New World Online II

Lin Feng stood before the Adventurer Guild receptionist; a moment he'd rehearsed countless times in his past life. Her perfectly sculpted, perpetually cheerful face was a mask, her words a string of scripted responses that played out just as he remembered. He knew, however, that this would change. In the future, with the full implementation of advanced AI, these very NPCs would begin to act like living, breathing people, evolving beyond their robotic loops into dynamic, interactive entities.

With a practiced flourish, she handed him his freshly minted guild card, its surface cool beneath his fingertips. Behind him stretched a seemingly endless line of eager players, all buzzing with first-day excitement. Lin Feng felt a quiet satisfaction; his immediate dash to the guild upon logging in had paid off handsomely.

Card now firmly in hand, he moved swiftly towards the softly glowing job-change orb nestled in a corner of the guild hall. The moment he touched it, a translucent menu materialized before him, displaying a dizzying array of class options. Without a second of hesitation, Lin Feng's fingers selected Thief as his main job and Spiritualist as his sub.

This was a radical deviation from his previous life in the game. Back then, he'd fallen into the common trap of a straightforward Warrior-Hunter build, specializing in the mundane cycle of monster hunting and diligently collecting their dropped materials using the Hunter job passive to sell for meager profits. It had been effective, but it was a grueling grind. Now, armed with the wisdom of hindsight, he knew better.

The Thief and Spiritualist combination was, in fact, arguably the most viable and, more importantly, the most broken build in the entire game's early to mid-stages. Early on, it allowed savvy players to steal money from NPCs and even other players – bypassing the grinding poverty and struggle that would inevitably plague most new adventurers. The Spiritualist skill, meanwhile, was a key that unlocked numerous hidden quests from ghosts and spirits, providing lucrative opportunities, unique items, and valuable experience that other classes would simply never encounter.

Beyond their initial benefits, the true power of this build lay in their intermediate job advancements. The Spiritualist's path is capable of advancing into the formidable Necromancer job, offering powerful summoning abilities that could overwhelm opponents and control battlefields. This, when combined with the Thief's intermediate job of Stalker's invisibility, it becomes unstoppable.

A Stalker-Necromancer could infiltrate enemy strongholds unseen, then unleash a legion of undead horrors from the shadows, dominating both PvE challenges and PvP encounters. Its only counter was a specialized priest-magician build capable of revealing invisibility and destroying all undead, but even then, they were vulnerable in close combat.

As Lin Feng jogged across the cobblestones surrounding the bustling fountain, the shouts of newly logged-in players filled the air.

"Whoa, I can take off my pants!" one exclaimed, followed by another's bewildered cry, "Hey, there's a red warning sign flashing above your head!"

Lin Feng allowed himself a small, knowing smile. That was the guard mechanic at work. He remembered the painful lesson: if he were to attempt to steal from other and get caught, he'd be thrown into a jail cell for a full 24 hours. A significant setback regardless of where you are in the game.

However, his carefully chosen Thief-Spiritualist build offered a unique workaround. With an early Spiritualist skill, he could actually talk to ghosts haunting the city and convince them to steal on his behalf. Of course, he'd first need to befriend them by completing their various quests and fulfilling their desires.

This specific interaction with the game's spectral inhabitants was exclusive to his chosen class combination. Other classes, even when paired with Spiritualist, opened entirely different avenues. For instance, a Warrior-Spiritualist might find themselves able to summon these very ghosts to fight alongside them for a limited time. A Priest-Spiritualist, on the other hand, would purify them for experience points that couldn't be gained normally from slaying monsters, offering an alternative progression path.

The sheer depth of the game's systems was astounding. Even as a veteran player from the future, Lin Feng knew that the New World Online community was constantly unearthing new aspects and hidden mechanics every single day. His foreknowledge gave him an immense advantage, but the game still held secrets yet to be discovered by anyone.

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Lin Feng looked at his virtual wallet, a small sense of accomplishment bubbling up inside him. He had diligently completed a variety of quests for the spectral inhabitants of Ethfoolin, whispering secrets for lovesick ghosts and retrieving lost trinkets for restless spirits. Through these efforts, combined with the subtle pilfering he'd convinced a few spectral allies to do on his behalf, he had managed to accumulate a modest sum of around seven silver coins. He was halfway through his first level-up, while his job levels for Thief and Spiritualist had barely budged.

As he approached the weapon shop a stark sight pulled him from his thoughts. Scrawled onto the virtual bulletin board just outside the shop's entrance was a crude, handwritten sign: "Will buy coin for real cash, message me at [player ID]." A familiar bitterness coiled in Lin Feng's gut. He was sharply reminded that this game, despite its boasts of realism and grand ambition, was fundamentally designed to be incredibly pay-to-win.

While poor players like him, starting from absolute zero, would struggle for days, even weeks, to afford the most basic of equipment, the wealthy elite who poured real money into the cash shop would already be decked out in cosmetic and later the best item they could buy with the exchanged currency. They'd bypass the grind, flaunt their superior gear, and effortlessly conquer content that would crush the unfinanced. It was a cycle Lin Feng had exploited mercilessly in his previous life, converting in-game wealth to real-world riches. Yet, seeing it now from the perspective of a 'fresh' player, starting from square one, he couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. The knowledge of his past achievements was a comfort, but the current struggle was undeniably real.

With a slight sigh, he entered the shop and purchased a simple iron dagger for six silvers, leaving him with a single silver coin. He had already "acquired", stolen, to be precise, enough food and a full waterskin for his journey, essentials that would have eaten significantly into his meager funds otherwise. His next goal was clear: a hidden dungeon nestled deep within a nearby grove. In his previous timeline, it hadn't been discovered until much later, but it would quickly become known as one of the most popular and efficient newbie dungeons, offering better experience and loot than the paltry guild quests. This time, Lin Feng would be there first.

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Arriving at the secluded location of the hidden dungeon, tucked away amidst a cluster of ancient, gnarled trees, Lin Feng unexpectedly found another player already there. They both froze, startled, staring at each other in the dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy.

The male player standing before Lin Feng was conspicuously adorned with a collection of cash shop cosmetics. The most notable were a gleaming, fake halo hovering above his head and a pair of small, fluttering angel wings sprouting from his back. His username, displayed clearly above him, was Yuriel.

'No one should have known about this place yet', Lin Feng thought, a sudden jolt of alarm running through him. 'Could he be the first player who discovered this dungeon in the original timeline?'

"Are you a time traveler too?" Yuriel's voice cut through the stillness, surprisingly direct.

Lin Feng blinked, caught completely off guard. "You too?" he blurted out, the tension that had bristled between them dissipating instantly, replaced by a wave of mutual confusion. "Did you die to Roland too?"

"Yeah, you too?" Yuriel's eyes widened slightly in recognition.

Lin Feng paused, his mind racing. Is there some kind of secret to this game? The game's origin was undoubtedly suspicious, clearly involving some form of supernatural ability to achieve its unprecedented realism. But for time travel of all things? It seemed like an entirely different, deeper layer of strangeness.

"I don't know what's going on either," Yuriel said, breaking the silence, "but since we're both time travelers, let's help each other out." He then extended a hand in a friendly gesture. "I'll add you as a friend. How about we conquer this dungeon together?"

Alright," Lin Feng agreed, the practical advantages of teaming up outweighing his lingering questions.

They quickly made work of the short newbie dungeon. Lin Feng's strategic movements and Yuriel's surprisingly effective, albeit flashy, attacks cleared a path through the low-level monsters. At the end, they found the expected treasure chest. Inside, it was mostly junk items, reminding them that the drop rate for anything truly decent was notoriously low. They'd likely need to repeat this dungeon a few times until something worthwhile emerged.

Afterward, they decided to officially register their team on this dungeon leaderboard. Lin Feng suggested a name that hinted at their unique predicament: Temporal Crusaders. The name was added as the second-ranked team on the leaderboard, just below a team called Exorcist Fox Blade. Both Lin Feng and Yuriel were intimately familiar with that name. In their previous timeline, it had been the first-ranking team across every single dungeon in the game. The New World Online community had theorized it was either the dev team stress-testing the dungeons, or a powerful NPC team integral to the world's lore. Now, standing here, two-time travelers at the dawn of the game, Lin Feng wondered if that too, was another secret yet to be uncovered.