The sky on the screen was gray, lifeless clouds stretching across an endless wilderness. Knee-high wild grass swayed in the wind, and a solitary soul drifted aimlessly. It would stop from time to time, gazing blankly in some direction.
Suddenly, a faint sound caught its attention. It looked toward a mound of earth where movement seemed to stir. Just as it peered curiously, another soul appeared atop the mound, drifting swiftly toward it. Then another, two more, five, ten, a hundred. As the camera panned higher, an endless flood of souls swept in, each passing the original one.
The first soul hesitated briefly, then joined the surging army, flowing forward with the rest.
The soul army traversed forests, plains, mountains, and towns. As they passed, colors returned to the world. Creatures stirred with life—humans, dwarves, lions, bison, even skeletons and zombies. Some ran, some farmed, some crafted tools in workshops, some gathered to discuss, and some formed armies to clash in battle.
Finally, the camera rose to reveal the entire continent. Mist and clouds swirled, gradually forming a line of text:
"All things are born and perish, but only the soul endures."
The opening animation ended. As the screen dimmed and brightened again, it transitioned to the character creation page.
Lu Yun, wearing his VR headset, clicked the screen to input the name of the character he wanted to create.
The game was called Soul Journey. Unlike other games, players did not directly control a specific character. Instead, they first created a soul character, then entered the game's world, using their soul to inhabit the in-game characters they chose.
The continent in the game was horizontally oval-shaped, with three major factions: the Beast Alliance to the south, the Human Kingdom to the northwest, and the Undead Territories to the northeast. The map consisted of 360 zones, with version 1.0 unlocking 150. Each faction had 40 zones, and 30 belonged to the central snowy mountain region.
Lu Yun had played the beta as a Beast faction member and intended to play a beast again.
The game's essence was the soul itself, hence the name Soul Journey. Yet gameplay required choosing characters from one of the three factions. During the beta, Lu Yun had inhabited a Shadow Direwolf from the Beast faction. Characters could die permanently if certain conditions were met, causing the player to lose that host. Weak souls or excessive deaths could also result in expulsion, making the character lost.
Because the game used brainwave authentication, each account could create only one character. To play another race, a player had to rebirth.
Players could rebirth indefinitely: a wolf one life, a human the next, a lich after that. Each soul had a true soul name and could form soul friendships with other players. However, soul friends could not know each other's race or location. Players could name their hosts. Friends could see a character's online status, location, race, and level, but not the soul's true name. If a character died or rebirthed elsewhere, that friend effectively disappeared in the game.
During the beta, Lu Yun had encountered many such cases. A friend might suddenly say, "I'm going to play a human (or undead)," and vanish. Weeks later, a newcomer might join the guild and announce, "I'm XXX, I'm back!"
Though it was sometimes bittersweet to see friends rebirth, Lu Yun had grown used to it.
He began creating his soul character. He had long chosen the true soul name: Immortal in the Next Life.
Character creation involved two parts: elemental attribute points and soul talents.
Elemental points were divided into eight types: Light, Dark, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind. Light and Dark were mutually exclusive; the other six combined Western four elements with Eastern five elements: Metal beats Wood, Wood beats Wind, Wind beats Earth, Earth beats Water, Water beats Fire, Fire beats Metal.
A total of 10 points could be allocated. Mutually exclusive points could not coexist (e.g., Light and Dark or Fire and Metal).
Since he planned to play a Shadow Direwolf, Lu Yun allocated points as Dark 6, Earth 2, Fire 2.
Characters themselves had no elemental attributes, but certain skills did. For the Shadow Direwolf:
Stealth: While hidden in darkness, detection chance decreases by 5 levels (enhanced 1 level per Dark element point).
Pack: In a group with ≥3 wolves, all wolves gain 1% to all stats per additional wolf, up to 15%.
Lone Wolf: When alone, gain 5% evasion; each successful evasion restores 1% HP; triggers once every 3 seconds.
Blood Feast: Consume raw meat to restore health.
Lu Yun liked this race mostly for the "Lone Wolf" concept—it resonated with his own mindset.
The remaining Earth and Fire points facilitated skill learning. Non-elemental skills accounted for 30% of total skills; elemental skills were roughly 8% each. Non-elemental skills were weaker (75% effectiveness) and mainly supplemented elemental skills. High elemental points allowed mastery of stronger skills; low points limited capability. Lu Yun's distribution—one strong, two weak—was a popular choice.
Next was soul talent selection, divided into elemental boosts, basic attributes, weapon skills, or specialized enhancements. Beta offered 200 talents; now over 300.
Lu Yun hesitated. With too many choices, he initially eliminated some by exclusion, taking two hours, leaving 30 candidates.
Finally, he opted for random selection:
First random:
Divine Traveler: +50 movement speed, -10% stamina cost while running, +3 resistance to speed-limiting skills, can eat while running. Practical, but he wanted to see the next.
Second random:
Beast Spirit: Inhabit a Beast faction character: +5% all stats, +10% faction reputation gain, +5% damage vs Humans/Undead, -5% damage received. Useful, but less appealing than the first.
Third random:
Soul Voyager: +100 soul movement speed, +1 soul inventory slot, +10% soul value, +5 levels of soul control when inhabiting a host.