Chapter 2

Solen slowly opened his eyes.

For half a month, every time he tried to open his eyes, a dense stream of data, countless 0s and 1s, would flash through his mind, causing a pain as if his brain was exploding. His awareness of his body was very weak; it felt as if his entire body was filled with electric currents, disrupting his internal static field into a chaotic mess. Although he could hear and sense everything outside, he could do nothing, not even move a finger!

No!

I have to wake up!

I must wake up!

Although he didn't know why he had been reborn in this mysterious world, Solen knew that the little girl outside was in danger.

The little girl who had been taking care of him so carefully was in danger!

Her name was Vivian, she was eight years old, with beautiful light golden hair, and when she smiled, two small dimples would appear.

She was Solen's half-sister.

She was also the target of many human traffickers in the slums, who were certain that this little girl would grow up to be a beauty and could be sold for a good price after a short period of care. A little girl without parents, with her only brother still unconscious and his fate unknown, was the easiest and most vulnerable target.

This was a world of evil!

Solen had heard more than once in the past half month that someone was trying to break in.

If it weren't for the old dog named 'Hiss,' Vivian would have already fallen into their clutches.

"No!"

"I must wake up!"

Solen's mind roared with anger, even as the memories of his past life became hazy, and the other memories of someone also named Solen faded. His only obsession was to wake up and protect the poor little girl.

She was already in great danger!

In the slums, a beautiful eight-year-old girl could not survive.

In his perception, two villains were already plotting how to poison the old dog named 'Hiss' and then sell Vivian to a woman named Sonia.

All of this was about to happen!

If he couldn't wake up, the little girl would face an unimaginably tragic fate!

...

Darkness.

Endless darkness.

Solen's mind was still filled with countless 0s and 1s, with fine electric currents jumping in his body. He vaguely remembered some events from his past life, mixed with other blurry memories.

It was a painful experience!

In the soul-tearing pain, he gradually recalled the accident in the health pod, where his consciousness had entered a virtual space. Then he remembered another scene: a wizard in a black cloak pointing at him, causing countless flashes of lightning, as if his soul was being shattered by the lightning!

In a daze,

A young boy with black eyes and flaxen hair, with a hint of youthfulness, appeared.

He extended his hand and said solemnly, "Protect her!"

"Don't let her get hurt!"

Solen's consciousness became hazy again, as if he had had a dream where many things happened, all the memories of another person.

He had completely disappeared!

Only a name remained, because Solen felt that he shouldn't even leave behind a name.

After all, Solen felt that he had given up his self, allowing him to wake up from his coma!

His name was Solen.

So he was also called Solen.

As for what he was called before, it didn't matter anymore.

The most important thing now was to wake up and protect the little girl named Vivian before the villains made their move.

Electric currents still surged in his body.

But the endless 0s and 1s in his mind seemed to gradually stop, and he felt a sense of soul fulfillment, as if a new spiritual force had emerged, suppressing the chaotic currents and 01 numbers in his body. Then a thunderous sound exploded in his mind!

Suddenly,

Solen opened his eyes, and a familiar interface appeared before him.

Name: Solen.

Race: Half-Elf.

Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 19 (+1), Constitution 15, Intelligence 18 (+1), Perception 15, Charisma 16.

Alignment: Lawful Evil.

Class: 5th Level Commoner / 1st Level Rogue [1st Tier].

Health: 12/12.

Experience: 150 (Unallocated).

Skill Points: None.

Attribute Points: None.

Status: Weak (Soul Revived).

Class Skills — Stealth 20, Thievery 35, Lockpicking 45, Traps 15.

Legendary Skill — Universal Hands [Sealed] (Soul Weak).

Personal Traits — Nimble Left Hand, Photographic Memory.

...

"What is this?!"

Solen's consciousness gradually awoke, and he remembered that before the accident in the health pod, he was in a virtual game. No wonder his mind had been filled with so many 0s and 1s for the past half month; it turned out that the data stream from the game had been transmitted to his consciousness during the accident. The dense data stream he saw when he opened his eyes had finally been fully integrated into his brain.

A brief moment of shock.

Solen quickly regained his composure and tried to focus, thinking to himself, "Did the data stream really integrate? Does that mean my brain is now close to a biological AI brain?"

"I wonder if it's possible!"

"Allocate 150 experience points to the Commoner class!"

A warm current emerged.

Solen was surprised to find that he could feel the existence of his limbs, and the electric currents in his body gradually dissipated, with a surge of vitality circulating within him.

"Commoner class level increased to 10! Base class level maxed out!"

"25 skill points gained."

A familiar line of text appeared.

Solen felt a surge of joy, as everything before him was exactly like the virtual game he had entered before.

Before the accident, he was in a virtual space, with his consciousness transmitted to a game called "Battle of the Gods." This was a very popular game at the time, claiming to have achieved a 100% realism breakthrough when other virtual games were still at around 75% realism.

This caused a huge impact in the Earth Federation!

It attracted countless people from the start, and Solen was one of them, even praising the game pod's design for its magical style, with a simulated magic array at the bottom. In the era before his rebirth, the virtual world was a crucial field because the space age required a large number of talents with an astonishing amount of complex knowledge. This required strong memory and computational abilities.

The initial research in the virtual world was to use micro-currents to stimulate the right brain, enhancing computational and memory effects, increasing the right brain's development by 3% to 10%.

This could be considered a form of human brain AI research, and in some cases, even involved implanting smart chips.

This progress was relatively slow and required a lot of resources.

So, it eventually evolved into a more affordable virtual game field, which became a core area.

"Games are conscious simulations created to meet the needs of young animals and humans for life and ability development." — Plato.

Before formal learning, games were an important simulation method.

Normal learning often stimulates the left brain, making knowledge easy to forget.

That's why the knowledge we learned in school is mostly forgotten.

The right brain, on the other hand, requires more active emotional energy and has the ability to remember vast amounts of information at high speed, with true photographic memory, which is 1,000,000 times better than the left brain's memory!

The potential difference between the two is over 100,000 times!

Therefore, in the space age, brain development was a crucial field, and many jobs required a brain development level of at least 12%. Once this requirement was met, the relevant professional knowledge could be mastered in a short time. The widespread use of machinery increased the demand for high-end talent, and the replacement of low-level labor by machines left most people idle, making the virtual game field, which was cheap, important, and could alleviate social conflicts, unprecedentedly prosperous.

Studies have shown that

In the virtual world, simulating various extreme and complex environments can increase the right brain's usage by over 300%!

This has an unimaginable effect on developing the right brain's potential.

Although there is a subconscious hint that "nothing is real," the stimulation of the right brain is still several times that of a normal learning environment.

Therefore, the more realistic the virtual game, the more significant the effect on brain stimulation.

The higher the development level.

Although this higher level is from 1% to around 3%, the progress is not very obvious, but it is still a significant breakthrough.

After all, the maximum stimulation in the real world is only 1.5%.

Therefore, before obtaining work qualifications, entering the virtual world game was a necessary and time-consuming process for many people.

This process would be long!

Because the mysterious areas of the brain determine everything is full of unknowns.

...

Before the accident, Solen was controlling his legendary rogue character, preparing to infiltrate the Shadow Temple to steal an epic item that would grant him a demigod essence. He had already realized the limitations of the rogue class, and without the demigod essence's attribute boost, he would have no advantage in the future god wars.

At that time, his advanced class level had already reached 20, and he had chosen the special legendary skill — Universal Hands!

"Universal Hands [Legendary Skill]: The legendary rogue has incredibly nimble hands, gaining an additional +5 bonus to all class-related skill checks, and automatically mastering weapon proficiencies when using any weapon in combat.

Theoretically, Universal Hands can also use any item!

Whether it's the treasures of the gods or weapons with specific restrictions, Universal Hands can use them easily."

Universal Hands.

The signature skill of a legendary rogue, and a skill that many people in the game envied and resented!

If it weren't for the rogue's insufficient combat ability after entering the legendary realm, there would have been more complaints. After all, with Universal Hands, a rogue could use most weapons and equipment, including high-level arcane scrolls of wizards and many artifacts with strict requirements, with almost no side effects!

Battle of the Gods!

This virtual game had extremely strict class advancement, and the commoner class could not gain any attribute points or even increase base health.

The only thing gained was 25 skill points.

Only when the advanced class level increased could one gain one precious attribute point for every two levels.

...

The perception of his body gradually returned.

When Solen opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning.

Vivian's small body was already asleep by the bed. Since he had opened his eyes yesterday, the little girl had been so excited that she couldn't sleep all night, staying by his side until dawn, when she finally fell asleep.

"Ouch!"

A tingling pain.

Solen tried to lift a finger, and immediately felt a full-body electric shock.

The electric currents were still in his body, and part of the data stream still appeared in his mind, making Solen increasingly suspect that his brain had been accidentally transformed into a biological AI brain. After all, academic research had already proven that the human brain could serve as the core component of a super AI, and top scientists had even donated their brains for posthumous research to advance human civilization.

Smart chips were also developed on this basis!

Electric currents jumped in his body.

But as the electric shock pain subsided, he gradually regained control of his body, sitting up shakily.

"Bro... Brother!"

Vivian opened her eyes in a daze, then hugged his arm with great joy, sobbing, "Wah... wah..."

"You're finally better!... Vivian was so worried!..."

"There are so many bad people!"

"They want to catch Vivian and sell her!..."

"Fortunately, there's Hiss!... Otherwise, Vivian would have been taken away!..."

"Hiss!..."

Vivian, who had just opened her eyes, turned to look at the door, suddenly froze, and let go of Solen's arm, rushing to the threshold and hugging the old dog's body, crying in fear, "Hiss, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't scare me!"

"Don't scare Vivian!"

"Please wake up! Please bark! I beg you to bark, okay?"

Tears fell.

Vivian sat in the corner, hugging the black and yellow old dog, silently shedding large tears. The old dog's body was already cold.

It lay quietly by the door.

Sleeping peacefully!

Its name was Hiss, a Goras hunting dog, which could fight with cheetahs in its prime, but it was now very old.

Since Solen fell into a coma, it had been closely following the little girl named Vivian.

It was protecting her.

It hadn't had a good rest for half a month because it was the only one who could protect Vivian from harm.

It was very tired and very hungry.

Food was scarce, and Vivian had been hungry, so it could only catch some rats it used to disdain.

Unfortunately, it was too old.

Often, it was still hungry, relying only on its instinct to protect its master to keep it going.

Now Solen had finally woken up.

Its mission was complete.

It was really, really old, so it lay by the door, sleeping peacefully.

Never to wake up again!