As evening fell, Shen Xing took the subway back to his rented apartment.
So much had happened today that he felt disconnected from reality.
First, that unbelievably realistic game had appeared, followed by the awakening of his hidden Talent, [Sacrificial Evolution].
Then, he’d used an ability from the game in the real world, followed by Lu Xiang’s tragic death and Zhou Zheng’s appearance.
One unbelievable event after another had battered him, completely shattering the worldview he’d held for years.
In the group chat, the other two had also returned home in a daze.
Coriander: "I’m sorry, Shen Xing, Jiayi. I’m the one who dragged you into this."
Qin Lang was wracked with guilt. He was the one who had gotten the glasses, roping all three of them into this and causing Lu Xiang’s death.
I Eat and Eat: "Don’t say that. You couldn’t have known it would turn out like this."
Shen Xing also sent a message: "Don’t blame yourself too much. What’s done is done. There’s no point in dwelling on it."
"What we need to do now is take this game seriously. After all, our lives are on the line."
The other two realized this as well.
They couldn’t treat this game casually like they had before. Instead, they had to view it as their most serious challenge.
After closing the group chat, Shen Xing put down his phone and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.
’From the looks of it, they don’t seem to know about Talents. That means I’m the only one who activated a hidden Talent.’
’This is my advantage, and it’s what I have to rely on to survive in this game.’
’What I need to do next is capitalize on this Talent’s strengths and continuously build up my Power.’
Shen Xing put down his phone, put the glasses back on, and entered *Mist Reincarnation*.
The scene flashed, and he reappeared in the center of the dilapidated little village.
There were low-slung black houses, a roaring Campfire, and a row of simple-looking green-skins resting beside it.
The Beastmen who had sustained minor injuries in the previous battle had now recovered.
The Campfire seemed to have a healing Effect. As long as you were within the fire’s light, you would slowly recover health and stamina.
"Boss in... wheelchair... back... all... cleaned up..." the mohawked Beastman said, hurrying over to greet him.
Shen Xing nodded slightly and began to think about his next steps.
First, the game was extremely difficult. Lu Xiang getting wiped out in the first wave of attacks was a clear testament to that.
Even Qin Lang and Xu Jiayi had suffered some losses in the first battle.
Without his hidden Talent, [Sacrificial Evolution], he probably wouldn’t have fared much better. In fact, he might have been worse off.
But even so, he couldn’t let his guard down.
After all, Lu Xiang had been killed by an Elite Lost One that had suddenly barged in. This meant that the Fog was filled with more numerous and more dangerous threats.
He needed to increase his strength as quickly as possible to handle those crises.
’First, let’s take stock of the resources I have on hand.’
He pulled up his inventory screen, took a quick count, and looked over the item introductions.
[Soul Stone]*12
[Food]*109
[Vinar Silver Coins]*13
[Broken Soul]*11
...
These materials were all extremely important.
The first item, [Soul Stone], was the most crucial. Not only could it be used to upgrade buildings, but it could also be absorbed by Soldier Types to raise their Level.
[Food], needless to say, was the main resource for recruiting new Soldier Types, and it was also the Beastmen’s daily rations.
’These guys can really fucking eat. I was gone for just a few hours, and they ate 11 units of my Food.’
Shen Xing complained to himself and continued reading down the list.
Next, [Vinar Silver Coins] were special.
They were not only needed for upgrading buildings but also served as the universal currency in this game world, allowing him to purchase various treasures or equipment.
As for the last item.
[Broken Soul]
[Artifact Type: Synthesis Material.]
[Item Effect: 10 Broken Souls can be synthesized into one ’Dim Soul’, which has a chance to increase the star rating of a normal Soldier Type.]
...
’I see. Soul Stones raise Levels, and souls raise Potential. Simple enough.’
’But... early-game resources are extremely important. I can’t just allocate them blindly.’
’Whether to use them to upgrade buildings or to first increase the strength of my Soldier Types is something I need to consider.’
Shen Xing pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered that the middle-aged man named Zhou Zheng had said a text message would be sent to his phone.
It was the URL for Hua Country’s internal game forum, which contained a lot of guides.
Figuring things out by himself was nowhere near as fast as reading a guide.
After all, those guides were full of experience gained by Pioneers who had learned from their mistakes time and time again.
At this thought, Shen Xing immediately took off his glasses.
After pulling out his phone, he saw, just as expected, a text from an unknown number with an encrypted URL.
He clicked on it and found that he needed to verify and bind his identity before the forum content would become accessible.
Without much hesitation, he filled in his personal information directly.
After completing the process, the verification went through, and a clean, simple forum interface appeared.
Right then, a dense flood of posts was refreshing on the screen like a waterfall.
"Great news! I finally upgraded my Minotaur Camp to ’Boss★’! Now all my recruits are Minotaur Warrior Generals with the Earth-Shattering Strike Skill. It’s awesome!"
"Just dropped, a Purple Legion Treasure, [Funeral Bell for the Departed]! It can massively boost the strength of Undead units for a short time. Selling for 2.2 million!"
"Help! Has anyone run into a monster called an ’Omen Demon Ghost’? Its skill mechanics are so fucking disgusting, it wiped out an entire squadron of my spearmen!"
"Newbie here. I drew a One-Star Skeleton Soldier Camp. Can any of you veterans tell me if I’m screwed?"
...
’It’s this lively?’
Shen Xing stared at the constantly refreshing posts, thinking that Zhou Zheng was right. A lot of people had come into contact with this game.
If an internal forum for just Hua Country was this active, the number of Pioneers worldwide was probably even more astonishing.
However, they were all discussing high-level content, filled with terminology Shen Xing didn’t understand.
Just then, he noticed several fixed section categories at the top of the forum: [Newbie Section], [Monster Guides], [Real-World Commissions], [Trading Community], etc.
He clicked on the ’Newbie Section’ without hesitation.
A large batch of stickied and featured posts immediately appeared before him.
Titles like: *A Newbie’s Survival Guide—What to Do in the First Three Days*, *An Analysis of the Pros and Cons of Each Soldier Type Star Rating*, and *The Golden Rules of Resource Planning*.
’Nice. This is what I should be reading.’
Shen Xing first clicked on a post titled *A Detailed Explanation of Soldier Type Levels and Potential Divisions*.
From the post’s content, he got a general understanding of the power divisions in the Land of Mist.
In this game, the Level divisions for Soldier Types and Lords were the same.
Level 0-9 was Tier One, with no formal title, collectively known as the ’Apprenticeship’ stage.
Level 10-19 was Tier Two, known as the ’Extraordinary’ Level.
Starting from this stage, Lords could unlock truly extraordinary abilities, and Soldier Types would undergo a qualitative transformation.
Then came Tier Three Expert Level, Tier Four Master Level... and the legendary Tier Five Heroic Level.
’According to the forum, a Master Level powerhouse has the ability to fly, move through the earth, and destroy cities.’
’And a Heroic Level being... just how powerful would that be?’
Shen Xing’s heart pounded with excitement as he read, filled with a boundless yearning for the world of these powerful beings.
In addition, the post also detailed the star rating divisions for Soldier Types, which was their Potential Level.
Normal → Elite → Boss → Leader → Overlord, divided into a total of five star ratings.
Each of these ratings was further subdivided into three stars.
For example, Elite★, Elite★★, and Elite★★★. After maxing out, a unit could attempt to advance to the next star rating by absorbing souls.
The gap between each rating was enormous, and each advancement would also unlock different evolutionary paths.
’I see. So even the weakest starting Soldier Types can continuously evolve by increasing their Potential.’
’It’s just that some Soldier Types have a low Potential cap, and can only be promoted to Boss Level.’
’While other Soldier Types are born with a high cap, perhaps having Leader Level Potential from the start, and can even be promoted to Overlord Level later on.’
Shen Xing nodded thoughtfully, gaining a deeper understanding of the game’s Soldier Type development system.
Just then, he suddenly remembered that he was here to look for a guide on early-game resource allocation.
He quickly found what he was looking for among the stickied posts.
*A Must-Read for Newbies! Early-Game Resource Allocation and Planning.*
He clicked on it, and the post’s content was displayed.
A certified user named ’Family Hero’ wrote: "As everyone knows, this game’s combat is extremely difficult, and resource acquisition in the early game is limited."
"Therefore, we must make good use of every resource to ensure we maximize our gains."
This statement drew a great deal of agreement and commiseration from the other newbies, who had clearly all been taught a harsh lesson by the first wave of attacks.