Volume 1, Chapter 0 – Creating a Character, Poverty Changed My Form

Translator Note

Proofreader Kat here, just so you’re unaware, ‘salted fish’ is a slang for slacker, couch potato and the likes.

In the small room, the dim yellow desk lamp created a languid atmosphere.

The fan on the bed lightly teased Chen Anran’s hair, as if a palm were gently stroking it.

A cup of green tea sat on the dark brown wooden desk. White light glowed from the computer screen, which displayed an online game—

Night of the Stars!

It was an MMORPG set against the backdrop of a vast universe.

It has been wildly popular lately.

Chen Anran propped up his chin with one hand and rested the other on the mouse. This was about to become a brand-new battlefield.

“Please select your character race?”

Human: the most balanced attributes.

Spirit: exceptional affinity with magic-type classes.

Machina: newly risen mechanical beings, the crystallization of the tech path.

Wildcall: iron-blooded warriors famed for combat.

These were the four races currently available in the game.

Different races had different starting attributes, physical traits, starting locations for the “starter village,” and story experiences. On top of that, some special classes were race-locked.

Other than those, there were no major differences between the races.

“Human!”

Sure enough, human appearances were still the most natural, the easiest on the eyes, and the most likely to catch attention.

“Please select your gender?”

“Female!”

Obviously. If you didn’t play a female avatar, what was the difference between that and being a hopeless loser?

If you didn’t play a female avatar, how were you supposed to scam rich whales?

Go gay?

(￣△￣；)

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No way was he going gay. Not in this lifetime. The only thing he could do was make a female character and find ways to swindle a bit of money in-game so he could scrape by.

If he wasn’t going to fleece whales, what the hell was Chen Anran even playing games for?

Did he still want to live or not?

“Please select your character age?”

“22!”

He used his real-life age as the template. This part wasn’t important.

The issue was, since when did online games even have an age setting?

It didn’t look useful at all.

“Please enter your character name?”

“Anran.”

The name Chen Anran already sounded somewhat feminine, and Anran even more so.

Not provocative, not wild, not trashy, just a touch artsy and fresh. Some people were into exactly that.

“Please select your character’s birthplace?”

Three options popped up at once.

Origin Star, which was what Earth was called in the Great Universe Era within the game, a place for retirement.

Ailan Cluster No. 1886, a habitable planet conquered by the expeditionary army and now a trade transit hub.

Trileaf Star, a buffer zone where the Alliance and the Resistance fought, a place where danger and opportunity coexisted.

At present, in Night of the Stars Version 1.01, these were the only three Human starting locations. The plot had only just begun to unfold, and there was still a lot left to dig up.

“Ailan Cluster No. 1886!” His mouse clicked it without the slightest hesitation.

Rich players generally preferred places where their money could be put to maximum use.

Chen Anran followed the technical route. He was different from the average person in his line of work.

His peers were good at calling people “daddy” in syrupy voices, while Chen Anran was good at using a voice changer to call them “bro.”

The name was fresh and artsy, and the voice sounded nice too.

With strength to back it up, the contrast was instantly charming.

“The character’s basic information has been set. Please confirm! Confirm? Return?”

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Chen Anran quickly scanned over the game interface. After confirming there were no mistakes, he clicked Confirm at once.

Next came the eagerly anticipated character customization screen.

Character customization has already become an indispensable element in modern MMORPGs.

Chen Anran was not only highly skilled at games, he also outclassed most people in character customization. He had his own unique insights into it: what kind of body proportions attracted what kind of crowd, what sort of outfit combinations fit better and highlighted charm more effectively, even what kind of makeup could be called the finishing touch.

Chen Anran had done quite a bit of research into all of this.

Do one line of work, love one line of work; love one line of work, master one line of work.

Even as a scammer, Chen Anran was a scammer with skills.

Night of the Stars had an extremely rich customization system, giving Chen Anran plenty of room to show what he could do.

First came body settings.

From height, head, chest, hips, and legs, nearly every part of the body could be adjusted.

Since he had always played high-burst DPS classes, Chen Anran chose a somewhat petite build, made minor adjustments to the chest, waist, and hips, and then moved on to the legs.

Body type affected attributes such as starting speed and stamina, so you absolutely couldn’t underestimate what those stats could do.

Hairstyle, face shape, makeup…

It took more than half an hour before Chen Anran finally produced the first version of the character.

He used the mouse to rotate the figure on the screen, zooming in and out as he gave it a careful inspection.

“The chest is a bit too big.”

“Make the nail polish a little lighter.”

“For the bangs, No. 022 is still better.”

Chen Anran fine-tuned the character’s build once more, and the overall look immediately became more harmonious.

The girl on the screen was delicate without being seductive, brimming with youthful energy as she stood there in a stretching pose.

Chen Anran nodded in satisfaction and clicked Finish. As the screen switched, he also opened his voice changer software.

“Let me get a good look at just how bright this game’s money-making future really is!”

Chen Anran was itching to try.

“Enter the game now?”

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The game interface popped up with two options: “Yes” and “Later.”

Chen Anran didn’t hesitate. He moved the mouse with his right hand, and the white cursor quickly hovered over “Yes.” Just as his index finger was about to click, a notification suddenly popped up in the lower-right corner of the operating system.

“You have received an email from Night of the Stars. Open it?”

“An email from the official team? What could it be?”

Chen Anran froze for a moment, but he still opened the email.

It was probably just some routine welcome-to-the-world-of-Night-of-the-Stars pleasantries.

“…Welcome to the big family of Night of the Stars. On behalf of all our staff, I would like to express our gratitude…”

“Yep, same old formula.”

Chen Anran shook his head. But at the end of the email was a link, a link to claim a newbie gift pack. Newbie gift packs usually didn’t give much, but it was better than nothing.

After all, he was poor. He couldn’t afford to waste even a scrap of resources.

Chen Anran clicked the link.

His vision suddenly darkened.

He didn’t pay it any mind, assuming he had simply blinked a little slowly.

A vortex-like animation appeared on the webpage, deep and mysterious with the feel of a starry sky, spinning in circles. At the end of it, something like a treasure chest should appear, right?

Five seconds later, a crystal ball emerged from the vortex.

A crystal ball?

Well, a crystal ball worked too. Chen Anran was about to open it.

He clicked with his right hand, and the crystal ball began to glow. Somehow, his back suddenly felt a little cold.

What could it be?

Chen Anran speculated.

One!

Two!

Three!

Congratulations, you’ve drawn one ghost!

“Huh???”

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Before Chen Anran could react, his neck suddenly went cold. Then the style on the monitor abruptly changed. The deep vortex turned into a sheet of blackness.

While Chen Anran was still staring in shock, a hole opened in the middle of the darkness, and a disheveled humanoid monster with a ferocious face lunged straight at him.

“Woooo…”

The desktop speakers cooperatively let out a deep, terrifying sound.

No-glasses 3D!

I…

Chen Anran’s expression suddenly stiffened.

Because he discovered that something had touched his head.

Behind him…

“Hello there, little brother!”

The ghost face on the screen suddenly spoke.

“Ah!”

Chen Anran shot to his feet and punched the monitor.

“Bang!”

His fist passed straight through the monitor, shattering the ghost face and Chen Anran along with it.

Bzzzt bzzzt bzzzt—

Boom!

Chen Anran was blasted into bits.

With the last remnants of his consciousness, he suddenly thought, This isn’t right. How come other people online can punch through monitors and be perfectly fine?

Could it be because I bought secondhand goods?

Damn scammy secondhand junk.

Puff, puff, puff…

The electric fan on the bed was still spinning innocently.

…