The scorching sun hung high in the sky, baking the vast, boundless earth.
High above, several vultures circled, eyeing the scene hungrily. But, wary of the short blade—slick with blood and gore—in the hands of their competitor below, they hesitated to descend.
This was a vast grassland.
Xiao Jing shook out his arm, which was cramping from overexertion, and unfastened the only waterskin from the bandit's corpse.
He took a couple of large gulps, and the water brought some relief to his parched throat.
'This is killing me!'
'My luck couldn't possibly be any worse!'
Xiao Jing wiped his face. A mixture of blood and dust clung to his wind-chafed skin, giving him a ferocious look.
Taking several deep, ragged breaths, he collapsed onto the grass, squinting as he tried to recover his energy.
Just a few hours ago, he had been a graduate student working on his thesis.
But then, a mysterious voice had suddenly echoed across the globe.
"DING! Transmission channel construction complete!"
"Coordinates locked!"
"Identities prepared!"
"DING! Esteemed players from Earth, welcome to 'War.' We wish you the best of luck!"
Before anyone on Earth could even react...
...a brilliant flash of light transported everyone to this strange new world.
Xiao Jing included.
But unlike other players, who spawned in lush landscapes or bustling cities...
...he had the misfortune of spawning in a vast, desolate grassland, where he was immediately attacked by a bandit intent on killing him.
Fortunately, he had some martial arts training. On top of that, perhaps as compensation for his terrible luck, the system had granted him an exceptionally powerful trait during the "Trait Refresh." Thanks to that, he had managed to kill the bandit after a desperate struggle.
'Too bad the horse got spooked and ran off.'
After resting for a moment and regaining some strength, Xiao Jing stood up and walked over to the bandit's corpse, a look of regret on his face.
The horse was probably the most valuable thing the bandit had. Unfortunately, after the fight, Xiao Jing didn't have the strength to control a spooked animal.
He began searching the body.
Suddenly, Xiao Jing's hand brushed against something hard under the corpse's robes.
His eyes lit up.
'A lucky drop?'
He pulled it out. It was a heavily worn Token, its purpose unclear.
"Use Appraisal!"
Xiao Jing looked at the unremarkable Token, his heart pounding with excitement. 'Could it be...?'
Thinking of that one specific item, he decisively used his "Appraisal" skill, which he could only use once per day.
A bright light landed on the Token.
Soon, the Token's information appeared before Xiao Jing's eyes.
[Treasure]: Village-Building Order (Ancient)
[Quality]: Gold
[Effect]: 1. Establish a village, unlocking the Faction panel.
2. Designate a 1-kilometer radius as your territory. All ownerless items within the territory belong to the Lord (Exclusive).
[Attachment]: Comes with a Mo family Puppet Barracks - Wind Cavalry (Gold)
[Description]: Hiss... You damned lucky bastard, stay away from me!!!
'It's... it's really a Village-Building Order!'
Xiao Jing's heart overflowed with excitement.
After all, when the mysterious voice transported everyone from Earth, it had provided some basic information, including a list of extremely precious treasures.
The Village-Building Order was prominently on that list.
And even among those precious treasures, the Village-Building Order was one of the rarest and most valuable.
In this entire world, it was likely that only the great noble families and the Great Han imperial court had any in their possession.
For players from Earth to get one, they would have to either pay an exorbitant price to a noble family or get lucky exploring an extremely dangerous ancient Secret Realm.
Xiao Jing never imagined he'd get a Village-Building Order—and a Gold-quality one at that—just from killing a single bandit.
White, Gray, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Gold.
These were the item quality tiers in "War."
'Calm down, calm down!'
Xiao Jing whispered, quickly suppressing his surging excitement.
It was true he had the Village-Building Order, but this remote and vast grassland was clearly unsuitable for establishing a village.
'According to the basic information from the mysterious voice, all the Chinese players were transported to the Late Han Dynasty, a world based on the Three Kingdoms period.'
'A grassland this vast... Hiss! Don't tell me I was transported to the borderlands of the Alien Races!'
At that thought, a jolt went through Xiao Jing, and he warily scanned his surroundings.
Right, no Alien Race Cavalry.
Still, he didn't dare to linger. He quickly finished looting the bandit's corpse.
A Village-Building Order, a Worn-Out Machete (White), two strings of copper coins, a flatbread, and a waterskin.
That was everything useful on the bandit's body.
The bandit's thick robes could have been stripped off for warmth...
...but after the fight, they were tattered and soaked in blood. After a moment's hesitation, Xiao Jing decided against it.
The smell was just too foul for him to bear.
After packing everything up...
...Xiao Jing picked a direction where he thought he was most likely to find Han People and set off without a second glance.
...
[Name]: Xiao Jing
[Occupation]: None
[Identity]: Commoner
[Age]: 18
[Status]: Fatigued, Stamina: 56%, Health: 77%
[Level]: 1 (23/100)
[Talent]: None
[Attributes]: Force: 4 (Average Person: 2), Intent: 0, Tactics: 0
[Experience-Based Stats]: Command: 8, Strategy: 33, Administration: 34, Renown: 0 (Unknown)
[Martial Arts]: Bajiquan (Gray, Proficient)
[Hundred Schools Arts]: Learning (Proficient), Farming (Novice)
[Skills]: Appraisal (0/1)
[Treasures]: Village-Building Order
[Personal Traits]:
1. Valiant and Skilled in Battle (Purple): When leading an army, personal combat power +20%, soldier combat power +15%. When dueling, personal combat power +30%.
[Potential]: Second-Rate (Blue, gain 1 free Attribute Point per level, can be allocated to Force, Intent, or Tactics)
[Special Units]: None
On the road, Xiao Jing pulled up his character panel.
It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either—somewhere between upper-mid and top-tier.
It couldn't compare to the prodigy player with Superlative (Gold) potential mentioned on the forums, but it was still far stronger than what the vast majority of players had.
His Purple trait, in particular, was in a league of its own at this early stage.
Not only did it have no drawbacks, but its buffs were also absurdly high. While his martial arts played a part in defeating the bandit, the victory was largely due to the power of this trait.
Moreover, according to the basic information from the mysterious voice...
...traits were also divided into six tiers: White, Gray, Yellow, Blue, Purple, and Gold. The higher the tier, the stronger and rarer the trait.
Purple and Gold traits were supposed to be exclusive to "Historical Generals." The fact that he'd gotten one was a sign of extreme good fortune.
In a way, right from the start, he was already on par with historical generals, able to go toe-to-toe with them.
Compared to his magnificent trait, Xiao Jing's attributes seemed a bit shabby. Still, he was far stronger than most of the players on the forums, many of whom hadn't even reached the 2 Force of an average person.
In "War," the number of free Attribute Points gained upon leveling up was tied to a player's Potential.
For each level up, Superlative (Gold) Potential granted 2 free Attribute Points, First-Rate (Purple) granted 1.5, Second-Rate (Blue) granted 1, and so on.
The higher the Potential, the more free Attribute Points one received. Conversely, the lower the Potential, the fewer points. The lowest tier, Unrated (White), only granted a meager 0.2 Attribute Points per level.
It was safe to say the "Potential" stat had already implicitly created a hierarchy among the players.
Fortunately, Xiao Jing's Potential was decent enough.
He continued reading down the panel.
Killing the bandit had earned him 23 experience points, leaving him 77 away from the next level. Because his Potential was Second-Rate, leveling up would only grant him 1 free Attribute Point.
What Xiao Jing found surprising, however, was that the Bajiquan he had studied for years in the real world was only rated as Gray by the system, with a proficiency that had barely reached "Proficient."
'Ugh, just how watered-down is the Bajiquan from back home?!'
Xiao Jing thought with a hint of annoyance. His Proficient-level Bajiquan had increased his Force by 2 points, which was why it was higher than that of an average person.