"I'm back?"
Ethan Reed rubbed his eyes, staring at the familiar chaos of his dorm room. Posters on the wall, the faint hum of the AC, the cluttered desk—it was all exactly as it had been ten years ago.
Metro University, Room 204, New Haven City.
He glanced at his phone: August 1, 2042, 10:31 AM.
His breath caught. "Reborn... ten years in the past."
And today—August 1—was the launch day for the ninth server of the revolutionary VRMMORPG Eternal Realm.
Ethan's heart raced as he bolted out of bed. He threw on whatever clothes were closest and dashed out of the dorm, heading straight for the game helmet distribution center just off campus—the one he remembered from his original timeline.
Eternal Realm had launched globally in 2038 with cutting-edge full-dive VR tech. By 2042, it boasted over a billion concurrent players at peak times, dwarfing every other form of entertainment. Top players weren't just famous—they were celebrities, influencers, and millionaires rolled into one.
"This is my second chance."
Excitement surged through him. With ten years of future knowledge—strategies, hidden quests, boss patterns, economy exploits—he could dominate from day one.
And more importantly...
His family wouldn't have to suffer.
In his first life, his little sister had been diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. His parents worked themselves to the bone—double shifts, side gigs, anything to cover the endless medical bills. Ethan had pushed himself into Metro University, one of the top schools in the country, hoping to land a high-paying job and ease their burden.
But fate had other plans.
A drunk driver. A rainy night. His parents gone in an instant. His sister, already fragile, spiraled into depression as the bills mounted and treatment became impossible. She passed quietly, in pain, leaving Ethan alone and broken.
"Never again," he whispered fiercely. "I'll become the best. I'll build a pro team, win the global league, rake in the prize money. They'll live comfortably. They'll live."
He remembered the 4th Eternal Realm World League finals in late December 2041. The epic clash between Aether and Skyforge went nine grueling matches, peaking at 1.5 billion viewers—almost half the planet watching. The MVP from Aether, a player known as God Apollo, walked away with $200 million just from that one tournament's share.
And that was only one event.
With his knowledge, Ethan could claim that kind of wealth—and more.
He reached the distribution center, heart pounding. His phone showed a balance of 3,000 credits—two months of living expenses, scraped together by his parents.
A basic D-grade VR helmet cost 2,999 credits.
He hesitated only a second before swiping his card. "This is an investment. With my edge, I'll turn it into millions."
The server opened at 8:00 AM. It was already past 10:30. Every minute counted—early advantages could snowball into insurmountable leads.
Back in the empty dorm (classes didn't start until September, and most students weren't back yet), Ethan hooked up the helmet and lay down.
[Iris scan complete. Binding successful!]
[Enter Eternal Realm?]
[Yes.]
[Select server.]
A holographic menu appeared with nine glowing orbs:
[Server 1: Dawn]
[Server 2: Eclipse]
...
[Server 8: Dusk]
[Server 9: Nova Realm (New)]
Without hesitation, he selected Nova Realm. The older servers were already half a year old—prime spots claimed, resources farmed out. A fresh server was his best shot.
[Selection confirmed. Connecting...]
Light enveloped him. The world shifted.
He materialized in a vast, golden hall. Before him stood six ethereal figures representing the starter classes: Warrior, Mage, Priest, Archer, Assassin, Summoner.
[Congratulations, player! You are the 52,025,000th to log into Nova Realm!]
[Please enter your character name.]
Ethan smirked. In Eternal Realm, the name wasn't just cosmetic. The system generated a random talent upon creation—some god-tier, some trash. But he'd learned the hidden truth in his past life: talent quality correlated with the name chosen, tied to some inscrutable algorithm from the game's alien core AI.
Most players had no clue.
But Ethan knew the names of legends—players who snagged A-grade or higher talents.
And there was one infamous SSS-grade talent holder who rose to dominance on the Nova Realm server.
"I hope I'm faster than him," Ethan muttered, typing: Inner Peace
[System check: Name available.]
Yes! The other guy hadn't created his character yet.
"Confirm."
[Character creation successful! Generating talent...]
[Congratulations, player "Inner Peace"! You have obtained SSS-grade talent — Unlimited Buff!]
[Unlimited Buff: SSS-grade. All buffs applied to you become permanent (infinite duration).]
Ethan stared at the notification, a grin splitting his face.
"Holy shit."
This talent... it was beyond broken.
With this, the world was his for the taking.
"This talent… it's absolutely insane!"
Ethan Reed's breathing quickened, eyes blazing with excitement.
In his previous life, his gaming talent had been solid. Even though he started years later than most, he'd clawed his way into the global rankings—top 50,000—within three years, all thanks to raw skill and grind. But a mere B-grade talent, combined with late entry and gear gaps, had capped him hard. His peak? Just outside the top 10,000 before everything fell apart.
Now? SSS-grade. Day one. And with ten years of meta knowledge ahead of everyone else.
He was going to lap the competition.
[Please select your class!]
The six glowing silhouettes brightened—Warrior, Mage, Priest, Archer, Assassin, Summoner. A mental touch would pull up details; a physical one would lock it in.
Ethan already knew them inside out. His choice was clear.
He focused on the Priest silhouette.
No question—Priest had the most buff skills in the long run. Normally, he could just make an alt Priest to buff himself permanently thanks to Unlimited Buff. Easy.
But that risked exposing his talent. Word would spread fast in this game.
Better to main Priest himself. Reduced exposure risk, and anyway—Eternal Realm had Class Expansion Scrolls later on. He could branch into other classes without losing his base. Worst case, he knew exactly where to find Rebirth Potions to respec his starting class.
Plus, early-game stats were close enough across classes. With his skill, even a Priest could level like a monster.
Decision made.
Ethan stepped forward and touched the Priest light.
[Selection successful! Player "Inner Peace" has chosen the Priest class!]
The light shattered into warm energy that flowed into him. His body tingled as white robes materialized around him, a simple wooden staff coalescing in his hand. A gentle, omnipresent warmth enveloped him—like sunlight on skin.
In his last life he'd been an Assassin; this holy aura felt completely new.
He pulled up his character panel.
[Character: Inner Peace]
[Class: Priest]
[Level: 1 (0/100)]
[HP: 100]
[Mana: 180]
[Physical Attack: 12]
[Magic Attack: 46]
[Physical Defense: 15]
[Magic Defense: 20]
—Base Attributes—
[Strength: 6]
[Constitution: 10]
[Agility: 8]
[Spirit: 18]
[Free Attribute Points: 0 (Gain 4 per level-up)]
[Potential Points: 0 (Gain 1 per level-up; used to upgrade skills)]
—Fixed Attributes—
[Charisma: 0 (Increases 1 every 20 levels)]
[Luck: 0 (Increases 1 every 20 levels)]
—Talent—
[Unlimited Buff: SSS-grade – All buffs applied to you become permanent (infinite duration).]
—Skills—
None learned
[Available to learn: Heal, Smite]
—————
Heal (Lv.1)
Restores health equal to 100% of magic attack (46 HP) to target. (+10%/lv)
Range: 20m (+1.25m/lv)
Cooldown: 10s (-1s/lv)
Mana Cost: 15 (+10/lv)
Smite (Lv.1)
Deals 150% holy damage (69 damage) as Judgment damage (ignores defense). (+20%/lv)
Range: 30m (+1.25m/lv)
Cooldown: 20s (-2.5s/lv)
Mana Cost: 15 (+5/lv)
—————
Ethan considered for a second, then spent his 1 Potential Point to learn Smite.
Early leveling needed damage. Smite's true damage (ignoring defense) was huge, even with the 20-second cooldown. He had ways around that later.
Heal was instant but not a buff, and he planned to solo-level—no rush to pick it up yet.
He glanced at his Level 1 starter gear—plain white robes and staff, Common quality. Nothing special. In Eternal Realm, gear tiers ran: Common → Black Iron → Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum → Diamond → Obsidian → Legendary (and beyond, though he'd never seen higher than Obsidian in his old life).
Normal mobs dropped Common; elites dropped Black Iron; lords dropped Bronze and up.
[Please select your birthplace!]
A list appeared: Novice Villages 0001 to 9999.
Nearly 10,000 villages for ~50 million players on Nova Realm—about 5,000 per village on average.
Not bad. Most players stayed in their novice village until Level 20, then moved to main cities for class advancement and real competition.
"Radiant Hollow Village, number 1024."
Over the next decade, players had ranked starting spots. Radiant Hollow was a top-10 favorite—especially for Priests—thanks to its unique blessing.
[Selection confirmed!]
Light swallowed him. The grand hall vanished.
He rematerialized in the Arrival Plaza of Radiant Hollow Village, bathed in soft golden light.
[Ding! You have received the Radiant Hollow Blessing! Duration: 1 hour!]
[Radiant Hollow Blessing: All attributes +1, HP and mana regen +5 per second. Duration: ∞ (permanent due to your talent).]
"Hell yes!"
Ethan grinned at the status bar. Normally, the blessing lasted only an hour and gave +1 to all base attributes.
But for Priests? Extra continuous HP/mana regen.
And thanks to Unlimited Buff… it became permanent.
That meant +1 to everything—including the fixed attributes: Charisma and Luck.
Charisma boosted hidden quest trigger rates. Luck affected literally every RNG mechanic: drop rates, crits, enhancement success, you name it.
Most players grinded 20 levels just to get +1 Luck or Charisma naturally—or chased ultra-rare gear/quests.
Ethan had just snagged both for free.
"With this, leveling here is going to be a breeze."
He recalled the potion system: Common potions (out-of-combat only) vs. Combat potions (usable anytime, super rare drops).
The village regen ignored combat restrictions—perfect sustain for solo play.
Priests were meta for a reason. Every serious party needed one.
Around the plaza, shouts filled the air:
"SharkStrike Dynasty recruiting! Priests wanted—tons of spots! Great benefits!"
"Need 2 Priests for Violent Warriors group! 3-man/2-heal setup!"
"Level 3 sword for sale—cabbage price! 100 coppers!"
"…"
Ethan blinked. Way more than 5,000 people here.
Three hours post-launch. Word of the Priest-friendly blessing had spread—Priests flocked in, and others followed for easy groups.
Priests were hot commodities.
Time to move. He couldn't let anyone snatch the hidden goodies he remembered from Radiant Hollow.
"Hey, bro! New Priest spawn? Still got the blessing? Join SharkStrike Dynasty! Big shots will carry you—level fast!"
A bald guy named "Big Bro Ji Is Huge" grabbed his arm. Level 3 gear, Black Iron greatsword on his back—shimmering darkly. Impressive for hour three.
Ethan frowned. He knew the type. SharkStrike was a mid-tier guild tied to a streaming platform—flashy, but notorious for drama, especially harassing female players. It would crash and burn in a few years.
Hundreds of these sponsor guilds existed. Ethan had zero interest.
"Sorry, I prefer solo. Not joining any guild."
He slipped free and bolted toward the village exit.
The bald guy stared after him. "What the—? Cocky little noob. Didn't even learn Heal? Just Smite? Good luck surviving!"
"Bro Ji, how'd you know he picked Smite?"
A sidekick asked, confused.
"Easy tell on old-server vets," the bald guy smirked. "Priests go two ways: Holy (healing focus) or Judgment (damage). Kid's eyes had that faint red glow—classic Smite learner. Thinks he can solo with a 20-second cooldown nuke? Five minutes tops—he's dead and back at respawn. Goblin sticks'll wreck him."
Ethan didn't hear them. He was already sprinting toward the village outskirts, mind racing with plans.
The real advantages of Radiant Hollow were hidden—and he wasn't wasting a second.