On July 1, 2025, the public beta test of the strategic-level online game Genesis, jointly developed by hundreds of countries around the world, began. This marked the official entry of humanity into the virtual age.
As a groundbreaking product, Genesis captured the attention of the entire world. It was the first game to employ holographic technology, which was sufficient to usher humanity into an entirely new era. Moreover, the economic system of Genesis would be linked to real-world currency!
This was the true reason why Genesis was the focus of so much attention. Everyone was well aware that the impact of Genesis on this era would be revolutionary.
National teams, financial magnates, professional players, and others all turned their gaze toward Genesis. Of course, as college students who were always at the forefront of trends, they naturally could not miss out on this huge opportunity.
"Bro, if we can make some money, the hot models at the club will be on us!"
With just two hours left, Jiang Bai closed the webpage and looked excitedly at the all-black game pod beside him. This was the game pod he had purchased with a loan of ten thousand yuan.
"I don't have high expectations. I just want to be a gold farmer and live comfortably, making ten thousand a month!"
Before entering the game, Jiang Bai had set a tone for himself. He decided to be a professional gold farmer, relying on his years of gaming experience. He believed that making a living in the vast market of Genesis should not be difficult.
With great enthusiasm, two hours later, Jiang Bai entered the game pod and slowly closed his eyes.
The real world gradually faded away, replaced by a grand and spectacular scene, followed by a beautiful voice that echoed in his mind.
"Welcome to the world of Genesis. You are the 168,013,233rd player. Please name your character!"
"Whoa, this is insane!?" Jiang Bai muttered to himself. He had entered the game as soon as it launched, yet he was surprised to find that over 100 million players had already joined before him!
"Empty City Old Dream!"
"Name successfully set. Please choose your profession."
As the system prompt sounded, a row of characters with various appearances and outfits appeared before Jiang Bai. He was already very familiar with these. The basic professions in Genesis were not fancy. The fundamental classes of Knight, Swordsman, Mage, Priest, Archer, and Assassin were available at the game's initial interface. Players could only choose from these five basic professions at the start.
However, once inside the game, Genesis would evolve into hundreds or even thousands of different hidden professions as the system progressed. These mysterious hidden professions were the most coveted.
Of course, obtaining these hidden professions required players to explore on their own.
Jiang Bai hesitated for a moment but still chose his initial decision, "Archer!"
After setting his profession, Jiang Bai adjusted his appearance, physique, and other miscellaneous settings. With a flash of white light, he appeared in the densely packed newbie village the next second.
"Welcome to the 33,856th Newbie Village in the Southeast China District, 'Empty City Old Dream.'"
"Enjoy your game. Genesis will randomly select lucky players worldwide one hour after the server opens. Please stay online."
The system's sweet voice disappeared, and Jiang Bai felt a sense of suffocation. The densely packed newbie village was already overcrowded, with too many people to count.
"Randomly selecting lucky accounts?"
Jiang Bai laughed. Having been influenced by Tencent Games for years, he knew not to trust even a single punctuation mark in such announcements.
Looking at himself, he could only be described as barely clothed, with a tattered cloth shirt barely covering some essential parts.
"Excuse me, folks in front!"
"Stop pushing! I'm about to be crushed here!"
"Damn it! Who dares to touch my chest?!"
"..."
Ignoring the densely packed chat box, Jiang Bai, who knew that time was of the essence, especially in the early stages of the game when it was crucial to lay a foundation, immediately opened his attribute panel.
Empty City Old Dream
Level: 1
Profession: Archer
Race: Human
Health Points: 30
Growth Potential: ★★★
Energy Points: 20
Growth Potential: ★★
Physical Attack: 5
Growth Potential: ★★★★★
Magic Attack: 1
Growth Potential: ★
Attack Strength: 2
Growth Potential: ★★
Defense: 2
Growth Potential: ★★
Attributes:
Constitution: 1 (Affects Health Points and Defense)
Spirit: 1 (Affects Energy Points and Energy Recovery Speed)
Strength: 1 (Affects Attack Strength and Critical Damage)
Intelligence: 1 (Affects Magic Attack)
Agility (Primary Attribute): 1 (Affects Physical Attack and Speed)
Jiang Bai stared at his unremarkable attributes and had nothing to say.
In Genesis, every player's initial attributes were identical, with each attribute fixed at 1. However, different professions had different primary attributes. Jiang Bai was an Archer, so his primary attribute was Agility. Agility added to his attack, while Strength added to his attack strength. If he were a Warrior, his primary attribute would be Strength, and if he were a Mage, it would be Intelligence.
The key was the Growth Potential. Growth Potential was the coefficient that converted attribute points into panel values. Although each player started with a fixed 15 stars of Growth Potential, the distribution of stars varied by profession, meaning the growth coefficients were different.
Since Jiang Bai's Physical Attack Growth Potential was five stars, one point of Agility provided five points of attack, and one point of Strength provided two points of attack strength. For a Mage, whose Growth Potential would be highest in Intelligence, one point of Intelligence might convert into a higher Magic Attack.
In Genesis, the total of 15 stars for Growth Potential was not permanently fixed. After players advanced from their basic professions to hidden professions, their Growth Potential would change again based on the hidden profession, and the total number of stars would also break through the 15-star limit.
After reviewing his attributes, Jiang Bai looked at his equipment slot. He currently had only two extremely simple pieces of equipment.
Rough Newbie Longbow (Rough)
Attack: 1
Equipment Level: 1
Rough Newbie Cloth Armor (Rough)
Defense: 1
Equipment Level: 1
It was expected that his equipment was of such a shabby level.
The equipment levels in Genesis were divided into nine categories: Rough, Common, Good, Fine, Epic, Ancient, Legendary, Sacred, and Mythic. There were rumors that there were even more powerful equipment levels above these, but since the official side had not released them, the authenticity of this information still needed to be verified.
"I heard that the drop rate of equipment in Genesis is extremely low?"
After equipping the two newbie items, Jiang Bai began to scratch his head, "I wonder what the official 'extremely low' means?"
"But if the equipment drop rate is low, then it must be very valuable."
After putting on the newbie equipment and with great difficulty accepting the newbie quest, Jiang Bai finally took his first step in Genesis.