Chapter 6 – Black Flame
God's Domain was a virtual reality game that had been operating for ten years already.
Since God's Domain's launch, people worldwide have gradually learned to accept this virtual world. By now, God's Domain had already become an integral part of human life, and many people sought to live and rise in this second world.
Meanwhile, the flow of time in God's Domain was different than that of the real world. Two hours in God's Domain was only equivalent to one hour in the real world. Hence, one could experience up to 48 hours a day if they spent their entire day in God's Domain. Moreover, God's Domain experienced a standard 30-hour daytime and 18-hour nighttime. One could technically double their lifespan by playing God's Domain.
In the blink of an eye, Shi Feng found himself arriving in a colorful space-time passage. After walking along this passage for ten seconds or so, an ancient temple suspended in the starry sky appeared in front of him.
Subsequently, Shi Feng felt an invisible force carry his body toward the ancient temple that was the size of a mountain. When he arrived before the temple, a female Angel with four pairs of white wings and clad in a holy dress flew out of the temple and hovered in front of him.
Meanwhile, this was a scene Shi Feng was incredibly familiar with.
This female Angel was none other than Gabriel, the Angel that would only appear when players first created their character.
However, unlike the Gabriel Shi Feng had seen when God's Domain had first launched, the Gabriel before him had already undergone significant changes.
When God's Domain first launched, Gabriel was only the size of a palm. Now, though, she had a normal person's height. The sacred aura her body exuded had also become much more powerful than before. In front of this Angel Lord, players would feel as if they were no different than ants.
“Hello Adventurer, welcome to God's Domain. I am the Navigation Angel, Gabriel. I will be introducing to you the four main categories and twelve main classes. Please choose the class that you like most,” Gabriel said to Shi Feng with a smile on her face. Then, she extended a hand and summoned a list showing the twelve available classes to Shi Feng.
These twelve main jobs were categorized into four main classes.
Warrior: Shield Warrior, Guardian Knight, Berserker.
Weapons Specialist: Swordsman, Assassin, Ranger.
Healer: Cleric, Druid, Oracle.
Mage: Elementalist, Summoner, Cursemancer.
“As this is your second time creating an account and your first account has satisfied the Swordsman class's Level 180, Tier 3 condition, if you select the Swordsman class again, you can start as a Level 100, Tier 3 Swordsman. If you choose any other class, you will have to start from Level 0,” Gabriel said after giving an introduction on the twelve main classes. Then, she asked, “Do you wish to choose the Swordsman class again?”
“I will choose the Swordsman class,” Shi Feng said in a resolute tone.
He had spent a total of 20 years fighting in God's Domain as a Swordsman in his two lives. He was even the first player to become a Tier 6 God in his second life.
Hence, the Swordsman class had already become something inseparable from him.
Now that he would be starting another journey in God's Domain, he naturally wouldn't select any other classes.
He had already determined himself to reach the apex of God's Domain as a Swordsman in this life. He would make up for the regrets he had in this dream-like world and recover his missing memories.
Shi Feng felt that the missing part of his memories should be tied to God's Domain's existence. Meanwhile, only by reaching the apex again could he potentially recover those memories.
“Class selection complete,” Gabriel said, nodding. “Please designate a name for your character.”
Hearing this, Shi Feng pondered for a moment before saying, “Black Flame.”
Black Flame was the pseudonym he had used most of the time in his other life. In that life, Black Flame was also the name of the Sword God that everybody in God's Domain knew of. Now that he was no longer Shadow's Sword Magician, he naturally didn't have to continue using his original ID of Ye Feng.
“Naming successful. Do you wish to adjust your appearance? The adjustment rate is limited to 15%,” Gabriel added.
Shi Feng had decided to alter his character's appearance to match the original Black Flame's appearance. Although he couldn't mimic it perfectly due to the limitations imposed, his character still turned out very similar to the Black Flame in his other life. His character looked very close to becoming a middle-aged uncle, and his eyebrows also gave off a strict feeling.
“Appearance adjustment complete. Please select a birthplace.” After confirming Shi Feng's appearance adjustment, Gabriel waved her hand again and summoned the complete map of the God's Domain Continent and the map of an unknown landmass. Then, she said, “You are allowed to choose any major city in God's Domain as your birthplace because you will be re-entering God's Domain as a Level 100, Tier 3 player. Apart from the major cities, you can also choose the newly-appeared Miniature Ancient World as your new birthplace.”
I can start directly in the Miniature Ancient World? Shi Feng was slightly surprised by this revelation.
The environment found during the ancient times of God's Domain was significantly better than the environment found in modern times. Not only was the mana during ancient times more plentiful, but the mana itself also provided significant help in improving the Concentration of players. This, in turn, could increase the success rate of players in completing their tier promotions.
After reading about the upcoming expansion pack in God's Domain, Shi Feng had planned to search for a way to enter this Miniature Ancient World. Now, it would seem that he didn't need to waste his time doing so.
Now that God's Domain had already been in operation for a decade, most of the available resource spots and leveling spots in God's Domain already had an owner. Unless Shi Feng joined one of the major powers, he would have difficulty acquiring any useful resources.
Leveling up would become an especially big problem. After all, the prime leveling spots of God's Domain were the various Guilds' capital to help their new recruits catch up to frontline players as quickly as possible. There was no way these Guilds would share their leveling resources with outsiders.
If Shi Feng couldn't gain access to these prime leveling spots, even if he was a Level 100, Tier 3 expert, his leveling speed would be astonishingly slow. It would take ages for him to return to Level 200.
Meanwhile, the Miniature Ancient World was a place untouched by God's Domain's various powers. It was undoubtedly good news for Shi Feng that he could enter the Miniature Ancient World straight away.
After seeing Shi Feng remaining unresponsive for some time, Gabriel couldn't help but ask, “Do you wish to select the Miniature Ancient World as your birthplace?”
“Yes!” Shi Feng nodded.
“Player Black Flame has selected to be born in the Miniature Ancient World. Initiating teleportation in five seconds. I wish you a happy gaming experience!” Gabriel nodded to Shi Feng before chanting an incantation.
Five seconds later, Shi Feng transformed into a streak of white light and disappeared from the space in front of the ancient temple.
Then, after an unknown amount of time had passed, Shi Feng opened his eyes again and found himself standing in the middle of a majestic city filled with tall buildings. To be precise, he currently stood in the plaza in front of a War God's Temple, the bustling plaza filled with tens of thousands of players who had similarly just arrived in the Miniature Ancient World.
Hundred Flow City, is it?
When Shi Feng checked the system map for the city's name, he couldn't help but be astonished by what he saw.
According to the map, Hundred Flow City measured 40 kilometers from side to side. It was much larger than any Main City found on the main continent. Even a Tier 3 player would need to run at full speed for 15 minutes and in a straight line to cross the city.
Meanwhile, the mana flowing in the air was simply wonderful. When standing in this mana, Shi Feng could feel his mind clearing up to a great extent.
Afterward, Shi Feng closed the system map and called up his current character's Attribute Panel.
Character: Black Flame (Human) (Miniature Ancient World's suppressed state)
Affiliated City: Hundred Flow City
Title: None
Class: Swordsman
Level: 100
HP: 96,000/96,000
Attack Power: 7,432
Defense: 9,140
Attack Speed: 186
Movement Speed: 450
Attributes:
Strength 2,050, Agility 1,849, Endurance 2,100, Intelligence 1,670, Vitality 1,594.
Free Attribute Points: 0
Sword King Class Talent: Obtain 30 Free Attribute Points every level.
What a ruthless suppression. Shi Feng was a little astonished when he saw his statistics.
The starting equipment the system provided him was by no means terrible. The system had given him a full set of Level 100 Secret-Silver Equipment paired with two Level 100 Fine-Gold ranked longswords. With such equipment, he should have Basic Attributes rivaling a Level 100 High Lord. However, because of the Miniature Ancient World's suppression reducing his Attributes, he was only slightly stronger than the average Level 100 Lord.
With such Basic Attributes, ordinary experts would need to form parties if they wanted to defeat Level 100 Lords efficiently. If an ordinary expert tried soloing a Level 100 Lord with so little Attack Power, it would take them ages to defeat the monster.
What gave Shi Feng an even larger headache was the state of his Mana Body.
The Mana Body played a pivotal role in determining a Tier 3 player's strength. The stronger a player's Mana Body, the stronger their Skills and Spells would become. Moreover, a strong Mana Body would also allow players to recover their Stamina and Concentration much more rapidly.
Meanwhile, Mana Bodies were divided into four ranks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Epic.
In his first and current life, Shi Feng had only completed a Bronze Mana Body the first time he reached Tier 3. This was also one of the main reasons preventing him from reaching Tier 4.
Although the system had directly elevated his new character to Tier 3, his Mana Body remained at the Bronze standard. If he had to rely on such a weak Mana Body, he would have a much more difficult time getting promoted into higher tiers.
Fortunately, this ancient world has a solution to make up for this problem. Otherwise, I'd have no choice but to start over from Level 0.
The minimum entry condition for the Miniature Ancient World was Level 100, Tier 3. Meanwhile, once players entered the ancient world, their statistics would be forcibly reset to Level 100, Tier 3. It didn't matter whether a player was a Tier 4 or Tier 5 expert in the outside world.
Despite this being the case, many Tier 4 experts had chosen to enter the Miniature Ancient World. Meanwhile, one of their reasons for doing so was that this Miniature Ancient World provided players with a chance to reconstruct their Tier 3 Mana Body without starting all over from scratch. They would get the opportunity to pave a much sturdier foundation and create a much brighter future for themselves.
During the time Shi Feng was inspecting his statistics, most of the players who had appeared together with him in the plaza had already left the area. Now, only a few thousand players remained.
These people sure know how to move quickly!
When Shi Feng saw the many players rushing toward the city's center, he leisurely made his way out of the plaza and followed after them as well.
Every NPC City found in the Miniature Ancient World housed a special building known as the Colosseum. This was also the only place where Tier 3 players could acquire the opportunity to reconstruct their Mana Bodies.