Game World

Kingdom of Blossoms, Blackwater Village.

Linton carefully inspected his inventory in his room.

"An iron pickaxe, skill books, and over a hundred thousand gold coins. That should be enough to fool those players for a while, right?"

"Whew—"

After letting out a long breath, the excitement in Linton's heart gradually subsided.

After transmigrating for so long, he had finally come to calmly accept the reality that he had become an NPC in a game.

In Linton's previous life, a game called "Kingdom of Heavenly Principles" had swept the globe.

As the first immersive virtual reality game of its era, it was nearly indistinguishable from the real world. Many people had even treated it as reality, trying to escape the devouring world they lived in.

Among them, the Kingdom of Blossoms was the first map opened in the game, while Blackwater Village was one of its beginner villages. As for Linton, he had now become what players called an NPC.

However, Linton was somewhat different from ordinary NPCs.

He spread out his hand and summoned the personal status panel that only players possessed.

Name: Linton Crewechill

Class: Necromancer

Level: Lv.18 (44/12725)

Attributes: Strength 3, Constitution 2, Agility 4, Intelligence 17, Charm -10, Luck 1

Evaluation: Though the body is beautiful, the abnormality stemming from your soul makes people instinctively fear you. Your strength is mediocre and cannot change their opinion of you, so you can only deceive yourself into saying you do not care.

Inventory: [Concealer (Gold): An ordinary black hooded robe that can conceal your aura within darkness (ineffective against targets more than 5 levels higher)], [Ordinary Alchemy Synthesis Table (Silver): One of the essential pieces of equipment for travelers venturing abroad. Produced by the Imaginary Alchemy Workshop, quality guaranteed, fair to young and old alike.], [Gathering Skill Book (Black Iron) x10], [Alchemy Skill Book (Black Iron) x10], [Basic Swordsmanship: Cross Slash (Black Iron) x10]

Skill: [Cage Lv.1]: You can create a mark on a puppet and resurrect through that puppet upon suffering fatal damage. Only one mark may exist at a time. Cooldown: 30 days. Note: This skill cannot be upgraded.

Skill Overview: Since the soul transcends, the body is but a cage; death is not an abyss, nor are Heavenly Principles a miracle.

Skill: [Perfect Puppet Lv.1]: You can create puppets. When first created, a puppet possesses twenty percent of your attributes and can be upgraded using materials. Puppets may use skills learned by the main body through skill books, but cannot use class inheritance skills. Note: This skill cannot be upgraded. (Current number of puppets: 0.)

Skill Overview: There is no perfect existence in this world, not even Heavenly Principles. Corpses are an exception.

Skill: [Summoning (Necromancy) Lv.2]: You can summon the undead buried beneath the earth. The undead retain all the skills they had in life, but how much power they can wield depends on the Necromancer's skill level. Current undead strength: 20% (Summonable targets within current range: 7)

Skill Overview: At your age, how can you sleep?

Skill: [Alchemy Lv.3]: You can use an alchemy synthesis table to transform acquired raw materials into the materials you need. (The higher this skill's level, the greater the chance of obtaining double materials.)

Skill: [Gathering Lv.3]: You can gather materials produced by defeated monsters. (The higher this skill's level, the greater the success rate and quality of gathered materials.)

This was a class Linton had never seen when he played "Kingdom of Heavenly Principles" in his previous life.

From his experience during this period, the Necromancer class had attributes similar to a mage's. Both were the frail-but-high-damage type. Its skills were somewhat special, but it was probably the sort of class that needed a long time to develop. Becoming overpowered in the early or midgame did not seem realistic.

But by the late game, with an unlimited sea of puppets surrounding and suppressing their enemies, even archmages who had learned forbidden-spell-level skills might have no way to deal with a Necromancer.

After all, puppets could be developed in specific directions and taught skills.

If he gave one of the puppets a magic immunity skill, wouldn't mages be completely screwed?

Linton had never played the Necromancer class in his previous life, nor had he heard of anyone changing classes into this hidden class. Looking at these skills and this panel now, it would probably cause quite a stir on the forums.

"What kind of trash class is this? Frail body, useless skills, only two innate skills and neither can be upgraded. If a puppet breaks, all the materials invested in it are wasted. Casual players can't play this at all. Damn trash developers."

"Enough already, dude. This class is insanely strong, okay? It has resurrection and summons, and the puppets can even be upgraded. As long as you grind materials for, like, eight months, you can raise a puppet to a decent level. With a little skill in PvP, you'll run circles around you boxing types."

"Can upgrade materials be bought directly?"

"Can you make beautiful girl puppets? If so, I'll change to this class even if it heals monsters!!"

Thinking of the sorts of comments various people on the forum would probably make, Linton could not help laughing, though he also felt nostalgic.

"I'll be seeing them soon. My dear little leeks."

He opened the option in the lower right labeled "Player Forum."

The moment he entered, a red, bold, pinned title caught everyone's attention.

"'Kingdom of Heavenly Principles' Closed Beta Opening Countdown: 00:00:10."

That was right. Not only had Linton transmigrated into the game, he had also traveled back in time to before its official launch.

Aside from that announcement, the posts made by prospective players below were absolute chaos.

"Any closed beta players want to team up and explore? (kitty attack.jpg)"

"I really want to play with the lady OP, but the official closed beta slots are way too limited."

"Buying closed beta accounts. High demand, high prices, come quick!"

"OP, are you a moron? Don't you know these are bound to personal information? Only the owner can log in."

"Huh? Is that how it works? I was even thinking of selling mine. (closed beta qualification successfully obtained text.jpg)"

"You lucky bastard, f*** your mom!"

"Oh right, this game seems to be 16+."

"Yeah, so I've already started following the 'Kingdom of Heavenly Principles' section on P-site."

"The guy above is such a pervert." (Note: Tifa avatar)

"Replying to the guy above: First, I'm not old. Second, you sure talk tough after pulling your pants back up."

"."

After browsing the posts for a while, Linton put on the Concealer, grabbed a broken stool, and left his house. He found a large tree that provided enough shade from the sun, then leisurely sat down to enjoy the cool air as he waited for the players to descend.

After the forum countdown ended, some time passed. As if sensing something, Linton raised his head and looked toward the dirt road at the entrance of the village.

There, three to five humanoid creatures with bizarre appearances were excitedly touching their own bodies and looking around, curiosity toward this unfamiliar world radiating from every inch of them.

"They're finally here."