July 1st, 2025. "Genesis," an online game developed through the joint efforts of hundreds of nations worldwide, launched its open beta. This event marked humanity's official entry into the virtual era.

As a product that transcended eras, the sudden emergence of "Genesis" captured global attention. Its pioneering use of full-dive holographic technology promised to usher humanity into a brand-new age. Furthermore, the economic system of "Genesis" would be directly linked to real-world currency!

This was the real reason "Genesis" commanded such widespread anticipation. Everyone understood that its impact on the current era would be nothing short of revolutionary.

National teams, financial conglomerates, professional players, and many others set their sights on "Genesis." Naturally, university students on the cutting edge of trends couldn't afford to miss this massive opportunity.

“Bro, whether we feast or starve, whether we get rich enough for VIP clubs and models—it's all up to you now!”

With two hours left, Jiang Bai closed his web browser and looked excitedly at the sleek black gaming cabin beside him. This baby had cost him a ten-thousand yuan microloan he'd taken out.

"My aspirations aren't high," Jiang Bai thought. "I'll just be a dedicated gold farmer. If I can make ten thousand a month, I'll be ecstatic!"

Before entering the game, Jiang Bai had set his goal: to be an honest, professional gold farmer. Based on his years of gaming experience, making a living shouldn't be too difficult given the massive market potential of "Genesis."

Filled with heroic ambition, two hours later, Jiang Bai climbed into the gaming cabin and slowly closed his eyes.

The real world gradually faded, replaced by a vast and magnificent scene. A beautiful voice then echoed in his mind.

“Welcome to the world of Genesis. You are the 16,803,233rd player. Please name your character!”

“Holy crap, that insane!?” Jiang Bai clicked his tongue inwardly. He thought he'd logged in the moment servers opened, but unexpectedly, so many players were even faster!

“Old Dream of Empty City!”

“Name successfully registered. Please select your class.”

Following the system prompt, a row of figures with different appearances and attire materialized before Jiang Bai.

Jiang Bai already knew these by heart. The basic classes in "Genesis" weren't overly fancy: Knight, Swordsman, Mage, Priest, Archer, and Assassin. Only these six were available at the initial character creation screen.

However, after entering the game proper, "Genesis" would evolve through system progression, revealing hundreds, even thousands, of different hidden classes. These mysterious hidden classes were what players truly yearned for.

Of course, discovering how to obtain these hidden classes was up to the players themselves.

“Archer!”

Jiang Bai didn't hesitate for a second. He thought Archers were cool—after all, it was the only class that could 'shoot'.

Class selection complete. After Jiang Bai finished adjusting miscellaneous settings like appearance and body type, a flash of white light enveloped him. The next second, he appeared in a densely packed beginner village.

“Huaxia Southeast Region Beginner Village #33856. Welcome, 'Old Dream of Empty City'.”

“Enjoy your game! 'Genesis' will randomly select lucky players worldwide 10 minutes after the server opens. Please remain online~”

The system's sweet voice faded. Jiang Bai felt a wave of suffocation—the beginner village was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, completely gridlocked. As far as the eye could see, there was an uncountable sea of bobbing heads.

“Select lucky players?”

Jiang Bai scoffed. Having been conditioned by years of playing games from certain 'Penguin' companies, he knew better than to trust even a single punctuation mark in such announcements.

Looking down at himself, 'barely clothed' was the only way to describe it. A ragged cloth shirt barely managed to cover the essential parts.

“Hey, brothers up front, make some space!”

“Stop f*cking pushing! I'm about to get squeezed to death here!”

“Dammit! Which bastard dared to grope your daddy's chest!? Open your damn eyes, Daddy's a dude!!!”

“…”

Jiang Bai had no mind to pay attention to the flood of messages in the chatbox. Knowing that time was precious, especially since the early launch phase was crucial for building a foundation, he immediately opened his character status panel.

[Old Dream of Empty City]

Level: 1

Class: Archer

Race: Human

HP: 30 Growth Aptitude: ★★★

MP: 20 Growth Aptitude: ★★

P.ATK: 5 Growth Aptitude: ★★★★★

M.ATK: 1 Growth Aptitude: ★

Attack Power: 2 Growth Aptitude: ★★

Defense: 2 Growth Aptitude: ★★

Attributes:

Constitution (CON): 1 (Affects HP, Defense)

Spirit (SPR): 1 (Affects MP, MP Regen)

Strength (STR): 1 (Affects Attack Power, Crit Damage)

Intelligence (INT): 1 (Affects M.ATK)

Agility (AGI) (Primary): 1 (Affects P.ATK, Speed)

Jiang Bai stared at his unremarkable stats. There wasn't much to say.

In "Genesis," every player started with identical base attributes, all fixed at 1. The difference lay in the primary attribute determined by class. As an Archer, Jiang Bai's primary attribute was Agility, which boosted his Physical Attack. Strength boosted Attack Power. If he were a Warrior-type, Strength would be primary; if a Mage-type, Intelligence would be primary.

The key factor was Growth Aptitude, which acted as a multiplier converting attribute points into panel stats. Although every player began with a total of 15 stars for Growth Aptitude, the distribution varied by class, representing different growth coefficients.

Jiang Bai's Physical Attack Growth Aptitude was five stars, meaning 1 point of Agility provided 5 points of P.ATK. His Attack Power Aptitude was two stars, so 1 point of Strength provided 2 points of Attack Power. For a Mage, Intelligence would be the primary attribute determining their Magical Attack.

The total 15-star Growth Aptitude in "Genesis" wasn't permanently fixed. When a player advanced from a basic class to a corresponding hidden class, their Growth Aptitude would change based on the new class, and the total star count could even exceed the 15-star limit.

After reviewing his stats, Jiang Bai checked his equipment slots. He currently wore only two extremely basic items.

[Crude Novice Longbow] (Crude)

Attack: +1

Required Level: 1

[Crude Novice Cloth Armor] (Crude)

Defense: +1

Required Level: 1

This pitiful level of equipment was entirely expected.

"Genesis" had nine equipment quality tiers: Crude, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Ancient, Legendary, Saint, and Mythical. Rumor had it there were even more powerful tiers beyond Mythical, but nothing official had been released, so the truth of this remained unverified.

After thoroughly reviewing his character panel, Jiang Bai sighed.

“Great. The lucky one wasn't me.”

Rumors circulating on the official forums claimed that each game account had an extremely low chance of generating an exclusive Talent upon entering the game.

Just how low this probability was, and what these Talents entailed, remained unknown. Clearly, however, Jiang Bai hadn't triggered this feature.

Most people were skeptical about these claims, and Jiang Bai wasn't much of a believer either. But soon, the World Chat interface confirmed the rumors.

DesperateToRideSis: "HOLY FCK!!! Bros, do you guys have Talents? I actually got an exclusive Talent! Permanent +3% damage to monsters! Ahahaha!!! A Tier 3 Talent! I'm gonna be rich! Li Qingqing, you looked down on me? In the future, I'll have everything! Even if you come back begging to eat my sht, I won't give you the time of day!!!"

MrEverywhere: "My god, are exclusive Talents real? Seriously envious! Big Bro, which starting zone are you in? Let me be your underling."

Storm Messenger: "Wonder if 'Genesis' accounts can be bought? If so, my Storm Guild is buying Talent accounts server-wide! Minimum 100,000 cash for Tier 3 Talents, better Talents mean better prices!!"

SisInLawDontDoThat: "For real? I got a Tier 2 Talent, permanent +5% monster drop rate. Can any big shots estimate how much this is worth?"

DontTurnOnLightItsBro: "@Above, 100 bucks. Let's be friends."

NursingHomeNightRaid: "All you guys with Talents, stop dreaming. Focus on developing your accounts. 'Genesis' accounts are DNA-bound with unique IDs; they can't be sold. Seriously, don't you guys have any ambition? You're the chosen ones, shouldn't you focus on leveling up? What's a measly hundred thousand?"

ProSewerCleaner20Yrs: "Heh, also got a Tier 2 Talent. Won't say what it does. Like-minded brothers can add me as a friend, let's develop together."

“Dammit…”

Jiang Bai cursed under his breath and closed the World Chat channel.

Sure enough, everyone gets jealous. Jiang Bai was no exception.

He didn't even get the lowest Tier 3 Talent.

But thinking about it, such low-probability events were indeed rare.

Rumor had it that even the lowest Tier 3 Talents had a 1-in-10,000 chance, let alone Tier 2, Tier 1, or the fabled top-tier Talents.

“Whatever. I'll just focus on my own business, farm my gold diligently.”

Although slightly disappointed, Jiang Bai wasn't discouraged. As the saying goes, 'the clumsy bird flies early.' Since he missed the initial advantage, he just had to work harder.

He needed to use this early server time to quickly understand the game. Wallowing in what-ifs wasn't Jiang Bai's style.

“I heard the equipment drop rates in 'Genesis' are extremely low?”

After equipping the two novice items, Jiang Bai scratched his head. "I wonder what exactly the officials mean by 'extremely low'?"

“But if drop rates are low, then equipment should obviously be quite valuable.”

With everything seemingly ready, Jiang Bai prepared to step out of the beginner village and show his skills, only to be scared sh*tless by the sight before him.