Chapter 1

Lin Mo opened his eyes and felt the sunlight was a bit blinding. He reached out to shield his eyes, but the sunlight still seeped through his fingers. He frowned and sat up in bed.

He was handsome, with beautiful eyes now gazing at the scenery outside the window. Outside, the green leaves were even more tender in the sunlight. A gentle breeze blew in from the window, fluttering the white curtains, which swayed slightly.

Lin Mo sighed and suddenly received a call. He picked up his phone from the bedside table and glanced at it; it was a call from Zhao Bai.

Hesitating slightly, Lin Mo looked at the caller ID for a few seconds before answering.

"Why so slow?" an unsatisfied voice said, "You didn't just wake up, did you?"

Lin Mo chuckled and said, "Just as you guessed, I just woke up."

"You really amaze me." Zhao Bai sighed, "What day is it today? You didn't forget, did you?"

"What day?" Lin Mo asked casually. He got out of bed and walked to the sink, starting to wash his face.

"Bro, you forgot that 'Tian Yu' starts its public beta today?" Zhao Bai's voice had a hint of teasing.

Lin Mo's eyes widened instantly. He glanced at himself in the mirror. Something was wrong; why did he suddenly look so young?

Even his scruffy beard was gone...

He fell silent. His hand holding the phone trembled slightly.

"Hey, are you there? Why aren't you talking?" Zhao Bai's voice came from the other end of the line.

Lin Mo's voice trembled slightly, "What year and date is it today?"

"It's July 20, 2055." Zhao Bai said, "You didn't lose your memory, did you?" Although he was joking, there was a hint of concern in his voice.

"No." Lin Mo took a deep breath after getting the answer, and his expression returned to normal. He turned off the water in the sink and walked to the living room. He checked the calendar; it was indeed July 20, 2055.

Clearly, he had traveled through time. The reason he hesitated before answering the call was that he and Zhao Bai hadn't been in touch for three years. After a heated argument, Zhao Bai had left in disappointment. He still couldn't forget the look of disappointment in Zhao Bai's eyes.

He let out a light sigh; it was good to be back. This time, he would firmly grasp his fate.

After a few pleasantries with Zhao Bai, Lin Mo hung up the phone. He walked to another bedroom door and tried to push it open, but it was locked.

He fished out a keychain from his pocket and, following a distant memory, found the key to the bedroom door. He opened the door, and a long-lost scene appeared before him.

For some reason, his eyes were slightly moist.

His gaze was first drawn to the game pod in the center of the room. If he remembered correctly, this was bought with most of his savings and a loan from Zhao Bai.

The game pod was silver-gray with a black glass hatch. It looked very aesthetically pleasing.

He checked the time; it was around 10:10. There were still about two hours before the server opened at noon.

He found some bread and a bottle of milk in the fridge and started eating. Then, while waiting for the game to start, he began browsing the game forums on his phone.

As he had expected, the web pages only contained some basic materials and speculative analyses.

However, even these baseless posts had astonishing popularity. For example, a post titled "Speculations and General Development Directions for the Mage Class" made Lin Mo roll his eyes after reading a small part of it. Yet, the post had over 200,000 views.

Lin Mo was extremely familiar with the mage class and had very unique insights into other classes like warriors, summoners, knights, thieves, and priests. If these insights were written down, they would be enough for a decent player to become a high-level player.

In his previous life, he was a renowned 190-level archmage.

Although... it didn't change his and her fate.

He lowered his eyelids, lost in thought.

Time flew by quickly, and soon the clock struck twelve. Lin Mo put his phone aside and entered the game pod.

His vision was pitch black, and soon a deep blue meteor flashed by, brightening his entire field of view, but it remained a deep indigo.

He effortlessly chose the mage class and selected Snow Maple Town as his birthplace. There was an item he had to obtain there.

This item, the "Ring of Mourning," was unique to Snow Maple Town and had a very low drop rate. Even many professional players didn't know of its existence.

Lin Mo knew about the Ring of Mourning by chance. In his previous life, he had visited Snow Maple Town twice but never triggered the related quest with the NPC.

The reason Lin Mo was so fixated on it was that this item had an extremely rare skill, which he had never seen again in ten years of playing.

This skill was called "初级魔法混乱" (Elemental Chaos). It had a 1% chance to trigger on a normal attack, causing a two-second stun to a single enemy. Even more incredible was that this item was only a bronze piece and had the potential to be upgraded.

After extensive research, Lin Mo discovered that the drop rate of this item decreased over time until it reached zero. This meant that if Lin Mo completed the quest first, his success rate would be the highest.

Based on Lin Mo's speculation, the first person to complete the quest would definitely receive the "Ring of Mourning" as a reward.

He chose a name for himself, "Lin Mo." It was just a homophone of his original name.

The blue screen turned black and then suddenly lit up, like the dawn piercing the darkness.

He was now in the game "Tian Yu." White light kept appearing around him, and virtual characters appeared in his field of view.

It wouldn't be long before the place was crowded. He glanced around and noticed he was wearing a brown linen robe and had nothing in his hands.

As a mage, not having a staff was a rather embarrassing situation. He turned left and right, quickening his pace to the weapon shop.

Without hesitation, Lin Mo spoke with the blacksmith, Galen, and obtained a crude staff.

Lin Mo glanced at it; the staff had only 2 points of attack.

"Hurry up..." he muttered to himself. Then he entered the tailor's shop. After a brief conversation, he received a white mage robe. Wearing it, his magic defense increased by 2, and his physical defense increased by 1.

At least he wasn't too shabby now. Lin Mo then headed to the skill hall, where he could learn his class skills.

Currently, all twelve of Lin Mo's skill slots were empty. He urgently needed to learn skills and complete the hidden quest to obtain that "relic"…