novelODS Chapter 1 You're awake? You're useless now!
Chapter 1 You're awake? You're useless now!
"Jingle bells."
Yu Che opened his eyes to an annoying knocking sound, and then heard familiar lines in his ear.
"Hey, you! You're finally awake!"
Through the iron bars in front of him, You Che looked at the teenage boy standing outside the cell door, dressed in standard leather armor:
"Why are you here again? Weren't we just interrogated? Can I leave now?"
The boy shook his head: "Of course not! We haven't even checked if you have any problems, how could we let you leave?"
"I brought you food, I've left it here."
Yu Che glanced at the dinner that had been delivered to the temporary prison: dry bread and a glass of water, a classic combination.
Back when he first started playing this game, he relied on this cheapest meal to keep his hunger level up and prevent his character from becoming weak.
You Che smirked, "...Thanks."
The boy advised, "Stop pretending. Honestly tell us where you came from so you can get out of here as soon as possible. You don't want to stay in jail forever, do you?"
Did they start speaking in a Japanese style?
You Che said helplessly, "I confessed, and I told the truth, but you don't believe me!"
Upon hearing this, the boy shook his head even more vigorously, then left the prison without saying anything more.
All that remained was You Che, who stared silently at the wooden plate in front of him and the vital signs on it indicating that he was being fed.
Without a doubt, You Che is a time traveler.
Half a day has actually passed since he opened his eyes in this world.
He first awoke in a forest, not understanding what was happening, when he was chased by several strange wild beasts. He escaped the forest in a perilous and disheveled manner, collapsed on the main road, and was then found by a passing militia patrol, who took him to a nearby town.
This was originally a normal start to a time-travel story, but when You Che fully woke up, he immediately realized his situation: he had traveled to the world of the game he used to play most often.
Being able to travel to your favorite game world might be a good thing for many people, but Yu Che doesn't think so.
Putting aside the fact that he didn't want to time travel at all, this game itself is not exactly a time traveler-friendly worldview!
Coming here is a life-or-death situation!
So, the first thing You Che wanted to do after waking up at the militia's base in the town was to run away.
Then...then because his behavior was so suspicious and his origins were unknown, he was immediately subdued by the militia and sent to jail.
He has already spent half a day in jail.
...To be honest, I am actually a little hungry.
Picking up the dry, tasteless bread and munching on it with water, You Che couldn't help but think to himself that this stuff was no different from tree bark. Is this what the common people in this world eat?
But then, thinking about his current situation, You Che suddenly felt a surge of anger and slammed the bread in his hand onto the table!
"Nya—!!"
Why did I time travel?!
Why would a novel's protagonist receive such treatment? It's impossible for someone as ordinary as me to ever receive it!
Look at those main characters from Qidian! Which of you gentlemen here isn't an orphan? Unlike me, I have a family, a career, and parents!
He, You Che, has both parents who are about to retire; he passed the civil service exam, finally reaping the rewards of his hard work; and not long ago, he even received his property ownership certificate, starting his own little family...
Considering the current employment situation, Yu Che can proudly say that a happy and peaceful life is already beckoning to him.
So, on the night he received the job offer, Yu Che was in a good mood, had a few drinks, and planned to play some games to relieve the recent stress, which he hadn't done in a long time. Then…
Then the game helmet exploded, and he was transported through time.
I woke up to find myself in this world, and even locked up in a prison.
I don't want to time travel, I want to go home!!
You Che was so angry that he was breathing heavily. Most of the water in the bowl spilled out, and the dry bread was slammed onto the table and shattered into pieces.
"Coo coo~"
Yu Che originally wanted to lie down, but the hunger in his stomach forced him to face reality. He could only carefully put the crushed pieces of dry bread onto his plate and eat them one bite at a time.
...We can't just sit here doing nothing.
After finishing his prison meal, You Che's anger subsided, and he began to think about his next plan.
First, he was fairly certain that he had transmigrated into the world of a game he used to play frequently, *The Dark Scrolls: Cataclysm - Gate of Fantasy*. Although there seemed to be slight discrepancies with the game's plot, it should at least be within the same world.
And speaking of this game, it has quite a history. Don't let the name fool you; "Dark Fantasy" might sound like a cash grab, but it's actually a phenomenal large-scale single-player and multiplayer game.
This game is primarily a single-player game, but it features a wealth of online multiplayer elements. It is a groundbreaking masterpiece that has been continuously updated and meticulously operated by the developer, and has received widespread acclaim from players.
Even if played entirely in single-player mode, the main storyline alone offers nearly 100 hours of gameplay.
Dark Fantasy is very rich in content. Putting aside the earlier parts, the opening story alone offers players seven different backgrounds and four national factions to choose from, and each different combination will have different backgrounds and details in the story.
However, regardless of their origin, players will arrive at the "border town" of the corresponding country after the game starts and experience the game's prologue story.
As for You Che, to be fair, as a transmigrator, he did enjoy some benefits. After transmigrating, he was given one of the seven protagonist templates, named "Wanderer".
But then a problem arises. Of the seven starting classes in the game, the Wanderer is undoubtedly the worst, so bad that nobody even bothers with him!
So much so that players often refer to him as a "useless person"!
This isn't some fake "useless" character like those in the Souls series who start with the lowest level but have the most evenly distributed stats; this is a complete waste of resources who can't be salvaged in any sense.
Other characters might only have one or two weaknesses, but the Wanderer is different. He's a complete waste in every aspect, from his unique skills to his attribute growth. Top players all over the world can't find a way to develop him.
So even a veteran player like Youche, who has played for over 10,000 hours, only ever played one Wanderer account, and couldn't stand it anymore after playing it for a while, so he deleted the account and went to play something else.
Let whoever wants to go to jail go.
But now, he himself has traveled into "Dark Fantasy" and is a wanderer at that.
"Damn, this is a high-level game."
You Che muttered helplessly.
Of course, while the Wanderer is the worst starting class and almost no one plays it, it's not without its strengths. However, those strengths are quite subtle and basically useless in the early game.
In short, Yu Che is currently facing two problems.
In the long run, the useless person's background is too weak. Even a top player like him doesn't have the confidence to level up his character. And if he just casually levels up, he will definitely not be able to beat the bosses in the mid-to-late game.
Dark Fantasy is a very challenging RPG game.
As for the immediate issue, it will be in a short time, to be precise, seven days from now. The prologue will come to an end, followed by the arrival of the enemy forces in the game's world, the dark race's army!
Simply put, it's a scenario-based death mission with a near-certain death toll. In that part of the story, there are barely any survivors left in the entire town.
You Che absolutely did not want to get involved in this part of the story. Being a useless person, he would be nothing more than low-level cannon fodder in that battle, the kind that the opposing BOSS could wipe out with a wave of his hand.
Fortunately, although in terms of gameplay, players cannot move to other towns in the prologue, this part of the story is unavoidable. In fact, the developers have even patched the story by saying that the town is currently under martial law and entry and exit are prohibited.
However, Yu Che was familiar with all the main and side quests of the game, so he knew very well that there were still a few people in the story who left the town before the dark races attacked the city for special reasons.
If he wants to avoid being killed off by plot devices, he just needs to find these people, gain their trust, and leave with them. This is not difficult for You Che.
There's no need to rush. There are some valuable side quests in this starting town. He can clear out some quests in the few days before the dark races arrive, accumulate more resources, and leave a souvenir of the town.
As for staying to help? Yu Che had absolutely no such intention.
That was a plot-driven death; there was no point in him staying. The NPCs in town were just background characters anyway; those who were destined to die would still die.
Besides, there are hundreds of people in this town, how many can he save? If he saves this NPC, what about the others?
Yuche doesn't feel any guilt about the sacrifices of the NPCs; in the later stages of the main storyline, after the formal war with the dark race begins, even more people will die.
As an ultimate veteran who has played through the game countless times, he was already tired of the storyline and could naturally take everything in the game world in stride.
Of course, those are all things to come later. The most basic thing right now is for him to get out of prison.
However, this is quite simple. Once Yu Che calmed down, he could easily come up with seven or eight solutions.
Just then, the boy militiaman returned: "The commander wants to see you! Come with me."
You Che raised an eyebrow and quietly followed the boy out. Soon they met the militia leader in the interrogation room next door.
To You Che's surprise, the militia commander was a young man wearing half-body armor, who looked to be only in his early twenties, but had an impressive presence.
His gaze toward You Che showed little suspicion or hostility; it was entirely businesslike. He asked about You Che's background.
However, Yu Che, who had already figured out how to deal with the situation, did not answer his question. Instead, he sat up and moved closer to the militia commander sitting opposite him.
The militia commander was somewhat puzzled, but made no move.
Are you kidding me? He's a level 21 knight, how could he be outmaneuvered by a level 1 wanderer?
You Che hadn't originally intended to launch a sneak attack; he simply approached the militia leader and whispered in his ear:
"For the glory of Saint Augustus."
It was a seemingly random sentence, but the militia leader's expression changed drastically!
"You...are from the tribunal!?"
—Shortly afterward, the gates of the militia prison opened, and You Che strode out carrying a long box.
Behind him, the militia commander, along with young militia members and others, respectfully saw him off.
The young militiamen looked puzzled, while the regimental commander had a very serious expression, yet dared not be negligent in the slightest.
Without even looking back, You Che knew the state of the people behind him. A perfectly timed smile appeared on his lips as he strode towards the outskirts of the town's working-class district.
See, I told you it was easy to figure it out, right?
I'm fucking calling Hydra long live!