Soren slowly opened his eyes. For half a month now, every time he tried to open them, dense streams of data would surface in his mind. Countless zeroes and ones flashed through his thoughts, followed by pain as if his brain were about to explode. His consciousness barely registered his body; it felt as though his entire body was filled with electricity, throwing his internal static field into complete chaos. He could hear and sense everything outside, yet he could do nothing—not even move a finger!
No!
I have to wake up!
I must wake up!
Though he had no idea why he had been reborn in this mysterious world, Soren knew that the little girl outside was in danger.
The little girl who had been caring for him so attentively was in danger!
Her name was Vivian. She was eight years old, with beautiful pale golden hair and two little dimples whenever she smiled.
She was Soren's younger half-sister through their mother.
She was also the target of many traffickers in the Slums. They were certain that she would grow into a great beauty, and after keeping her for a while, they could sell her for a good price. A little girl without parents, whose only brother was still unconscious, his fate unknown—there was no better or easier target. This was a sinful world!
Over the past half month, Soren had heard people trying to break in more than once.
If they had not feared the old dog named Heath, Vivian would have long since fallen into their clutches.
"No!"
"I have to wake up!"
Soren roared in his heart again and again. Even his memories from his previous life began to blur, as did the memories of that other person named Soren. The only obsession left in his heart was to wake up and protect that pitiful little girl.
She was already in great danger!
The Slums were no place for a beautiful eight-year-old girl to survive.
From what he sensed, two criminals were already discussing how to poison the old dog named Heath, then sell Vivian to a woman named Sosia.
It was about to happen!
If he could not wake up, the little girl would face an unimaginably miserable Destiny!
Darkness.
Boundless darkness.
Soren's mind was still filled with countless zeroes and ones. Tiny currents leaped through his body. Vaguely, he could recall things that had happened in his previous life, only for other hazy memories to mix in. It was an agonizing experience!
Amid the soul-rending pain, he gradually recalled the accident involving the life-support pod. At the time, his consciousness had already entered virtual space. Then another image emerged: a Wizard shrouded in a black cloak pointed at him, and countless bolts of lightning flashed forth, as if even his soul had been shattered by lightning!
In his daze.
A young man with black eyes, flaxen hair, and a trace of youthful immaturity appeared.
He reached out his hand to Soren and said solemnly, "Protect her!"
"Don't let her be hurt!"
Soren's consciousness blurred again, as though he had dreamed a dream in which many things happened—all of them memories belonging to someone else.
He had completely disappeared!
Only a name remained, because Soren felt that he should not be allowed to vanish without even leaving his name behind.
After all, Soren felt that he had given up himself so that Soren could awaken from his slumber!
His name was Soren.
So Soren was Soren too.
What he had once been called no longer mattered.
What mattered most now was waking up, then protecting the little girl named Vivian before those bastards made their move.
Countless currents still coursed through his body.
But the endless zeroes and ones in his mind seemed to gradually stop. He vaguely felt as though his soul had become fuller, as if an extra surge of mental power had appeared out of nowhere and suppressed the rampaging currents and strings of zeroes and ones inside him. Then a muffled boom like thunder exploded in his mind!
Suddenly.
Soren opened his eyes, and a familiar scene appeared before him.
Name: Soren. Race: Half-Elf. Attributes: Strength 12, Dexterity 19, Constitution 15, Intelligence 18, Wisdom 15, Charisma 16. Alignment: Lawful Evil. Class: Level 5 Commoner / Level 1 Rogue. Hit Points: 12/12. Experience: 150. Skill Points: None. Attribute Points: None. Status: Weakened. Class Skills—Stealth 20, Theft 35, Lockpicking 45, Traps 15. Legendary Skill—Master Sleight of Hand. Personal Feats—Dexterous Left Hand, Eidetic Memory.
"This is?!"
Soren's consciousness gradually awakened. Looking at the scene before him, he suddenly remembered that before the accident in the life-support pod, he had been inside a virtual game. No wonder so many zeroes and ones had appeared in his mind over the past half month. When the life-support pod malfunctioned, the game's data stream must have been transmitted into his consciousness as well. Every time he opened his eyes during this period, dense streams of data had filled his vision. It seemed they had only now fully merged with his brain.
After a brief daze.
Soren quickly pulled himself together. He tried to focus and thought to himself, Could I really have fused with the data stream? Wouldn't that make my brain close to a biological intelligence computer?
"I wonder if this will work!"
"Allocate 150 experience points to the Commoner class!"
A warm current appeared.
Soren was astonished to find that he could actually sense his limbs. The currents within his body gradually dissipated, while streams of vitality began circulating through him.
"Commoner class level increased to Level 10! Base class has reached maximum level!"
"Obtained 25 Skill Points."
A row of familiar text appeared.
Joy immediately welled up in Soren's heart, because everything before him was exactly the same as the virtual game he had once entered.
Before the accident, he had been in virtual space, his consciousness transferred into a game called War of Gods. It had been an incredibly popular game at the time. While other virtual games were still stuck at around 75% realism, it had boldly announced a technological breakthrough and claimed to have achieved 100% realism.
This caused an enormous sensation across the Earth Federation!
From the very beginning, it had attracted countless players. Soren had been drawn in at the time as well. He had even praised the fantasy style of the game pods they released—the lower compartment even imitated a magic circle. In the era before his rebirth, virtual worlds were an extremely important field because the Interstellar Era required vast numbers of talented people capable of mastering astonishingly intricate and complex knowledge. That required powerful memory and computational abilities.
Virtual worlds had initially been researched to use weak electrical currents to stimulate the right side of the brain, strengthening calculation and memory while raising the development of the human right brain by around 3% to 10%.
It could be said to be a form of biological intelligence computer research, and intelligence chips were even implanted when necessary.
Progress in this area was relatively slow and required immense expenditure.
That was why the cheaper field of virtual games later emerged, becoming an extremely important core industry.
"Games are conscious simulated activities produced by the needs of children's lives and leaps in ability." — Para.
Before systematic learning, games were an important means of simulation.
The boredom induced by ordinary learning mostly stimulated the left brain, making that kind of learned knowledge easy to forget.
That was why most of the knowledge memorized through exam-oriented education had already been forgotten.
The right brain, meanwhile, required more active emotional energy and possessed ultra-high-speed, massive memory capacity, along with true Eidetic Memory—its memory was a million times stronger than the left brain's!
The gap between their potential exceeded a hundred thousand times!
Therefore, brain development was an extremely important field in the Interstellar Era. Many jobs even required a brain development level of at least 12%. As long as someone met that requirement, they could master relevant professional knowledge in a very short time. The widespread use of machinery increased the demand for highly skilled talent, while machines replacing low-level labor left most people with nothing to do. As a result, cheap yet important virtual games, which could also ease social tensions, flourished like never before.
Studies showed.
When various extreme, harsh, and complex environments were simulated in virtual worlds, the efficiency of the human right brain could increase by over 300%!
This had unimaginable benefits for unlocking the potential of the right brain.
Although there was a subconscious suggestion that "none of this is real," stimulation of the right brain was still several times stronger than in a normal learning environment.
Therefore, the more realistic a virtual game was, the more pronounced its effect on brain stimulation.
The resulting increase in brain development was also greater.
Of course, this greater increase meant rising from 1% to around 3%, so the progress was not especially dramatic, but it was already considered a major breakthrough.
After all, stimulation in real environments peaked at only 1.5%.
Thus, before obtaining work qualifications, entering virtual world games was a process many people had to undergo and spend a great deal of time on.
It was a rather lengthy process!
Because the mysterious domain of the brain made everything full of uncertainty.
Before the accident, Soren had been controlling his Legendary Rogue character as he prepared to infiltrate the Shadow Temple and steal an Epic-tier item that would allow him to obtain a Demigod Divine Rank. By then, he had already realized the limitations of the Rogue class. Without the attribute boost from a Demigod Divine Rank, he would have no advantage at all in the future God War.
At that time, his advanced class level had already reached Level 20, and the special ability he had chosen for his Legendary Class was—Master Sleight of Hand!
"Master Sleight of Hand: A Legendary Rogue possesses extraordinarily nimble hands, gaining an additional +5 bonus on any class-related check. At the same time, when fighting with any weapon, they automatically possess weapon feats at or above the proficient level.
"In theory, Master Sleight of Hand can also use any item!
"Whether it is the treasures of the Gods or weapons and equipment with explicit restrictions, Master Sleight of Hand can use them with ease."
Master Sleight of Hand.
It was the signature skill of an advanced Legendary Rogue, and also a shameless skill in the game that made countless people jealous enough to gnash their teeth!
If Rogues had not lacked combat power after entering the Legendary Domain, people would probably have complained about it long ago. After all, once they mastered Master Sleight of Hand, Rogues could use most weapons and equipment. Forget high-level Arcane Magic scrolls for Wizards—even many Artifacts with harsh requirements could be used flexibly by Legendary Rogues.
And there were virtually no side effects!
War of Gods!
Class advancement in this virtual game was extremely demanding. Raising the Commoner class granted no attribute points, and not even base Hit Points could be increased.
The only thing it granted was 25 Skill Points.
Only when advanced class levels increased could one gain one precious attribute point for every two class levels gained.
His sense of his body gradually returned.
By the time Soren opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning.
Vivian's tiny body was curled up asleep beside the bed. Ever since he had opened his eyes yesterday, the little girl had been so excited that she had not slept all night. She had remained beside him until dawn before finally dozing off in a haze.
"Ugh!"
A burst of numb, aching pain hit him.
Soren tried to raise a finger, and immediately felt as though his entire body had been electrocuted.
The currents still remained in his body, and part of the data stream still surfaced in his mind. This made Soren increasingly suspect that the accident had transformed his brain into a biological intelligence computer. Research in academia had already proven that the human brain could serve as a core component of a Super Intelligence. Top scientists who had greatly advanced Earth's civilization had once even been willing to donate their brains for academic research after death.
Intelligence chips had been developed on that foundation as well!
Currents leaped through his body.
Yet as the electric-shock-like pain faded, he gradually regained control over his body. Swaying unsteadily, he managed to sit up.
"B-Brother!"
Vivian opened her eyes blankly, then threw her arms around his arm in overwhelming delight and sobbed, "Waaah..."
"You're finally better!... Vivian was so worried!..."
"So many bad people!"
"They wanted to catch Vivian and sell her!..."
"L-Luckily Heath was here!... Otherwise, Vivian would have been taken away by them!..."
"Heath?!..."
Vivian, who had just opened her eyes, turned to look at the door. Her entire body suddenly froze. Releasing Soren's arm, she threw herself toward the threshold and hugged the old dog's body. Terrified, she cried, "Heath, what's wrong?"
"Don't scare me!"
"Don't scare Vivian!"
"Wake up, please? Bark once? I'm begging you, could you bark once?"
Tears fell one by one.
Vivian sat in the corner, hugging the black-and-yellow old dog's body as tears the size of beans silently rolled down her cheeks. The old dog's body had long since gone cold.
It lay quietly at the doorway.
Sleeping peacefully!
His name was Heath. He was a Goralas Hound who, in his prime, could fight a Cheetah, but he was very old now.
Ever since Soren had fallen unconscious, he had stayed closely beside the little girl named Vivian.
He had been protecting her.
For half a month, he had not properly rested.
Because during that time, only he could protect Vivian from harm.
He was exhausted, and he was hungry.
Food had already become scarce. Vivian had been going hungry, and he could only occasionally catch rats that he would once have disdained.
Unfortunately, he was too old.
Many times, he still went hungry. Only the instinct to protect his master had allowed his aged body to hold on for so long.
Now, Soren had finally awakened.
His task was complete.
He truly, truly was old, so he lay at the doorway and peacefully fell asleep.
He would never wake up again!
Before you continue