Chapter 1 – Waking Up After Ten Years
Jin Hai City, business district:
Many high-rise buildings and all kinds of luxury goods shops occupied both sides of the street. Young men and women dressed in fashionable clothing also walked the street in groups of twos and threes. Occasionally, one could also see luxurious, levitating supercars roaring through the street, earning the envious and yearnful gazes of many young men and women.
Despite today being a rest day, people crowded the business district's central plaza.
At this time, dozens of handsome men and women could be seen holding various street performances by one of the central plaza's fountains. These performers either danced or sang. Paired with the use of vivid, holographic images, they managed to attract a lot of spectators.
Among them, the most popular performer was a female singer singing God's Domain's theme song. The singer also paired her performance with the holographic promotional video for God's Domain's latest expansion pack “War of Worlds.”
The video depicted the World Passage activating and the soldiers of two worlds clashing frenziedly on the battlefield. Tens of millions of people fought on the battlefield, and all sorts of Flying Ships and war weapons could be seen deployed to battle. Everyone was fighting desperately for the survival of their respective worlds. The spectacular scene caused the spectator's blood to boil in excitement.
Meanwhile, along with the ending of the song, the advertising screen hovering above the central plaza also began broadcasting today's news.
“Greetings, everyone! This is the God's Domain Morning News!
“Greetings, everyone! This is the God's Domain Morning News!
“Our first news of the day comes from our city's Shadow Guild! Shadow has already announced that it will be merging into the Super Guild World Domination effectively today, becoming World Domination's 73rd Affiliated Guild! Along with this merger, Shadow will also welcome Gu Yiren as its new Guild Leader! Gu Yiren is one of World Domination's rising stars, and he expresses that Shadow will make far better progress than it has before under his command. In addition, Gu Yiren states that Shadow will, under World Domination's support, establish a new city in the Flame Woodland located outside the World Train, and he welcomes everyone with ambition to apply for the Guild. He also promises to bring Shadow into the ranks of first-rate Guilds as soon as possible!
“Next, a quick news from our city! Dazzle Wave Workshop, one of the top three workshops in Fenglin City, will be signing a contract with Wu Xiaoxiao, the champion of our city's Talented Rookie Tournament, on August 26, 2139. The head of Dazzle Wave has stated that he would use the best resources available to nurture Wu Xiaoxiao. Not only will Wu Xiaoxiao receive a guaranteed annual salary of 100 million CRedits, but she will also receive the best Legacies Dazzle Wave has to offer! Last but not least, she will also receive a fully-customized Epic Set Equipment to aid her in reaching Tier 5 as soon as possible!”
When the people in the plaza heard the news report on Wu Xiaoxiao, many of them revealed looks of envy.
In the current age, if one were to ask which profession would earn one a fortune the quickest, 9,999 out of 10,000 people would answer “being a professional player in God's Domain.” As those who answered otherwise, they needed to get their heads checked.
Meanwhile, Shi Feng also stood among the crowd of people in the plaza. Currently, he wore a casual, light-blue T-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants. His hair was in a mess, and his face looked slightly pale. At first glance, he looked like someone who frequently worked overtime.
As Shi Feng stared at the news bulletin hovering above the plaza, a bitter smile formed on his face as he muttered, “Fate really knows how to mess with people.”
Shi Feng was at a loss for words as he stared at the time displayed on the news bulletin. Although this was a time period similar to the one he remembered, the news report he heard caused his heart to grow restless.
Previously, he had returned ten years into the past, created his own Guild, and developed it into the number one Guild in God's Domain. He had even gotten promoted into a Tier 6 Sword God, an achievement he had only dreamed of accomplishing before he went back in time. Afterward, to protect his own world, he had even set foot into a new world and continued his fight there.
Ten years!
Ten whole years!
He had re-lived ten whole years!
Yet, as if playing a joke on him, fate had suddenly returned him to his original world, the world he resided in before he got reincarnated.
Everything in this world was just like before he had reincarnated. After wasting ten years of his life struggling for Shadow, not only did he get removed from the Guild, but he even had his account deleted. Now, he was nothing but an unemployed, 32-year-old uncle.
The only fortunate thing was that he wasn't completely broke. At the very least, he had a villa situated in a high-class residential district and five million Credits in the bank, so he shouldn't have any trouble getting by for the short term.
When Shi Feng first returned to this world, he had trouble telling which world was real, and which world was a dream. If he were to say that his current world was the real one, it didn't make sense for him to remember everything about the previous world so vividly. Even now, he could recall the many events, both big and small, that had taken place in the previous world.
Moreover, after he returned, although his 32-year-old body was still as terrible as he remembered it to be, his mental state was surprisingly excellent. The level of control he could exert over his physical body far exceeded that of the average neutralizing grandmaster. In fact, he was already nearing the mental strength master standard.
If he were to say that his current world was a dream, then it didn't make sense why he couldn't wake up from this dream. Not to mention, the hidden injuries he had sustained during his early years of training still remained on his body.
The only thing that confused Shi Feng was the sword scar left over his heart.
From what he could recall, he had never sustained an injury at that location, let alone getting cut by a sword there. This would definitely be a fatal injury.
Moreover, in the real world, even if fights occurred, people would fight using their fists and legs; they wouldn't use weapons at all.
Most importantly, whenever Shi Feng tried to remember how he got this scar, he would get a massive headache that made him feel as if his brain was about to explode. Because of this, he had no choice but to abandon thinking of this matter.
The reason why my brain can't withstand that segment of my memories is probably because my mental strength is too weak. So long as I raise my mental strength, I should be able to recall that memory, Shi Feng deduced based on his past experiences. There were times when he would also experience headaches when trying to learn complex Legacies in God's Domain. However, once he raised his Concentration standard to a sufficiently high level, he no longer experiences those headaches.
Although Shi Feng couldn't tell whether this world was real or fake right now, he felt that the scar over his heart should be of significant importance. It might even be related to his return to this world.
It seems I'll have to find opportunities to improve my mental strength. Shi Feng began carefully planning his future actions.
The loss of his memories made Shi Feng feel extremely uncomfortable. If he didn't properly look into it, he wouldn't even be able to sleep well.
While Shi Feng was seated on a stone bench in the plaza and pondering how he should go about improving his mental strength, a middle-aged man wearing a suit and leather collar ran up to him in a hurry.
Meanwhile, this middle-aged, tanned-skin man was none other than Blackie, the person who had fought alongside Shi Feng in God's Domain for many years. However, compared to the Blackie in the previous world, the Blackie in front of Shi Feng had been stuck working in Shadow's management for the past ten years. Hence, he had already gained a rotund belly and a chubby face. If the Blackie in the other world found out about this, he would probably have a mental breakdown…
“Brother Feng! I finally found you! What have you been up to recently?” Blackie asked as he looked at Shi Feng with a reproachful gaze. “You never answered any of my calls, and you weren't home when I went to look for you! For a moment, I even thought you wanted to take the short way out! You really worried me!
“Lan Hailong might be garbage, but there's no need for you to despair, Brother Feng! Don't forget that your skills still remain! Even if you've lost your account, you can easily retrain one with your skills! There's no need to do any stupid things!”
Looking at Blackie's anxious expression, Shi Feng faintly smiled and said, “Relax; I'm fine. How about you? Is everything alright on your side? The newly designated Guild Leader will probably try to replace old employees like you. Now that you're out here during work hours, he'll have even more reason to fire you.”
“I'm just a small time manager in the Guild. There's no way that genius from World Domination will bother with me,” Blackie said, clicking his tongue. Then, he nonchalantly continued, “What do you plan on doing next, Brother Feng? You don't have a character in God's Domain anymore, so you can't make use of your skills. How about I have some of the Guild's experts power-level you? It won't take more than a month for you to reach Level 100, Tier 3. Afterward, you can find an opportunity to take revenge on Lan Hailong.”
God's Domain had already been in operation for ten years now. So long as a player had someone to power-level them, and the player themself had sufficient skills, reaching Tier 3 within a short period was a piece of cake. In fact, many workshops in God's Domain were providing such power-leveling services. After all, there were many players in God's Domain who had failed to complete an Epic Quest and had their accounts crippled. So, getting Shi Feng to a high level wasn't a problem at all. The only problem would be getting him weapons and equipment that rivaled the ones he previously used.
“No need for all that trouble,” Shi Feng said, shaking his head. “The most recent expansion pack is starting soon. I heard that once it takes effect, players who used to own a Level 150, Tier 3 character or above can take the system's trial and get directly promoted to Level 100, Tier 3. I'll just take that route instead.”
“I guess you're right.” Blackie nodded in agreement after recalling this matter. “This is a much faster way of leveling up. When that time comes, I'll have someone prepare you a set of Level 100 Epic Equipment.”
“No need to hurry for that,” Shi Feng said. “Didn't you tell me before that Jin Hai University's God's Domain Academy is recruiting instructors before?”
Now that God's Domain had already become a part of everyone's lives, most universities in the world would provide specialized education on God's Domain to students. These education programs were funded by the various corporations, and they were meant to nurture students into elite and expert players. These students would then become the new blood that supported these various corporations.
Meanwhile, Jin Hai City's Jin Hai University was one such university.
Jin Hai University had even received funding from an international corporation this year, hence it expanded its God's Domain education program. And because of this expansion, the university was now offering high salaries to recruit God's Domain's experts to serve as instructors or trainers.
To Shi Feng, this was definitely an opportunity he could capitalize on.
The resources international corporations had access to far surpassed the likes of ordinary Guilds. They even had access to resources that couldn't be acquired by the general public.
Although Shi Feng currently had five million Credits in the bank, without the necessary connections, he wouldn't be able to purchase S-rank Nutrient Fluids to improve his physical fitness and recover his vitality.
However, if he became an instructor at Jin Hai University's God's Domain Academy, he might gain a connection to purchase S-rank Nutrient Fluids. If he could mend the hidden injuries in his body and improve his physical fitness, he would have an easier time improving his mental strength standard. Otherwise, with his current body's standard, he wouldn't be able to improve his mental strength even if he trained for another 20 years.
“That's correct. The Academy has even sent people over hoping that some of our frontline experts can work part-time there. But the Guild's frontline experts are too busy. They barely have enough time nurturing the Guild's newcomers, let alone other people,” Blackie said, nodding. Then, he curiously asked, “Brother Feng, do you plan on going there?”
“Mhm, I'm thinking of paying it a visit,” Shi Feng said, not bothering to hide his intentions. After all, he currently had nothing noteworthy in his possession.
Blackie sighed in relief upon hearing Shi Feng's words. Then, he said, “Alright, I'll get things straightened out for you, then. When the time comes, all you need to do is report directly at the Academy.”
Two days later, on the 24th of August, 2139…
Shi Feng, in his tracksuit, arrived back at his starting point ten years later!