Chapter 3

"Ahem, ahem, someone isn't a little direction-challenged, are they?" Lu Yang suddenly said.

Shen Mengyao's face instantly turned red. Being direction-challenged since childhood was her biggest frustration in life, and she never expected someone to point it out. Fortunately, they had arrived at the girls' dormitory.

Shen Mengyao quickly walked to the entrance, turned around, and glared at Lu Yang, clearly not in a good mood.

"Crybaby, thank you for walking me back to the dormitory," Shen Mengyao said, pouting at the entrance of the girls' dormitory.

"..." Lu Yang was embarrassed.

"I'm not crying, I really just got something in my eye."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, I know, I know." Although Shen Mengyao said this, her expression clearly showed that she didn't believe it.

"Alright, crybaby, I'm Lu Yang, from the land of China, and the sun of sunshine."

"My name is Shen Mengyao. I'm glad to meet you today. I hope we can meet again. My roommate is waiting for me, so I can't chat much longer. I have to go up now." Shen Mengyao said apologetically.

"Go on up." Lu Yang said.

Watching Shen Mengyao walk into the dormitory, Lu Yang thought happily, "Silly girl, we'll meet again soon because we're in the same class, and you'll come looking for me soon."

In reality, the journey from the school gate to the girls' dormitory only took five minutes, but Lu Yang had taken Shen Mengyao on a half-circle tour of the school. He believed she would soon realize this.

In his memories, their connection in his previous life began with asking for directions, and it was the same this time. Lu Yang couldn't help but clench his fists, determined not to leave any regrets this time.

However, Liu Jie's mocking smile suddenly appeared in Lu Yang's mind. Thinking about how Liu Jie would take away everything that belonged to him in five years, Lu Yang felt a sense of urgency. He needed to become stronger to protect everything, and what he could do now was to enter "The Second World" as soon as possible.

Checking his phone, he saw that there was only half an hour left before the game server opened. Lu Yang turned and headed back to the game helmet store at the school gate.

Game helmets were divided into three levels: A, B, and C, corresponding to the clarity of the visuals. The cheapest C-level helmet provided only 70% of the game's visuals but cost 1000 credit points. Lu Yang didn't have much money, so a C-level helmet was enough.

Returning home and locking the door, Lu Yang lay on the bed and put on the game helmet. Instantly, the bio-waves from the helmet connected with his brain.

"System detection in progress..."

"First login, brainwave scan, binding... information input..."

"Binding bank card..."

After a series of familiar yet strange voices from his previous life, Lu Yang found himself in a hall filled with golden light.

A large screen appeared before him, and a mechanical voice came from it.

"Dear player, welcome to 'The Second World.' The game helmet has bound your basic information. The game will start in three minutes. Would you like to create an account?"

"Yes."

The screen flashed, and three castles with distinct banners appeared before Lu Yang.

"Please choose your race."

In "The Second World," there were three races: the Human Main City of Saint Gall with a blue and white banner, the Beast Main City of Ruling Fortress with a blood-red banner, and the Elf Main City of Gold City with a golden banner.

"Human."

Seven distinct characters appeared on the screen.

"Please choose your class: Mage, Warrior, Thief, Hunter, Priest, Warlock, or Paladin (Human exclusive)." The mechanical voice asked.

" Mage."

In his previous life, Lu Yang had used a Mage, specializing in fire magic. He had invested a lot in this class and knew all the skills, quests, and techniques. He had a near-obsessive passion for fire mages.

"Class selection complete. Please name your character..."

"Lu Yang."

"Would you like to adjust your appearance?"

Players could adjust their appearance in the game, but only once. Lu Yang thought for a moment and decided to use his appearance from his previous life. Where he fell, he would rise again.

"Appearance adjustment complete."

"System auto-generation, please wait..."

Three seconds later, a human mage character wearing apprentice robes and holding an apprentice staff appeared on the large screen.

Next to it were the character's attributes:

Name: Lu Yang

Class: Mage

Level: 0

Stamina: 3

Strength: 1

Intelligence: 10

Agility: 3

Constitution: 4

Health: 64

Mana: 120

Physical Damage: 1-1

Spell Damage: 10

Defense: 3

Physical Critical Chance: 0

Spell Critical Chance: 0.1%

Spell Recovery Speed: 1 point/5 seconds

"Character auto-generation complete. Server opening countdown."

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"The game has started. Would you like to enter the game?" The mechanical voice asked.

Lu Yang firmly said, "Yes."

The screen changed, and Lu Yang merged with his character, being teleported to a massive city—Saint Gall.

The familiar scenes from his previous life reappeared before his eyes: the towering blue mage tower, the solemn golden cathedral, the passionate warrior training ground, the cold and solemn assassin base, and the grand king's castle.

"Wow, it's so beautiful."

"This city is so big."

Many players appeared in the square, marveling at the beauty of Saint Gall's architecture.

Looking around the square, four straight streets stretched out of sight, filled with NPCs chatting, trading, and engaging in various activities just like real people.

"These characters are so realistic." Some players tried talking to the NPCs and found that their dialogue was almost indistinguishable from real people. They could answer any questions about the city. If not for the presence of other players, one might think this was reality.

Seeing more and more players and their exclamations, Lu Yang smiled with a sense of nostalgia.

"It's really nostalgic. Saint Gall, I'm really back."

Without further sentiment, Lu Yang ran north toward the city. He knew all the beginner quests and monster locations, but he didn't plan to do these quests.

Reborn in this life, it would be too weak to do the same tasks as ordinary people to level up.

What Lu Yang intended to do now was a task that had haunted him for ten years in his previous life. Only by completing this task and obtaining its reward could he have a chance to save himself and his family, and break the curse that seemed to be his destiny.

Saint Gall was located on the vast Flower Language Plain. At the north gate of the city, where the plain met, there was a deep, bottomless canyon.

Lu Yang ran to the edge of the cliff, looked around to make sure no one was there, and jumped off the cliff at the spot he remembered from his previous life.

Logically, jumping off a bottomless cliff would be certain death, but shortly after Lu Yang fell, he was stopped by branches growing on the cliff wall.

"Snap" The branch broke.

-7

Although it couldn't stop Lu Yang, it slowed his fall. He continued to fall and soon hit another thick branch.

-5

-5

...

Each time he hit a branch, Lu Yang took damage. Just as he was about to die, he finally landed on the ground. A heavy -20 damage left him with only one point of health.

Lu Yang couldn't help but pat his chest, thinking, "Thank goodness I remember where I fell from in my previous life. Otherwise, I would have had to fall to my death five or six times to get down."

System notification: You have discovered the Sunset Canyon.

Looking around the valley, it was just as he remembered from his previous life. The valley was surrounded by cliffs, and at the base of one cliff was a massive golden tree, covered in golden, round fruits. The fruits had thin, transparent skin, and the juice inside was clearly visible, making even the thirstiest person's mouth water.