Great, It's a Raising Sim!

Cultivate Myself?

At the Continental Alliance conference, a reporter looked at the major figures attending the meeting. Their identities included, but were not limited to, the Imperial Empress, the Saintess of the Gate of Janus, members of the Witch Society, the Witch Society's greatest enemy, God's Chosen of the Gods, and more.

The reporter looked at Ryan beside her and asked, "Mr. Ryan, how did you manage to bring about this alliance summit despite all the hostility between the various sides?"

Ryan looked at the female character accounts he had cultivated and smiled. "Sincerity, of course. As long as you're sincere enough, persuading them isn't difficult."

Also known as:

[I Cultivated Myself into a Game Character]

[Real Men Should Play Female Character Accounts]

[How Could a Game Character Be Prettier Than Me?]

[After Crossing into a Game World, I Decided to Rise to the Top Myself]

[The Player Behind the Scenes]

Volume One

Great, It's a Cultivation Game!

July 7th, 1886, Saint Virtue Calendar. Clear.

Berman City, eastern district.

"Ryan, Ryan..."

A call by his ear, blurry at first and then gradually clear, pulled his thoughts back to reality.

Ryan turned his head and saw a brown-haired middle-aged man in a black uniform glaring at him.

"What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and get on patrol!"

"Ah, yes, Captain..."

Ryan answered instinctively.

After the middle-aged man left, he suddenly felt dazed. Wait, who was he? Where was he? What had happened?

"This place is..."

A cobblestone road stretched across his field of vision. Familiar yet unfamiliar buildings lined both sides of the street, with towering spires and steep, intricate roofs. Beneath flashy brass signboards, pedestrians moved back and forth through the streets and alleys. Their appearances, clothes, temperaments, and manner of speaking all differed from the impressions buried deep in Ryan's memories.

Yet those differences gradually blended together during that brief daze. Finally, accompanied by the whistle of steam coming from afar, Ryan understood as though waking from a great dream—oh, he had transmigrated!

What was more, he had been transmigrated since birth. Only now, after awakening his Past Life Memories, did he learn who he truly was.

Because twenty years of memories had merged together, Ryan did not feel alienated from his current surroundings. He quickly sorted out the situation.

The Augustus Empire was an ancient nation that had existed on the Rhea Continent for a thousand years. Yet as the Emperor's condition had worsened over the past year, the empire had become increasingly unstable. The imperial heirs fought without end, while nobles and ministers each harbored their own schemes, throwing the entire empire into chaos.

Good news: Berman City was far from the center of royal power, so it was not greatly affected.

Bad news: The Fifth Princess, Cassidy, had received an Imperial Decree ordering her back to the royal capital, and she would soon arrive here.

Good news: He was not one of Cassidy's people.

Bad news: He was one of the people assigned to assassinate Cassidy.

Mr. Adler, the secretary-general of Berman City, belonged to the Grand Duke Marganna Faction. The Iron Blood Grand Duchess held tremendous influence within the empire. Now that the Old Emperor was gravely ill, Magana's ambitions could no longer be contained.

As one of the forces Adler had developed in Berman City, Ryan had the honor of participating in this great transformation. On the day Cassidy arrived in Berman City, he and the others would charge toward a bright future—Grand Duke Marganna had promised that anyone who successfully killed Cassidy would be richly rewarded!

As for what that reward would be, Adler had not said. But thanks to his influence in Berman City and Grand Duke Marganna's reputation, he had gathered quite a few loyal, fanatical subordinates unafraid of death. Ryan was one of them.

"Wait, isn't this the plot of Empress Online?"

The Augustus Empire, assassinating a Princess, the Iron Blood Grand Duchess—this plot looked awfully familiar. It was not merely similar to the game he had played in his past life; it was exactly the same.

Empress Online was a classic R18 Role-Playing Game on a certain S platform, mainly focused on cultivating characters. But if you called it R18, it had a solid plot and outrageously exquisite character art. If you said it was not R18, it still had a solid plot and exquisite character art.

This gaming experience, which combined playability with hands-on appeal, had once drawn countless game enthusiasts. Ryan had been one of them.

However, by the time he had played it in his past life, the game had already become hugely popular. Although he had read plenty of Walkthroughs, his progress in the game had been rather limited.

"I remember Magana's mission to assassinate the Princess failed..."

The Fifth Princess, Cassidy, was the future Imperial Empress cultivated in the Augustus Empire storyline. If this mission succeeded, the game would basically be speedrun to completion.

In other words, if the protagonists succeeded, the fate of villains like the assassins was easy to imagine.

And even if they really could succeed, anyone with half a brain knew that every participant would most likely be silenced afterward.

"Fuck, what 'rich rewards'? Did they take people for idiots?"

Once Ryan understood the situation, cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead. He could not understand why anyone was willing to take part in such an operation. Sure enough, once people got carried away, they could throw themselves into any stupid shit.

The Assassination Operation would take place three days later. Cassidy would arrive in Berman City by steam train and stay here for one night.

He was just a small fry. Once he got caught up in such a massive upheaval, he would not even know how he died.

"Should I just run?"

"No. I already know the plan. Either I'm an accomplice, or I defect to the enemy. There's no third option."

What should he do?

"Since it's come to this, I should patrol first."

Ryan touched the pistol hanging from his waist. As a member of Berman City's City Investigation Bureau, his current task was to patrol this district properly.

At six in the evening, Ryan returned to his rented apartment.

It was a small two-bedroom, one-living-room unit, less than eighty square meters. The price was fairly affordable, and Ryan's salary could easily cover it.

The entrance was on the left after he came in. Ryan changed his shoes and headed straight to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, as though guided by muscle memory.

He could even think of countermeasures while cooking, but unfortunately, he still had not come up with any good ideas by the time dinner was over.

"Forget it. At worst, I'll just die again."

In his past life, he had picked up the bad habit of working overtime. One stormy night, after finishing overtime work and heading home, he had encountered a truck. Despite exhausting every means at his disposal, he had still lost. He had then been reborn into this world and lived for twenty years. No matter how he looked at it, he had come out ahead.

He had already died once. What was there to fear?

Once he thought that, the world suddenly seemed vast!

He decided that if things truly came down to it, he would run on the last day. With his knowledge of the game's plot, he should be able to hold out for a while. Once he figured that out, Ryan immediately relaxed. He lay down on the sofa, intending to grab a newspaper to read. Life without a phone or games was truly torturous.

"Hm?"

"What's this?"

Ryan noticed several lines of text that had appeared in the lower-left corner of his vision at some point.

['Empress Online' has finished loading.]

[You may begin the game at any time.]

[Click anywhere to continue.]

"A game?"

Ryan's eyes lit up.

"Where do I click?"

Ryan casually waved his hand around in front of him.

A larger Virtual Interface immediately appeared before his eyes.

"Is this my Golden Finger?"

Having read countless web novels in his past life, Ryan tried to find an option that would let him grow stronger by adding points. Unfortunately, there was none.

There did not seem to be any AI function within the game, so it could not answer his questions.

Moreover, it really did seem to be nothing more than a "game." There was even a long string of disclaimers.

After the disclaimers came the familiar healthy gaming advice. Ryan clicked through everything, skipping all that messy nonsense. After quite a while, he finally seemed to reach the main menu.

[Start] [Character Info] [Inventory] [Reviews]

"It really is Empress Online."

Ryan glanced over it and skipped the first option for now, looking at the others.

Character Info was empty, and he needed to create a character. The Inventory was empty too. There were reviews, though, and only one of them.

[Overwhelming Praise: This game is amazing! (Default review for this game)]

There were also game tags under the review: Cultivation, Adventure, Open World, Fantasy, Multiplayer, First-Person Shooter, Adult.

"What the hell?"

It seemed mostly the same, yet somehow a little different.

Ryan was not interested in any of that. Right now, he only wanted to get started.

After clicking Start, the interface entered character creation.

[Please name your new character.]

"Lin Qi."

"Lin Qi" had been his name in his past life.

It was only a game, so he might as well leave behind a memento.

"Next should be Character Creation."

Sure enough, the interface shifted to a familiar screen.

There were all sorts of options for hair, face, body, and more. He could even choose the character's gender.

[Initial character information will directly affect game content, including but not limited to character identity, talents, and more.]

At the bottom of the character information screen was [Character Info Generation]. The attributes beneath it included "Constitution," "Spirit," "Magic," "Comprehension," and "Charm."

There was no explanation, but Ryan was not unfamiliar with them.

Constitution and Spirit were basic character attributes, representing physical strength and soul strength. Magic was essential for the Mage class in the game. Empress Online had a setting somewhat like magical Victorian fantasy, with many special professions possessing Transcendent Power.

However, changing classes was not necessary for this game. Even if the protagonist remained an ordinary person from beginning to end, they could still clear the game.

After all, the essence of this game was the hands-on appeal of cultivation. The experience of its other content was not included among the requirements for clearing it. If all else failed, players could simply play through a Second Playthrough or Third Playthrough—one character per run, with a different experience every time.

Interestingly, the results of Character Creation affected the start of the game. Different appearances gave different initial attributes and identities. This random starting system was one of the game's signature features, though it also caused the game's storage requirements to become absurdly bloated, rivaling certain massive AAA games.

Ryan glanced at it, then focused on Character Creation.

"This model looks even more realistic than the game's."

A strong body meant charging in headfirst when trouble came.

After working on it for a while, a burly man appeared on the interface.

He nodded in satisfaction, then clicked Character Info Generation.

Lin Qi (Male): Constitution 12, Spirit 8, Magic 1, Comprehension 7, Charm 6

There was also a brief explanation below the information screen. Taking Constitution and Spirit as examples, ordinary adults had values between 8 and 9. Comprehension and Charm were roughly the same, but Magic was something most people did not possess.

"Not bad."

With his abundant Character Creation experience, Ryan nodded slightly. What he feared most in the early stages was mediocrity. Extreme attributes like these were actually easier to develop.

It was just that the name seemed a little feminine.

Initial random identity tendencies: Gladiator, Slave, Farmer, Soldier, Mercenary, Bodyguard, Male Concubine...

"Fuck, was it really that miserable?"

Identity tendencies meant that he might be born into one of those professions. Soldier or mercenary would be fine, but if he ended up as a gladiator or even a slave, the start would basically be a complete disaster.