Reborn and Returned

Chapter 2: A Tough Fight

I found myself in a desolate expanse. Could this really be considered a village? A few rickety houses lined the road, and here and there, a few NPCs stood around listlessly. Outside the village, the trees were withered and yellow, and wild beasts roamed freely, creating a thoroughly desolate scene. But I was in no mood to take in the surroundings; my mind was solely focused on the form the angel had just handed me.

If this were truly a dream, then the one who crafted this dream must be incredibly powerful. I was certain that I couldn't have conjured up such a detailed and realistic game scene on my own.

I desperately tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for what was happening right in front of me, but I just couldn't. No matter how hard I racked my brain, my thoughts always got derailed by that one line: “Became a vegetable at the age of 25 due to nerve damage.” Wasn't that the most accurate description of my current state?

But how could this be possible? Game companies had always assured us that their games were physically and psychologically healthy and completely safe. To convince parents to let their kids play online virtual games, hadn't a game company boss once put a virtual helmet on his own newborn baby? With hundreds of millions of people playing online games every year, why was it only my nerves that had malfunctioned? No, this couldn't be right. It just couldn't!

It had to be him, didn't it? Shirk was using the helmet to make me hallucinate, wasn't he? Shirk, if you have the guts, let's have a proper showdown. I won't even use the Holy Spirit suit. What's the point of using such underhanded tactics!

Was I really hallucinating? No, I couldn't lie to myself. Could hallucinations last this long? The time I'd spent in the darkness had been far too long...

After a while, I had to accept the possible reality: in that last game, I'd been “sealed” by an intelligent computer using the only weapon it could control in the real world, the game helmet. Now, twenty years had passed, and for some reason, there was a c***k in that seal that had allowed me to break free. Given that when I exited the game, I still ended up in darkness, it was clear that my consciousness couldn't control my body at all. In medical terms, I was still a vegetable.

Since I'd been diagnosed as a vegetable, there was no hope of recovery unless a miracle occurred. So, from now on, I'd have to live in this game world forever, right?

Once I accepted all of this, besides mourning the loss of my parents, I was even more heartbroken about my own life. Ever since I was a child, my IQ had been far higher than that of my peers. My parents had placed such high hopes in me. I'd always been their pride. Even though our family was poor, my parents had still managed to send me to the best university. But in college, I'd become addicted to online games. I hadn't continued my studies, and after working various jobs, I'd finally chosen my ideal career: “professional gamer.” My parents had suffered a great deal because of this, but I hadn't cared. I'd just wanted to make money to prove to them that I'd made the right choice.

But instead of repaying my parents for their love and sacrifice, I'd made them endure so much pain and dragged them down...

Everything was gone: family, possessions, health, friends, hopes, and dreams. Now, I was nothing but a lonely soul. In this world, aside from the game, I had nothing.

My hands clenched tightly into fists. Even though I was in the game, the world in front of me still seemed dark. Sadness, loneliness, guilt, and despair welled up in my chest. My mind was too overwhelmed to think clearly. I felt like I was about to explode, so I charged wildly at the wild dogs and cats not far away.

I lost count of how many times I'd been resurrected. Every time I respawned at the starting point, I immediately rushed towards the nearby monsters without a second thought. Time and time again, I died, experiencing pain that I hadn't felt in twenty years. Even though my five - sense sensitivity was at the lowest level of 1, this game helmet was clearly very advanced, and my pain perception was about 20% of what it would be in reality. Maybe other players would adjust their pain threshold to 5% or even lower, but I would never do that. I almost perversely enjoyed this pain because it made me feel like I was still part of this world.

With my continuous suicidal attacks, I actually managed to wear down two small wild dogs to death. But the 4 experience points I'd gained disappeared in an instant because of my subsequent deaths. At the same time, the system informed me that because I'd died over 50 times, my maximum HP had been reduced by 10% and my body quality by 5%. This penalty was applied twice in my game.

Finally, my sadness subsided a bit, and the loneliness lessened. I also started to regain some of my former calm as a professional player. I was a unique genius in this world. How could I destroy everything like those alcoholics in the movies? People should cherish what they have instead of mourning what they've lost.

Now that I'd lost everything, I still had the game world, the game world that I loved! Since I couldn't return to reality, I had to prove my worth in the game!

Although my heart still ached, I gradually regained my senses and slowly opened the game's help menu.

It took me about an hour to understand the general settings of the game. I realized that this Infinite World was quite different from the games I used to play.

The village I was in was called “Lost Village.” It was located in the northwest corner of the continent and was one of the fifty villages designated for the poorest players. But for this group of people, playing the game was almost impossible. After all, game equipment was relatively expensive. Even if there were people giving away equipment, the electricity and internet fees were not something that poor players could afford. So far, I was the only player in this village.

Looking at my own abysmal attributes and then at the items in my inventory - just a wooden sword that added 1 point of attack and a cloth that added 1 point of defense - I knew it would be quite difficult to level up using these. The results of my earlier battles with the kittens and puppies had proven that. Maybe I should first ask the NPCs to see if there was anything they could give me.

First, I found the village chief and asked about the general situation of the village. The village chief told me that because the village was so poor, there were no guards, blacksmiths, carpenters, or other such NPCs. There was only a peddler who also doubled as a grocer and medicine merchant, and two families with a total of five people. I asked the village chief if there were any newbie quests, and he said I needed to reach level 3 before I could get my first quest.

Then I found the peddler. The peddler only sold the cheapest health potions, each one adding 20 points of health for 10 coins, but I only had 5 coins. Being poor really made life tough. When I asked other NPCs, they were very indifferent and hardly said a word. Maybe it was because the system had judged my charm value to be a very ordinary 5, which affected the NPCs' favorability towards me.

But from my inquiries, I found that the game's NPCs were highly intelligent. They could understand very complex statements and wouldn't just rely on pre - stored information to answer me. They could also make judgments based on my questions and give me some additional suggestions. In any case, among these artificial intelligences, I felt a glimmer of what it was like to be back in society, and the feeling of loneliness wasn't as intense.

Looking at the realistic scene around me, where I could interact with every stone and blade of grass, unlike in previous games where the backgrounds were just for show and couldn't be touched, I decided to use this to develop a good combat strategy.

I took some wood from the owner of a dilapidated house and picked up a sharp - edged stone. I sharpened the stone into a spear - shaped weapon. The system really didn't disappoint me. It prompted: “Due to the player 'Contend with the sky' having a creativity rating of 10, a wooden spear has been successfully crafted. However, due to the lack of 'Carpentry' skills and 'Long Weapon Crafting Method', the spear has no bonus attributes and an attack power of 1 point.”

Although the wooden spear had the same attack power as my wooden sword, the fact that it could keep the monsters at a distance and prevent me from being easily injured was much more advantageous than the wooden sword.

Looking at the wild cats and dogs not far away, I thought about how they had scratched me earlier, and I felt a bit scared. They were relatively fast and had small targets. With my agility of 1, it was indeed very difficult to deal with them. The thought of being bullied by these lowest - level small monsters made me really angry. If only each of my starting attributes had been set to 3, dealing with them would have been a breeze.

Come to think of it, this was probably retribution. When I was in other virtual games, all my attributes had been at the highest level. The new players with poor physiques around me had often complained to me about unfairness, but at that time, I hadn't paid them any attention. Now it was my turn to experience this psychological imbalance.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on the past. I looked around and finally found an ideal target for practice in a slightly more distant place: goats.