"Hello, Village Chief."
"Oh! Brave young man, are you ready? Do you wish for me to teleport you to the distant Lost Continent? That will be your new beginning, and I believe your name will soon spread across that land." The village chief greeted him with a hearty smile.
"Not yet." Ye Tianxie shook his head, his expression serious. "Village Chief, I have a few questions. If it's convenient, I’d appreciate your answers."
"Haha, ask whatever you like! If I know the answer, I’ll certainly tell you," the chief replied with the same kind smile. His "heartfelt" level of favorability wasn’t just a superficial friendliness—it meant he would share nearly everything he knew with Ye Tianxie.
"In the north of the village, under that crooked tree, there's an old woman whose legs have been turned to stone. You must know about her... Who is she? What's her story?" Ye Tianxie asked.
To his surprise, the village chief shook his head. "Her origins have always been a mystery in our novice village. Even when I was born here, she was already there, sitting in that state for countless years. She never speaks to anyone, and whenever we ask who she is, she remains silent. The only thing she ever asks for… are wolf eyes. No one knows why she collects them, but once, the blacksmith Old Wang’s wife speculated that she might be trying to lift some kind of strange seal on her legs."
"I see..." Ye Tianxie nodded slowly, though he still had no clues.
"I heard that Blacksmith Wang’s son, Xiao Ming, was recently taken away by a giant bat demon. Where did that bat come from? Why did it appear in the novice village? And where did it go?" Ye Tianxie asked his next question. He had no reason to leave without completing the novice village’s hidden quests.
The village chief hesitated for a moment before letting out a long sigh. "Yes, it’s true. Old Wang’s son was indeed taken away by a giant bat. But that bat is no longer in the novice village—it has already flown to the Lost Continent. Xiao Ming... is surely…"
"The Lost Continent?"
"Our novice village has always been peaceful and isolated. That giant bat’s appearance was a terrifying anomaly. Later, the oracles told me that the bat closely resembled a demon general who once served one of the Eight Demon Lords. It’s likely that it escaped from the Tower of Fate when the 'Moment of Fate' occurred. But how it ended up here, and why… no one knows," the village chief said, shaking his head. Indeed, this was one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of Novice Village #60001.
Ye Tianxie pondered for a moment before suddenly saying, "That means... there must be a special way to return to the novice village from the Lost Continent, right?!"
The village chief was visibly stunned. "This... seems to be exactly as you said…"
Ye Tianxie’s expression eased into satisfaction. As expected, Destiny wouldn't create an outright impossible task. Whether it was that bizarre old woman’s extreme quest, the mission to help Blacksmith Wang’s family find their lost son, or even those absurdly powerful items in the village store… everything pointed toward one thing—how to return from the Lost Continent to the novice village.
There must be a way. There had to be hope!
"Village Chief, I have nothing holding me back here anymore. Please send me to the Lost Continent. Since that bat demon could return to the novice village from there, this farewell might not be forever. Perhaps one day, I too will find a way back," Ye Tianxie said with a smile.
"Oh? Hahaha! Good… very good! Your words bring me both comfort and anticipation. Alright, I shall send you to the Lost Continent now. Staying here would only limit your potential. There, you will receive a mature profession and become a true warrior. But before that, allow me to enhance some of your basic survival skills."
A soft, golden-white light radiated from the village chief’s palm and enveloped Ye Tianxie. A crisp, pleasant system notification rang in his ears:
"Ding… The Village Chief of Novice Village #60001 has upgraded your 'Gathering Skill' to Intermediate level. You can now collect higher-tier items from monster corpses and special locations."
In the novice stage, players could learn many life skills—besides Gathering, there was Herbalism for collecting medicinal plants, Mining for extracting ores, Blacksmithing for forging weapons, and more. These skills could also be easily learned in the cities of the Lost Continent. However, Ye Tianxie only had one life skill—Gathering. He didn’t bother with the others. The progression of life skills was significantly harder than leveling up; their ranks were Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Immortal, Heaven, God, and Saint. The village chief had just saved him at least ten days of tedious training by instantly boosting his skill to Intermediate.
"Thank you, Village Chief."
"The Lost Continent has five main cities, named after the celestial elements: Tianri City, Tianyue City, Tianxing City, Tianchen City, and Tianxuan City. At the very center of the continent stands the Imperial City, the grandest city and the highest seat of power. You beings from another world can only enter it once you reach level 50. The Imperial City is also the closest city to the Tower of Fate, making it the first to suffer from the tower’s demonic influence. Its current state is… unknown. Now, go! I look forward to the day your name is written in the annals of the Lost Continent’s history!"
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A bright white light enveloped Ye Tianxie, and his surroundings blurred into a brilliant radiance. The next moment, his body vanished from the novice village.
When the scene reformed, Ye Tianxie opened his eyes to a completely different world.
The novice village—the very first starting point every player had to go through—had now become a thing of the past. He had left it behind at level 11. By now, countless players had already moved on to the cities to advance their classes. But among them, only he had successfully cleared the Abyss Trial. And as for reaching level 11… perhaps he was the only one.
The experience required to level up from 10 to 11 was enormous, but Ye Tianxie had relied on the massive experience reward from the Abyss Trial. In other words, at this moment, he was likely the highest-level player in the game.
And soon, the game’s various ranking leaderboards—an inevitable feature of any virtual world—would activate once enough players had completed their class advancements.
This was a vast square—spacious yet not empty. Many players were already wandering around, and from time to time, flashes of white light would appear as new players descended from the beginner village. To Ye Tianxie’s right stood a massive floating stone tablet bathed in white light—this was the city's resurrection point.
One of the five major cities of the Lost Continent—Tianchen City. This was the inevitable next starting point for all new players after leaving the beginner village. It was a completely equal and fair starting line for everyone, as all players had only this one mandatory option and could not be teleported to any other major city.
Ye Tianxie focused his thoughts and summoned his status panel:
Character: Xietian
Level: 11
Class: None
Reputation: 220
Gold: 1013
Hunger: 75/180
Basic Attributes:
- Strength: 80
- Constitution: 22
- Agility: 19
- Spirit: 19
Fixed Attributes:
- Luck: 12
- Comprehension: 12
- Charm: 22
Stats:
- HP: 530
- MP: 300
- Physical Attack: 221
- Magic Attack: 38
- Physical Defense: 26
- Accuracy: 19
- Evasion: 19
- Reflex: 72
- Perception: 53
- Focus: 42
- Attack Speed: 100
- Movement Speed: 100
Elemental Resistances:
- Fire: 3%
- Water: 3%
- Wind: 3%
- Thunder: 8%
- Earth: 3%
- Light: 3%
- Darkness: 3%
Class Advancement… Looking at the word "None" next to his class, Ye Tianxie determined his first goal. He walked towards several NPCs in the square, whose presence was obvious. With his exceptionally high Charm stat, it was easy for him to get directions to the class advancement hall. Without hesitation, he made his way there.
Due to the sheer number of players in the Huaxia region, this sole class advancement hall was built to an astonishing scale—about the size of two real-world football fields. Since countless players who had reached level 10 were still struggling through the difficult or nightmare-level class trials for the enticing rewards, the number of players currently here for advancement wasn’t overwhelming.
The hall was divided into seven sections, each labeled clearly. Ye Tianxie scanned the signs and headed straight for the warrior class advancement zone. There, a middle-aged man with a full beard sat comfortably on a wide chair.
The Destiny world had a somewhat semi-humanized setting—no matter what a player’s starting class was, they were not restricted when choosing their official class. For example, a Trainee Warrior didn’t have to become a Warrior and could instead choose to be a Mage or Assassin, and vice versa. However, in practice, this setting was nearly useless—only a fool would pick a class different from their initial one, as it would render their previous attribute investments meaningless.
"Hello, I want to become a Warrior," Ye Tianxie said decisively as he stood before the bearded middle-aged man.
Ding… Due to your exceptional Charm, the Warrior class advancement mentor’s favorability towards you has increased by +20.
Ye Tianxie: "…"
The Warrior class mentor’s expression softened. He sat up straight and smiled. "Very well, young man. Let me first check your stats… Not bad, you’re indeed suited to be a Warrior. Warriors are the strongest close-combat fighters on the Lost Continent. On the battlefield, we are always the ones charging ahead, fearless. The basic Warrior class is divided into two types based on weapon choice—one is the Spear Warrior, who has high attack power and range but lower attack speed and accuracy. The other is the Sword Warrior, which is more balanced in all aspects. Which type of Warrior do you want to become?"
"Sword Warrior," Ye Tianxie replied.
Destiny’s Mark—what kind of weapon did it count as? It didn’t belong to any of the standard eighteen weapon categories, and it wasn’t even a conventional weapon at all. However, its attack style was identical to a sword, so Ye Tianxie was more inclined to treat it as one. But he couldn’t ignore the concern that, since Destiny’s Mark didn’t belong to any weapon category, the Sword Warrior’s sword-based skills might not be usable with it.
"Very well, then…" The Warrior class mentor stood up, closed his eyes slightly, raised his hand, and solemnly chanted, "In the name of the God of War, I bestow upon you the power of the Sword Warrior!"
A white radiance descended from above, enveloping Ye Tianxie, softly surrounding him before slowly merging into his body.
The Warrior class mentor lowered his hand—but the system notification for a successful class advancement never came. Instead, something unexpected happened. The white light that had merged into Ye Tianxie’s body suddenly scattered as if violently repelled.
The Warrior class mentor looked surprised. Meeting Ye Tianxie’s questioning gaze, he pondered briefly before trying again. Raising his hand, he chanted, "In the name of the God of War, I bestow upon you the power of the Sword Warrior!"
Once again, the white light descended from above, but this time, before even touching Ye Tianxie, it was swept away as if dispersed by a fierce wind, vanishing without a trace.
"What’s going on?" Ye Tianxie frowned in confusion.
The Warrior class mentor fell into deep thought, then looked up and said, "Don’t worry. This situation has happened before. It means that your physique is not suited to be a Warrior… It’s unfortunate, but you should choose a different class instead. With your current attributes, you can still become a Shield Guardian." He gestured toward the neighboring class advancement area.
Not suited to be a Warrior? Ye Tianxie was stunned. In all his years of playing virtual games, he had never heard of something like this happening. A vague sense of anomaly crept into his mind—an anomaly tied to all the inexplicable occurrences he had faced since entering the world of Destiny.
Why had he failed to receive a starting class at the very beginning?
And was this Warrior class rejection truly just a matter of "unsuitable physique," as the mentor claimed? Or was there something deeper at play?
Without a word, Ye Tianxie turned and walked toward the Shield Guardian advancement area. The Shield Guardian mentor was a burly middle-aged man. Ye Tianxie approached him and said directly, "Greetings, honorable mentor. I would like to become a Shield Guardian."
Ding… Due to your exceptional Charm, the Shield Guardian class advancement mentor’s favorability towards you has increased by +20.
At this point, Ye Tianxie had grown numb to this notification. He even suspected that every time he spoke to an NPC for the first time, this same message would appear.