Baldur's Gate was not an especially ancient city. It stood at the mouth of the Chou Sa River, at the hub connecting the Trade Way and the Coast Road.
It had neither Silverymoon's dazzling arcane radiance nor Waterdeep's generations of accumulated refinement and heritage. It was not even as prosperous as Athkatla, known as the City of Coin.
The original Baldur's Gate had been nothing more than a small fishing village. All it could offer was a place for fishermen returning home at dusk to spend the night.
Its rise to prominence had hardly been glorious, either. The story began with a pirate named Balduran. To avoid losing his way home on his return voyages, he built a lighthouse along the coast. As commerce and trade gradually flourished, the little fishing village rose with them, developing step by step into the trade hub of the Sword Coast it was today.
And the beginning of it all—the new city's first master, Balduran—had given it a name drawn from his own: Baldur's Gate.
Now, the legends of the past seemed like the rushing waters of the Chou Sa River, flowing westward into the Sea of Swords. After raising a few waves, they had fallen back into silence.
Once the founder's lofty ambitions vanished along with his disappearance, the hidden currents beneath that tranquil surface finally began to surge unchecked. The increasingly rotten institutional framework could no longer restrain the ambitions that had once been concealed.
Just as the great river of this age began to churn and flow, a tiny, insignificant grain of sand was cast into it, stirring not even the slightest ripple.
Are you freaking kidding me again? This was Zhang Yuan's second time losing consciousness, and this time he did not even have the strength to get up. He could only lie on the ground, weakly pressing his head against it in an attempt to ease the headache that had yet to fade.
It took him quite a while to recover. He painfully forced his eyes open a sliver, and the bright light around him pierced into them. Though he was still groggy, at least he had regained a little ability to move.
"Please don't leave me with a concussion." Zhang Yuan muttered as he climbed to his feet, but when he turned around, he immediately realized something was wrong. He was no longer in that chessboard floating in the void.
Above his head was a roof supported by wooden beams and covered with sparse thatch. Strands of sunlight slipped through the gaps in the roof, bringing a little warmth that was scattered by the biting wind that followed.
The surrounding walls were made of wooden planks as well. The old walls had already rotted away in places, and their wormholes and missing sections offered no resistance at all to the cold wind howling outside.
"Achoo!" After sneezing, Zhang Yuan hurriedly pulled his coat tighter. Fortunately, he was wearing a winter coat, so he would not freeze to death. Only after he gradually regained consciousness did he have the energy to consider his situation.
"Could I have already crossed over?" Recalling the strange events before he passed out, Zhang Yuan developed an ominous suspicion.
He pulled out the door latch and pushed open the wobbling wooden door. An unfamiliar scene rushed into his eyes. The area where the wooden shack stood seemed to be a corner of an ancient city. In the distance, he could even see a stretch of towering city walls.
A few old, low houses were scattered sparsely along the street, and even the tallest did not exceed three stories. Fortunately, as compensation, they had a floor-area ratio high enough to make any real-estate developer despair.
Pedestrians hurried sparsely back and forth along the street. Their appearances made them look like Caucasians, though he was not sure. Just then, the cries of a street vendor reached his ears. Zhang Yuan, who had studied abroad at Hans's home, had never heard the language before, yet somehow he understood the meaning perfectly: "Oranges for sale! Oranges for sale! Three copper coins each, ten copper coins for three! Oranges for sale!"
Zhang Yuan twitched the corner of his mouth, at a loss for words, but the doubts in his heart only deepened. What kind of place was this? Was it Earth, or had he crossed over?
Driven by his confusion, Zhang Yuan decided to expand his area of exploration. Fortunately, he had woken up in such a peaceful city. If he had ended up in some wilderness or war zone, he would not even have known where to cry.
He followed the street toward the areas with more pedestrians and stalls. Maybe he could reach the city center? He kept walking as he thought. But the more he looked at the scenery around him, the colder his heart became. Whether it was the houses and shops on either side or the pedestrians passing by, he could not find even the slightest trace of modern civilization.
No one used cell phones, no one wore earphones, no cars passed back and forth, and there were not even any bicycles. There were no flashing neon lights, either. The shop signs consisted of only a few crude words, and no one wore masks. In a year when the virus was running rampant, that was the greatest abnormality of all.
What shattered the last of his wishful thinking was a party that passed by not far away. Their full-body leather armor, iron swords, and other cold weapons were one thing, but the pointy-eared individual and the short, big-bearded dwarf among them completely woke Zhang Yuan up.
Indeed, after enduring countless games and a sea of novels, Zhang Yuan had fantasized more than once about crossing into another world.
Especially in the daydreams of a D&D enthusiast, he might become the fated Chosen of Bhaal, the Bhaal's Son, writing the renown of the Child of Slaughter in the blood of monsters and masterminds as he traveled from Candlekeep to Baldur's Gate, from Athkatla to the Underdark. Or he might become Neverwinter's savior, rescuing Artemis along the way and touring the world with her. Or he might become a hero of Westgate, holding the Githyanki Silver Sword while ruling Crossroads Keep.
But when this scene actually happened to him, it did not bring the delight of a dream coming true. Instead, it left him completely at a loss.
Life in Faerûn was nowhere near as comfortable and peaceful as modern society. Setting aside the dangers lurking everywhere, the monsters roaming the wilderness, and the schemes of evil factions, the living standards of a feudal age and the near-medieval quality of life alone would make any modern person regret everything.
What was more, Zhang Yuan was not one of the vast ranks of orphans from the Starting Point orphanage. He had both parents. Although he was studying abroad in Europa, although he only video-called his parents once a week, although he was always impatient with his mother's nagging, although his strict father often scolded him until he became meek and submissive, although his parents had pressured him into marriage until he was nearly driven into a corner, although, although...
For every reason his past self had to lose himself in fantasies and pursue freedom, he now had just as many thoughts about returning to that familiar world. If his past self saw such a pathetic protagonist, he would probably pick up his keyboard and hurl words like "Lord Ye's love of dragons," "useless piece of scrap," and "indecisive" straight into his face. Zhang Yuan thought helplessly.
"System, DLTCEP!" After silently calling out twice in his mind, he received a response. A pop-up window lit up before his eyes: "Character template import complete. Subsequent functions require energy to activate. Current energy points: zero."
"What energy? What the hell is this energy you want?" Zhang Yuan roared a silent cao ni ma in his heart, but received no response. Utterly helpless, he could only give up.
Fortunately, there was still hope. The energy the system mentioned consisted of no more than a few categories, such as slaughter experience and divine power.
You think I won't know just because you don't tell me? Mr. Zhang, who had seen plenty of the world, decided that the system was still too young and naive. In any case, the system's existence had given him a foundation on which to stand in this other world, as well as possibilities for the future.
This world's teleportation and summoning spells were abundant. Ancient arcana and magical civilizations could even cross the crystal spheres between universes. If he could reach that legendary height, there might still be hope of returning home.
As for the passage of time? Setting aside whether the flow of time was the same, time travel was not impossible, either!
For a moment, all kinds of grandiose phrases from novels about powerful experts showing off—time dragons, reversing the flow of time, tracing the river of time upstream, gathering timelines—surged through Zhang Yuan's mind. He spouted grand theories as if he had opened a lecture hall.
"Out of the way, country bumpkin!" Zhang, still immersed in his fantasies, was shoved and staggered.
A fat, middle-aged man impatiently strode past him. Like every stereotypical greasy uncle, the man had an enormous belly that looked ready to give birth after ten months of pregnancy, a shiny bald pate, and clothes in lurid reds and greens. The mixture of sweat and perfume wafting from him left Zhang Yuan unsure whether to cover his eyes or his nose first.
Can't afford to provoke him, can't afford to provoke him. Zhang Yuan quickly jumped aside and glanced around. The unfamiliar surroundings left him somewhat lost. His lofty goals were one thing, but deciding what to do right now was another problem.
Just then, a rich aroma of meat drifted into his nostrils. Zhang Yuan sniffed and looked toward where the smell was coming from.
Outside the door of a simple but fairly clean little bakery stood a cooking pot filled with oil. A middle-aged auntie used wooden tongs to lift freshly fried meat patties from the pot, sandwich them between a freshly baked round bun, lay two green leaves on top, and pour on a thick layer of white sauce.
The meat-filled bread, which looked like a hamburger, stirred the appetite of Zhang Yuan, who had eaten neither food nor water before losing consciousness. He was just about to step forward and ask the price when he suddenly realized: I don't have any money!
Before you continue