[Wow! A legendary gold!]: "Holy shit! The servers have only been up for a few minutes, and someone's already got gold equipment? Bro, tell me how you got it! Don't make me beg..."
[I'll Chop My Dick Off If I Spend a Dime]: "Didn't the devs say top-ups wouldn't open for three months to keep the game balanced? If we can't pay to win, where did that gold equipment come from?"
[No Cilantro]: "Can the guy who got the gold equipment add me so I can take a look? I'll show you my legs in exchange!"
[AAA Construction Supplies, Old Wang]: "Girl above, add your uncle here. I won't look for free. I've got money, and I'll buy you equipment!"
Cloudside Town's chat channel exploded.
Lin Mo was just as thrilled.
"I never expected achievement rewards! And they're this generous?"
In Oracle, 1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 10,000 copper coins.
The official initial exchange rate between game currency and Chinese yuan was set at 1:1.
"Ten thousand yuan for a single achievement?"
"That basically reimburses everything I spent buying equipment! Hell yeah!"
Delighted, Lin Mo looked at the longsword gleaming with golden light in his hand-
[World-Shattering · Flowing Light Sword] (Lv0): Quality: Tier 1 · Gold Attack: +55 Bonus attribute: Agility +20 Special effect: Shatter (each attack by the wielder deals an additional 50 damage) Description: Fortunes rise and fall. Never underestimate a penniless beginner... Note: Bound
"Going from white to gold quality raised its base attack straight from 1 to 55?"
"And the bonus attribute and special effect are just as insane!"
Having witnessed a truly massive upgrade firsthand, Lin Mo couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.
"Gold equipment is so damn strong!!!"
To avoid attracting unwanted attention, Lin Mo turned off the Flowing Light Sword's golden glow.
Then he equipped it.
With 19 evolution points remaining, Lin Mo performed four consecutive evolutions, upgrading his beginner pants to Tier 1 · Orange-
[Beginner Pants] (Lv0): Quality: Tier 1 · Orange Defense: +18 Bonus attribute: Constitution +6 Special effect: Damage reduction (reduces damage taken by the wearer by 20) Description: Covers your shame while providing decent protection... Note: Bound
Orange equipment was pretty good, too.
But it clearly fell far short of gold equipment!
Unfortunately, his remaining 4 evolution points weren't enough for another evolution.
"This will do for now. One gold weapon and one orange piece of armor should be enough for the early game!"
After equipping his gear, Lin Mo checked the title the system had awarded him-
[Golden Gear War God] (Title): Quality: White Attribute: Attack +1% Description: A mark of honor for the first player in Cloudside Town, Beginner Village No. 116, to obtain gold equipment...
"A white title gives a percentage bonus?"
Lin Mo was pleasantly surprised.
Every gamer knew that percentage bonuses became more valuable the further you progressed!
What's more, title attributes could stack infinitely in Oracle. Every additional title put you permanently one step ahead of everyone else!
He equipped the title.
Lin Mo opened his status panel for a look-
[Golden Gear War God · Mo Shou Cheng Gui] (Lv0): Talent: Soulfire (SSS rank · Unique) Class: None Race: Human Reputation: 10 Strength: 3 (1 strength = 1 attack) Agility: 23 (affects speed, critical hits, and evasion) Endurance: 3 (1 endurance = 1 defense) Constitution: 9 (1 constitution = 10 HP) Spirit: 3 (1 spirit = 5 MP) Attack: 64 (includes the combined 11% attack bonus from human race and title) Defense: 21 HP: 90 MP: 15 Skill: Reconnaissance (E rank, costs 1 MP, reveals the attributes of monsters no more than 3 levels above the user) Experience: 0/100 Money: 1 gold, 0 silver, 0 copper Description: A noob. Enough said...
While most other beginners had only 4 or 5 attack and thirty or forty HP,
Lin Mo's current stats put him head and shoulders above the rest!
"According to the official leveling event announcement, the first ten players in each beginner village to reach level 10 get rewards. First place gets a hundred thousand in cash alone!"
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't tempted.
Although money would become worthless paper after Oracle swallowed the real world,
until then, it was still a good thing to have!
Lin Mo recalled, "The devs opened top-ups three months after Oracle launched. If I remember correctly, they launched a top-up event at the same time."
"A total of five million in top-ups gets you a forbidden spell skill book!"
"Ten million gets you a super-divine artifact!"
"Twenty million gets you a guild creation token!"
"Thirty million gets you a vial of blood essence from an ultra-rare race!"
"Fifty million gets you a hidden class change scroll... the more you spend, the more you get back!"
"Unfortunately, the crisis where Oracle devoured the real world broke out exactly ten minutes after top-ups opened! Once the crisis hit, top-ups closed, too."
"There were only ten minutes to top up. Plenty of whales didn't even realize what was happening before it was too late!"
Lin Mo licked his lips, his eyes burning with desire. "If I can get every cumulative top-up reward, Oracle swallowing the real world won't be a disaster for me. It'll be the starting point of my rise to Oracle's summit!!!"
An SSS-rank talent alone was nowhere near enough.
After all, there were nine other people in Oracle with SSS-rank talents like Lin Mo.
Lin Mo's goal was to take it all and become the strongest in Oracle!
So earning at least fifty million within three months was his primary goal in this life!
In his previous life, that would indeed have been a pipe dream.
But now, Lin Mo not only possessed his memories of his previous life, but also held an SSS-rank talent unique across the entire game.
"Fifty million in three months should be doable!"
"I'll start with the hundred-thousand-yuan prize for first place in this leveling event!"
As he spoke,
Lin Mo looked around.
He discovered that the town was already packed with people.
He had to admit, choosing eight on a Friday evening to launch the servers was a shrewd move by the devs!
They'd snagged students and working adults alike!
At that moment, almost every NPC who offered quests was surrounded by a crushing crowd.
Voices rose one after another.
"Bro behind me, put your beginner sword away! It's poking my ass!"
"Stop pushing! You're crushing my D cups into A cups!"
"Shit! I was just passing by! Who the fuck shoved me in here? Let me out!!"
From the looks of it, getting a quest would be all but impossible.
But that was no obstacle for Lin Mo!
He glanced around, scooped up some dog shit from the ground with a stick, then headed toward Auntie Li with the shit-smeared stick held high.
"Make way if you don't want shit on you!"
The players surrounding Auntie Li turned around and scrambled to get away from Lin Mo.
And so, Lin Mo easily picked up a quest from Auntie Li.
Then he swaggered away under the other players' scornful gazes.
[Recover the Eggs] (Normal quest): Difficulty rating: 10 Quest description: Weasels sneaking in from outside town keep stealing and eating Auntie Li's eggs. Head to the Lv1 Shrubland north of Cloudside Town, kill the weasels, and recover Auntie Li's missing eggs... Quest progress: 0/10 Quest rewards: Experience +50, copper coins +8, reputation +1, Auntie Li's affinity +1
Although this looked like an ordinary quest,
only Lin Mo knew:
"If I remember correctly, completing this quest ten times in a row-collecting a hundred eggs for Auntie Li-will trigger Cloudside Town's only hidden quest!"
Before you continue