The Land Abandoned by the Gods, Shell Town

To evolve the Shadowmeld skill again, I need 3 evolution points.

I only have 2 left...

Qin Feng could only choose to evolve Back Attack Enhancement.

[You have consumed 1 evolution point. Remaining: 1.]

[Starting skill: Back Attack Enhancement (inferior → common). Passive effect: damage dealt when attacking a target from behind increased from 10% → 15%.]

Qin Feng was fairly satisfied with the evolution of Back Attack Enhancement.

Although it only increased his damage by 5%, he could already imagine how powerful this skill would become if he kept evolving it.

My class passive doubles my damage.

If I evolve Back Attack Enhancement until its damage bonus reaches 100%...

Stacked together, that would mean quadruple damage!

Having struggled through the Godforsaken Game for nine years and ranked among the world's top hundred players, Qin Feng knew better than anyone what those skill numbers meant.

Now, Qin Feng was a little curious.

If he kept evolving these skills, wouldn't they eventually surpass even the highest tier, Immortal Tier?

Take Shadowmeld, for example. If I keep evolving it, its duration will get longer and longer, while its cooldown gets shorter and shorter...

Could it eventually have no cooldown at all?

If I keep evolving Back Attack Enhancement, could its damage bonus reach 100%, or even higher?

Qin Feng was filled with anticipation.

After all, in his previous life, he had never even heard of skills being able to evolve.

Whether equipment or skill books, whatever grade they were when Demons dropped them was the grade they would remain forever. It could never change.

But now...

Qin Feng's Primordial Talent had completely defied all logic!

Infinite evolution.

From now on, his skills would outclass everyone else's.

That should do it. Time to enter the game...

Qin Feng took a look.

He still had 1 evolution point left.

But evolving Shadowmeld required 3 points, and evolving Back Attack Enhancement required 2, so there were no skills he could evolve for now.

When he decided to enter the game, a grayish-white input box appeared before him:

[Please enter your in-game alias.]

In the Godforsaken Game, every player had to choose an alias, much like a username in real-world online games.

Duplicate names were not allowed. If a name was already taken, a string of numbers would be added after the alias to distinguish it.

I'll call myself Shadow.

Qin Feng raised his hand and wrote the name in black lettering inside the grayish-white input box.

Once he finished writing, the input box dissipated like smoke...

[Your alias is: Shadow.]

[Entering the Land Abandoned by the Gods...]

The darkness before Qin Feng's eyes gradually dispersed like thick smoke.

He slowly began to feel solid ground beneath his feet.

As the darkness around him cleared, a dilapidated town appeared before him. It was nighttime, and moonlight draped the town like a thin silver veil, casting its desolation and decay into stark relief...

Qin Feng stood in the town's central square.

Several players in black robes were also in the square, looking around in bewilderment.

As for NPCs...

The NPCs in the Godforsaken Game were not programmed entities, but intelligent beings from other civilizations.

Dealing with those NPCs required caution, caution, and more caution!

Otherwise, one careless mistake could cost a player their entire lifespan, leaving them with nothing but regret.

Of course, no NPCs could be found in a Newbie Town like this.

Blue Star players who had just arrived in the Land Abandoned by the Gods had zero tradable lifespan, making them virtually worthless to NPCs...

[Welcome to the Land Abandoned by the Gods.]

[This is a ruined land where countless Demons run rampant. Be careful. They are always ready to tear you apart and steal your lifespan...]

[Leave the town and slay Demons to obtain tradable lifespan.]

[However, dying in the game will deduct half your remaining lifespan, including both tradable and non-tradable lifespan.]

The familiar system notifications reached Qin Feng's mind.

Someone entering the Godforsaken Game for the first time might have been astonished.

But Qin Feng felt no emotional stir at all.

He simply checked the map.

[Shell Town: peaceful zone (there are no Demons in this area, and players cannot attack one another).]

[This is a Temperate Zone. Lifespan depletion rate within the area: 1×.]

...

"Sure enough, I ended up somewhere different."

"Shell Town..."

Qin Feng murmured to himself.

Since he had entered the Godforsaken Game at a different time, his arrival location had changed as well.

There were over a hundred million Newbie Towns in the Land Abandoned by the Gods.

Newbie Towns were also commonly known as "safe zones"!

Each Newbie Town could accommodate a maximum of one thousand players.

Once a town was full, players who entered afterward would be assigned to other starting towns.

*Still, starting towns are assigned according to location and entry time.*

*So the players in Shell Town are all from River-Sea City in Great Xia, too.*

Qin Feng took a look.

At present, 127 people had already entered Shell Town.

Qin Feng was the 128th.

"Attribute panel."

After checking the map information, Qin Feng examined his own attributes.

In the Godforsaken Game...

Attributes were crucial!

...

[Alias: Shadow]

[Class: Shadow]

[Level: 1]

[Non-tradable lifespan: 75 years]

[Tradable lifespan: 0]

[Strength: 10 (+3)]

[Constitution: 10 (+3)]

[Agility: 10 (+8)]

[Spirit: 10 (+5)]

[Unallocated attribute points: 5] ```

All players started with 10 points in each of the four attributes.

The numbers in parentheses were class bonuses.

The Shadow class really lives up to being a hidden class!

Its starting attribute bonuses are actually this high?

Qin Feng was astonished.

After all, his warrior class in his previous life had only given him 3 extra strength and 3 extra constitution at the start.

But the Shadow class...

Not only did it add 3 points each to constitution and strength, it also added 8 agility and 5 spirit!

Strength affects physical attack power.

Constitution affects physical defense and health.

Agility affects movement speed, attack speed, and skill casting speed.

Spirit affects elemental attack power and elemental resistance.

Qin Feng knew exactly what each attribute did.

In his previous life, many players had chosen to invest in strength or spirit at the start to increase their physical or magical attack power.

But in truth...

Agility mattered most of all!

The Demons in the Godforsaken Game are incredibly powerful!

Even an ordinary monster can easily slaughter beginner players.

To survive the early game, you have to invest in agility. No matter your class, only an advantage in speed gives you a chance to kill Demons without taking damage!

Many players instinctively fell into the misconception that damage mattered most.

But in the Godforsaken Game, death cost lifespan.

The importance of lifespan went without saying.

Without sufficient speed, many situations would leave players with no choice but to die in despair.

As long as I'm fast enough, I can advance to attack or retreat to defend.

By comparison, the extra damage from investing a few points in strength early on is hardly necessary...

That's even more true for me.

My Bronze Grade Shadowmeld skill already adds 90 attack power when I break stealth, equivalent to 90 points of strength!

I don't lack damage in the early game at all, so I have even less reason to invest in strength.

Speed is the only thing I absolutely need!