"Liam, wake up. Twilight of the Gods launches at nine. If you keep sleeping, you’re going to miss the opening."
Twilight of the Gods?
Launch?
Liam’s eyes snapped open. He stared at his surroundings, a place that felt both hauntingly familiar and strangely distant.
"This is… Dream-Chaser Club?!"
"Wait!"
"Didn't I die? I was exploring the Relics of the Gods when that backstabbing bastard Vance set me up… I should be dead."
"What’s going on?"
Liam grabbed his phone. The date on the screen burned into his retinas: May 20, 2032.
"I’ve been reborn. I’m back ten years in the past, right when Twilight of the Gods is about to launch!!"
Seeing Liam’s explosive reaction, Barney immediately tried to comfort him.
"Take it easy. We’ll find a way to scrape the money together. Your sister is going to be fine, I promise."
Memories flooded back, sharpening into focus. Liam remembered this moment vividly. In his past life, his younger sister had been hit by a car. The impact had caused a severe brain hemorrhage.
The surgery cost 300,000 credits. The driver had fled the scene, and because the area lacked surveillance, the police never caught the culprit. The crushing weight of that medical bill had fallen entirely on Liam's shoulders.
Though his friends did everything they could to help, even with high-interest loans, they only managed to gather 260,000.
Liam had knelt in the hospital corridor, begging and pleading, but the hospital refused to operate over a 40,000-credit shortfall. In the end, his sister died on that hospital bed.
The image of her playful, smiling face flashed through his mind, and Liam’s fists clenched until his knuckles turned white.
"Don't worry," he whispered, his voice thick with resolve. "This time, I’m going to save you."
His gaze hardened. "I’ve been given a second chance. I will change our fate. I won't let the tragedy repeat itself."
Liam looked at Barney and forced a smile.
"Let’s get in the game. From now on, we write our own destiny."
Relieved to see Liam seemingly back to normal, Barney exhaled. "That's the spirit. Good luck."
As Liam settled into the Gaming Pod, his mind raced.
Twilight of the Gods. On the surface, it was marketed as a revolutionary virtual reality MMO, a "Second World" co-developed by over a hundred nations.
But Liam knew the truth. It wasn't built by any government. It was a project titled The Apotheosis Project, orchestrated by Galactic Prime using the power of The Primordials of Earth.
Its true purpose was to prepare humanity for The Cataclysm five years away.
In five years, The Alait System would invade the Milky Way. The Great War would begin.
Having lived through The Cataclysm, Liam understood better than anyone how vital it was to accumulate power within the game world.
"In my last life, I never even managed to awaken an Innate Talent before I died. This time, I’m going to see exactly what mine is."
He entered the character creation screen. A magnificent promotional cinematic began to play. It was an eight-hour epic that couldn't be fast-forwarded—players could only choose to watch it in its entirety or skip it.
In his previous life, almost no one watched the whole thing. Most players skipped it immediately, fearing that losing eight hours would put them too far behind the curve.
But Liam didn't skip. He knew a secret: the first person to watch the entire cinematic would be rewarded with a Divine Awakening Stone.
Innate Talents were a unique mechanic in Twilight of the Gods.
Everyone’s talent was different, categorized into ranks: Mortal, Mystic, Earth, Heavenly, Saintly, and Divine. To awaken one, a player needed an Awakening Stone.
In his past life, Liam had eventually obtained a Saintly Grade Awakening Stone, but his awakening had failed.
That failure proved only one thing: his latent talent was the extremely rare Divine Grade.
In his previous life, every player who possessed a Divine Grade Innate Talent became a legendary powerhouse who dominated the leaderboards.
This time, he would claim that power from the start.
Combined with his knowledge of the future, Liam was certain he could reach the apex and crush The Alait System when they arrived.
Time ticked by. Finally, the grueling eight hours concluded.
Ding! Congratulations! You are the first player to watch the entire Twilight of the Gods cinematic. Reward: Divine Awakening Stone +1.
Just as I thought.
A satisfied smile crossed Liam’s face. A moment later, he was transported to the character creation hall.
"Class: Archer. Name: Frost Monarch."
Liam didn't hesitate, choosing the same path he had walked before.
Ding! Class created. You are being transported to Novice Village #10086.
White light engulfed him.
Each Novice Village held ten thousand players. Considering his village number, it meant over a hundred million players had already logged in. The hype for the game was staggering.
Liam walked to a secluded corner of the village, pulled out the Divine Awakening Stone, and whispered, "Awaken."
Ding! Due to the extreme level of your Innate Talent, the Divine Awakening Stone can only awaken a portion of your potential.
Ding! You have awakened the Innate Talent: Hand of Heavenly Punishment.
Liam froze. What? Even a Divine Grade stone could only awaken a portion of it?
Stunned, he pulled up his talent description.
Hand of Heavenly Punishment (Transcendent Grade): 1 Star-Rank
Effect 1: Every Basic Attack deals True Damage equal to 1% of your Max HP.
Effect 2: Every Basic Attack permanently increases your Max HP by 1.
Mastery: 0/1,000.
(Note: HP stacks only apply when damaging living creatures.)
Liam stood rooted to the spot. Transcendent Grade?
In ten years of his past life, he had never even heard of a Transcendent Grade talent.
And the effects were broken.
Permanent HP growth!!
Once the shock subsided, he reflexively pulled up his attribute panel.
Name: Frost Monarch
Level: 1 (0/100)
Class: Archer
HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50
Attack: 9 | Magic Power: 5
Armor: 3 | Magic Resist: 1
Attack Velocity: 0.63 | Movement Speed: 3.1
Physical Pen: 0% | Magic Pen: 0%
Special Attributes: None
Free Attributes (AP): 0
Luck: Hidden
Innate Talent: Hand of Heavenly Punishment (Transcendent Grade)
Skill: Rapid Fire (1 Star-Rank)
Equipment: Novice Longbow
Without the talent, these stats were mediocre. But with Hand of Heavenly Punishment, his growth potential was terrifying.
"Time to grind."
Liam knew he had already lost precious hours.
Leaving the Novice Village, he found the surrounding fields crawling with Level 1 Crimson-Eye Rabbits.
Crimson-Eye Rabbit (Common): Level 1
HP: 90/90
Attack: 5
Skills: None
Their stats were basic. As long as a player wasn't completely incompetent, they could solo these easily.
Thwack!
Liam let fly an arrow.
-8.
At the same time, he saw his Max HP increase by 1.
This talent is god-tier.
Liam began a rhythm of hunting rabbits while stacking his health.
His current Attack Velocity was sluggish, firing roughly once every 1.5 seconds. For someone who had reached an Attack Velocity of 13.5 in his previous life, it felt agonizingly slow.
Ding! You have killed a Crimson-Eye Rabbit. EXP +1.
The rabbits were easy to kill, but the experience gain was pitiful. They almost exclusively dropped quest items like Crimson Eyes, with Copper Bits being a rare sight.
Liam, however, didn't care. His primary goal was stacking HP. As his health pool grew, so would his damage output.
Furthermore, he knew a hidden mechanic of the Novice Village. The standard quest required one hundred Crimson Eyes, but if a player submitted ten thousand instead, they would receive a special skill. That skill increased Basic Attack range, and at max level, it allegedly provided a 50% boost.
For a Mage or a Priest, it was a niche bonus. For an Archer like Liam? It was game-breaking.
With his HP scaling and that range bonus, his next phase of the plan would be unstoppable.
Ding! You have killed a Crimson-Eye Rabbit. EXP +1.
Ding! You have killed a Crimson-Eye Rabbit. EXP +1.
...
At his current rate, he could stack 2 HP every three seconds—roughly 40 HP per minute. Accounting for movement and respawn gaps, he averaged about 30 HP per minute.
Initially, it took twelve arrows to down a rabbit. Then ten. Then eight. Then five.
When he reached the five-hit threshold, a system notification chimed.
Ding! Your Innate Talent [Hand of Heavenly Punishment] has reached 2 Star-Rank.
Hand of Heavenly Punishment (Transcendent Grade): 2 Star-Rank
Effect 1: Every Basic Attack deals True Damage equal to 2% of your Max HP.
Effect 2: Every Basic Attack permanently increases your Max HP by 2.
Mastery: 0/100,000.
With the upgrade, Liam now only needed three arrows to kill a rabbit.
Because eight hours had passed since launch, most players had moved on to higher-level zones, leaving the Crimson-Eye Rabbits entirely to him. If anyone had been watching, they would have been horrified by his efficiency.
During the grind, Liam hit Level 2, earning five Attribute Points (AP). He dumped all of them into Attack Velocity, raising it from 0.63 to 0.73.
It was an improvement, but still a drop in the bucket.
"I need better gear and more AP," Liam mused, letting another arrow fly. It struck a rabbit in the distance.
-30.
His Basic Attack damage was already becoming respectable.
While killing them in three hits was faster, it meant he had to constantly switch targets, which slightly hampered his stacking speed. He went from thirty attacks per minute to about twenty, but since each hit now granted 2 HP, he was gaining 40 HP per minute—faster than before.
However, Liam hit a snag: Level 2 players gained no EXP from Level 1 mobs. In Twilight of the Gods, unless it was a boss or a special dungeon, hunting mobs below your level yielded zero experience.
Liam didn't hesitate. He stayed. The range-boosting skill was worth the temporary stall in leveling.
Two hours flew by.
Liam was still Level 2, but his HP had skyrocketed from the base 100 to 4,800.
It was a monstrous stat for this stage of the game. Even a Level 5 Warrior who put every single point into Vitality would only have around 500 HP.
In this game, stat scaling varied by class. For an Archer, 1 AP in Attack Velocity gave 0.02, while other classes only got 0.01. For a Warrior, 1 AP in Vitality gave 20 HP, while others only got 10.
Warriors excelled in HP and resistances. Archers focused on Damage, Attack Velocity, and Crit. Assassins focused on Damage, Speed, and Crit. Mages and Priests focused on Magic Power, Mana, and Speed.
But raw AP from leveling wasn't enough; true power came from gear.
Liam checked his bag. He had gathered about 1,600 Crimson Eyes. He was still far from the 10,000 goal, but since he could now one-shot the rabbits, the collection speed would accelerate.
Suddenly, a notification pinged. His external hardware was calling him.
He checked the time; he’d been in for over ten hours. Someone was likely calling him for dinner.
Stepping out of the Gaming Pod, he saw Barney looking ecstatic. "Liam! This game is unreal. It really feels like a Second World!"
The two walked toward the dining hall.
Dream-Chaser Club was one of the three major gaming organizations in Shoreline City. Liam and Barney were "Gold-Miners," the lowest tier of employees.
But for Barney, a job that provided food, housing, and a salary just for playing games was a dream come true.
About a dozen other Gold-Miners were already eating. Once everyone was present, a portly middle-aged man walked in, followed by a long-legged secretary in black stockings.
This was the General Manager of Dream-Chaser Club, Harvey Sterling.
Behind his back, everyone called him "Sterling the Blowhard." He had zero gaming talent but could talk for hours about nothing.
"The game launched today and you’ve all been in for ten hours," Harvey barked. "From left to right, report your level and gold earnings."
"Level 4, forty-five Copper Bits."
"Level 4, fifty-three Copper Bits."
"Level 4, thirty-two Copper Bits."
The reports were consistent; almost everyone was at Level 4.
When it was Barney’s turn, he grinned proudly. "Level 5 and two Silver Shillings."
Harvey Sterling looked up, actually surprised. He nodded curtly. "Not bad."
Liam kept his head down, focused on his food, until Barney nudged him. "Liam, you're up."
"Level 2," Liam said. "Fifteen Copper Bits."
The drop rate for Level 1 rabbits was abysmal. Even after killing over a thousand, he had barely scraped together a handful of coins.
Harvey Sterling slammed his hand onto the table.
"Liam! What the hell are you doing? Everyone else is Level 4 and you’re still Level 2?"
"I spent some time watching the promotional cinematic," Liam said honestly.
"The cinematic?"
"Do you have any idea how precious the early game is? And you spent it watching a movie?!"
Harvey’s face turned a deep shade of purple as he began to scream.
"Liam, this club doesn't keep dead weight. We don't need 'tourists' like you. Pack your shit and get out. You’re fired!"