The morning sun barely peeked over the horizon when a voice boomed through the apartment complex,"Good morning! Delivery! Please sign for the parcels!"
Han Jingzhi, roused from his sleep, stumbled to the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
A tall, slender man stood there, clad in a crisp white shirt and red pants, a matching red face cap perched on his head.
This was the virtual store delivery service, renowned for its lightning-fast deliveries throughout the entire Alliance State.
The delivery man, with a face as red as his cap, looked up at Han Jingzhi as the door swung open.
"Good morning, Mr. Han Jingzhi. Your parcels are here, please sign your name here!" He held out a receipt, its surface covered in neat, black lettering.
Han Jingzhi glanced at the receipt; confirming the contents of the package, before signing his name with a flourish.
He then pulled out a few bills from his pocket and handed them to the delivery man hesitantly, "This is five hundred dollars as stated in the virtual network,"
The delivery man used a counting machine to calculate the cash and nodded after a while, "Thank you, sir."
The delivery man took the money and the signed receipt, handing Han Jingzhi his package.
With another nod, he turned and took off to the street driving his van out of the district.
Han Jingzhi entered back inside the apartment and glanced at the time, luckily it was still [7:12 AM] Han Yao was still fast asleep but was bound to wake up anytime soon, so Han Jingzhi opened the parcel and brought out the VR headset dropping it on a table in his room and soon after headed into the kitchen and prepared breakfast.
[8:00 AM]
The sweet and delicious aroma coming from Ramen Han Jingzhi was cooking woke Han Yao up as her tummy growled at the smell and by that time Han Jingzhi was already waiting for her in the dinning with a smile as she appeared he only muttered four words: "Hey, Hungry Yao let's eat..."
[A/N: I await your critics (mischievous grin)]
After they finished breakfast, Han Yao wanted to do the dishes but Han Jingzhi hushed her to get prepared for school..
[11:31 AM]
Han Yao had already gone to school as Han Jingzhi had just finished the whole chores within the house and the next moment after glancing at the time he headed straight to his room...
Inside his room, Han Jingzhi lay comfortably in bed, checking the time.
[11:55 AM]
He grabbed the VR headset, a sleek, futuristic device that allowed the user's mind to connect to the Revolution Online's main server, transporting them directly into the game.
The headset was a marvel of modern technology, a testament to the efforts of major corporations to create a seamless virtual reality experience.
The past had been plagued by problems with gaming devices, leading to the loss of countless accounts when devices were either broken or lost.
This headset solved that issue, storing user data securely through fingerprint and iris scans.
Even if the device was lost or damaged, users wouldn't have to start from scratch.
Han Jingzhi gently pressed the small button on the side of the helmet.
Within seconds, he felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him, his consciousness fading into a state of slumber.
He no longer felt the familiar comfort of his old haggard room.
Instead, he found himself enveloped in a vast, empty void.
[Welcome to Revolution Online Lobby!]
[Do you wish to proceed?]
[Accept / Decline?]
A translucent screen materialized before him, its words shimmering with a faint blue glow.
"I Accept..."
Han Jingzhi murmured, his voice echoing in the silent void.
[00:03
00:02
00:01
00:00]
[Welcome to Revolution Online!]
The black void erupted in a blinding flash of white light, as if a star had been born in the center of the void.
Before Han Jingzhi, a crack appeared out of thin air, resembling a shattered pane of glass.
Crack. Crack. Crack... Crack. Crack. Crack...
The crack grew larger and larger, expanding until it was wide enough for an adult to step through.
Suddenly, the crack shattered completely, revealing a digitalized white room behind it.
[Ding! ]
"Welcome to Revolution Online! I am your guardian, Angel. Revolution Online is a well-developed virtual world where magic, skills, spells, and more are possible, unlike the past virtual worlds where there were only simple skills!"
Inside the white, digital room, a six-winged creature, no bigger than a palm, hovered before Han Jingzhi.
It held a glowing crystal ball in its tiny hands.
Han Jingzhi, eager to explore this new world, listened intently to the creature's words, not missing a single syllable.
"Within the World of Revolution Online, you can choose different types of occupations.
You can be a mage who chooses to depend on magical attacks, an assassin who chooses to depend on camouflage and stealthy attacks, or a warrior (Magic swordsman) who fights against fierce monsters, trying to reach the peak of the world.
So, which one of the above is your choice?"
"Warrior!"
Han Jingzhi declared, his voice ringing with determination.
The little creature nodded its tiny head in understanding.
"Please, place your hands on this."
Angel sent the crystal ball floating towards Han Jingzhi.
Without hesitation, he placed his palms on the sphere, and a soft white mist began to emanate from it, swirling around his hands.
Words began to appear within the crystal ball, glowing with an ethereal light.
[Username: Han Jingzhi «Could be changed at will»]
[Battle Zone: Alliance]
[Level: 0]
[Occupation: Warrior]
[Class: None]
[Title: None]
[Combat strength: None]
[Available Status Points: 30]
As Han Jingzhi stared at the details within the ball, Angel patiently explained, "In the beginning of the game, 30 status points are allocated to each player, regardless of their strengths. Everyone is required to starts from the scratch, choosing their own kind of stats. These stats are as follows: Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Intelligence."
"The stat 'Strength' defines the amount of physical damage one can cause while attacking using your bare hands or a weapon.
This attribute is primarily used by attack-based Warriors.
The stat 'Agility' defines the rate at which one can avoid the attack of a Monster, NPC, or Player.
This kind of attribute mainly depends on one's physical qualities and innate talents, that is to say... even with low agility, it is still possible to avoid attacks if you have good reflexes and reaction speed.
The stat 'Vitality' is the most important stat in the beginning of the game because it represents the player's own life in the game, that is to say, the number of health point (HP) for your own character.
Note: If your HP becomes too low, you will be unable to resist an enemy's attack!.
Lastly, the intelligence stat which defines the number of skills or magic one can use.
If your INT points are low while you are in a battle, you cannot use any skill that requires mana consumption!.
Note: This attribute is the most important one for Mage type characters."
Han Jingzhi listened intently, absorbing every word.
He already had some knowledge of these attributes, but he wanted to learn more about how this new game operated.
The reporter hadn't revealed everything.
"It is time for you to set up your attributes,"
Angel announced, waving its tiny hand over the crystal ball.
The text within the ball faded, replaced by a new dataset.
[Available Status Points: 30]
[STRENGTH: 0]
[AGILITY: 0]
[VITALITY: 0]
[INTELLIGENCE: 0]
Han Jingzhi knowing exactly what to do. Was about to begin distributing his points when Angel's voice rang in his ear, "Whatever you input here will determine your performance, so I'll kindly advise you to input wisely."
"Ok!"
Han Jingzhi nodded, taking a short breath before making his decision. He raised his hand and added 5 points to each of his attributes. He then looked at the remaining 10 status points and pondered for a moment, unwilling to make a rash decision.
He recalled Angel's explanation and began analyzing how to use the remaining points in the most effective way.
After much thought, he allocated 3 more points to Strength, Vitality, and Intelligence.
With 1 status point remaining, Han Jingzhi added it to his Agility attribute.
His final distribution looked like this:
[STRENGTH: 8]
[AGILITY: 6]
[VITALITY: 8]
[INTELLIGENCE: 8]
...
"Do you want to save your progress?"
Without hesitation, Han Jingzhi replied, "Yes!"
"Ding! - - -Saving user's Progress... what username would you like to go with?"
"Demonic Troll!"
"Thank you for your time... Wish you safe gaming!"
"Character creation completed!. You'll be teleported in 5 seconds."
[Count down... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 0...]
As the timer reached zero, Han Jingzhi barely had time to bid farewell to Angel before his vision twisted, a sharp pain lancing through his head.
When he blinked and opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a dense forest.
[Ding!]
[Welcome to The Revolution Online. In the Revolution world, everyone here, regardless of their identities in the real world, has the same start; how far you go will depend on you. Revolution Online wishes you safe gaming.]
…
"Where am I?"
Han Jingzhi wondered aloud, his voice echoing through the silent forest.
As if answering his question, a 3D image map appeared before his eyes, indicating his current location.
"Moonlight Forest?"
Han Jingzhi read aloud, his brow furrowing in confusion.
Just as he stood up, attempting to get his bearings, a beautiful voice resonated behind him, "Excuse me... brother there are you lost?"
....
End of Chapter 2