NOVEL NEXT CHAPTER 3 First Class
NAME: Adam
LEVEL: 1
ESSENCE: 0 (300 Essence to reach Level 2)
HP: 8/8
MP: 8/8
STATS
Vitality: 8
Endurance: 8
Willpower: 8
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 7
Perception: 7
Intelligence: 8
Clarity: 6
Harmony: 5
Mystery: 6
SKILLS: n/a
TRAITS: n/a
While the rest of the players were busy being overwhelmed by the sheer number of stats displayed on their status windows, openly asking one another what they meant, Adam silently scrutinized his own stats. His gaze drifted over the numbers repeatedly, comparing them to his memories. He could feel the difference immediately—his numbers were slightly higher than what he remembered from his first life.
He had a total of 70 stat points.
"My total was only 58 the first time I played," Adam muttered to himself, furrowing his brow in thought. Something wasn’t adding up.
He pondered this anomaly for several seconds until the answer finally dawned on him.
In World of Pangea, there were 10 core stats, each starting value varying from player to player. The gaming capsule conducted a comprehensive analysis of the player's physical and mental attributes before determining their starting stats. The AI used this data to create a virtual reflection of the player’s real-life capabilities.
Additionally, World of Pangea enforced a strict immersion policy—there was no option to alter one’s physical features. The character’s name was automatically set to the real name of the player, with only the last name omitted by default. Players who wished to include their full name could do so, but Adam had no interest in that.
The game encouraged players to be themselves, not some idealized avatar they might have envisioned. There were no escape routes into fantasy in this virtual world. The lowest possible value for any stat was 1, while the highest was 9. Physical attributes were calculated based on factors like muscle mass, fitness, and reflexes, meaning athletes or people in good shape would naturally start with higher physical stats.
As for non-physical stats—like Intelligence, Willpower, and Mystery—the method behind their calculation remained a mystery, determined by the AI’s interpretation of the player's mental capabilities.
"I see," Adam thought, a small smile forming on his lips. "I was healthier when I was 23 than when I was 25."
Though Adam wasn’t exceptional in any one area—he wasn’t extraordinarily tall, handsome, or brilliant—he kept himself in excellent shape and maintained a healthy lifestyle. He worked out regularly and even practiced MMA. It was one of the few outlets he had growing up in a family of doctors, where physical health was emphasized but personal passions were often overlooked.
Coming from a well-to-do family, Adam had never lacked for anything essential. Even if his father was strict, gym memberships and other healthy outlets were things his father approved of. His family, however, remained blissfully unaware of his MMA training.
In retrospect, Adam realized that having his basic needs fully met was a privilege. It allowed him to stay fit and mentally sharp, and his family of doctors would never have permitted an unhealthy lifestyle under their roof.
By the time he had entered med school in his first life, everything had changed. The stress of school, the late-night study sessions, and the mounting dissatisfaction with his career path led to a steep decline in his physical and mental well-being.
Adam remembered it clearly: first, he had begun missing meals, opting for unhealthy fast food whenever he had time to eat. His sleep dwindled, replaced by hours of studying and anxiety. The gym became a distant memory, replaced by a sedentary life at his desk. Smoking and drinking followed soon after, each vice offering a temporary escape from the suffocating path his life had taken.
Med school had diminished him. He had become a lesser version of himself—a shadow of the healthy, vibrant man he had once been.
But not this time.
Now, in this second chance at life, Adam was in peak condition. He wasn’t just physically fit—he was mentally sharper and more focused. He was on a path he genuinely desired, even before he learned that the World of Pangea was instrumental in surviving the apocalypse.
One of the most important requirements for joining the top guilds in the game was to display one’s starting stats. The stronger a player’s starting foundation, the more likely elite guilds would be interested in recruiting them.
Most players began the game with stats ranging in the 50s to 60s. Players in that range were considered average in terms of starting potential.
A total stat of 70 placed Adam comfortably in the above-average category. While it wasn’t unheard of, only a select few players started with totals in the 80s or even 90s.
Knowing this, Adam moved forward with the next step in his progression.
After choosing his Paradigm, the list of available classes appeared before him. The selection was extensive and diverse, filled with possibilities for how players could grow and evolve in the game.
[Please select your class.]
When players started, they were given the opportunity to choose a class and allocate two skill points as they saw fit. It was possible to acquire additional classes through class tomes, allowing players to eventually wield multiple classes. However, the more classes a player accumulated, the harder it became to level up.
Most players found that two or three classes were optimal for balanced growth. Any more, and the burden on their progression was too great.
Adam didn’t bother reading through the detailed descriptions of the available classes. He knew them all by heart. More importantly, he had already made his decision.
Without hesitation, he selected the same class he had chosen in his previous life.
[You have acquired the Alchemy class.]
[You are now a Novice Alchemist.]
[Trait ‘Toxic Resistance’ has been added. As a novice alchemist, you have a 10% resistance to harmful substances.]
[Trait ‘Botanist’ has been added. As a novice alchemist, you have a very basic understanding of plants, their structure, properties, and biochemical processes.]
Information about basic alchemical mixtures and several common ingredients was added to Adam’s status window. His mind raced, already planning his future moves.
Next, he needed to choose his two starting skills. The options appeared before him:
Identify, Create Mixture, Purify
Identify allowed players to analyze the basic properties of materials used in alchemy, making it an essential skill for beginners. However, Adam did not need it. As a regressor, his knowledge of ingredients was vast, and wasting a skill point on Identify would be a foolish move.
Create Mixture was another auto-production skill that allowed alchemists to create mixtures without specialized equipment. While it might seem useful, Adam knew better. The skill was primarily useful for crafting basic potions in the field, but even then, it was inefficient. Proper alchemical setups in controlled environments produced far better results, making Create Mixture unnecessary for someone with Adam's experience.
That left him with the third and most valuable option: Purify. It was the ideal choice for the early stages of the game.
[You have selected Purify.]
Adam finalized his decision. His newly acquired skills and traits were reflected in his status window, though he chose to save his remaining skill point for future use.
He reviewed his basic stats and the health and mana pools attached to them. In World of Pangea, HP, and MP were determined by a player’s Vitality and Willpower, respectively, with a default conversion rate of 1:1. Future traits could modify this ratio. Still, for now, Adam’s stats were perfectly average for his class.
As a novice alchemist, Adam lacked the conversion traits common to combat-oriented players. Warriors, for example, began with traits that converted one point of Vitality into five points of HP. Mage-types converted Willpower into larger pools of MP, while assassins balanced both HP and MP at a modest rate.
Fortunately, Adam knew of ways to acquire these traits independently—through rare books, elixirs, special rewards, and various other means. Securing these traits, however, would be no easy task.
Adam smiled to himself. Secrets were hidden in this place—items of immense value locked away in a secret room within the summoning chamber. He intended to claim them before anyone else did.
In his first life, Adam had chosen swordsmanship as one of his secondary classes, a basic but reliable option for any new player. It was cheap, straightforward, and offered immediate access to the fundamentals of combat. By the time Adam joined World of Pangea in his previous life, swordsmanship was one of the most popular and affordable classes, offering novice players a solid foundation in combat.
But this time around, Adam knew better. There was no need to select swordsmanship again, especially not as a novice.
Choosing swordsmanship would place him at the rank of a beginner, offering the rudimentary knowledge equivalent to that of someone who had picked up a sword for about a month. This might be a decent starting point for a player without experience, but Adam was different. He was not just a survivor of the apocalypse—he had become a veteran in real-life combat. His skills with a sword had been honed over years of fighting for his life, far beyond what any virtual class could initially offer.
In fact, even players who had received real-world sword training couldn’t compare to Adam. Their practice sessions in dojos and fencing halls were a far cry from the life-and-death struggles Adam had endured. His experience was raw, unfiltered by safety gear or rules, and tested against monstrous foes. The difference between someone who had only trained and someone who had fought for survival was like the difference between night and day.
The basic skills available to a swordsmanship novice—Thrust, Slash, and Parry—would allow a player to execute moves perfectly, with a minor increase in damage. For the average player, these skills provided much-needed guidance in combat. But for Adam, who had performed these actions countless times under pressure, they were second nature. He didn’t need a system prompt to execute a perfect thrust or parry.
In terms of gameplay mechanics, he didn’t even mind the loss of the small damage bonus provided by those swordsmanship talents. There were other ways to compensate for such minor boosts—through technique, positioning, or the vast knowledge of the game that he had gained from his previous life.
Moreover, Adam’s experience wasn’t limited to swords. He had fought with spears, daggers, crossbows, and even modern firearms during his time in the apocalypse. Choosing a sword-focused class would unnecessarily restrict him to that one weapon type, forcing him down a narrow path. Adam knew better than to pigeonhole himself. He needed flexibility in this new life and the ability to adapt to any situation with a wide range of tools at his disposal.
But first, before securing a second class, he needed to finish gearing up.
Around him, a chaotic scene unfolded as players scrambled to pick through the piles of equipment scattered across the summoning chamber. The sheer variety of weapons was enough to overwhelm anyone—short swords, longswords, halberds, javelins, crossbows, and more. Most players wouldn’t even recognize many of the weapons without the help of their status windows providing descriptions. The same applied to the scattered armor—light, medium, and heavy sets that varied in both protection and mobility.
The problem, of course, was that the quality of this gear was abysmal. While there was a massive quantity of weapons and armor to choose from, less than 10% of the items were even marginally better than the rest. Normally, players would fight to claim the best of these mediocre items, comparing stats and trying to get any slight advantage they could.
Adam, however, didn’t waste time. He knew the game inside and out and had no intention of squabbling over scraps. He simply picked the items he needed—a light leather armor set and a longsword—and equipped them without bothering to compare stats.
Some of the other players, noticing his apparent indifference to the equipment around him, couldn’t resist commenting.
“Look at that guy. He didn’t even bother to check the stats of his equipment. Definitely a noob.”
“What a waste of a gaming capsule,” another player muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Buddy, are you sure that’s what you’re going with?” someone called out mockingly.
“Shut your mouth, idiot! The fewer people who scrutinize their gears, the better. Don’t correct them when they’re making a mistake,” another player snapped.
“Definitely a rich idiot gamer,” one player said with a smirk. “Not even bothering to select his equipment. Maybe he thinks he can buy his way out later.”
Adam paid them no mind. He had chosen the lightest set of leather armor available and equipped a longsword without hesitation. It was exactly what he needed for now, and he had no intention of wasting time over trivial details.
After donning the armor, however, Adam couldn’t help but sigh as he looked himself over.
“This is dreadful,” he muttered.
The armor set was barely functional, and the descriptions were less than inspiring:
Old and Dusty Leather Armor (Inferior)
Type: Light Armor
Armor: 4
Weight: 4.5
Durability: 8/10
Description: An old but still functional leather armor. It has seen better days. Also, it has seen cleaner days. It’s better to have this equipped than to have nothing on your body. When you find something slightly better, throw this away.
The same went for his other gear:
Old and Dusty Leather Helmet (Inferior)
Old and Dusty Leather Gloves (Inferior)
Old and Dusty Leather Boots (Inferior)
His weapon wasn’t any better:
Rusty Longsword (Inferior)
Type: Longsword
Damage: 12
Weight: 4
Durability: 6/10
Description: This was once a very good sword. Was. Now, it is a shadow of its former self. But the fact remains that it’s better to have this when you have nothing to defend yourself with.
Several players nearby noticed his unfortunate gear and began to smirk, some even openly laughing at him. However, their amusement didn’t last long as they slowly realized they were all stuck with similarly terrible equipment.
“Oh no, this will not look good in my recording,” one player grumbled.
“Eugh, did you see the stats? I’m not sure this is even worth it,” another said in disgust.
“And why can I smell the dust and mold? Is that supposed to happen in VR?” one player complained, wrinkling their nose.
“Quick, let’s dig through the pile. Maybe better gears are under all this crap,” someone suggested.
“Good idea. If anyone finds a good chest plate, let me know. I’m happy to trade these leather bracers I found,” another offered.
Adam smirked inwardly. Good luck with that. No, there are no better items under there. It’s all trash.
Upon reviewing the total weight of his equipment, Adam noticed that the combined weight exceeded his current endurance stats. The total weight of everything he was wearing amounted to 11, but his Endurance was only 8, and his Strength was 7.
While his Strength stat helped with carrying the weight, his Endurance determined how long he could maintain it. The higher his equipment load, the quicker he would fatigue, and the slower he would recover stamina.
After a brief consideration, Adam decided to remove his helmet. The slight protection it offered wasn’t worth the cost to his speed. Even though he was still slightly above the optimal weight limit, he knew there was a way to fix this problem soon.
There were also food and water pouches available, so Adam took one for himself.
Without acknowledging the players who had mocked him, Adam walked away from the crowd and found a relatively empty spot in the chamber. Once there, he discreetly activated his only available skill: Purify.
Purify
Description: Removes the impurities present on an object. Results vary depending on the level.
Cost: 5 MP
Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Adam watched as a soft glow enveloped his rusty longsword. Slowly, various contaminants—rust, dust, mold—were drawn out of the blade and vanished. The weapon now looked much cleaner, its edge sharper than before.
The skill was simple but highly effective. In Adam’s previous life, players hadn’t discovered the usefulness of Purify until several days after the game’s initial release. Few players had chosen the Creation Paradigm, and even fewer had selected Purify over the more immediately useful skills like Identify or Create Mixture. As a result, the number of players capable of cleaning their equipment this early in the game was likely minuscule.
Adam continued to apply Purify to the rest of his equipment, pausing between uses to allow his MP to regenerate. He had little mana to work with at this stage, but there was more than enough time while the other players continued fussing over their gear.
Nearly an hour passed, and all of Adam’s gear had undergone noticeable improvements.
Old Leather Armor (Inferior)
Type: Light Armor
Armor: 4
Weight: 2
Durability: 8/10
Description: An old but still functional leather armor. It is well maintained.
Old Longsword (Inferior)
Type: Longsword
Damage: 20
Weight: 3
Durability: 6/10
Description: An old but well-maintained weapon.
The weight of his armor had been reduced, and the damage output of his longsword had increased significantly. His gear was now light enough to keep him agile without hindering his speed.
Finally, after much preparation, the thousands of players in the chamber were ready.
“Very good, Otherworlders. Your chances of escaping this place have improved significantly. Now, listen...” Imperatrix Demetra’s voice echoed through the chamber once again as a new quest was added to the players’ logs.
[Quest: Escape from the Forgotten Temple]
Details: Imperatrix Demetra has provided you with the means to escape your predicament. Make your way out of the temple.
Adam barely paid attention to the quest details. He had other priorities.
“The window of opportunity is very slim, but I should be able to do it. I just need to get to the center of the chamber first.”
Now fully equipped, Adam quickened his pace, heading straight toward the location of the secret room that held the valuable items he needed. Time was of the essence, and he had no intention of letting anyone else get there before him.