First Entry

The sun hung in the sky like a giant fireball, stinging people's eyes until they couldn't even keep them open. On the road, the asphalt had been baked soft by the heat. A wave of sweltering air rushed forward, making it hard to even catch one's breath. On the trees lining the roadside, cicadas chirped incessantly, as if saying, "So hot, so hot." The flowers drooped their heads, and the grass bent its waist, all appearing listless and wilted.

The scorching sunlight spilled in by the window, and a faint, delicate fragrance drifted through the room. A pair of slender hands moved across the desk, tapping away at the computer. When he closed a webpage with his mouse, he sighed softly. "Sigh! If only I could be like the people in books, traveling to various worlds and dimensions to adventure and fight."

This man was named Lin Maoxian. His parents were famous adventurers, so they gave him a name with the same pronunciation as the word for "adventurous," though he hadn't been particularly fond of it growing up, he never changed it.

Lin Maoxian's parents were passionate about adventure, and he had been brought along by them since childhood to explore every corner of the globe. When he was fourteen, his parents unfortunately passed away in a disaster during an expedition. He settled in his father's motherland, Country Z, with the massive inheritance they left behind. Inheriting his parents' hobby, he spent his time studying and, whenever he had the chance, traveled to famous locations to explore. Over ten years of adventuring, he had visited countless renowned places.

Later, having lost his sense of purpose, he encountered Infinite Flow novels. The protagonists in these stories could shuttle between different worlds and witness one realm after another, which he found deeply alluring. This was just another one of those Infinite Flow novels he had been reading.

"Time for my workout." He stretched his body after sitting for so long and went to the kitchen to prepare a light snack. Half an hour later, after tidying up the dishes, he left the room and headed toward the gym.

This villa was one of the properties left behind by his parents. The gym was located on the third floor on the left side of the villa. Adventures often led to accidents, and a good physique could be the difference between life and death in a dangerous situation.

"If only Mom and Dad had been stronger back then." His parents had perished in a mountain accident during an expedition because they weren't physically strong enough, while several of their companions who were more robust had survived. Ever since then, working out had become an essential part of his daily routine.

But just as Lin Maoxian was distracted, thinking about his parents, the stairs he was climbing underwent a shocking transformation! The winding staircase seemed to stretch on without end. A black cloud surrounded the area, churning and rolling incessantly, with strange lights flickering within—lights that contained the mysterious power of an infinite starry sky!

In the stairwell, the black clouds continued to churn wildly, like a celebration that had no beginning and no end. Blurred images were interspersed within, and though no sound came through, they carried a terrifying momentum that swept across the earth like a surging tide! The boundless black clouds shook and rolled before scattering. Amidst the terrifying pressure, a plain, unremarkable mirror appeared. It had a metallic texture, its surface as smooth as jade. Looking into that mirror, it felt as if a starry sky was being birthed within!

A beam of light shot out from the jade-like mirror, and immediately, a massive suction force pulled from within it.

Lin Maoxian, still lost in thought, didn't even have time to react before he was dragged into that star-filled mirror by the terrifying suction.

At that moment, a mysterious, deep voice echoed throughout the space shrouded in this terrifying power.

"Target locked!"

"Space opening! Automatically extracting host data, Adventurer ID generating..."

"ID 258, welcome to the Origin Space!"

He didn't know how much time had passed. Lin Maoxian's consciousness suddenly cleared, but he didn't open his eyes immediately. Instead, he remained lying there with his eyes closed, listening intently to the movements around him.

He was still alive, which meant he was safe for the moment. Rather than rushing to open his eyes and alerting any potential enemies, it was better to continue feigning sleep and listen to his surroundings.

Although he hadn't been able to react when he was sucked into that strange mirror, the scene was still vivid in his mind! He was an adventurer, and the hallmark of an adventurer was the ability to accept mysterious things, as well as a heart that had grown calm through long-term exposure to danger. When faced with such a bizarre event, his capacity for acceptance was far greater than that of an ordinary person, and he certainly wouldn't ignorantly guess that he was hallucinating.

In this world, no one could create such a terrifyingly realistic hallucination; believing it was a hallucination was merely a form of self-deception and comfort for ordinary people. During his long career as an adventurer, he had seen other things that couldn't be explained by science, just nothing as bizarre as this.

After a short while, hearing no movement, Lin Maoxian opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings quickly. His pupils constricted, and his heart remained unsettled for a long time.

There were no enemies around; in fact, there were no people, no flowers, no trees, and not even air. He was in the middle of a starry sky, with starlight flickering all around, the radiance mesmerizing.

Whoosh. A beam of light shot toward Lin Maoxian from the distant starry sky. He wanted to dodge, but no matter how he commanded his body, he couldn't move. In an instant, the light shot into his mind.

"Adventurer ID 258, welcome to the Origin Space!"

"Adventurer personal physical stats digitizing, attribute digitization in progress..."

"Adventurer personal attributes are as follows."

Strength: 6, "One who can lift mountains and conquer the world." Strength determines the power of some melee attacks. It also enhances your carrying capacity, allowing you to wear or use heavy and powerful armor/weapons.

Agility: 8, "With me, a 100-meter dash in one second is no longer a dream." Agility determines your movement and attack speed, and also influences your evasion rate and has a certain impact on physical ranged attack power, etc.

Intelligence: 5, "There is no upper limit to IQ." Intelligence determines your energy cap and recovery speed. Energy can be converted into any attribute of internal energy, magic, telekinesis, spiritual power, etc. (One point of intelligence equals 10 points of energy.)

Stamina: 5, "The man who can go seven times a night, that's me." Stamina determines your resistance to damage and your endurance for running/fighting. It also affects health recovery and defense. (One point of stamina equals 10 points of health.)

Charisma: 6, "Without me, you are destined to be a bachelor." Charisma influences the attitude of plot characters toward you, etc.

Perception: 7, "Even without eyes, I can feel your presence." Perception is a collective term for your hearing, intuition, vision, etc. It primarily allows you a certain chance to discover nearby dangers in advance and observe your surroundings more quickly and carefully.

Willpower: 7, "Don't be afraid, beauty, my willpower is very firm." Willpower determines your resistance to abnormal status effects. The stronger one's willpower, the less likely they are to be swayed. (Includes but is not limited to fear, pain, charm, etc.)

Health: 50, recovers 5 health per minute.

Energy: 50, recovers 5 energy per minute.

Attack: 6, Defense: 5.

Abnormal Status Resistance: 7%.

Talent: [Adventurer] (The spirit of adventure has penetrated deep into your blood and soul.)

Grade: B (Talent grades are divided into S, A, B, C, D; five levels in total.)

Ability: [Adventure] Increases adventure difficulty by 100%, final total rewards increased by 100% (Risk and reward coexist).

"If there is anything you do not understand, the Adventurer may summon the character panel to learn more. Please explore further applications of character attributes on your own."

"For more functions of the Space, please explore them yourself after officially entering."

"The Space grants the Adventurer 5 minutes of thinking and buffer time. After 5 minutes, the Adventurer will undergo the Space trial mission."

Listening to this sudden voice, Lin Maoxian calmed his emotions and asked, "What is this place? Am I still on Earth? Can I go back?"

"Insufficient Space contribution, no answer provided."

Hearing this, Lin Maoxian asked several more questions, but the answer to all of them was that his contribution was insufficient and no answer would be provided.

He summoned the character panel and looked carefully at the descriptions. This was his livelihood from now on, so he had to take it seriously.

He looked at his attributes. Although he didn't know what the stats of an average adult were, his lowest attribute was 5, which shouldn't be too bad, considering he insisted on working out every day.

As for the talent "Adventurer," it must have been gained from his years of exploring. Although it was only B-grade, he quite liked the attributes—risk and reward coexisting. Even though he didn't know what this so-called Space was or if it was like the novels he had read, allowing people to shuttle through infinite worlds, he had already explored most of the places he knew on Earth. Now that he had a new place to adventure, it was actually a good thing for him.

"Time has arrived. Adventurer No. 258 is about to enter the plot world. Does the Adventurer wish to use the talent ability [Adventure]?"

"Use [Adventure]."

"Adventurer No. 258 has used the talent ability [Adventure]. The difficulty of the Adventurer's trial mission has increased, and the final completion rewards will be increased by 100%."

"Scene: World of the Great Detective"

"Difficulty: Extremely Easy (E-rank) -- Adventurer has used talent ability, difficulty increased. Current difficulty: Easy (D-rank)"

"Pain suppression: 80%. Current pain suppression: 40%"

"Personal ability additional enhancement: 100%. Current enhancement: 50%"

"Current scene exploration: 0.00%"

"You will automatically master the relevant language, allowing you to interact fluently with the characters of this world. This will be forgotten upon leaving this world."

"Number of missions accepted: 1"