Zhan Long Xiao Yao takes on the world

The next day, at 11 a.m., there was still an entire hour before ‘Destiny’ officially opened. I ate a boxed lunch early and sat in the bedroom with glasses boy, just waiting for time to pass. What’s more, I managed to squeeze out all the details from glasses boy. This guy is an online site operator who opened several black market stores and earned upwards of 10000RMB monthly. He paid 3000000RMB to study here at Liu Hua University because he wanted to become educated and talented. No matter how I look at it, this guy seems to want to play here for four years and rot to death after graduating like me.

On the desk, there was a Destiny magazine that was distributed, which included a lot of information about the game. I took a quick look, but nothing stood out. However, the game had one master designer, four executive designers, and 150 other designers. One of the executive designers looked extremely familiar – it was Lin Cheng!

My body trembling a little, I sat there dazed. Don’t tell me it’s that old geezer.

I quickly pulled a chair out and opened Tang Gu’s computer. “Hey, glasses boy, let me use your computer for a while,” I said.

“Ah, what’s wrong?” Glasses Boy was shocked and said: “I’ll let you don’t be so sudden next time though. What’s wrong with you, Li Xiao Yao?”

I opened a browser and quickly searched the web using the keywords ‘Destiny’ and ‘Lin Cheng.’ As expected, the information appeared. Lin Cheng was the principal designer of Destiny. There was also a picture of him with that always-smiling face. I laughed in disbelief – it was that stupid old geezer!

Glasses boy looked at me, surprised. He said: “Oh, what’s up? This Lin Cheng, you know him?”

I nodded my head but didn’t say anything. How could I not know this guy? From 14 to 19 years old, I was always by his side, constantly practicing and training my body. Who knew this geezer would run off to game design and design this super popular game?

Knitting my eyebrows, I said: “Glasses, this Destiny is a game, right? Why did they choose this old man to be part of the main design team? I don’t understand…”

Glasses Boy smiled: “Obviously, you won’t understand. Destiny was announced early on, and its primary selling point is that it invited all the big names in each profession to join the design team. For example, the world’s best blacksmith, the best archer, and even an herbalist and a martial artist were invited. This game could be considered the closest to reality ever. The mental aspects like attitude and spirit all took a significant step forward; additionally, you can create your skills and styles. Whatever it is, this game is heaven for game addicts.

“Create your skills and styles…” I muttered. “So it’s like this, huh?”

“Why, have you seen a ghost?” Glasses Boy hit me.

I shook my head while smiling, saying: “I’m fine, let’s prepare to enter Destiny.”

“Mm, wait till I get higher leveled; I’ll carry you!”

“Carry your dad, just focus on not getting destroyed by monsters. The information says the monsters are extremely ferocious; you’ll lose a level if you die once. Be careful!”

“I know already. I was ranked 7000+ in Conquer, and I’m considered a pro. How could I mess up Destiny?”

“Stop gloating already.”

My lips curled into a smile as I wondered what Dong Cheng Yue said. She was ranked 79th in Conquer. She is a top-tier player. Moreover, Lin Wan Er was apparently ranked even higher than that. These people invested a lot of money into the game. One by one, they all become so ferocious.

At 11.50 a.m., I put my helmet on. It scanned my iris, confirming my identity. As expected, I could not find any information on my previous account, so I had to create a new account and choose a class. However, at the moment, there was only a timer counting down to the launch of Destiny. There was nothing I could do for now.

I waited impatiently as the 10 minutes slowly trickled by. The glasses boy says that the first person to enter the game will get a prize. I won’t bother since I’ll make my character look handsome, and then I can achieve my life-long goal – finding a girlfriend.

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

Finally, as I counted down, Destiny launched. A scene of a desolate temple and ruins appeared before me. The camera panned in the sky, and a big Sun shined viciously down upon me. At the foot of the mountains, there was a battlefield. The neighs of the war horses could be heard. There were thousands of arrows whizzing past, and in the background was a gigantic tree that grew into the sky, beyond human vision. Below the tree, cavalry rushed forward, and bodies were slaughtered. One by one, the barbarians holding battle axes let out a savage roar, their teeth disordered.

A beautiful young woman sat on the mountain top, body fully plated with armor. She looked at the battlefield with beautiful eyes and suddenly stood up. Her pair of heavenly legs slightly bent. Teng: The sound of her springing into the air could be heard. She flew down the mountain top, her arm pressing onto an umbrella. Swish, the blood-red umbrella sprang open, stopping her fall. She unsheathed her blade and slashed.

Bang

Her blade shone as she charged at a group of barbarians, turning them into a pile of meat. She smiled confidently, and with a swing of her sword, the battlefield around her combusted into flames, rapidly killing everything.

Roar!

Amid the roar, a huge body towered over her, casting a shadow down on her. That was a special barbarian who had a golden axe. It was a legendary-level barbarian hero. The axe was covered in flames, and it swung down at her.

The girl’s reaction was swift, stepping backward to avoid it. At the same time, she reached for the blood-red umbrella on her back and quickly opened it. It sprang open with a swish and turned into a defensive shield. Bang, a bullet was fired from the umbrella, shocking the barbarian with electricity. The axe still hit the umbrella, and the loud clang was imprinted into the girl’s heart.

She widened her pretty eyes, and her pupils had flames dancing in them. She left a wide cut on the barbarian’s neck with one flash of her dagger. Violently, she killed the barbarian. She then proudly soared up towards the World Tree.

The scene suddenly shrank; supposedly, this was an opening cutscene. The entire Destiny map was shown on the screen. On the south side was the human population and their seven main cities. In the middle, the Sea Nymphs occupied the Bu Gui Ocean. The North was entirely uncharted, and icons of monsters like dragons, undead, and barbarians were displayed. After that, the sky was filled with a giant word – Destiny. This game’s art was truly breathtaking!

After that, a menu appeared, and the system notice said: Please pick your race!

Five races appeared before my eyes: the Human race, the Undead race, the Moon Spirit race, the Barbarian race, and the elf race. As I looked through each one, I realized that the undead seemed too undesirable, which conflicted with my goal of creating a super handsome character. The moon spirits looked tempting, but it was limited to girls only because the race’s name was Moon Spirit Girl. The barbarians were too crude. The wind elves had wings they could use to fly, but they were too squishy and died quickly. As a result, I chose the human race in the end. The human race is good because it looks identical to real-life people.

I confirmed my selection of the human race, after which the system showed an image of a male who slowly morphed to match my features. He was wearing simple villager clothing and held a wooden sword. He looked handsome already, so I didn’t customize the character's look. After that, the system notice changed: Please select your class!

There’s not much to talk about here; the class I wanted to be the most was the healer. To each his own, the healer provided healing, which could be said to be our youth generation’s most important aspect!

I smiled lightly, but when I thought about how I would train my healing and levels, I felt I was too near-sighted…

Oh well. I confirmed the selection of the healer class, and before me stood a character in cloth, about 1.8m tall. I fit the ‘tall, handsome, and wealthy’ branding.

The system notice changed again, now saying: Please enter your name!

I thought of this long ago.

A panel appeared in front of me with a text box in it, indicating for me to type in my name –

Diao Chan of the Three Kingdoms³

Ding

System Notice: The name you selected is already in use!

I clenched my fists tightly, saying: “What in the world, such a weird name, and it’s already taken!”

It’s OK; I thought of a backup name in case something like this happened. This time, I typed the letters in –

Miss, Please Stop

Ding

System Notice: The name you selected is already in use!

Again, a system notice, my heart almost shattered into pieces; this is too hard; all the names I want are taken! Continuing, I typed yet another name. This time, I made it less cool-sounding. Hopefully, it’s not taken already.

Brother Xiao Yao Takes on the World

System Notice: The name you selected is already in use!

“What the?”

I almost coughed up blood. I gritted my teeth, focused my will, and decided to use a name I’ve used for a long time but eventually decided to abandon –

Xiao Yao Zi Zai

Ding

System Notice: The name you selected is not in use. Do you want to use this name?

Oh, finally. I managed to select a name; who cares about anything else?

After selecting the ‘confirm’ button, a character was created like that. System Notice: Do you want to enter the game world immediately?

After selecting ‘yes,’ shua, a flash of light blinded me as I entered Destiny. Flashing lights whizzed past me, and before long, I finally got put on a simple and slightly broken platform. Looking around, I saw several broken pillars. There were also confused noobs around me. System Notice: You’ve been assigned to the 19th Beginner Village, [Straw Dog Village].

Straw Dog Village, what a good name!

Standing on the platform, I didn’t rush to exit this place. Beside me, tons of people drew their swords and charged into the plains surrounding the village. Mm, it seems they wanted to grind their levels.

Reciting the words ‘Player Information,’ a screen full of information was brought up in front of me. Indeed, it was the player stats.

Xiao Yao Zi Zai (Novice Healer)

Level: 1

Attack: 1-1

Defence: 2

Health Points: 100

Magic Points: 50

Charm: 0

What great attacking power, 1-1. Can I even defeat a chicken? Seriously…

In my hand was an old broken wood staff. I glanced at it. It seems the 1-1 attack power was because of this lousy weapon. Walking out, I decided not to rush out and grab some mob kills. After that, I don’t think I can snag any. Being a healer, I must gather lots of information. I won’t stick with the group of noobs outside and try to kill grass dogs.

Walking to the blacksmith, a tall and bulky guy greeted me. He smiled and said: “Boy, do you want to buy weapons?”

I nodded my head and quickly started to browse through the selection. There was a metal sword that only required level 1 to equip, and it had attack power 1-3. However, it cost 15 copper coins, and I only had 10 in my wallet. Damn it!

After thinking about it for a while, I decided. I took out my old wooden staff and sold it for seven coppers. I had 17 coppers now, and I happily bought the sword. It wasn’t a high-class sword, and the requirements and stats weren’t that high either. I’m a healer; sometimes, I need to rely on my knife when I’m doing an operation, and sometimes, I need to rely on it to eat. It’s attacking power was good enough.

Sword in hand, I walked on.