Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

The Azure Star had already perished, and it was precisely due to the 'Wave Matter Movement' of the Galaxy Civilization that players had the opportunity to leave the surface, head to the Starry Abyss, and officially embark on the legendary journey of cosmic adventure.

However, now, the civilization creation that had long been dead and destroyed was standing vividly before his eyes.

He observed closely, the white corpse on the ground wasn't the common C3-'Luca' type of cosmic human race. The latter, as a cosmic species, had no physical defects, no freckles on the face, tiny pores, and generally high attractiveness. Yet, the white corpse of 'Lanny Johns' before him had a pockmarked face, and the skin turned red after being exposed to the sun for a while.

"This isn't the cosmic human race. It's the species from Azure Star."

Li Zi felt a headache, even as a seasoned senior player, facing such a situation left him bewildered.

This wasn't some prank; there must have been a major accident.

He thought of many possibilities, such as a bug in the game, or a massive game rollback emergency, or more likely, the recent network fluctuation caused him to load an incorrect game version, entering single-player mode.

But truth be told, for an old game like "Starry Abyss", which had been running for years with a photon intelligent computer, the above assumptions couldn't be said to be impossible, but at least they were absurd.

If even the photon intelligent brain, responsible for handling all political affairs in the future, could make a mistake, then what could be right?

Li Zi calmed down; he estimated that he must have logged into the wrong account. Maybe the recent network fluctuation caused him to create a new account, but in any case, first activate the game system and quickly go offline to contact the officials for repair.

"Players appear in the game as 'Descenders'. To activate the game system, you first need to recognize your 'descended' identity, appearance, and interpersonal relationships."

The simplest way was to find identification and a mirror, then chat with someone to complete the descent.

Familiar with this, Li Zi immediately started searching through the Security Guard uniform's pockets, but just as he found a bunch of keys, a chill ran down his spine.

"Danger!"

Years of battling in the game made him react instantly, curling up his body and hiding under a counter. Only then did he realize he seemed to be in an old-time bank.

Click, click...

Not far away, the sound of footsteps came closer and closer. Light steps as if walking on water, producing a certain crunch, Li Zi held his breath, gripping the baton tightly without making a sound.

The footsteps grew nearer, and it seemed like something was approaching the counter. Li Zi's heart pounded wildly; the sound was so close as if it was just beyond the counter, separated by a wall.

Click.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and Li Zi's heart seemed to skip a beat. A faint layer of mist appeared on his exposed skin, cold to the bone. At the same time, he vaguely felt some kind of sight trying to spy on him.

"Spirit Monster!"

Li Zi reacted immediately, the 2.0 version was so long ago that he almost forgot Azure Star wasn't purely a technological planet; it had spiritual creatures and an extraordinary system.

"I should have realized... that white man had no external injuries yet suddenly died, much like the work of a Spirit Monster."

A Spirit Monster was a very basic spiritual creature, immune to physical damage, could phase through walls, had perspective vision, and could see through stealth – a deterrent for new players.

Yet for a seasoned player and streamer like Li Zi, even without system activation, he didn't know his current attributes, but even if he had nothing, he knew how to deal with Spirit Monsters.

The water vapor on his body gradually cooled and solidified; his body temperature was dropping. Azure Star humans were weak; if their body temperature fell below 30 degrees, any impact could be fatal.

Act!

Li Zi quickly recalled methods to drive away Spirit Monsters, lowered his head, and bit hard into his right index finger. Blood gushed out; the real pain instantly sobered Li Zi. Fortunately, he never turned off pain feedback. Without a sound, he tore open his clothes and quickly drew a spiral cross rune over his heart with his blood.

His technique was quite standard; the exclusive rune from [Master of Souls] was highly deterrent to low-level Spirit Monsters. Once the rune was completed, he clearly felt the Spirit Monster's hesitation, and the cold and water vapor on his body gradually receded and finally disappeared.

Click, click...

The footsteps faded away. As Li Zi bandaged his wound, he counted softly under his breath:

"One thousand and one, one thousand and two, one thousand and three..."

A person can say four words per second on average. Conversely, counting four numbers at a time could ensure accurate timing.

"One thousand and twenty-five!"

After a full twenty-five seconds, Li Zi immediately opened his eyes, leaped from the counter, and within a few seconds, he quickly turned his head. In his peripheral vision, he saw a bright layer of white frost spread over the counter.

Time was up.

His current race was just ordinary Azure Star human, without spirituality or extraordinary abilities; this kind of blood rune could only deter a Spirit Monster for twenty-five seconds.

But that was enough time for him to escape.

Escaping a spiritual being, never go to higher ground. If possessed, the Spirit Monster would control the body to jump off directly. Only by running to lower ground, through thick and complex walls to gradually reduce the opponent's spiritual power, did one have a chance to escape.

Li Zi took out the keys he had found earlier, tried each one, and soon opened the basement door. Closing it behind him, he quickly descended. Agilely, he slid down the stair railing, flipped over the barrier, and landed gracefully from over three meters high. Rolling to absorb the impact, he sprang up and darted away.

The Spirit Monster, deterred by the rune, had been quite far away. With Li Zi's expert parkour skills, he quickly widened the gap.

Hiding deep in the basement behind a fire cabinet, he had briefly scanned the basement's layout a moment ago. His years of gaming experience made him particularly sensitive to maps, memorizing them quickly. If the Spirit Monster did come down, he could escape through the nearby vault.

Only, he had fled three floors down; a Spirit Monster from the newbie village shouldn't be able to penetrate this deeply.

Sure enough, after staying there a while, the Spirit Monster in the stairwell got confused by his detour, circled a few times, and then gave up the chase.

Spirit Monsters lacked intelligence; after a failed hunt, they quickly left to avoid retaliation from human transcendents.

Click, click...

The splashing footsteps receded. Li Zi calmed his breath, searched his pockets, and found his identification card. Now, he only needed to find a mirror and talk to a living NPC to activate the complete game system.

Even without finding a living person, it wouldn't matter. Players spawned randomly, and the game system was well-considered in this regard. By meeting two of the conditions, most of the game system could be unlocked.

Identification - Unlock system toolbar

Appearance - Unlock personal panel

Others' evaluation - Unlock player function bar

The best spawning condition was certainly in a civilized city, but it was inconvenient for leveling up and adventuring.

Therefore, most players would choose to unlock the system a bit later but be born in an environment close to the wild, suitable for combat, like villages, mercenary corps, wanderers' assemblies, or military camps.

Li Zi wasn't sure if his origin was good or bad, but since he was in a bank wearing a security guard uniform, he probably spawned in a town area.

Spirit Monsters wouldn't invade big cities; they were crowded with people and transcendents. Spirit Monsters weren't foolish enough to seek trouble.

"What a mess, a task that usually takes less than fifteen seconds dragged on for so long."

Li Zi grumbled as he returned to the surface. He used the keys to open the counter door, rotated the valve, found the restroom, cleaned his wound, and bandaged it with strips of cloth. He then looked up at the mirror, holding his identification in front of him, and carefully examined his 'descended' appearance.

His features were regular, with clear angles, showing evident East Asian traits but with a sickly pale complexion – a result of long-term lack of sunlight exposure.

"Frost Plated," Li Zi identified, "judging by the style and material of the security guard uniform, this was at least from the beta version era."

This body was well-proportioned, around 185 cm tall, weighing about 80 kg, not particularly strong but not weak either – this reassured Li Zi a bit. In "Starry Abyss", it's better to be a bit fatter than thin. Each planet had different levels of development; a slightly plump body was seen by backward civilizations as a sign of 'nobility,' garnering more respect.

Moreover, fatter people stored more energy, withstood hunger better, and their fat acted as extra cushioning.

The best physique was a 'muscle-padded' strongman, tough and resilient. For an early player without much equipment, having a good body provided a great advantage.

After evading the Spirit Monster attack, his body temperature returned to normal, melting the frost into water, wetting his black hair, making it lie smoothly against his head. His grey eyes gleamed like steel.

Clearly, the charisma attribute wouldn't be low. Li Zi immediately liked this body.

When he fully imprinted his appearance in his mind, a familiar light blue screen appeared on his retina:

-------------------------------------

[Name]: Li Aozi

[Title]: None

[Species]: Carbon-based Lifeform - New Generation Homo Sapiens

[Gender]: Physically Male

[Age]: 21 years

[Template]: Ordinary Neutral NPC (Health Points cap increased by 10%)

[Faction]: Layer Abyss—Galaxy Nebula—Fenesis Federation—Azure Star—Frost Plated Republic

[Total Level]: lv.2

——[Main Profession]: Civilian lv.1 (0/50)

——[Secondary Profession]: Security Guard lv.1 (0/100)

[Health Points]: 53/55 (Subhealthy)

[Arcane Energy]: Not yet awakened

[Experience]: 20

[Attributes]:

Strength——4 (The power and destructive force of the body)

Dexterity——5 (The swiftness and precision of movements)

Constitution——5 (The ability to resist damage, converting into health points)

Charm——13 (The ability to attract others)

Will——6 (Mental resistance, if turned into a spellcaster profession, this attribute will proportionally convert to 'Intelligence')

[Talent]:

Racial Talent: Teamwork——New Generation Homo sapiens have strong teamwork abilities; experience gains increase by 50% when in a team, ineffective when alone.

[Specialty]: None

[Skills Possessed]:

"Folk Knowledge","Intermediate Professional Knowledge"——from [Civilian];

"Cudgel Shout","Bashing","Bullying the Weak"——from [Security Guard];

[Hierarchy]: Ordinary One

-------------------------------------

Other values and information weren't his concern; his gaze stayed on [Template] for a full ten seconds.

"Ordinary, neutral, NPC template?"

He was stunned.

He hurriedly opened the system toolbar. Originally, there should have been items like [Game Settings],[Plugins],[Mailbox],[Video],[Control],[Graphics Optimization],[Exit]. Now, only a lonely[Mailbox]remained.

"What the hell?" Li Aozi was dumbfounded, "Where is [Log Out]? How do I exit the game now?"