While he waited for the countdown, Bai Tian looked at his status in more detail.
[Health: If your health reaches 0, your character will die, and you will be penalized.]
[Qi: Required for certain Skills. Only available to Cultivators.]
[Strength: Increases your overall strength.]
[Agility: Increases your speed and stamina.]
[Endurance: Increases your physical defense and health]
[Spirit: Increases your Qi and boost the power of certain techniques. Only available to Cultivators.]
[Resistance: Increases your magic defense and resistance to harmful ailments.]
Once there was only an hour left before High Fantasy Online opened its servers, a window popped up before Bai Tian.
[1. Tristan Empire, Origin of Knights]
[2. Valliere Empire, Magic Kingdom]
[3. Dao, Land of Martial Arts]
[4. Khalups, Kingdom of Steel]
Bai Tian looked at his options with a pondering face.
As a Cultivator himself, it would only be logical for him to pick something that he was familiar with, but he already had enough of martial arts in the real world, so he immediately crossed out Dao, Land of Martial Arts.
He wasn't much of a fan of knights either, so he ignored the Tristan Empire.
"Magic Kingdom or the Kingdom of Steel…"
He was intrigued by the Kingdom of Steel, but he was also interested in this world's magic as someone who played mostly magic classes in previous games.
In the end, he picked the Kingdom of Steel as his starting area because of his adventurous nature.
<1x 'Beginner's Gift Box' has been sent to your inventory>
"Inventory." Bai Tian mumbled.
A small window with 28 slots appeared before him. One of these slots were occupied while the rest were empty.
He then tapped on the occupied slot with his finger.
"Yes."
<'Apprentice Martial Artist's Robe' has been sent to your inventory>
<'Wooden Sword' has been sent to your inventory>
<5x 'Small Health Potion' has been sent to your inventory>
<2x 'Small Qi Potion' has been sent to your inventory>
After receiving several items, Bai Tian immediately replaced his current plain clothes with the Apprentice Martial Artist's Robe that granted him no bonuses.
[Wooden Sword]
[Grade: Common]
[Durability: 100/100]
[Weapon Attack: 10]
[Description: A sword carved from ordinary wood. Perfect for apprentice martial artists.]
"At least I have a weapon."
He checked out the potions next.
[Small Health Potion: Restores 250 health over 5 seconds(30 seconds cooldown)]
[Small Qi Potion: Restores 1,000 Qi over 5 seconds(30 seconds cooldown)]
Before he was aware, there was only a minute left before the game officially opened.
When there was only ten seconds left, a voice resounded, "You will be teleported in 10…9…8…"
"3…2…1!"
Bai Tian's vision blurred for a second. When it cleared up, he found himself in the middle of a bustling city. There were several other players that had been teleported to the same place as him, but they quickly took off without saying anything to each other.
Bai Tian didn't linger for too long either, but he still took a moment to admire his surroundings.
Since he has played other virtual reality games, he wasn't too unfamiliar with his environment.
While the other players rushed to gain an advantage over each other, a common sight in new games, Bai Tian took his time to explore the streets. Unlike the others, he wasn't worried about lagging behind.
"Map."
He opened the map to see how vast this world was, but there was very limited information, and the only thing he could see was his current location.
[Human Continent, Khalups, Red Iron City.]
"Human Continent, huh. What a straightforward name."
There was also a visual map of the city that showed all of the stores and special areas available.
After memorizing the entire map, Bai Tian started making his way towards the training grounds, where people can go to practice their skills against dummies.
Sometime later, he arrived at a spacious open field. There were already people training with dummies there, but none of them looked like players.
A bulky middle-aged man approached Bai Tian after noticing his desire to train on the training ground.
"What level are you, kiddo?" The man asked him.
"Level 1."
"A newbie, huh. Alright, you can use this place for free for a week. Try not to bother the others or I will have to kick you out. Oh, you are also limited to the straw dummies."
"Thanks." Bai Tian gave him a slight bow, but the man didn't understand the gesture and ignored it.
Once the bulky man walked away, Bai Tian approached one of the straw dummies there and retrieved his wooden sword.
'Time to see whether one's experience and skills in the real world can truly be transferred into this game.' Bai Tian thought to himself as he took an offensive stance.
Besides its surreal virtual reality experience, High Fantasy Online also boasted that everyone could apply their abilities in the real world inside the game. For example, if someone knew swordsmanship or archery in the real world, they could use such abilities in the game and even create an actual skill out of it with some limitations.
This kind of system was unheard of before High Fantasy Online, and if it turned out to be true, it would truly revolutionize the gaming industry.
After taking a deep breath, a vicious flicker appeared in Bai Tian's eyes as he moved his body and swung the wooden sword.
'Dragon Rush!'
Whoosh! Pap!
The wooden sword struck the dummy with precise accuracy and incredible force, causing it to fall backward until it slammed into the ground, but since it was rooted to the ground, it quickly got back up without any discernible damage done to it.
Bai Tian fixed his posture and looked at the wooden sword in his grasp with a pondering face.
'That was definitely the sword technique 'Dragon Rush', but it was too weak. Is this because I am still level one?' He wondered.
'And this tingly sensation in my hand. This really feels like the real world! What a surreal experience.'
Sometime later, he used Dragon Rush again.
Pap!
And again.
Pap!
It felt like he was improving with every strike, but it wasn't anything worth mentioning in his eyes.
The others at the training ground quickly took notice of Bai Tian's presence, mostly because of the loud sound produced by his wooden sword striking the dummy.
"What kind of swordsmanship is that? It's so powerful that I can feel it from here."
"Are you sure he's not using a Skill?" Another said.
"It's definitely a Skill."
They continued watching until they got bored and returned to their own training.
Meanwhile, after Bai Tian used Dragon Rush for the 10th time, he received a notification.
[Progress: 10%]
Bai Tian smiled after seeing the notification.
"So this is how it works, huh. Very well. I shall not leave this place until I learn it!"
He proceeded to continue abusing the straw dummy with the wooden sword.
Every time he used Dragon Rush, his progress would increase by 1 percent, so one could assume that he'd learn the Skill after using it 100 times.
Sometime later.
"I will call it Dragon Rush."
"Oh? I get to remain anonymous? This wasn't possible in the other games." Bai Tian decided to remain anonymous since he didn't want too much attention so early on, especially considering his situation.
The following moment, multiple announcements appeared in the sky throughout the entire world that was witnessed by tens of millions of players.
The players were shocked out of their minds when they saw the announcement. After all, the game had only come out an hour ago, yet someone has already created a new Skill?
"Why would anyone want to hide their identity? They would instantly become famous if they aren't already with this achievement." Some players questioned Bai Tian's decision to remain anonymous.
With how big gaming has become in the world with over half of the world's population as gamers, there are countless benefits from being famous in the field of gaming, something almost all gamers wish to become.
While the players slowly recovered from their shock, Bai Tian was looking at the two titles that he'd earned.
[Skill Creator: All Skills created by you will have 10% increased efficiency.]
[Progenitor: Increases experience gained by 20%. All Skill cooldowns will be decreased by 10%. Luck is greatly increased.]
"Luck? I don't see this in my character status. Is this a hidden stat?" Bai Tian mumbled with an intrigued look on his face.
He looked at his new Skill next.
[Dragon Rush]
[Rarity: Unique]
[Rank: 1]
[Description: A unique sword technique created by Player 'Black Heaven'. Unleashes a quick and devastating slashing attack that deals 300% physical damage. Consumes 200(-20) Qi per use. Cooldown: 5(-0.5) seconds]
"So efficiency lowers the amount of Qi I need to consume for my skills. This is huge and could potentially even be game breaking if pushed to its limits…" He made a mental note to himself to keep a lookout for this kind of bonus.
Once he was satisfied, Bai Tian decided to use Dragon Rush again to see if there would be any difference before and after learning the Skill.
After taking a deep breath, he unleashed the Skill.
Pow!
A crisp noise resounded as the straw dummy was rooted out of the ground and sent flying meters away, startling everyone at the training ground.
Bai Tian tightened his grip on the wooden sword after seeing the results, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.
'Amazing!' He laughed inwardly, and he couldn't wait to create even more Skills with his vast knowledge of cultivation techniques.
Suddenly, the bulky middle-aged man approached him and said, "Are you really level 1?"
He doubted Bai Tian's claim to be a level 1, as there was nothing novice about what was just done.
"Yes, I am really level 1." Bai Tian reconfirmed.
"Then your Skill must be at a considerably high rank. I'm jealous. Anyways, you are no longer allowed to train with the straw dummies. They won't be able to endure your damage, even though they can take hits from those at level 10 without a problem."
"Are you kicking me out of the training ground?" Bai Tian raised an eyebrow.
The middle-aged man paused for a second before laughing, "That wasn't my intention. You can use the iron dummies. They can take hits even from those around level 25. Though, I don't think your weapon will last much longer either."
Bai Tian glanced at his wooden sword.
[Durability: 7/100]
When an equipment's durability reaches zero, they will lose their bonuses and become near unusable.
"You're right. It will last a few more hits at most." Bai Tian sighed.
"Do you not have another weapon? That wooden sword is only useful for training on dummies."
He shook his head, "Nope."
The bulky man immediately began pondering.
"Since you seem to have a lot of potential, this Senior will give you some assistance." The bulky man then retrieved a letter from his pocket and offered it to Bai Tian.
"What's this?" Bai Tian asked as he accepted it.
"A letter of recommendation. Take this letter to Master Vulcan, who is working at Crimson Smithy as a master blacksmith. If he's in a good mood, you'll be able to get a new weapon for free."
"Really? Thank you… uh…"
"I'm Jason. Nice to meet you…"
"You can call me Black Heaven."
"Black Heaven? What a weird name." Jason chuckled.
"Anyways, the Crimson Smithy is six blocks in that direction. Once you see a restaurant with a big red door, take a right turn and walk two more blocks."
After thanking Jason again, Bai Tian made his way to the Crimson Smithy with the letter of recommendation in his inventory, feeling like he was doing a mini quest.
A few minutes later, as he approached the Crimson Smithy, the sound of clanging metal rang in his ear, growing louder with each step. The building is a single-story, rectangular structure made purely out of metal.
Bai Tian stood outside for several minutes to admire the building. Once he was satisfied, he opened the metal door that creaked as he pushed it wide open.
Upon stepping foot inside the building, Bai Tian could immediately feel the temperature soaring. Though, it wasn't to the point where it would make him sweat.
"Welcome to the Crimson Smithy!" A young voice resounded.
Bai Tian looked at the counter, where a young man with short brown hair and a red bandana around his head was smiling back.