Would you like to recreate your character?"
"Yes."
"System: Please select your race and profession."
The "Ancient God World" borrowed and merged from games of Earth's past millennium to formulate their game. The game consisted of several continents, each having a variety of intelligent beings.
Overall, each continent was divided into three factions: The Light Faction, the Dark Camp, and the Neutral Faction.
Having been reborn, Li Yao naturally understood all of these and made his choice without hesitation.
"I choose High Elf, and as for the profession, I choose Hunter."
According to racial talent, ancient elves and Amazons were more suited to the profession of hunter. But Li Yao couldn't make that choice, because his plan required him to become a mechanical hunter as a High Elf, and evolve to be among the top most ranked among all quasi-god players, even within the god-level players.
"System: Please create a game name."
"Prairie Fire."
"System The game name is available. Enjoy your game."
Citizens from various parts of the Solar System were divided not according to administrative districts or races, but according to their chosen game characters and assigned to various continents.
The spawn location for High Elves was the Tower of the Sun. This was the main beginners' village for high elves. Of course, the beginners' village where Li Yao was located was merely a mirrored space of the Tower of the Sun. Otherwise, how can a single beginners' village accommodate so many players?
Two days have passed. Ordinary players were already more than level two.
But the beginner's village where Li Yao was, was incredibly busy, with new characters continuously spawning. Li Yao glanced at the sun, determined his direction, and struggled through the crowd.
Since the players all came from different administrative districts and were of different races, the congregation was even more chaotic. It took Li Yao more than ten minutes to push through the square where new players were spawning.
"There are twenty copper coins in the backpack, more than enough." Upon seeing the copper coins in the money bag, Li Yao let out a sigh of relief.
"I want to buy a climbing axe and a decomposition knife," Li Yao said to the NPC at the grocery shop.
"A regular climbing axe is two copper coins, while a superior one is ten copper coins. The decomposition knife costs the same."
"I want a regular climbing axe and a superior decomposition knife," Li Yao handed over the coins.
The climbing axe is a must-have item for casual players, a tool designed specifically for climbing enthusiasts.
But the reborn Li Yao understood that just because it was a recreational item didn't mean it was useless to them, the gaming players. If used correctly, even leisure items could play a very important role.
In order for Li Yao to become a hunter who can command mechanical pets, he must obtain an item that would be easy to get later in the game when players possess flying mounts. But for now, he needed to rely on the climbing axe.
And the superior decomposition knife also had its uses.
Li Yao spent the remaining money on low-quality arrow shafts, almost filling his sixteen-slot bag. He then fastened the novice bow on his back and swiftly ran out of the beginner's village. Outside the village was equally bustling, with countless players killing monsters.
Several players from the Hua Xia region kindly invited him to team up along the way, but Li Yao politely declined as he ran toward his destination and checked his character's attributes.
Character: Prairie Fire
Job: Hunter
Life: 100
Magic: 100
Strength:3
Agility:5
Intelligence:3
Endurance::3
Spirit:4
Attack:4-6
Armor:4
Move Speed:105%
Passive Talent: Arcane Affinity, increased flashy rate of magic item production by 2%.
Passive Talent: Magic Resistance, resist magical damage by 2%.
Active Talent: Arcane Torrent, interrupts the magic of enemies within eight yards and recovers 30% of the caster's magic, with a cooldown of two minutes.
Equipments: Novice short bow, attack 1-2.
Regular Arrow Bag: Ten slots, armor 1.
All high elf hunters who chose to have the same attributes. However, according to different professions, character attribute points have different effects on the character.
Half an hour later, Li Yao arrived in the level 5 monster zone. Looking at the towering Tomb of the Sun Chaser in the distance, Li Yao finally found a reference point.
What Li Yao wanted was in a small valley in the mountains north of the Tomb of the Sun Chaser.
From the outside, it would appear to be a range of mountains. Only by climbing to the top of a mountain could one see a small valley.
Li Yao cautiously skirted around the monsters and arrived at the foot of the mountain. In his current state, getting entangled with level five monsters meant certain death.
"System: Player has changed the operating mode to free mode, confirm?"
"Confirm."
The Ancient God World has two modes of operation, free mode and lock mode. In lock mode, the system assists players in correcting and calibrating, and skills and attacks are adjusted according to the player's attributes.
In free mode, all actions, attacks, and skills are completely up to the player, and the hit attribute does not work.
Many players happily chose free mode because the official had given a detailed introduction to the free mode.
Many monsters have breakthrough settings and skill completion settings.
The higher the skill completion, the higher the attack, and the special effects of the skill will also increase correspondingly.
In the official explanation about the breakthrough setting for monsters, hitting the breakthrough spot would yield special materials that are basically unobtainable in the lock mode.
However, the reality was that melee players had it easier. Even if the skill completion wasn't high, they were still causing damage.
Due to the reform of the hate mechanism, monsters generally wouldn't just stand still to get hit like in other online games. These mobile monsters caused countless long-range players to resent them.
Mages had it a little better as the early stage gestures and incantations were simple, just casting spells was enough.
Only bow and arrow users, who are not shooting athletes, found hitting monsters with a bow many times more difficult than mages. The result was that they were either too close and got killed by the monsters or too far and couldn't hit them.
Not only were the hunter players frustrated, other professions also didn't want to team up with hunters, leading to numerous players giving up playing the hunter class.
Even in the previous life, after a decade of gameplay, hunters were still the least played amongst all professions, their numbers weren't even one tenth that of Warrior players. Most of the remaining Hunter players mainly depended on their pets to survive, with very few able to handle a bow and arrow well.
It was only when hunters were able to use hand crossbows, hunting rifles, and crossbow cannons as they levelled up, did they finally heave a sigh of relief.