This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat, Masadeer, and StellarAshes.

Creating an Account

“Scanning, please wait…”

Rui stood still and let the unknown rays sweep all over his body. He waited nearly three minutes before the light gradually dissipated.

“Scanning is successful! Please select a name for this character!”

Name?

Rui was slightly surprised for a moment, and pondered for a while.

“Blood Shadow!”

“I’m sorry, that name is already taken!”

When the notice prompted, Rui was a little surprised. Since he was consistent with his old profession and a cool name to go along with it, but he didn’t think he would be robbed of it.

“Ghost Hand!”

“I’m sorry, that name is already taken!”

“…”

“Sly Hand!”

“Naming is a success! You can now view your basic stats!”

Taking a long breath, Rui couldn’t help but subconsciously wipe his forehead. He didn’t think coming up with a name would be such a tedious process.

Open Status Window!

ID Sly Hand Level 0 Profession Rogue Secondary Profession None Guild None Spouse None Health 150/150 (VIT x 10) Mana 130/130 (INT x 10) Physical ATT 17 (STR x 1) Magic ATT 13 (INT x 1) Physical DEF 3 (VIT / 5) Magic DEF 2 (INT / 5) Speed 2 (AGI / 10) HP Recovery 1hp/sec (VIT / 10) MP Recovery 1mp/sec (INT / 10) Toughness 10, Influences Magic STR, Physical STR, and Tenacity; reduction of Crowd Control effects. (Fixed property, cannot be changed.) Strength 17, influences striking power Vitality 15, influences HP, HP Recovery, Physical DEF Agility 20, influences Dodge Rate, Speed, Crit Rate Intelligence 13, influences MP, MP Recovery, Magic DEF Luck 8, influences Crit Rate, Burst Rate, Forging Success Rate, Chances of Stealing Skills None

“Phew…”

Looking at his stats, Rui breathe a sigh a relief. In ‘Kismet,’ the maximum points a stat could have in the beginning was 20, and he was lucky enough to get 10 points in Toughness. Although Toughness was determined by the player’s own mental condition, the rest was radom. Now, it appears that his stats were very powerful, since four of the basic stats were of no less than 10. Agility on the other hand, was a full 20 points, it was the same with Toughness.

Although he smiled faintly, Rui did not become compliant even the slightest. For him, as Crimson Shadow Ghost, speed had always been his strongest area, getting full points on it was nothing to be proud of. As for toughness, as an Assassin, his mental state has been as firm as rock since a long time ago. Even an ordinary Assassin could easily achieve 10 full points on Toughness, much less him. Thus, although it was unexpected to receive 10 Toughness, it was not surprising.

Ding!

Congratulations on having full 20 points in Agility. You now have access to a special skill called Nimble Wind Lvl 1!

Ding!

Congratulations in having 10 full points in Toughness. You now have access to a special skill called Spirit Immunity Lvl 1!

Two skills?

Hearing the system ding, he was suddenly overjoyed and hastened to open the skill window.

Nimble Wind: Unique Skill, Level 1 0/10,000. This skill is only available to players who have obtained full 20 points in Agility. Because it is a unique skill, no other player has it. This special skill can be upgraded! Effects: MP Consumption: 20

Activate to increase Speed at the rate of (Level x Current Speed)

One minute Duration.

One hour cooldown.

Spirit Immunity: Unique Skill, Level 1 0/10,000 This skill is only available to players who have obtained full 10 points in Toughness. Because it is a unique skill, no other player has it. This special skill can be upgraded! Effects: MP Consumption: 50

On activation you will be immune to all Spirit Attacks (immune to all crowd control).

30 seconds Duration.

Five hour cooldown.

Very powerful!

Rui was stunned when he looked at the two skills on the skill window. The skill Spirit Immunity, although in initial stages of the game, would not show its full potential; however, in later stages of the game, being immune to bosses’ and players’ CC (crowd control) effects would make this a truly frightening skill. For a fragile Rogue who depends on burst damage, being hit by a CC would be quite scary, and would often result in near instant death. Even with full toughness, he would not be able to underestimate CCs, but now, with Spirit Immunity, his biggest weakness was practically gone.

Nimble Wind is also a frightening skill, almost to the point of being ridiculously OP (overpowered). The skill would already give Rui a Speed increase of 2 at a mere level 1. Considering Speed was a stat equal to Agility divided by 10, and even at full Agility Rui only had a Speed of 2, the skill would already double his Speed. This was far too imbalanced. As Rui’s level and Nimble Wind’s level increase, the skill would become even more imbalanced. Speed was already king in games, but with this, becoming a God of Speed was not an impossible dream!

All of a sudden, he acquire two incredible skills, and while still pleased, Rui logged out of the game cheerfully.

Rui removed the helmet and turned on the computer to watch videos of classic online games featuring gaming masters completing missions and so on. Although he had access to games during his work as an Assassin, almost all the games he ended up playing were anticlimactic. In his line of work, he was worthy of being call the King of Assassins, but in the gaming world, even if a person was physically weak in real life, they can be competent in game. There was no other way to explain it, this is a fact. With the release of ‘Kismet,’ replacing the traditional keyboard and mouse with virtual technologies enables one to take advantage of their own physical abilities and allows them the chance to play better. However, presently, it was imperative to learn some of the game’s basic information.

‘Kismet’ has a magical fantasy background based on Western civilization era, however, many cultures of various other countries are also present. There are also many hidden quests with concealed conditions needed to be met in order to activate them.

Having spent an entire afternoon looking at videos of capturing gameplay, skills, and tricks, Rui’s head began to spin. With his astonishing concentration, he forced himself to remember everything. But rather than analyzing them individually, he memorized bits and pieces of the important information.

Rui turned off the computer, took off the helmet, and looked at Kismet’s slogan——

An unpredictable world with your very own stage! As long as you desire, and if you dare, anything and everything is possible!

Anything is possible? This is really interesting!

With a faint smile, Rui put the helmet down, went to the bathroom, and took a cold shower. Ignoring all the ingredients he bought, he went out to eat, but not fast food. He just acquired two unique skills and he was in a good mood, so naturally, his first meal back in his homeland would not be fast food, he had to eat in style.

When he went out, it was already almost eight o’clock. Although it was still summer, it had started to get dark. Along his way, he saw a lot of tasty looking street food; being curious, Rui ate food almost each step of his way, tasting every single food that he saw.

After swallowing the last piece of roast beef, Rui threw away the bamboo stick, burped in satisfaction. He touched his 80 percent full belly, and looked at the large group of people circling around the food stall, and after thinking for a slight moment, he walked up to it. So many people! It must mean there was something delicious to eat inside. Eventhough he was mostly full, tasting some new food wouldn’t kill him!

“Boss, give me three grilled chicken wings, ten beef kabob, and three lamb chops!”

“Boss, I want three fried rice noodles, and three chicken drumsticks!”

“Boss, is my order not ready yet? Bring on the beer first!”

“…”

The small food stalls were bustling, and many of the small tables were already filled with people. In the store, there was a young woman about the age of thirty, dressed in simple clothes covered by an apron. She was constantly busy with beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. Indeed, this amount of people would make her really busy. Although it was already evening and summer already nearing its end, but the place was filled to the brim not to mention the hot grill before her.

Glancing at the customers, most of them were men, and their eyes kept eyeing the constantly busy young woman. They obviously chose to eat in this place with ulterior motives!

“Excuse me, are you alone?”

Hearing someone calling out to him, Rui turned around to look, and he saw a timid young girl dressed the same way as the woman aforementioned standing by his side.

“Ah, yes I’m alone, is there still room?” Rui smiled and nodded his head.

“There’s still space inside, please follow me!”

Seeing Rui smile, the girl flushed slightly, and turned around quickly. Taking big steps, she lead the way.

“Ah…”

Walking in a hurry, she accidentally hit the corner of a table and was falling towards the ground.

With a sidestep, Rui very quickly hugged the falling girl’s waist and pulled her up.

“Yo, boy, you have really good skills!”

“Hey, Little Fei, you don’t have to get so excited after seeing someone handsome!”

“Hehe, Little Fei, that shy personality of yours still hasn’t changed one bit.”

“…”

Hearing the words poking fun at her, Rui could clearly see the face of the girl in his arms was completely red as though blood was about to ooze out. Her face got so hot that Rui could vaguely see the heat rising from her face, and at that moment, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud. Even in this day and age, there was still a girl so shy, how rare!

“So… sorry!”

After gaining her footing, the girl named Fei got out of Rui’s arms and bowed her head, ignored the laughter of others, and walked straight ahead.

Rui looked around, and there were whistling and teasing sounds, making him feel helpless, but he felt no resentment towards them. Compared to the lonely lifestyle of an Assassin, he actually preferred this kind of life. However, when he saw some of the eyes of the younger men, he felt embarrassed. Clearly Rui’s earlier action bruised their pride.

With a faint smile, Rui didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he rubbed his fingers, reminiscing at the tender feeling that was pressed up against his hand. His action made the people looking at him more infuriated. Had it not been for the little bit of common sense these people had in them, they might have ran up and start a real life PK with Rui.

Shaking his head slightly and touching his almost full belly, Rui still walked over and sat down, then ordered the specialities from the menu. He glanced at the restaurant patrons who wouldn’t take their eyes off the young woman and Fei, Rui thought it was actually a bit funny. He concluded that the booming business was the result of these two women, but he couldn’t tell if they were sisters or mother and daughter.

“Here’s your order. This spicy chicken is a gift from me as thanks for saving me earlier!”

After twenty minutes, Fei finally brought a dish to Rui.

“Oh, thank you.”

Slightly surprised, he looked at the golden chicken placed on top of the table, radiating an aroma, then he looked at Fei and smiled, which made her blush.

Fei looked at him and immediately turned away. With a cheerful smile, Rui lowered his head towards the bowl and began to attack the dish.

He must say, the business was flourishing. Not only were there two beautiful young woman, the food was also delicious! Rui being almost full already, went from his plan of food tasting to raiding the food off their plates.

He got home at almost 10 o’clock, and having a full stomach, Rui did some exercise to help his digestion before he went to bed.