Chapter Two: A Change of Vocation

“What is this? Some kind of prank?”

“Lin Bo? Who is Lin Bo?”

“I remember now—Lin Bo was that genius scientist who won the Nobel Prize twenty years ago!”

The classroom erupted in whispers and murmurs, all stirred up by that strange voice.

“Quiet! Quiet!” The middle-aged teacher pounded the lectern, his anger palpable. “Do you all have nothing better to do than pay attention to that kind of nonsense? Settle down and focus on the lesson! And you, Zhao Nan, get out of my classroom!”

At the teacher’s words, Zhao Nan’s face remained expressionless as he walked slowly toward the door. At first, he moved at a snail’s pace, taking nearly three seconds for each step, and his pace only slowed further. It took him more than a minute just to reach the door.

The teacher’s anger only grew. “Zhao Nan! Get out immediately—right now!”

That sharp command seemed to startle Zhao Nan from a daze. His body tensed, then, with a sudden motion, he flung open the classroom door and dashed out into the corridor.

By the time the teacher rushed after him, Zhao Nan had already vanished from sight.

Zhao Nan slipped quickly into a stairwell alcove in the school building, where, since classes were still in session, the place was deserted. He took a deep breath and punched the wall hard, the pain causing his brow to furrow.

Only after several more deep breaths did Zhao Nan press a hand to his chest—his heart was racing, pounding so fiercely it seemed unnatural.

Yet this was not fear—it was exultation. Sheer joy, because he was alive, inexplicably returned to the past rather than dead.

After three years spent in the monster game, Zhao Nan had come to treasure life deeply. In that environment, death could almost seem a release. But after all, who truly wishes to give up their life?

His gaze drifted to the window, where black dots had begun appearing in the sky—an omen of the global transformation to come. At first, these dots were small, resembling distant planes, but with each passing second they would rapidly grow, soon to blanket the sky the world over.

That marked the true beginning of the game.

Only ten minutes remained—no, less: barely over five. Before the game truly began, Zhao Nan had to find a safe place to quietly log in.

When "Global Monster Online" officially started, monsters would appear first. Only after a minute would a prompt allow humans to log into the game.

In his previous life, like everyone else, Zhao Nan had ignored the sudden prompt. When the game truly began, he suffered terrifying injuries, so that when his stats were first sketched out, his physical state was so poor his attributes were below average.

This was a common situation at the game’s outset. Once it began, those nearby might randomly become monsters or players. The monsters lost all sense, attacking everyone around them; many people died before they even saw the login prompt.

Zhao Nan struggled to keep his emotions in check. He didn’t know if he’d be lucky enough to become a player this time around. If he became a monster, his fate would be to eventually be slain by other players.

Still, as long as there was a chance, he had no intention of giving up.

“First, I need to find somewhere absolutely safe, with no one else around…”

Scouring his surroundings, Zhao Nan realized that in a school building, avoiding crowds was nearly impossible. Hiding would have to do.

He slipped quickly into the janitor’s closet beneath the stairs, enduring the stench as he locked the door behind him. Only a narrow beam of light crept in beneath the door. He curled into himself, silently counting the seconds.

One minute…

Two minutes…

Three minutes…

At three minutes and twenty seconds, a scream split the air! Zhao Nan’s heart lurched—this was it. The game had truly begun. Somewhere, a human had turned into a monster and started attacking. Zhao Nan let out a breath of relief, sensing that he himself had not changed, which meant he would become a player.

Grateful, he could only offer a silent prayer for those who had died at the hands of monsters. He could barely protect himself in this chaos, let alone warn others—if he tried, he’d only be dismissed as insane.

The screams grew louder, the entire city trembling with chaos.

“Global Monster Online, officially launched. Welcome to the true world of the game!”

Suddenly, Zhao Nan felt his body lighten, as if pulled into a strange void. Before him hovered a massive orb of light, the source of the voice. This was the main system of the game—a voice that would accompany humanity from now on.

It was also Lin Bo’s voice. That madman, it was later discovered, had embedded his consciousness into the system, becoming the game’s emotionless core.

Why he created the game remained a mystery.

“Now sketching your body… Confirming species…”

Zhao Nan waited quietly for the system to process. After about a minute, his initial attributes appeared before him.

Name: Zhao Nan
Constitution: 8 (10)
Strength: 7 (10)
Spirit: 16 (10)
Agility: 6 (10)
Vitality: 100
Mana: 0
Life Status: Good

A broad grin split Zhao Nan’s face—these stats were much higher than before his rebirth. Clearly, preserving himself had been the right choice. With stats like these, he was already ahead of most players, especially his Spirit, which at 16 exceeded the system’s standard for new players.

He suspected this was due to his rebirth; three years in the game had steeled his spirit far beyond that of ordinary people.

“Dear player, your initial attributes have been scanned. Your total starting attribute points are 37. You have one opportunity to reset your attributes. Would you like to reset?”

“No!”

A reset meant the system would randomly distribute points among Strength, Spirit, Agility, and Constitution. Who knew if he’d get 16 Spirit again?

“Next, please choose your race!”

A wide array of beings appeared before Zhao Nan: humans, angels with pure white wings, demons, beastfolk, elves, dragonkin…

Each race had its own path to enhance its strengths. Only by playing could one fully experience these differences. Choosing a supernatural race like angel or demon didn’t guarantee an easy path.

Only humans allowed free distribution of attribute points upon leveling up; other races had fixed growth ratios. Unless one obtained high-level attribute reset items or changed classes, the development of supernatural races was set from the start.

As a seasoned player, Zhao Nan knew the importance of attribute allocation. So he once again chose human.

“Next, please select your class!”

Zhao Nan drew a deep breath—finally, he had reached this step. In his previous life, ignorant and captivated by the swordsman’s dashing appearance, he had chosen that class after picking human, without considering his own stats. The result was an unbalanced build that hampered his progress, leaving his strength languishing around the two-thousandth mark in the world despite a few lucky encounters.

“Mage!”

With an initial Spirit of 16, not choosing Mage would have been a travesty.

At that moment, a halo of light descended from above Zhao Nan’s head, slowly spiraling down to his feet. His appearance remained unchanged, but a staff resembling a tree branch appeared in his hand—a weapon granted by the system to all mages.

“White Novice Mage Staff: Attack 1–2”

On his left wrist, an ancient-looking bracelet materialized. This bracelet had many uses: it summoned his character panel, was indestructible, and unless the character died, would not vanish in the early stages of the game. It also provided access to his inventory.

Zhao Nan’s attributes shifted accordingly.

Name: Zhao Nan
Class: Human Mage
Level: LV0
Constitution: 8 (10)
Strength: 7 (10)
Spirit: 16 (10)
Agility: 6 (10)
Vitality: 100
Mana: 160 (1 Spirit = 10 Mana)
Life Status: Good
Equipment: White Novice Mage Staff
Skills: Minor Fireball (LV0)
Items: Small Health Potion ×5, Small Mana Potion ×5
Money: 0
Experience: 0/100

“Congratulations on officially becoming a player in ‘Global Monster Online.’ Here, you may obtain everything you’ve ever dreamed of! Go forth and create miracles!”

The system’s voice was tinged with excitement, as though urging him onward. Zhao Nan let out a soft breath. The orb of light had vanished, replaced by a towering gateway of radiance.

He pushed open the door, stepping into a world transformed by the game, awaiting his arrival…