The Forsaken-Grade Cultivator

Recovering his senses for the second time today, Ying slowly opened his eyes to take in the world around him.

It was beautiful… Or so he wanted to believe. The truth was that the visage was not anything special.

He had spawned probably a few dozen miles outside the nearest city, in the forest area, and was surrounded by nothing but trees. Ordinary, unremarkable trees, as well as a host of other plant life.

The vegetation was quite sparse, so his view was not too obstructed, but as far as he could see, there were nothing other than plants in the distance.

'Oh well, at least that gives me time to check out my status window. It's the first thing every decent gamer does upon entering a game.' Ying thought, and as if on cue, he heard the system's notification.

Ding!

[Player tutorial loaded! Would you like to proceed?]

"Of course, I would." Ying promptly responded. Following his response, an extensive window of information on the basic system prompts appeared before him.

Ying was not a novice to games, and all the commands were voice-activated, so the only thing that really mattered was the knowledge of the options' existence and functions. Perhaps the most important thing he gleaned was that the commands were also all thought-activated.

'Whoa. That'll really come in handy.' He mused.

With that, he decided to finally check his status window, 'Alright, let's see what I'm working with here.'

With a swift thought, Ying summoned his status window and soon enough, a translucent holographic panel manifested before his eyes. On it, the information that would inevitably dictate just how far he would be able to climb in this world.

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A strange omen follows you.

You are a very unlucky mortal with the absolute unheard of worst talent for cultivation, you will later on become the victim of countless failures and most likely eventually quit after accepting his fate. My evaluation is to give up while you still can.

]

Resounding silence!

'Huh? What's this? How did the system measure these…obscure stats? They look extremely randomized, and… luck? What the hell is luck? Also, what's all this crap about Forsaken-level talent?!' Ying thought.

'Forsaken? Forsaken by what exactly? The gods? Fate? What a load of bullshit! Is the game experiencing bugs? If so, then that's really disappointing.' Ying evaluated, displaying confusion and annoyance at his stats.

He started pacing, drifting aimlessly from side to side, obviously in frustrated denial at the unfiltered and blunt words of the system's evaluations.

It made him want to curse.

''A strange omen? Will experience many failures? Give up? I'll have your automated ass know that I've played a good few games before and I have always been well above average. Heck, I was even better than that!'

Ying's words were true.

Although not that many, Ying had played a considerable number of VR games, in which he always turned out to be highly talented and capable. However, he always ended up dropping them due to either boredom or a severe lack of interest.

Truth be told, if Ying had actually put in the effort, he might have actually had a real shot at getting up into the big leagues.

The influence of VR gaming in the world of today was not at all small; on the contrary, it was standing toe to toe with ALL the world's leading industries.

Somehow, those bureaucratic a**holes had succeeded in selling their propaganda, investing in the stocks of all the major gaming companies, and VR had evolved into something much more than mere entertainment.

It was not just a culture, but a lifestyle all on its own. No doubt, it had become one of the most influential parts of daily life in the waking world.

'They even host monthly and annual contests now and the best Athletes are divided into leagues ranging all the way from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and finally, Legendary…'

The benefits were great. If one met the standards, then the high life was all but guaranteed. However, that did not come without its problems.

There were quite a few dilemmas which were inescapable for all celebrity personalities. Invasion of privacy, exploitation, scamming, to name a few.

In Ying's opinion, the returns were not at all worth both the sacrifices he'd make, and the resources he would have had to consume. Resources that he did not possess… Moreover, there was also THAT reason.

Ying's thoughts divulged briefly, and a certain individual's face came to mind.

'Ugh, not even five minutes on and this game is already turning my mood sour.' Ying scoffed in denial.

That was why he was annoyed. In the end, he simply chalked it all up to errors made by the game developers, despite knowing in his heart of hearts that the chances of bugs in such a polished game were incredibly low.

He attempted to call out his Talent and Physique stats to see if he could glean more information, but failed. The two stats seemed to be greyed out; perhaps he had yet to unlock them?

Eventually, he gave up.

''Sigh. Whatever… Let's just see what I have in my inventory. " Ying mindlessly worded as his gaze ventured to the top left corner of the window, where the [Inventory] option flaunted a big red dot next to it.

With an unexpectant thought, Ying opened it. He immediately witnessed a bunch of empty squares, about two dozen of them, neatly arranged on a single panel.

Apparently, the square boxes were all empty and had yet to be occupied with items and other things Ying would inevitably collect on his journeys. Well, all except for three, which had indiscernible objects in them; no doubt signifying that they were occupied.

With a thought command, he enhanced the names underneath the three occupied slots.

They read…

"Ho… Hoho… Finally, things are about to get interesting." Ying could not help but laugh aloud. A wide grin tugged his lips as he read the names of the items within his storage.