Chapter 4: Ding Muchen’s girlfriend
“Character name confirmed. Hopeful Present.”
The fairy assistant said with a wide smile on her face. Above my character, “Hopeful Present” appeared. Next, the fairy assistant asked, “Master, do you want to alter your appearance?”
At the center of the temple, the youthful character stood straight with an air of vigor around him. His appearance was almost exactly the same as mine, as if we were molded from the same template.
“Improve the appearance by 20%.” I said cheerfully.
The fairy assistant appeared apologetic, “Sorry. The system has detected that you are too lacking in terms of look. It is not possible to improve your character appearance by 20%. Based on the system assessment, you are recommended to improve your character appearance by 0.05%.”
I replied helplessly, “Well, made a parallel revision without improving or worsening the looks then. It will be good as long as nobody can recognize me.”
“Sure.”
Slowly, the character appearance changed. I personally believed that although the appearance was no longer the same, my character still looked very handsome with the same bearing about him. This was indeed a parallel revision. Before long, a character that was nothing like me yet still looked incredibly handsome appeared before me. His name was “Hopeful Present”.
After confirming the changes, a multicolored curtain of light filled my vision. Then, a row of player characters appeared within the temple. Some was holding a sword, some was riding a horse, some was holding a staff, some was holding a bow and arrow, and so on. The 12 main classes of Skyroad were before me.
With a smile, the fairy assistant prompted, “Master, please select your class.”
“Horseman.” I declared without a thought.
Soon, my consciousness was transferred into my character. Immediately, I seemed to have regained my senses. I could now see my palms, and I could walk around the temple as well. I was riding a majestic-looking stallion, with the stallion wearing a complete set of horse armor. My character looked incomparably mighty.
The fairy assistant spoke again, “Master, character creation is now complete. Every player has a onetime chance to trigger the activation of a hidden race. Please confirm if you want to trigger the hidden race.”
There’s such an option?
I became excited. Before me, rows of information appeared:
***
Human: +8% to strength, agility, stamina, magic power, and endurance
Moon elf: +15% to agility, +15% to strength, +10% to all stats under moonlight
Savage giant: Average height of three meters, +20% to strength, +10% to stamina, -10% to agility
Beastman: +20% to strength, +5% to stamina, +5% to endurance
***
These were the four main races in Skyroad. Every player could pick one of them. The default option was human. Human had balanced stats, the moon elf was more suited for nights, the savage giant specialized in strength, and the beastman had an additional bonus in stamina and endurance apart from strength. For a Horseman, all five bonus stats of the human race were important.
Next, the system listed the hidden races:
***
Demi-dragon (Hidden race): +30% to magic skills
Demigod (Hidden race): +30% to strength, +15% to agility, +10% to stamina
Treant (Hidden race): +20% to stamina, +20% to endurance
Nuwa (Hidden race): The player would become a descendant of Nuwa, creator of humans. Ability unknown
Heaven race (Hidden race): +15% to agility, +10% to strength, able to fly for 7 seconds
Fire elf (Hidden race): +40% to all fire attacks
***
I was dumbstruck when I saw the powerful bonuses. With such bonuses, wouldn’t any hidden race players be undefeated during the early game? This was even more so for the demi-dragon. With the 30% bonus to magic skills, wouldn’t demi-dragon Mages be able to oneshot everything in the game? The treant bonuses were rather crazy as well. If I could pick freely, it would definitely be the treant. A Horseman with a bonus of 20% in stamina and endurance is simply undefeated!
“Confirm!”
I nodded and started praying for a hidden race. Even a demigod would do. The demigod bonuses were still rather suitable for a Horseman player.
Whoosh!
A green radiance flickered on my head. Then, the fairy assistant looked at me in disappointment, “Sorry master. You failed to trigger the hidden race. Please do a final confirmation for your race.”
“Human…” I sighed, “I will be a normal human then…Confirm!”
“Character creation complete.”
The fairy assistant was all smiles as she looked at me, “Master, are you leaving the game now to wait for the server to go live or are you going to stay here to accompany me?”
“I’ll leave.”
“Sure.”
The connection with the server was disconnected and darkness flooded my vision again.
When I took off my helmet, Lin Che and Wang Jinhai was doing the same.
“How was it?” I asked.
“Done. No problem.” Lin Che said.
Wang Jinhai nodded as well, “Yeah. Everything is completed.”
“Any of you managed to trigger the hidden race?” I asked.
“Nope.” They shook their heads.
Zhang Wei was lying on the bed between us. He still had his helmet on when his legs suddenly twitched and jerked around. Lin Che asked in astonishment, “Big Brother Wei, what happened to you? Are you having a stroke?”
Still in his helmet, Zhang Wei spoke, “I…I think I just triggered a hidden race.”
“For real?” I asked in delight, “Which hidden race did you trigger?”
“I think…it’s the demigod. The one with strength, agility and stamina bonus…” Zhang Wei started breathing heavily, “Big Chen, should I accept this hidden race?”
“Of course!” I said in agitation, “You are a Monk. These three stats are precisely what you need as a Monk! Take it! Confirm the race immediately!”
“Ok!”
Shortly after, Zhang Wei took his helmet off with joy filling his face, “What hidden races did you guys get?”
Lin Che said helplessly, “Hidden race my ass. All three of us are normal humans. Only you are lucky enough to trigger a demigod hidden race.”
Wang Jinhai spread his hands sadly, “How is this fair? The biggest noob among us is the one to trigger the hidden race.”
I comforted them, “It doesn’t matter. Big Brother Wei will be the main tanker of our studio. It is good that he has a hidden race. Then again, your luck is really good. When I checked earlier, I found that the chance of triggering a hidden race is only 0.001%. Big Brother Wei is an absolute genius when it comes to his talent in terms of luck.”
Zhang Wei was evidently pleased when he heard that.
Wang Jinhai asked, “What should we do now? There’s three more days until the server goes live.”
“Go to the forums and read more guides. Also try to see if there are any official announcements about the game. This is very important for our early game.”
“Ok.”
We started surfing the net. However, after going through all the official information we could found, we noticed that very little amount of information had been released. We could only find information about the races and their bonuses which we already knew. Nothing about the game setting could be found. As for the forums, everyone was busy arguing with each other. Most of them were talking about the hidden races and the celebrity gamers that were joining Skyroad. These were of little value to us.
We only had some vegetables and bread for dinner. We were thoroughly broke and could only put together several hundred bucks between the four of us. After the dinner, Wang Jinhai carried two boxes of instant noodles into the studio. We would be eating these in the foreseeable future. Our future seemed really worrisome. I reckon by the time the server went live, we would already be emaciated from hunger and poverty. With nothing to do after the dinner, we went online again.
When I appeared in the temple, the fairy assistant flew out. Above her, “Ding Muchen’s girlfriend” hovered. Excitement filled her face, “Master, you have finally come to accompany Ling’er?”
“Ling’er…that’s your name?” I asked.
She fluttered up and down in the air, “The name master gave me is too embarrassing. Since I am a fairy assistant, I call myself Ling’er. This is acceptable, right?” (TL note: Jing Ling = fairy, hence her name being Ling’er. Er is a term of endearment in Chinese)
I was somewhat ashamed. I had been negligent when naming her. I supposed the plus point for that was my honesty when naming her.
“Ling’er, are you lonely staying here all the time?” I asked.
“Of course.” She blinked her huge eyes and continued, “Every single fairy assistant will be sent into a space like this to wait in solitary for their master. Master, how does your world look like? Can you tell Ling’er about it?”
“Erm…”
I felt somewhat awkward facing the fairy assistant. However, I still patiently sat down and started telling her about the outside world. Before long, she was already sitting on my shoulder. Her delicate legs swayed around in boredom as she remarked, “The outside world is so wonderful. Ling’er can only stay here. I am so soo looking forward to the opening of Skyroad! At that time, I will be able to follow master and travel the Skyroad world!”
I asked, “Ling’er, had you been to the Skyroad world?”
“I once dreamed of that world before my awakening.”
“Oh?” This piqued my interest, “Tell me more. How does the world of Skyroad looks like?”
“There are a lot of fierce monsters in it. There are also soldiers in charge of guarding the villages. The village chief is very kind.” The fairy assistant leaned on my head as she spoke. She crossed her arms, pushing her lofty peaks high up before she continued, “Master, are you one of the warriors that have arrived to conquer this world?”
“Yes.”
I asked again, “What else do you know, Ling’er? Like…is there anyone in need of help outside the village? Who will be giving away missions? Can you tell me?”
“Ling’er does not know anything about that…”
She shook her head in daze, “Ling’er lost many of her memories. The only thing I remember is the uncle blacksmith in the village and that cat called Little Hua near the village entrance. They are both very kind.”
“Uncle blacksmith…” Astounded, I asked, “Does he have any secrets?”
“Yeah…” Ling’er laughed, “His memory is terrible. Although his craftsmanship is excellent, his math is very bad. Therefore, he will always get his numbers wrong. He will usually start getting the wrong numbers after three transactions.”
“Three transactions?” I seemed to have caught onto something here, “What else?”
Ling’er continued, “He is a person that holds a grudge. He will always remember the person who had once bought something from him at a cheap price. He will be cursing you without stop. Uncle blacksmith can be quite scary when he gets angry.”
“I see…”
I nodded and continued talking to her. However, she was unable to tell me much as she knew nearly nothing about the game. I couldn’t get any other information about the game from her. After talking to her until late night, I gave up. I would have to see the game for myself when it went live.
Chapter 4: Ding Muchen’s girlfriend
“Character name confirmed. Hopeful Present.”
The fairy assistant said with a wide smile on her face. Above my character, “Hopeful Present” appeared. Next, the fairy assistant asked, “Master, do you want to alter your appearance?”
At the center of the temple, the youthful character stood straight with an air of vigor around him. His appearance was almost exactly the same as mine, as if we were molded from the same template.
“Improve the appearance by 20%.” I said cheerfully.
The fairy assistant appeared apologetic, “Sorry. The system has detected that you are too lacking in terms of look. It is not possible to improve your character appearance by 20%. Based on the system assessment, you are recommended to improve your character appearance by 0.05%.”
I replied helplessly, “Well, made a parallel revision without improving or worsening the looks then. It will be good as long as nobody can recognize me.”
“Sure.”
Slowly, the character appearance changed. I personally believed that although the appearance was no longer the same, my character still looked very handsome with the same bearing about him. This was indeed a parallel revision. Before long, a character that was nothing like me yet still looked incredibly handsome appeared before me. His name was “Hopeful Present”.
After confirming the changes, a multicolored curtain of light filled my vision. Then, a row of player characters appeared within the temple. Some was holding a sword, some was riding a horse, some was holding a staff, some was holding a bow and arrow, and so on. The 12 main classes of Skyroad were before me.
With a smile, the fairy assistant prompted, “Master, please select your class.”
“Horseman.” I declared without a thought.
Soon, my consciousness was transferred into my character. Immediately, I seemed to have regained my senses. I could now see my palms, and I could walk around the temple as well. I was riding a majestic-looking stallion, with the stallion wearing a complete set of horse armor. My character looked incomparably mighty.
The fairy assistant spoke again, “Master, character creation is now complete. Every player has a onetime chance to trigger the activation of a hidden race. Please confirm if you want to trigger the hidden race.”
There’s such an option?
I became excited. Before me, rows of information appeared:
***
Human: +8% to strength, agility, stamina, magic power, and endurance
Moon elf: +15% to agility, +15% to strength, +10% to all stats under moonlight
Savage giant: Average height of three meters, +20% to strength, +10% to stamina, -10% to agility
Beastman: +20% to strength, +5% to stamina, +5% to endurance
***
These were the four main races in Skyroad. Every player could pick one of them. The default option was human. Human had balanced stats, the moon elf was more suited for nights, the savage giant specialized in strength, and the beastman had an additional bonus in stamina and endurance apart from strength. For a Horseman, all five bonus stats of the human race were important.
Next, the system listed the hidden races:
***
Demi-dragon (Hidden race): +30% to magic skills
Demigod (Hidden race): +30% to strength, +15% to agility, +10% to stamina
Treant (Hidden race): +20% to stamina, +20% to endurance
Nuwa (Hidden race): The player would become a descendant of Nuwa, creator of humans. Ability unknown
Heaven race (Hidden race): +15% to agility, +10% to strength, able to fly for 7 seconds
Fire elf (Hidden race): +40% to all fire attacks
***
I was dumbstruck when I saw the powerful bonuses. With such bonuses, wouldn’t any hidden race players be undefeated during the early game? This was even more so for the demi-dragon. With the 30% bonus to magic skills, wouldn’t demi-dragon Mages be able to oneshot everything in the game? The treant bonuses were rather crazy as well. If I could pick freely, it would definitely be the treant. A Horseman with a bonus of 20% in stamina and endurance is simply undefeated!
“Confirm!”
I nodded and started praying for a hidden race. Even a demigod would do. The demigod bonuses were still rather suitable for a Horseman player.
Whoosh!
A green radiance flickered on my head. Then, the fairy assistant looked at me in disappointment, “Sorry master. You failed to trigger the hidden race. Please do a final confirmation for your race.”
“Human…” I sighed, “I will be a normal human then…Confirm!”
“Character creation complete.”
The fairy assistant was all smiles as she looked at me, “Master, are you leaving the game now to wait for the server to go live or are you going to stay here to accompany me?”
“I’ll leave.”
“Sure.”
The connection with the server was disconnected and darkness flooded my vision again.
When I took off my helmet, Lin Che and Wang Jinhai was doing the same.
“How was it?” I asked.
“Done. No problem.” Lin Che said.
Wang Jinhai nodded as well, “Yeah. Everything is completed.”
“Any of you managed to trigger the hidden race?” I asked.
“Nope.” They shook their heads.
Zhang Wei was lying on the bed between us. He still had his helmet on when his legs suddenly twitched and jerked around. Lin Che asked in astonishment, “Big Brother Wei, what happened to you? Are you having a stroke?”
Still in his helmet, Zhang Wei spoke, “I…I think I just triggered a hidden race.”
“For real?” I asked in delight, “Which hidden race did you trigger?”
“I think…it’s the demigod. The one with strength, agility and stamina bonus…” Zhang Wei started breathing heavily, “Big Chen, should I accept this hidden race?”
“Of course!” I said in agitation, “You are a Monk. These three stats are precisely what you need as a Monk! Take it! Confirm the race immediately!”
“Ok!”
Shortly after, Zhang Wei took his helmet off with joy filling his face, “What hidden races did you guys get?”
Lin Che said helplessly, “Hidden race my ass. All three of us are normal humans. Only you are lucky enough to trigger a demigod hidden race.”
Wang Jinhai spread his hands sadly, “How is this fair? The biggest noob among us is the one to trigger the hidden race.”
I comforted them, “It doesn’t matter. Big Brother Wei will be the main tanker of our studio. It is good that he has a hidden race. Then again, your luck is really good. When I checked earlier, I found that the chance of triggering a hidden race is only 0.001%. Big Brother Wei is an absolute genius when it comes to his talent in terms of luck.”
Zhang Wei was evidently pleased when he heard that.
Wang Jinhai asked, “What should we do now? There’s three more days until the server goes live.”
“Go to the forums and read more guides. Also try to see if there are any official announcements about the game. This is very important for our early game.”
“Ok.”
We started surfing the net. However, after going through all the official information we could found, we noticed that very little amount of information had been released. We could only find information about the races and their bonuses which we already knew. Nothing about the game setting could be found. As for the forums, everyone was busy arguing with each other. Most of them were talking about the hidden races and the celebrity gamers that were joining Skyroad. These were of little value to us.
We only had some vegetables and bread for dinner. We were thoroughly broke and could only put together several hundred bucks between the four of us. After the dinner, Wang Jinhai carried two boxes of instant noodles into the studio. We would be eating these in the foreseeable future. Our future seemed really worrisome. I reckon by the time the server went live, we would already be emaciated from hunger and poverty. With nothing to do after the dinner, we went online again.
When I appeared in the temple, the fairy assistant flew out. Above her, “Ding Muchen’s girlfriend” hovered. Excitement filled her face, “Master, you have finally come to accompany Ling’er?”
“Ling’er…that’s your name?” I asked.
She fluttered up and down in the air, “The name master gave me is too embarrassing. Since I am a fairy assistant, I call myself Ling’er. This is acceptable, right?” (TL note: Jing Ling = fairy, hence her name being Ling’er. Er is a term of endearment in Chinese)
I was somewhat ashamed. I had been negligent when naming her. I supposed the plus point for that was my honesty when naming her.
“Ling’er, are you lonely staying here all the time?” I asked.
“Of course.” She blinked her huge eyes and continued, “Every single fairy assistant will be sent into a space like this to wait in solitary for their master. Master, how does your world look like? Can you tell Ling’er about it?”
“Erm…”
I felt somewhat awkward facing the fairy assistant. However, I still patiently sat down and started telling her about the outside world. Before long, she was already sitting on my shoulder. Her delicate legs swayed around in boredom as she remarked, “The outside world is so wonderful. Ling’er can only stay here. I am so soo looking forward to the opening of Skyroad! At that time, I will be able to follow master and travel the Skyroad world!”
I asked, “Ling’er, had you been to the Skyroad world?”
“I once dreamed of that world before my awakening.”
“Oh?” This piqued my interest, “Tell me more. How does the world of Skyroad looks like?”
“There are a lot of fierce monsters in it. There are also soldiers in charge of guarding the villages. The village chief is very kind.” The fairy assistant leaned on my head as she spoke. She crossed her arms, pushing her lofty peaks high up before she continued, “Master, are you one of the warriors that have arrived to conquer this world?”
“Yes.”
I asked again, “What else do you know, Ling’er? Like…is there anyone in need of help outside the village? Who will be giving away missions? Can you tell me?”
“Ling’er does not know anything about that…”
She shook her head in daze, “Ling’er lost many of her memories. The only thing I remember is the uncle blacksmith in the village and that cat called Little Hua near the village entrance. They are both very kind.”
“Uncle blacksmith…” Astounded, I asked, “Does he have any secrets?”
“Yeah…” Ling’er laughed, “His memory is terrible. Although his craftsmanship is excellent, his math is very bad. Therefore, he will always get his numbers wrong. He will usually start getting the wrong numbers after three transactions.”
“Three transactions?” I seemed to have caught onto something here, “What else?”
Ling’er continued, “He is a person that holds a grudge. He will always remember the person who had once bought something from him at a cheap price. He will be cursing you without stop. Uncle blacksmith can be quite scary when he gets angry.”
“I see…”
I nodded and continued talking to her. However, she was unable to tell me much as she knew nearly nothing about the game. I couldn’t get any other information about the game from her. After talking to her until late night, I gave up. I would have to see the game for myself when it went live.
