Chapter 2 Part 1

“Ah-choo!” Xia Xifeng’s loud sneeze shattered the heavy atmosphere.

He plopped down onto the grass, wrapping his arms around himself for warmth to reduce the area exposed to the wind.

“Qin Lang, after Fantasy Realms launched, the only sun left in the sky was ‘Bloody Sun.’ The other sun, ‘Hope’s Sun,’ was destroyed during the ‘Doomsday’ launch event. If we’ve really transmigrated inside Fantasy Realms, it should be the Twin Suns Era now. The Doomsday Era hasn’t arrived yet.”

Xia Xifeng said while rubbing his arms for warmth.

As a hardcore lore and setting enthusiast, once he calmed down, a flood of information instantly surged into his mind: “No idea how many years are left before the ‘Doomsday’ event. We’ll know once we find a passerby to ask the time. Why are you standing so tall? Catching the wind?”

Qin Lang had been about to retort when another clear breeze blew past, and he sat down as well: “Let’s study the systems first.”

“Yeah,” Xia Xifeng responded sullenly.

The sun rose from the east to the center of the sky. Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang left the small riverbank and found a small tree to lean against and sit.

Before approaching the small tree, the two carefully observed the condition of the tree canopy and threw a few stones at it before daring to walk over.

Who knew what dangerous creatures might pop out in a fantasy world? Even if there weren’t overly dangerous creatures, venomous snakes and insects could make the two, dressed only in their shorts, suffer greatly. They were very cautious.

By the time Xia Xifeng felt hungry, he had finally figured out the system.

The system’s general framework was similar to the life skills in Fantasy Realms.

Life skills were divided into four major categories: Farming, Animal Husbandry, Gathering, and Handicrafts. Under these major categories were many sub-categories, forming a tall skill tree.

The first row of basic life skills on the skill tree was already fully lit.

Fantasy Realms had been running for many years and had stitched together countless game genres.

Xia Xifeng’s system skill tree was the most traditional skill tree from farming management games. From the earliest pixel-art farming games to high-definition 3D farming games, almost all followed this skill tree set.

Xia Xifeng’s system required two types of experience.

The first was Character Experience, the traditional experience given by killing monsters and completing quests in online games.

Although Xia Xifeng’s system had no combat skills, each time his character leveled up, he would also gain Attribute Points to enhance his physical fitness. Moreover, each level-up granted him Skill Points to unlock new life skills.

The second was Skill Experience, i.e., Skill Proficiency.

Every time Xia Xifeng used a life skill, he would gain Proficiency. Different levels of life skills yielded different quantities, qualities, and types of byproducts.

In short, anyone who had played any farming game would find this system familiar and could quickly get started.

Beyond this, the system had a “Shop” function that was different from the game.

In the game, items Xia Xifeng made could be traded with NPCs or listed on the auction house to trade with players.

Now that Fantasy Realms had become reality, not only were there no other players in the world, but the currency provided by the native inhabitants didn’t count as “Game Currency.” If Xia Xifeng wanted to earn currency, he could only do so through the “Shop.”

The “Shop” was divided into three sections: Orders, Buyback, and Store.

The initial Store was empty. When Xia Xifeng sold goods to the system through “Orders” and “Buyback,” such goods would permanently appear in the “Store.”

Depending on the rarity of the goods, the Store would refresh the quantity daily, monthly, or annually. The most precious items were only sold once in the Store, with a minimum quantity of “2.”

If the Store’s selling price was “1,” the “Orders” daily refreshed purchase price fluctuated between “2—10,” and the “Buyback” price was fixed at “0.1.” “Buyback” had no restrictions on type or quantity; Xia Xifeng could sell as much as he wanted.

In other words, even limited-edition items from the original Fantasy Realms game—as long as Xia Xifeng sold them to the system, he was guaranteed at least two, though the system would swindle a lot of money out of him.

“The Buyback price is actually this generous?” Xia Xifeng breathed a sigh of relief.

This system’s pricing setup was encouraging him to constantly produce goods and earn money through volume.

After finishing his research on his own system, Xia Xifeng took a rough glance at Qin Lang’s system.

Qin Lang’s system was nowhere near as frilly. His system skill tree was exactly the same as the combat skill tree in Fantasy Realms.

Like combat classes in most games, Fantasy Realms combat skills were also divided into “General” and “Class” types.

General skills didn’t require skill points and were already fully lit.

When a player reached level ten, they could choose their first class and receive their first class skill point. After that, every ten levels, they would gain one skill point.

Unlike traditional online games where a player had to follow a single class line after changing class, Fantasy Realms was more freeform.

Although unlocking a lower-tier branch skill required unlocking the upper-tier branch skill first, players could unlock any initial class skill at any time and start any class line.

Each class had a maximum of ten levels, meaning when a player reached level one hundred, they could graduate from one class.

When they transmigrated, the level cap in Fantasy Realms was two hundred, meaning players could fully max two classes or unlock the initial skills of all classes.

Combat gameplay had a high degree of freedom, but not all online game players were hardcore. The game designers were fairly protective of weaker players regarding skill combinations.

Although there were unorthodox “jack-of-all-trades” playstyles, the designers recommended players only choose two classes. This was because all the “Legendary Quests” that gave good rewards required players to have one or two classes maxed out to receive them.

Furthermore, each class had different affinities and could equip different gear. Random mixing might result in one plus one equaling less than two. There were only a few fixed combinations.

For instance, the spellsword playstyle combining Warrior and Mage was quite foolish—mage skills would be interrupted by enemies right as the incantation started.

Were there mage skills with no incantation time that couldn’t be interrupted? Dream on, that would be way too game-breaking. Would melee classes even get to play?

Qin Lang’s system was simple, crude, and boring. Aside from the desperate need for money when allocating skills and the need to grind Proficiency to level up skills after unlocking them, it had absolutely no fancy frills.

“Are you thinking of choosing the Sorcerer plus Mage combo?” Xia Xifeng asked.

Although Xia Xifeng didn’t like combat, having been a veteran player for so long and a hardcore setting and lore scholar, he was very knowledgeable about combat classes and skills. As long as he didn’t have to actually execute them, he was a master of theorycrafting.

Fantasy Realms was a Western fantasy game. Unlike Japanese-style fantasy games, Sorcerers were closer to the traditional image of spellcasters, while Mages had stronger support capabilities.

Sorcerers were individuals who, possessing special bloodlines or having signed contracts with special entities, could directly use offensive magic without understanding what magic even was.

Mages were researchers. They studied the “Magical Network,” an energy-network-like entity, and used the power of the “Magical Network” through scrolls, inscriptions, and other magical tools.

In other words, in combat, a Sorcerer threw big fireballs, while a Mage might blast your face off with a magical cannon.

Therefore, Mages were far inferior to Sorcerers in solo play.

A max-level Sorcerer plus a max-level Mage, with both solo and support capabilities maxed out, was a powerful class combination that had existed in Fantasy Realms since its launch.

Examples included Blue Dragon Sorcery plus Frost Magic, or Fire Dragon Sorcery plus Explosion Magic.

Qin Lang said, “Devil Sorcery plus Arcane Magic.”

“That’s a really dirty playstyle.” Xia Xifeng first took a jab at Qin Lang before offering his opinion. “This world actually has gods. Now we’re both players and natives. I suggest choosing a class combination that’s not too tightly linked to gods.”

Xia Xifeng knew Qin Lang was a pure combat player, the kind of barbarian player who skipped all story and only knew “Kill, kill, kill.” He probably didn’t understand the game’s background setting too well.

“The power sources of Sorcerers are all gods or devils, inherently suppressed by their bloodline or contract holders. A Mage’s ability is affected by the ‘Magical Network,’ which is built by the God of Magic and controlled by the God of Magic. Whenever a major event related to a Sorcerer’s power source or the God of Magic occurs, the abilities of Sorcerers and Mages are affected,” Xia Xifeng explained.

In the game’s background setting, higher beings were always causing trouble. The God of Magic had even been replaced twice.

Every time the God of Magic changed, the “Magical Network” would temporarily become useless.

While playing the game, players weren’t affected by the story. No matter how many Gods of Magic died, mage players continued to play as usual. Only NPCs would experience ability loss.

But now that Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had transmigrated into this world, it wasn’t certain they wouldn’t be affected. They couldn’t gamble on that possibility.

Qin Lang thought for a moment: “Shadow Assassin plus Bladedance Bard?”

Shadow Assassins had various escape skills, were the most agile and flexible, and although their skills could only be used with short weapons and their attack power was average, their weak point damage multiplier was twice that of other classes.

Bladedance Bards were a type of bard that abandoned the bard’s team support abilities to enhance personal combat ability and self-buffing capability, able to use long and short swords. Short swords counted as short blades.

At level two hundred, a max-level Shadow Assassin plus max-level Bladedance Bard would become an agile berserker assassin.

Squishy with low HP? Gotta touch me first!

Xia Xifeng couldn’t help but admire: “Just like you, truly sleazy.”

Qin Lang only liked soloing dungeons and BOSSes. This kind of lone-wolf-technique class indeed suited him.

Xia Xifeng could have praised Qin Lang as a high-skilled technique-type player, but he would only say Qin Lang liked backstabbing and poking people’s butts—especially sleazy.