Chapter Two: One Month Later, Dare to Face the Battle?

Platinum helmet with a water-blue base color, inlaid with deep red Chiao patterns; the inner lining of the helmet fits snugly against the head, making it feel as if nothing is worn at all. The official open beta of "Fantasy" is set for July 10th—I truly wish I could glimpse the entire world right now.

Opportunity favors those who are well-prepared; this has been the lesson learned after years of online gaming. I have meticulously studied the information released on the official website multiple times, though it remains exceedingly simple, making it difficult to gain deeper insight. The closed beta testing for Fantasy was limited to selected staff members, so confidentiality has naturally been maintained with utmost rigor.

The game's zones are divided by country, with servers established in most nations. Citizens of microstates are assigned to nearby servers randomly upon character creation. Fantasy’s management system is an intelligent platform developed at great expense by three major internet companies. It operates completely independently, and the NPCs within the game are autonomously generated by the system’s main AI, beyond the control of the game companies, ensuring a relatively fair gaming environment.

During the open beta, the game company will launch an intermediary platform allowing the exchange between Fantasy’s virtual currency and real-world money. Game accounts are directly linked to players’ national ID numbers and bank accounts. Sellers deposit virtual currency into the in-game virtual bank for processing, enabling them to sell it; the proceeds are automatically transferred to their real-world bank accounts. Both parties must pay a 3.5% transaction fee, and buyers must purchase from consigned virtual currency. The exact exchange rate will be determined by the market once the open beta begins.

This support for currency exchange is unprecedented in online games and is undoubtedly a boon for professional players, who no longer need to trade in fear. This pioneering feature alone has led many players to "turn from shadow to light." Furthermore, rumors suggest that after Fantasy officially launches, direct exchanges between virtual and real currencies will be available, a bombshell that has stunned countless gaming companies and attracted thousands of gamers. With Fantasy’s debut, the entire landscape shifts dramatically.

Equipment in Fantasy is graded into seven tiers: White Equipment — Bronze Equipment — Silver Equipment — Gold Equipment — Purple-Gold Equipment — Celestial Artifacts — Divine Artifacts — Ancient Divine Artifacts.

White equipment naturally lacks any additional attributes, while bronze level and above typically possess some added stats or skills. The currency system follows common conventions: 1 gold coin equals 100 silver coins, which equals 10,000 copper coins.

Life skills are ranked as: Beginner — Intermediate — Advanced — Master — Grandmaster.

Monsters and bosses are classified as: Low-Level — Mid-Level — High-Level — Spiritual Beast — Celestial Beast — Divine Beast.

Elixirs are graded as: Basic — Intermediate — Advanced — Spirit Pill — Immortal Pill.

Professions are divided into five tiers: Levels 1–10 are unranked, with no skills available.

Levels 11–30 constitute Tier One, allowing learning of basic skills for the profession.

Levels 31–60 are Tier Two, granting access to intermediate skills.

Levels 61–100 are Tier Three, the most critical stage for each profession, where specialization occurs according to personal preference, unlocking advanced skills.

Levels 101–150 are Tier Four, during which ultimate skills can be learned, though skill books for these cannot be purchased from the system’s professional guilds.

Above level 151 is Tier Five, which allows learning all skills below advanced level from another profession, as well as the creation of unique ultimate skills.

Professions in Fantasy are designed to reflect the cultural characteristics of various countries. For instance, magic-users are called Mages in Western nations, Taoists in China, Pharaohs in Egypt, and Practitioners in India. Among warriors, the West has Paladins and Knights, Japan offers Ronin and Samurai, while China broadly refers to them as Warriors. Given China’s vast history and countless martial arts schools, only a few representative warrior classes are selected. Many nations have unique professions, such as Scholars in China. Hidden classes exist too, requiring specific story triggers to unlock.

The eight main professions in the Chinese zone are Warrior, Taoist, Assassin, Hunter, Scholar, Witch, Monk, and Archer. The Witch and Monk classes are gender-restricted.

Warriors are melee specialists, indispensable in combat, and are subdivided based on weapon type:

Spearmen wield long polearms, typically two-handed weapons. However, when mounted, they can hold a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. At Tier Three, they can specialize either as infantry-focused fighters or cavalry-oriented spear-and-shield warriors. When mounted, their attack power with the same weapon is only 60% of that on foot.

Blade Warriors at Tier Three can develop into either single-blade or dual-blade specialists. Single-blade warriors wield a two-handed sword, focusing on offense. Dual-blade warriors can either wield two one-handed swords or a sword combined with another item. At the same rank and quality, two-handed swords deal more damage than one-handed swords.

Sword Warriors use either one-handed or two-handed swords. One-handed swords can be dual-wielded or combined with another item; two-handed swords are wielded singly. At Tier Three, one must choose only one development path.

Axe Warriors and Hammer Warriors follow similar patterns.

The principles of Yin and Yang generate the Five Elements, which in turn produce all things; elements cycle endlessly through generation and destruction. Pets and monsters possess elemental attributes: Metal overcomes Wood, Wood overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, and Fire overcomes Metal. Taoists primarily attack with spells that can be highly destructive, but when facing monsters whose element counters their magic, effectiveness is halved; conversely, damage is amplified when attacking weak elements.

Metal Taoists specialize in metal-element spells that deal bonus damage to wood-element monsters. They can conjure metallic humanoids to assist in battle, limited to two per player. They can also enhance defense and offense for armored classes and fortify buildings. Their development paths are combat-focused or supportive.

Wood Taoists specialize in wood-element spells that deal increased damage to earth-element monsters. They can develop into controllers, manipulating surrounding plants to fight, or summoners, calling forth inherent plant creatures unaffected by the environment.

Water Taoists’ spells deal bonus damage to fire-element monsters and include many healing abilities, making them excellent team medics. They can evolve along supportive or offensive lines.

Fire Taoists’ spells deal bonus damage to metal-element monsters. Their area-of-effect skills are the most powerful among the five Taoist elemental paths, with development options focusing on either group attacks or single-target strikes.

[End of current chapter; please proceed to the next page to continue reading.]