"There are 1 minute and 30 seconds left until the game starts. Please name your character."
Upon hearing the system prompt sound once again, Ethan Carter shook his head, deciding not to overthink it. After all, it was a groundbreaking game, surely containing many aspects beyond his understanding. He steadied himself and declared:
"Sealed."
This name represented his current state of mind.
"Naming successful. In-game, your original appearance cannot be adjusted. However, after entering the game, you can purchase masks or veils in the store to conceal your visage. To help players quickly adapt, the initial pain sensitivity is set at 5%. For every ten levels, the system will automatically increase pain sensitivity by 5%. All other senses are consistent with the real world.
Upon entering the game, the system will randomly generate a lifelong talent based on the player's comprehensive characteristics. Each person's talent has its unique features. Please utilize your talent wisely and choose a profession that best matches your abilities."
"Alright, enjoy your game! The game will begin shortly... 10 9 ... 3...2...1."
As soon as the countdown ended, a flash of light enveloped Ethan, and he found himself standing in the novice village. Surrounding him, white lights flickered continuously as more players appeared, quickly making the area overcrowded.
"Wait, is this the game?" "Damn, this is so realistic." "It's exactly like real life." "Ah, it hurts, it hurts... Who the hell is pinching me?" "Uh, sorry, I'm just testing it out. I thought I was dreaming, but it really is 100% realism." "Shit, don't you know how to pinch yourself?"
The cacophony of voices around him made Ethan almost unable to discern reality from the game.
"Welcome to Oracle. You have spawned in Novice Village No. 8365. The system has granted you a novice package. Your talent, [Venom Source], has been generated. Please check your character panel."
"Venom Source? What the hell? I'm such an upright person, what's this got to do with poison?" Ethan was baffled. He knew that each person's talent was determined by themselves, and he couldn't understand why his was related to poison.
Meanwhile, in the real world, after Ethan's consciousness entered the game, his skin began to pale as toxins continuously invaded his bloodstream. Moments later, when the gaming helmet performed a blood sample collection, it detected the presence of toxins in his blood. Through this process, the gaming helmet ultimately absorbed most of the toxins from Ethan's body.
"Open character interface," Ethan muttered to himself.
Name: Sealed
Level: 0
Health: 50
Mana: 50
Physical Attack: 10
Magical Attack: 10
Physical Defense: 5
Magical Defense: 5
Movement Speed: 5
Experience: 0/100
Strength: 5 (Influences Physical Attack; 1 Strength = +2 Physical Attack)
Intelligence: 5 (Influences Magical Attack; 1 Intelligence = +2 Magical Attack)
Constitution: 5 (Influences Health; 1 Constitution = +10 Health)
Stamina: 5 (Influences Defense; 1 Stamina = +1 Physical Defense and +1 Magical Defense)
Spirit: 5 (Influences Mana; 1 Spirit = +10 Mana)
Agility: 5 (Influences Movement and Attack Speed; 1 Agility = +1 Movement Speed and +0.5% Attack Speed)
All novices spawn with attributes set to 5, ensuring fairness unless talents provide attribute bonuses.
Skills:
Insight (Allows viewing information of monsters up to 10 levels higher than the player's level)
Talent:
Venom Source: Basic attacks or melee skills inflict deadly poison on targets (cannot trigger on ranged attacks). This poison deals 1 point of true damage per second and can stack up to one layer, lasting for 60 seconds. While poisoned, the target cannot regenerate health. Special Feature: Each time you kill a target that is at least 5 levels higher than yourself, the poison damage increases by one point. Each time you kill a boss that is not lower than your realm level, the number of poison stacks increases by one.
Ethan stared blankly at his talent. Although it initially seemed worthless, upon reading the special features, his heart began to race. Based on his understanding of the game, he could sense that this talent would become incredibly powerful as he progressed.
He felt like he was about to take off! Houses, cars, money, and girls were all beckoning him. At this moment, he no longer worried about his connection to poison; he just knew this talent was fantastic.
He quickly opened his inventory and unpacked the novice package, which unsurprisingly contained a wooden sword and a cloth tunic.
Wooden Sword: +2 Physical Attack (Novice Equipment)
Cloth Tunic: +1 Physical Defense (Novice Equipment)
Better than nothing, he immediately equipped them, raising his attack to 12 and defense to 6.
Glancing around at the noisy crowd and the incessant white lights, he estimated that the novice village was nearing ten thousand players. According to official announcements, the Novice Village for the United States alone had ten thousand players. If every novice village was similar, it meant the game had already surpassed one hundred million players in the United States alone. It was terrifying...
After finally squeezing out of the crowd, Ethan looked for an NPC to see if there were any quests, only to find that the village had just over a dozen NPCs, all surrounded by players on three sides.
"Uh, forget it. Even if there are quests in the early stages, the rewards aren't great. It's better not to waste time and go out to kill monsters." Ethan thought to himself.
Walking out of the village entrance led to a vast grassland, dotted with many rabbits hopping around. At this moment, the entire grassland was already filled with players, though white lights occasionally flickered, indicating player deaths.
"Can these cute bunnies actually kill people?" Ethan was astonished. He approached a rabbit and used Insight on it.
[Little White Rabbit]
Level: 1
Health: 100
Physical Attack: 12
Physical Defense: 7
Speed: 6
Skills: None
Looking at the stats of the little white rabbit and then at his own, Ethan twitched his lips, finally understanding why people were dying. Without forming a party, an average player couldn't even defeat the lowest-level rabbit.
Before reaching level ten and changing professions, players' attributes were generally the same. With his wooden sword giving +12 attack and his cloth tunic providing +6 defense, attacking a rabbit would deal 5 damage (12 attack - 7 defense = 5). Conversely, the rabbit would deal 6 damage to him. The key point was the rabbit had 100 health while the player only had 50 health. Early on, attack speeds were identical, meaning if you hit the rabbit once, it would grab you once. The outcome was obvious. The most annoying part was that the rabbit's speed was slightly faster than the player's, meaning you couldn't win or escape. Was this game serious?
"Damn, the game developers are real assholes. I've already been killed by a rabbit twice. Can you believe it?"
"I'm even worse off. I spawned first and have died three times already. After playing games for so many years, this is the first time I've found I can't even beat a rabbit. It's embarrassing!"
Although many players died, the sheer number of them made it inevitable. Often, when a rabbit spawned, several people would gang up on it. Without forming a party, experience was granted to the final hitter. As for loot, it depended on who was the fastest. However, many rabbits had already been killed, occasionally dropping a copper coin and rabbit fur. Equipment drops were unheard of, and Oracle's drop rates were truly disheartening.
"Damn, killing a rabbit only gives 1 experience point. I finally managed to snag one; killing a hundred would take forever." someone complained. Ethan twitched his lips. Is this game really that hard?
Watching the fervent players around him, he felt there was no way to fight here. The rabbit he had just observed was already being surrounded and mauled by a group. "Forget it, I'll try another place," Ethan thought to himself.