Chapter 1

"Big brother, good night!"

The sweet voice of his younger sister still echoed in Zhang Fang's ears. However, the next second, when the sleep pod closed, Zhang Fang felt a jolt in his brain. Then, a white light flashed before his eyes, and he found himself on a bustling street.

Zhang Fang shook his head slightly. Although he had entered the deep sleep in the sleep pod and been transferred to the mental matrix world countless times, he still felt a bit uncomfortable.

"The brain core chip of the initial IPC model is indeed inferior to the second model, let alone the latest third model," Zhang Fang muttered to himself while rubbing his head.

"Little sister must have gone to class by now. I should hurry to the amusement area. 'The Great Jianghu' is about to start its beta test. I've been looking forward to this game that is compatible with our initial IPC. I hope to earn some extra money in the game to help with household expenses," Zhang Fang said as he walked down the street toward the south, where a giant doll stood.

Every time he entered the matrix world, Zhang Fang couldn't help but marvel at the main brain's magic. Although he knew he was just a mental entity entering this virtual digital world, everything before his eyes always made it hard for him to distinguish between reality and illusion.

The giant doll was not far from Zhang Fang. He quickly walked up to it and found a machine that looked like a wall-mounted phone beside it. He said, "Request to enter the V2 amusement area."

"The V2 area's brain has accepted your request. Please wait!" The machine quickly responded with a synthesized voice. Zhang Fang patiently stood in front of it, waiting quietly.

A moment later, a green light shot out from the machine, enveloping Zhang Fang. The machine then said, "Scan complete. Identity matches the V2 amusement area entry criteria. Transferring now."

As soon as the voice finished, the scenery before Zhang Fang's eyes froze like a flat painting. Then, the entire scene split open from the middle, like a sliding door being pulled apart. Zhang Fang stepped into the white light emanating from inside the door. After a brief dizziness, he appeared on a long street that seemed to have no end.

This long street was somewhat peculiar. On both sides were low, flat houses, each with a large billboard in front. Real people or robots stood in front of the houses, shouting advertisements.

"Thunder God, a new IPC-2 server has just opened. Enter and receive a 488 Bang yuan gift pack. First recharge rewards triple game coins, and there are many surprises waiting for you. Dear, what are you waiting for? Come on over."

Zhang Fang's dizziness hadn't completely subsided when a blonde woman in a bunny suit walked up, grabbed his arm, and started promoting the game while pulling him toward a flat house.

Zhang Fang, however, was well-versed in such situations. Having spent a lot of time in various places, he found this scene to be a small matter.

"Miss, you're in the same line as me. I'll tell you, games like Thunder God, which require a lot of money to play, are only for the rich in V5 and above areas. I don't know what to say about you trying to recruit people in the V2 area.

"Don't tell me that the rich need the common people to highlight their status and that there's a lot of money to be made. I'm telling you, 'The Great Jianghu' is in public beta today. It's a mixed server for IPC-1, 2, and 3, and it's based on a parallel world framework. It's said to have the effect of stimulating the development of the brain's sixth region, which is much better than the money-grabbing game Thunder God. You should quit your job here and become a game promoter for 'The Great Jianghu'."

Zhang Fang's words left the blonde woman dazed, but what he said was true. These days, game operators were extremely greedy. Many games were full of recharge traps from the start, and every stage of the game required recharges, leaving no room for players who couldn't afford it.

Moreover, many games had simple world frameworks and used the same model engine. Even if they couldn't sustain, they could just change their appearance and re-release as a new game. After all, everyone in the Federation knew that the Pan-Asian area had countless rich people.

Zhang Fang had been paying attention to 'The Great Jianghu' for a long time. First, its world framework was unprecedentedly large, surpassing classic games like 'Kalimdor', 'Valoran', and 'Star Colony', which were considered unmatchable in the entire Federation.

Another point was that 'The Great Jianghu' was a free game. The only things that could be recharged in the game were fashion items and soul-restoring pills for resurrection. This was something Zhang Fang valued, as it meant the operators would leave many business opportunities for players.

Most importantly, 'The Great Jianghu' was said to use a new IPC synchronization function that could stimulate the development of the brain's sixth region during gameplay. For people in this world, the development of the brain's sixth region was crucial.

Zhang Fang quickly shook off the blonde woman. Although she was attractive and had a great figure, Zhang Fang had no intention of flirting with her. He knew that while the matrix world created each person's mental entity based on their original appearance, the main brain offered many paid services. Changing one's appearance for a small amount of Bang yuan was the most common paid service. People like the blonde woman working in the matrix world had almost all altered their appearances, and who knew what they originally looked like.

Zhang Fang walked quickly, and along the way, many game promoters tried to engage him, but he quickly dismissed them. After a while, he finally saw a white house ahead. A giant poster hung in front of the house, depicting a one-armed hero standing on a cliff, with a gray giant bird flying in front of him.

"This is it!" Zhang Fang's face lit up, and he quickly walked into the white house.

The interior of the house was simple, with only a sofa and three identical wooden doors.

As Zhang Fang entered, an old man smoking a pipe stood up from the sofa and said, "IPC1 type, choose the left door; IPC2 type, choose the right door; IPC3 type, choose the middle door."

The old man spoke like a robot, and Zhang Fang couldn't tell if he was a digital symbol in the matrix or a real mental entity. However, it didn't matter. He glanced at the clock hanging on the sofa and muttered to himself, "The server opens in three minutes. The timing is perfect. I hope there aren't too many people at this port, so I can enter first."

Zhang Fang walked toward the left door. When he reached it, he gently pushed it open and stepped inside, disappearing from the room.

Endless darkness enveloped Zhang Fang, but he wasn't anxious. He had entered other games before, so he just waited quietly. After a moment, he heard a clear and pleasant voice.

"Hello, 'The Great Jianghu' V2 area IPC1 type channel management K3983 is at your service. The game world has not yet opened. You are currently in the matrix world's digital flow channel. You can now choose an initial template for your character and name your character."

As soon as the voice finished, Zhang Fang saw six people of different heights and builds appear before him. The voice then added, "Hello, Zhang Fang. Your identity has been bound. You can create your unique character. The 'Great Jianghu' world does not provide a character rebuild function at any port, so please choose your character's initial template carefully.

Additionally, the 'Great Jianghu' world automatically reads the user's gender and recommends a corresponding template. If you have special requirements, please exit the channel and contact the customer service to submit an application."

Listening to the pleasant voice of the channel management, Zhang Fang knew it was just an intelligent digital life, which was a paid service by the main brain. Game operators rarely used such intelligent digital lives as port management because it was expensive.

Zhang Fang understood what the digital life was saying. The six people before him represented the initial templates available for male users. Once chosen, users would appear in the game world with these templates' attributes. The digital life reminded each user to choose carefully, so Zhang Fang decided to study them carefully.

Zhang Fang casually clicked on the fattest person on the left. The fat person immediately walked toward him, and a text appeared beside him.

"Shopkeeper type, recommended for life players. Main attribute template as follows:

Intuition: 6 (Intuition determines the martial arts and secondary profession skills you can learn, as well as the speed at which your secondary profession skills improve.)

Bones: 3 (Bones determine the speed at which you can practice martial arts. Advanced martial arts generally have requirements for bones.)

Mindset: Iron Bar to Needle Level 1 [0/2] (The 'Great Jianghu' uses a sandbox mode. The system evaluates players' mindsets based on their in-game experiences and assigns corresponding mindsets. Certain mindsets can enhance the power of specific martial arts, while opposing mindsets can limit their power. Some mindsets can also increase the speed at which secondary profession skills improve.)

Health: 100 (When health reaches zero, the character dies. Players can use soul-restoring pills to revive, with different numbers of pills available per day based on their permissions.)

Stamina: 100 (Stamina determines the duration of continuous actions, such as running, horse stance, and weightlifting.)

Internal Energy: 100 (Low-level martial arts moves consume internal energy.)

Attack: 10 (Attack is influenced by equipment, martial arts, and secondary attributes.)

Defense: 10 (Same as above)

Potential: 15 (This is a universal point that can quickly make you a martial arts expert or a high-level life player. It can enhance any attribute.)

Secondary attribute template cannot be opened until you learn any martial arts or secondary profession."

Zhang Fang had many questions about this main attribute template. The attributes in 'The Great Jianghu' were quite different from the games he had played before, especially the potential points, which he found very important but somewhat confusing. So he asked, "What is the enhancement ratio of potential points to other attributes?"

As a port management, the intelligent digital life had the duty to serve users. Upon hearing Zhang Fang's question, it immediately replied, "The enhancement ratio of potential points to intuition, bones, and mindset is 1:1. The enhancement ratio to attack and defense is 1:10. The enhancement ratio to health, stamina, and internal energy is 1:100."

"What about secondary attributes?"

"Once the secondary attribute template is opened, detailed explanations are provided within the template."

Zhang Fang didn't expect 'The Great Jianghu' to have such a complex attribute system. Even if he wanted to be a life player, he couldn't make a hasty decision. So he clicked on the next tall and strong man.

"Genius type, recommended for high-end players. Main attribute template as follows:

Intuition: 15

Bones: 6

Mindset: Ambition Level 1 [0/2]

Health: 100

Stamina: 100

Internal Energy: 100

Attack: 20

Defense: 10

Potential: 5"

Zhang Fang shook his head at the genius type template. It clearly wasn't suitable for him, so he clicked on the next template.

As he went through each template, Zhang Fang noticed a pattern. If all attributes were converted to potential points, the range for these templates was roughly between 30 and 34. The highest was the gifted type template, with an initial attack of 50, but only 2 potential points. All templates had initial health, stamina, and internal energy values of 100.

Zhang Fang couldn't decide which template to choose. He looked at the last template and clicked on it.

"Waste type, recommended for players skilled in planning. Main attribute template as follows:

Intuition: 1

Bones: 0

Mindset: None

Health: 100

Stamina: 100

Internal Energy: 100

Attack: 0

Defense: 0

Potential: 25"

Zhang Fang's eyes lit up when he saw this template, but he then frowned. "The potential is strong, but when converted, it's only 29 points, which is even less than the worst merchant template. This is too weak."

Clearly, the advantages and disadvantages of this template were obvious. Zhang Fang thought for a moment and asked, "Can you tell me how to obtain potential points?"

"Sorry, management K3983 is not authorized to answer this question. Please explore it in the game."

Zhang Fang was conflicted. The waste type template had strong potential, which was exactly what he wanted. Since he only wanted to be a life player, attributes like bones, attack, and defense were not useful to him. He could allocate potential points to the attributes required for his life profession. However, as someone sensitive to numbers and frugal in real life, the total attributes of the waste type template were too low, making Zhang Fang very uncomfortable. It was like a running race where everyone else started ahead of him, which naturally made him frustrated.

Just as Zhang Fang was still conflicted, the digital life said, "The server will open in 30 seconds. Players are being randomly assigned birth points. Due to the large number of users in the flow channel, players who haven't created characters will be moved to the back of the queue."

Zhang Fang was alarmed. He had played many games before and knew that early entry gave players a significant advantage. If the queue was too long and he was moved to the back, he wouldn't know how long he would have to wait to enter the game.

Zhang Fang bit his lip and placed his hand on the waste type template, then said, "Select!"

"User Zhang Fang has selected the waste type template as the initial character template. Please confirm again. Once confirmed, it cannot be changed!"

"Confirm!"

"Please set your character name! Note that in the 'Great Jianghu' world, your name must start with a surname from the Hundred Family Names and cannot exceed four characters in length."

Zhang Fang was taken aback by this requirement. He had wanted to choose a cool name like "One Sword Dazzles the City" or "Heavenly Flying Immortal," but with the server opening soon, he was in a hurry. "Random selection."

"Please wait! Character name - Gao Shou, has been confirmed. Transferring you to the game world. Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7..."