To accommodate the vast number of players, God's Domain allowed them to play while they slept. Game time also differed from real time: forty-eight hours in the game equaled one hour in reality.
Forty-eight hours in the game made up a day: thirty hours of daylight and eighteen hours of night, with a very regular cycle.
Besides that, nighttime in reality was daytime in the game, allowing office workers everywhere to enjoy the game.
As soon as Shi Feng entered God's Domain, he passed through a multicolored tunnel and arrived at a solemn golden temple.
A hand-sized female angel, flapping four pairs of snow-white wings, flew up in front of Shi Feng.
"Hello, adventurer. Welcome to God's Domain. I'm Gabriel, your guide angel. I'll explain the four major categories and twelve classes in God's Domain, and you can choose whichever class you like best."
Gabriel waved her little hand, and illustrated introductions to twelve classes appeared in front of Shi Feng.
These twelve classes belonged to four major categories.
Warrior: Shield Warrior, Guardian Knight, Berserker.
Weapon: Swordsman, Assassin, Ranger.
Healing: Priest, Druid, Oracle.
Magic: Elementalist, Summoner, Cursemancer.
The Warrior category focused on defense and tanking, the Weapon category on physical damage, the Healing category on healing, and the Magic category on magical damage. Each class had its own distinct fighting style, one of God's Domain's major selling points.
In his previous life, Shi Feng had chosen the Swordsman class in the Weapon category and earned the title Sword Magician.
He had invested far too much in the Swordsman class to choose anything else. Without hesitation, he picked Swordsman, a class he knew inside out.
"Class selection complete. Please name your character."
"Ye Feng."
Shi Feng chose the same name he had used in his previous life.
"Name accepted. Would you like to adjust your character's appearance? The adjustment rate is 15%."
Shi Feng thought it over. He didn't want to draw too much attention, so he chose the full 15% adjustment. Though the result wasn't as handsome as he was in real life, no one would be able to recognize him.
"Please choose a starting location in the Star-Moon Kingdom."
A map of the Star-Moon Kingdom appeared in front of Shi Feng, dotted with dozens of cities.
God's Domain was launching worldwide at the same time. To accommodate hundreds of millions of players, its land was incredibly vast, with a surface area comparable to two or three Earths. It also contained a great many countries. However, players' countries were determined from the start according to their real-world region and city. They could only choose a city within their assigned country.
"White River City."
Shi Feng had no intention of choosing another city. He went straight for the one he knew best: White River City.
White River City was the Star-Moon Kingdom's fifth-largest city and an important hub in its eastern region. Quite a few small studios liked to develop there, away from the conflicts among the major guilds.
"City confirmed. You will be randomly assigned to Red Leaf Town, a town under White River City. Teleporting in three seconds. Enjoy your gaming experience."
Then Shi Feng's vision blurred, and he was teleported away.
Red Leaf Town had medieval-style architecture, with rows of orderly houses lining the streets. NPCs strolled around, talking to one another. It felt just like another world.
Shi Feng appeared in front of a church, wearing a gray novice leather jacket with a Novice Sword hanging at his waist. He looked every bit the down-and-out swordsman.
"So I ended up in Red Leaf Town after all." Shi Feng smiled faintly. Looking at the familiar town, he felt full of confidence.
A large number of players were already wandering around, talking to NPCs and searching for quest clues. A few had gone straight out of town to hunt monsters. They were all incredibly eager, as if they wished they could split every minute in two.
Shi Feng ignored the other players. He flicked his finger, and his character panel appeared.
Character: Ye Feng (Human) Kingdom: Star-Moon Title: None Class: Swordsman Level: 0 HP: 100/100 Attack Power: 13 Defense: 4 Attack Speed: 3 Movement Speed: 4 Attributes: Strength 5, Agility 3, Endurance 4, Intelligence 2, Spirit 2. Free Attribute Points: 4 Weapon Proficiency: One-Handed Sword Proficiency +5 (Apprentice level: increases one-handed sword damage by 5%); Two-Handed Sword Proficiency +5 (Apprentice level: increases two-handed sword damage by 5%) Free Proficiency Points: 0 Class Attributes: Swordsman Attribute 1: Sword Proficiency +5 Swordsman Attribute 2: Gain 8 free proficiency points every five levels. Swordsman Attribute 3: Sword skill proficiency increases by 50%. Skill: Slash, action skill, requires a sword, adds 8 damage, cooldown: 5 seconds, skill level 1 (proficiency 0/300). Equipment: Swordsman Leather Jacket (Gray, Junk), durability 10/10, defense 2, equipment level 0. Novice One-Handed Practice Sword (Gray, Junk), durability 15/15, attack power 3, requires 3 Strength to equip, equipment level 0.
His backpack held ten slices of bread and ten bags of water. Eating bread restored 10 HP per second, while drinking water restored 10 MP per second. Both effects lasted ten seconds.
All Swordsman players started with the same attributes. The only difference came from how they assigned their free attribute points.
Each time players gained a level, they received four free attribute points. As they leveled up, they could distribute them in different ways to develop their own styles.
Strength increased physical attack power and carrying capacity. Agility increased attack and movement speed. Endurance increased HP and stamina. Intelligence increased magical attack power and MP. Spirit increased MP recovery speed and healing. Each class had its own priorities.
Swordsman was a physical damage class, so most people prioritized Strength. Shi Feng had done the same in his previous life: two points in Strength, one in Endurance, and one in Agility. It was a perfectly conventional, utterly mediocre choice.
But in this life, Shi Feng wasn't going to distribute his points that way.
Without hesitation, Shi Feng clicked the plus sign next to Agility, assigning all four points to it. His Agility shot up to 7, his attack speed rose to 4, and his movement speed rose to 5.
Even Assassins, who were famous for their Agility, wouldn't distribute their points this way. Early on, players prioritized damage and put more points into Strength to level up faster.
Shi Feng disagreed.
In the early stages of God's Domain, Agility was the best choice for melee classes. These secrets hadn't been discovered until several weeks after the game launched. Once they were, countless melee players beat their chests, spat blood, and regretted their early point allocations.
After assigning his attribute points, Shi Feng looked around.
In just a moment, another huge crowd of players had teleported in. The not-so-large Central Square was packed with green diamond markers—players—completely obscuring the yellow NPC markers. It was difficult even to find an NPC.
Beep, beep, beep!
Shi Feng's voice chat rang. He checked the caller's name: Black Cloud Covering the Sun. It was Heizi.
"Brother Feng, I chose Cursemancer and spawned in Falling Moon Town. Where are you?" Heizi was so excited to have entered God's Domain that he couldn't wait to make his mark.
"I'm in Red Leaf Town. It's not too far from Falling Moon Town. Come here, and I'll help you level up," Shi Feng said.
"Brother Feng, have you gone crazy? Do you know how far Falling Moon Town is from Red Leaf Town? The map says it'll take me seven hours to get there. I'd fall way behind everyone else! We should level up separately and meet in White River City when we reach level ten." Heizi was so frustrated he nearly spat blood. Earning sixteen thousand Credit Points in ten days had already been crazy enough. He wasn't about to waste seven hours traveling instead of leveling up. He wouldn't do it even if it killed him.
"Relax. Just come over. You'll make up for the lost time in no time," Shi Feng said calmly.
Hearing the confidence in Shi Feng's voice, Heizi asked excitedly, "Brother Feng, do you have information from a beta tester?"
Before God's Domain launched, the company had invited quite a few people to test the game. They were called beta testers, and they had access to the earliest information about God's Domain. Although the game might have changed, beta testers still knew far more than ordinary players.
"What do you think? Anyway, hurry over." Shi Feng gave a mysterious smile.
Heizi grew excited at that. He knew Shi Feng must have reliable information; otherwise, he wouldn't have said that. "All right, Brother Feng. Wait for me. I'm coming right now."
After ending the call with Heizi, Shi Feng headed toward a dim alley in town.
Red Leaf Town had hundreds of NPCs, but only a few dozen offered quests. There were only five hidden quests and one unique quest. The unique quest was one of a kind; once someone completed it, it was gone.
The unique quest in Red Leaf Town wasn't discovered until two months after God's Domain launched. It caused a sensation throughout White River City. Since the quest was unique, the lucky player who found it posted the walkthrough to show off. Countless players were envious, but the quest was already gone, and no one else could do it.
There was no way Shi Feng would let this unique quest slip by in this life.
Shi Feng entered the dim alley, where beggars in tattered clothes crowded the area. When they saw him coming, they swarmed around him like hungry wolves spotting meat, begging for food.
Some players had once given these beggars food. Afterward, the beggars kept asking for more, and their demands grew increasingly expensive and rare. The player agreed to them all, satisfying more than ten of the beggars' demands in a row. In the end, the beggars gave him nothing, nearly making him furious enough to keel over. It became a running joke.
"Get out of my way!"
Shi Feng shouted and drew his Novice Sword. The beggars had no means of resisting, so they scattered at once and cowered off to the side.
With the beggars out of the way, Shi Feng walked to a corner. A beggar lay there, a down-and-out middle-aged man. He didn't seem any different from the others, except that he was the only one who hadn't begged for food. He had some dignity.
"Sir, is there anything I can do for you?" Shi Feng asked in a thoroughly formal tone.
"Could you give me some food? I haven't eaten in five days," the beggar said.
Shi Feng smiled faintly and replied solemnly, "I'm afraid I can't grant your request, sir."
A normal person would probably have been furious, but the beggar merely sighed and said nothing more.
"However, if you're willing to pay the appropriate price, I can give you the food you need," Shi Feng said.
The beggar looked up at Shi Feng, a hopeful light in his eyes. "If I had money, I'd gladly pay you. But I have nothing at all right now. If—yes, if you're willing to help me, I'll pay you enough. Will you help me?"
"May I ask what you want me to do?" Shi Feng asked.
The beggar replied with utter seriousness, "Please help me kill the mayor of Red Leaf Town, Cross."
Although Red Leaf Town was a small town, its mayor was a level 15 elite with level 25 guards protecting him. On top of that, killing an NPC would get a player wanted by the NPCs. Killing the mayor was undoubtedly an outrageous move. No player would believe it was a quest; it was practically a death sentence. No one would accept such an absurd request.
"All right, I accept." Shi Feng agreed without hesitation, smiling.
System: Unique Quest accepted: "Shylock's Request."
Quest Objective: Kill the mayor of Red Leaf Town, Cross, and give the Mayor's Badge to Shylock. Player level must not exceed 10.
After accepting the quest, Shi Feng turned and headed for the town hall where the mayor lived.
Readers interested in character side stories or other incidents in the world of God's Domain can follow the public WeChat account Tianyun Old Cat to see content that couldn't be included in the book.