A Fresh Beginning

The darkness faded away, and his senses came alive. As his vision cleared, Vlad found himself standing in the sky of remembrances. 

Lucid appeared next to Vlad. His appearance was the same as before, and he welcomed him with a calm smile.

"Welcome to Ascension"

"Please choose your character name," Lucid stated.

"Picking any name that is not available will come with added modifiers, but if you wish to have a name without the unique code, you have to pay a certain amount of game points,"

A system window appeared before Vlad, which already had his name, Vlad Igor, written on it, alongside a lengthy string of numbers.

Just beneath the name box, a clean version of his name was written, and next to it was its price tag of 81k game points.

He cleared his name and wrote just the letter V. Instantly, the modifier was added to it, and beneath the box, a price tag of 742k game points appeared for its clean version.

The clean names were a display of power, something Vlad planned to acquire once he had secured enough funds.

"V for Vlad. It sounds cool and mysterious," Lucid said, seeing his choice.

'Villain, V for Villain,' Vlad thought, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

'I will not be the hero the galaxy wants. I will be the villain the galaxy needs,' Vlad silently vowed as he confirmed his choice.

"Do you wish to alter your appearance by 10%," Lucid asked, and Vlad selected no. 

{Choose your Class.}

Swordsman

Assassin

Berserker 

.

.

Paladin 

Monk 

.

.

Archer 

.

Sorcerer 

Beastmaster

Vlad looked through the options, making sure the perks were as he remembered before ultimately settling on the Martial Artist class.

Class: Martial Artist

Grade: Common

Trait: Weapon Mastery: Allows the user to wield any weapon without restriction. Grants +10% extra damage when fighting barehanded.

Skills:

Dash (Active): Increase speed by 30%. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Reinforcement (Active): Allow the user to cloak a section of his body in reinforcement aura, enhancing the strength and durability of the user or his weapon in the active state. {5 Mana every second}{Cooldown: None}.

{Congratulations on choosing the Martial Artist as your class.}

In his past life, Vlad was a berserker, and his choice of weapon was a great sword or dual-headed battle axe. However, with his years of experience in the military and his future plans, a versatile class was better, even if it offered fewer perks.

{Newbie Gift: Players have a chance to acquire a spirit name or an item suited for their class.}

A vibrant, multicolored wheel materialized before Vlad, its surface divided into countless segments. 

Each section displayed either a spirit of varying grades or an item suited to his class, and their chances of acquisition were marked in percentage numbers.

"Since you have decided not to take the newbie gift, you have earned the right to pick your starting village and a bonus of 1k game points," Lucid said as all of the available options appeared before Vlad.

A newbie gift was worth far more than one thousand GP, especially if one got lucky and pulled a fourth or fifth-tier spirit name, which, if not wanted, could be sold for a fortune.

However, for Vlad, picking his starting village was the real value.

The long list had thousands of starting villages, each rated between one and three stars, giving players an idea of what to expect. A rare bonus that was only available for those who did not take the newbie gift.

He quickly located the village, a one-star village, and after making sure it was the same one from his memory, he selected it.

{Village selected "Grimroot Village"}

"Player V3222483, May your journey be one of growth, strength, and great, endless adventurers."

Vlad smirked at the thought of how he hated those numbers that came with his name.

The voice faded away, and his vision turned dark. His senses dulled, and a weightless sensation washed over him.

A moment later, Vlad felt solid ground beneath his feet as his senses surged back to life. 

He took a deep breath and breathed in fresh air, accompanied by the hum of excited voices in his ears. 

As he opened his eyes, a vast expanse unfolded before him, teeming with individuals clad in a variety of outfits, everything from swordsmen in leather armor to priests and magicians in white and grey robes.

{System Notification}

{Grimroot is a special village that will be destroyed in 92 days. Save it and earn a grand reward}

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Emergency Quest 

Objective: Save the Grimroot Village

Time: 32 days

Reward: 1 Million GP (Equally divided among all participants) + 1 Epic grade class-specific item for each player + ???

Description: The Grimroot dungeon houses a special boss monster that will break free from the dungeon boundary and destroy the Grimroot village.

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"THIS IS AWESOME!" a man roared as he, like everyone else, received the forced quest.

"We got lucky and ended up in a newbie haven." Another whispered weakly, disbelief heavy in her voice.

The voices began to grow louder as more players expressed their excitement, relief, and curiosity about the system quest.

"TEN THOUSAND GALACTIC GOLD CREDITS."

A booming voice echoed across the area, drawing everyone's attention to the left. Their eyes quickly locked onto a towering figure standing among a dozen other individuals, all clad in far more refined gear than the newly spawned players.

"Sky Lions will pay ten thousand galactic credits per day to anyone who fits the criteria to join our assault team," The man declared, his offer igniting a wave of excitement and murmurs among the gathered players.

"Ten thousand?" One murmured, while another hissed, "For Every Day,"

The players began to rush toward the burly man, eager to be accepted. Even though they were now considered heroes, ten thousand galactic gold credits were a few months' worth of salary for some and a handsome amount for anyone.

"Hey you, where are you going?" Charlton, who had just introduced himself, stopped Vlad, seeing that he did not join one of the lines he asked the newbies to make based on their traits.

"I have an A-grade utility-based trait," Vlad calmly replied, and Charlton's expression changed. "Inhuman instincts," he added, making Charlton look to the man clad in the dark, who nodded in confirmation.

"Sir, We will be happy to have you on our team." A pretty girl quickly stepped forward, seeing Charlton letting Vlad go.

"Not interested," Vlad said and kept walking forward.

"If you show promise, our Outcasts Guild will pay five thousand silver credits per day and help you grow stronger," She said, gripping his arm firmly.

"Good luck, and if you change your mind, you can find us at the Warm Eber Inn," she shouted, not persisting, seeing Vlad was firm on his choice.

As he left, a few players commented on Vlad's trait, saying it was unlucky of him to get an A-grade trait only for it to be one of the least valuable.

They were not wrong since inhuman instincts, while great on paper, were not only very hard to control but also extremely hard to master and grow after a certain stage.

There were many types of traits, everything from offensive, defensive, support, utility, and unique traits, and each one covered a wide variety of traits.

The utility traits covered everything versatile, whether it was summoning, skill enhancement, adaptive traits, or, worst of all, enhanced senses.

However, it was still not the worst and was pretty useful, especially if one was willing to put effort into refining it.

And in the hands of Vlad, with his years of experience with it, it was no less than an SSS Rank trait, if not better.

'Now, on to leveling,' Vlad thought, his immediate goal being the only thing on his mind.

The Grimroot dungeon was special. Its special Boss monster was impossible to kill, at least with the strength of players, which was capped at level 10.

Vlad knew how to kill it, but it was not a sure way since the dungeon had never been cleared in his past life. 

He had come here knowing his victory was not certain, but the risk was worth it. If he succeeded, he would not only earn wild riches but also save weeks of time. 

Vlad left the newbie spawn area, which was located in the lower-left corner of the village, right beside the main player spawn point. 

The short dirt path merged into the village's main road, and after walking a few meters, the wooden houses gradually came into view. 

The village spanned a large, nearly even area, with its boundary being the edge of the plateau on which it was located. 

It housed over a hundred houses, including four inns, towering three to five stories high, each capable of comfortably accommodating more than a hundred players.

The village's surrounding area was a lush green forest, with towering mountains taking over after a few kilometers on both the north and west sides. 

The forest stretched for many kilometers into the east and some distance into the south before a grassland took over.

Vlad went toward the exit, his goal to quickly level up in the Goblin dungeon and acquire all of the items he needed to complete the first part of his plan.

The winding, well-trodden dirt path, carved by years of foot traffic and carts, led him down the mountain.

The dungeon entrance was a small cave drowned in pitch darkness. A small distance away, many players stood in uneasy silence, their tired eyes describing their experience inside the dungeon.

The weight of dealing with intelligent monsters was still too fresh to be ignored by them, individuals who had only known peace.

They knew this was just a game, like all other virtual reality games. They had told themselves that before the battle began. It's just virtual reality, just a program running numbers, just pixels and code.

But the more they experienced, the more they realized why this was called the new reality. They felt a plethora of emotions in every situation, too real to be dismissed, ranging from fear, anger, and surprise to disgust and pity.