/*unedited*/

The first-ever virtual world contest is about to start, every player had a look of antic.i.p.ation in their eyes as they watch the timer ticking on the widescreen floating above the tall platform. The loud ticking sound is like the beating of the hearts of each individual as they excitedly clench their hands.

Every partic.i.p.ant is already wearing their gears and weapons. They have already prepared every needful thing they might use in this first part of the contest.

According to the announcement, there will be 3 levels that each partic.i.p.ant would undertake. And it seems that out of the hundreds of partic.i.p.ants in this city, not more than 20 are presumed to pa.s.s. So the 3 levels will be an illumination round which would decide the winner.

The first challenge is the forest crossing.

The players need to cross the forest and not get illuminated by the monstrous denizens inside. The first part can be played by a group or an individual. Even players could eliminate each other. This purpose is to quickly thin out the numbers of partic.i.p.ants.

"I guess the girls knew something about the mental psychology of human beings. I wonder what would happen is someone would rise up to the challenge and unite everyone in this place. That would be something to look forward to." s.h.i.+n Jiao thought while also waiting for the timer.

He is already wearing armor, but unlike the rest of the player who wears glistening metallic armor which insinuated their strength and power, s.h.i.+n Jiao is wearing simple leather armor and is donned in a dark gray cloak.

His weapons of choice are two arm length blades that look like a j.a.panese sword called Wakizas.h.i.+. He personally crafted such a weapon according to his memories and gained another skill, called unique crafting.

When he tried this skill at first he noticed that the weapons or armors he creates would contain many of his attributes. So the stronger and higher level he is the stronger and powerful his crafted item is.

As s.h.i.+n Jiao practiced, he gained more enlightenment and the process seems to open up a lot of the blurry memory he has as he crafts items. This in turn made him truly knew that by staying in the game he has the possibility of unlocking most of his memories. But of course he also had the reservation about remembering everything as he didn't want to complicate further his already complicated relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+ Anne Li and Susan Tang.

s.h.i.+n Jiao checks his inventory for the final time and made sure that everything he might need in this 1st level trial is prepared and easy to grab or use. Hence that way he didn't need to spend time browsing his inventory.

After doing that he looks at the timer and saw that there are only 2 minutes lefts. He scanned the people around him and saw someone glaring at him.

It was actually a woman whom he met while taking his first quest, Spinks. Beside her is a group of people, which s.h.i.+n Jiao could not recognize.

"It seems that the 'Man Hunter Guild' has joined the contest. If she is here then that means those PvP players will be entering the contest in another location." s.h.i.+n Jiao thought.

The contest permits all players to partic.i.p.ate. Those red aura players can partic.i.p.ate in the contest through thieves' dens or neutral towns or cities.

"This is getting interesting. I wonder how many weapons I can get this time." s.h.i.+n Jiao thought as he patted his side.

In this trial he already prepared a lot of extra bags just in case. And true to his conjecture, he will really get something.

As he continues on looking around he saw another eye fixed on him. But this time that person is looking at him with a complicated expression.

It was the woman named 'May'. When their eyes met he saw her doing a sign language gesture towards him. And unknown to him he could actually understand what she is saying.

'Please be careful, my team has you in their sight. This is all I can do for you, thank you for returning the sword.'

s.h.i.+n Jiao replied by giving her a simple smile and a nod.

He didn't linger his gaze as now noticed that the timer is already counting down to its final ten seconds.

…

1st level trial, the endless forest of the elves

The endless forest of the elves is a unique forest in the continent. It was built by the ancient high elves to protect their kingdom from any invaders. However, it was the cause of their own kingdom to fall.

At first it became the hope of the elves as no one dared venture towards the elven kingdom ever since the endless forest was built. However, as time flew by the trees and shrubberies began to expand and cover the whole forest. Without proper tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of the trees and s.p.a.cing, the thick leaves of the trees would cover the ground and block the sunlight from entering.

The once lively forest became dark and dreary and has invited a foul creature to stay within. Corruption began as the darkness spreads. The elves thought that the forest which is the source of their protection would be their salvation, but it turned out to be their prison.

As the darkness grew, the elves that are unable to escape became trap in their own magic. They tried to retract the trees, but everything was too late.

Consumed by the darkness within the forest, the hidden ent.i.ty slowly corrupted the elves and their downfall happens. Although not all elves were destroyed at that time and some were able to barely escape, the forest stood as a monument of their own failure. And since then the elven forest would observe the balance within learning from their own mistake and failure of the past.

But of course, the old elven kingdom still lies deep within that dark endless elven forest where many of their treasures are left untouched. And those who are foolish enough to enter would encounter the hidden ent.i.ty within which has already corrupted the denizens inside the forest.

This is the 1st level or stage or the trial.

When s.h.i.+n Jiao read the description he was stunned at the level of realism that Central has put into this trial. But his heartfelt a bit excited, he felt like a treasure hunter. His excitement came from the secret ore that the elves have acc.u.mulated through time, the Mythril ore, and the Orichalc.u.m ore.

If he can get his hands on those ores then he can craft stronger and more advanced items. He didn't know what would happen if he unlocks more of his crafting memories but the excitement has gotten hold of s.h.i.+n Jiao's heart.

He slowly traverses the dark woods, his map is not working and he has to rely on the small leather map given by the trial to locate his way.

His destination is the ruined elven kingdom.

However, as he walks he can feel an eerie and uncomfortable feeling deep within his heart. It might seem that someone or something is looking at him from the darkness.

s.h.i.+n Jiao slowly took out a small stone which is used in the game to illuminate an area. As the stone glows, the darkness was pushed away revealing thick shrubberies and old thick tree trunks.

"I guess my spiritual sense has the same view as my eyes. Then I don't need this stone." s.h.i.+n Jiao muttered as he hid the stone in his pocket.

s.h.i.+n Jiao spreads his spiritual sense and saw his surroundings clearly. Though he could not maintain this all the time, still it is enough to detect any enemies that would sneak up behind him.

And true to his sense, he saw a three meters snakes slowly slithering towards him. The snake is as thick as his body and its scales are s.h.i.+ning black, like a palm-sized black onyx gem.

As s.h.i.+n Jiao determines the direction of his first opponent, he suddenly heard something in the air. He quickly uses his spiritual sense and saw at the end of his spiritual sense a group of people running towards the snake's direction. And then from behind that group is a beast that looks like a giant panther covers in dark green scales.

When s.h.i.+n Jiao saw this he knew that the group has encountered something they could never handle. From the way the group looks it seems that they have suffered at the hands of that beast.

"If the players are all level 30 and they cannot handle that panther-like creature then it might be around level 40 or above. What an unlucky encounter." s.h.i.+n Jiao muttered as he crept towards a tree avoiding the direction where the group of players is running to.

Meanwhile the snake has already caught the scent of the group in the area and diverted its direction towards the group.

And not long later, the group saw that in front of them lies a 3 meters long snake waiting for them to enter its striking range. While behind them is the fast-approaching dark green-scaled panther.

"d.a.m.n it we're screwed!"

"What should we do? I don't want to be eliminated this early in the contest."

"d.a.m.n! Work together! We can defeat these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!"

The group of six people began to panic as they stood back to back while looking cautiously at the two monsters which trapped them.

Suddenly, one of the women wearing a dark blue cloth armor which made her look like a fighting healer flew out from the group followed by a man in heavy armor.

The two showed disbelief on their face as they were sent to the jaws of death.

The woman flew towards the snake and the man in heavy armor towards the panther.

Seeing the flying humans, both creatures immediately open their jaws wide to catch their first prey. While this is happening, the rest of the group immediately rushes out to escape.