Return to the Past

Chapter 1: Returning to the Past

"Hey, hey, did you pre-order Arthur?"

"Of course! I pre-ordered it half a year ago."

The game is advertised as having full AI hosting, with players dominating the world line. Everyone says it's the game with the highest freedom ever.

"Looking at the simulation footage from the trailer, the VR felt incredibly realistic."

"Didn't they say you could play for over 4 hours while sleeping? The longest it used to be was only 3 hours."

"It's launching tonight, hurry up and invite me to carry me, all you big shots."

Zhao Xu stared blankly at the university classmates excitedly discussing in front of him.

These youthful faces were his memories from 10 years ago.

This scene felt eerily familiar.

His heart tightened, and countless memories scattered like flying catkins in his mind.

10 years ago, Arthur launched on this very day.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the curtain of a new era was quietly raised here, ushering in a true grand epoch.

On the first anniversary of Arthur's launch, Earth was struck by a world-destroying meteor shower, turning all life to ash.

However, humanity discovered that they had transmigrated to the world of Arthur after the meteor shower.

Former Arthur players perfectly inherited everything from the game.

The top players in the game became the elite among Earthlings in Arthur, and the original Earth powers were reshuffled.

Zhao Xu had not paid attention to this game in his previous life. He was only forcibly dragged into it by his classmates almost eight months after its launch, just to fill a slot in their guild.

His online frequency in the game was also sporadic, and he had only just leveled up from level 1 to level 2 before the transmigration.

At this time, the main wave of players who had entered the game since its launch had an average level of almost 5, with the top players even exceeding level 10.

Zhao Xu, who was a step behind, was only level 2.

However, as one of the lucky ones among Earth's six to seven billion people who had played this game in advance, he undoubtedly joined the ranks of Earth's elite.

In Arthur, relying on his profession level and the help of his classmates, Zhao Xu quickly provided a decent life for his family.

It was just that for the days to come, Zhao Xu's luck for his entire life was exactly used up.

The small town where he was stationed was attacked by a sudden black dragon three years after the transmigration.

The town suffered hundreds of casualties, and his family perished in that crisis, including his newlywed wife.

Zhao Xu's life lost its color from then on.

He had just been summoned by the lord to go on a campaign and narrowly escaped. However, he was henceforth burdened with the shackles of revenge.

For the next 6 years, he worked tirelessly every moment for revenge.

Tracing back to the end of his memories, Zhao Xu joined an adventure team to conquer the black dragon.

Before they could even enter the black dragon's lair, the team was ambushed.

The last impression lingering in Zhao Xu's mind was the black dragon's oncoming breath.

Accompanied by the regret of death, Zhao Xu was reborn back to the classroom 10 years ago.

He had returned to this moment before the game's launch.

The entire world, including the game development company, except for Zhao Xu.

No one knew that Arthur was actually a real otherworldly being.

After transmigrating, countless people beat their chests and stamped their feet, regretting why they hadn't played this game back then.

Even employees of the game development company who hadn't played the game in their spare time were considered novices a year later.

Zhao Xu took a deep breath and then jolted awake. He quickly took out his phone and logged into TC's game store to pre-order the game in advance.

As a paid pre-order game, Arthur was not cheap.

However, even after the game became popular after its launch, no additional paid items were offered.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu's gaze fell upon the pre-order packages in the store.

Arthur Standard Edition, 299 RMB.

Arthur Deluxe Edition, 599 RMB.

The Standard Edition was self-explanatory; in fact, most players bought the Standard Edition.

The Deluxe Edition came with an extra set of clothing for the player, equivalent to paying 300 for a skin. The included clothing could not improve any combat power.

But Zhao Xu's focus was not here. A year later, Earth would be destroyed, and trillions of wealth would turn to dust.

At this time, paying an extra 300 RMB for a piece of otherworldly clothing was like a pie falling from the sky. Only a fool wouldn't make the exchange.

Without a second thought, Zhao Xu clicked on the pre-order interface for the Deluxe Edition.

However, just as he was about to proceed with iris verification for payment, his whole body suddenly trembled.

He recalled an incident.

Many years later, he happened to come into contact with a high-level player who, with an envious expression, told him a legend.

This game had Dual Elites, meaning dual professions.

Dual professions allowed players to simultaneously have two parallel profession paths, with their levels not stacking.

If a normal player was a Level 3 Warrior who multiclassed into a Level 7 Mage, they would be a Level 10 character.

However, for a Dual Professioner, upon reaching Level 10, Profession Path One could be a Level 10 Mage, and Profession Path Two could be a Level 10 Priest.

Essentially, they were still Level 10 characters, merely possessing the professional abilities of two Level 10 professions.

They still only had the health, attack power, feats, and saves of a Level 10 character.

But this added resource of another profession path allowed them to become outstanding among players.

According to that high-level player, the Dual Elite profession was actually a system that would only be fully opened later, as part of a version update to re-attract players.

When the game launched, a very small number of accounts were opened to test the Dual Elite mode, also to conveniently assess its strength and make adjustments later.

As a test account, its biggest advantage was the ability to experience the game for free.

But the price was that after one year, the account would be reclaimed.

This was also to prevent imbalance among the majority of players; an account that would be reclaimed, no matter how strong, was still just that, especially with a time limit.

Many players participating in the test, seeing Arthur's growing popularity, directly gave up their reclaimed accounts, which they didn't own, and repurchased the game.

It was just that no one knew that after one year, just before the account was to be reclaimed, everyone would transmigrate. Naturally, those who became real game characters couldn't be reclaimed anymore.

The one-year period thus became permanent.

These accounts were also a batch of uniquely privileged accounts in the world of Arthur.

According to that high-level player, very few test accounts persisted to the later stages.

But as long as they survived and endured into the real world of Arthur, the owners of these accounts were all powerful figures in their own right.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu immediately stood up and turned to walk out of the classroom. In a few more minutes, when the class bell rang, it would be harder for him to leave.

"Hey, Brother Xu, Old Huang from Marx and Lenin said last class he'd be taking attendance. Are you trying to die?" his roommate Zhang Qi quickly called out to him.

Zhao Xu didn't even grab his textbook, directly waving his hand. "I have something urgent to attend to."

Before he could finish speaking, he had already darted out, just in time to pass by the scattered students arriving for class.

After turning the corner, Zhao Xu found a flower bed nearby and sat down, immediately picking up his phone to call TC's game customer service to inquire about the Dual Elite test accounts.

He hadn't even spoken a few words on the phone when Zhao Xu's expression slowly turned grim.

He hadn't even deeply probed before the customer service representative politely but formulaically rejected him.

The other party stated that the distribution of test accounts had been completed half a month ago.

The participants in the test were all invited players, and this test was not intended to be opened to the general player base in the short term.

In short, he had no chance, so he should stop thinking about it.

It made sense; a Dual Elite test account, at its worst, was a free trial, and it was stronger than ordinary players.

If it were truly opened, everyone would definitely get an account to try first, and they wouldn't be subject to the 2-hour refund limitation.

This answer made Zhao Xu frown deeply.

He knew very well that he wasn't some hardcore player.

He had entered the game seven or eight months after its launch. Even though he played a lot, it was when players had already figured out mature leveling strategies and had someone to guide them. Those factors offset each other, and he had only just reached Level 2 after four months.

This was the most precious year in the virtual world.

After entering the real world of Arthur, everyone's leveling speed slowed down considerably.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that one year was equivalent to ten.

Zhao Xu, driven by the desire for revenge, had risked death multiple times and overdrafted his future lifespan to barely reach Level 5. Otherwise, following his ordinary life trajectory, he might only be Level 3 or 4 after 10 years.

Without the boost of a Dual Elite account, even with his 10 years of experience, he would only reach the top tier of players.

He would still be no match for the black dragon that had killed him like butchering chickens in his previous life; it would be just one breath attack from it.

He needed sufficient levels to have the ability to protect his family.

After calming down slightly, Zhao Xu immediately opened the X-fish platform.

On X-fish, besides selling his own used discarded items, many people over the years had also sold various services and even brand-new products there. One could even post requests to buy certain items.

Zhao Xu directly posted a request to buy a one-year Dual Elite test account for "Arthur."

When filling in the price, he ignored any "negotiable" options and directly entered the game's price of 599.

This was equivalent to the other party exchanging a one-year test account for a permanent deluxe private account. The only difference was the inability to experience the Dual Elite features.

Currently, test accounts included more than just Dual Elite accounts; there were many other types of test accounts, and some were no different from regular accounts.

Therefore, he specifically noted that he wanted a one-year Dual Elite test account, as this was the test account with the longest duration.

As expected, as soon as Zhao Xu posted, due to his sufficient credit score, a private message was immediately sent to him.

"Do you want an account for the half-year test of a powerful race?"

Zhao Xu knew about the powerful races, of course. In fact, this was late-game content that everyone was aware of.

The characteristic of powerful races was that they provided more abilities, and it wasn't strange for them to be on par with characters of level four or five. This allowed new players to bridge the gap with veteran players.

Arthur's major selling point was its global server.

However, an account reclaimed after half a year was meaningless.

The account's duration wasn't based on the activation time, but on the server's opening time.

Otherwise, he could have taken it and let his friends use it.

After Zhao Xu refused, several more private messages came in.

There were even offers for 24-hour test accounts for 10 yuan. Zhao Xu didn't even bother to reply, just moved on to the next message.

"Brother, do you want a half-year test account with dual elites? I'll sell it to you for 299."

Zhao Xu clicked on one message by chance. He was elated at first when he saw the words "dual elites," but his heart sank when "half-year" appeared.

So, dual elites also came with a half-year limit.

"This price is very reasonable. If you weren't a veteran player, you wouldn't even get this invitation account. My half-year period is considered long; many are only for three months."

Seeing the other party's reply, Zhao Xu, though he didn't want it, patiently started to extract information.

The reason the other party was selling it for 299 was that accounts with dual elites only became powerful in the later stages.

The shorter the duration, the lower the level, and thus the strength of the dual elite classes couldn't be truly demonstrated.

If such accounts could last for three to four years, covering the entire lifespan of a game, major guilds would be willing to invest tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.

After some communication, the other party felt Zhao Xu wasn't interested in buying and started replying sporadically.

This continued until evening. With half an hour left before the server opened at 8 PM, Zhao Xu still hadn't received a one-year dual elite test account.

Based on the current information, the dual elite test accounts were likely far fewer than he had anticipated.

Suddenly, Zhao Xu's phone vibrated. A user from Xianyu had sent him a private message.

"I have a one-year dual elite system account, and it also comes with potential point testing."

Potential points?

Zhao Xu froze. He hadn't heard of this ability, but it didn't matter; having dual elites was enough.

However, looking at the other party's message, it was clear they were hinting at needing more money.

In reality, he would buy it for any price, even hundreds of thousands, and would persuade his parents to lend him the money.

This wasn't buying a game account; it was buying his life.

"How much?" Zhao Xu didn't immediately state his offer.

"1000." The other party doubled Zhao Xu's expected price.

"You're exaggerating." Zhao Xu typed back immediately.

Although immeasurable joy was already surging within him, he still tried to haggle.

Agreeing too readily would only make the other party suspect he was selling it too cheaply, leading to unnecessary trouble.

Next, Zhao Xu pretended to bargain, but he was careful not to push too hard lest the other party ignore him.

After some back-and-forth negotiation, they finally settled on 800. The process left him more mentally and physically exhausted than completing several calculus exams.

After the other party agreed, Zhao Xu had them list the item using his title according to Xianyu's procedures, and he immediately purchased it.

The entire process went without a hitch.

Looking at the game activation code the other party sent him, Zhao Xu, despite being over thirty in psychological age, couldn't help but feel excited.

This not-so-complicated string of numbers was his future.