The Forsaken-Grade Cultivator

[You have successfully logged on!]

That was the last message Vincent heard before he was assaulted by a dizzying wave of vertigo. The slight dizziness was expected; after all, he was using a very outdated model of the VR helmet—probably nearly as old as he was.

The fact that it could even run such a demanding game was already a miracle.

By the time his senses returned, Vincent was both surprised and intrigued to find that he'd been transported to an eerie, dark space. As far as he could see, there was no illumination of any sort—no sun, no moon, no stars, no walls, nothing. Just a dark, completely empty void. Yet, somehow, the darkness did not affect his sight as it should have.

Somehow, Vincent could still distinguish up from down, left from right and heaven from earth… albeit a very dark and empty earth. All the same, it was a strange place.

"Hmmm? Is this some sort of sub-dimensional zone? An intermediary between the game and the real world? Nice. I would have liked to admire the intricate designs, but it doesn't seem to have any," Vincent thought while looking around the strange space when all of a sudden…

Ding!

[Please select a name for your character!]

Vincent heard the familiar sound of in-game notifications, accompanied by the prompt for name designation. Being no stranger to this process—having played quite a few games in the past—Vincent immediately voiced the name he had chosen.

"Liu Zhang."

Of course, he wasted no time deliberating; he had decided on this name at least three weeks ago. With a self-satisfied expression, he closed his eyes and patiently awaited the next message.

Well, it arrived right on time. But it didn't take a soothsayer to tell that the follow-up notification was not what Vincent was expecting.

[Username rejected! Someone has already chosen this name!]

"What the hell?" Vincent was genuinely surprised; he had not seen this coming.

"I'm pretty sure I logged on to the game when the timer ran down. So how the heck did this happen?" he wondered, scrunching his face in confusion. Then, he came to a realization.

"Ugh… It must be those rich kids and their 7G WiFi routers. Crap! Curse you, 5G!!!"

[Please select a name for your character!]

Vincent heard the message again, and he couldn't help but think the system sounded a bit disparaging this time. By now, he was a bit ticked off.

"Tsk looks like I'll have to use one of my contingencies. One of them is bound to work… right?" Vincent thought, and so the name-calling began.

"Liu Kang."

[Username rejected!]

"Liu Fang!"

[Username rejected!]

"Fang Yuan!"

[Username rejected!]

"Zhao Li!"

[Username rejected!]

"Hong Kong?"

[Username rejected!]

.

.

.

"Huff… huff… huff. Dammit! It's already been ten minutes, and yet…."

[Username rejected!]

In the painfully long span of six hundred seconds, Vincent had exhausted every name on his list, calling out the names of every wuxia character he had ever heard, mixing and matching them endlessly. But the stubborn system showed no regard for Vincent's desperate efforts, merely chiming out its prompts continuously.

"Fine then! If that's what you want! Vincent! Vincent Carter!" Vinny yelled with a tone of defeated annoyance. Both names were not particularly uncommon, but what were the chances…?

[…]

"Huh? No way is it seriously going to—!"

[Username rejected!]

Vincent didn't even get the chance to complete his thoughts before his hopes—which had risen dramatically—were dashed without hesitation.

"Damn it! That's the last straw!" Vinny fumed, his face a mix of frustration, confusion, bewilderment, and annoyance.

He opened his mouth, ready to unleash a tirade against the system.

"YOU DAMNED SYS—!" Vinny roared, but before he could finish, he was interrupted.

[Username rejected! Auto naming protocol commenced!]

"…!"

There was a brief silence, forcing Vincent to confront his own lameness. If he actually failed to complete the absolute most basic of tasks, then how was he supposed to 'climb to the pinnacle of this world' eh?

Ding!

[Auto naming protocol completed! Player's name is 'Ying'!]

The system finally responded. Vincent, however, was not impressed.

"Ying? Really? Ying? That's the best the most advanced AI of our time could come up with? What kind of name is Ying? What does it even mean?" he asked no one in particular, annoyance clearly written on his face.

Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

'...!'

Silence settled over the dark space for a long time. Vincent—now Ying—was still a bit irritated with the system for everything, but eventually, he decided to let it go, dismissing his emotions with an exasperated sigh.

'There's seriously no point in fussing over things at this point,' he thought.

"Sigh… Ying, huh? Well, I guess it's not THAT bad, but I'm pretty sure I suggested it at least once before... Ah, what a hassle." Vincent mused, but before he could delve into the suspiciousness of the situation, yet another message arrived.

Ding!

[Design your character!]

The message reached Vincent's ears, and with it came an array of options for what would inevitably become his new character's outward appearance. Following how he envisioned himself—at least in his mind—he began designing his character.

He gave him fair skin and modestly sized muscles. Ying had never been a fan of overly muscular physiques for one simple reason:

"Bulging muscles are the trademark of an airhead." A peculiar paradigm, to say the least.

For his hair, Vincent decided to go with long black hair. He had always wanted long hair, but his genes were not very generous in the hair growth department. In fact, his hair had never grown beyond a certain point all his life, and it wasn't like he had the money to splurge on growth supplements or products.

Vincent gave his character black eyes and then amped up his facial features to the max. "Ku kuku… Beware, ladies! A handsome and powerful god of martial arts is about to descend upon the world." He amused himself with the thought of dozens of beautiful women falling at his feet, lust written all over their faces, eager to touch even the slightest bit of his skin.

It wasn't that Vincent couldn't attract women; quite the opposite, actually. His handsome features made him a top dating candidate. He was desired, but never to the point of sheer fanaticism. Also, he was broke.

How wonderful it would be, though, to have real goddesses worship at his feet with fervent loyalty, ready and willing to attend to his every desire at a moment's notice. "Maybe, just maybe, I could be that kind of Lord…"

Just as he completed his designs and was about to submit them, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. It was more of a concern, really. "Hold on... The system can't reject my designs... can it?" He felt hesitant; he did not want the whole fiasco of character naming to occur all over again…

"Bah, whatever. I guess I'll just have to try and see." Resigning himself to his fate, Vincent submitted his designs. A few seconds later, another string of panels appeared.

Ding!

[Character Design Completed!]

[Player Ying is ready to enter! Would you like to proceed? Y/N]

"Shortening the already shortest words in the world? How niche. Yes!"

[Loading…..]

[Welcome, player Ying, to Cultivation Climax! May the blessings of the Dao be with you!]

With that, Vincent was transported—accompanied by a slight feeling of dizziness—into the vast and expansive world of Cultivation Climax.