XMTL

Chéng Yáng headed to the front of the convoy to meet the man stepping out of the truck: Lǐ Wànshān, the owner of the lumber mill. For him to personally oversee the delivery process showed just how greatly he valued the transaction.

When Lǐ Wànshān saw Chéng Yáng approaching he jumped down from the truck and surveyed his surroundings with a worried expression.

“Mr. Chéng why did you get the wood shipped way out here? It’s impossible to build anything right now, the foundation isn’t even flat yet!”

Chéng Yáng laughed, “Don’t worry Mr. Lǐ, in a few minutes this area will be as flat as the Sìchuān Basin.”

Lǐ Wànshān laughed with him. What a joke! Even though Phoenix Mountain wasn’t steep, it would still take tens of workers using heavy construction equipment at least a few weeks to flatten enough space for a house.

“Just unload the wood here by the side of the road, I’ll handle what happens next. Once you’re done I’ll trouble you for a ride back to the lumber mill to complete the payment.”

“Alright.” Lǐ Wànshān said with a sigh, “The customer knows what he wants.”

Lǐ Wànshān turned around and hollered at the muscular worker’s he’d brought with him to start unloading the cargo. The lumber was delivered in pallets of several dozens of boards, each of which required several people to move. The pallets were a lucky addition. Although the extra wood they provided wasn’t much, Chéng Yáng might be able to squeeze an extra unit of Wood or two out of them.

When Chéng Yáng returned to his friends, Yú Kǎi was trying to suppress a bitter grimace.

“Yángzǐ, please tell me that’s not what you spent our money on.”

“Sorry, but every cent went towards a down payment on that lumber.”

“Yángzǐ, if the apocalypse is really going to end, wouldn’t it be better to spend that money on food? Can you eat wood? Also, why’re we in the middle of nowhere? Surely there’s a better spot to try and survive.”

“You wouldn’t understand unless you saw it for yourself, so just wait and everything will become clear.”

Although he said that, Chéng Yáng was growing apprehensive.

If he was wrong… and the world didn’t end today… what then? Would he have to scramble to gather the money he owed Lǐ Wànshān? Or would Lǐ Wànshān just keep the deposit and take the lumber back? Either way he would have wasted his friends’ savings. Those worries were a heavy weight on Chéng Yáng’s shoulders.

Chéng Yáng threw those worries to the back of his mind. The world was definitely going to end. The existence of the Territory Altar proved that. If it didn’t happen today, he would just have to find a way to stall Lǐ Wànshān until it did.

— 4:50 PM —

Just ten minutes to go and Niú Bīng still hadn’t arrived.

Chéng Yáng pulled out his phone and gave Niú Bīng a call, but the response he got was disappointing. Niú Bīng had only left Xiāngyáng a few minutes ago! Chéng Yáng wanted to yell at his friend for not valuing his own life, but there was no way his friend understood the significance. All he could do was urge Niú Bīng to convince the taxi driver to speed.

Chéng Yáng’s heart felt heavy. It was nearly impossible for Niú Bīng to get to Phoenix Mountain in the eight minutes he had left!

“Kǎizǐ, Hàozǐ.” Chéng Yáng called out to his friends. “Whatever happens in the next few minutes, don’t panic and stay in this area for as long as possible. I’m going to go talk to Mr. Lǐ.”

Chéng Yáng darted towards the convoy of trucks before his friends could even respond.

“Mr. Lǐ, why don’t you let your employees sit down on the grass and rest a while? When doing physical labor, taking a break is necessary to ensure accidents don’t happen. They have just taken a long drive so let them smoke a cigarette or two. Here, it’s on me.”

Chéng Yáng pulled out his personal pack and handed it to the man.

“Oh?!”

Lǐ Wànshān looked up at the sky and smiled.

“Well, since its early I won’t turn down your hospitality. Everyone, come on down and rest for a few minutes.”

Watching the burly men jump off of the trucks one by one, a smile spread on Chéng Yáng’s face. As long as they weren’t by the trucks those men should be able to survive the earthquake easily. If they did, Chéng Yáng would be able to effortlessly recruit them. He didn’t want to see one of his future subordinates get hurt.

— 4:57 PM —

— 4:58 PM —

— 4:59 PM —

Time slipped by, second by second, but there was still no sign of Niú Bīng. He wasn’t going to make it.

Chéng Yáng nervously began to chew at his nails, which put Yú Kǎi and Liú Hào on edge as well. In stark comparison, Lǐ Wànshān’s group was happily relaxing in the afternoon sun. Occasionally they would look over in confusion at the stiff expressions on Chéng Yáng and his friends’ faces.

Suddenly a massive gale blew directly downwards, flattening the tall grass and causing trees to creak. Wind didn’t blow towards the ground naturally, so everyone looked up to find the source of the breeze. The originally blue sky had turned grey, almost as if the entire world had been covered with a layer of wool.

“What’s goi-” Lǐ Wànshān started to ask a question but was silenced by a sudden, violent rumbling of the ground beneath him

“It’s an earthquake!” One of the workers shouted, causing the others to panic.

“It’s finally here.” Chéng Yáng murmured with a serene expression.

Even though the world was ending for a second time there wasn’t even a hint of bitterness in his eyes.

“Yángzǐ! This can’t be… Is this what you told us about!?” Liú Hào shouted over the wind.

“This is just the beginning!” Chéng Yáng shouted back.

The intensity of the earthquake continuously increased, but thankfully the trees on Phoenix Mountain had deep roots preventing a rock slide. Even so several large branches were torn off by the wind and cut through the air like knives.

“Everyone stay put!” Chéng Yáng yelled seeing that Lǐ Wànshān’s workers were running for the trucks, “This clearing is safe but there’s no guarantee that you will live if you run off!”

Although it was hard to hear him over the howling of the wind Chéng Yáng’s message still faintly reached the worker’s ears.

Even after five minutes the ground continued to shake like a sieve forcing Chéng Yáng and the others to their knees. It was utterly terrifying for Lǐ Wànshān and others who hadn’t known anything beforehand. Even for Liú Hào and Yú Kǎi it was a horrific disaster.

As they watched a commercial jet fall out of the sky to the west of them several questions raced through their minds: How many buildings will be destroyed in Xiāngyáng? How many people will die? How long will it take to recover?

Chéng Yáng already knew the answers to those questions.

Right now Xiāngyáng would be in utter chaos right now. As powerful as humanity was, they were helpless when faced with a natural disaster of this scale.

Despite the earthquake’s severity, not a single building would have collapsed yet. It was a small act of mercy from the Gods, but it gave the vast majority of people a chance to survive. After ten minutes, every building in the world would simultaneously collapse, making the towering cities of humanity a relic of the past. The only thing left to mark their glory would be rubble and dust.

The real danger of being in a building would be the stampedes as everyone struggled to escape. Millions of people would flood out of skyscrapers around the world. Too scared to take the elevators, those huge crowds would flood the tiny halls of emergency stairwells like a tsunami.

Once they got out, people would stand in the streets desperately trying to call for help or their loved ones, only to find their phones had become paperweights.

What’s going on? They would wonder. How could an earthquake cause my phone to die?

If it was just their phone they might assume it was just out of battery, but since everyone’s they would find it very strange.

As the wind would continue to blow and the earth would continue to shake for what seemed like an eternity, every person, no matter how rich or powerful they were, would be filled with a feeling of helplessness. Even then, they wouldn’t realize the true horror of what was happening. They would believe it to be a simple natural disaster, and the only thing on their minds would be a desire to survive.

---

Everyone on Phoenix Mountain was lying face down in the ground. Even if they wanted to get up, they would just be thrown back down again. Or worse, the wind might pick them up and throw them into the river.

“Look! At the summit!” Lǐ Wànshān cried out, “What in the world is happening?!”

In front of everyone’s disbelieving eyes, Phoenix Mountain was sinking into the ground like a melting candle.

Aside from Chéng Yáng everyone present panicked.

“Shit! We’re going to get trapped in a sinkhole!” Yú Kǎi shouted, “Yángzǐ, I think we should run…”

Chéng Yáng shook his head firmly.

“We can’t leave! If we do there will be more problems. At the very least I can guarantee we won’t be sucked underground!”

Chéng Yáng’s friends trusted his words but how could the workers who didn’t know him place their lives in his hands? Several of them got up and ran as best they could towards the road.

“Come back here!” Lǐ Wànshān roared at the fleeing men. Sadly his voice wasn’t strong enough to be heard above the wind, and even if it had been, the workers were too panicked to listen to him.

While the workers were cowering on the road the ground underneath one of the trucks gave out causing it to flip over. Although they tried to run, two nearby workers weren’t able to escape and were crushed underneath it. Soon after they stopped moving altogether. Fear spread like a plague amongst the remaining workers after the sudden deaths, and no one dared to stay on the road any longer.

Ten minutes later the previously towering mountain was gone. Even Chéng Yáng who’d known it was going to happen was in awe. He hadn’t realized how imposing the scene would be in person.

After half an hour the earth stopped shaking and the gale turned into a gentle breeze. Just when people began to think that the tragedy was over a voice burst out from within their skulls, a voice even the deaf could hear.

“Lowly vermin of Earth! Your lethargy has angered the Gods! The universe is supposed to evolve through constant fighting! Although they are angry, through their infinite mercy they have seen fit to grant you the perfect environment to evolve.”

Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Yú Kǎi met Chéng Yáng’s eyes and held his gaze for a long time before helplessly nodding his head.

“Yángzǐ, there should be a bit over ten thousand dollars on this card. It’s the money I’ve saved up since I was a boy so try to leave me a little.”

Compared to Yú Kǎi who had rich parents, the other two had less than a thousand dollars between them. Even so, they gave it to Chéng Yáng without hesitation.

Chéng Yáng thanked them then left the dorm.

Niú Bīng smiled bitterly at the remaining two roommates.

“Do you think we should poke around and figure out what’s up?”

“Forget it.” Yú Kǎi said, “Chéng Yáng’s a reliable guy, we should trust him.”

They’d only been friends for a little over a year, but Chéng Yáng’s friends knew him well. He wouldn’t cheat them and if he did lose the money, he was stubborn enough to pay it back at any cost.

---

Chéng Yáng left the school and took a taxi to a lumber mill he’d found online. After a lengthy negotiation with the owner, he was able to place an order for 130,000 board feet of wood, which came out to about 300 Wood using the system’s measure of one cubic meter per unit.

The funds he had were used as a down payment with the promise that the remaining balance of $33,000 would be paid upon delivery, which Chéng Yáng had scheduled for 4:30 PM the next day at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. Although it was a tight deadline, the owner didn’t mind since the order volume was large. Chéng Yáng didn’t have the rest of the money, but that wouldn’t matter after the world ended.

It was 1:00 PM, twenty-eight hours before the apocalypse. Even though he knew it would happen, the calm atmosphere made it seem almost impossible that disaster was looming on the horizon.

---

That night, at 8:00 PM Chéng Yáng began cultivating. The method was simple, use the Core Skill of your Class long enough and eventually you would level up. Despite its simplicity, process was agonizingly slow without Soul Fragments.

Core Skills could only be used for four hours each day, but it reset at midnight, allowing Chéng Yáng to cultivate for six hours straight. He had to get up early, so he left some of his cultivation time for the day of the apocalypse.

Chéng Yáng’s experience bar was only a little over one percent full when he finally finished and went to bed. Despite only being a few hours, the sleep he got that night was the best he’d ever had.

---

Chéng Yáng arrived at the foot of Phoenix Mountain early the next morning. Although he’d hidden the statues yesterday, he was still a little worried that someone had discovered them. It wouldn’t be a huge problem, but he would prefer to have the area to himself today.

Luckily, the summit was just as deserted as the day before.

With the time he had left, Chéng Yáng decided to continue looking for the Instance Dungeon.

During his search, Chéng Yáng found something odd: a stone disk about a quarter meter in diameter and smooth to the touch. That alone would have been interesting since it clearly wasn’t naturally formed, but what got Chéng Yáng’s attention were the faint magical undulations it was emitting.

His high Ability Power Attribute enabled him to detect magic but far from being able to tell anything about the mana itself, so he had no idea what he’d found. There was nothing in his memories that was similar and it didn’t have a system pane. Even so, Chéng Yáng decided to take it with him since anything that emitted magic was bound to be useful.

Despite it weighing almost twenty pounds Chéng Yáng had no problem carrying it around for several hours while hiking. His strength was double that of the average human thanks to his Attack Damage attribute and as a Player his stamina was infinite.

By 3:00 PM he had given up. Although he hadn’t found the Instance Dungeon, Chéng Yáng hoped that the stone disk he’d found would be worth the time he’d spent searching.

---

While taking a trip to a nearby convenience store to buy some crackers, chocolate, and other calorie dense snacks, Chéng Yáng called Yú Kǎi and told him to bring the others out to Phoenix Mountain.

None of his roommates were from Xiāngyáng and hadn’t even heard of Phoenix Mountain before. Even though Yú Kǎi demanded Chéng Yáng tell him what he was doing out in the country, all Chéng Yáng said was that it was important they come as soon as possible.

Now all Chéng Yáng had to do was wait. He savored every moment of that peaceful mountain atmosphere while he still had the chance. In just over an hour it would be gone forever.

---

A little before 4:00 PM, Yú Kǎi’s car pulled over on the side of the road. Before it came to a complete stop, Liú Hào jumped out and ran over to Chéng Yáng.

“Yángzǐ, what the hell are you doing? Why do you look so morbid?” Liú Hào sat down next to Chéng Yáng on a cliff overlooking the river. “Don’t tell me you called us out here to watch you jump into a river.”

Chéng Yáng rolled his eyes.

“Seriously? Why would I drive four to five kilometers to find a river to drown in? There’s a one downtown.”

“Fine. Just tell me what you’re doing out here then?”

“Don’t worry about that for now. Where’s Niú Bīng, wasn’t he with you?”

Yú Kǎi heard the question as he got to the cliff and let out a perverted chuckle.

“Turns out that scoundrel’s been hooking up with a pretty girl these last couple days. They’re on a shopping date right now but Niú Bīng promised to get a ride over when they finished. He’ll probably get here in like, half an hour?”

Chéng Yáng bit his lip. Half an hour would cut it close. In order to avoid a tragedy he sent a text to Niú Bīng telling him to get to Phoenix Mountain by 4:50 PM at the very latest.

Niú Bīng responded with confusion but Chéng Yáng didn’t reply. If he didn’t explain things in person there was no way he would be able to convince him.

Chéng Yáng took a deep breath, then turned to face his friends.

“Hàozǐ, do you remember the question I asked you yesterday in class?”

“Sorry I don’t, you said a lot of stuff yesterday. What question?”

“I asked you what you thought would happen if the world became a video game.”

“Yeah, yeah. I remember now. Is that what this is all about?”

“Yep, and it’s not just a hypothetical. In a little under an hour, the world is going to end and an earthquake will destroy civilization. When it does the world will become like a video game and all of humanity will have to play it or die.”

A few seconds later Yú Kǎi silently squatted down and put his hand on Chéng Yáng’s forehead.

“Huh, no fever. This is a really lame prank to pull Yángzǐ.”

Chéng Yáng swatted Yú Kǎi’s hand away.

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me which is why I didn’t tell you until now. But, once the world ends, you’ll have no choice but to believe me. The reason I told you now was so you could give your families a chance to get somewhere safe before it happens.”

The icy calm on Chéng Yáng’s face scared his friends. Chéng Yáng clearly believed the world would end and what if he was right?

“Yángzǐ you can’t be serious? There’s no way that could happen.” Liú Hào asked, his question seeming more like a plea.

“I’ve said what I needed to. I won’t blame you if you don’t believe me, I wouldn’t. I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I said nothing and let your families die. You don’t have to say anything to them, but I hope you won’t have to live with regrets.”

Yú Kǎi watched as Chéng Yáng went back to enjoying the scenery around them. Since when had Chéng Yáng enjoyed being outside?

“Okay… I believe you.” Yú Kǎi said, “If you’re wrong we’ve wasted our families’ time, but if its true…”

Yú Kǎi hadn’t said anything but the other two understood the implications perfectly.

Liú Hào was still skeptical, but Yú Kǎi’s reasoning was solid. If Chéng Yáng was right, he would regret not warning his family for the rest of his life.

“Tell them to get as close to the center of their cities as possible. In a park or plaza if there’s one nearby. Say that they need to stay there, no matter what happens. If they can’t get there in time, they need to rush there as soon as possible afterwards.” Chéng Yáng said. “We’ll go there to save them, someday. I promise.”

Yú Kǎi and Liú Hào pulled out their phones to call their families. Relieved that they had taken his advice Chéng Yáng took out his own phone to warn a few distant relatives. One after another, they hung up, then sat in silence.

“Yángzǐ, I staked my character on this. If you’re joking, my dad’s never gonna let me live down the time I got tricked into believing the world was going to end.”

Yú Kǎi sat next to the other two on the cliff and stared up at the sky.

“I really hope you’re just messing with us Yángzǐ.”

They still didn’t truly believe Chéng Yáng, but it was impossible not to feel anxious when he was taking things so seriously.

“Why are you worrying so much?” Chéng Yáng asked, “There’s only twenty minutes left. Just wait and see.”

Five minutes later a caravan of twenty trucks filled with wood stopped by the side of Phoenix Mountain.

Chéng Yáng checked the time: 4:45 PM. That was a little after the agreed time, but better late than never.

“You guys stay here, I ordered some lumber and need to go pick it up.” Chéng Yáng whispered to his friends

At that moment Yú Kǎi suddenly understood why Chéng Yáng had borrowed so much money. There was enough wood on those trucks to build several houses and while he didn’t know the price of wood, that much of anything would cost tens of thousands of dollars. There was no way this was a prank. The Chéng Yáng he knew would never spend that much on a joke. Either he’d gone completely insane, or the world was really going to end.

Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Once the wait was over, Chéng Yáng became a Lord and was able to access the Settlement system pane.

---

Phoenix Village

Level: Low-Grade Village
Soul Fragments: 0

Unique Buildings

Knight Class Statue (Low-Grade)
Knights are durable front-line fighters with decent burst damage.

Mage Class Statue (Low-Grade)
Mages are all-rounders that excel in protracted battles.

Ranger Class Statue (Low-Grade)
Rangers are highly lethal ranged combatants with strong support capabilities.

Druid Class Statue (Low-Grade)
Druids are fast and versatile summoners with a wide array of tricks.

Available Buildings

Wall Segment (Low-Grade)
Ten meter long segment of a kilometer long circular wall centered on the Territory Altar with four gates and a watchtower every fifty meters.

Durability: 1000	Armor: 5
Cost: 1 Wood

Cultivation Chamber (Low-Grade)
A single story building with furnished bedrooms and a central courtyard. The efficacy of Core Skills is increased by 13% when performed inside.

Durability: 500	Armor: 3
Cost: 10 Wood	Occupancy: 5

Attributes

Lord’s Innate Ability
Cultivation Chamber effects increased by 30%

Fast Soldiers
Grants an Innate Ability to registered Players that increases Movement Speed by 10%

Upgrade Conditions

• 100 Registered Players
• 4 Standard-Grade Class Statues
• 1000 Soul Fragments

---

The system pane was pretty spartan since there weren’t many management options for a new Settlement.

Aside from the Class Statues that came with the Settlement, Chéng Yáng had the ability to construct two other buildings: Wall Segments and Cultivation Chambers . The importance of each was obvious. Building them was his first priority as a Lord.

The Settlement’s Soul Fragment balance was also critical since that was the currency needed to perform Research and level up the Settlement. In fact, you needed to use Soul Fragments just to perform a Transcendence Ceremony! Luckily, that expense would be shouldered by the individuals becoming Players.

Only Lords could become a Player without spending Soul Fragments. Everyone else had to borrow from either an existing Player or a Safe Zone. A Transcendence Ceremony would cost ten Soul Fragments, and if you borrowed them from a Safe Zone you might end up paying double that amount in interest. Since Soul Fragments were a universal currency, until you payed back that debt you would be unable to use any facility managed by the system.

Settlements were also able to loan money to people. Lords had a lot of autonomy in this regard, they were able to set the interest rates, punishments for failure to repay, and whether a loan needed to be repaid at all.

Settlements had two main ways to increase their Soul Fragment balance. The first would be to ask people to donate the Soul Fragments they received from killing monsters but that function was only available for Standard-Grade Villages and higher. The other was to kill a monster within the Settlement’s borders. For Low-Grade Villages, the Settlement’s collection area covered slightly more than a square kilometer centered on the Territory Altar

Aside from the overview tab, the system pane had two other tabs. The first was a Citizens tab used to manage the permissions of registered players. The final tab managed the most important benefit of a Settlement: Divine Grace.

It sounded pretentious, but this was the ability that allowed a Lord to instantly level up. Since the village had just been constructed, Chéng Yáng had been granted a single usage of Divine Grace.

He didn’t need to be used right away. So long as he was below the level of Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice, he would be able to use the charge of Divine Grace granted by claiming a Settlement.

Despite that, Chéng Yáng choose to prioritize the short term boost in strength rather than try to maximize the effectiveness of Divine Grace.

After using Divine Grace, a pillar of holy light shot down from the heavens onto him. Multiple messages flashed in front of his eyes, as Chéng Yáng’s body filled with power.

---

Chéng Yáng

Phoenix Village Lord
Class: Mage
Level: Low-Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age	19	Life Span	150
Health	20	Mana	80
Attack Damage	2	Ability Power	13
Attack Resistance	2	Magic Resistance	2
Attack Speed	2	Movement Speed	2.2

Innate Abilities

• Ability Power is increased by 30%
• Increase the effects of Cultivation Chambers in your Settlement by 30%
• Movement speed is increased by 10%

Skills

Meditation (Core Skill)
Sit cross legged and focus your mind to recover and advance.

Magic Missile (Low-Grade)
Gather Mana into a condensed sphere, then fire it.

Damage: 13	Cost: 5 Mana
Range: 30 m	Cooldown: 2.95 sec

Equipment

Wooden Stave (One-Handed)
A casting focus which allows Mages to cast spells instantly.

Damage: 0.75	Cooldown: 1.48 sec
Range: 1 m

---

Chéng Yáng’s Attributes had doubled, a growth spurt which had taken him nearly over a month of grinding in his previous life. This drastic difference between levels meant it was impossible for someone to defeat a higher level opponent in a solo fight under normal circumstances. Even with a group, it was difficult.

That was exactly why the military suffered such heavy losses while fighting the extraordinarily powerful monster guarding the Phoenix Village Territory Altar. Although the military had the numbers advantage, their opponent was at the peak of the first stage of evolution whereas, except for a few elites at the Standard-Grade, all of their soldiers were still Low-Grade Apprentices.

Chéng Yáng had reached the same level as those nurtured elites the day before the apocalypse even happened. As long as he kept progressing while he was a step ahead, the gap between them would never close.

Chéng Yáng checked his phone; it was a little before noon. How should he spend his remaining time before the apocalypse?

One option would be to return to Xiāngyáng and purchase wood. He could wait until after the apocalypse to gather it himself, so it wasn’t urgent, but it would be far easier to do it now.

His other option would be to search for the nearby Instance Dungeon. There was no guarantee it had spawned yet, but if it had, it would be the only place where Chéng Yáng could farm monsters for Soul Fragments right now.

If he gathered enough, he would be able to pay for the Transcendence Ceremonies of Liú Hào and his other friends before the apocalypse. The problem was, he only had a vague idea of where to look. He’d known where to look for the Territory Altar thanks to rumors he’d heard in his previous life, but he only knew the general direction to take in order to find the Instance Dungeon and in this terrain he could look for hours and still not find it.

Chéng Yáng decided to try his luck, but after walking for three kilometers without seeing anything, Chéng Yáng was forced to give up. It seemed his luck had been exhausted for today. He resolved to try again after buying some wood, then did his best to hide the Class Statues and walked back down Phoenix Mountain.

While walking for a taxi, Chéng Yáng tried to think of a way to warn the world of the impending apocalypse. Without proof he would just be a raving madman at best, and at worst he would be charged with inciting unrest. If he used his Player abilities to prove it he’d probably be detained by the government, disrupting his plans for the future and endangering himself. It was a shame but he couldn’t save everyone, it was enough to protect the people he cared about. Everyone else would have to rely on their luck.

Chéng Yáng was an orphan so he didn’t have any family to speak of, but he cared deeply for his college friends. Although he had only spent a year with them, two if he counted his previous life, Chéng Yáng cherished the bond they had.

He wouldn’t be able to succeed on his own. He needed citizens for his Settlement and trusted subordinates to manage them. No matter how strong he was personally, some things needed a community to accomplish. So, he would save his precious friends and have them control the masses. Chéng Yáng vowed this to himself.

---

Once he got back to campus, Chéng Yáng ran into Liú Hào on his way back from the pickup game. The two chatted on the way back to their dorm.

Chéng Yáng walked in to see his friends Niú Bīng and Yú Kǎi playing video games. They were a year above him but they had decided to be roommates anyways.

“Hey, how much money do the three of you have?” Chéng Yáng asked before they could greet him.

His words stunned all of them, especially Liú Hào.

“Dude, whats going on?” Liú Hào asked, “Something was clearly bothering you during class this morning, talk to us.”

Niú Bīng and Yú Kǎi paused their game and swung around to look at Chéng Yáng with concerned expressions.

“I’m sorry but it’s really hard to explain.” Chéng Yáng said in a voice barely above a whisper, “But I need money. As much as possible and I was hoping you’d lend it to me.”

“Of course you can have the money, you’re like a brother to us,” Yú Kǎi said sincerely, “Tell us what happened though. Your worries are our worries.”

“I really can’t tell you right now, but I promise I’ll explain things tomorrow afternoon. You can wait that long right?”

Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Phoenix Mountain had relatively gentle slopes. The road went right down the mountain parallel to a stream. About a kilometer downstream was a city called Huìmín. With a population of ten thousand it was considered a big city in the Húběi Province.

When the driver left, Chéng Yáng tried to guess where the Territory Altar would be, then climbed up Phoenix Mountain.

No one lived on Phoenix Mountain, and aside from a trail leading to the summit, there were no other paths.

Relying on the memories from his past life, Chéng Yáng went to the summit and found a clearing with a radius of one or two hundred meters. He then began to search every square inch.

Ten minutes later, Chéng Yáng’s eyes flashed with excitement. A few meters away was a rocky outcropping the same color as the Territory Altars in his memories. The exposed part stuck out of the ground by about a quarter meter and was curved.

Chéng Yáng jogged over and ran his hand across the surface. The feeling it gave him was more than enough to convince him that he’d found what he was looking for: the Territory Altar!

The excitement Chéng Yáng felt couldn’t be described with words. If he could successfully use this Territory Altar to become a Lord, he would be able to change his fate!

After a while, Chéng Yáng was able to calm himself down. He quickly went over the procedure to claim a Territory Altar in his head and gently placed his right hand on the rock.

“In the name of Chéng Yáng, I claim this Territory Altar!” He declared.
A weak white light floated out of the stone and flew into Chéng Yáng’s body. At that instant, he felt a deep connection made between him and the Territory Altar.

At the same time faint curtains of lights could be seen on the ground about thirty meters away in the four cardinal directions around the Territory Altar. Each curtain of light solidified into a statue, surrounding Chéng Yáng.

Like the Territory Altar, the statues were mostly buried; only the heads could be seen. Just based on the size of the parts that were above ground, the statues were easily three meters tall.

“I did it…” Chéng Yáng murmured.

Looking at the familiar Class Statues, Chéng Yáng was filled with a dreamlike euphoria. After the earthquake, these same four statues would appear in the city center of Xiāngyáng and in other cities through the world.

Although they were mostly buried, Chéng Yáng remembered their appearances vividly: a bulky man staring at the ground covered in heavy armor while holding a sword and shield, a robed woman in a pointed hat holding a wooden stave topped with a gem, a lithe sharp-eyed man holding a bow and arrow, and an savage-looking woman with a tiger next to her that gave off a sense of ferocious power.

Chéng Yáng quickly collected himself and grabbed the hat of the robed statue that was poking out of the ground.

〈Would you like to become a Mage?〉

“Yes.” Chéng Yáng did not hesitate to start his Transcendence Ceremony once prompted. Mage was the Class that suited his Innate Ability best. It was also the Class he had in his previous life, so he was familiar with it’s mechanics.

Instantly a dazzling, multi-color pillar of light erupted out of Chéng Yáng, enveloping him. Several messages scrolled through Chéng Yáng’s mind before the light dissipated. When it did, he found a wooden stave in his right hand.

With a thought, a transparent screen appeared in front of Chéng Yáng. He’d become a Player once before and knew it was his system pane, a display only he could see.

---

Chéng Yáng

Phoenix Village Owner
Class: Mage
Level: Low-Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age	19	Life Span	110
Health	10	Mana	40
Attack Damage	1	Ability Power	6.5
Attack Resistance	1	Magic Resistance	1
Attack Speed	1	Movement Speed	1.1

Innate Abilities

• Ability Power is increased by 30%
• Increase the effects of Cultivation Chambers in your Settlement by 30%
• Movement Speed is increased by 10%

Skills

Meditation (Core Skill)
Sit cross legged and focus your mind to recover and advance.

Magic Missile (Low-Grade)
Gather Mana into a condensed sphere, then fire it.

Damage: 6.5	Cost: 5 Mana
Range: 30 m	Cooldown: 3 sec

Equipment

Wooden Stave (One-Handed)
A casting focus which allows Mages to cast spells instantly.

Damage: 0.75	Cooldown: 1.5 sec
Range: 1 m

---

Aside from his Innate Abilities, the rest of his stats would be identical to every other Low-Grade Apprentice Mage from Attributes to Skills to Equipment. Everyone started at the same point. The only way to become more powerful was hard work.

The only surprising thing on his system pane was his Innate Ability. It was S-Rank! What a massive difference in talent!

He’d only expected a ten percent Ability Power bonus; why was it suddenly triple what he remembered? Chéng Yáng thought about it for a long time but couldn’t find a solution. Perhaps it was a side effect of his regression?

Moreover, Chéng Yáng was confused by his Title. Phoenix Village Owner? Why doesn’t it say Phoenix Village Lord? He scrolled through the system messages and at the top was a notification informing him that he needed to survive one hour before he could receive the title of Lord.

In his previous life, the Phoenix Village Territory Altar hadn’t been discovered until two months after the apocalypse. At that time an Elite High-Grade Immature monster had been guarding it so people avoided the area. By the time the military realized the value of the Territory Altar, the monster had leveled up to become an Elite Pinnacle-Grade Immature monster, forcing them to sacrifice dozens of soldiers in an extended campaign before they were able to secure the Settlement.

Chéng Yáng had used the Class Statues in the Xiāngyáng Safe Zone to become a Player in his previous life, and hadn’t moved to Phoenix Village until after it had been captured by the military. Unlike the Settlements, humans couldn’t rule over the Safe Zone as a Lord, so Chéng Yáng wasn’t totally familiar with the intricacies of becoming a Lord and hadn’t heard about the waiting period.

Most people would become a Player in the Safe Zone of the city closest to them since monsters wouldn’t be able to enter. You might think the populations of Settlements would be lower than in the Safe Zones since Settlements could be attacked, but that wasn’t the case. Although Safe Zones were free of monsters, they only provided people with the most basic facilities. Settlements provided a wide range of benefits to those living in them.

The third Innate Ability Chéng Yáng had, which increased his Movement Speed, was one such benefit. Some Settlements gave their Players an extra Innate Ability that scaled with the level of the Settlement. If Liú Hào registered himself at the Phoenix Village Settlement, and stacked the Movement Speed buff with his own, the number of people able to match his speed would be few and far between.

Another benefit was that the Lord of a Settlement could complete Research using the Class Statues that provided permanent buffs to the Attributes of registered Players. The only downside was that the number of Player’s that could register with a Settlement was limited.

For Lords there were even greater benefits. Every time the Settlement’s level was raised, the Lord would be able to level up as well. This allowed them to skip weeks or even months of grinding at higher levels. This benefit was how Chéng Yáng planned to solidify the advantage of his regression.

Other than the one here, there were three other Territory Altars in the area surrounding Xiāngyáng. The reason Chéng Yáng choose to use this one to become a Lord, aside from being unsure of the exact location of the others, was because the Phoenix Mountain Territory Altar was the only one that provided an extra Innate Ability. There was an Instance Dungeon nearby that would be vital to his Settlement’s development in the future.

After becoming a Player, Chéng Yáng walked back to the Territory Altar and tried to access its system pane to no avail. It seemed he would have to wait until after he became a Lord to start managing his Settlement.

Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Chéng Yáng stood in a daze, as if he couldn’t see the sea of flying monsters that filled the sky above him.

He watched countless others struggle under the assault of those demonic birds as a talon the size of a tire crushed his head.

---

“Where am I?” The scene flooding his vision shocked Chéng Yáng.

Almost two dozen students sparsely filled a lecture hall, most sleeping on their desks. The teacher at the podium continued to lecture as if he hadn’t noticed. He was just reading from the textbook so it didn’t matter.

That’s right! This was one of his freshman college classes. The teacher didn’t take attendance so hardly anyone showed up.

Sincere shock and surprise flashed through Chéng Yáng’s eyes at the nostalgic scene of a peaceful classroom. He’d been given a second chance! He no longer had to suffer in that bloody survival game!

Maybe that was all just a dream? Chéng Yáng thought, trying to comfort himself.

Even so, a sense of unease filled him. In his memories, when the world ended, it happened without warning on a tranquil day like this.

On that day, without any prior indication, a massive earthquake had utterly destroyed civilization, ushering in the apocalypse.

Chéng Yáng scrambled to pull out his phone to check the date: 9:32 AM, April 12th 20XX.

Chéng Yáng’s body started to tremble, and a layer of cold sweat formed on his back. The earthquake had stuck on April 13th at 5:00 PM. If it hadn’t been a dream, that meant there was only a little over thirty-one hours left until the end of the world.

Would the apocalypse still happen? The dissonance between his current situation and the hell he’d escaped made it hard for Chéng Yáng to tell if his experiences were really memories or just a dream.

“Yángzǐ, what’s going on man?”

Liú Hào put down the mobile game he was playing when he noticed Chéng Yáng trembling. His chubby cheeks made him look like an adorable panda.

Chéng Yáng jolted upon hearing Liú Hào’s voice, and turned to take a look at his friend. The man who’d sacrificed both his arm’s to save his life was sitting right next to him without a single scratch. At that moment, Chéng Yáng’s nose crinkled with sorrow and guilt.

“It’s nothing.” Chéng Yáng replied in a low voice, “I was just daydreaming.”

If he told anyone about his previous life before he had proof they would just think he went insane.

Liú Hào shot him a suspicious glance but didn’t press the issue, instead returning to the game on his phone.

“We have a pickup game at noon but if you’re not feeling well don’t worry about it. We can still play even if you’re not there.”

Chéng Yáng’s stomach dropped, and the panic he felt became more and more obvious. He remembered playing that pickup game the day before the world ended.

“Dude, seriously, what’s up?” Liú Hào asked with concern upon seeing Chéng Yáng’s pale face. “Is this about that girl? Did you get rejected?”

Chéng Yáng shook his head.

“Hàozǐ, what do you think it would be like if the world turned into an RPG game?”

Liú Hào paused his game to give Chéng Yáng and incredulous look.

“Did you hit your head or something? You spend a lot of time gaming but you’re not so obsessed that you actually think that would happen right?”

Chéng Yáng sighed deeply.

“Just answer the question.”

“As far as we’re concerned, wouldn’t that be a good thing? Getting to spend every day fighting monsters, doing raids, and grinding out levels. Wouldn’t that be great?”

After saying that, Liú Hào went back to his game, leaving Chéng Yáng deep in thought. He could tell his friend genuinely yearned for such a world. Truly the ignorant are fearless.

There was no way it was just a dream, and even if there was only a sliver of a chance the world would end tomorrow, how could he waste this second chance he was given? Chéng Yáng had spent over a year in that hellish world. It wasn’t long, but nothing could be more precious than knowledge of the future.

Although Liú Hào thought that real life becoming like a video game would be fun, the reality was far from enjoyable. Unlike in a game, any damage you took were real injuries and there was no revival mechanic. Death was permanent.

Would anyone enjoy a game you could only play once? Obviously not. But no one would have a choice. They would all be forced to play.

They would have to dance on the edge of a blade every day. The lucky few would become Players but even then it was a constant struggle to level up fast enough…

Thinking of that, Chéng Yáng glanced at Liú Hào. In his memories, when Liú Hào had become a Player, he’d gotten a godly Innate Ability: Increase the Movement Speed and Attack Speed Attributes by 30%.

After the world was gamified, humans would be able to unlock their hidden potential during a Transcendence Ceremony and obtain an Innate Ability. These Innate Abilities were ranked by how much they increased a Player’s Attributes.

The worst talent was F-Rank which only provided a ten percent increase to a single Attribute. Every tier above F-Rank would increase that bonus by an additional ten percent with a maximum increase of thirty percent in a single Attribute. The highest talent was S-Rank which increased two Attributes by thirty percent for a total of sixty percent!

However, not all high rank Innate Abilities are equal. Without good synergy between the two attributes, an S-Rank talent might only be as good as a C-Rank one. For example, if an Innate Ability that increased both Attack Damage and Ability Power Attributes but the Player’s class only used one of those, although the total increase was sixty percent, they wouldn’t be able to fully utilize it.

High rank Innate Abilities with strong synergy like Liú Hào’s were called Divine Talents. They could turn someone like Liú Hào from a lethargic student into a speedy assassin.

Even so, in Chéng Yáng’s memories, Liú Hào had gotten his arms torn off while saving him from a monster. Although Liú Hào had survived, he’d become a cripple. Chéng Yáng had always felt guilty about that.

Chéng Yáng was an ordinary student before the apocalypse. There was no way for him to fight against his fate and he’d remained at the bottom of the new society which formed after the apocalypse. Then, after a year, he lost his life.

Although he didn’t know why he’d been given a second chance, it didn’t matter. It was enough that he had it. In this life he would be able to repay Liú Hào’s sacrifice and change his fate!

After the apocalypse, most people yearned to become a Player, but those with true power, were Lords. In addition to being Players, they owned Settlements, allowing them to control the life and death of countless others.

In his past life, it wasn’t that Chéng Yáng’s Innate Ability was trash, he just hadn’t gotten the chance to showcase it because he hadn’t been a Lord: Increase Ability Power by ten percent and increase the effectiveness of Cultivation Chambers in your Settlement by thirty percent.

It wasn’t S-Tier, but only one in ten people had B-Rank talent or higher.

Moreover, Innate Abilities that affected a Settlement were exceedingly rare, and the highest bonus he’d heard of was only twenty percent! Thus, even though he only had a B-Rank talent, Chéng Yáng had considered himself just as special as someone with an S-Rank talent! Every other person Chéng Yáng had heard about with an Innate Ability like his either became a Lord or had been killed by one, so he didn’t dare mention it to anyone lest he be viewed as a threat.

As a result, Chéng Yáng was considered F-Rank trash, but this time he vowed to be someone important, and the best way to achieve that goal would be using his memories of the future to get a head start!

Suddenly Chéng Yáng had an idea. He hurriedly took out his phone to check the news.

“……found in the outskirts of Harbin, scientists have been unable to determine the composition of the rock even after a week of study……”

That snippet was from a news article about a strange rock. A few pictures were included of a cylindrical stone monolith about three meters tall with a rough, dark grey surface.

When he saw the pictures, Chéng Yáng was ecstatic! This was exactly what he was looking for, the key to becoming a Lord: a Territory Altar.

In his memories, people had claimed that the gamification of the world hadn’t happened all at once but over time. No one could prove it either way, but now Chéng Yáng knew they were right. The Territory Altar he’d found was proof!

Right now no one knew what the stone would be used for and the leading theory was that it appeared after a natural phenomenon similar to a sinkhole. The only problem was that sinkholes cause the ground to sink, not protrude. Its usage wouldn’t be discovered until two months after the apocalypse when the first Lord appeared.

A Territory Altar wouldn’t just appear outside Harbin but across the country and all over the world. Most of the Territory Altars were currently buried underground, but after the earthquake, they would rise to the surface.

Chéng Yáng wouldn’t be able to reach the Territory Altar in Harbin but he remembered that there was a Territory Altar in Fènghuáng just five kilometers south of Xiāngyáng where he lived. In his previous life, a member of the Xiāngyáng military forces had become a Lord using that Territory Altar three months after the apocalypse.

He’d heard a man in his previous life boasting that he’d seen the Territory Altar there before the world ended but hadn’t realized what it was since everything but a small corner had been buried. Chéng Yáng hadn’t believed him at the time but the man had sounded regretful enough that Chéng Yáng was willing to take a chance in searching for it. He wasn’t sure if he could become a Lord before the earthquake but Chéng Yáng was determined to try. In this life he would become a Lord and rule over the masses.

After class, Chéng Yáng told Liú Hào he needed to rest and took a taxi to Fènghuáng.

If he hadn’t known the world was ending tomorrow, the $10 fare would have dissuaded Chéng Yáng from making the trip, but right now he didn’t care. Soon money would be worth less than toilet paper.

When the taxi arrived at the destination, it stopped at the side of the road.

Xiāngyáng was surrounded by hills and Fènghuáng was no exception. However, the Fènghuáng in Chéng Yáng’s memories had been a flat plain. Chéng Yáng shuddered at the thought of the earthquake that would level these hills and flatten the terrain the next day.

Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter