Second Life: Welcome to Gaia

City of Ji Region System Announcement: Congratulations to Jun Xie, Conan, Spell Bound, Demon Fox, Dovakin, I Love Skooma, Mad Dog, Snow White, Thumbelina, and Mage of the Cold Nights for being the first party to clear the Hell mode of White Birch Mountain Forest! Your achievement will be written in the annals of City of Ji history.

The announcement shocked all players that had started to challenge the dungeon. Even after seven days, many players have yet to reach level 5 and don't know how hard it is inside the dungeons. Only a small portion of the players know how incredible is the achievement of Ye Yan's party. Up until now, only a small amount of players in the entire world had cleared the Hell mode dungeon, not even one hundred players have achieved this.

The territory of Gaia is divided into many Kingdoms, Empires, and neutral areas. The difference between the two types of countries is that the area of an Empire is much bigger compared to the Kingdoms. And Neutral areas are locations that normal NPCs can't access, the ocean area, the underground, cities in the sky, and some special dungeons.

The countries in Gaia are divided into provinces or states, and each one of them is composed of one main city and many towns. The City of Ji is the main city of Ji Province that is one of the most populous provinces in the Yan Empire but one of the smaller in size. Every city or town of the real-world had a corresponding town or city in Gaia, and every one of them has an initial dungeon, totaling around ten thousand level 5 dungeons in the world. Even the towns with only one tavern and very few hidden houses in the middle of the forest have a low-level dungeon. Those dungeons can be inside mountains, forests, caverns, or in the basement of some tavern.

Among this huge amount of dungeons, less them a hundred had been cleared and Ye Yan's party is one of the 88 parties that have got such achievement. In Yan Empire, they are the second party to clear the Hell mode of the level 5 dungeon. The first team was from Huating Province and they had clear it less than two hours ago.

While people in all City of Ji region were wondering who they are, but Tu Ye Yan was smiling from ear to ear after leveling up once again after gaining so much experience in one go. But with his friends' bodies scattered on the ground plus the huge amount of blood, his smiling gave his friends a sinister feeling. When they died inside the dungeon, their bodies and souls separated, permitting them to see the battle but without Ye Yan or the other players that were also in soul form to see them.

One minute after the battle ended, five soldiers that were previously patrolling near the dungeon gate, appeared at the top of the mountain and their healer used [Resurrect] on the dead players while Ye Yan was collecting the loot. When the NPCs arrived, they looked in the loot direction with greedy eyes, making him rush to get the items faster.

They thanked the team members for the services provided to the Empire and rewarded each player with 1 influence point in the City of Ji for exterminating the enemy that had invaded the White Birch Mountain Forest. Every time players clear the Hell mode of a level 5 dungeons, they are rewarded 1 influence point if the players were of level 9 maximum. After saying their piece, they opened a gate and left through it, leaving it open for them to pass later.

"I never thought I would have an extracorporal experience in this life. It is really a strange sensation." Demon Fox said shrugging.

"Yes. To know that everyone was there as a soul but don't see anything give me the creeps and I was in soul form as well." Mad Dog said looking a little scared. He became afraid of ghosts when he was 8 tears old after a trip to an ancient temple that he could swear was haunted. He never found out that his older brothers were playing a trick on him.

Ye Yan looked at them inquisitively, wanting to know what they were talking about because he did not die in the game yet, then he doesn't know how it is to be dead in the game. Spell Bound told him about his "afterlife" experience and that they became afflicted by the curse [Ressurected Soul] after reviving, which decreases their healthy points, attack, magical attack, and defenses by 30% for 1 hour. Because of this, they decided to take their time looking at the loot and searching for any treasure that may have left behind.

They opened the party contract scroll and looked at the loot details. As this was not only the first clear of the dungeon but was on the Hell mode too, the quality and quantity of the items increased by a rank, making every team members smile. The boss dropped some miscellaneous items, a few pieces of equipment that would upgrade the team's power, and 3 spellbooks.

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[Ritual Knife] (Silver, One-hand weapon: dagger)

Description: A knife specially forged to conduct rituals. Good for conduct sacrifices from rabbits to humanoid creatures. This knife has a self-cleaning function that doesn't let the blood dry on it.

ATK 35~40

DEX +1

5% chance to cause bleeding

Requirement Level: 5

Class Requirement: Thief, Swordsman, and Merchant

Durability: 50/50

Weight: 10

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[Manteau] (Silver, Armor: Cape)

Description: This cloak can cover the wearer entirely body, protecting others from his/her ugliness. His aerodynamic shape enables his wearer to increase his/her movement speed and jump ability.

Movement Speed + 20%

Jump height + 1 meter

AGI +3

DEF + 20

Requirement Level: 5

Class Requirement: Any class

Durability: 50/50

Weight: 10

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[Arcane Orb] (Silver, One-handed weapon: Orb)

Description: A glass orb empowered with Elemental Fire magic. The blue flame inside, which gives color to the orb, is hotter than its red version.

MATK 40~50

Requirement Level: 5

Class Requirement: Mage

Durability: 30/30

Weight: 10

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[Cloth Tunic] (Silver, Armor: Body armor)

Description: A simple tunic for mages. Its design makes its wearer look wiser even if only in appearance.

MP + 20

MDEF + 15

Requirement Level: 5

Class Requirement: Mage

Durability: 50/50

Weight: 10

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The spells were divided between the 3 mages. Mage of the Cold Night can't use any fire spell or she/he would hurt herself while attacking, then she got the spell [Blink]. Dovakin character was building to be a battlemage, and as powerful area spells would be a waste on him, he got the spell [Fireball]. Spell Bound got the powerful [Meteor Rain], becoming the first member with an area spell.

After distributing everything, they resolved to go back to the city to register their new guild. Spell Bound said that they should take advantage of the free promotion from the system announcement (Thumbs up for the system) to create their guild and start recruiting as soon as possible. Today complete seven days since the game release and is the day that the Currency Exchange Bank opens, then Spell Bound would exchange his real-life money for game currency and use it to pay for the guild registration at the Adventurers' Guild and buy some necessities for the guild. He has always been a legit money warrior that can draw his enemies in cash. He had paid a huge amount of money to players to kill who weren't pleasing to his eyes in previous games but, this time, his father restricted the amount of money he can spend in the game. Spell Bound made a bet with his father and if he can't start to earn some profit in 3 months, he will have to leave the game and start to work at his family company.

Ye Yan's party went back to the city and proceed to the Adventurers' Guild, except Spell Bound that went to the Currency Exchange Bank first to get the 10 gold coins needed for the guild registration.

When everything was ready, they went to the third floor of the guild to speak with one of the guild managers and register their guild. She, like most of the guild's NPCs, is a woman with a powerful airbag and the only reason that she didn't fall forward is that her rear is big enough to maintain the balance of her body.

The NPC adjusted her glasses and started to fill the registration with the information provided by the team about the members. She stopped and asked them: "What will be the guild name?"