Chapter 5 - 2 The Choice of Destiny
Da Fei carried the large crate back to his dorm, meticulously configuring the machine step by step according to the manual, plugged in the backup power, and attached the holographic helmet, then took a bath and smoked a cigarette—every time before buying a lottery ticket, Da Fei would burn incense, bathe, and pray with a focused mind. And this time, it was the beginning of Da Fei's new career, so he had to take it seriously with extra diligence!
I've been buying lottery tickets for so many years and never won; surely I've accumulated enough luck to break through the sky, right? As the saying goes, a tree moves to die, a person moves to live, so shouldn't my luck explode this time? Even if I can't draw a $10 million God-level Hero, just drawing a hero worth a few thousand would be good! My expectations aren't high; I just want to keep the principal of a thousand bucks for the draw.
In the game, the first ten levels are the newbie stage, where you run errands and do tasks in the main city, steadily advancing through simple mission rewards of small low-level troops. But random drawing is different; birthplaces are usually very remote or even harsh, it doesn't matter though, I've already mentally prepared for that.
At 12:12:12, the auspicious time arrived!
Enter the game!
—System Prompt: Great hero, welcome to the Hero Continent in the China Region, please register your name!
The Heroic Creation Era is divided into seven independent service areas: North America, the European Union, Russia, India, China, Japan, and South Korea. Each service area is called Hero Continent, and besides different maps, players in each service area play roughly the same game. Then these seven service areas connect to a super service area, the New World! Here, players from various countries can meet, and the New World is also known as the National War Zone, the most exciting place for players of Heroic Creation Era!
The official promotional picture was very simple yet descriptive, a large planet resembling Earth surrounded by seven much smaller Earth-like planets. These seven small Earths are the seven service areas, and the large planet in the middle is the New World, where the main objective of Heroic Creation Era is for the seven old worlds to colonize and wage national wars in the New World.
—Name: Da Fei!
—System Prompt: Name is valid! Registration successful! Hero Continent has three major Light Camps: Holy Hall, Elf, and Dwarf; and three major Dark Camps: Undead, Beastman, and Demon, along with the neutral camp of Mage Academy, which cannot normally be chosen. Each new hero can choose their own hero special ability and an initial hero skill. Please select your race camp and hero special ability! Or choose random drawing!
—Random drawing!
The special abilities players can choose themselves are worthless street cabbage abilities! I'm betting it all on this!
—System Prompt: Hero! Are you sure you want to let the gods in the void decide your fate?
Yes! My fate is determined by the heavens, not by me!
—System Prompt: Hero! Please wait for the choice of fate!
A flash of white light, and in front of him appeared the image of a tall, handsome, middle-aged human man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, holding a wooden spear, exuding righteous aura! Alright, that's the system's default human male configuration based on the player's real age! Da Fei eagerly opened the attribute panel, his breath instantly stopped!
Icons never seen before! Not a public cabbage skill!
But what is this strange sailing icon? Is it the Sailing Skill? Da Fei felt something amiss in his heart and promptly checked it!
—Storm Navigation: The safety of the hero's fleet is increased when navigating in severe storms (Note: The premise is that the hero needs to have a large Galen sailing ship with good wave resistance quality. A large Galen sailing ship requires a hero to have a certain reputation to qualify for purchase at the shipyard).
Da Fei was dumbfounded on the spot!
Isn't it said that non-combat specialties are worthless?! If I had been given a special ability to command low-level troops, any public skill specialty, or any management specialty, I could have accepted it, but what's with this relying-on-heaven-to-eat specialty? And it even requires a large Galen sailing ship, how much does one of these cost? Reputation is needed to purchase? The key point is, with this specialty, should I hope for a storm or not? This is a loss prevention specialty, not a profit specialty, isn't this a deliberate prank on me?
—System Prompt: Hero special ability selection complete, please use the remaining 1 point skill point to choose a hero skill. For your initial development, it is recommended that the hero's first skill matches your hero special ability!
Da Fei finally came to his senses and let out a deep sigh! This is destiny! Destiny has arranged that I'll just quietly run ships and earn gold coins in the game! My special ability nullifies the huge enemy threat of storms for sea ships, leaving pirates, Nagas to be human factors!
That's right, I'm not young anymore, no time to play war games with those little punks; making money is the way to go! Decisively, Da Fei used the system-gifted skill point to choose a public skill—Sailing Skill!
—System Prompt: You received the system-gifted newbie Sailing Skill Book! You can enhance the sailing skill level through the skill book after gaining skill points, or learn the navigation branch skills recorded in the book.
—System Prompt: You learned Basic Navigation Skill!
—Basic Navigation Skill: The hero's ship speed at sea increases by 20%.
Now, Da Fei's personal attributes were:
Player Level: Level 1
Profession: Long Spear Soldier (Holy Hall Level 1 Soldier normal form, special skill: Long Weapon, Long Spear Formation), Level 1 Explorer (In the game, categorized by the function of hero skills into four main types: Explorer, Legion Commander, Lord, Scholar, the Sailing Skill belongs to exploration skills.)
Reputation: 0 (You are an unknown soldier, will not receive special missions or invitations, killing same-camp players or NPCs will reduce your reputation.)
Command Power: 0 (The number of troops the hero can lead, currently unable to command any troops. Each troop has basic command value requirements, Level 1 soldier command value is 1, when the hero command power reaches 10, can carry 10 Level 1 soldiers.)
Tactical Position: 1 (The category of troops, and the number of vice heroes the hero can command, currently can only command one type troop, one vice hero.)
Attack: 0 (Increase hero and hero troops' damage value. Attack and defense are hero's strategic attributes, can enhance the whole army.)
Defense: 0 (Reduce the damage value suffered by hero and hero troops.)
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Magic Power: 0 (Magic power can enhance hero spell effects.)
Knowledge: 0 (Each point of knowledge provides 10 mana value for the hero.)
Life: 10 (Hero dies if killed.)
Attack Speed: Standard speed, 10 (10 speed is the benchmark speed, a reference value for all creature's attack speed. Faster attack speed units not only strike first but also have a higher attack frequency. For instance, Zombies have an attack speed of 5, meaning the player's attack frequency is twice that of the Zombie; Phoenix has an attack speed of 20, meaning Phoenix's attack frequency is twice that of the player.)
Move Speed: 10 (Maximum movement speed 10 meters per second, there's a chance to evade enemy attack when in running state. The faster the run speed, the higher the evasion chance, and the higher stamina consumption.)
Basic Killing: 1-3 (Killing value is the enemy's life value.)
(Note: Killing value varies with the difference in attack and defense between the two sides. When attack is greater than the enemy's defense, each additional point of attack increases killing by 5%, each additional point of defense reduces killing by 5%, that is, final damage = base killing × (1 + difference in attack and defense × 5%); according to this formula, when attack is 20 points higher than the enemy defense, killing doubles! So high-level soldiers are particularly strong against low-level soldiers.)
(Note: When attack is lower than the enemy's defense, final damage = base killing ÷ (1 + difference in attack and defense × 5%); that is, when attack is 10 points lower than defense, damage is only 2/3, when attack is 20 points lower than defense, damage is only 1/2, when attack is 40 points lower than defense, damage is only 1/3, so it's painfully difficult for low-level soldiers against high-level soldiers, hard to bring out normal strength.)
Morale: 1 (High morale troops gain extra damage bonus against low morale troops, also less likely to see deserters when defeated.)
Luck: 0 (No likelihood of double damage lucky effect, nor halved damage misfortune effect. Each point of Luck increases the chance of double critical hit by 1%.)
Stamina: 100 (Stamina of the troop steadily decreases during battle or marching, when stamina drops below 10%, the hero troop's morale, speed, and killing decrease, when the hero dies once resurrected, the stamina will be in a weakened state below 10%. The setup of stamina allows players to protect or even win by exhausting the enemy's strong force using a large number of weak troops.)
Stamina: 100 (Stamina of the troop steadily decreases during battle or marching, when stamina drops below 10%, the hero troop's morale, speed, and killing decrease, when the hero dies once resurrected, the stamina will be in a weakened state below 10%.)
Creation complete, the scene switched with a flash of white light, Da Fei appeared in a magnificent, solemn hall. In the air of the hall, a One-Winged Angel named Saphiro looked down majestically at dozens of whispering players beneath him.
Hall of Destiny. This was where players arrived after creating a character through random drawing, the place where jobs were assigned. Since players chose random, their birth and development place was also random, but NPC examiners would ask players a question and decide the player's future based on their answer.
At this moment, white light continued to flash, and more players kept entering the hall, then with a bang the doors shut, the whole hall suddenly darkened, and a solemn voice echoed within:
—"Welcome to Hero Continent, Children of Destiny, but you are very unfortunate to encounter me! I hate those useless people who let others determine their fate, but I greatly enjoy the feeling of determining others' fate, now, the exam begins!"
In the dim hall, a spotlight suddenly shone on a player in the crowd named "Evil Little White Wolf," receiving all eyes of pity from dozens of players! It was already the third day since the server opened, new players all knew how troublesome this examiner was, the preceding sacrifices would provide valuable personality data of the examiner to the succeeding candidates, allowing them to provide the most reliable answers.
Saphiro coldly said: "You have received the grace of the gods and possess a good Lord's special ability, but I think you don't deserve it, tell me, what's the most important thing for a Lord?"
All the players exclaimed! Even the NPC said his special ability was good, he must be getting lucky!
Evil Little White Wolf coughed and said: "Of course, managing a mine."
Saphiro chuckled: "What a fitting answer for your special ability, then I'll fulfill you by arranging you to mine at the haunted pit in Death Mountain Range!"
"Damn!" A flash of white light, Evil Little White Wolf vanished.
Is that place fit for newbies? Everyone's heart tensed again but couldn't help feeling schadenfreude, now, everyone had a preliminary impression of how pitfall this examiner was.
The spotlight shone on a female player named "Fleeting Blossom," who jumped in fear.
—"Another one with Lord's special ability, what do you think is most important in being a Lord?"
The female player stammered: "Man-managing farms..."
Saphiro sneered: "Such a fitting answer for your special ability!"
All players quietly sighed, learning nothing from history, how short-sighted!
—"Very well, answer then, there are a total of 450 chickens and ducks on the farm, after selling half of the chickens and buying 30 more ducks, the chickens are twice the number of ducks, how many chickens and ducks were originally there? I'm short on patience, answer me quickly, if you can't even do basic math, what right do you have to be a Lord? I might assign you a suitable position at the farm, such as cleaning chicken droppings!"
The crowd erupted! Even testing elementary math problems? But, who knew the answer?
Fleeting Blossom immediately shouted, "384 chickens, 66 ducks!"
The examiner excitedly exclaimed, "Correct, adding 10 points! Your talents should go where you belong!"
The crowd was amazed! Such mental arithmetic ability is freakishly strong! While the problem wasn't difficult, what's astounding was getting the answer so quickly!
Meanwhile, ten flashes of golden light descended upon the female player in rapid succession, instantly boosting her level to 10! Then a white flash, and she disappeared!
The entire place was shocked! Correctly answering an elementary question instantly raised levels by 10, too unbelievable!
Indeed, one player in the hall shouted angrily: "Nonsense! Not fair! It's so unfair!"
The hall's spotlight instantly focused on this player, a young man around 20 years old—Blood Sea Wave! Suddenly, everyone noticed he was wielding a steel sword, wearing leather armor, carrying a thick ironwood shield—actually a Shield Guard! Holy Hall Level 3 Soldier Shield Guard!
(Shield Guard: Attack 2, Defense 8, Life 20, Damage 2-5, Attack Speed 12, Move Speed 8, Command Value 2, Special Skill: Great Shield, Shield Formation. If a player holds the Shield Guard position, the starting weapon and equipment add 2 points to personal attack, 8 points to personal defense, personal attack, and defense do not affect the troops. Command value 2 means it requires 2 command power to lead a Shield Guard.)
Wow! A clamor erupted among the Long Spear Soldier players! What a superior start! Others start with 0 attack, defense, 1-3 damage, 10 life, a weak Level 1 soldier, he had 10 more attributes as a Level 3 soldier! And he dared to scream unfair?
Saphiro sneered coldly: "Fair? Aren't you people putting your fate in the hands of gods trying to gain an early shortcut over others? You talk about fairness?"
Blood Sea Wave replied coldly: "I spent money to gain the god-chosen opportunity, that is fair! As for you, casually raising someone else's level, that's unfair!"
Saphiro laughed heartily: "Once you hand your fate to others to control, don't foolishly expect fairness! However, I can offer you a fair opportunity, if you're capable of grasping it!"
Blood Sea Wave boastfully said: "I chose the god-chosen because no matter what my fate is, I'll grasp it! My special ability is Admiral, do as you will!" He openly displayed his hero special ability!
—Admiral: Hero's army's overall combat power at sea increases with hero level.
The entire crowd gasped: "God-level Hero!!!"
It enhances overall combat power, not just attack and defense! Combat power includes attack, defense, speed, morale, everything! Who could beat him at sea?
And Da Fei's jaw dropped to the floor! Are God-level Heroes common as dirt? We were in the same drawing period, why didn't I have such good luck? For both having water-related skills, mine is such trash in comparison! Nonsense! It's unfair! So unfair!
Saphiro sneered coldly: "Good, the Empire's farthest frontier deserted island urgently needs inspiring youth to guard it, there you shall go as your Admiral!"
A flash of white light, Blood Sea Wave disappeared!
The crowd sighed and gasped.
A flash of spotlight, now it was on Da Fei! My turn?
Saphiro coldly said: "What is your aspiration?"
Da Fei's heart skipped a beat! This guy seemed to be calling out specials with similar traits consecutively, so after Admiral, it was my Storm Navigation's turn! But everyone has different fates, I won't go to a far-off deserted island, I aim to do tasks at port cities to rack up reputation, save up big for a large Galen sailing ship!
Da Fei courteously replied: "I aspire to become a maritime merchant, contributing to the Empire's commercial prosperity."
Saphiro said flatly: "Is that so? The Empire's farthest frontier deserted island urgently needs enterprising youth to develop it, there you shall go as your maritime merchant!"
"Damn!" A white flash, Da Fei disappeared!
The scene switched! Blue sea, blue sky, seagulls flying.
—System Prompt: You have arrived at the new player trial scene Miracle Island!
Then naturally, beside him, there was someone also looking around curiously, Blood Sea Wave!
(Note: Galen Ship, a large ocean-going sailing ship most mainstream in Western maritime nations from the 16th to 18th century, four masts, 50 meters long, 2000 tons displacement, replaced by steamships after the Industrial Revolution. The ships in the game are also of antique design.)