The sun beat down with a fury, baking the endless expanse of yellow sand. The scorching air carried a faint, sickening whiff of decay.
"Where... am I?"
Luo Jie pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead as he pushed himself up from the ground. Before him stretched a vast, desolate wilderness. The highway beneath his feet radiated heat, its vanishing point warped by heat haze, revealing the distant silhouette of a city.
Fragmented memories flickered in his mind like faulty lightbulbs – brief, disjointed flashes. Around him, nearly a hundred men and women, young and old, were stirring awake, their collective bewilderment that would've been comical on a reality show.
The scene struck Luo Jie with an unsettling familiarity.
It was as if a crucial puzzle piece had snapped into place. Shards of memory began reassembling themselves in his mind. Moments later, his eyes snapped open wide, filled with utter disbelief.
"I've... reborn..."
Luo Jie remembered everything.
It was his seventh year as a Phantasm Player. Reduced to a mercenary, he and a few comrades had taken a job from a major guild: protect the guild leader's illegitimate son during his Class Advancement in the "Demihuman" Phantasm.
Whether through a leak or sheer rotten luck, the kid had run smack into the enemy guild's main force within the Phantasm.
The unimaginable happened. Though weak, the bastard son possessed an EX-rank, one-time use artifact from the "Butterfly Effect" Phantasm – [Ivan's Diary Fragment]. He triggered it. The resulting spacetime vortex obliterated the entire city.
Luo Jie couldn't fathom how he'd survived that cataclysmic storm. His best gear back then was merely a B-rank Powered Armor Suit – utterly incapable of withstanding such spacetime-rending power.
Screeeech—!
A piercing burst of static shattered Luo Jie's thoughts, drawing the attention of the entire group.
"Sir! Please, give me back my megaphone..."
A young woman, looking every bit the trainee tour guide, flushed crimson as she tried to reclaim her mini-megaphone from a burly man in mirrored sunglasses. Her petite frame made her efforts – jumping and stretching – seem almost comically futile.
"Alright, alright. I'll give it back when I'm done. Be good." The Sunglasses Man patted her head with a massive hand, treating her like a child. The guide could only manage a strained smile.
Hearing their familiar exchange sent a wave of surreal déjà vu crashing over Luo Jie. Seven years... So many trivial memories had faded. He recalled only that "Sunglasses" was the sole veteran Phantasm Player present. Had he not shared crucial information, few here would have survived. Though his motive wasn't altruism – it was compliance with enforced rules.
"Hey! Hey! Everyone gather 'round! Cooperation appreciated!" Sunglasses tested the mic, nodded approvingly at the volume, and addressed the confused crowd.
People, desperate for guidance, instinctively shuffled closer.
"Call me Sunglasses. It's a handle." He tapped his dark grey aviators for emphasis. "Who I am doesn't matter. Survive this, and you'll find out. Let's talk about your current situation."
"Remember that strange purple fog on the highway? That wasn't smog. It was a spatial gateway – a portal to another dimension called a 'Phantasm.'"
"The origins of Phantasms remain a mystery. Their worlds are built from humanity's creations: history, myth, theater, film, literature, anime, games... you name it."
"Each Phantasm has its own rules. But the universal constant? Datafication. Here, everything is quantified. Even yourselves. Think of it as an ultra-realistic VR game. Except here, everything is real... including death."
Sunglasses' explanation did little to quell the murmurs. People scanned the horizon for hidden cameras, convinced this was some elaborate prank show. It was a natural reaction. Waking up stranded breeds skepticism, not instant belief in interdimensional travel.
"Enough of this bullshit! Where's the exit?!" A man in a rumpled suit, clutching a briefcase, yelled furiously, checking his watch repeatedly. "I've got a million-dollar contract signing this afternoon!"
His outburst sparked a wave of agitation. Others had places to be, schedules to keep. This "show" wasn't on their agenda.
Sunglasses just grinned, making a sweeping gesture. "Think it's a set? Walk away. I dare you. Make it out, and I'll eat my shades."
"Walk I will! Think you can scare me?"
The Suit Man stomped off about fifteen meters. Seeing no followers, he hesitated, then slunk back, shoulders slumped. He wasn't stupid. The desert soil, the sparse vegetation – this was no soundstage. Even if he dismissed the Phantasm talk, he knew venturing alone into this endless wasteland without supplies was suicide.
Sunglasses' smile held no mockery. His own first Phantasm experience hadn't been much better. Though getting sucked into two brand-new Phantasms? That was just cosmically bad luck.
"Thanks for sticking around. Now, the single most important step for surviving a Phantasm: Focus your mind and think, 'Open Main Panel,' or something similar."
Finally. Luo Jie focused instantly: Open Main Panel.
Light flickered deep within his dark pupils. A massive, game-like interface, bathed in cool, translucent blue light, superimposed itself onto his vision.
NAME: Luo Jie RANK: Zero PHYS: 75 (STR, END, Physical RES, SPD, etc. Human Max: 100) MENT: 180 (PSI, Mental RES, REF, PER, etc. Human Max: 100)
Suddenly, Luo Jie's eyes widened in genuine shock, mirroring the expressions of the true newbies around him. His attribute panel, which should have been completely reset, displayed an extra entry:
[DEMIHUMAN] Type: Bloodline Quality: EX Level: LV.1 Skill 1: New Human (Passive) – Base MENT +100%. (Non-upgradable) Skill 2: Death Refurbish (Passive) – Resurrect in perfect condition after death (10 sec + 30 sec per 1% body mass loss). Removes all buffs/debuffs. Skill 3: Black Ghost (Active) – Summon a Black Ghost. Physical entity, physical attacks, invisible to naked eye. Strength = 100% Base MENT. (Note: Black Ghost intelligence corrupted. Cannot act autonomously.) Description: Death is but eternity.
Luo Jie stared, dumbfounded. A Bloodline? He'd stake his life his original panel had nothing like this.
Then it hit him. A strange rumor circulated among veteran Players back in his first life. Whispers of a hidden easter egg in the "Demihuman" Phantasm: die any death within it, and you had a minuscule chance to gain the EX-rank rare Bloodline – [Demihuman].
Naturally, no sane Player tested an unverified rumor by offing themselves. And those who did die there never popped back up. It remained a joke, a campfire tale.
Until now. He'd hit the cosmic jackpot. The grand prize.
"EX-rank Bloodline..." Luo Jie breathed the words, his expression a complex mix of awe and wariness.
For someone whose best gear in his previous life hadn't even reached A-rank, the [Demihuman] Bloodline was overwhelming.
Technically, EX-rank wasn't a tier denoting raw power. It stood for "Exceptional" – unique, unquantifiable. EX gear could have stats ranging from SSS down to F, sometimes even underperforming standard gear of its level. But they always possessed one or more utterly unique effects, capable of achieving results far beyond their nominal rank under specific conditions. In gamer terms: best-in-slot.
But [Demihuman]? "Best-in-slot" didn't begin to cover it. Setting aside the potent but straightforward Skill 1 and the currently crippled Skill 3, Skill 2 – [Death Refurbish] – was mind-boggling.
For perspective: In his first life, an S-rank item with a similar single-use resurrection effect, [Phoenix Down], cost around 100,000 points and was perpetually out of stock.
[Death Refurbish] was an infinitely reusable [Phoenix Down].
Luo Jie closed the panel, took several deep breaths, forcing his racing heart to calm. Focus.
Honestly, even among EX-ranks, an effect this blatantly overpowered was rare. It bordered on manipulating fundamental laws.
But seven years of seeing underdogs rise and giants fall had taught him one core truth: Never rely solely on any single ability or item, no matter how godlike it seems.
Undeath wasn't invincibility. Resurrection was an insurance policy, not a crutch to lean on habitually.
Still, a warning didn't negate the gift. If rebirth was a shocking surprise, the EX-rank [Demihuman] Bloodline was the dazzling bow on top.
Armed with seven years of future knowledge, strategic insights, and now an EX-rank Bloodline as his foundation, Luo Jie felt a surge of confidence unlike anything before. The peaks he could only gaze upon in his past life? This time, he would stand atop them. He would chase the legendary ranks.
He would become...
Player One.