Jiang Yun held what he thought was a "motorcycle helmet" and turned lightly, floating back into his simple thatched hut.
As for those so-called massive Heaven and Earth Bank notes on the ground, they were nothing but a pile of waste paper, not even worth a ghost's glance!
Once inside, he set down the helmet and examined it for a while, feeling that it seemed somewhat different from the motorcycle helmets in his memory.
Putting aside these doubts for now, Jiang Yun decided to first figure out the wishes of his descendants in the mortal world.
After all, if you want to receive more incense offerings and joss paper from the living, you have to do something to make them feel that worshipping their ancestors is worthwhile.
After pondering for a moment, he resolutely bit his fingertip, releasing a wisp of ghostly energy from within and letting it merge into the helmet before him.
Although doing so would consume some of his limited ghostly energy, thereby affecting his strength, for Jiang Yun, who currently only possessed the power of a Lesser Ghost, this was the only way to glimpse the requests of his descendants.
Moments later, the image of a wretched descendant, whose features practically spelled out "misfortune," gradually appeared before him.
"Jiang Dabao, my fifth-generation descendant, the last remaining bloodline of the Jiang family."
"Heavens, this unfilial descendant is living such a miserable life! Middle-aged and unemployed, his wife left him, and he's saddled with a mountain of bad debt."
"Ridiculous! This bastard was so traumatized by his wife's departure that he developed impotence. If anything else happens to him, won't my Jiang family truly be extinct?"
Upon learning all this, Jiang Yun felt utterly disheartened, his brows furrowing so deeply they nearly reached the back of his ears.
Moreover, Jiang Yun observed that the features of this wretched Jiang Dabao were marked by the Five Misfortunes, an appearance of extreme bad luck.
In his heyday, he could have spent more in the underworld to find a way to help him.
But now, even if he wanted to assist, he was powerless!
This left Jiang Yun feeling incredibly anxious.
However, his gaze soon shifted back to that motorcycle—no, it was a gaming helmet.
"You wretched grandson, you ought to burn more yellow joss paper!
You send over a gaming helmet, do you expect your great-grandpa to play games in the underworld to help you?"
"What a useless and brainless fool!"
Floating restlessly in the thatched hut, Jiang Yun looked again at the gaming helmet.
"Why not give it a try, just in case?"
With no other options, Jiang Yun, feeling absurd and desperate, transformed into a wisp of smoke and drifted into the gaming helmet.
Meanwhile, outside the thatched hut, two wandering souls glanced enviously inside.
"That old ghost has occupied our hut for so long, and now that he has received incense offerings and joss paper from his descendants, he still refuses to leave."
"Because of him, we suffer the Three Calamities and Five Poisons of the underworld every now and then. Damn it, if he won't let us live peacefully, we won't let him either."
"Let's go and join Pockmarked Wang, the Ghost Chief, fifteen kilometers away. We'll tell him that the old ghost has received a lot of incense offerings and joss paper. Maybe we can get Pockmarked Wang to deal with him."
"Yes, let's find Pockmarked Wang and have him take care of him."
With that, the pair of wandering souls gave a sinister smile towards the hut and left together.
"Ding!"
"Welcome to the Mountains, Rivers, and Realms of Antiquity game!"
"The system has detected that you are not a human being and cannot play the game normally. The game is currently undergoing automatic updates and upgrades, please wait..."
What the heck!
This old ghost, dead for over a hundred years, could actually enter a human game through the gaming helmet burned by his descendant Jiang Dabao?
At this moment, Jiang Yun, as a ghost, was extremely shocked.
Moreover, he was astonished to find himself in an unrealistically beautiful world, a fairyland.
Every flower, grass, and tree here exuded a unique divinity and spiritual brilliance, far surpassing the environment of any Low-Grade Ghost Officer's mansion he had visited during his most glorious days as a ghost.
This was simply unbelievable, truly unbelievable!
Just as Jiang Yun was lost in his shock, the system's voice sounded again in his ear.
"The temporary system update and upgrade has concluded. Due to special circumstances, the Wandering Soul game channel has been opened early."
"As the first Wandering Soul player to enter the Mountains, Rivers, and Realms, the system will grant you 10 Talent Reroll Tickets, which will be delivered to your personal inventory after you officially enter the game."
"Now, please create a game character for yourself."
"Due to time constraints, the game currently offers only two classes for Wandering Soul players: Ghost Warrior and Ghost Mage."
When Jiang Yun was alive, the gaming industry on the Blue Planet was already quite developed.
However, it was still limited to PC and mobile games at that time.
Who would have thought that over a hundred years later, humans could develop virtual mythological online games like those in novels?
And even more astonishing, a ghost like him could play!
So Jiang Yun understood the system's mention of Ghost Warrior and Ghost Mage.
It was simply a choice between a physical and a magical class!
As the first Wandering Soul player in this game, the system even gave him ten extra Talent Reroll Tickets, which was a nice perk.
When Jiang Yun was alive, he preferred playing magical classes in games, and now as a ghost, he decided to stick with being a mage.
Thus, Jiang Yun chose the Ghost Mage class.
"You have successfully chosen the Ghost Mage class. Please select one of the five elemental attributes as your specialization: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, or Earth. You can only choose one."
As a ghost dwelling in the underground netherworld, he chose Earth.
"You have successfully specialized in the Earth attribute. Your comprehension of Earth attribute spells has increased by 10%, and their power has increased by 5%!"
"Please create a character name for yourself."
Naming?
Without thinking, Jiang Yun blurted out, "Grandpa Ghost."
Normally, this name would easily be taken, right?
But unexpectedly: "Character name Grandpa Ghost created successfully!"
Such a simple and unique name wasn't taken?
Jiang Yun was a bit surprised.
"All players in Mountains, Rivers, and Realms cannot alter their appearance and will enter the game with their original faces. You have completed character creation. Would you like to enter the game immediately?"
Jiang Yun chose yes.
In a flash of light, the next moment, Jiang Yun found himself in a map shrouded in gray mist and harsh conditions.
"You have been assigned to Guiming Starter Village No. 1, which currently has 1/10,000 players!"
"Special notice! The first player to reach level 10 and complete the first transition quest to leave Guiming Starter Village will receive a special reward."
"You have officially entered the game, and your special game benefits have been delivered to your personal inventory. Would you like to activate your personal talent now..."
Meanwhile, Jiang Yun's unfortunate descendant Jiang Dabao had also entered the game.
Compared to his great-grandpa Jiang Yun, who as a ghost enjoyed the resources of an entire starter village alone, Jiang Dabao had it much tougher.
Since the global open beta of Mountains, Rivers, and Realms, over a year had passed, and the number of online players had surpassed 2 billion, continuing to grow rapidly.
"You have been assigned to Starter Village No. 8484884, which has 10,000/10,000 players! Please quickly reach level 10 and complete the first transition quest to leave the starter village."
"Would you like to activate your personal game talent now?"
Jiang Dabao, with his pancake face, squinty eyes, standing about 1.81 meters tall and slightly thin, chose Archer as his class.
"Damn, 8484884, why does that sound like 'bad luck, bad luck, bad bad luck'?"
Jiang Dabao flipped the system the middle finger, then clasped his hands together in the game.
"Great-grandpa! I spent everything to burn joss paper and a helmet for you, please bless me."
"Bless me with an advanced game talent. If I can make a name for myself in this game, I promise to repair your grave and burn lots and lots of joss paper."
After a whispered prayer, Jiang Dabao began his talent awakening.
In the Mountains, Rivers, and Realms game, every player has one chance to awaken a game talent upon entering. Once awakened and chosen, it cannot be changed for life, unless one possesses the extremely rare Talent Reroll Ticket.
But this item is exceedingly rare, and money can't buy it!
It's said that during the initial open beta of Mountains, Rivers, and Realms, the first hundred players received the benefit of Talent Reroll Tickets, giving them multiple chances to redraw their talents.
However, Jiang Dabao clearly had no chance to enjoy such benefits.
With a flash of light, a black glow quickly enveloped Jiang Dabao, then slowly dissipated.
"Congratulations, player—Great-Grandpa, Carry Me, for awakening the Black Common Talent—(Lesser Hate Magnet)."
—(Lesser Hate Magnet)!
Black Common Talent!
(When activated, NPCs' aversion towards you: +10, wild monsters' aggro: +100, personal drop rate reduced by 3 times.)
(Do not be discouraged, if used wisely, you could become a monster-luring artifact for your team.)
In the game, talents are ranked as White (Basic), Black (Common), Cyan (Excellent), Blue (Perfect), Red (Peerless), Purple (Immortal), Orange (Divine), and Rainbow (Superdivine)!
Talents ranked Red or higher are unique.
Undoubtedly, the higher the talent, the greater the help in the game.
Seeing his Black Common Lesser Hate Magnet talent, Jiang Dabao was so angry he nearly spat blood.
In the end, his face turned liver-colored, and he angrily flipped the sky the middle finger: "System, damn you! What kind of crappy talent is this!"
Meanwhile, Jiang Yun was also awakening his talent.
Perhaps the Jiang family's luck was truly down, as Jiang Yun's first awakening resulted in a White Basic talent, with a Strength increase of 10 points!
Damn it!
Jiang Yun's mouth twitched; he chose the Ghost Mage class, and a talent that adds 10 points to Strength was useless!
Fortunately, as the first Wandering Soul player in the game, he had ten Talent Reroll Tickets in his inventory.
Jiang Yun took out the first ticket, ready to redraw.
"Congratulations, player—Grandpa Ghost, for awakening the White Basic Talent—(Constitution Plus Ten), do you confirm?"
Seeing this, Jiang Yun's mouth twitched again, and he continued with the second ticket.
"Congratulations, player—Grandpa Ghost, for awakening the White Basic Talent—(Agility Plus Ten)..."
With a face full of black lines, Jiang Yun continued drawing, using up eight tickets, with the best talent being Cyan Excellent.
It was a permanent buff that increased attack power by 3%!
Only two Talent Reroll Tickets remained.
But Jiang Yun was unwilling to settle for this.
What's there to fear? Fortune favors the bold, and as a ghost, why should I fear poor talents?
He used the ninth ticket without hesitation.
The next moment, suddenly, rainbow-colored light descended from the sky, with dragon and phoenix phenomena enveloping Jiang Yun, dispersing even the sky-covering gray mist of Guiming Starter Village No. 1.
"Congratulations, player—Grandpa Ghost, for awakening the Rainbow Superdivine Talent—(Myriad Reset)!"