As Ryan Zhao was enveloped by that mysterious, blinding flash of light, his feet thudded against a massive square tile labeled START. He looked around. He was alone now. No screams, no noises, no people. Just him alone, and beneath him lay a massive board
The massive board stretched in every direction, colorful names painted in bold across it—Babylon, Kyoto, Pataliputra, Venice… with over a hundred labeled squares snaking across the floor in a zigzag. He counted… snakes. Ladders. Eight of each, carved into the floor with disturbingly realistic detail—serpents with glittering eyes and ladders that looked like golden beams stretching into the clouds.
"Damn," he muttered. "This thing's… huge."
Before he could think further, two dice—each the size of his fists—materialized before him mid-air and dropped gently to hover just above his eye level.
He took a closer look at the dice.
Each die had numbers only from one to four. The other two faces are blank.
"Huh. No, Five or Six? That's new…" Ryan tilted his head. "Getting to a hundred with these is going to take a while."
He reached out and grabbed them, weighing them in his hands. They were as light as cotton candy, almost weightless.t like they were filled with air or something.
Still holding them, Ryan strolled across his tile. The edges of the board were surrounded by high walls, and one of them had something plastered on it—a glowing parchment with strange flowing text that somehow made perfect sense as he read.
RULES:
1) You throw a die, you land on a square.
2) Each square corresponds to a city. And the number on the die corresponds to a Quest.
3) Complete the Quest in the city, earn game money based on the time taken.
4) Land on the square that has a ladder to another square, complete the Quest in three days, and teleport there. Fail and you will continue from the same square.
5) Land on the square where the head of the snake is located, complete the Quest within three days, and continue the game there. Fail in three days and you will be regressed to the square where its tail ends.
6) In the city with the ladder Quest, you are completely immune to any kind of damage from everyone.
7) In the city with Snake Quest, you are vulnerable to death from both citizens of the city: NPCs, and fellow players.
8) In the rest of the cities, you are immune to the damage from the NPCs but are vulnerable to the attacks from fellow players.
9) In case multiple players have identical Quests in the same city, the one who completed first will receive the appropriate rewards, and the remaining players will either get a free pass without any rewards or a new Quest with rewards, based on Quest progress.
COMMANDS FOR THE SYSTEM:
1) To open your character details and check your attributes, use the command: System, open my character.
2) To open your inventory where you can store items, which are strictly nonliving things and the things the system recognizes that you own it, use the command: System, open my inventory.
3) To see or modify, merge, or upgrade your skills, use the command: System, open my skills.
4) To see or confirm your quest completion and get your rewards, use the command: System, open my quest list.
5) To see the map of the place you were in, use the command: System, open map.
6) To inspect items, use the command: System, inspect. It only works on nonliving things.
7) To ask any enquiry about the system, use the command: System, please answer this question. However, whether you get a response or not depends on the type of question you ask.
8) To give up on the game and eliminate yourself, use the command: System, I eliminate myself. However, whether you get eliminated or not, the system decides after analysing the events around the decision.
*
After digesting the rules and taking note of the whole map, where the ladders and snakes are located, Ryan mumbled, "System, open my character."
A transparent blue screen popped into view instantly, floating beside him. It showed a smooth 3D model of himself in the corner—mussed black hair, hoodie, and jeans, a slight tilt to his grin like he wasn't taking anything seriously.
Name: Ryan Zhao
Biological Sex: Male
Height: 6'1" (185cm)
Weight: 175 pounds (~79kg)
Primary Attributes (Average attributes of participants: 0.7)
Strength: 0.4
Intelligence: 0.5
Dexterity: 0.5
Endurance: 0.3
Charisma: 7.6
Secondary Attributes (5 is average):
Luck: 9
Faith: 5 (cannot be modified manually)
Affinity: 2
Free Attribute points: 0
"…Well," he said after a long pause, "I suck."
He snorted. "Everything's below average except—"
"Charisma, huh?" A grin spread on his face. "System clearly knows a pretty face when it sees one."
He scrolled down and tapped the bottom section, eyeing the words again.
"Luck's high, too. Not bad. But what the hell are Faith and Affinity?"
He thought for a second, then recalled the command. "System, please answer this question: What is Faith and Affinity?"
The screen shimmered and replied instantly.
Faith: A measure of spiritual strength. Higher Faith = more divine blessings.
Affinity: Governs connection to elements like Fire, Water, Ice, Light, Darkness, etc…
Higher Affinity = greater elemental mastery potential.
Ryan blinked. "Elemental mastery…?"
He paused, lips pursed in thought. "So that's how people'll get powers."
Still, all this information was too much to take in at once. He shrugged, leaning back.
"Well, can't do anything about my stats. I'll just roll with it. Let fate take the wheel."
He held up the dice and gave a kiss. "Let's see where you send me, partner."
He tossed them gently onto the board.
They bounced once, twice, and landed: 1 and 3.
"Four." He stepped forward just as the square labeled Babylon glowed beneath him.
He had just enough time to raise an eyebrow before the ground beneath him rippled like water.
And the world changed once again around him.
"Wha—"
He screamed, stumbling forward, and landed hard in the middle of an open agricultural field under the blazing sun. Dust rose around him. A scarecrow stood nearby, birds flapping away in surprise.
He blinked and looked at his own body. No pain or bruises.
The wind rustled the wheat. Somewhere in the distance, a bell tolled.
Ryan got to his feet, dusted his jeans, and glanced around. "I remember landing on Babylon. But this…"
A rolled-up parchment suddenly materialized in Ryan's hand, diverting his attention away from his surroundings for the moment.
Unfurling the parchment, Ryan squinted against the sunlight and began to read. His Quest was clearly stated:
*City: Babylon*
Year: 539 BC
Objective: Capture the enemy spy before he leaks critical military information to the Persian army.
Context: Babylon is on the brink of war. An internal traitor is about to deliver strategic intelligence regarding troop positions and fortifications. If the spy succeeds, the city will fall.
Clues:
1) The spy is male.
2) He is younger than 30.
3) He has a palindrome name (this can be a first name, middle name, or surname).
4) He sends out intel only after sunset, always via air transport.
Ryan lowered the parchment slowly, brows furrowed.
"A palindrome name? That's oddly specific," he mused. He thought about examples—names like Otto, Nayan, Asa, Hannah… Then shook his head. "Ugh… Too many possibilities than I expected, when it can be any part of the name."
Either way, the sun was high now. He still had time before sunset. If he wanted to catch the spy in the act, he'd need to understand the city—its layout, its people, and the movements within.