Chapter 1 - Prologue
As per usual in the mornings, Lin Li logged in on his smurf 1 account—which was a mage—the first thing after he went online.
Bright Moon City was particularly busy on Sundays. The continuous stream of players was more than double in number when compared to other days; it was overcrowded even in the private warehouse where the fees were more expensive.
“Could you please help—” Lin Li finally made his way to Suo Lan and was about to ask the pretty administrator for help in getting his mail item.
But he was pushed away from the back before he could finish his sentence.
“Didn’t you see the words outside clearly? This is a private warehouse, what is a low-level player like you doing here?” Those words came from a level forty-something warrior who was followed by a group of four or five players. He seemed to be the leader of their small team.
After the warrior had spoken, the rest of the players expressed their discontent one after another. “Something’s wrong with this low-level guy; he’s coming here and taking up a space for nothing.”
“Who knows. Maybe he thinks the rich are here and so would like to get some money for a potion to level up.”
As the scroll of Wishes gently unfolded, a rainbow appeared suddenly on the skies of Bright Moon City. As the colorful rays shone down lightly, the whole city seemed to be enshrouded in a dream. A majestic voice rang through the solemn and divine choir, a voice that appeared to come from afar yet nearby at the same time.
“What is your wish?”
Lin Li gazed at the rainbow. He hesitated slightly before taking a deep breath, then said, “My wish is to increase the levels of all my life skills!
The instant the wish was made, the rainbow transformed into numerous beams, descending gradually from the sky like a seven-colored ribbon, wrapping Lin Li up. Lin Li could vividly feel that with every breath he took, it was as if there were countless beams infused into his body. As the last beam was absorbed, limitless knowledge gushed from his brain. Forging, alchemy, pharmaceutics, magical enchantment, and inscription, and even general knowledge in medicinal, mineral, and other categories. These seemed to be with him from birth, integrated with the existing memories he had, and he had them at his fingertips.
Lin Li checked his skill form. Four of the main skills had indeed reached the level of a guru, and most of the general skills were also beyond the level of a master. Thinking back to the year since the opening of the Endless World, there had never been a guru well-versed in all five series; even a master in one was hard to find.
Life skills were incomparable to individual levels. As long as you put enough time into gaining individual levels by defeating monsters and completing missions constantly, you could accumulate enough experience points to level up. However, once you had reached the highest level for a life skill, it would be extremely difficult to make any progress. Only powerful characters like Lin Li would think of smashing top-grade materials to earn skill points. Thinking back, he had spent almost five million gold coins on these five basic skills. Other than Lin Li who had just raided a dragon’s lair, who else could afford it?
The mastery level was more like a division. When one had reached the mastery level, it was not a matter of money anymore. Perhaps there wouldn’t be the slightest increase in your skills even if you had succeeded in forging ten thousand times, but a failure in forging might allow you to obtain a huge improvement in skills. No one would dare say there would be a day where he could reach the level of a guru, even when there was only a small gap to overcome to achieve it.
Of course, the difference between a guru and a master was a vast chasm.
The mastery level would only allow you to create legendary items, and there might only be one success in a thousand tries. But at the guru level, you could create legendary items at will. You could even create epic items, though there would still be a certain rate of failure. However, a guru could not be mentioned in the same breath as a master.
As for legendary items, it was not something the mortals could imagine. Someone who was able to create artifacts, no matter what profession he was in, was a person there’d only be one title for—the Divine Smith!
The scroll of Wishes was a good item. It could be used to attain millions of wealth, kill a legendary creature, or even build your own kingdom. Each was no doubt a fine choice. But Lin Li constantly felt that using it to become a professional guru was the wisest choice of all.
Lin Li took a look at the fading rainbow. Slowly, he picked up the remaining materials for training and kept them in his bag. After witnessing a miracle, the players no longer had the thoughts of banditry in their minds. They watched dumbstruck as Lin Li packed the materials, but no one dared to move an inch.
Someone who could produce numerous top-graders at hand and spend millions of gold coins by the knock of a hammer and a shake of the medicinal bottle was not someone they could afford to mess with. Other things aside, he could simply employ someone for a few thousand gold coins to wipe them off their accounts. Banditry? More like suicide.
After putting all the materials in his bag, Lin Li planned to switch to his hunter account for a good talk with the onlookers. But then, all of a sudden, a sharp siren sounded.
“An unknown failure occurred in the system. All players are requested to go offline immediately!
“An unknown failure occurred in the system. All players are requested to go offline immediately!
“An unknown failure occurred in the system. All players are requested to go offline immediately!”
The siren sounded thrice. Lin Li was about to go offline when he realized he had lost control of his character.
He had yet to grasp the situation when the feeling of losing control extended to his own body. It felt as if his soul and body were being separated. He could see himself but couldn’t feel his existence. The surroundings became soft and velvety. No matter how he struggled, he could not break away from the hopeless sense of impotence.
Lin Li gradually felt his stream of consciousness floating away. He could even see another image of him lying sluggishly on the chair. Lin Li jerked his head up in horror. It was pitch-black above him—real darkness, without a hint of foreign matter. Even if there was a sliver of light shining into it, it would be devoured by the endless dark, with nothing left behind.
“Which despicable fellow hid a black hole in my house!?” The question popped up in Lin Li’s head before the last bit of his consciousness faded into the darkness…