Chapter 2

There was no surprise when Su Chen's application for the 5th-level worker assessment was smoothly approved during the quarterly evaluation. In less than three days, the certificate for his new identity and credit rating were adjusted. From the moment his personal information was updated, Su Chen's social status was further elevated. In terms of administrative efficiency, the current government was still quite effective.

However, on the other side, *Diala Continent* was still eagerly awaited by the masses. According to the joint government, "To ensure that all legal citizens can join the game in a timely manner, the production and installation of the game pods are still being carried out with great urgency."

Looking at the game pod that had been installed in the room but was still unusable, Su Chen thought with frustration, "Just this one order for game pods is enough to make those big capitalists, who have been struggling with insufficient production, earn a fortune! Not to mention the maintenance costs that will follow. They might even be able to recoup some of their investment from certain mid-level players! This is truly a well-calculated move!"

In the past, as a middle-aged otaku, Su Chen would never have had such thoughts. When he initially signed up for the testing, it was with the mindset of contributing to social stability. After all, the memory lockdown before and after the test could potentially cause brain damage. Su Chen was able to retain those memories thanks to the person who called himself "Tribal Taoist."

However, it seemed that "Tribal Taoist" was not just idle. He actually imparted a lot of knowledge to Su Chen, especially in the realm of politics, which had a significant impact on him. This was a part of the education he would never have encountered in this era—broadening his horizons and influencing his worldview.

In the days that followed, Su Chen, besides continuing his usual training, also tried to gather as much information as possible about *Diala Continent* online. Unfortunately, apart from the general explanations provided by the government, there was no other useful content.

It was clear that the government's memory manipulation had been quite successful. Although it couldn't guarantee that everyone had lost their memories, the vast majority of participants seemed to have forgotten. Otherwise, there would have been some careless individuals who might have let slip some details, and the internet wouldn't have been so clean.

However, by combining the information from the official announcements with his own memories, Su Chen managed to deduce a few things. He also gave a meaningful smile at the government's announcement of the "relative fairness" principle—effort brings rewards, and hard work pays off. If he didn't want to be just a supporting character in the game, he needed to plan carefully.

For pure "gold farmers," this situation was actually more advantageous. They could earn credit points from the joint government's investment and also from certain "upper-class" employers. To satisfy their own interests and hobbies that were inconvenient to pursue in reality, those high-ranking monopolists would never be stingy with these "small expenses."

After a long wait, Su Chen finally reached the day the game was about to start. After chatting with his neighbor, Uncle Song, Su Chen downloaded the latest updates of the game client through the public network and logged in using his citizen ID number under the guidance of the AI.

Immediately, his consciousness was enveloped in a white light. As the white light gradually dissipated, Su Chen found himself standing in front of a massive obsidian gate. In front of him was a humanoid figure wrapped in a brownish-gray hood, and between them was a long table and two wooden chairs facing each other.

"Welcome to the gateway to the other plane. This is the player's birth reception station. Please sit down and speak with me!" The aged voice from under the hood pointed to the long chair facing him.

Clearly, this was the game receptionist. Su Chen smoothly controlled his consciousness to pull out the chair and sit down.

Then, from under the gray robe, a voice continued, "Young man, what kind of person do you want to become in the world you are about to enter? Not everyone has the talent to play a superstar, and what you hope for may not be what you can achieve."

According to the official announcement, the greatest charm of this game was the freedom of role-playing. Players could fight for their beliefs and desires, be heroes in this world, remain neutral in conflicts, or play as vicious criminals.

This was the faction selection. In this vast game world, there were four continents, although only the western continent was currently open. There were still dozens of nations and numerous organizations to choose from. The most important aspect was the faction division, where the gods' opposition extended to this main plane. Good opposed evil, order opposed chaos, those who broke the rules embraced chaos, and those who followed the rules adhered to order.

A player's every word and action would affect their faction alignment. No one wanted to create trouble for themselves, so choosing a profession and faction that suited their personality was crucial.

Su Chen scratched his head and asked, "Before I choose a faction, can you show me the professions I can choose? And the options for race and attribute distribution?"

"As a first-generation player, you can only choose from the initial 11 basic professions. Attribute points are based on a scan of your real-life physical attributes and intelligence tests. Of course, if you pay credit points, you can make minor adjustments," the voice from under the hood explained.

"Using credit points to adjust? Does that mean rich people are naturally stronger than ordinary players?" Su Chen exclaimed in surprise.

Then, from under the hood, came a voice that sounded like a routine explanation, "Isn't that normal? Isn't that how it is in real life—you get what you pay for. Of course, to enhance the game experience, the system only allows 10 attribute points to be purchased. And once a single attribute exceeds 14, the cost of purchasing points increases exponentially. Players don't need to worry about VIPs being too powerful."

Su Chen immediately seemed to understand what the receptionist was about to say, "If that's the case with attributes, what about race and background?"

"You're very smart! All non-human races require additional credit points. To ensure balance, only elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, gnomes, and half-elves, along with some of their subraces, can be purchased. You'll see that this doesn't make them much stronger than ordinary players." It seemed the system receptionist had already wasted a lot of saliva on this topic, trying to use his language skills to reduce ordinary players' resistance to the situation.

"Indeed, that's the case!" Su Chen said with some dissatisfaction, his words tinged with protest.

The faceless system receptionist ignored Su Chen's protest and continued, "Of course, character backgrounds follow the same standards. The highest you can choose is the second son of an ordinary wealthy merchant without inheritance rights. While this is better than being an unknown traveler, it doesn't have much impact on players with free citizen status. As for the second-generation identity, it depends on the players' efforts in the game."

According to the official announcement, each player has only 10 natural resurrection chances. However, as long as they are diligent in their romantic pursuits and keep fighting, they will inevitably have at least one heir. This is the second-generation character the player can use.

As for those who fail to have heirs, they can only choose the option of "adopting an orphan at a certain moment, who will inherit the power of their adoptive father/mother and mentor, and use their will to forge the future" without bloodline inheritance. However, in terms of character background, wealth, and growth training, this option is generally better than starting anew.

In this sense, it gives ordinary players hope to compete with paying players. Although the hope is small, humans are motivated by the mere sight of hope.

"It seems the joint government hopes that the rich will use credit points to hire players to serve them, achieving resource transfer. They also give them a bit of privilege to satisfy their sense of superiority. However, I feel that the AI explaining this is hiding something." Su Chen seemed to understand something.

As if sensing that Su Chen had not responded for a long time, the receptionist urged, "Questions answered. Please make your choice and enter the game as soon as possible."

"I choose bloodline inheritance," Su Chen cleared his throat meaninglessly.

The receptionist asked, "What did you say?"

Su Chen emphasized, "I said I choose bloodline inheritance."

"Volunteer? Starting search... Bloodline inheritance achieved... You have a remarkable surname," the brown hood paused for a moment before continuing, "Now, please choose your profession. The system will automatically provide a matching background option."

Immediately, more than twenty profession options appeared before Su Chen. In addition to the initial options, there were more popular ones like Twilight Blade, Blessed One, and Deceiver. More importantly, there were also more restricted and rare professions, such as Bloodline Fury and Primordial Shaman.

However, among the many professions, Su Chen immediately chose the unique profession of his family—Order Army.

Order Army: A profession system established by the 11th head of the Boleum family, "Seal of Order" Jorgi Oster Boleum. Based on the Sword of Military Doctrine, it combines his own power of order and bloodline characteristics. It excels in White Crow, Steel Soul, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon, Wave, and some Devoted Heart martial arts. It is an extremely powerful battlefield grinder. To choose this profession, one must be a member of the Boleum family, with the blood of the "Seal of Order" flowing through their veins, and must always remain in the Lawful alignment.

"That's it! I choose Order Army."

"Do you not want to think about it more? Permanently maintaining a lawful alignment is not easy," the system receptionist "kindly" reminded.

Su Chen was unusually determined, "No! I choose Order Army."

"Alright! Let me see what background options you can choose."

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