Commanding Wind and Cloud

(Qian Jin also means “Forward” in Chinese)

After coming back from Sunset Mountains, Qian Jin locked himself in his room. No matter how his roommate tried to persuade him, he didn’t want to come out.

“So embarrassing… This is too embarrassing!”

Three days ago, Oakland Academy set up a test for the junior students, and the location of the test was at Sunset Mountains.

Qian Jin could be considered one of the top candidates among all the junior students.

He came to the academy less than a year ago and was already a Level 3 Warrior. Even the instructor of the Warrior Branch of the Academy - Level 5 Warrior Rodriguez, said, “Among all the students in the second grade, Qian Jin will have the best future. He’s talented and has a great work ethic. He might even surpass me in a few years…”

Who would’ve imagined that right after the instructor made that comment, Qian Jin ran into a situation at Sunset Mountains.

The best student in the second grade of the Warrior Branch was knocked unconscious by something inexplicable.

The thing that knocked him out was a hat that fell from the sky!

This was now a big joke that had been passed around in Oakland Academy; everyone knew about it.

Everyone in Oakland Academy knew that there was an extremely ugly looking junior student. This student was so ugly that even the gods were disgusted with him. The gods punished him by knocking him out with a hat.

After finding out that he would be referred to as the extremely ugly looking guy in the next few years, Qian Jin wanted to drop out of the academy.

“How am I going to live my normal life…”

What was currently in Qian Jin’s hand was the “culprit” that knocked him out.

It was a sky-blue hat. The hat was wide and pointed on the top like a typical mage’s hat. At Oakland Academy, every student in the Mage Branch had a hat like this.

This was the exact reason why Qian Jin couldn’t figure out how this common mage hat managed to knock him out.

While he was deep in thought, the door opened.

The one who came in was Rollin, Qian Jin’s best friend in Oakland Academy.

“Hahaha! I heard that there’s an extremely ugly looking guy in our academy… Huh? Qian Jin, why does your face look weird?”

“Sh*t!”

“Qian Jin, you don’t look too well, are you ill? Do you want me to get you some medicine from Instructor Rodriguez? I also heard that Instructor Rodriguez was the one who led the test that day. I’m not sure if he knows that guy…”

“You know that guy.”

“Really?”

“I’m that damned extremely ugly looking guy!”

“...”

After getting rid of Rollin, Qian Jin became angrier as he thought more about what had happened. In the end, he decided to go to sleep and cover his face with the hat.

…

Qian Jin had been standing outside of the blacksmith shop for a while now.

“What is this place…”

Qian Jin had asked this question more than thirty times the last two hours.

The voice of the so-called System Wizard had patiently explained the situation to him more than thirty times already.

“This is the Endless World, a virtual gaming space constructed using Third Generation Virtual Reality Technology.”

However, Qian Jin still didn’t understand. “What is this Third Generation Virtual Reality Technology? And what is a Virtual Gaming Space?”

He knew what the word “virtual” meant; it was a word commonly associated with illusion magic.

He knew the word “game” as well; like the soccer game - the Annual Oakland Cup.

But once the two words were combined together, Qian Jin wasn’t really sure what it meant anymore. “A soccer game that uses illusion magic? Damn, what is all this…”

System Wizard had to continue explaining. The so-called virtual gaming space is a world made of codes and numbers; the world might look realistic, but one shouldn’t be fooled by it. To explain it further, the System Wizard even showed Qian Jin a series of codes and numbers.

Player: Qian Jin

Profession: Warrior

Level: 1

Strength: 18

Agility: 15

Endurance: 18

Intelligence: 15

Spiritual Power: 1

Health: 180/180

Mana: 110/110

Stamina: 180/180

Qian Jin knew that these numbers were all real. Only his closest family knew that he was born with a deformed and incomplete spiritual power. Otherwise, why would he run away from his family–a family where all the fighters are both warriors and mages–to this remote academy and choose to just be a warrior?

Qian Jin felt like he was having a headache.

After the test on Sunset Mountains, strange things had constantly been happening to him.

First was the incident where he was knocked out by a hat; on top of failing the test, he got the reputation of being extremely ugly looking. Then, he tried to take a nap in his room, and that brought him into another world: a virtual world made up of some kind of numbers. This was all crazy to him.

If the System Wizard didn’t tell him that he would be sent back to the real world after eight hours, Qian Jin might have literally killed himself.

Among all of the things the System Wizard said, this was the only fact that calmed Qian Jin down a little.

“Only 8 hours, I will just treat it as a dream then…” he thought.

As he was planning out how to spend the time, he looked at the blacksmith shop and asked, “Why are we here?”

“Before you start the game, you have to choose a [Life Skill].” The System Wizard had a beautiful voice, but Qian Jin wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it.

“Life skill?”

“That’s right.”

Before Qian Jin could react, the System Wizard sent him information about the life skills.

From smelting to forging and identifying herbs to pharmaceutics, there were countless life skills. All the skills stood alone, but they could be affected by others. From the instructions given by the System Wizard, Qian Jin could easily combine these skills and create many life professions. After learning smelting and forging, one could become a Blacksmith. After gaining knowledge on magic arrays, a common Blacksmith could advance to become a Magic Forging Master who could produce magic armor and weapons!

However, life skills couldn’t be combined together randomly. First of all, the skills must complement each other. On top of that, there was a strict condition.

One must be a master in the life skills that he or she wish to combine.

Qian Jin wasn’t surprised of this limitation. It was no different than the real world. Only after one had reached the peak in an area would they be qualified to tap into other areas and take a path that no one else has ever walked on.

Qian Jin was intrigued by the limitless opportunities.