1 Ten Years a Hoarder

Bright sunlight shone down upon his face, warm and a little tingly. A cool sea breeze whispered through the air, waking Zhang Yun where he lay upon the sandy beach.

"Argh! My ten years of hard work!"

Sensing something amiss, he cast about frantically, and noticed that he was presently on an unfamiliar beach somewhere, surrounded by seashells and curious stones. An azure ocean undulated before him; behind him, a lush, impenetrable jungle.

What was going on? Hadn't the server been shut down? Shouldn't he have been forcibly ejected from the game? Why was he still in here?

"Map!" he cried aloud in bewilderment.

In response, a rectangular holographic image sprang into view before him. However, all the labels upon it were missing, and most of it was obscured behind a dark shroud which hid the colorful terrain from view. Zhang Yun couldn't tell exactly where he was, right now.

"Blast! Is this some kind of bug?" Unable to figure out the situation, he opened up the Main Menu to get in contact with Customer Service—but most of the functions that should have been there had also now gone missing…

… including the Exit button. That was gone, too.

***

"What the… I've been sucked into the game?"

After five minutes of probing around, Zhang Yun had come to the conclusion that he'd moved across dimensions somehow!

The game's graphics weren't exactly flawless, so there were visible defects on everything. This was especially true of tiny objects, such as the endless pebbles and seashells strewn about the place, which were obviously just the same few things copy-pasted ad infinitum, identical in shape and detail.

In fact, everything about this beach—from the size and luster of the pebbles, to the patterns and coloration of the seashells—all of it felt unnatural, somehow.

As for his own body… The hair on his head was of different lengths; his blood ran red, rather than the inoffensive green stuff typically seen in the game; he felt pain when he got hurt. All this suggested that he wasn't just playing the game anymore.

Add to this the fact that he could no longer exit the game, and how most of his player controls had vanished, and how he'd awoken on an unfamiliar beach somewhere…

In summary, there was no mistaking it:

"Holy crap! I'm actually inside the game right now! Well, that's as may be, I suppose… Back in the real world, I've got no parents, no house or car, no love life, and I'm stuck in a job that barely pays enough for me to stay alive. My only hobby is gaming…"

As per Zhang Yun's exposition, he was a completely unremarkable orphan who'd grown up living the hard-knock life, unloved and uncared for. The only joy he'd ever found was in virtual-reality worlds, exploring surreal and wondrous lands, chatting up friendly NPCs, and witnessing larger-than-life spectacles.

If not for these games, always holding fresh surprises around every corner, there would have been no meaning in his life. Like a virtuoso musician who'd lost his hearing, he would have had no real reason to keep on going.

Therefore, Zhang Yun was more delighted than appalled by this turn of events. If anything, this was a step up from merely playing games.

Before this, he'd been playing a browser game from the Gacha genre, called 'Lost Kingdom'. It was his favorite game, and also the one he'd spent the most time on. He'd been playing the game ever since it first came out.

In order to earn a special in-game title called 'King of Hoarders', he'd been stockpiling all kinds of things right from the start. He worked on his quests every day, never missing any limited-time events or special promotions. All main quests completed, all dungeons cleared, all rewards obtained.

What's more, his party consisted entirely of free-to-play characters, using every trick in the book to make it past all the monsters and challenges. He'd never touched any of the premium characters, and he'd never used any of his lucky-draw coupons.

Ten years of hoarding meant his storage was full of rare treasures. He'd collected 1.92 million Diamonds—just eighty thousand short of the goal, which would grant him that legendary title which no player had ever yet claimed.

He had only needed one last push: The next time a major event had taken place, he'd have bought a bunch of gift bundles, and that should have given him the remaining Diamonds he still needed.

It had been a nasty surprise when, at this most critical juncture, the game developers had suddenly announced that the server would be shutting down in five minutes. He must have been carried over in that last moment before shutdown, along with this gutted version of the user interface.

Zhang Yun stroked his chin. "Well, you can't unbake a cake. The question is: What do I do now? There could be all sorts of monstrosities roaming this fantasy world! Food and water are also a concern. So… the first priority is survival—everything else can come later."

In order to survive in the wilds of a fantasy world, the first step is to secure a source of food and water, as well as a shelter that is both safe and warm. Perhaps he'd chop down some trees and build a cabin…

Except, you know… What sort of overweight loser can pull off such feats, when all they do is play games all day?

Rather than chasing after such vague notions, Zhang Yun figured he'd have more luck rooting through his user interface—he'd noticed some functions that were still available to him.

"Character Profile!" This function hadn't been lost to him, and a panel rich with detailed information popped into view.

Name: Zhang Yun

Race: Human

Legacy: Divine Summoner (This is the only Legacy available, granting you the use of special materials to summon various creatures to do battle on your behalf.)

Class: N/A

Title: N/A

Level: 1

Experience Points (XP): 0

Health Points (HP): 45/50 (These represent your health, and are lost when you take damage. If your HP falls to 0, you die.)

Stamina Points (SP): 17/20 (Lost with fatigue. When SP is low, you may suffer a variety of negative conditions, as well as an increasing penalty to your Attributes. If your SP remains at 0 for too long, you will die.)

Attributes: STR 4, AGI 4, CON 3, INT 3, WILL 4, CHA 5

Unassigned Attribute Points: 0

Skills: N/A

Equipped: N/A

Party: N/A

Guild: N/A

Overall Rating: * (out of five stars)

[Summary: A lonely newcomer to the Summoning Arts.]

"Oh, yeah! So I get to summon… er, I'm only Level 1? I thought I'd still be at max level… Well, whatever. At least I can actually see my Profile and XP—that means I can still level-up, and get better." Zhang Yun looked through his Character Profile with some dismay.

Next, he checked his Inventory.

His backpack was totally empty. All the potions and foodstuffs he'd been carrying were gone. As in-game items went, those had only been the barest basics, of course—hardly worth any money at all. However, given his present situation, they seemed like incomparable treasures now, essential to his survival.

"No way… even my Inventory has been reset? Am I here as a newborn character after the server shutdown? That blows…"

After a moment's pause, Zhang Yun suddenly thought of his ten-year hoard. Had that been completely erased as well? Just like the contents of his backpack? That announcement about the server shutdown had made it clear that all player data would be deleted.

At this thought, he cried out in distress: "Storage!"

Fwoom! The whole world shifted around himself… and then, he was standing within his own in-game storage vault!

"Oh… Ohhh… Oh! My! God!" His cry of surprise resounded across the land. Here were all the treasures he'd collected over the course of ten long years, sitting quietly inside the vault, not a single item missing or out of place.

1.92 million Diamonds, an innumerable amount of ordinary Summoning Scrolls, Resurrection Tokens for reviving player characters, Dragon Horns and Tails for crafting epic items, Premium Coupons which were guaranteed to produce five-star Heroes, Heavenly Fruits which could permanently raise one's Attributes, exclusive equipment for end-game parties, Experience Crystals used for levelling-up Heroes, limited-edition cards which could call down Legendary Warriors…

Every kind of resource was in abundance! It had all been left untouched by the server shutdown!

He'd been transported to this world, along with all his fortunes!