"Hey, Grandma. I'm on vacation with my teammates right now... A matchmaking meeting? Let's shelve that for now... Yes, I did agree before, but everyone else is out having fun, and if I'm the only one who goes home, doesn't that make me the odd one out? Let's leave it at that. They're calling for me. I'm hanging up."
After fobbing her off with a few short lines, Ji Zhao hung up the phone, wearing the expression of a man with a headache coming on.
"Haah... I don't know how much longer I can keep fending her off."
Ji Zhao slumped back into his chair, looking rather helpless. The vacation, of course, had been a lie.
He was a professional player who made his living in e-sports, twenty-five years old this year — and for an e-sports player, or for that matter for an unmarried young man who did not even have a girlfriend, that was a rather dangerous age.
Career-wise, Ji Zhao was not particularly worried. What he competed in was no ordinary e-sport, and at this age he was right in his prime.
As for marriage, however unhurried Ji Zhao was about it, his grandmother was exactly that hurried. The gap between their views had grown so wide that even when he wanted to talk it through properly, he no longer knew where to begin.
"Haah..."
Ji Zhao sighed and switched on his computer in passing. He was about to open his streaming software when he noticed a strange new icon on the desktop — a pixel-art mirror in an antique style, with four characters beneath it: Mirror of Illusion and Reality.
"What's this...?"
Ji Zhao was puzzled. This computer had only been assembled for him a few days ago; by rights there should have been nothing extraneous on it. The housekeeper knew her boundaries and would never have meddled with his computer either. So where had this baffling icon sprung from?
Curious, Ji Zhao meant to right-click the icon and look at its properties — but just then a large bird swept past outside the window, letting out a shriek so shrill it made his scalp prickle. Ji Zhao jolted in fright, his right-click became a left-click, and the icon opened.
In an instant an ink-wash painting of the yin-yang fish unfolded before him, with two options to the left and right: Start Game and Load Progress. There was nothing else at all — not even the game's name, not even an exit.
"A game?"
Ji Zhao, whose reflex had been to hit Alt+F4, froze. It was not as though he had never seen a game with a crude interface, but this crude, without so much as a title or an exit — that was a first.
"Let's see what you're hiding up your sleeve..."
His curiosity thoroughly hooked, he clicked Start Game.
The interface on the screen shattered, countless motes of light drifting out, and it finally re-formed into a pixel-art character creation screen. From top to bottom were three small options: 【Character Name】, 【Innate Attributes】, and 【Character Traits】.
Ji Zhao clicked 【Character Name】, and a small box unfolded below it. He casually typed in "End" — his ID as a professional player, one that had been with him for ten years. Whatever game he played, he was in the habit of using it as his name. But the moment he finished typing and hit Enter, the character name field turned red, and a line of small text popped up.
【"This name is not valid."】
"...?"
Ji Zhao blanked for half a second before he realized what the problem was: some games only allowed names in one particular language, and this was presumably one of them.
He tried entering his real name, Ji Zhao, and sure enough no strange prompt appeared — besides, using his real name was half a habit of his, as a public figure.
With the character name settled, Ji Zhao clicked 【Innate Attributes】, and several lines of text appeared below.
【Comprehension: 9】
【Constitution: 6】
"Comprehension, Constitution..." Ji Zhao seized on the keywords. "Looks like it's a wuxia game."
He went on to click the 【Character Traits】 behind it, and this time far more came up — enough to dazzle him. The whole thing divided into two large panels: the left one fairly bare, the right one a nine-square grid.
【Unique Trait: None】
(A trait that belongs to one individual alone and to no one else. Acquire it in the course of the game through special personal experiences.)
The Unique Trait on the left was simple enough; Ji Zhao skimmed it and moved on. The nine-square grid on the right, marked "Common Traits," was considerably more complicated.
【Selectable Common Traits: Comprehension, Constitution, Innate, Crush, Godspeed, Duel, Martial Might, Adversity, Peerless】
【Comprehension Lv1: Gain 3 additional points of Comprehension.】
(Raised through events such as sudden insight and enlightenment.)
【Constitution Lv1: Gain 3 additional points of Constitution.】
(Raised through events such as marrow cleansing and medicinal baths.)
【Innate Lv1: Maximum health and inner breath raised by 5%.】
(Raised through events such as comprehending profound internal arts.)
【Crush Lv1: When an enemy's Overall Rating is lower than yours, gain 1%–6% increased damage according to the size of the gap, along with damage reduction equal to half that amount.】
(Raised by defeating those whose Overall Rating is lower than yours quickly and efficiently.)
【Godspeed Lv1: The fill rate of your action bar is increased by 5%.】
(Raised through events such as training in lightness arts.)
【Duel Lv1: When both your party and the enemy's party consist of one person alone, or when every other combatant present can be fully subjected to "Crush" by you and by your primary enemy, all attributes are increased by 7%. Barring a special Unique Trait, this trait cannot be triggered at the same time as "Peerless."】
(Raised by taking on a powerful enemy in single combat and winning. If that battle is a fated duel charged with epic weight, the increase is greater still.)
【Martial Might Lv1: According to the difference in "Martial Might" level between you and your enemy, applies a corresponding "Attribute Suppression." The suppressed party cannot bring their full strength to bear.】
(Raised by winning great battles again and again in succession, accumulating prestige.)
【Adversity Lv1: For every 1% of health you lose, gain 0.1% increased damage along with damage reduction equal to half that amount.】
(Raised by fighting enemies stronger than yourself.)
【Peerless Lv1: Gain a 1%–9% increase to all attributes according to the number and strength of your enemies. Barring a special Unique Trait, this trait cannot be triggered at the same time as "Duel."】
(Raised by fighting many against one.)
【Barring a special Unique Trait, all attributes and damage modifiers granted by Common Traits stack additively.】
Below the nine-square grid were three more small empty slots. Ji Zhao tried clicking the 【Constitution】 in the grid, and it instantly teleported down into one of the small slots, while the Constitution square in the grid greyed out and could no longer be clicked.
"Looks like you can only take one level at the start. Leveling has to happen in-game."
Ji Zhao did not think it over for long. He picked Constitution, Comprehension, and Adversity at random, then clicked "Creation Complete" in the lower right corner.
A crude cutscene surfaced at once: a few scenes of war and ruin.
【From the second year of Xuande to the thirteenth year of Xuande, the Ning shattered Chu, campaigned against Feng, struck at Gu, and destroyed Zhao, turning in that short span from a tribe of savages into a great nation of ten thousand li.】
【In the second month of the fifteenth year of Xuande, the Ning marched south. In the ninth month of the following year, the city of Zhaoge fell. Qi Han — Emperor Who Models Heaven and Condenses the Dao, Enlightened in Benevolence, Radiant in Letters and Virtuous in Arms — fled south, and the Ning combed the mountains and dredged the seas, and confined Qi Han in the city of Wudu.】
【That same year, Qi Han's seventh son Qi Su ascended the throne at the designation of Empress Dowager Tianfu and changed the era name to Jianwu. He moved north to Fenglin, raised taxes in the southern lands to feed his armies, and oversaw the war against the Ning.】
【In the fifth year of Jianwu, the common folk of the southern lands groaned under the weight of taxation and could no longer make a living. Tang Cheng, the Duke of Sacred Might, gathered a host and rose in revolt, taking twenty-eight counties one after another...】
With the background exposition finished, the picture dimmed from bright to dark and went entirely black. Only after a second or two did it light up again. The visuals were extremely crude: every character sprite was pixel art, and the palette held nothing but black and white. To Ji Zhao it felt like an RPG from the last century.
A line of small black text appeared in the upper left corner.
【The twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, the fifth year of Jianwu. Qingzhou, Anchun County, the Ji household.】
So this was the present situation. Ji Zhao fixed his eyes on the screen. The picture showed a fairly spacious room with two people in it, a man and a woman, both pixel figures — he could just barely tell that both were young. The male figure lay on the bed, seemingly still asleep, while the woman sat at the bedside, head bowed over a book.